Civil Alert Text Message Creates Flurry

officials squelched all rumors about a “civil alert” text message that went out to a random assortment of Verizon customers this afternoon, Verizon issued its own statement calling it a test.

NJ State Police, in turn, sent out a statement to area police.

Via alerts from the township Web site that the message that said, “Civil Alert. Seek shelter before 1:24 p.m.” was “false,” the rumor was put to rest.

After all the rumor squelching, Verizon issued a statement. State Police communicated the following to Middletown police:

"Verizon Wireless has confirmed that the previous 'CMAS Alert' was inadvertently transmitted earlier in the day. They stated that the alert was part of an internal test of their communications systems and they are unaware of how many of their customers were inconvenienced by the error."

Verizon's statement reads: "This test message was not clearly identified as a test. We apologize for any inconvenience or concern this message may have caused."

Before that memo was circulated, Sgt. First Class William Colangelo, who heads homeland security for the , said that from what he knew, “random Verizon customers in Monmouth and Ocean counties were affected. Apparently it’s a hoax.”

Saying that it “doesn’t seem like a big deal in our police department,” Colangelo said that Middletown police did not field many calls on the subject.

Saying that he thought the rumor was limited in its scope, Colangelo added that there were a few inter-departmental emails circulated and that was the extent of it.

Detective Lt. Steve Dollinger, who is commander of the department’s Detective Bureau, had not yet heard about the phony text alert.

“CURRENTLY THERE IS NO ALERT. THE MESSAGE IS FALSE,” highlights the statement on the township Web site.  “The appropriate agencies are working to identify the source,” it added.