NORWICH – On Friday morning schools in the Chenango County area were impacted by an electronic threat received by local students. The incident has been made part of a New York State Police investigation over a wider area of NY.

Police said they would look into each threat received.

"Through investigation, the threat appears to be false and has been received by students at schools statewide," reported the Norwich City Police in a statement.

DCMO BOCES, school districts, and police are responding with higher alertness and additional safety measures at schools.

“Thank you for your patience, as we investigated the phantom text. Through the investigation, we have determined the threat was not credible nor did it place NCSD as a target. This conclusion only occurred because of the efforts of our NYS Troopers and Norwich Police Dept.,” reported the Norwich City Schools on Facebook. The school also stated, ”There are multiple schools in multiple counties responding to this exact social media post.”

The Chenango County Sheriff's Office began investigating an initial incident reported in the Sherburne area, but then other schools were also impacted.

As the investigation progressed the threats, made on the social media app Snapchat, were seen as part of a larger tend.

The message effecting schools in Chenango County threaten a shooting at just after 12 p.m., and warned people to stay out of school.

For several hours a number of schools, including Norwich, BOCES, and others went into security lockdown.

During those times parents were not able to contact their children due to the security measures.

Images of a reported threat in a text message was shared on social media and circulated widely online causing many to express concern.

DCMO BOCES District Superintendent Perry Dewey said, “Unfortunately, the reckless actions of such threats causes DCMO BOCES to react in order to protect all students and staff safety. I would like to thank the students who cooperated with our safety team and to the families who were so patient and understanding throughout this process.”

Similar online threats, generated similar reactions from a number of New York schools in recent weeks. The messages are sometimes made from online sources difficult to track.

The Norwich City Police put out a statement Friday, “This morning we were made aware of a social media report about a disruption in schools today.

“The origin of this threat has been difficult to trace, but at this time it is unsubstantiated, and follows a pattern of previous similar social media false reports.”

Norwich Detective Sergeant Reuben Roach said local police would follow up on any threat and if it was locally made the people responsible would likely be caught.

However he also acknowledged the threat could be part of an online trend of messages coming from far away sources and sent to several places with the intention of causing hysteria.

He said those would be difficult to stop by local police and said greater resources would be required. This issue is what has prompted the state police response and possible federal assistance, he said.