City and county law enforcement have just upgraded their websites, and about the only thing you can't do now online is report a violent crime. You still have to dial 911, but who knows for how long.

Boca Raton Police Services consolidated http://www.bocapolice.com, <http://www.bocaviper.com and> their Facebook page, said Mark Economou, public information manager. You can still use both URLs, but they take you to the same site, which they launched the last week in April.

"Now everything is in one place," said Erica Reuter, the department's webmaster, who helped design and maintains the site.

For West Boca users, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office quietly rolled out a redesign two months ago, said Deputy Eric Davis, PBSO public information officer. "We gave it a new look to make it more user friendly and bring it up to date," he said.

For people who like keeping tabs on police activities and crime, both sites are a goldmine of information. Boca police just started posting the daily crime blotter that only went to the news media. There are already press releases noting arrests and other news the department wants to get out.

"The media are always a necessity for us, but this is another layer," Economou said.

News cycles are fleeting, and once a TV station airs a story or a newspaper covers it and even posts it, it's gone. "But it lives on, on our website," he said, especially important if the department is still looking for a suspect or a case remains unsolved.

Other new elements on the city site are a more formal look, better navigation, and linking the site to all their social networking sites.

About the only thing users can't do is file a police report for a non-emergency or nonviolent crime, an interactive function <http://www.pbso.org has> offered since 2008.

Their site encourages online reporting for graffiti, vandalism, theft, traffic/hit and run, lost property, harassing phone calls, identity theft, trashing, dumping and just information someone wants deputies to know. There are other criteria, such as where the crime has occurred, clearly posted on the website.

Boca opted not to offer online reporting because the website is not staffed 24 hours a day, and it would require more manpower for officers to call or e-mail back to get the information required.

"We want them to call 911," Economou said.

The Sheriff's Office already has the manpower to do exactly that, said Sgt. Michael Ott, supervisor of the Alternate Response Unit, a phone reporting unit staffed 24/7.

"The computer will collect the same information as a deputy sheriff," he said. "The information is then submitted and reviewed for accuracy and completeness. We verify it, and make sure it meets our reporting criteria."

Not enough people know the online reporting feature is available and he hopes the new site design will give it more visibility, he said.

Boca Raton police see their new site as a continuation of the strategy it started with the VIPER site two years ago, what it calls "a communications tool for the community," Economou said.

They reached out to neighborhood associations, the retail community and held four days of focus groups in early 2009, putting out the word through Twitter and the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce.

"Since then we've been fine tuning it," Economou said.

 Marci Shatzman, West Boca Forum Reporter
Reprinted courtesy of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel