TAMPA - Fourteen years ago when Janelle McGregor started her career with the Tampa Police Department, she never thought she would need to check social media to seek information about crime or other incidents within the area.
Now with social media becoming the go-to source for information, the 35 year-old spokesperson has embraced the platform and successfully utilizes it to engage with the community on a deeper level, get to know residents and keep the places they call home safe through the use of Nextdoor.
"Community members want to have that ability to choose when and how they receive information, and we have to be able to adapt to that," she said. "It's all a part of our social media strategy of what platforms to use and how to use them."
McGregor says launching Nextdoor is an example of this strategy that she began researching five years ago. The Tampa Police Department implemented Nextdoor in March 2017 and since then, they have doubled their following from 21,000 to 45,000 within the City of Tampa. McGregor also has noticed how effective it is in helping to solve crimes, locate missing individuals, promote events to get the community involved, provide updates about crime and share safety tips with the community - all with the push of a button.
Within three days of using it, she posted photos of two individuals they were working to identify, and within a couple hours she received a message from someone with the identity. Nextdoor also was a vital tool for the department to utilize for emergencies during Hurricane Irma.
McGregor's efforts caught the eye of Nextdoor, who nationally recognized her as one of its 2018 Neighborhood Champions based on the ample amount of appreciation (thanks and replies) received from neighbors in response to her posts. She has received more than 2,500 thanks and more than 750 replies on all of her posts within the year.
"We have worked with Janelle in the past over the last year and a half that they've been actively using Nextdoor, so we weren't surprised at all to see she was on the top most appreciated and engaging officials using Nextdoor, and we're just super excited to be honoring her," said Annie Barco, Nextdoor's communications manager.
"We're super impressed with how Janelle uses it to get people involved in community events, neighborhood watch programs and she just does a great job of not only using Nextdoor to interact online, but also taking that offline and having a presence in the community."
Nextdoor honored McGregor and 34 other selected officials across the nation with a signed certificate from its CEO, Nirav Tolia, recognition on the company's blog and social media sites, and a package of Nextdoor gear including a hat, t-shirt, coffee mug and more.
The Tampa Police Department reaches 161 neighborhoods across Tampa on Nextdoor and unlike Facebook, Twitter or Instagram where news is distributed nationally or internationally, they can target messages locally to either all neighborhoods, one neighborhood, or to a specific group so that residents don't have to worry about crime miles away.
When she heard the news she was ecstatic, but surprised because she doesn't do it for the recognition.
"I do this work just to keep my neighbors informed and engaged," McGregor said.
"While I am truly honored to receive this distinguished award, honestly the recognition should go to the community because they're the rockstars in all of this- without their engagement or their support we wouldn't have that two-way communication that we desire to have with them as a law enforcement agency. Their willingness to communicate with us online has truly helped us as an agency grow in how we communicate with a broader demographic."
The department aims to continue to stay engaged with residents, but also educate users that although Nextdoor is a useful tool, it's not monitored 24 hours a day and residents should contact their local police first before sharing information with their neighbors.
Contact Monique Welch at mwelch@tampabay.com