Citizen Online Reporting: Reporting Non-Violent Crimes

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

The Baltimore County Office of Information Technology (OIT) managed the acquisition and implementation of the Citizen Online Reporting program with the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD). This web based reporting system provides Baltimore County citizens with a new method to file crime/incident types (lost property, abandoned vehicles, hit and run, destruction of property, and theft) over the Internet at their convenience. This service enables the public to file a report online at a time that is convenient for them 24 hours a day. Citizens are able to select their crime type, answer a brief list of questions to classify, submit and print a temporary copy of the report. BCPD’s Telephone Reporting Team (TRT) reviews, updates and submits (or rejects) these reports through the application interface, freeing up officers to focus on more serious crimes. As of January 2012, the BCPD more than doubled the amount of online reports received since the application was implemented in December 2011.