App helps county agencies, residents stay connected

MILTON — The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday shared on Facebook its usage of the digital tool Nextdoor to communicate with the county.

The sheriff's office started a Nextdoor account in October while the Santa Rosa County Emergency Management Office has used the site since July.

The sheriff’s office uses the website and mobile application, Public Information Officer Rich Aloy says, as a virtual neighborhood watch program.

Nextdoor allows residents to connect with each other by neighborhoods for multiple purposes.

"The best part is," Aloy said, "they chat among themselves in a forum-type atmosphere. When they want to share something with us, they add us to their post. We answer questions and advise online. This saves us from going out to make visits at meetings and they choose when to involve us."

The department started using Nextdoor four months ago. At the time, according to Aloy, 15,000 residents were using it.

Michelle Havens, a Nextdoor user, commented on the department’s Facebook post.

"Since downloading this app a few years ago," Havens wrote, "I have learned a lot of important information from bears near me to kids breaking into cars in my neighborhood night before last. There was also the night I downloaded the app — when the SWAT team was on my street, trying to apprehend one of my neighbors with a mental illness and a gun! My neighbor told us about the app and we were kept updated as to what was going on, such as the order to stay indoors."

Santa Rosa County Emergency Management uses Nextdoor, too.

"(Emergency Management has) found it to be a very effective and efficient way to reach citizens," county PIO Brandi Whitehurst said. "One aspect that is especially useful is the ability to target specific areas and neighborhoods and users also appreciate that comments within their neighborhoods are kept private. It has been a useful communications platform for hurricane and tropical storm warnings, winter weather warnings, and county event notifications such as the Back to School Safety Bash and the Waste Tire Amnesty Day. It’s a great addition to our social media toolbox."

The website and app are free to use and available on both iOS and Android devices.

Users’ information is kept private but signing up requires entering a full name and address. The site’s privacy settings allow users to display their street name with or without the house number, profile visibility to those in their neighborhood only or surrounding neighborhoods, and to show their recommendations to surrounding neighborhoods or anyone on Nextdoor.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: App helps county agencies, residents stay connected