Web offers access to info about crime, other police events

Here are three Web sites you should get to know if you want to be informed of crime, traffic events and other law enforcement/criminal justice events in your community:

• The Florida Highway Patrol offers up-to-date reports on all crashes the agency responds to in Manatee County. The reports will give what time a crash occurred, an injury report, and whether there is roadblock caused by the crash. To learn about crashes in Manatee County, log onto http://www.flhsmv.gov/fhp/traffic/ and click on Troop F on the map of Florida which is shaded orange.
• The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Web site offers numerous tools for keeping up with crime trends, jail bookings and crime prevention. Log onto www.manateesheriff.com, and hot links listed on the left side of the Web site include a tool where citizens can view dispatched calls throughout the day by typing a date or address. Also, by clicking on the "arrest inquiry" link, you can look up all arrests in Manatee County by date or name, and even see their arrest booking photograph.
• For information on court cases, both criminal and civil, as they make their way through the system, visit the Manatee clerk of courts site at http://www.manateeclerk.org/