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The Weslaco Police Department recently teamed up with Nextdoor, a social networking company, to help connect the city and its residents increase safety and create a virtual neighborhood watch -- all for free.

Help and information for Weslaco residents is now next door--not physically next door, but in the form of a new social network.

The Weslaco Police Department recently teamed up with Nextdoor, a social networking company, to help connect the city and its residents increase safety and create a virtual neighborhood watch -- all for free.

We want to bring the community together with law enforcement, said Weslaco Public Information Officer Jose Rodriguez. Its not law enforcement against the community, or the community against law enforcement.

The social network company first began in 2010 and has grown to neighborhoods nationwide. The city of Weslaco has its own private neighborhood website, accessible only to residents who verify they live in the neighborhood.

Back in the day, we used to have neighborhood watches and people would have to make time to attend those watches, Rodriguez said.

The city and department wont be able to access contact information, or personal content from the social network, as the information shared on Nextdoor is password-protected and cannot be accessed by search engines.

Currently, 11 neighborhoods in Weslaco have signed up for the social network, while 13 other cities in the Rio Grande Valley are online as well.

It just brings everybody together at real time and you can communicate much quicker, said Rodriguez.

Read more from the original source:
Weslaco Police Department joins social network to increase neighborhood safety - KGBT-TV