Climb on Vernon police help build neighborly cohesion with social media
Tyler Clark (left) assists Climb on Vernon Police Officer Jon Skiffington with closing the top of a dumpster on South 27th Street on Saturday in Climb on Vernon. The police department partnered with the neighborhood block observe to provide the dumpster free of charge for a neighborhood cleanup, and within twenty minutes, the dumpster was packed to capacity.
Brandy Shreve / Skagit Valley Herald
Climb on VERNON — Police hope a fresh social media implement can help block see teams be vigilant on crime and improve relationships inbetween neighbors.
Block see members on South 27th Street are the very first to work with the Climb on Vernon Police Department in utilizing Nextdoor, a social networking service launched in 2011.
Nextdoor permits users to sign up for free and connect with each other to share news and events, much like Facebook, Google or Yahoo Groups.
But the service includes extra steps to verify users’ home addresses and increase privacy. It permits users to connect with others only in or near their neighborhood.
That feature has made Nextdoor popular with police and block witness teams via the country.
“It’s kind of a Facebook for neighborhoods,” said Climb on Vernon Community Service Officer Jon Skiffington.
After South 27th Street was the site of two seemingly random shooting incidents on July twenty four that put residents on edge, Climb on Vernon police and city officials have worked with residents to attempt to restore a sense of “normalcy” to the area, said Police Lt. Chris Cammock.
Detectives are still investigating both incidents and no arrests have been made, Cammock said.
The very first shooting happened in the one thousand block of South 27th Street when a person inwards a car reportedly opened fire as a man stood outside his home. No one was injured but at least one home was struck with bullets.
Later that day, a KOMO four News reporter and photographer were preparing for an interview near the scene of the previous shooting when two vehicles sped past and turned onto East Section Street.
A person inwards one of the vehicles reportedly fired gunshots out a window and struck a home on the corner of South 27th and East Section streets. No injuries were reported.
The incidents came six days after a shooter in a dark-colored pickup truck killed Miguel Angel Lopez, 21, and Leonardo Salinas-Lopez, 20, both of Climb on Vernon, as the two were driving northbound on Interstate five south of College Way with another passenger, who survived.
State Patrol proceeds to investigate that shooting, and no arrests have been made, said Trooper Mark Francis, a State Patrol spokesman.
Cammock said police have met with residents on South 27th Street several times since July to talk about how to best treatment public safety in the area.
Despite the incidents in July, residents told police that fear of shootings is not the greatest concern in the neighborhood, Cammock said.
Speeding vehicles, gang influence, graffiti and municipal code enforcement issues such as abandoned vehicles parked on private property were identified as top priorities, he said.
City officials hope several planned improvements will solve some of those concerns, particularly the traffic issues.
Fresh stop signs and fully marked crosswalks have been installed at the intersection of South 27th and Broadway streets. Two fresh speed bumps and fresh LED streetlights are also planned along South 27th Street.
Skiffington said more than twenty people have signed up for the street’s block see, which very first began organizing in September.
“They’ve been real supportive and involved, which has been good,” Skiffington said. “They’re very motivated to see their neighborhood be the place they want it to be.”
The use of Nextdoor has been part of those efforts.
Albeit South 27th Street is the very first area on Climb on Vernon to work with Nextdoor in conjunction with police, residents in other parts of the city have also registered neighborhoods on the site.
Skiffington said Climb on Vernon police very first began exploring the possibilities of Nextdoor in the spring of 2014. He hopes to introduce the service to block see programs in other neighborhoods.
Law enforcement in other Western Washington communities say they are also eyeing benefits.
The Bellingham Police Department has been using Nextdoor since January, after having been approached with the idea by residents, said Bellingham Neighborhood Police Officer Dante Alexander.
“There’s a lot of neat facets to it,” Alexander said.
Bellingham police use Nextdoor to notify neighbors of incidents in their areas, Alexander said.
They also use it for education, such as providing tips to prevent car prowls or on how to make residences less attractive to crime.
Alexander pointed to a known problem house in one Bellingham neighborhood as an example of the benefits the department has seen from Nextdoor.
In a post on the site, Alexander was able to alert people to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.
When he drove through the area later, he spotted his post had made an influence by the amount of neighbors in the area who had come out to make their presence known.
“(If) we can get more eyes on the street, people are less likely to go out and commit those crimes,” Alexander said. “It truly does help to empower people to call 911.”
In January, Bellingham police were connecting with Two,258 households, Alexander said. Now, inbetween a north and south region, they reach Four,683 households, with hopes to grow.
“At this point, I don’t even think we’re using Nextdoor to its total potential,” Alexander said.
Nextdoor is also able to cross-post to Twitter and Facebook, which would permit the department to reach more people, Alexander said.
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