Questions?
Contact Bob Thetford at
or telephone at
334-280-0020
ICJE Website Construction for law enforcement agencies
For more information, send a blank e-mail to: website@icje.org
Why your department needs a Website.
You don't need a Web presence just to show that your department is up on the latest technological gadgets, but having a Website can enhance the effectiveness of your department no matter how large or small it is.
The reasons to have a departmental Website are varied, but range from showcasing your accomplishments, aiding in the apprehension of fugitives, emergency planning and certainly excellent public relations. Click here for full details: Nine Uses for a Departmental Website.
As the following chart shows, more than half of the nation is now online (est. 163,000,000 users), with about two million new Internet users per month.
This means that no matter the size of your jurisdiction, there are plenty of people your Website will reach and the number of new users in your jurisdiction is growing at an astounding rate.
So if you're now convinced that having a Website would be a good thing for your department, let's examine the steps needed to get one.
First, you need to have Internet access.
While Internet access is not absolutely necessary before having a Website, it is becoming more useful every day in order to conduct investigations, find grant information and resources for your department. (If you want to find out how, sign up for one of ICJE's Internet Investigations classes. Click on Internet Investigations for more information).
If you are a rural department, you are in luck. A federal grant has just provided a way for you to get Internet access for FREE! While you do have to go through a few hoops to get it, the ability for investigative purposes alone is well worth the effort.
To apply or obtain more information about this grant program, click on http://www.ncrle.net/ and then on “Free Internet Access.”
Second, you will need a Website host.
You could pay for a commercial hosting service ($10 to $50 per month for small sites) or you can use one of the free commercial hosting sites. The downside here is that you generally are limited in the amount of material you can place on the free sites and frankly, your Website address will not look very professional, but it will work.
For example, you can't just use your department name. Instead of www.anywherepd.org, you would have to be listed as www.hostsite.anywherepd.org. Perhaps the biggest problem is one of style. It just doesn't look professional to have your department hosted by some of the weird sounding hosts.
There is another FREE solution for this, however. If you want a free site that is law enforcement related (but still contains the host site name as well as yours) there is now one available. Thanks to another federal grant (details available at www.law-enforcement.org), any law enforcement agency may have a free Website with plenty of storage space.
Third, the Website itself.
Now that you have Internet access and a Website host, you will have to build and continuously maintain the Website or pay someone to do it for you. Normally departments pay for this service (which can be quite expensive) or have one of their own personnel create and maintain the site.
Those involved in this at their own expense (like the folks at ICJE) will tell you that it is extremely time consuming because of the steep learning curve and because of the frequent updates required. Also, it can be downright frustrating when things don't go according to the book.
If you are convinced (and I hope you are) that a Web presence would be of help to your department and the community it serves, we have a solution. We have the ability to build and maintain informative, appealing and frequently updated Websites for departments. Because we are a nonprofit corporation and our motivation is to help departments in their mission, the price is a fraction of what commercial Web developers charge. Even better, if you have no money available but are still interested in having a departmental Website, there is an option that can provide you a site for free. Contact us for details: rthetford@icje.org) or telephone (334) 280-0020. Need details for your department? For a free in-depth report on what websites can do for you and how to get one, send a blank e-mail to website@icje.org.
The bottom line is that you need a Website. It doesn't matter who builds and maintains it as long as it presents a profession presence. Just build it - your community will benefit from the effort.
Thanks for your support,
Bob Thetford
Operations Manager
ICJE, Inc.
Website Interest Form:
If your department is interested in obtaining a Website presence, fill out the form below. Filling out this form does not obligate your department in any way and only demonstrates your interest in this project.