Thomaston PD utilizing Nixle service

While the Demopolis Police Department announced its new communications services partnership with Nixle earlier this week, the Thomaston Police Department’s relationship with Nixle recently turned a month old.

“We were looking for a service to quickly notify our community about any crime alerts, road closures, utility work, inclement weather (hurricane, tornado, flood, etc.), missing persons or community events,” Thomaston police chief Heath McClure said of the decision to partner with Nixle.

Only a few weeks into the agreement with Nixle, McClure said the Thomaston PD has received rave reviews on the service and its capabilities.

“We have received nothing but positive feedback thus far,” McClure said. “It is left up to the citizens of Thomaston whether they would like to participate in the program or not, but so far, those who are participating have been appreciative of the service.”

While the department is glad it has yet to send out any crime-related information through the service, Nixle has already helped TPD issue weather warnings, road construction advisories and hurricane preparedness tips.

“The most important advantage is the instant notification aspect of the service,” McClure said. “When we send out an alert or advisory, the users receive the alerts within five seconds. They can choose to receive alerts by text message on their phones, which is great if you have an unlimited texting plan. If not, text messaging rates do apply. Most people carry their cellular phones with them everywhere, and this service provides important notification if the user is not in front of a computer, weather radio or home telephone.”

Nixle users have the option of signing up for e-mail notifications. The Thomaston Police Department also publishes all alerts and advisories to its Facebook page (Thomaston, AL)  and Twitter feed (@ThomastonPD) for users who prefer to get their information through social media.

“Another great advantage for our department using Nixle is the fact that the service is free for Public Safety Departments,” McClure said. “We have a link to the signup instructions on our Facebook page. Users can also visit Nixle’s webpage at www.nixle.com to sign up.”