Police initiatives boost safety, convenience

The Superior Police Department is introducing two new services to the community.

One is designed for convenience and the other is designed to prevent crime, find stolen property, locate missing people and fugitives, and identify suspects.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is launching the latter this week, and the Superior Police Department is participating in the program.

For your convenience

Getting in an automobile accident can be inconvenient to begin with.

Couple that with the hassle of having to pick up a copy of the report during regular business hours when you have to work or in class and it can be a real headache.

The Superior Police Department, like many other police agencies in Wisconsin, is partnering with CarFax to establish a way for the public to get those crash reports online, without making a stop at the police desk.

“For an insurance company that might request a dozen reports in a month, they can go online and set up an account and automatically gain access to those reports,” said Assistant Police Chief Charles LaGesse. “Then at the end of the month, CarFax bills them and then sends the city the same copying fee we’ve always gotten.”

The online reports cost $10, compared to $5 at the police desk. But when an insurance company requests a report, they are billed immediately, and results in multiple mailings and billings in a month, LaGesse said.

“It’s very attractive to insurance companies to be able to get it instantly online without generating a lot of paper and checks,” LaGesse said. He said the system would also work well for people who simply can’t make the trip to the law enforcement center between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. because of work or school.

The reports generated through CarFax look just like the reports that can be obtained at the police desk — and people can still get them there for $5.

LaGesse said the reports are filed electronically and will simply be sent to CarFax.

The citizen, when they do an online purchase of their accident report, they’re actually getting a PDF version of the report they would get here,” LaGesse said.

For a report, go to the police department website at www.ci.superior.wi.us and click on “Online Crash Reports” or go directly to www.crashdocs.org/wi-cityofsuperior.

Officers are now passing out cards that provide all the necessary information to get reports online when people are involved in an accident, LaGesse said.

Crime Alert Network

The Wisconsin Crime Alert Network is a new public safety initiative introduced by the Division of Criminal Investigation at the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

The initiative is designed to help local law enforcement agencies solve and prevent crimes by partnering with local businesses and residents, according to Superior Police Capt. Chad La Lor.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers across the state, including officers in Superior, are trained to issue free alerts by fax, email and text message to subscribers.

The program allows law enforcement to target its audience with crime information in more than 50 categories, such as banks and financial institutions, retailers, pharmacies and convenience stores.

The Superior Police Department supports the initiative as another means for businesses and citizens too receive information that enables them to assist law enforcement in solving and preventing crimes, La Lor said.

“It is the department’s hope that the Wisconsin Crime Alert Network will compliment programs the Superior Police Department already has in place to provide information to citizens and businesses,” La Lor said.

Programs already in place in Superior include FraudTracks, which provides news about current financial crimes; Tip411/Citizen Observer, which allow citizens to send anonymous tips to police and receive alerts from the department; and Facebook.

Annual subscriptions to the crime alert network cost $12, and one, three and five-year subscription options are available. For more information, call (608) 240-3597 or email info@wisconsincrimealert.gov.

To sign up, go to www.wisconsincrimealert.gov.

Tags: news, courts, crime, money