GRAND HAVEN, MI--(Marketwire - Feb 1, 2012) - Grand Haven Department of Public Safety, a Nixle supporter since June of 2009, is encouraging its residents to sign up for Nixle alerts to receive important and timely public safety information. With no cost to the department or residents, Nixle offers agencies throughout the country a cost-effective public notification solution.
Nixle Connect allows Grand Haven to communicate with the public via text/SMS, e-mail, and Internet posts at no cost. Communications range from emergency alerts such as severe weather information to road closures, safety and emergency preparedness and other important information.
"Nixle has proven to be a true help in providing important messages to our community," commented Captain Rick Yonker. "We have used Nixle since 2009 to provide safety information to our residents without spending their taxpayer dollars. Currently more than 10 percent of our population has opted-in to receive Nixle messages, not to mention the many more that are reached via the social media integration that Nixle offers."
Citizens can register to receive messages from Grand Haven and other local agencies by sending a text message with their zip code to 888777. Online registration is also available at www.nixle.com.
"We have seen tremendous growth in agencies that are using Nixle as a communication tool this year," stated Eric Liu, Nixle's CEO. "Nixle Connect is an easy-to-use communication system that allows agencies to send real-time notifications to the public. Having the ability to send notices not only during emergencies, but on a regular basis as well is vital, and we are proud to offer the capability to do just that at no cost."
Currently more than 4,800 government agencies have adopted Nixle for their means of real-time communications with residents, and more than 700,000 citizens have signed up to take advantage of the service. Year-to-year usage figures from August 2010 through July 2011 show that participating agencies created a total of 72,782 messages or 6,065 per month. Over 17 million SMS text messages were sent during the 12-month period for an average of 1.4 million each month, and over 43.8 million e-mails were sent by government agency users, over 3.6 million a month.
About Nixle
Founded in 2007, Nixle is the leader in trusted notification services for law enforcement and government agencies. More than 4,800 government agencies throughout the United States use Nixle to communicate with residents via SMS mobile text messaging, email, the Web, and mobile applications. Over 700,000 citizens rely upon the system. Nixle is strategically partnered with the National Law Enforcement Telecommunication System (Nlets) to offer the only public messaging service on the International Justice and Public Safety network, a system owned by the fifty states and serving every criminal justice agency in the US and Canada. Nixle is a privately held company based in San Francisco, CA.
For more information, visit http://local.nixle.com/city/mi/grand-haven/ or www.nixle.com.