The new Coplogic system, which replaces the department's obsolete Internet reporting service, assigns an incident number to each report and allows citizens to print out a copy, making it easier for users to file insurance claims, police said.
"The desire was to create a product that would assist law enforcement agencies in becoming more efficient and make better use of available resources," Officer Miguel Cabrera said.
Citizens must use a computer and an email address to log into the system. The online service may be used to report only crimes committed within the city limits of Salinas and only if there are no known suspects.
Crimes that may be reported via the system include commercial, residential and vehicular burglaries, harassing phone calls, hit-and-run collisions with no suspect information, missing property, non-injury accidents, thefts and vandalism.
The online system may also be use to file abandoned vehicle reports, barking dog complaints, crime tips, graffiti abatement, general complaints, traffic-related complaints, street light outages and police employee commendations.
The Coplogic online citizen crime reporting method has been adopted by 150 law enforcement agencies in North America, police said. The system is currently in English only, but the department is developing a Spanish language version.
To use the system, citizens must go the department's website at www.salinaspd.com, click on the "Online Services" tab, then the "Crime/Incident Reports" tab, and follow the directions.
