Arlington Alert sends people who either live or work in Arlington County text messages. Individuals choose how they want to receive messages -- on their mobile phones, pagers, and/or in their e-mail boxes. These messages warn people about emergency situations.

About Arlington Alert
The Office of Emergency Management, in consultation with other relevant County departments or regional and  state government entities, decides when to issue Arlington Alerts. The alerts go to subscribers who can choose both the device upon which to receive the alerts and sub-categories of alerts. These messages are usually issued to provide emergency information specific to Arlington; although, Arlington sometimes cooperates with other jurisdictions to issue messages on region-wide events or concerns. Arlington Alert is not a crime alert and/or a transit update service.  Typical alert messages:

1. Events, either natural or man-made, that pose a threat to health/safety.
2. Serious, sudden or long-term traffic disruptions.
3. Unusual weather events.
4. Cyber alerts.

Visit the County website for Crime Reports.

Sign up with WMATA for Metro Alerts.

Be Informed
Unless people are in the immediate area to witness an emergency situation, the chance that they will be quickly alerted to important safety information is minimal. Because text messaging is used by many people, it is an efficient effective means to immediately alert a segment of the population who can then warn others.

Sign Up
There is no cost to register for Arlington Alert. All it takes is completing a simple form. Each registrant chooses the devices on which he/she wants to receive messages. A test of the system is run periodically.