Welcome (back) to Watch Jefferson County
Our goal is to improve safety and security in Jefferson County by providing information to the public. I believe that if you know that there have been recent break-ins or other crime in your neighborhood, you’re going to be more likely to be on the lookout and hopefully the perpetrator will be caught more quickly. I’m also hopeful that archiving crime and neighborhood watch data online in a searchable context will help local officials allocate resources more effectively. However, in order for Watch Jefferson County to be successful - and useful - we need to increase participation.
I’m currently working on several projects that I hope will help build interest and make Watch Jefferson County more user friendly. One of those projects is this news site. There have been many instances over the past few years where an issue has come up that we’ve really wanted to post on Watch Jefferson County but that we felt wasn’t appropriate. We have tried very hard to keep the website objective. We collect the facts - as reported by you and local law enforcement - and archive them online. Unfortunately, that often doesn’t get to the bottom of the story and it’s often not very interesting - unless the reports are from your neighborhood. We’ll use this page to report on many of the various issues that relate to law enforcement, safety and security throughout the county. We’ll also use it as a base for tutorials about using the features Watch Jefferson County provides, neighborhood watch information and other various points of interest. Members and the general public can participate and comment on any of the articles that we add to the blog. Please contact us if you have an issue or upcoming event that you would like to add.
I’m also currently working on adding an accident database that will allow you to browse motor vehicle accidents in time and space on the same map interface as the crime reports. Accident reports should be online by the end of the month (February 2008) and will date back to 2006. Also in the works are a new list based format for those of you who would rather not wait for the maps to load and a new and improved standalone map interface.
As always, I’m looking forward to your comments and suggestions.
