Emergency in Bridgewater? Nixle Has the News

With the hope of finding additional ways to communicate with residents during emergencies, the Bridgewater Township Police Department is rejoining the Nixle system for alerts.

According to Bridgewater Township Police Chief Richard Borden, they were originally one of the first police departments in Somerset County to join the Nixle alert system.

But soon after, the department eliminated it.

“Originally, the service was cost free, and then fees were placed on the use, and citizen interest was lacking, so the program was vacated,” Borden said.

Recently, Borden said, the fees were eliminated, so the department joined again.

The service was reinstated in Bridgewater, effective Dec. 4, and allows the department to create and publish messages that are sent directly to residents who are subscribed through cell phone text messages or emails.

These messages, according to a release from the department, will include road closures, power outages, construction alerts, emergency situations and more.

Residents can decide what departments to receive alerts from, as well as how to receive them.

At a council meeting in early November, one local resident expressed concern that the Nixle system was not used during Superstorm Sandy.

“This was the storm of a lifetime, I understand,” said Madison Avenue resident Tom Herbst. “The first concern is how has this council prepared to notify residents of anything pre, during or post.”

Herbst, a police officer himself in Manville, said he would have liked to see the use of the Nixle system, in addition to the posts on the township website, police Facebook page and other locations.

And now, with the fees eliminated, the police have returned to using Nixle.

“Following Hurricane Sandy, we have been looking for additional ways to notify citizens of emergency-related information to supplement those already in place,” Borden said. “We once again are putting the service out to our citizens to register.”

For more information, or to register to begin receiving the alerts, visit nixle.com.

What do you think about the use of this system?