The Alvin ISD Police Department has received numerous calls and e-mail inquiries from throughout the region and from across the state in response to an e-mail alert that was erroneously sent out bearing the name of an AISD officer.

The e-mail, which was forwarded to an AISD officer, came from an officer in another law enforcement agency and purported to be a “Safety Bulletin” warning of “National Gang Week” activities.

Alvin ISD Police Chief Eugene Lewis said his office became aware of the e-mail’s circulation on Friday afternoon and initiated efforts to retract the communication. He said the incident has been a lesson for the officer who had good intentions but quickly discovered how fast information could spread over the Internet.

Eugene Lewis

“As a department we regret the officer disseminated the hoax e-mail without verifying the creditability of the source and regrets it has caused some unnecessary alarm,” Eugene said in a statement Tuesday.

Cmdr. Mike Putnal said the Alvin ISD police determined the information to be fictitious.

“We feel that the officer had good intentions and that he believed that since the e-mail came from a gang officer in another agency that it was valid information,” Putnal said in a statement.

“We have since investigated and determined that the information contained in the e-mail was unsubstantiated and the e-mail itself was a hoax, an “Urban Legend” that has been circulating on the Internet for a while,” Putnal stated.

Chief Lewis said he wants his officers to be conscientious “to keep our students and staff informed and alert to any situation that might threaten their safety or place them at risk.

“However, this situation will cause us to review the practice of sharing information with persons outside the department and will require some verification in the future before any information is sent from a department e-mail account,” Lewis said.

(Source: Alvin ISD Police Department)