When one of us sees trouble, all of us know.

How the alert will work

Not switched on yet. Sign-ups are open now. Each home is confirmed by a neighbor, usually the same day. Alerts go live after the street has its own phone number and a test run, and we'll announce it in the group chat. Until then: the chat, and 911 first.

1. 1

   You see something wrong.

   Someone trying car doors. A stranger in a backyard. A break-in.

2. 2

   You call 911 if anyone's in danger. Then you tell the street.

   Hold the red button in the Caesars Circle app, post EMERGENCY and what you see in our GroupMe, or text it to the Caesars Circle number.

3. 3

   Homes with a verified phone get a call until someone answers.

   Each confirmed home that has verified its phone in the app is called, up to three times about ninety seconds apart, until someone in the house answers, with your first name, your house number, and what you saw. A notification goes with it, and a text once texting is registered with the carriers. The group chat gets it too, so we can keep each other posted.

Why not just the group chat?

The chat is where we talk. The alert is how we wake each other up.

• At 2am, a chat message is one of forty.

  You can let GroupMe through Do Not Disturb, but then every message wakes you. An alert is a phone call from one saved number that only ever carries emergencies, and it calls again until someone in your home answers. That's the one sound you let through.

• The chat can't tell which homes are confirmed.

  An alert only comes from a confirmed home on this street, with the name and house number on it.

• The chat is a start, not a plan.

  The point is to work together on the safest street we can be, with privacy done right. This is the first and smallest step, and the street decides what comes next.

What this could become

Nothing here is promised. It's what the street can choose, one step at a time, and the board is where we vote on it.

1. 1

   First, the alert.

   A call to the confirmed homes with a verified phone, again until someone answers. That alone changes 2am.

2. 2

   Then the easy wins.

   A lighting walk. A fridge card. Long screws in every strike plate. A sign at the entrance.

3. 3

   Then, if we want it.

   An entrance camera with a written policy. Porch lights that come on together during an alert. Cover for each other on vacation.

4. 4

   The street we're known for.

   The one where everyone who drives in can tell the neighbors look out for each other.

Ground rules

• It doesn't replace 911.

  Nobody here is a first responder. Call 911 first, every time.

• Only confirmed homes can send an alert.

  Before a home can send or get an alert, a neighbor confirms it's really that house. Someone who wanders into the chat can't set it off.

• It doesn't touch your lights, locks, or cameras. Yet.

  If the street wants that later, we decide it together, home by home, and it stays opt-in.

• Your details stay on the street.

  Name, house number, phone, and a few short questions like what you already have outside. Only the alert admins see your answers; the street only ever sees totals, never which house has what. Never shared, never sold. The full privacy and terms are one page.

• Alerts are about actions, never about people.

  What's happening, where, and when. Never who someone is or how they look. And never confront anyone.

• Misuse means you're out.

  A false alarm on purpose, harassment, or targeting a person gets your home removed from alerts and the board. No debate in the chat; the admins decide.

• It's neighbors, not a service.

  Volunteers run it, with no guarantee an alert lands. Treat it as one more pair of eyes, never the only one.

• Nobody makes money from this. Ever.

  No fees, no ads, nothing for sale, no data sold. The only real cost is a texting number, a few dollars a month, which Tiago covers until the street decides otherwise.