Nextdoor removes police tip feature after sending 'heads-up' to Minnesota police

The officers facing charges for the death of George Floyd worked for the Minnesota police department

(AFP/Getty)

Nextdoor has shut down a feature that allowed users to forward their posts directly to the police.

In a blog post, the company said that it has made the decision “as part of our anti-racism work and our efforts to make Nextdoor a place where all neighbors feel welcome”.

“After speaking with members and public agency partners, it is clear that the Forward to Police feature does not meet the needs of our members and only a small percentage of law enforcement agencies chose to use the tool,” the blog continues.

The feature was introduced in 2016 so users could report issues to police departments without the company having to implement ways for law enforcement to monitor every community.

It comes at a time when Nextdoor has been apparently censoring posts about racial issues. Users say that there were “zero” posts referencing the Black Lives Matter, and upon creating them they promptly disappeared.

According to Bloomberg, Nextdoor emailed the Minneapolis Police Department on 12 June to inform law enforcement that it would be discontinuing the feature as a “heads-up”, with Nextdoor informing the rest of the police departments it works with on 15 June.

The letter was sent by Joseph Porcelli, Nextdoor’s global public agency lead, to Police Department spokesperson John Elder.

Minneapolis Police Department officers are those facing charges for the death of George Floyd, which has sparked protests in the US and UK.

The email suggests that shutting down the feature had been deliberated on for a while.

“Over the past few months, we have been evaluating some of our public agency platform capabilities, and we have made the decision to remove the Forward to Police feature,” Porcelli’s email reportedly read.

“Our decision was made after looking into member engagement metrics and speaking directly to many of our members and partners who are currently using the feature, those who used it for a short period of time and turned it off, and those who have never turned it on.”

Elder said he did not know why Porcelli had sent the email to him, and did not recall seeing it. Porcelli did not respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg.

Nextdoor’s CEO Sarah Friar, like executives from other technology companies, posted a statement about the Black Lives Matter movement.

On 11 June, Friar said she was “heartbroken for those experiencing loss and grief right now.”

“Systemic racism in our nation will not be solved overnight. Neighborhoods, we believe, must be part of the solution. Nextdoor connects neighbors, creating dialogues with people you may not have otherwise known. These conversations can spark understanding — and drive change” it continued.

The post did not mention police brutality, a central criticism from the Black Lives Matter movement, or Nextdoor’s relationship with law enforcement.