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| Brentwood residents turn to online police reports (892216) | |||
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Brentwood residents turn to online police reports |
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Posted by DAnd124 on Wed Dec 28 23:33:28 2011, in response to The New Brentwood Thread, posted by LuchAAA on Sun Aug 21 16:33:18 2011. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19633379In a bedroom community like Brentwood where the majority of residents commute to work outside the area, the ability to quickly report a minor crime online is a major convenience, Brentwood police Lt. Tom Hansen said. "If something happens and people discover those incidents on their way to work in the morning, it is a great service," Hansen said of the department's online police report system. "All they need is a police report for their insurance. A lot of people don't have the time to sit around and wait for a police officer." The department started the online-reporting program last year, and Hansen noted that about 20 to 25 crimes are reported per month through the website. The minor crimes that can be reported on the website are hit-and-runs, identity theft, grand theft, vandalism, lost property and harassing phone calls. "On some months, we get quite a few for whatever reason," Hansen said. "We did it as a service to our citizens but not to take the place of our response. If one of our citizens wants a police officer, we will come out." The number of crimes reported online increased from 109 last year to 172 at the beginning of this month, Brentwood City Manager Paul Eldredge said. "The Brentwood Police Department's online police reports have increased as more residents are becoming aware of its availability," he said. Crimes that involve leads or witnesses cannot be reported online because local law enforcement needs to visit the scene to collect evidence and investigate, Hansen said. Many cities have established similar online-reporting programs as a supplemental service to residents, according to Hansen. "Sometimes people will try to use it for crimes that don't fit the criteria," he said. "This is all about a service to our community." Hansen said the process is simple and self-explanatory, and a sergeant will review all reports to ensure that they are properly completed and appropriate. It also can be used to submit a vacation watch to the police department for extra patrols, and the entire service is available in Spanish. Online reporting is a new technology that is relatively inexpensive and was easy to implement, Hansen said. Another informational feature to the Police Department's website is the public police logs with all reported crime in the city each week. |
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