In October of 2013 the Chandler Police Department added the Community Emergency Notification System (CENS) as a way to rapidly notify a specific area of the city of an emergency. CENS, also known as Reverse 9-1-1, sends a recorded message to business and land-line telephones to notify residents of emergencies, weather-related events, missing children or vulnerable adults, and police incidents. To date, the Department has successfully utilized CENS on similar types of events.
CENS also has the ability to notify residents through a cellular phone. Users must register their cellular phones with Maricopa Region 911 to receive these notifications. This is the only way for CENS to notify residents in an affected area if they do not have a land-line telephone in their homes.