Public Safety and Public Notification/Warning

The incident yesterday where a suspicious killing happened in our community and the perpetrator remains at large, exposes gaps in being able to rapidly notify the public when there is danger, or a threat to their safety and well-being. The best public system we have available to use that can reach the most amount of people using the greatest number of methods, (e.g., cell phone, home phone, and email) is the Vermont Alert System (VTAlert). Registration is free and you can pick and choose your alert area (community) and can choose what type of alerts you want to receive. I encourage all residents to register as a user in the VTAlert system and be part of a larger community awareness network. The more people we can reach in the time of emergencies or during a public safety incident, the more eyes are out there to report information that could prove valuable to the catching a dangerous person at large, or provide warning of natural or man-made disaster incidents, or provide situational awareness information from areas all across the community. Sometimes (most of the time), early warning, detection, and alerts provide for a better outcome of bad situations. Emergency notifications could be weather related emergencies, hazardous material spills on highways and railways that would jeopardize public safety or the environment, amber/missing person(s) alerts, mass casualty/mass shooting incidents, to health and safety threats.

Please, log into the Vermont Emergency Management website at https://vem.vermont.gov/vtalert and register today. One team, one fight.

Thanks,

Mike

MICHAEL A. JONES
Town Manager/Emergency Management Director
Road Commissioner/Police Commissioner
Delinquent Tax Collector
Town of Castleton, Vermont
email: manager@castletonvt.org
Office: (802) 468-5319 ext. 203