Police calls posted online in St Johns County to keep community informed

Updated: 8/26/2013 11:15 pm

NOCATEE, Fla. -- It's getting harder for Action News to work with some local law enforcement offices to get you the information you need to know.

But there's a new push for transparency in St Johns County. Authorities are posting police call-outs online.

"You always want to know where the bad places are, where all the crime and stuff is happening," said Kim Overton.

Overton is happy to hear at a time when some government agencies are tightening the ropes, St. Johns county is headed in the opposite direction.

"It's our calls for service screen that we've made available through our website," said Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan.

In an effort to become more transparent, the Sheriffs Office is sharing a log of their police calls.

It's the opposite move from Duval County.

The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office silenced police radios in July 2011, restricting the media from hearing call-outs. Then in May, JSO closed the office with access to police reports.

St. Johns County also had to silence radios in a move to protect the identities of certain crime victims. But Mulligan said every call they can post, they will.

It's not in real time to help keep officers safe.

"We don't want the criminal standing in their living room with a smartphone saying, 'Hey, they just got the dispatch their on their way. Let's get out of here,'" he said.

Mulligan said it is worth the extra effort to keep the community informed.

And Overton added the move proves this is a county that cares about her safety.

"(They're) just taking that extra precautionary step so I think that's a really good measure for them to do so instead of being behind the eight ball they can get ahead of the game," she said.

Mulligan said on the site, a homeowner can pull up their street and see what crime is going on around them.

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Realchange - 8/27/2013 12:41 PM
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Additionally we have the worst prosecutor in the world. She uncovered evidence of Trayvon Martin's criminal activities which supported Zimmerman's innocence and was going hide it. How would you like to be on trial for your life and find out the prosecution had evidence that showed your innocence and hid it to get a conviction?

Realchange - 8/27/2013 12:40 PM
0 Votes
What I have to say about the police is not very nice. They are above the law. They can do the following things and not one word is said about it or charges filed: 1 Texting and driving. If they cause an accident its not chargeable to them. Got love if they doing their job they can wrong someone and they above the law. Please don't give excuse about their training some of us have extensive military training about doing that. I am for limiting texting and driving but the law should apply to everyone not select class of citizenry. 2. Killing police dogs. You attack police dog you get charges for attacking a police officer as if person. Yet when one their own kills a dog in hot car never any charges. This has happened in Georgia and Fla. Other people do similar looking at hard jail time. Why can a police officer get away with not being charge for killing a fellow police officer during non emergency situations? 3. Shooting and killing the wrong person at the wrong address. This happened South of Orlando last year got whitewashed. Guy was having his door pounded on by police after murder suspect. They did not ID themselves. After he answer door late at night with gun in hand they shoot and kill him. Find out they at the wrong address. Did I mention his neighborhood was high crime. 4. Choking and killing a inmate who needed medical attention. He might needed restraining he should not died from such restraint. 5. Telling people their cars are tinted to darkly ticketing them yet they drive around in heavily tinted cars for their "safety". Again another double standard. 6. Ex cops kill a boot camp teen on video tape and get off. 7. I suspect the guy who dropped a gun that killed a cyber café customer few years back was ex police officer or had ties to them. How would you like someone to drop a gun they are carrying killing a family member and then told that the person would be let go no charges and probably kept their gun?
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