Police Department’s Nixle System Continues To Grow

The Van Police Department’s recently launched community notification service called Nixle, already has 116 subscribers and Van Police Chief Kelly Smith said that number continues to grow daily.

The system is designed to improve communication with people who live, work and visit the Van area.

Smith said the system provides a quick, efficient, and secure way to get neighborhood-level information out to community members who subscribe to the service.

He said that the service has been used several times since it has been implemented in the city.

"We have used it to alert citizens of major wrecks that needed to be avoided, road closures due to flooding and used it this week to remind everyone of the city’s Halloween activities set for Saturday night," said Smith.

Smith said that all of Van’s volunteer firemen and police officers are now subscribers.

"There are several other ways that we can also use the system, such as for information regarding missing persons including being able to send a photo of that person to subscribers," said Smith.

"We could use it in a man hunt situation, for example, to put citizens on alert," said Smith.

Smith said that obviously, the system will be most effective with a large number of subscribers. He encourages all citizens to spread the word about the use of the system.

"Another added bonus of the system is that the city could potentially win a $10,000 award if we have the most number of subscribers per capita," said Smith.

"All you have to do is go to nixle.com to subscribe. You will be walked through the steps for setup," said Smith.

Smith said that there is no spam or advertising associated with Nixle Municipal Wire messages and the system is free (standard text message rates apply for subscribers who do not have text plans with their cell phone providers).

For questions regarding the system, please call the Van Police Department at 903-963-5222.