Crime & Safety

Dunwoody Police Bring Neighborhood Watch Online

Interactive Defense, after two months, has led to two arrests and given neighborhood groups a new communication tool

One advantage to having a young city is the ability to integrate new technology easily.

The Dunwoody Police Department has taken advantage of just that. The department has frequently updated Twitter and Facebook accounts, puts all police reports online and now has a new interactive system for communicating with residents.

Interactive Defense, which was designed by an Alpharetta-based technology company, allows citizens to get email updates on crimes, wanted suspects and neighborhood watches. Users can also submit tips and to ask for police check –ins on their house while they're on vacation.

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"Frankly this is just sort of the next evolution of communication between residents and the police," said Bonnie Brucker, who has headed her North Forest neighborhood watch for the last decade.

"In the past, if someone went out of town, they'd tell me and I'd contact police," she said about running her watch group. "Now they can just do it online."

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So far, the system has worked well, police say.

"We're getting emails about suspicious cars, we're getting tons and tons of tips," said Officer William Furman, who helped bring the system to Dunwoody.

The system has been up for two months. It has helped lead to two arrests, Furman said.

The first happened just days before the site went live. Officers were investigating a home burglary in Dunwoody, and sent an email out to a neighborhood watch group – within the hour, a person wrote in with information about the vehicle they'd seen at the scene of the crime.

Within three days, police had a warrant on the vehicle. The suspect's mug shot and information was put onto Interactive Defense, and he was later identified when a news program showed the mug shot on air.

But what led to the identification was the initial email, Furman said, which was the old way of doing things.

"That's kind of what we started with," Furman said. "We were relying on a grapevine email technique."

The system now allows the department to contact a larger group of individuals and neighborhood groups.

The Interactive Defense was conceived by officers with the Alpharetta Police Department and then developed by F3 Technologies.

Furman had worked with one of the Alpharetta officers when they were with the Cobb County Police Department.

When demonstrated for Chief Billy Grogan, other officers and a group of the citizens, each group gave it a thumbs-up.

"We got a lot of positive feedback with the program," Furman said.

With no cost for the department – the system is paid for with local business banner ads – it wasn't a difficult decision.

The biggest surprise to Furman is the range in users.

"We are hitting a whole new demographic with this software," he said. "A lot of people don't use MySpace. They don't use Facebook. They don't use Twitter. So this is all brand new to them. It shocked us. We didn't anticipate that."

The system has other applications too. In January, Brucker will be on her neighborhood board, so she'll use Interactive Defense to give updates not only on police news but for neighborhood business.

There are 1,300 households listed in the system so far.

"I'd love for every household in the city, but that might not be possible," Furman said.

Luis Camacho, of Dunwoody, signed up for the system about two weeks ago.

"We saw this as an opportunity to stay abreast of what's going on in the area," he said.

He plans to use the system when he heads out on vacation.

Camacho had been dissatisfied with the prior police service under DeKalb County, which he felt didn't have a great community presence.

He's happy with the Dunwoody Department. "I see them much more frequently," he said.

Camacho thinks systems like Interactive Defense are a step in the right direction for the local police department, though he is a little worried about having his name and home listed in the system's membership directory.

"I'm hopeful that the police department will be sensitive with that information," he said.

Furman said the department is sensitive with that information.

"That's always a question when people put their home address into the system," Furman said. "We've had to reassure people as to who can actually see that."

The department has also changed the system to allow people to opt out of having their profile public to other members.

"We've refined it over a month and a half," he said. "I think we have a better product than when we started."


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