Within an instant, emergency information - major accidents, child abductions, or an unthinkable calamity - can be sent immediately to county residents’ cell phones.
The county District Attorney’s Office unveiled a new citizen alert program on Tuesday, called the Wayne County Law Enforcement Alert Network, or Wayne C.L.E.A.N.
State police and local law enforcement agencies will now be able to send text messages to cell phones, letting residents know, for example, to be wary of a certain crime that just occurred or asking them to be on the lookout for a suspect, or a lost family member.
Only residents, who willingly sign up for the program on a county website, will receive these emergency alerts.
Wayne C.L.E.A.N. multiplies “the eyes and ears of our ... law enforcement agencies,” said district attorney Michael Lehutsky at the county commissioner’s Tuesday meeting.
It will “partner law enforcement with the residents of our county in a useful and valuable way,” he added. “The system is up and running now.”
Showing the validity of an instant alert system, Lehutsky cited the Virginia Tech massacre - a shooting incident on a college campus that reached tragic proportions over a two-hour time frame, resulting in 32 deaths from one gunman.
The public can, perhaps, prevent an incident like this from escalating by calling a phone number listed on the text message alert - providing pertinent, quick information and eyes-on-the-street updates to law enforcement.
Wayne C.L.E.A.N. is similar to the AMBER Alert Program, which assists in the search for missing children, through wireless and television broadcasts. 
Police will also text message updates concerning alerts previously issued.
There is no charge for subscribing to the service, but there may be charges for receiving text alert messages based upon the details of an individual’s cell phone plan.
To sign-up, go to: www.co.wayne.pa.us/WayneCLEAN/