By EMMA KOLCHIN-MILLER
For the Gazette
(Published in print: Thursday, August 27, 2015)
NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Police Department launched a new website Tuesday, which Police Chief Jody Kasper said is more modern and user-friendly.
The site features new graphics, drop-down menus and pictures, and reflects the new community programs and positions the Police Department is introducing.
“Our old site was good, but we wanted to have a look to represent the new leadership within the department, we wanted to make it more user-friendly, and we wanted to include a lot more of the new programs and new positions that we’ve introduced over the last few months,” Kasper said.
According to Kasper, the new site has much of the same information as the old one but is more user-friendly, with access to information of all kinds from the homepage.
Kasper said the site caters to a variety of potential visitors who may be looking for contact information, background on the department, program descriptions, and job opportunities.
Around four officers from the Police Department including Kasper worked with Web-tactics in Easthampton on the redesign, which took about three weeks. The redesign itself was free, Kasper said, though the Police Department pays the company $1,200 per year to provide network security, software upgrades and other changes.
Web-tactics also handled the last redesign of the department’s website, which was six or seven years ago, according to Kasper. Prior to that initial redesign, Kasper said the site was very old-fashioned, with fewer than 10 pages. The newest version of the site has over 70 pages, she said.
Visually, Kasper said the new site has a more modern look and has new pictures that reflect the current Northampton community and Police Department.
To view the website, visit http://www.northamptonpd.com/.
