Newark Police Department Partners with Social Network Nextdoor

Enhances citywide communications and facilitates virtual neighborhood watch

Newark, DE -The City of Newark Police Department (NPD) has partnered with Nextdoor (nextdoor.com), the private social network for neighborhoods, to improve citywide and neighbor-to-neighbor communications, while increasing safety and strengthening a virtual neighborhood watch system. This integration enables the NPD to use Nextdoor to build stronger, safer communities with the help of Newark residents.

"The City of Newark takes pride in adopting innovative and resourceful tools that can help us to better serve our residents," said city manager Carol Houck. "By continuing to build trust and remaining in constant communication with residents through various channels, we will ensure our neighborhoods are safer and have the opportunity to be more engaged."

Nextdoor has proven to be a well-adopted tool for Newark residents, with more than 20 neighborhoods, representing 70% of the City of Newark, listed as having Nextdoor websites. Residents can create private neighborhood websites to share information, including neighborhood public safety issues, community events and activities, local services, and even lost pets. NPD is able to post information, such as important news, services, programs, free events, and emergency notifications to Nextdoor websites within the city.

"Having the ability to easily communicate with residents is extremely vital to, not only maintaining, but increasing safety and reducing crime within our Newark communities," said NPD police chief Paul Tiernan. "We encourage residents to sign-up in their neighborhoods to receive hyper-local updates from our department."

Nextdoor is free for residents and the Police Department. Each Newark 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 Police Department will not be able to access residents' websites, contact information, or content. All members must verify 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 Newark Police Department joins over 2,000 public agencies across the country, including the New Castle County Police and Delaware State Police, that are using Nextdoor for Public Agencies 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.