The Adair County Sheriff’s Office took delivery of two Community Pro-Tektor kiosks in March of 2017. Adair County would be considered a rural county and has a population of approximately 26,000. The City of Kirksville is the county seat and it is within this city where the kiosks are located. Placed in high traffic volume areas, one has been positioned in our Hy-Vee grocery store while the other is located in an Ayerco convenience store/gas station.
We utilize the abilities of the kiosks differently than other law enforcement agencies that are located in large metropolitan areas. We don’t have a high volume of wanted individuals in our community and those we do have, we find rather quickly. Thus, we use our kiosks to deliver the following information to our citizens:
- One zone is devoted to displaying a daily up-dated list of individuals who are currently held in our Detention Center. This includes their booking photo, name, charges they are currently being held on, and the number of times the individual has been in the Detention Center in the past.
- The other two zones are used to deliver campaigns dealing with a variety of public service and event announcements. These include:
- Monthly “Coffee with the Sheriff” events.
- Crime prevention programs and scam education.
- Campaigns dealing with the operations of the Sheriff’s Office, training of personnel, budget issues, and the list goes on.
- Recruiting.
- Drug awareness.
- Weather information.
- Pet adoption opportunities through our Humane Society shelter and local “no kill” shelter.
- We have also offered the use of the kiosk’s abilities to the city police and fire departments, the county fire departments, the health department, our ambulance district, and prosecuting attorney’s office.
In my opinion, there are three strengths to this system:
- Unlike websites and phone applications, where a person must “think” about accessing them, the kiosks are placed in high volume traffic areas where people can “see” and be drawn into them without thought.
- The ability to push out my “Wanted” information to the public in other areas of the country where I believe one of my wanted persons may have fled. This networking capability between kiosks makes this system a powerful law enforcement tool!
- I control the content, and the viewing time, of any message I wish to be communicated. I don’t need to rely on a 15 second soundbite that will only be viewed once or twice.
Our experience with the Community Pro-Tektor team has been nothing short of enjoyable. Their support through the entire process of researching, purchasing, delivery, training, tech and graphic design has been exemplary.
A Youtube video titled “The Community Pro-Tektor first in Missouri” was produced by my agency and demonstrates the abilities of the kiosks.
