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Austin's Going Virtual With Neighborhood Watches


Some Austin residents have been going digital with their neighborhood watch program with the help of a social network called Nextdoor.

Already 154 neighborhoods in the Austin area are active on the virtual neighborhood watch network.

Nextdoor allows residents to create free private websites for their neighborhoods where they can ask questions, get to know one another, exchange advice, and -- most importantly -- keep each other informed about crime and suspicious activity.

According to a recent survey, more than two-thirds of homeowners feel safer when they know their neighbors. Yet Pew Research shows that nearly a third of Americans don't know their neighbors by name.

Every neighbor must verify their home address to ensure that they do in fact live there. This can be done using one of three methods of the new member's choosing:

1. Postcard with unique code sent to home address
2. Phone call to a listed number registered to home address
3. Credit card billing address which matches the home address.

For more info, go to https://nextdoor.com/.

By Angel Covarrubias