Nutley Police, FBI Respond To ‘Suspicious’ Package Found Near Schools: Cleared

NUTLEY, NJ — Nutley police say that a report of a “suspicious package” that later turned out to be a harmless, homemade battery charger spurred emergency measures at two local schools on Thursday.

According to the Nutley Police Department, officers received an FBI alert about a suspicious package in the basement of a building on Franklin Avenue. Nutley police and fire crews, along with Essex County Sheriff officers, then took the “necessary precautions to safeguard the community” while they investigated the package.

Authorities placed two elementary schools in the area on “secure in place” status while police cordoned off a perimeter. Police shut down Franklin Avenue and the surrounding streets from 11:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

A bomb squad and an FBI task force then investigated the package, finding it to be “nothing more than a device made by a resident to charge car batteries,” Nutley police said.

No children or residents were in harm’s way at any time during the encounter, police stated.

Nutley Police Director Alphonse Petracco praised the caller who alerted the FBI and said that he and Police Chief Thomas Strumolo maintained constant communication with the Nutley Board of Education and township officials throughout the incident.

“The device was unusual and I can see why someone would be concerned,” Strumolo said. “However, after a brief investigation and interview with the resident who made it, [we determined it] to be no threat at all.”