On October 15, 2019, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) received notice from Yahoo that, beginning on October 28, 2019 users and administrators will no longer be able to post information to any of the Yahoo email community groups that are managed by the MPD. By December 14, all existing content will be permanently removed.
Related Link: Understand what’s changing in Yahoo Groups
The MPD police discussion groups were originally created in Yahoo over 15 years ago to virtually share public safety information and strengthen our police-community relationships using technology. The MPD values the exchanges that occur on these email community groups and is committed to continuing this service. We will create and maintain a total of nine new groups using Google Groups. These will replace the current seven police district community groups as well as the Special Liaison and Victim Services Branch community groups.
This format should provide better quality of service than Yahoo groups, which have been faltering for some time. Any visitor to the site will be able to view content on the MPD Google Groups. Individuals who wish to post or reply to an existing post will need to establish a Google account. Any email will work to create the Google account; a Gmail account is not necessary.
Once the Google Groups have been created, a separate, more detailed email will be sent out with instructions on how to register for the new MPD community discussion groups.
We recognize this is an inconvenience and apologize for the short notice. We hope to establish new email discussion groups before Yahoo closes the existing groups. We do not expect any interruption in data feeds or postings by MPD personnel.
We also see this an opportunity to improve our services to our communities, get a better gauge of the number of subscribers who use the email groups, and streamline our messages to meet the needs of the community. We appreciate your patience and look forward to communicating with you through one of MPD’s new Google Groups.
Should you have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Dustin Sternbeck, MPD’s Director of Communications. He may be reached at [email protected].