Minor Snafu In Emergency Alert Communication

Some residents were upset about the emergency notification they received from the town of Enfield during the course of involving an armed man who barricaded himself inside his Circle Drive home, and eventually committed suicide.

On social media sites such as Facebook, some citizens said they received a garbled voicemail telling them to stay in their basements. Those residents said the message was incomplete, and did not indicate the specific area in crisis.

The town utilizes the Everbridge notification system, where residents can choose a variety of ways to be informed in case of emergencies.

Steven Hall, communications supervisor for the , said the initial notification about the situation was intended to reach 114 homes in the Circle Drive/Glenwood Street vicinity, informing them to seek refuge in their basements. However, that transmission went out townwide, causing some confusion for people who did not know the location in question.

Adding to the confusion was the fact that the automated voice translation read the Dr. in "Circle Dr." as "doctor".

"The text-to-voice capacity had some issue, because some of it was garbled," Hall said. "A representative from Everbridge is scheduled to come here next week to iron out any and all issues that could occur," Hall said.

Email notifications were clear because they were transmitted directly from the information Hall had input, he said.

A number of residents have expressed their gratitude to police officials for having such a notification system in place.

"Many folks have called Carol (Donle, the police chief's administrative assistant) and told her how happy they were with it," Hall said.