Law Enforcement Turns To Internet Interaction With Citizens On Rise; Agencies On-Line Top 2,000

Police around the world are using the Internet to fight crime and enlist citizens to help keep peace in their communities.

“I think it’s the most effective money you can spend to prevent crime,” said Bill Taylor, crime analyst for the Sacramento Police Department, which has developed one of the nation’s most sophisticated Internet police sites.

The Internet - offering immediate communication and crossing jurisdictional boundaries - is a powerful and versatile law-enforcement tool.

Citizens can anonymously report drug dealers, check out crime in their neighborhoods and communicate directly with police chiefs.

Law-enforcement agencies can alert area residents to problems and put out the word about fugitives.

More than 2,000 police agencies have gone on-line, extending the long arm of the law to millions of Internet users, said Ken Reeves, a Microsoft Corp. manager who recently established a World Wide Web site promoting new technology in law enforcement.

Seattle and Bellevue police are looking at going on-line, and King County police now offer a primitive Internet site that resembles an electronic copy of a police brochure.

“Some may say we’re being dragged into the 21st century, technologically speaking,” said King County police spokesman Jerrell Wills.

Many small- and medium-size police departments have taken the lead in Internet technology.

In northern California, Placer County residents are invited to file complaints, commendations and crime reports on the sheriff’s department’s Internet site. The Web page includes Sheriff Edward Bonner’s e-mail address.

The 2-year-old Web page, one of the nation’s oldest police sites, was introduced to promote community policing, said Sgt. Bill Langton, who designed the site.

“To make our world a whole lot safer, we have to do it as a community. We can’t do it ourselves,” he said.

Edmonds police offer an electronic site where citizens can look up crime statistics, hiring information, minutes of police-community meetings and tips on crime prevention. But the information is beyond the reach of the department’s own officers, since none of the Edmonds police computers has Internet access.

In the border town of Blaine, population 3,150, crime logs are reported each day on the Internet.

In Virginia’s Roanoke County, citizens can click on a map to find out about the latest crime in their communities.

“People in Roanoke County have the right to know what kind of crimes are occurring and where they are occurring so they can take steps to prevent them from happening to them,” said Officer Tom Kincaid, who created his department’s Web site.

Consultant Kevin Wirth offers “Crime Online Around the Sound,” a Web page that provides detailed maps and charts of major crimes in Seattle and King County.

Some police agencies have expanded their search for fugitives to the World Wide Web. The Internet was credited for helping capture a Seattle bank robber hiding in Guatemala. A neighbor had spotted the fugitive’s photograph on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” Web site.