Police departments across metro Detroit are taking advantage of an app to alert residents to crime.
Nextdoor is a free private social network members of neighborhoods can use to communicate with each other, ask questions, get referrals, sell products, even find a babysitter.
The networks says there are more than 1,400 neighborhoods in the Detroit neighborhood using Nextdoor. It has also partnered with area police agencies including Detroit, Ann Arbor, Canton, Dearborn, Huntington Woods and Royal Oak.
Jason Misleh is the head of the University District Community Association that helps neighbors with issues including blight, youth and social events, safety and security. He says he feels safe in his neighborhood.
"There is not a whole lot that happens here. Most of the crimes are very minor property-related crimes," Misleh said. "It has a great feature called the urgent alert feature and anybody that needs to send out an urgent alert, whether it’s our security, private security, our police department or any resident that sees or hears something, they can send out an urgent alert."
Laura Mortier of Canton uses Nextdoor in her neighborhood and told Local 4 safety is the most important reason why she does. She likes being alerted to potential problems.
"There was a post from one of our Canton police officers regarding car break-ins and one parking on the street with the summer months coming up, they're seeing a rise in that, so to keep things hidden and out of cars and make sure the doors are locked," Mortier said.
Patty Esselink, the community relations officer for Canton Public Safety said they use Nextdoor to alert residents to scams going around, and current crime trends like car break-ins, and thefts as well as crime prevention tips. Officers also use it for road closures.
"It's simple. they'll get an alert on their phone when a message comes up in their community or from the police department," Esselink said. "Most of us are attached to our phones, so that information coming directly to you, we don't have to go the newspaper to learn about it. it's instant gratification by seeing it in front of us on our phones."
Esselink said residents often send her messages through Nextdoor to ask questions or to report suspicious activity. She said it is another way to reach residents since officers cannot be on every street all the time.
"We use the app for safety all the time by giving neighbors ideas on how to secure their property, just alerting people to small things that happen in the neighborhood whether it be something as minor as patio furniture being missing or a house broken into," Misleh said.
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