OKC launches Awareness Notification Form to aid first responders
Published on July 30, 2025
Oklahoma City officials launched an online Awareness Notification Form for residents and business owners to advise public safety officers of conditions that could influence emergency or medical response at their location.
“The online Awareness Notification Form gives residents an easier, more convenient way to proactively notify us about conditions that exist at their location and expands our current suite of online tools for our residents,” Oklahoma City Police Chief Ron Bacy said. “Knowing about these conditions beforehand helps us to send the appropriate response when possible.”
Previously, these conditions could only be reported through direct contact with a public safety officer. The information entered on the new Awareness Notification Form will be attached to the location, helping dispatchers in the 911 Communications Center send the most appropriate team to respond to the call.
Examples of the form’s use could include advising about individuals at a residence or business who have medical, mental or behavioral health conditions such as light or sound sensitivity, hearing loss, low vision or mobility issues.
“Residents who experience mental and behavioral health symptoms themselves or have a loved one with mental or behavioral health symptoms living in the home can use this form to let us know about conditions such as sensitivity to loud sirens or flashing lights.” Oklahoma City Fire Chief Richard Kelley said. “This helps us better respond to emergency calls at that location, perhaps by sending a member of our Mobile Integrated Healthcare team or simply quieting sirens or turning off the flashing lights as we approach the location.”
Chief Kelley added that having the Awareness Notification Form online is one additional way the City of Oklahoma City is reshaping its approach to public safety through offering an alternative response for those experiencing mental or behavioral health issues.
“Providing an online Awareness Notification Form is a great example of the City listening to the needs of its residents and providing a tool that enables individuals to proactively inform first responders when an alternative response to a 911 call may be needed,” said Frances Kersey, board president of National Alliance on Mental Illness Greater OKC and OKC’s Crisis Intervention Advisory Group member. “When trained dispatchers have information about a mental or behavioral health situation prior to sending a response, they have the potential to de-escalate a situation before first responders arrive, resulting in better outcomes for the individual and the first responder.”
Residents can submit an online Awareness Notification Form on okc.gov/awareness-form. The form expires one year from the date of submission.
Currently, the Awareness Notification Form is available in English only with future plans to make it available in Spanish and Vietnamese languages.
Residents who are unable to complete the Awareness Notification Form online can continue to contact the Oklahoma City Police Department at (405) 297-1189 to complete the form.
The availability of the online Awareness Notification Form helps advance the OKC Public Safety Partnership’s Recommendation 20, part of 39 recommendations delivered in a report to City Council in 2022 in an effort to enhance and refine community engagement and accountability in law enforcement policies.
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Media Contact: Kristy Yager, (405) 297-2550, kristy.yager@okc.gov