Hackettstown Police Upgrade the Town's Emergency Alert System

If the phone rings Sunday at noon, it'll be the Hackettstown Police.

That phone call is a dry run of a new emergency alert service the police department as signed onto - NIXLE 360. If you're already on the PD's alert system, you're already familiar with NIXLE. It's a system in place in Hackettstown for over a year that alerts residents via text and email about an emergency situation of which they need to be aware.

NIXLE 360 represents an upgrade of the existing emergency notification system, said Sgt. Darren Tynan. The new system will allow not only emails and text alerts, but phone calls as well - such as the test phone call residents will get this Sunday at noon.

The alerts will only be used in emergencies such as evacuations, when snow emergencies are declared or other situations where the Hackettstown residents need to be informed of important information, Tynan said.

Typical messages that are sent out via NIXLE 360 can range from urgent emergency and crime alerts to day-to-day information including traffic advisories, missing person reports, public safety announcements, weather alerts and other information of interest to Hackettstown residents.

Hackettstown residents and individuals that would like to receive the real-time Nixle text notifications can still text “07840” to 888-777 (to only receive information on their cell phones.) 

The Sunday dry run test calls will show up the glitches. For example, if you are an individual who receives the phone call and doesn’t live in the Hackettstown or a resident who lives in Hackettstown and didn’t receive the test call, you can email Sgt. Darren Tynan at hpd34@hackettstownpd.net to straighten it out.