Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Should PDs post arrest summaries?

Should local police departments (and the sheriff's department) post arrest summaries weekly?

Residents would then know what was happening, crime-wise, in their community and what the police were doing about it. Any criminals who chose to read the summaries might figure on moving on to a different town for easier pickings.

It wouldn't be that hard to be transparent, but it would first take a willingness to be so.

Take a look at the Arrest Summaries of the Vernon Hills (Ill.) Police Department at www.vernonhills.org/contact/WeeklyArrrestSummary.asp Look how easy it is to find on the PD's website. No fooling around. No need to go digging (clicking) through pages and pages to find something. And fast to open, because it's web-based and not .pdf pages.

As it is now, reports of Woodstock arrests lag two-to-three months in the Northwest Herald. If the Woodstock Police Department provides information promptly to the Northwest Herald, why does the paper delay so long before publishing? If the Woodstock PD is the delay, why?

No comments: