The Baxter County Sheriff’s Office website continues to be a popular part of the Sheriff’s Office.  The website was launched in November 2007 and has proven to be an effective law enforcement tool. The website allows people from the community to interact with the Sheriff’s Office and allows them to get involved by helping us keep our community safe.  It was created with the concept of not just having  web presence but a working website and it has far exceeded our expectations. 

The Baxter County Sheriff’s website also allows people to sign up to receive alerts by email or text message when things are published. The person signing up has a choice to receive alerts for sex offender’s notifications, press releases, Sheriff’s newsletters, most wanted, employment postings and more.  Several thousand people have currently signed up to receive these notifications with that number growing each month.

The website also features an alert system which flashes the alert for such things as missing children or any other emergency situation. The crime tip module allows people to submit crime tips and photos and remain anonymous. Most of the features and tabs on the website are automated and update automatically saving time and money for our employees. After launching the inmate roster online a few years ago, jail staff noticed a decrease in phone calls by approximately 50%.  Over a thousand arrests have been made from our most wanted as well as many suspects being identified and arrested from the posting of surveillance photos. The total number of outstanding warrants dropped by over 900 after just two short years with tips coming in from other states resulting in warrants be served that were issued as far back as 1999.

The inmate roster continues to be the most viewed web page on the website. The inmate roster shows who is currently in jail as well as those who have been released in the past 48 hours. It too is automated, updating automatically every 15 minutes.  Several thousand people have also  have signed up to receive the inmate roster alert, receiving one email every morning at 6 am with the list of everyone that has been booked in the Baxter County Detention Center in the past 24 hours.

The top three most viewed pages in 2014 are:

Inmate Roster 

Most Wanted 

Warrants

The numbers of visits to our website are staggering for a county our size, roughly 42,000 population. Last year, 2014 the total number of visits topped the two million. The numbers for 2014 are as follows:

Visits                                          2,001,039

Unique Visitors                             403,855

Highest month, July                     181,274

Lowest month, February              154,200

The most viewed day of the week is Monday and with the most viewed time frame of the day is between 8-9 am.

We want to thank the public for their continued support. We are blessed to live in a community where the public and law enforcement  work together to keep Baxter County the great place it is to live and raise and family.

Sheriff John Montgomery