How Tacoma Uses Genasys Protect for Reliable Emergency Alerting

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Tieka Adeogun, Chief Emergency Management Officer for the City of Tacoma, discusses how Tacoma uses Genasys Protect for emergency alerting and public safety communications.

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Introduction

When emergency alerts involve smoke, shelter information, road closures, or major public events, public safety teams need to know their messages went out. That was the problem facing the City of Tacoma, Washington, after its previous alerting system left operators unsure whether critical messages had actually been sent.

In this customer interview, Tieka Adeogun, Chief Emergency Management Officer for the City of Tacoma, explains why the city chose Genasys Protect and how reliable public alerting supports a community of 230,000 people. She shares how Tacoma is using the platform to strengthen Tacoma Alert, prepare for World Cup 26 fan-zone communications, support multilingual sign-ups, and reach more residents.

Quick answer

The City of Tacoma uses Genasys Protect as its emergency alerting and mass notification platform for public safety messaging. Tacoma uses the platform for emergency alerts, general community updates, World Cup 26 fan-zone sign-ups, multilingual communication options, and visibility into where residents are registering for Tacoma Alert.

Since implementing Genasys Protect, Tacoma has more confidence in message delivery, more flexibility in the types of alerts it sends, and stronger visibility into public reach, including growth in areas where alert adoption had previously been weaker.

Key takeaways

Tacoma needed more confidence in emergency alert delivery. Its previous system logged operators out after alerts were sent, making it hard to confirm whether life-safety messages reached the public.
Genasys Protect gave the city a more reliable alerting platform. Tacoma valued the test environment, onboarding support, and ability to check how many people were reached in a given area.
World Cup 26 planning is a major use case. Tacoma created a dynamic group for World Cup 26 fan-zone communications so visitors can sign up with a keyword and receive relevant updates.
Tacoma now uses alerting beyond emergencies. The city can send general messages about shelters, heating and cooling centers, road closures, local events, and other public information.
The city is reaching more people. Tacoma has seen registrations grow in areas where it previously had weaker reach, including double-digit daily growth in parts of northeast Tacoma.

Why Tacoma needed a more reliable alerting system

Not being able to confirm whether alerts had gone out with their previous emergency alerting system created a serious operational problem for Tacoma.

Tieka Adeogun explains that the system would kick users out after they sent an alert. It could then take several minutes to log back in and check whether the alert had been sent and how many people received it.

For emergency managers, that uncertainty created a serious software issue. Tacoma sends smoke alerts and other life-safety messages that tell people what to do during real incidents. If operators cannot quickly confirm delivery, they lose confidence in the system at the exact moment reliability matters most.

That need for certainty shaped Tacoma’s decision to move to Genasys Protect.

How Tacoma uses Genasys Protect for emergency and community messaging

Tacoma uses Genasys Protect for both emergency alerts and broader public information.

For World Cup 26, the city created a dynamic group dedicated to fan-zone communications. Visitors can sign up using a keyword, and Tacoma can manage the group as needed. Adeogun also notes that the platform allows the city to add languages it may not have had available before, when those options are supported in the system.

The city also uses Genasys Protect for general messaging. That includes shelter information, heating and cooling center updates, road closures, local events, and other community notices.

This matters because not every resident wants the same type of alert. Some people only want emergency alerts. Others want weather alerts or general updates about what is happening around the city. Genasys Protect helps Tacoma listen to those preferences and give residents more control over the information they receive.

What changed after implementation

Since implementing Genasys Protect, Tacoma has seen stronger community reach through Tacoma Alert.

Adeogun says the city can see where people are signing up through the app and map. That visibility helps the emergency management team understand where alert adoption is growing and where more outreach may be needed.

She specifically points to northeast Tacoma, where registrations are growing by double digits every day in areas where the city previously had weaker reach.

Tacoma has also engaged tribal partners and helped them get set up on the same system for World Cup communications. Those partners are encouraging tribal members to sign up for Tacoma Alert through Genasys so the city can support emergency alerting with them as well.

How Genasys Protect supports this use case

Genasys Protect is a public safety and emergency management platform that helps agencies plan for, manage, communicate during, and recover from critical events and during routine operations. For Tacoma, the platform supports reliable emergency notifications, flexible audience groups, multilingual communication options, World Cup 26 fan-zone messaging, and visibility into community reach.

Tacoma’s experience shows how those capabilities support both urgent alerts and everyday public information. The city uses Genasys Protect for smoke alerts, shelter updates, road closures, World Cup 26 fan-zone messaging, community sign-ups, and outreach to partner groups.

The result is a more flexible alerting program. Tacoma can send time-sensitive public safety messages, support event-specific communication, and track where community adoption is growing.

FAQ

Why did Tacoma choose Genasys Protect?

Tacoma chose Genasys Protect because the city needed a reliable emergency alerting system for a population of 230,000 people. Its previous system created uncertainty around whether alerts were actually delivered.

How does Tacoma use Genasys Protect for World Cup 26?

Tacoma created a dynamic World Cup 26 group for fan-zone communications. People can sign up using a keyword, and the city can manage those contacts as needed for event-related messaging.

How does Genasys Protect support community messaging?

Tacoma uses Genasys Protect to send more than emergency alerts. The city can also share updates about shelters, heating and cooling centers, road closures, local events, weather information, and other public notices.

What public safety improvements has Tacoma seen?

Tacoma has seen more people signing up for Tacoma Alert, including growth in areas where the city previously had weaker reach. Adeogun also says the city can now see where people are registering through the app and map.

Would Tacoma recommend Genasys Protect?

Yes. Adeogun recommends Genasys Protect for its reliability, customer support, onboarding experience, and understanding of what emergency alerting means for emergency management and public safety teams.

Customer quotes

“Genasys went out of their way to make sure that their platform worked for us, showing us different ways to send messages… so we could see the number of people that we were reaching in an area.”
“There hasn’t been a time where I felt like we’ve lacked or been missing pieces to this puzzle. It’s been a system that’s consistent from customer service to the actual use of this system.”
“The biggest thing about Genasys is that they understand the importance of emergency alerting and what it means to us in emergency management or public safety.”
“Public safety outcomes have been huge. And that’s largely because of the ease of use of the system. We know for a fact we’re reaching more people. When you open the app or open the map, you can see areas where people are signing up… We’re watching those numbers (sign ups) grow where we didn’t have a good reach before. Those numbers keep growing by the double digits every day.”

Speaker

Tieka Adeogun
Chief Emergency Management Officer, City of Tacoma

Tieka Adeogun leads emergency management for the City of Tacoma, Washington. In this interview, she speaks from direct experience implementing Genasys Protect and using it to support emergency alerting, community messaging, World Cup 26 planning, and public safety outreach.

Build a more reliable alerting program for your community.
Contact Genasys to learn how Genasys Protect helps public safety agencies send emergency alerts, support community messaging, and improve visibility into public reach.

Full Transcript

The following transcript is provided for accessibility and search visibility. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

Yeah, so we are City of Tacoma in Washington State, which is in Pierce County, Washington, where our city is 230,000 people big. And I’m the Chief Emergency Management Officer for this city, so I do all the emergency management work for the City of Tacoma.

Question: What challenges were you facing before implementing Genasys Protect?

With our previous software system, some of the challenges that we had were we weren’t really sure if our messages were actually being sent because we’d be kicked out of the system.

So once we sent the alert, the system would kick us out and it would take us several minutes to get back in and actually see if the alert sent and how many people the alert was sent to. And so when we’re thinking about that from a life safety perspective, it just doesn’t work for us, right, because we’re sending smoke alerts, telling people to stay indoors. And so that was the biggest challenge was the uncertainty of whether or not our alerts were being sent to the public.

Question: What made you choose Genasys?

Genasys was a system that just seemed to work for us. From the moment we got to play with the test environment, we got to see how it worked, and all of the people that helped support us being onboarded, it was the best choice we could have made for a city our size, right? 230,000 people, it has to be reliable. And so Genasys went out of their way to make sure that their platform worked for us, showing us different ways to send messages, how to triangulate so we could go back and check and we could see the number of people that we were reaching in an area.

Question: How have you used the system so far?

So far, we’ve used the system really when it comes to World Cup. One thing we’ve been able to do is set up a dynamic group that is dedicated to World Cup 26. And that’s because Tacoma is what we call a fan zone.

So a lot of fans will be coming here to our venues to watch the games. And so we’ve created a sign up with a keyword so people can start signing up. And we’ve been able to test that, have individuals sign up and be able to remove them accordingly as needed.

And it’s perfect for us because we get to add in languages that we may not have had before if it’s available on the system.

Question: How does Genasys Protect change how you do your job?

It allows us to be more involved with the community and how we’re messaging. So with our previous system, one thing we did was only send emergency alerts because we were already uncertain whether or not the system would allow us to send those alerts.

But it’s allowed us to also use general messaging. And so we can tell community members where to go for shelter, heating or cooling events where they can stay, get warm or stay cold or cool off a little bit. It’s also allowed us to instruct them of what’s going on around the city.

So we can use general alerting to say roads are closed or events are happening. So individuals who have signed up for that can stay in the know of what’s going on in Tacoma. It helps us because we get to listen to people, right? We get to understand what they want from their alerting system, whether they want emergency alerts only, whether they want weather alerts, or if they just want some general messaging.

So it’s allowed us to really have that interaction with them more, as I mentioned before. And so it’s allowed us to listen to the community, bring them in and hear what they want from an alerting system. It’s easier for them to sign up.

And we just keep watching those numbers grow as we continue to push Tacoma Alert through Genasys for the community.

Question: Have you noticed any improvements in public safety outcomes since using Genasys Protect?

Yeah, public safety outcomes has been huge. We get to watch our numbers, as I mentioned, grow.

And that’s largely because of the ease of use of the system. And so we know for a fact we’re reaching more people. When you open the app or open the map, you can see areas where people are signing up.

And those are some of the areas where we’re watching those numbers grow where we didn’t have a good reach before. So we’re watching those areas in the northeast. Those numbers keep growing by the double digits every day.

And so we’re really excited about that. We’ve also been able to engage with our tribal partners and get them set up on the same system so that they’re able to use it for World Cup. And they’re also encouraging their tribal members to sign up for Tacoma Alert through Genasys so that we can support emergency alerting with them as well.

Question: What would you say to someone considering Genasys Protect?

I would say jump on that train. It’s an awesome train to be on. I think along with the phenomenal service we’ve gotten from members to make sure we were very much so onboarded and comfortable with using the system, which is a big deal, the system has gone out of its way to show us that it’s going to do exactly what we need it to do.

And so there hasn’t been a time where I felt like we’ve lacked or been missing pieces to this puzzle. But it’s been a system that’s consistent from customer service to the actual use of this system. And so I would tell anybody to take a chance on something that’s going to work for them so that they can do emergency alerting.

I think the biggest thing about Genasys is that they understand the importance of emergency alerting and what it means to us in emergency management or public safety to have that ability. And so working with those individuals and making sure they’re hearing and meeting our needs has been wonderful. And so I’d recommend it to anybody who wants to use it.

Thank you.