Dalton Police Blog

Find Your Neighborhood Officer

Recently, the Dalton Police Department launched a new website featuring interactive crime maps of the City of Dalton.  Visitors to dpdonline.org can view a map of the city featuring pinpoints of each reported crime in the city in specified areas and over specified periods of time.  Visitors can also sign up for email alerts from the department, including any emails specific to their individual section of the city.

It's part of the department's new Neighborhood Policing effort.  Each officer in the department has been assigned a small neighborhood beat where they will devote extra patrol and also make contact with citizens to exchange contact information.  The department has just posted a new resource citizens can use to find out which beat they live in, and also how to contact the officer assigned to their neighborhood.  Click here to view a map of Dalton broken down into each individual beat. You can zoom in closer to find your neighborhood. Then, click on the beat number for your neighborhood to see a table with your officer's name, telephone extension, and email address.  The Dalton Police Department hopes to increase the level of communication between the citizens of Dalton and our officers.  We're hoping the citizens of Dalton will feel free to contact their neighborhood officer about things going on in their neighborhood, or simply to make contact and make introductions.

DPD Launches New Crime Mapping Website

The Dalton Police Department has launched a new website hosted by “ePolicing” designed to give citizens more access to information about crime in the community and improve communication between citizens and the police department. The site, dpdonline.org, is now online. It can be accessed directly, or through the "DPD Online ePolicing" link at the left side of this page.

The site features an interactive map of Dalton which displays the locations and types of crimes reported in the city. Users can center the map on any address and search for crime reports in radiuses of up to 2.5 miles from the location. Users can also sort the crime reports by date, in spans of as many as 28 days from any date in the last two years. Users can also specify the specific types of crime they are interested in searching for from a menu on the screen. When clicked, each “push-pin” signifying a crime report displays the type of event, when it occurred, a report number, and the name and email address of the officer who took the report.

The website is part of the Dalton Police Department’s Neighborhood Policing effort, which was announced earlier this year. Each officer in the department has been assigned a neighborhood beat approximately six city blocks in size. Officers are spending part of their daily shifts patrolling in these areas, and also conducting foot patrol in the area and making contact with citizens to exchange contact information. The idea is to establish communication with residents outside of emergency situations. Citizens will be encouraged to share information about anything out of the ordinary in their neighborhood, even if it’s not a crime in progress or an emergency. The officer assigned to a neighborhood beat will be the contact person within the department for any questions or concerns. As part of this effort, citizens can sign up for e-mail alerts at the new website, dpdonline.org. The information on the site can be used to send emails to residents of specific neighborhood beats if needed.

Currently, the crime information at dpdonline.org is updated approximately twice a week. Later this summer, it will be updated daily.

To watch a video about the new website, click "Play" in the window below (Video may take a few moments to load. To watch in higher quality, click on the "HQ" icon).

Dalton Police Begin Neighborhood Policing Program

The Dalton Police Department is starting a new Neighborhood Policing program, with a mission to create productive one-to-one relationships with residents and business owners that promotes two-way communication and cooperation between the department and the community.  The department is currently conducting the pilot phase of the program, and will be moving towards a full-scale implementation later this year.

The City of Dalton is being divided into more than 90 “beats” approximately six city blocks in size.  An officer is being assigned to each of these smaller beats, and will spend part of each of his or her shifts patrolling in that area.  The officers will also conduct foot patrols in the area, making contact with citizens to inform them about the new program and exchange contact information.  The idea is to establish communication with residents outside of emergency situations.  Citizens will be encouraged to share information about anything out of the ordinary in their neighborhood, even if it’s not necessarily a crime in progress or an emergency.  The officer assigned to a neighborhood “beat” will be that citizen’s contact within the department for any questions or concerns. 

Later this year, the department will be adding an “e-policing” internet presence for the Neighborhood Policing program that will make this communication even easier for officers and citizens alike.  The service, which will be hosted by www.epolicing.com, will allow citizens of Dalton to view an interactive map of the city with information about where different types of crimes are being reported in the city.  Citizens can also register with the site to receive email updates both from the department and also neighborhood specific updates from their neighborhood officer.  They’ll also be able to contact neighborhood officers through the web site.  The program is being used in communities all across the country, including Savannah, Georgia.  Savannah’s “e-policing” site can be viewed at www.metrocrimemaps.org. 

Click "Play" in the window below to watch a video about the Neighborhood Policing Program (video may take a few moments to load. To view video in higher quality, click the "HQ" Icon in the lower right hand side of the video player)