LPD Partners Up With Neighborhood Social Network

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – The Lexington Police Department announced a partnership on Wednesday with Nextdoor (nextdoor.com), a social network for neighborhoods, that they hope will improve city-wide and neighbor-to-neighbor communications.

“The Lexington Police Department is always looking for innovative and resourceful ways we can connect with residents, and joining Nextdoor is just another way to further those efforts,” Police Chief Mark Barnard said. “We are excited about this opportunity to better share public safety tips and crime alerts directly with residents to help make Lexington an even better place to live and work.”

Nextdoor allows Lexington residents to create private neighborhood websites where they can share information, including neighborhood public safety issues, community events and activities, local services, and even lost pets. The Lexington Police Department will be able to post information, such as important news, services, programs, free events, and emergency notifications to Nextdoor websites within the city.

Already Nextdoor has proven to be an essential and well-adopted tool for Lexington, says the police department, with over 200 neighborhoods – representing 74% of the city – having started Nextdoor websites.

The LPD says the integration with Nextdoor will enable them to build stronger, safer communities with the help of residents, working together to increase safety and strengthen virtual neighborhood watch.

“Communication is essential to community policing and building strong relationships across Lexington,” Chief Barnard said. “Nextdoor gives neighbors an easy way to get to know each other and send important information to officers, who can then respond to any issues or problems residents are seeing.”

Nextdoor is free for residents and public agencies. Each Lexington 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 Lexington Police Department 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 Google or other search engines.

The Lexington Police Department joins over 1,800 public agencies across the country that are using Nextdoor for Public Agencies to build stronger relationships with 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.