Last week, the Public Agency team traveled to Philadelphia to attend the 124th annual International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference. With participation from police departments from over 90 countries, IACP is one of the largest gatherings of law enforcement agencies in the world.
In addition to the chance to come together for informal discussions, police departments were also able to engage in over 200 educational sessions on topics ranging from data-driven policing to working with homeless populations to the opioid crisis.
The Nextdoor Public Agency team represented one of 600 exhibitors that attended this year’s IACP conference. Stationed next to a vendor distributing flashing bike lights, it was hard to miss the Nextdoor booth.
The Nextdoor booth at IACP 2017.
The team enjoyed meeting Chiefs, Officers, and PIOs who were interested in learning more, providing relevant information to specific departments, and offering live demos of the government platform.
The team also connected with some of our current partners, including Public Information Manager Mark Economou of Boca Raton FL Police Services, to learn more about how they have used Nextdoor for Public Agencies. Boca Raton Police Services has been utilizing Nextdoor to communicate with residents for three years now and have found creative ways of integrating Nextdoor into their social media communication strategy. In emergency situations like Hurricane Irma, Boca Raton Police Services used Nextdoor to geotarget messages to specific regions based on the direction of the storm. On a more regular cadence, Boca Raton utilizes Nextdoor to increase participation at their community events, such as their Citizen’s Police Academy and women’s defense class. As Mark shares, “As soon as we post an event on Nextdoor, people sign up immediately.” In addition to catching up with current partners, the conference was also an opportunity to better understand how the platform can continue providing value to public safety departments.
Nextdoor’s Public Agency Team at IACP.
If you’re a public agency, contact our team here: www.nextdoor.com/city/apply
Join your neighborhood on Nextdoor here.
Do you have a story about how you’ve used Nextdoor in your neighborhood? Let us know.
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