The Kern County Sheriff's Office is partnering with Nextdoor to help boost safety and prevent crime.
The free service is touted as being a Neighborhood Watch for the 21st Century.
READ KCSO PRESS RELEASE:
Kern County, CA – Thursday, July 7, 2016 - The Kern County Sheriff’s Office announced today a partnership with Nextdoor (nextdoor.com), the private social network for neighborhoods, to improve countywide communications and virtual Neighborhood Watch.
Led by Sheriff Donny Youngblood, this partnership with Nextdoor will enable the Kern County Sheriff’s Office to use Nextdoor to communicate directly with residents to build stronger, safer communities. The Kern County Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Unit will manage the Nextdoor account to enhance community safety and use it as a tool for existing Neighborhood Watch groups throughout the county. Also, the patrol and detectives divisions will be able to utilize Nextdoor to inform residents of current crime trends or to advise them they are looking for a specific vehicle or suspect.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office believes that in this day and age it is vital for neighbors to come together and look out for one another. Nextdoor makes it easy for neighbors to establish virtual Neighborhood Watch and help combat crime. By using Nextdoor, we hope to create stronger and safer communities throughout Kern County.
With Nextdoor, Kern County residents can create private neighborhood websites to share information, including neighborhood public safety issues, community events and activities, local services, and even photos and information about lost pets. The Sheriff’s Office will be able to post information, such as important news, services, programs, and emergency notifications to Nextdoor sites within the county.
More than 235 neighborhoods, representing 69% of Kern County, have launched Nextdoor neighborhoods.
Nextdoor is free for residents and the Sheriff's Office. Each Kern County neighborhood has its own private Nextdoor neighborhood website, accessible only to residents of that neighborhood. Neighborhoods establish and self-manage their own Nextdoor website and the Sheriff's Office will not be able to access residents’ websites, contact information, or 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 search engines. The Kern County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind our residents of Kern County that Nextdoor is a tool for our agency to provide neighborhoods useful information and we cannot accept reports of any type through our social media accounts. All suspicious activity or reports of crimes will still need to be routed to the non-emergency number, (661) 861-3110 or in cases of emergency to 9-1-1.
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.
For further information contact the Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Unit at 661-391-7559 or by email at crimeprevention@kernsheriff.com
