Working with community groups, local law enforcement, academic experts, and neighbors, Nextdoor has developed a three-step approach to Crime & Safety posts. As you choose what you'd like to post about, you'll see a flow designed to prevent racial profiling and make crime reporting more useful to neighbors and law enforcement.
When posting about a suspicious activity, we automatically ask members to take a moment to pause and reflect. Could the post be harmful to someone? Could it be worded differently? Does it include enough information?
Unconscious bias is something that none of us are overtly aware of, so having a moment to step back can give us all the opportunity to consider our post from another perspective.
Best practices for sharing crime and safety information
Nextdoor
Chicago Police
When to include race in crime reporting
Houston Chronicle
Reporting and providing information San Diego PD
When reporting suspicious activity, it’s important that the activity itself has the potential to endanger the neighborhood and is not just based on perceptions of the person involved. That’s why our Crime & Safety post flow starts with asking about the suspicious activity itself, with a reminder to consider the activity separately from race or ethnicity.
When describing a person involved in a crime or suspicious activity, we require multiple details that help distinguish that individual from other, similar people. We’ve learned from law enforcement that race alone is not very helpful when identifying someone. Details like clothing, tattoos, and facial hair help neighbors know exactly who to be on the lookout for.
Collecting a complete description also reduces the chances of an innocent person being treated like a potential criminal simply because of their race.
While we believe in "see something, say something", we want people to be as specific as possible to help prevent situations where neighbors begin to feel unwelcome in their own communities.
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