Sheriff’s Office to Join Facebook
By Patrick Lynn
Joining the ranks of neighboring communities, the Portage County Sheriff’s Office has finally decided to join Facebook.
Sheriff John Charewicz said the move will help better inform the public.
“The intent is to create a way of getting information directly to the public, to keep them informed as to what the Sheriff’s Office is doing, and be able to interact with the citizens we serve,” Charewicz said.
The page is not intended for citizens to report crimes, replace the official county web site, or to substitute for the normal methods of communications with the office, he added.
“This will be a more informal, unofficial method for the deputies and other staff to reach out to the community,” said Chief Deputy Daniel Kontos. “We really were not intending to do this right away. We were taking our time, experimenting and testing as we went along. It turned out that the one and only test of a ‘like’ was visible to only one other person, who in turn ‘liked’ it herself, and less than 24 hours later, we had over 250 ‘likes’.”
In just over 24 hours, the department’s page saw over 400 likes.
“There was tremendous interest and support right off the bat, so we decided to start it right away,” Kontos said.
Facebook has been used by many organizations to communicate with others. Sheriff’s Office officials decided that, rather than have the usual limited contact with the citizens, they would take a proactive step in reaching out to the public.
“It will be an interesting experiment,” Sheriff Charewicz said.
Kontos said it’s something new for the department and completing the page will take time. The Facebook page will be supported by staff within the sheriff’s office during off-duty times, as not to take away from their regular duties.
You can find the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PortageCountySheriff, or their official web page at www.co.portage.wi.us/sheriff.