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18 June 2020
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Nextdoor - The neighborhood engagement platforms for your agency

Nextdoor Updates Guidelines for Public Safety-Related Posts

Jon Barilone   |   Insights, Nextdoor, Social Media   |   No comment

Nextdoor - The neighborhood engagement platforms for your agency

Nextdoor emailed a special announcement to Agency account admins on Monday, June 15, 2020: they have updated their Public Safety Communications Policy for Agencies. These updates will especially affect law enforcement agencies on Nextdoor. Tripepi Smith offers some highlights from the updated policy below (taken verbatim from the policy, but emphasis is ours):

 

Wanted Persons

  1. Agencies may post photos and videos of a wanted person. If you already know the suspect or person of interest’s name and have a photo or video of them, you may post that information.
  2. Focus on factual details: the behavior that was suspicious/illegal, a full description of persons and vehicles involved, exact location and any photos or videos of the suspect in the progress of the crime.
    1. If no other information is available other than ethnicity, race or gender, do not include these details.

 

Arrests and Convictions

  1. Especially when information about the person’s name, gender, ethnicity, race and mugshot are included in your communications, the communication can be harmful to individuals who are exonerated of crimes or whose convictions get expunged. Furthermore, including the ethnicity or race of individuals casts a broad stroke, which is not helpful.
  2. After an arrest, you may not include a photo or video (ex. mugshot) or link to any identifiable information about an arrested person.
    1. As an alternative to mugshots, we recommend you post a graphic with the word “Arrest” and include it to help capture people’s attention.
  3. You must delete any posts that include photos or videos shared during your pursuit of the suspect or person of interest.
  4. For convictions: You may include the name, but not the photo, of the person convicted and the charges for which they were found guilty.

 

Sharing Crime Statistics

  1. If you wish to post a list of the crimes (ex. Within the past 24 hours) with no context, analysis, or comments, please do not do so on Nextdoor.
    1. To post a list of crimes, you must include content about whether these crimes are a trend, what is being done and what Nextdoor members can do to help deter further crimes.

 

Tripepi Smith encourages public agencies to embrace the power of a Nextdoor Agency account for several reasons. See the list below for our other Insights on how Nextdoor has evolved into a public agency partner over the years. See “How to get started as an agency” on Nextdoor.com for instructions on applying for an Agency account.