Program lets residents sign up for neighborhood email crime alerts

By Jackie Valley

Thursday, March 15, 2012 | 2 a.m.

Las Vegas residents wanting to keep an eye on crime in their neighborhoods now can subscribe to an alert system that sends email and text-message notifications.

AlertID, a Nevada-based company that launched more than a year ago, is a free service that lets users customize their settings based on what they want to know.

Metro Police adopted the system and launched it to the public March 1. Metro’s move follows in the footsteps of Henderson Police, which has been using Alert ID since August 2011. Henderson Police expect 25,000 city residents to be using the program by the end of this month.

“My goal is to be able to help people protect their families and make their communities a safer place,” said Keli Wilson, founder of AlertID.

The program sends users a mixture of crime notifications, sex-offender registry updates and public safety announcements in addition to interactive features. The company also launched two new features this week: Community Watch Pictures, which allows users to upload and share safety-related photos, and Virtual Neighborhood, which lets users add multiple locations for updates.

“It could be your mom’s house or your child’s school,” Wilson said, explaining the rationale behind monitoring multiple locations.

Capt. John McGrath of Metro’s Northwest Area Command, which has a large residential population, said the department introduced the public to AlertID at a community forum several weeks ago.

“It’s really helpful,” he said, adding that he hasn’t received any negative feedback. “It works well.”

AlertID and Metro have not determined how many Las Vegas residents have signed up for the service.

Officers and NASCAR organizers, however, used the system internally last weekend during the races to help track down a missing 45-year-old with Down syndrome and a lost child, Wilson said.

Metro’s crime-tracking software sends updates to AlertID every 15 minutes, keeping information as relevant as possible, Wilson said.

AlertID officials consider the system’s timeliness a key part of the strategy. In January, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office used AlertID to send evacuation notices during a wildfire, which had affected telephone lines, Wilson said.

“It’s such an important way to reach people in an emergency,” she said.

AlertID operates on revenue from sponsors and plans to make Las Vegas the company’s home base in the future, Wilson said. The alert system serves law enforcement agencies in Nevada and Idaho, with expansion plans to 10 more states by June, she said.