LA County Sheriff gives Texts instead of Tickets

08/26/2013

LA County Sheriff gives Texts instead of Tickets

Is a crime spree sweeping your neighborhood? Is there a serial arsonist torching garages in the neighborhood where your loved ones live? To get this vital information about crime in your community or the places where your loved ones live, you used to have to watch the news and hope for the best.

Now, you can be better informed about the latest criminal happenings when you sign up for SMS (short messaging service) messages from http://www.nixle.com . Nixle allows the LA County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies across the country to send text messages to your mobile device, or e-mails to your computer about what's going on in your neighborhood. Or you can choose to receive information about any neighborhood in the nation. As long as the local agency uses the free service, you can get up to the minute updates.

I took this straight from the Nixle website:

"Nixle's mission is to enable government agencies, small to medium size businesses and enterprise-level organizations to communicate in a secure way and exchange multimedia content over a trusted mobile platform. Our product line supports secure enterprise grade communications for both public and private messaging."

And regarding this incredible service, LA County Sheriff Lee Baca had this to say:

"With the Nixle instant notification system, the Sheriff's Department can communicate accurate, timely, and reliable information directly to the public via your cell phones and e-mail. Nixle is a great success story of a public-private partnership that enhances public safety at no cost to the taxpayers."

So if you want to stay up with the latest public safety information in your neighborhood, sign up for Nixle at their website or text your zip code to 888777 . It's a free service, but standard text messaging rates form your phone carrier will still apply. If you log onto their site and create a profile, you can customize what type of messages you receive. This would help if you want to skip the notifications about hot weather and focus on the traffic and crime updates.

If Nixle is not enough to satisfy your thirst for information about public safety in your area, the LA County Sheriff's Department also has:

- A Twitter handle @LasD http://www.twitter.com

- A Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesCountySheriffsDepartment?ref=br_tf

We have also partnered with Crimestoppers http://www.lacrimestoppers.com to allow the public to report crime anonymously. When it comes to mass notification for emergency, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is committed to open communication. Now you know where to look.

Contact Information: PDC North Public Information Officer - 661-295-8840, pdcnorthpio@lasd.org