More News

To keep the Thurmont community updated on safety concerns, the Thurmont Police Department has implemented a new Community Alert System.

The e-mail-based technology is available to all residents and businesses owners in Thurmont.

Lt. Allen Droneburg of the Thurmont Police Department said the purpose of the system is to keep the community updated on items that are not big enough to be "press worthy," but are still of interest to the community.

Acting as a group e-mail list, residents and businesses that sign up will be informed via of incidents that may concern them.

Droneburg said examples of minor incidents include houses being assailed by BB guns or suspicious individuals looking into parked car windows. Business owners would also be alerted of pertinent issues, such as persons committing check and credit card fraud.

"We are going to be the sender of important information," Droneburg said. "When they pull up their computer, if there is any information of interest to them, they will see it there."

The alert system will have several groups, some for varying businesses, and others that will serve different neighborhoods. By doing this, Droneburg said, police would be able to focus e-mails to communities they pertain to.

Additionally, if an incident arises that concerns the whole town, the police will be able to alert all of the community members in the system.

The Thurmont Police Department hopes that all town residents and businesses take advantage of the new system. To sign up for the program, residents and businesses are asked to provide the Thurmont Police Department with their name, name of business, address and e-mail address and note on their correspondence to add them to the Community Alert System.

Admission is rolling and contacts will continue to be added as they are submitted. Contact the department at thurmontpolice@fredco-md.net.

The new system will cost the department nothing, according to Droneburg.

E-mail David Koontz at dkoontz@gazette.net.