Online crime reporting goes live

KENT COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - It's the talk of Kent County, for the first time in the State of Michigan you can file a police report online.

It's called Coplogic and people can access it from the comfort of their own homes.

On Friday, the Kent County Sheriff's Office demonstrated the new technology.

Deputy Deanna Lude takes walk-in reports all the time, but only during business hours. When she's off, people can't get through.

"It's going to be very nice for our dispatchers to be able to refer people when we're not open," said Deputy Lude.

Coplogic is a website, available through www.accesskent.com. People using the service are giving a set of options, things like damage to private property under $1,000 or vandalism. Victims of such crimes can now report the crimes online.

People fill out a form and hit the send button.

"It will be the same as a report that's generated by an officer on the road," said Deputy Lude, "just coming from a different source."

Online crime reporting has proven effective in the City of San Francisco, with officers there now taking a quarter of their reports online without having to dispatch an officer.

In 2008, the Kent County Sheriff's Department responded to 87,000 incidents. Of those, 20 percent were non-emergencies, a huge waste of resources they say, which is why they are hopeful that the new option will save them both time and money.

"This reporting system recognizes the growth in our community, the increased demands on all the police services here in Kent County and the need to provide an efficient alternative for the citizens wanting to file a report with the Kent County Sheriff's Department," said Undersheriff John Hess.

Coplogic is currently available in English, but will soon be available in Spanish, then in two additional languages.