June 5th, 2014: East Pennsboro Township Police Department to increase digital presence
Allison Dougherty | Special to PennLive By Allison Dougherty | Special to PennLive
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on June 05, 2014 at 1:07 AM, updated June 05, 2014 at 1:08 AM
EAST PENNSBORO TOWNSHIP – The East Pennsboro Township Police Department might be coming to your house real soon.
On Wednesday, township commissioners approved a proposal from Carlisle based Crimewatch Technologies for a public information and social media solution for the police department.
The package includes a new Crimewatch portal website, as well as website and social media management, and will give township police access to a universal database that facilitates real-time crime information sharing between police departments.
The new website will allow police to post up-to-the-minute crime information, which is automatically pushed to Facebook and Twitter, giving residents the opportunity to provide police with tips and information of their own.
Setup for the Crimewatch system will cost $3,600, plus $300 per month for the technology service. The township will also receive a new website as part of the Crimewatch package, which will run $750 for setup, with a $100 monthly fee for the service.
The township currently pays around $2,000 a year for updates to the township's website, as well as a small licensing fee.
Commissioners also approved for police a new records management system, which is expected to save the township about $6500 a year, and electronic citation equipment, at a cost of $7,000, which will give police the ability to issue electronic citations from their cars and automatically push the information from the citation to the state database.
East Pennsboro Township Police Chief Todd M. Bashore after the meeting said he expects the Crimewatch system to be up and running in the township by late summer or early fall.
