BELOIT, Wis. — Sergeant Jamie Linder’s job with the Beloit Police Department takes her all over the city, helping her team of officers respond to different types of calls.

What You Need To Know

  • Beloit Police Department launched an online self-reporting tool

  • The tool is meant for to report crimes such as theft, vandalism, fraud, scams or lost property

  • It generates a report which is sent to the department's records office

  • Police read the reports and follow up when needed

  • The tool is not meant to be used as a replacement for a 911 call. If there is a life threatening emergency, residents should call emergency services

“Beloit is a fast-paced community and we’re dealing with a large variety of calls for service and areas where our citizenry deserves to have our attention,” Linder said.

Because of that fast pace and the number of calls the department gets, Linder said officers have to prioritize the order of things they respond to. The most serious crimes must come first, she said. 

“Our goal was to tend to our community in a faster capacity and serving them and being more considerate of their time and their needs to continue to do whatever else they need to do with their life,” she said.

It led the department to launch a new online portal that allows people to self-report less serious crimes, such as vandalism, lost property and fraud or scams. Linder said the department reviews the online reports and an officer follows up when needed.

“If we see an area where we need any additional information, or we've noticed a trend of something where we can put the pieces together, we'll continue like we would with any other call for service, and we will send an officer to go do the appropriate follow-up to hold someone accountable,” she said.

Linder said this allows her officers to spend more time out patrolling the city.

“It's not something that we're doing to try and not be present or not be available,” she said. “It's for us to make sure that we're tending to the fast-paced society of our community members who don't want to wait six or seven hours for an officer to show up.”

While the tool has only been online for a few weeks, Linder said she hopes it will allow officers to solve crimes quicker.

“Instead of sitting there completing their reports during their shift, they're out patrolling the neighborhoods looking for people who are suspicious or causing problem[s], because that report is generated and now, they know what they're looking for, because we can pull all that data,” she said.

The tool is not meant to be used as a replacement for a 911 call. If there is a life threatening emergency, residents should call emergency services.

Related Stories