PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles residents now can get police announcements on their cell phones and in their e-mail accounts.
The Port Angeles Police Department announced Wednesday that it has begun to use a Web-based service called Nixle.
Chief Terry Gallagher said the service allows police to instantly notify the public about traffic hazards, standoffs with armed criminals and other police activity.
“I believe this enhances the community’s safety,” Gallagher said.
“We work hard to get information out so people don’t inadvertently . . . put themselves in a dangerous situation,” he added.
The service, which is free to both the public and the Police Department, can be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/y4nwa72, or by going to Nixle’s home page, www.nixle.com, and searching for “Port Angeles Police Department.”
People can see updates at the Web site, or sign up for messages to be sent to their e-mail and cell phone.
For example, Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said messages could have gone out last Friday during a high-speed police chase, which ended at the corner of Lincoln Street and Lauridsen Boulevard, to warn people to stay away from certain legs of U.S. Highway 101.
Until now, the police had relied on using “reverse 9-1-1” to call residents’ homes in an area where there was a dangerous criminal situation.
The problem with that, Gallagher said, is that many people don’t have land lines anymore. They rely on their cell phone.
“Until Nixle came along,” he said, “we had no ability to reach those people.”
Gallagher said people who sign up can choose to receive only certain messages, such as traffic hazards.
Initially, the department looked at the Web site Twitter to get such announcements out.
But the problem with that service, Gallagher said, is that any people or agencies can say they are the Port Angeles Police Department.
With Nixle, that isn’t the case, he said because the company vets everyone that tries to set up an account. No one else can claim to be the Port Angeles police.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.