Woodbridge, CT is a small peaceful New England town. There isn’t normally a lot of news coming out of the local Police Department. However, last month, I was forwarded a press release about some local burglaries so I contacted the Police Department to ask to be put on the Press Release email distribution list. Things move slowly in a small New England town, especially in a state known as the land of steady habits, and I eventually received a response denying my request.

Well, another trait of small New England towns is that their residents can be pretty stubborn and I was not going to take no as an answer. I contacted various people in various media advocacy organizations, and everyone was lining up to support me in whatever efforts would be necessary to obtain fair access to the press releases.

The Woodbridge Police Commission meets on the first Monday of every month and I saw that this month’s agenda included a discussion about press releases. So, I attended and presented my case. In response, the chief of police informed me that Woodbridge Police Press Releases would now be available on the Police Department website and that they would stop mailing the press releases to the commissioners. They would call them instead if there was anything they needed to know.

Sure enough, the website now contains links to six recent press releases. This is a step in the right direction. I did note that I saw no reason to discontinue sending the press releases to the commissioners. In addition, I suggested that the police department might consider using the town’s mailing lists to send press releases to commissioners, members of the press, and any residents of the town that are interested in receiving them.

I believe this would create less of a administrative burden and provide better access than the website does. Instead of having to check regularly for press releases that are few and far between, but should be read as soon as they come up, people could receive them immediately. We shall see if this gets addressed in the future.

I also now note that the press release about the burglaries does not show up on the website. I am hoping this is just a small oversight as they get this process in place. This again illustrates why using the town mailing lists might be more effective.

Even in a small peaceful New England town in the State of Steady Habits, the Internet is bringing change. It is bringing about a more open and transparent government, and in this case new ways in which the Police Department can work more closely with the residents of the town to improve the public safety and keep the town peaceful.