Sheriff: Political texts labeled 'Kootenai Sheriff Alert' not from sheriff's office

COEUR d'ALENE — Some county residents may have received text message that mimic an emergency alert. Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said the political text messages received Monday did not originate from his office. 

The messages are labeled "Kootenai Sheriff Alert" and appear to be from local precinct committeemen, according to screenshots taken of the messages. Norris said the label may give voters the false impression that the messages come from the county’s official notification system.

"We can't have people impersonating an emergency notification system because it devalues the system in case of a real emergency," Norris said. "The sheriff's office would never, ever use the emergency notification system for political purposes."