AUBURN – It’s called Reverse 911, but it’s anything but backward.

In fact, Andy D’Eramo says the program is another example that “technology never ceases to amaze.”

Lewiston-Auburn’s 911 Communications Center has had the Reverse 911 computer program available for the past couple of years, says D’Eramo, the center’s director. The program has a database allowing authorities to call a large number of people in targeted neighborhoods.

Its intended use is to caution a group of residents about road closings, flood threats, fires or hazardous materials incidents in their area.

Reverse 911 had been booted up and ready to use two or three times before July 11, but “it was never launched,” D’Eramo said Thursday. It was on that Sunday night, though.

And once Reverse 911 was put into use – for a need that hadn’t been anticipated – results came quickly.

Lewiston police Lt. Paul C. Harmon said the center’s use of the program helped to quickly locate a missing 7-year-old child.

He said that on July 11, at 10:19 p.m., a resident of 184 Bartlett St. called police to report her young son was missing.

The mother had already been looking for the boy for more than an hour at that point.

Several police officers soon joined her in the search, beginning to canvass the neighborhood for word of the child.

D’Eramo said that’s when police and dispatchers were inspired to put Reverse 911 into play.

Soon, a message had been recorded and the computer began calling all residential telephones in the Bartlett Street area, giving people a description of the child police were searching for and a number to call.

Between 12:18 and 12:31 a.m., D’Eramo said the computer program completed about 60 calls out of the 441 numbers targeted.

Thirty-two of those 60 reached someone, while the rest went to answering machines, he said. One of the 32 calls paid off. It led to information that sent police to the missing boy – visiting at a friend’s house on Horton Street. The child had told his friend’s family that he had permission to the spend the night, police said.

“Within 2.5 hours we had this child back with his mom,” said Lewiston police Sgt. David St. Pierre, who supervised the search. “Without this equipment, we would have had officers out searching all night.”

D’Eramo said police and dispatchers deserve a pat on the back for their creative use of the computer program.

Using it to pass along information about a missing child, including a description and how to contact police with information, proved to be an added benefit of the new system, he said.