Montgomery County, TX – February 17, 2017 – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office announced Feb. 17 a partnership with Nextdoor (nextdoor.com), the private social network for neighborhoods, to improve countywide and neighbor-to-neighbor communications.
Led by Sheriff Rand Henderson, this integration with Nextdoor will enable the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to leverage the power of rapid electronic communication to build stronger, safer communities with the help of Montgomery County residents. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Nextdoor neighborhoods will be able to work together to increase safety and strengthen multiple “virtual” neighborhood watch programs.
“I believe in investing in innovative and efficient ways to increase safety for our residents,” said Sheriff Rand Henderson. “With Nextdoor, we can help empower neighbors to keep their communities safe and connected while giving them the ability to collaborate on virtual neighborhood watch efforts. Building trust through timely and effective communication channels will lead to stronger and safer neighborhoods.”
Already Nextdoor has proven to be an essential and well-adopted tool for Montgomery County residents. Currently, more than 440 neighborhoods in Montgomery County utilize Nextdoor websites.
With Nextdoor, Montgomery County residents can create private neighborhood websites to share information, including neighborhood public safety issues, community events and activities, local services, and even post lost pets notices. The Sheriff’s Office will be able to distribute information such as important news, services, programs, free events, and emergency notifications to Nextdoor websites within the County.
“This partnership with Nextdoor gives neighbors an easy way not only get to know each other, but to develop beneficial relationship with this Sheriff’s Office, “said Sheriff Rand Henderson. “We encourage our residents to join us on Nextdoor so we can work together to create a safer, stronger Montgomery County.”
Nextdoor is free for residents and the Sheriff’s Office. Each Montgomery County neighborhood has its own private Nextdoor neighborhood website, accessible to residents of that neighborhood, only. Neighborhoods establish and self-manage their own website. The Sheriff’s Office will not be able to directly access residential websites, nor will it be able to obtain any member’s personal information, contact information, or site content. All members must verify that they live within the neighborhood before joining Nextdoor. Information shared on Nextdoor is password protected and cannot be accessed by Google or other search engines.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office joins more than 2,000 public agencies across the country who are using Nextdoor to build stronger relationships with their residents.
Those interested in joining their neighborhood’s Nextdoor website can visit nextdoor.com and enter their address. If residents have questions about their Nextdoor website, please visit help.nextdoor.com.
