Nixle offers both free and paid notification services from law enforcement, weather reports and more

Many St. Louis County residents are unaware of a very useful free service that is available to provide alerts about important information from trusted government entities and agencies, such as timely alerts about the threat of severe storms like we have recently experienced.

The service is called Nixle (www.nixle.com) and has been described as “Twitter for Government” by Neighborhood Policing Officer (N.P.O. )Yvette Summy of the St. Louis County Police.

Nixle is a private company that was organized in 2007. Its mission is to enable government agencies, small to medium size businesses and enterprise-level organizations to communicate in a secure way and exchange content over a trusted mobile platform.  

Nixle provides communities throughout the country with news and information that is both proximate and personally relevant. The system provides location-specific information to be immediately available to users, depending on their physical location at any given time. Nixle makes this information instantly available over SMS (short message service), mobile application, e-mail, and web.  

Locally, the St. Louis County Police use Nixle as a publishing system to alert residents about the threat of severe storms and other pertinent information.

How it Works
Informative messages are created by the St. Louis County Police and are assigned a priority level which ensures that important information reaches you in a timely manner. Messages are targeted to specific geographic regions, so if your address falls within the geographic area that you selected, then you will receive the message. You can also customize Nixle to add as many locations as you like from across the country, such as home, work, and other family members.

Receiving Messages

You have total control of how messages are received. Messages can be received via text message (SMS) on your mobile phone or via e-mail. You can also make changes to your account settings at any time and you can cancel at any time. Users of smart mobile phones and devices should be aware that Nixle uses the data portion of your plan so text messaging and data charges may apply, depending upon your mobile device plan.

 How to Register

For first time users, go to www.nixle.com and click sign up now. Or, you can text your zip code to 888777. Just follow the directions on the two attached documents to sign up and start using Nixle.
Nixle is an excellent service in that the messages are relevant and timely, especially considering the recent threats of severe weather that has affected the St. Louis area.

Please pass this communication on to other interested parties.