Reverse 911 helps cops find runaway

   Joe Cortes was relaxing in front of his television Saturday when a commotion in the backyard disrupted the lazy pace of an afternoon ballgame.

   The Colorado Springs man watched through a picture window as a boy leapt over a fence "without missing a beat" and dashed away just as quickly as he came - a momentary intrusion that left the family dog, a wary schnauzer named Marty, barking in protest long after the trespasser had vanished.

   Turns out that Cortes, a 79-year-old retiree who never rose from his chair, was just the kind of crimefighter police had been counting on.

   On the trail of a crafty and quick-footed teenage runaway, police arranged for automated phone calls to be sent to 250 households in the Cheyenne Hills neighborhood, off East Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard in south Colorado Springs. The calls warned of a fugitive and asked residents to be on the lookout.

   Cortes was among those who called with clues about the teen's whereabouts, and within an hour, a police dog managed to track the fugitive to his hiding place in somebody's unlocked garage in the 3100 block of Westcliff Drive West.

   The teenager - whose name was not released because of his age - was being sought on warrants for fourth-degree arson, a felony, and misdemeanor counts of theft and assault, said police Sgt. Jim Sokolik. The suspect will likely be charged with first-degree criminal trespass stemming from the break-in, he said.

   The arrest at 3:10 p.m. ended a manhunt that began about noon when the boy ran away from police officers at a nearby Albertson's. He had eluded police earlier in the day, too; spotted at a Wal-Mart on Samuel Point, he bolted through an emergency exit and sprinted away.

   The episode on Saturday highlights one of the many uses of the city's automated notification system, which can send hundreds of prerecorded phone messages at once during emergencies such as wildfires, toxic spills, missing children and suspects on the run who may pose a danger.

   To place the calls, dispatchers select a geographic area using mapping software. The warnings are sent to listed and unlisted numbers. Cell phone numbers can be registered for the early warning system through the authority's Web site, at www.elpasoteller911.org.

   As many as 48 phone lines can be tapped at a time to place a maximum of 2,700 one-minute phone calls per hour, Troy Pring, a spokesman for the 911 Authority, said in an interview last winter.

   In the event of a largescale emergency, authorities can get access to more phone lines through the system manufacturer, Dialogic Communications Corp. of Franklin, Tenn., and place up to nearly 12,000 oneminute phone calls per hour.

   Automated phone calls typically display a local number on caller ID systems. The messages will be played on answering machines and voice mail systems in the event they are not answered.

   Residents in the Cheyenne Hills neighborhood called it a welcome feature.

   Arnold Jacobs took the heads-up to heart and checked his garage attic. He later joined his wife, Mary Lou, in exchanging information with a dozen neighbors who stuck around to watch the arrest.

   "We were all out here clapping for the police and that big, wonderful police dog," Mary Lou Jacobs said.

   The automated notification system was installed in September 2006 at the 10 call centers that make up the El Paso-Teller County Enhanced 911 Authority, at a cost of $200,000. The authority paid for the system using revenue from a 70-cent monthly tariff on telephone lines in El Paso and Teller counties.