Sheriff’s reports return to Reflections

Updating Lane County’s computer aided dispatch system had the unexpected side effect of blocking easy access to reports on calls for police services. November 19th of 2013 marked the last time the public could find information about when and where the Lane County Sheriff’s Office was responding to things like robberies, harassment or traffic accidents.

Last week the Sheriff’s Office launched a new Crime Mapping/ Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) Public Log. The system allows both the media and the public to have a short report on what’s occurred. In addition, the Sheriff’s Office can now provide McKenzie River Reflections with the more detailed reports that have been part of the newspaper for years, according to publisher Ken Engelman.

For online users, CAD system events appear on a map as icons showing what was reported in different areas. Users can hover over the icon to get details about the report - such as event type, date and time of call, and location. In addition, the site allows users to enter in custom date ranges and to filter by the type of occurrence.

According to Sergeant Carrie Carver, the system won’t include any personal identifiers and will update every 24 hours.

“Information about crime, particularly crime that has been reported near where we work, play, or live, can increase awareness and may prompt greater frequency of preventative activities such as locking car doors and securing homes,” Carver noted. “Community members can use the new online crime mapping to follow crime in their area and become more aware of crime trends, which may assist in making decisions about personal and home safety. Crime mapping has also been used in the past to help those searching for homes make informed decisions regarding the area they may potentially live.”

A link to the site can be found on the Sheriff’s Office website (www.lanesheriff.org).

Image above: An online mapping program launched last week displays the different crime reports logged by the Lane County Sheriff’s Office.

McKenzie River Reflections

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