BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Thousands of Bakersfield homes got late night calls from the police, and that worried some residents. But, it was the department's Rapid Notify system being used to put out the alert on a missing woman.

Michele Johnson got the call around 10:45 p.m. on Wednesday, and she was a bit rattled by it.

"It was an automated voice notifying us that there was a woman who was missing and that she had Down Syndrome," Johnson told Eyewitness News on Thursday.

Police had reported the 24-year-old woman was considered "at risk" because she had the mental capacity of an eight-year-old, and she was unfamiliar with the area near Harris Road and Gosford Road where she was last seen on Wednesday.

By 11:00 p.m. she was spotted safe and sound by workers in a McDonald's on Ming Avenue. But, by then police had put out the missing person report to the media, and started the automatic phone calls.

Those messages went out to an area from White Lane to Panama Lane, and from Stine to Old River Road. Bakersfield Police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said that was a total of 12,893 households.

Police say the automated service can be programmed to call phones from lists, or in a geographic area. They estimate some 150 calls a minute can be placed.

In this case, they started the call-out at 9:19 p.m. But, DeGeare said by 9:37 p.m. they discovered a glitch -- the messages that went out were blank. Police called the company that operates the service, and they fixed the problem.

They started the call-out again just after 10:00. DeGeare said it took about an hour and 15 minutes to make all the calls in the designated area -- so some people did get calls pretty late.

By Thursday morning, the department was receiving calls complaining about the service.

" We got a lot of calls from people," DeGeare said. "Some people were very angry the calls were very late. But, once the situation was explained, to most -- they accepted that. Some people were still angry."

Johnson said she got calls from neighbors who also wondered about the late-night message from the police. And they had wondered why they were called.

But, she said the idea of reaching people in a given area with an alert seemed appropriate.

"If i had a loved-one missing, I would want the information to go out," Johnson said.

DeGeare said some people reached by the automated phone calls went out with flashlights, trying to look for the missing woman.

She said when the woman was found at the McDonald's -- staff in the communications center took it upon themselves to call those citizens back and let them know the missing woman had been found.

The department uses the automated call-out system based on a set of guidelines, and those call for using Rapid Notify in situations like shootings, murders, assaults, bomb call-outs, plane crashes or major road closures.

The guidelines also call for use during certain investigations.

"Rapid Notify should be used during investigations of missing 'at risk' juveniles or adults; confirmed attempted child abductions; or confirmed annoying / molesting child investigations," the guidelines say.

DeGeare said Wednesday's case with the missing woman with Down Syndrome fit the guidelines, and using the system was the right thing to do.

"If the situation were to arise again, we would do it again," DeGeare said.

As a neighbor, Michele Johnson agrees with using the new technology.

"Knowing about it now, I think it's probably a really good idea."