Questions Surround Emergency Alert Systems Following Manhunt

It was the morning following the tumultuous, blustering night of Hurricane Irene. Roads had flooded, homes had lost power, and in Warwick Township, Bucks County SWAT teams had deployed to search for an armed, suspected killer.

For many residents, that last fact didn't come to light until the manhunt was well underway.

When Warwick police officers discovered the truck belonging to Leonard John Egland in the parking lot of Giovanni's Pizza around 4 a.m. Sunday morning, they began searching the immediate area. At that point, Egland of killing three people in Chesterfield, Va., one person in Buckingham and injuring a Doylestown and a Dublin police officer.

As the officers approached a Dumpster behind the Lukoil gas station on Almshouse and York roads, Egland began firing at the officers with a rifle and fled into the nearby wooded area.

Knowing Egland, an Army officer who had served overseas in Iraq, was armed with a handgun and rifle and was on foot in the area, Warwick Chief of Police Mark Goldberg made the call to activate Bucks County's Roam Secure Alert Network (RSAN) to notify residents of the dangerous situation.

Set up in 2008, RSAN is a community alert network that transmits emergency notifications through e-mails, text messages, pagers and automated cell phone calls.

The trick to getting the alerts - and one of the reasons Chief Goldberg thinks some residents didn't receive them - is that you must register your contact information online at readynotifypa.org.

"I publicize the service every chance I get," said Goldberg. "It's on the township website, the county website, on the township television channel and I put in the township newsletter."

Bucks County Public Information Officer Christopher Edwards says there are currently 10,000 registered users for RSAN throughout the county. He hopes that the double whammy of Hurricane Irene and the manhunt encourages more people to take advantage of the system, especially since September is National Preparedness Month.

"We use it for weather warnings, such as hurricanes and snow conditions," said Edwards. "People can also get road alerts, health alerts and crime alerts."

Edwards is also aware that some people that have signed up for RSAN did not receive any alerts during the ordeal and said that the Bucks County Emergency Management is analyzing the system to find out why.

"There's always room for improvement," said Edwards. "But, I think, overall we did okay."

At around 3:40 Sunday afternoon, Warwick officers discovered the body of Egland, whose death was later ruled a suicide by Bucks County Coroner Joseph Campbell. Egland is suspected of killing his estranged wife, Carrie, her boyfriend Scott Allred and his 7-year-old son Morgan, and Carrie's mother, Barbara Ruehl.

Early Sunday morning, Egland left his young daughter, Lauryn, at St. Luke's Hospital in Quakertown before heading to Doylestown, where he shot at police, wounding Doylestown Borough . The bullet was removed from Hilton’s wrist this week, and by Wednesday, he was home recovering, Doylestown Police Chief Jim Donnelly told DoylestownPatch.

On Monday, Goldberg received mixed feedback from township residents about the communication. Those who received the notifications expressed gratitude, while the rest expressed unhappiness at the lack of information during the ordeal.

"Some suggested we should have patrolled the neighborhoods with a bullhorn announcing the situation," Goldberg said. "But I didn't have any officers left. All personnel were either participating in the manhunt or managing the effects of the hurricane."