Full Notification

(Harris County, TX) – The Harris County Sheriff’s Office announced today a partnership with Nextdoor (www.nextdoor.com), the private social network for neighborhoods, to improve countywide neighbor-to-neighbor and law enforcement-to-neighbor communication, and virtual neighborhood watch.

Led by Sheriff Adrian Garcia, this integration with Nextdoor will enable the HCSO, which is the largest sheriff's office in Texas and the third largest in the United States, to use Nextdoor to communicate directly with residents to build stronger, safer communities. HCSO is the largest sheriff’s office to join the Nextdoor platform.

“One of the best tools in crime prevention is when neighbors come together and look out for one another. Nextdoor makes it easy for neighbors to establish a virtual neighborhood watch and help us combat crime,” said Sheriff Garcia. “I’ve always said that you don’t need a gun and a badge to help us fight crime, so we believe that by using Nextdoor we can continue to heighten awareness and create stronger and safer communities throughout Harris County.”

With Nextdoor, Harris County 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 Sheriff’s Office will be able to post information, such as important news, services, programs, and emergency notifications to Nextdoor sites within the county.

More than 375 neighborhoods, representing 54% of Harris County, have started Nextdoor websites.

Nextdoor is free for residents and the Sheriff's Office. Each Harris County 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 Sheriff's Office 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 search engines.

“Communication, watching out for each other is the most important thing that we can do,” said Newport community manager and Harris County Nextdoor member, Carol Jones. “Knowing what is going on around us is only going to make us more aware, more alert, and hopefully, with this new venture we’ll be able to get information to the sheriff’s department in a more timely manner.”

It should remain clear that Nextdoor should not be used to request emergency services, police services, report criminal or suspicious activity, file a report, etc. 9-1-1 remains the number to call for emergencies and life and death situations. To report suspicious persons and/or activity residents can do so anonymously through the HCSO’s free mobile phone app iWatchHarrisCounty.

Those interested in joining their neighborhood’s Nextdoor website can visit www.nextdoor.com and enter their address. If residents have questions about their Nextdoor website, please visit help.nextdoor.com.