Nextdoor Polls - Increase Transparency, Improve Community Relations

Nextdoor Polls supports the nationwide effort by public agencies to increase transparency and help improve community relations. Nextdoor Polls allows any Nextdoor agency partner to poll verified residents of their jurisdictions on topics of importance and analyze the results down to the neighborhood level.

More than 1,400 public agencies and over 98,000 neighborhoods across the United States use Nextdoor to help make their communities stronger and safer. Now with Nextdoor Polls, local agencies can make sure their residents’ voices are heard by the departments that serve them. Nextdoor Polls allows agencies and residents to collaborate on important city-wide issues, develop city-wide programs of interest, and take actionable steps to make their cities even better places to live.

Police departments and city agencies have piloted Nextdoor Polls to better understand residents’ needs and concerns. These partners are using the results to develop better programs for their cities.

Below is a list of the agencies that are among the first in the nation to engage with their residents via Nextdoor Polls:

• Atlanta Police Department
• Austin Police Department
• Dallas Police Department
• Fayetteville Police Department
• Fresno Police Department
• Miami-Dade Police Department
• Mobile Police Department
• Prince George’s County Police Department
• Quincy Police Department
• Sacramento Police Department
• City of San Antonio Development Services Department
• St. Louis Board of Aldermen
• City of Scottsdale
• Voorhees Township Police Department

Public agencies learned the following via Nextdoor Polls:

• The Austin Police Department found that 85% of Austin respondents feel safe in their neighborhoods.
• The Fayetteville Police Department found that 89% of respondents want to start a community watch group in their neighborhoods.
• The Atlanta Police Department discovered that 83% of respondents receive information from the department through Nextdoor.
• The Miami-Dade Police Department found that 54% of respondents want the department to focus more on community policing efforts over quality of life issues, traffic initiatives, and enforcement.
• The City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen found that 93% of respondents would support a "dollar home" program to transform vacant properties in the city.

“Having the ability to easily communicate with residents is imperative to our continued community policing efforts and adds another layer of transparency between our department and our community,” said Art Acevedo, Chief of Police in Austin. “With Nextdoor Polls, we can connect directly with residents, gather their input in a structured way, and work together to make our city an even better place to call home.” 

Nextdoor is free for residents and public agencies. Those interested in joining their neighborhood’s Nextdoor website can visit nextdoor.com and enter their address. Public agencies interested in partnering with Nextdoor can visit nextdoor.com/agency to get started.