Peachtree City residents who have become accustomed to crime alerts on their cellphone and email inboxes will have to make a switch, and soon.
The city is abandoning the Nixle service because the company has changed its mind and decided to start charging cities for the service. Instead, the city is rolling out a similar service that will also be free, and can be signed up for on the city’s website at http://www.peachtree-city.org/CivicAlerts.aspx.
The change will save the city several thousands of dollars annually with the switch, since the new system is free and built into the city’s web management software.
What follows are detailed instructions on how to sign up for the service once on the initial webpage:
• Once on this page, you will see a box on the right entitled “Tools”. Locate the Notify Me link (there is an envelope next to it), and click on it.
• At the top of the next page, you will be directed to enter the email address you would like to subscribe.
• After clicking the “Sign In” button, you will be given the option of entering a cell phone number where you would like SMS Text Messages to be sent.
You do not have to subscribe to the text messages.
You will then choose what groups you would like to subscribe to. The top option is the Police Notify Me option, and below are all of the other City Department’s that you can subscribe to.
Once you have subscribed to the Police Notify Me option, you will begin to receive emails from the Peachtree City Police Department with an email address of listserv@civicplus.com. Make sure you add this to your address book to eliminate the chance of your spam filter blocking the emails.
The city has pledged to never share your information with 3rd parties and we will never send you messages that are not related to City information, police/criminal activity, or actual emergencies in progress.
The police department will continue to use Nixle until April 29 and from then on it will continue using both Twitter (@PTCpolice) and Facebook even after the switch is made from Nixle to CivicPlus for the alerts.
