From email newsletters to social media, the Redmond Police Department (RPD) uses a number of methods as part of its public outreach efforts to connect with the Redmond community.

And in the last six months, the department has added one more tool to its communications belt.

Nextdoor is a private social network residents can use to communicate with neighbors on topics ranging from babysitter referrals to suspicious activity in the neighborhood.

For RPD, it is just one more way in which police can relay important information to residents.

Public information officer Becky Range said with about 3,700 people in Redmond on the network, it is just one more way for police to reach people — especially those who do not use Facebook or Twitter, two social networks RPD utilizes to get information out to the community.

Prior to partnering with Nextdoor, Range said RPD spoke with the Seattle Police Department, who had been using the network for a while.

“It’s a really good crime-watch tool,” she said.

Range describes Nextdoor as a mini Facebook for neighborhoods. It can be accessed via the Internet at www.nextdoor.com as well as a downloadable app for smart phones and tablets.

She said residents can establish and self-manage their own Nextdoor website, which are based on neighborhoods. These neighborhood boundaries are usually established by neighborhood leads, who also work to manage the site, Range said.

Each site is different and just depends on how users in the specific network use it, what they want it to look like and what types of posts to allow on their site.

“They govern themselves,” Range said about the neighborhood sites.

This means everything that happens on any given Nextdoor site is based on the preferences of its users.

“It’s very customizable,” Range said, adding that people can control what types of posts they want to see and not want to see.

People can even determine who they want to see their posts — whether that is their specific neighborhood, or the greater Redmond Nextdoor community — and turn off posts from certain users.

Range said the website is accessible only to residents who live within that defined geographical area and members must verify they live within the neighborhood before joining — either by having a neighborhood lead confirm their residence or by having a verification code sent to their home address to be entered online to complete the process. In addition, information shared on the site is password protected and cannot be accessed by Google or any other search engine.

As an agency, Range said RPD can only post messages on neighborhood sites. They cannot see anything posted by members. Redmond police has used Nextdoor to post information on crime trends, safety alerts and upcoming events and classes. The information RPD posts in Nextdoor is public information and is often posted on the City of Redmond website, www.redmond.gov and the department’s Twitter account (@RedmondWaPD), as well. In addition, the same content is also emailed out to those who have joined RPD’s email subscription list.

The only way RPD would see any neighborhood content would be through a direct reply to a post by the agency, Range said.

She added that RPD does not monitor Nextdoor at all times and it is not a way for people to request emergency or police services, report criminal or suspicious activity or file a report. Range said people still should call 911 in the case of an emergency.