Manfre: Code RED 'did what it was intended to do'

Palm Coast Observer
News

Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre said the county’s Code RED notification system “did what it was intended to do” when it notified county residents of a missing 14-year-old boy Saturday, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

The boy, Palm Coast resident Alex Michael Cargo, returned home on his own about seven hours after his mother reported him missing at 4 p.m.

He’d run away at about noon after the two argued. He walked the 13.7 miles from his house on Burrell Place to the beach near the Flagler Beach pier, where he looked for sea shells to bring home for his mom. The he walked another 5.8 miles to the Dunkin Donuts in the Target shopping center on State Road 100 before taking a cab home, unaware Sheriff’s Deputies were searching for him with dogs and city residents had been phoning in sightings all evening.

But some weren’t happy they were awakened at night with news of an overdue child.

“I truly didn't appreciate being woken up, and I'm not sure what they expected me to do,” resident Bee Wilson wrote on the Palm Coast Observer’s Facebook page.

Another, Mario DiGirolamo, wrote: “I need to find a way to change my alert settings ... was awakened twice last night for this mishap. Not good.” DiGirolamo later wrote that he’d removed his phone number from the Code RED system “so my family won't be awakened again, just because a kid is late coming home.”

Sheriff Manfre asked residents not to do that, although public safety officials received complaints from “a handful” of residents about the notifications, and the Sheriff’s Office reviewed its policy and “changes to the policy were made to ensure the most accurate and timely information is made using Code RED,” according to the news release.

“We certainly encourage people to stay connected to Code RED for their sake and that of their loved ones,” Manfre said.

Code RED sends out notices by phone, text and email and is the quickest way county emergency workers have of notifying people about severe weather, wildfires, chemical spills, escaped prisoners, disasters and missing children or elderly people, according to the news release.

“Calls went out to some 55,651 citizens in the county, with 77.67% or 43,223 of the calls being delivered,” Manfre said in the new release. “Of those 43,223 calls, 93% were confirmed as having been listened to by the citizen. It is comforting to know that the Code RED system has the potential to effectively reach as many people as it does.”

And although Alex returned home on his own, a slew of phone calls from residents who received the alert and saw the boy during his near-marathon walk gave deputies a trail to follow that could have led them to him if he hadn’t.

“Within moments of the first calls going out, the FCSO’s Communication Center began receiving calls from residents who reported seeing the boy at several different locations in the county,” according to the news release. “One of the last calls received placed the boy at the Flagler Beach Pier between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.”

Code RED can also be used for general community-service announcements, and residents can opt not to receive those, or opt not to receive emergency weather notifications. They can’t opt out of the other notifications, according to the news release.

Since the Code RED notice went out Saturday, according to the Sheriff’s Office, 71 more people have signed up for the alerts.

To learn more about Code RED, call the Flagler County Emergency Operations Center at 313-4200 or visit flagleremergency.com.