BBR police chief urges use of ‘ICE’ contacts

Black Butte Ranch Police Chief Gil Zaccaro is urging Sisters area residents to adopt a recently-recommended emergency contact program.

“The recent terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom have prompted a campaign to establish a worldwide system of emergency notification,” Zaccaro said.

The recommendation is simple: program emergency contacts into your cell phone under ICE — “In Case of Emergency.”

“The idea is the brainchild of a paramedic Bob Brotchie who works for the East Anglian Ambulance Service near London,” Zaccaro said. “He was thinking about some of the calls that he had attended when he was on duty. Some time he had quite a bit of trouble contacting a friend or relative of the victim. He also noticed that almost all of the victims carried mobile cell phones with them.

“He came up with the idea of people putting ICE (in case of emergency) numbers in the ‘contacts’ area of the phones. This way an emergency worker can search your contacts on your phone and notify someone of your plight.”

Zaccaro believes having contact numbers will help police and other emergency personnel.

“This idea is an excellent way for us in the area to contact persons who will be able to provide us with vital information about you when you cannot speak for yourself,” he said. “Parents should also do this for their children who carry cell phones.”

If you have more than one number, you can prioritize the order by numbering ICE1, ICE2, etc.

“We at BBRPD are instructing our personnel to begin to look for cell phones and check for ICE numbers stored in the ‘contacts’ area,” the chief said. “Personally I think that this is an excellent idea and I hope it becomes standard practice.”