When you want immediate information about an incident in your neighborhood, where do you turn? Increasingly people are turning to their neighborhood listservs and police online units. According to a recent article in the Washington Post:

Police departments that once treated information technology as an internal tool for tracking crime are opening up to the public, inviting them to join online discussion groups, participate in social networking and even help solve crimes.

Residents in Madison, Wis., can sign up for e-mails from their local police districts. In Los Angeles, residents can sign up for a program called e-policing, and officers will send them electronic newsletters about crime trends and other police issues.

Using technology to support public safety is not new, but using it for such direct and rapid communications is. Some of the benefits of these innovative uses include bringing officers closer to the people they serve, demystifying the policing process and bringing more information to local residents about what’s happening in their communities.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.