Council Approves New Community Alert System

The Redondo Beach Police Department will soon have a new way to reach out to residents: Nixle.

The Redondo Beach City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a $10,156 payment to sign up for the Nixle Engage platform.

The online alert system—already in use locally by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Torrance Police Department and the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department—will allow the department to notify community members of traffic accidents, community events and more via text message and email.

"We have found that the public, when it does not have information from us, finds another way to get it out," whether through Facebook, email or community-networking site Nextdoor, Redondo police Chief Joe Leonardi told the City Council.

There will be four types of notices sent—alerts, advisories, community messages and traffic notices, Leonardi said. Users will be able to specify which types of alerts they'd like to receive.

The police department did use the free version of Nixle, but the last alert was sent in 2009. The paid version gives the department more flexibility in how it sends out alerts, as well as will allow any Redondo Beach city department to utilize the service.

It will take about a month to get the service completely up and running, Leonardi said. Residents will be able to sign up at nixle.com.