"Any time we can enhance our service by putting information out to the community, we're going to do it," Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn said.
With offices in San Francisco and New Jersey, the Nixle company offers a service that enables users to receive up-to-date public safety alerts and advisories. The information is sent directly from the Marietta Police Department to a user's phone, e-mail or Web browser.
Since its public launch in March, more than 3,000 public safety and community agencies across the country have signed up to use the free service.
Flynn said the tool, which his department will roll out on Friday, can be used to get the word out about anything from a missing child to a gas leak or closed road. The customized messages are based on the user's geographic preference so that if, for example, only alerts about the Marietta Square area are wanted, that's all that will be sent to the user's phone.
To sign up, visit the Nixle Web site, set up a user name and password, enter an address or the nearest cross-street, and choose how to receive the messages. There are four types of messages: alerts, used in emergencies; advisories, which are less urgent need-to-know information; community information, such as day-to-day neighborhood to community-level information; and localized traffic information.
Users cannot respond to the messages like they can with e-mail. The goal is to get accurate information into the hands of residents as soon as possible, Flynn said.
Smyrna Police Officer Mike Smith said his department began using Nixle over the summer. The Cobb Police Department uses its own system called Police Email Notification System, which has a similar end result in direct contact with citizens. Cobb breaks down its system, which has been in place two years, based on precinct area, spokesman Robert Quigley said.
For more information, visit www.nixle.com.
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