Bloomfield police department advances with technology

Corey Noles photo The Bloomfield Police Department is filled with new faces. Pictured are (from left) Officer Barrett Peebles, Officer Michael B. Smith, Officer Luke Boggs, Officer Lisa McFarlane, Officer Josh Jarrell and Chief of Police Jason Curtman. Not pictured are Officer Cheryl Malone, Sgt. David Richman and AC Officer Benny Cohen.

As technology changes in any business, new ways come along to handle old jobs or situations and Bloomfield is no exception.

Bloomfield City Police Chief Jason Curtman outlines some of these changes. "[The police department's] new website has only been up for about a month now so not a lot of people know about it yet," he said.

The website, which can be viewed at http://bloomfieldpd.bravehost.com , offers handful of services to community members including the Vacation Watch Program.

A link on the website leads to a form that can be printed out or submitted via e-mail allowing anyone leaving town to request the police to keep an eye on their home while away.

"I have it as soon as I check my e-mail in the morning," Curtman said. "We think this will be good for people who might need to leave town in a hurry."

He said the printable form is best, because it has a place for some extra information such as cars in the yard, lights that might be left on or people who could be coming by to feed pets.

Curtman said not many people have used the service, yet but hopes in coming months that people will begin to utilize some of the services they offer.

Also on the page is a link where people can submit anonymous crime tips. They hope that this will encourage people who might have reported a crime, but feared reprisals to contact the police with information.

The department has also begun using it's Crimestar software that was purchased when Keith Haynes was Chief of Police.

The software, which cost over $2,400, is used to log all service calls, citations, incident reports, racial profiling reports and even dog licenses.

"It makes it so much easier for us to look up information about people when we need to," he said. The software keeps them from spending time digging through file cabinets and puts the information they need right at the click of a mouse.

He says it's especially useful with dog licenses. When a pet owner purchases the required $1 dog tag it allows them to track an animals owner if the pet is found away from home.

Another technological advancement they are fixing to see is a Homeland Security grant that will soon be equipping the department with electronic surveillance equipment.

Officer Lisa McFarlen will be training on the equipment in Florida later this month. "After she gets back we're going to set up a time where she can train the whole department," Curtman said.

This will give the department stronger investigative capabilities allowing them to gather more and better evidence.

The new equipment, training and website is an effort to bring the force up to par with surrounding police departments.

The Stoddard County Sheriff Department (http://www.stoddardcosd.com/)and the Dexter Police Department (http://dexterpd.com/) currently operate websites with similar features.

Corey Noles can be contacted via e-mail at cnoles@dailystatesman.com .