LONDONDERRY — Approximately 200 residents have signed up for Nixle, a service offered through the police department that sends alert messages by phone text or e-mail.
The program began in June, but so far only two messages have gone out — one warning residents to be cautious while driving now that school is in session, the other about a suspicious person.
"We want to keep it to what we feel is important," said Capt. Steve Tatham of the Londonderry police support services division. "We don't want to spam people with messages every week and turn them off."
Tatham said, of course, there may be a week when two or three messages are sent out.
Service subscribers receive alerts from the police department about dangerous weather, road closures, criminal activity in a given area, and public safety announcements asking people to stay in or away from their homes in certain situations, including when a dangerous offender may be on the loose.
"For missing persons, like lost children or Alzheimer's patients, we can pinpoint an address and alert residents within a certain radius first," Tatham said. "If no one locates the person, we can expand the radius and alert more residents."
Previously, the department used reverse 9ll.
"But it only covered land lines and a lot of people have switched over to using cell phones," said Eric Ledoux, an information technology specialist with the police department. "It's completely free for us and for residents to sign up."
Citizens can choose which alerts they want on their cell phone and which they would rather receive via e-mail. Depending on an individual's cell phone plan, there may be charges for text messages. There are also options for receiving alerts from surrounding towns.
To join the Nixle program, visit londonderrynh.org. Under "departments," click on "police," then click the Nixle logo.
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