GSO puts information online

Ever wonder about crime in your neighborhood, if someone you know is in jail, how to get a copy of the report from your recent wreck or simply what all those sirens meant last night?

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office has put that information at the fingertips of the public, with its police-to-citizen information network.

The online service was part of the software package the agency got in 2004 — a package aimed at improving the efficiency of the office’s record-keeping and its ability to communicate electronically with other agencies.

Lt. John Pruitt, who heads the agency’s identification division and worked on developing the agency’s system, said the system would be a timesaver for county residents and for law enforcement.

“Primarily, it’s a means to keep people aware of what’s going on in the community,” Pruitt said. “One of the big things people contact us for is for copies of accident reports or reports from their homes being burglarized, which they need for insurance purposes. Now, instead of having to call us, they can get those reports online.”

People needing those full reports will have to provide information about their incidents, but anyone can access other types of data, including jail records, listings of incidents and outstanding warrants for class B misdemeanors and above.

Dickinson police records are also available on the county’s site, to which people can also click while visiting the county’s home page, co.galveston.tx.us.

Pruitt said officials were in the process of adding Santa Fe records as well.

“There are a lot of possibilities,” Pruitt said. “You could pinpoint activity to find out exactly what’s going on in your neighborhood. You can search for prisoners by name. Our hope is that this provides some benefit and valuable information to the public.”

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On the Web:

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office’s police-to-citizen information site is online, at http://p2c.co.galveston.tx.us/p2c