Prince William County Achieves Compliance with Virginia’s Marcus Alert System Through Rave 911 Suite and Smart911

The Marcus-David Peters Act was signed into law in late 2020 and has become known as the Marcus Alert. This act is a comprehensive approach to ensuring that Virginia provides a health-focused and trauma-informed response to behavioral health emergencies.

Marcus Alert System

Virginia has used the act to institute the Marcus Alert System, which establishes statewide mental health awareness response and community understanding services. The legislation also requires localities to establish a voluntary database that is made available to 9-1-1 to provide mental health information and emergency contact information for use in emergency response situations by July 1, 2021.

Rave911 Suite and Smart 911 Program

Prince William County is already in compliance thanks to its ongoing use of the Rave 911 Suite and Smart911 Program, a national service that allows individuals to provide 9-1-1 call takers and first responders with critical information through a Safety and Vulnerable Needs Profile.

When residents sign up for Smart911, their Safety Profiles display on the 9-1-1 screen and allow 9-1-1 call takers to view key information, such as addresses, mental health and medical information, photos, emergency contacts and more. Residents are in complete control of what information is included in their Safety Profile and can choose which information they want shared with 9-1-1.

With the Rave 911 Suite, 9-1-1 Public Safety call takers also have access to capabilities such as live video streaming, photos, call notes, caller location and two-way text chat—all of which help Prince William County's first responders provide a better informed response to residents. Smart911 works for all phones, including landlines, mobile and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to provide the broadest coverage for Virginia residents who sign up for the Smart911 Safety and Vulnerable Needs Profiles.

"Our goal, first and foremost, is to provide the best possible public safety and emergency response services to the residents of Prince William County, and mental health awareness is a critical component of that mission," said Eddie Reyes, director of Prince William County Public Safety Communications. "Our use of the Rave 911 Suite and Smart911 extends beyond compliance with the Marcus Alert System, giving our 9-1-1 call takers and first responders the tools, data and resources needed to best protect the community, no matter the crisis."

In addition to its use of the Smart911 and Rave 911 Suite to address mental health awareness response, Prince William County also has a Co-Responder Program that pairs mental health clinicians with police officers trained in crisis intervention for response to emergency calls involving a mental health crisis.
Individuals are encouraged to create their Safety Profile with Smart911 today to have their information immediately available to 9-1-1 and to receive emergency notifications. Smart911 is private and secure, and information is only made available to the 9-1-1 system in the event of an emergency call. To create a Smart911 profile, visit the Smart911 registration page.

A Community Partnership

Prince William County is the first jurisdiction to implement the Marcus Alert System, in collaboration with Public Safety, Community Services, law enforcement and community stakeholders. The Department of Community Services will establish a Missions Workgroup, as a part of the system implementation, to help them obtain community input to prioritize the needs of the County's behavioral health crisis system.

Opportunities to provide feedback include participating in a survey and focus groups, and Community Services will share these details in the coming weeks. For now, individuals interested in participating in the Missions Workgroup can visit the application webpage to apply online by April 30. Submit questions about the workgroup to [email protected].