of use. For example, the HCSO Detention Department receives hundreds of calls every day inquiring about the status of the inmates housed in the county correctional system. The new Web site now interfaces with the HCSO’s mainframe computer and, because the arrest data is public information, anyone can access the information by querying either a name or a booking number.
     Other law enforcement agencies also have gone on-line with inmate information. In March 2000, the Los Angeles County, California, Sheriff’s Department (LASD) went on-line allowing anyone with Internet access to search the department’s database of arrest records, including the names and dates of births of individuals arrested in the last 30 days, along with the charges, bail amounts, and court dates. Additionally, the LASD database includes information on the 20,000 inmates in custody and the 2,400 inmates in community-based programs.³
     The HCSO warrants section currently has more than 90,000 active warrants, which also are public information and accessible via the Web site. Previously, the agency handled only wanted-person inquiries from citizens, private investigators, or businesses conducting pre-employment screening in person at the records section of the agency. These advances in the HCSO site have proved useful to the agency by reducing the number of walk-in requests. Additionally, those individuals or businesses seeking information benefit by receiving more timely, convenient information.
     Law enforcement public information officers (PIOs) often spend a great deal of their time working with reporters. A large agency typically will have one or two full-time PIOs. The HCSO Public Information Office handles approximately 1,200 requests from the media and the public per month. By placing newsworthy press releases on a continually updated special press release Web page, the HCSO has significantly reduced the telephone inquiries to its public information office. Additionally, this special Web page provides timely information to some smaller news agencies that may not have full-time reporters. At the HCSO, most calls from the news media regard traffic conditions, particularly during the morning and afternoon rush hours, which represent some of the busiest times in the communications section that handles those inquiries. To address this problem, the HCSO Web site has interfaced a traffic advisory Web page with its computer-aided dispatch system. Television and radio stations, citizens, and any other interested parties can visit that page to view real-time dispatch information regarding vehicular accidents, detours, and road obstructions. The display indicates

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Web Site Resources

• Nielsen Net ratings, available at www.nielsennetratings.com, offers information on Internet usage in the United States and worldwide.
  
• The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, available at www.icann.org, is one of the technical coordinating bodies for the assigning of domain names and numbers for the Internet.
  
• Officer.com, available at www.officer.com, provides a comprehensive, alphabetized list of law enforcement agency Web sites.
  
• Hillsborough County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office, available at www.hcso.tampa.fl.us.
  
• Los Angeles County, California, Sheriff’s Department, available at www.lasd.org.
  
• Riverside County, California, Sheriff’s Department, available at www.co.riverside.ca.us/sheriff/.