Canton Police Department would like to announce its latest tool in crime prevention and awareness: the Silent Partner Alert system. Silent Partner Alert is an online public safety broadcast system that leverages the power of the Internet to deliver timely and critical public safety information via email, text pager, cell phone or PDA. Canton Police Department is the first police department in Michigan to offer the Silent Partner Alert system to its community.

When an incident occurs police can log onto the secure web site to enter a message and photograph, if necessary. Police will then have the capability of sending the message out to the entire community, or a specific area of the community depending on the incident.

Any type of notice can be sent ranging from crime alerts in your neighborhood, to traffic delays, to wanted or missing individuals. Silent Partner Alert will serve as an extension of community policing in that it enables the police department to broadcast need-to-know information to thousands of people in the community within a matter of minutes. "With this system, we will quickly be able to alert residents or business owners of problems occurring within the community, allowing them to become the eyes and ears of the department," says Sgt. Scott Hilden, Community Relations officer for the Canton Police Department.

"Silent Partner Alert is a free service to the public. Subscribers will manage their own profile online and can cancel at any time," Hilden adds. To subscribe to Silent Partner Alert, log on to www.canton-mi.org/publicsafety click on the Silent Partner Alert logo and follow the simple online instructions.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sergeant Scott Hilden, 734/394-5424