Great Falls Emergency Alert Test Fails, County Ends CodeRED Contract

Cascade County has officially cut ties with CodeRED, the emergency alert system that was supposed to undergo a county-wide test last week. In a press release from the county, Sheriff Jesse Slaughter didn’t hold back, sharing that the county will be dropping the emergency service immediately.

What Happened To Code Red In Great Falls?

Cascade County Sheriff’s Office, Great Falls Police Department, and Great Falls Fire Rescue all spent weeks preparing for the test alert last week and even went as far as to urge residents to update their contact information. But early on Wednesday (11/12) morning, Great Falls police discovered the entire system was down according to a press release:

In contacting CodeRED customer support, we were advised that the CodeRED System was offline.  It was not until roughly 1300 MST November 11, 2025 that OnSolve, LLC  publicly announced a problem with the CodeRED System and that it had suspended access of the CodeRED platform due to potential security vulnerabilities.  It should go without saying that the fact that OnSolve, LLC took no steps whatsoever to notify Cascade County of the CodeRED System suspension PRIOR to such suspension is deeply troubling.

Talk about a bad first impression from OnSolve, huh? Hey, at least it happened now and not during a major disaster; could you imagine how that bad that would be?

What Happens Now? What’s Next For Cascade County Emergency Alert Services?

Cascade County says OnSolve provided no timeline for when CodeRED might return, no clear updates, and no reassurance beyond admitting the system remained non-operational with “no identified date” for restoration. Yikes!

ALSO READ: Montana Officials Looking For People Responsible For Illegally Killing 3 Elk

However, OnSolve did offer “temporary access” to its Crisis24 platform, but Sheriff Slaughter rejected it as “wholly inadequate,” explaining it would require importing all resident data into a system the county never vetted or contracted for. And the Sheriff didn't stop there when it came to protecting our personal data.

Not only did officials at Cascade County terminate the agreement but they also requested OnSolve "erase all county data" from its servers and confirm the deletion in writing.

And just like that... the CodeRED experiment in Cascade County is over.