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Continued Improvements to How Our Members Post about Crime and Safety

Written by Nirav Tolia

As we have stated before, we are completely committed to doing everything we can to end racial profiling on Nextdoor.

We have spent the last few months working on this challenging issue. In that time, we’ve made a series of changes to our product, including: a new racial profiling flag on posts, updates to our member guidelines, and a mandatory warning screen before posting in crime and safety.

Two weeks ago, we shared that we would begin testing a new “structured” form for when members post in the crime and safety section. Today, we are excited to release yet another new form. This form uses an entirely new “conversational” approach to guide members through the posting process.

The new form is designed to:

  • Require that members specify whether they are “reporting a crime”, a “suspicious activity”, or “other”. This helps us route the member through the correct prompts for more information.

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  • Guide members through a step-by-step form that requires complete descriptions of individuals and criminal activity.

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  • Educate members about the harms of racial profiling, and more broadly, what constitutes valid criminal and/or suspicious activity.

Once again, we want to recognize the assistance of Oakland advocacy groups Neighbors for Racial Justice (N4RJ) and 100 Black Men, as well as several representatives from the City of Oakland, including Vice Mayor Annie Campbell Washington, Council Member Desley Brooks,  and multiple members of the city administration. We are proud to be working with both the community and local government to tackle one of the toughest issues that plagues our society today.

We will be actively testing the two versions of the form in neighborhoods across the Bay Area and Baltimore. After a suitable test period and any additional enhancements, we have every intention to release these features to all 98,000 neighborhoods across the country that rely on Nextdoor. Thank you for helping us get this right.

Nirav Tolia
Co-Founder and CEO
niravtolia@nextdoor.com

1 Comment

  • Racial profiling on Nextdoor is a huge problem in Birmingham, Alabama, and I would be willing to assist you in any way that I can to end the practice of racial profiling. Here, for example, is a post that appeared a couple of weeks ago in the Crime and Safety section of Nextdoor Highland Park.

    I was mugged walking across the Richard Arrington viaduct Friday, April 15, around midnight. Fortunately I wasn’t injured, but the attack was well choreographed.

    As I crested the bridge, I was approached by an African-American male, 5’9″ to 6′ tall, medium build, in a light colored hoodie and a construction or surgical mask. He pulled a handgun and demanded cash and phone. After taking those items, he ran to the other side of the street and got into a car, with a driver I assume, that was waiting for him. The car was a 2000-2007 model Ford Taurus, white / tan / champagne colored. From that distance I couldn’t make out the tag. The car crossed 1st Ave N and continued Northbound on Arrington out of view.

    I’ve filed a report with BPD and can provide the case number if anyone has had a similar experience, or information and wants to report it. I’ve also been contacted by a detective working the case, but have been playing phone tag. I can add any additional information I find out after that conversation.

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