While children talked to a robot and
thrilled to karate demonstrations, about 300 Jupiter Farms
residents last weekend got a closer look at Palm Beach County
law enforcement's new Internet ally.
Adding another weapon to the fight against crime, Sheriff
Ed Bieulich visited the Farms Saturday, Aug. 10 for the
official county-wide launch of the CrimeWatchAmerica Web site
at the sheriff's satellite office, 16133 Jupiter Farms Road.
Developed almost two years ago by Jupiter Farms residents
Mike and Sue Lopilato, the CrimeWatch Web site serves as an
Internet bulletin board where up-to-date information on
missing persons, emergency situations and criminal suspects
can be posted and relayed to various community policing and
law enforcement agencies.
"Everyone has heard about the Amber Alerts for missing
children," said Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer
Diane Carhart. "This is just another tool to get information
out there and in the hands of people who can make the most use
of it."
Carhart said the Web site had been so successful in quickly
communicating important information to deputies and detectives
in the Jupiter Farms community that the sheriff decided to
implement the program throughout the county.
"We've had such great results with the program on a
community level that we believe it can eventually be used on a
state and national level," Mike Lopilato said. "I'm hoping we
can one day work with the Department of Homeland Security."
With 169 communities signed up to the CrimeWatch Web site,
Lopilato said he has been talking to local municipalities,
such as Boca Raton, about joining the program and currently
works with community groups like the Citizen Observer Patrol
and Community Emergency Response Team.
Alerts, Lopilato said, can be sent out over the Web site
within 30 seconds of receiving new information. People who
sign up to the site as a member have the option of receiving
alerts by e-mail, telephone or even as text messages on cell
phones or pagers, he said.
Lopilato said the CrimeWatch Web site's easily-accessed
bulletins were developed to fill a need for better
communication between residents and police in the Jupiter
Farms community.
"The biggest problem we had in Jupiter Farms, at the time
we started on the site, was just getting important information
out to the community," Lopilato said. "Our area is just too
big to rely on door-to-door notices, and there are too many
people to call them all."
Lopilato said one of the most important features of the
CrimeWatch Web site is that it operates at no cost to law
enforcement agencies or residents. The program, he said, is
funded solely through reasonably-priced advertising "sponsor
banners" that are displayed on the Web site.
In addition to the CrimeWatch Web site kick-off, the
family-oriented event offered residents a chance to tour the
Sheriff's Office's new Mobile Operations Center and get an
up-close look at the department's helicopter unit.
Children flocked to the Sheriff's talking robot, that
entertained kids while teaching them about crime prevention
and safety, and the entire crowd watched as students of West
Palm Beach's Japan Karate School performed martial arts
demonstrations.
For more information on CrimeWatch, check out the Web site
at www.CrimeWatchAmerica.com.
james.russell@scripps.com
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