The Fort Dodge Police Department increased its online presence this week when it debuted its official Facebook page.

The Facebook page, which is called Fort Dodge Police Department – Official, is something that the department has been thinking about for awhile, according to Assistant Chief Roger Porter.

“It’s one of the biggest venues anybody has anymore to find information,” Porter said. “We thought it would be a good way to reach the public and get information out regarding crimes and activities we’re doing.”

Porter said there are other police departments that have official Facebook pages.

“We did our homework on it, and we decided to get it into play,” he said.

The page was launched Monday afternoon. As of Friday at 1:30 p.m., more than 1,700 people had liked the page. Porter estimated at least quadruple that number had visited the page. He said the department has received many positive comments regarding it.

The police department’s official page includes photos of all the department’s sworn officers, public safety tips and photos of officers working with the public.

“We’ll put our press releases on the Facebook page, and updates for the speed vehicle will be on there,” Porter said. “We’ll have community activities the police department is involved in and information on Citizen’s Academy and Neighborhood Watch programs.”

Webster County Crime Stoppers’ list of most wanted also appears on the page.

“It’s more of a public information page to let people know what’s going on,” he said.

However, Porter stressed the Facebook page is not the place to report crimes.

“It’s an information page only,” he said. “If there is a crime, do not report it on Facebook.”

Call 911 if there’s an emergency, he said, or 573-2323 if it’s not.

“It’s not going to be monitored 24/7, so don’t report crimes there,” Porter said. “If someone needs an officer’s assistance, go through the normal venues.”

The Facebook page is one way the Fort Dodge Police Department wants to increase its presence on social media.

“We have a committee formed that are overseeing the social networking,” Porter said. “We’re looking at getting a Twitter page possibly kicked off soon.”

As for the future of social networking, Porter said the immediate goal is to see where the Facebook page goes.

“Right now it’s just about getting it up and running,” he said. “We’ll see where it goes from there.”