Full Notification

It’s a new year, but we have the same commitment to your safety. Let one of your first New Year’s resolutions be to “be in the know” about what’s happening in our city and how it may affect you.

We encourage residents to sign up for all our alert/advisory platforms, especially Nixle, Nextdoor and SMC Alert, to receive real-time alerts from SMPD about emergencies and timely public safety updates, advisories, and community information.

Nixle is the primary alert system for the San Mateo Police Department. By signing up, you can set your preferences to receive text, email, or both. We use this alert system to send text messages about road closures & traffic impacts, as well as to share critical information about sheltering in place or police activity in an area. Emails can be sent with more detailed information and/or to provide info about current arrests, our press releases, or community engagement information. You can opt-in quickly by texting your zip code to 888777 or visit nixle.com to opt-in and set your preferences.

Nextdoor is another way to inform residents about circumstances mentioned above but is a secondary system which may or may not be utilized depending on the situation. You will not receive a text from this system. The PD can create posts for our community members to see but cannot see posts created by community members. Unless you comment on a post we created, we cannot see discussion threads on other crime & safety topics posted to Nextdoor. To join Nextdoor, visit nextdoor.com.

SMC Alert functions similarly to Nixle but is primarily used as a county emergency management system among city and county agencies and the fire department. While we are able to post to SMC Alert in the same manner as Nixle, we have chosen to maintain Nixle as our primary alert system due to the thousands of subscribers who opted in prior to SMC Alert’s implementation. As a result, SMC Alert is used sparingly by our department and on a situational basis. To sign up, scan the QR code in the pic or visit getrave.com.

If you are currently an SMC Alert subscriber and reside or work in San Mateo, we encourage you to sign up for Nixle as well, and vice versa. All three alert platforms listed above allow us to send messaging to specific geo-fenced areas. Meaning, we can limit who we message based on distance and/or neighborhoods near an affected area depending on the platform. We can send a message to all subscribers or just to some relevant subscribers. To be the most informed sign up for all three, as well as our social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube.

For questions, email [email protected].

Stay informed. Stay prepared. Stay connected.
Happy New Year!