St. Clair County Sheriff's Department

Why two web sites?

In the beginning was the Web Site. Created over ten years ago by Lt. Steve Johnson, the web site was the official online home of the Sheriff's Department. At the same time we had a traditional employee newsletter, "The Badge." If you've ever edited a newsletter for your church, school or club you know what a thankless job it is. By the time you collect enough articles and pictures to 'go to press' the old news is..... well, old news. Stale and boring! We created www.thebadge.us as our online newsletter. Stories could be posted as soon as they happened - Often within minutes of taking a picture and writing a few words of explanation. The Badge has had over 10,000 hits in the last year without any promotion. We've been gratified by the response.

But what about the web site? Frankly it was showing its age. Ten years is a long time on the World Wide Web. Technology and software had caught up with us - and passed us by. Lt. Johnson and I have brainstormed for quite a while. What if we could combine the best features of The Badge and the The Web site. How can we present the 'hard facts' about the Department and offer the two way communication that web logs offer. We think we've found a way. The Badge is still the place for news and this new site is the place to learn about the Sheriff's Department, read our viewpoints on current events and engage in a dialog with us. We hope you'll find something interesting on both sites.

Sgt. John Fulton
Administrative Assistant

Our View - Jail Overcrowding

Major Knapp and the Sheriff updated the jail population totals on our new sign. This sign speaks for itself. Most days we're are over capacity. But we can not turn anyone away. When we exceed our capacity detainees have to sleep on the floor or stay in overcrowded cell blocks. This puts a strain on our facilities, our services and our staff. Even though there is NO VACANCY we always make room for more.

Read the complete BND story Here.

 

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