If you are a resident interested in participating in a neighborhood watch or patrol, please contact the [email protected].  For more information on neighborhood watch and patrol, see the link at right.

The below message is from Bill Miller, President of the Northern District Community Council:

Better communication between the police and the community is important and multiple pathways have been established. Here is a summary:

911 is the primary vehicle for reporting a crime or suspicious activity that warrants a police officer responding. Patrol cars are dispatched thru the 911 system and reported criminal activity is mapped based on these calls. Do not call 311, post on NextDoor, or call the District HQ, if you want an actual police officer to respond. Remember that your call is prioritized based on what you tell the 911 Operator and what he/she enters into the computer. Response time is effected by the level of priority, officers available, and call volume.

NextDoor is a relatively new tool available to the Police Department and several other city agencies. NextDoor allows the Police Commissioner to send a message to every subscriber in the city. It allows Major Richard Gibson and Captain Lloyd Wells to send out messages to every subscriber in the Northern District or to particular neighborhoods.. If they send out a message, you can respond to it and they will receive your response, but the Police can’t monitor regular NextDoor conversation. Entire discussions about police behavior or criminal activity in a neighborhood often occur without the knowledge of the police. If you want the police to know about your concerns, you need to let them know.

[email protected]Baltimorepolice.org is an e-mail address set up by Major Gibson to allow people to ask questions, get a report, raise problems, or report information in a confidential manner. It is monitored by a handful of selected staff who will either get back to you or forward your e-mail to the appropriate person.

If you are on Facebook or Twitter, you should like Rich Gibson so you will get a variety of news and photographs about what is happening in the Northern District that you will never hear about from the news media. @BaltimorePolice on Twitter is where you will get the first reports of a major incident in the city. It is how the news media is alerted.

The Northern District Community Council is independent from the police department and has two e-mail lists including neighborhood and political leaders, people who attend our meetings and others who have requested to be included in the lists.

About 100 people subscribe to [email protected] . This is a limited access interactive site where you must apply to be added. Another 200 people are on the group distribution list that I maintain. To be added or deleted from this list, send an e-mail to [email protected].

The Northern District maintains an official e-mail list of Neighborhood Association presidents and there is some duplication when both lists are used to ensure good coverage. Many groups rebroadcast some of these notices and messages and we appreciate the wide electronic coverage we are able to enjoy in the Northern.

Bill Miller
President
Northern District Community Council