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Wednesday, May 07, 2003

By Carole Gilbert Brown , Tri-State Sports & News Service

When Carnegie Police Officer Caulene Bogdon attended an Internet crime class several years ago and learned that Bellevue police had a link on the borough Web site, she immediately thought of bringing a page from that lesson back home.

After all, she reasoned, the two municipalities are boroughs of about the same size and administrative complexity.

The part of her initiative that's now up and running is www.carnegiepolice.org, which is operated by the Carnegie Police Department for the purpose of educating the public and enlisting its help.

Launching the stand-alone Web site would in itself have made the class time worthwhile, Carnegie police Chief Jeffrey Harbin says.

Still, it is one of the Web site's coming attractions that has been gaining extra notice: A daily crime log that essentially puts the police scanner radio chatter online.

Bogdon developed the Web site at home and whenever she had some quiet time at work. Included are links to a crime alert with advice about protecting people from home invasions, a listing of department personnel, a spot for e-mail and the soon-to-be-operating daily police log.

"Ours is pretty basic, but we hope to expand on it. We have to take this one step at a time, but it's pretty exciting for us," said Bogdon, a 13-year police veteran and one of few female officers in the western suburbs.

The daily police log will be accessible as soon as a reliable way to download the information from the computer to the Web site is determined.

It will be an innovation for municipal police departments in Allegheny County, where obtaining news of police activity often still involves making a round of phone calls or front-desk visits.

It is also in line with Harbin's belief in working with members of the public, be they residents or the press.

George Scarborough, executive director of the 21-member Char-West Council of Governments, said he knows of no other community that puts its police log online -- or, for that matter, even has a police-specific Web site. Most police news is contained in links off municipality-based home pages.

Acknowledging that some might be concerned about privacy, Harbin said it is the taxpayers' right to know what's going on in their town.

"It's basic police log information. You'll get nothing more than if you turn on the scanner. We're not disclosing any criminal history, treatment history, intelligence or listing other investigation information," he said.

But residents can learn about such things as the nature of received complaints and their initial outcomes, accidents, traffic stops and special patrols. Investigative updates will be noted on the logs, but without details such as names.

Bogdon said she wants the Web site log to contain a week's listing of all police activities. As a new day's work is added for viewing, the oldest day's will be dropped off.

Both Bogdon and Harbin hope the Web site will empower residents and help reduce crime.

"Despite the patrols, sometimes it's very difficult to get information on what's going on in various neighborhoods," said Harbin, adding that residents armed with the correct data could prove beneficial.

"This is not just a show thing to make the department look good; it's trying to be helpful, too," the chief said. "It's using technology to help prevent crime."