Aurora police join up with Nextdoor

The Aurora Police Department has formed a partnership with Nextdoor (nextdoor.com), the private social network for neighborhoods, to improve citywide and neighbor-to-neighbor communications with residents.

Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the partnership will help enhance communication between police and residents with the goal of building stronger, safer neighborhoods.

"The partnership with Nextdoor gives neighbors an easy way to not only get to know each other, but develop stronger relationships with us," Ziman said. "We know that building trust and constant communication channels will lead to stronger and safer neighborhoods."

According to Nextdoor, the social network already has proved to be a well-adopted tool for Aurora residents. More than 75 neighborhoods, representing 67 percent of the city of Aurora, have started Nextdoor websites.

With Nextdoor, residents can create private neighborhood websites to share information, including neighborhood public safety issues, community events and activities, local services, and even lost pets.

The police department will be able to post information, including important news, services, programs, free events, and emergency notifications to Nextdoor websites within the city.

Nextdoor is free for residents and the police department. Each Aurora neighborhood has its own private 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 that they live within the neighborhood before joining. Information shared on Nextdoor is password protected and cannot be accessed by Google or other search engines.

The Aurora Police Department joins more than 1,600 public agencies across the country who are using Nextdoor to improve communication 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 website, they can visithelp.nextdoor.com.