A connected community is a safer community.  In an effort to help facilitate a virtual neighborhood watch program in Sacramento and to help foster neighbor-to-neighbor communications, the Sacramento Police Department has partnered with Nextdoor (www.nextdoor.com), the private social network for neighborhoods.

Nextdoor is free, and it provides a secure network for neighbors to collaborate with each other.  Residents in Sacramento neighborhoods can register as their own private Nextdoor neighborhood website, accessible only to residents of that neighborhood. Its members must provide residential verification before they can join and Nextdoor never shares personal information with any third parties.

By partnering with Nextdoor, the Sacramento Police Department will have the ability to deliver public safety information, crime prevention tips, and community activities to specific Nextdoor sites, or to larger areas within Sacramento.

Neighbors can log on to their computers to access the Nextdoor website, access it from the SacPD Mobile iPhone App, or download the Nextdoor iPhone App and connection to their neighbors is at their fingertips.

Starting next week, SacPD and Nextdoor will be hosting eight community meetings in each council district to introduce and explain this new technology.  The first meeting will be held in Council District 1 on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at Universal Technical Institute at 4100 Duckhorn Boulevard at 6:30 p.m.  We encourage the community to attend the meeting most convenient for them; additional meeting dates and times will be announced in the near future.

“All safe neighborhoods have one thing in common, they communicate with each other, and we just want to be a part of that,” said Sacramento Police Chief Sam Somers.  “Nextdoor provides a foundation that enables the community members to use a social networking tool to help us make a stronger and safer Sacramento.”

To join Nextdoor, visit the website to join your existing neighborhood website.  If your neighborhood has not yet established a website, you can start one.  For questions about this partnership contact the Sacramento Police Department Public Information Office at 916-808-0808 or help.nextdoor.com.