Ogden police invite public to help fight crime
Ogden Police Chief Mike Ashment, left and Deputy Director John Harvey during the unveiling of the Ogden Police new data-driven Cyberwatch program. (ANDREAS RIVERA/Standard-Examiner)
Ogden Police Chief Mike Ashment during the unveiling of the Ogden Police new data-driven Cyberwatch program. (ANDREAS RIVERA/Standard-Examiner)
OGDEN — Police have announced plans they say will empower residents to take an active role in reducing crime in their neighborhoods.
The newly released CyberWatch allows Ogden City residents to be in constant communication with police to report and receive updates on criminal activity in their area.
Police are encouraging residents to sign up for the online program in an effort to revitalize the old neighborhood watch initiatives, which have all but dissipated. The CyberWatch website not only allows citizens to report crimes, but to also view a list of crimes around their homes.
“If we can partner with the public and establish these partnerships between the police and the community, it will dramatically increase our effectiveness.” Ogden Police Chief Mike Ashment said.
Other features include the abilities to view reported crimes, area sex offenders and wanted fugitives, all within a quarter-mile radius of a resident’s home.
Users of the crime map feature can view a variety of data charts and analytics on all reported crimes in their area, revealing trends that the average citizen may not normally notice, Deputy Director John Harvey said.
Users can also receive daily emails containing reported activity in their area and alerts to nearby suspicious activity.
Ashment said Cyberwatch is part of an effort to be more transparent with the public.
The website is free to sign up with and requires only an email address and street address for the purpose of geolocating crimes in proximity to that address. Residents can set up multiple accounts to monitor crime in different areas of the city.
CyberWatch was an idea Harvey took with him from his former job at the police department of Memphis, Tenn. Harvey said the program had outstanding success in Memphis, cutting crime by about 30 percent over a four-year period.
Ogden is currently the only police agency in Utah with this type of online citizen-to-officer interaction, Harvey said. As the program rolls out and expands, Ogden hopes that police departments from surrounding cities in Weber County will get on board.
Further into the future, Harvey envisions a digital network of residents blogging about suspicious activity and crime trends to their neighbors, effectively forming their own online neighborhood watch groups.
“The public is the police, the police is the public — the only the difference being that the police are paid to give full-time attention to those responsibilities that are incumbent upon us all,” Ashment said, quoting Sir Robert Peel, the father of modern law enforcement. “We’re taking that concept and applying it to the modern world.”
Anybody interesting in joining CyberWatch can visit https://police.ogdencity.com/cyberwatch/
Contact reporter Andreas Rivera at 801-625-4227 or arivera@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @SE_Andreas.