Politics & Government

Residents Can Once Again Receive Emergency Information Via Text, Internet

Cranford Police will re-implement the Nixle Alert System.

After nearly four months, Cranford residents will once again have the opportunity receive alerts about road closures, flooding and storm announcements right on their cell phones or through email.

The is planning to begin the re-implementation of the Nixle Alert System. The Nixle Alert System allows the police department to send important community information directly to residents using technology such as email and texting. The Nixle Service also allows police to create and publish messages to be delivered to subscribed residents instantly via cellular phone text message and/or e-mail. Notifications can also be accessed online at Nixle’s web site.

"In April of this year, we sent out a press release stating we were ending our use of Nixle due to a business decision by Nixle to change our free service to a paid service at a cost of $3,000-$5,000 per year. We felt this cost was not in the best interest of the taxpayers. Today we were notified that Nixle has changed their decision regarding costs and will again offer public safety agencies the full use of the Nixle Alert System at no cost," Sgt. Gerard Quinn said in a press release.

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When police officials made the announcement in April, they indicated that while the department wouldn't be using Nixle for traffic and community messages, it would keep the service for emergency storm alerts, and encourage residents to follow the Cranford Police Department on both Facebook and Twitter in order to view important announcements. The department initially began using the Nixle service in August of 2010.

Messages sent to residents who sign up for Nixle may include traffic updates and road closures, emergency storm and flood notifications, as well as Amber Alerts and other relevant safety and community event information.

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“We are pleased to again offer Nixle as a way to communicate with the public in a concise and timely manner,” Police Chief Eric Mason said.

According to police, the service is free for governmental use.

"The messages are generally targeted specifically to residents registered within and immediately near a specific community, giving them the opportunity to receive trustworthy information relevant only to their neighborhood. Residents decide from which local agencies they want to receive information. Subscribers can choose the way in which alerts are received, whether it is by email, text message, or via the Internet," Cranford police indicated.

Another positive part of the service is that it will not allow spam to come through. Ther era also no "hidden costs" also cell phone users will be charged standard text messaging rates depending on their service plan.

"Nixle builds on the foundations of other public-to-public communication services and will work in conjunction with the department’s Facebook and Twitter accounts," the press release stated.

In order to sign up for Nixle, Cranford residents and those living in neighboring communities, can go to www.nixle.com.


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