The Metropolitan Police Department’s new web site is one of the most comprehensive online guides to the city for those who want to know more about the neighborhoods they live in and is another step toward the police chief’s goal of true community policing.

The web site provides resources to facilitate community policing as well as those interested in community activism. Resources for those who want to get more involved in their community or just find out more about it include comprehensive listings of churches and civic associations by neighborhood. Want to find out who your Patrol Service Area (PSA) sergeant is? It’s in there, along with phone and pager numbers. Don’t know which PSA you live in? Check out one of the many maps provided.

The web site is, thankfully, free of all that rotating and flashing eye candy the internet likes to distract you with. What it gives you instead is information — lots of information. If it weren’t so well organized, the sheer volume of information would be daunting. The site is set up so people can access information about just their police district or neighborhood without having to wade through irrelevant information first.

Pages are dedicated to each police district, with rosters of PSA sergeants that in most cases include voicemail or pager numbers. Rosters also include phone numbers for lieutenants, captains, commanders and personnel in the chief’s office. Listings of PSA meeting times and locations also are provided.

Numerous links put browsers in touch with their Citizen Advisory Councils and every page has a link titled "Feedback," which allows site visitors to e-mail the police department about its site.

The web site at www.mpdc.org went online Nov. 23. The site was constructed for the police department by GTE.

The pages dedicated to news releases offer every news release issued by MPD and are updated on a weekly basis. By contrast, the D.C. government’s official web site at www.ci.washington.dc.us has posted only one new press release since April 15. The control board’s web site at www.dcfra.gov posted only one release in December and one in November.

Kaylin Junge, the site manager, said she updates news releases as soon as they are available, which is usually several times a week.

For those interested in crime trends citywide, crime statistics are available comparing the most recent month available to the same period last year, year-to-date crime comparisons, as well as five-year crime trends.

Junge said recent additions include a page seeking tips on finding the District’s most-wanted criminals. She said the next step for the web site is to create access to a database so people can study crime statistics and trends for individual PSAs, each police district, the three regional operations commands or citywide.

For public policy junkies, check out Chief Charles Ramsey’s testimony before the city council on matters like police misconduct and management reform. Recruitment information is available for those impressed enough with the department’s efforts to want to apply. Up-to-date requirements and salary information are available and prospective police officers can even begin the application process online.

Links on the site will put you in touch with such diverse institutions as the Internal Revenue Service, the National Cathedral and most of the universities in the city. Those PSAs with web sites also have links. Hospitals, civic associations, Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, almost any group or institution in the city with an available web site has a link posted.

Some of the maps and pictures take a while to load, and a couple of the maps are fuzzy, but overall the site is slick, comprehensive and professional. The site is not intended to satisfy city visitors looking for a trendy restaurant or nightclub to attend, but for residents who need and want information about their neighborhoods.

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator