Updates and Changes to VBPD Tools
23 March 2025
- Added link to DCJS SRO mandated reporting form. Credit to D.M. Nolff.
24 February 2025
- Started initial work on the Policies Podcast, which are AI-generated podcasts providing overviews and deep dives into General Orders and Policies.
17 May 2024
- VBPD Tools now has the ability to send regulatory-compliant SMS messages.
- The Lethality Assessment is now updated to support SMS messaging to the assessment officer. The officer now has the option to enter their phone number to receive a text message to link back the results of their assessment. This will help serve as a reference when writing the police report later after the investigation.
15 May 2024
- Made significant improvements to the Lethality Assessment. This removes the reliance on email to access the results. Results are now displayed immediately after submission. This also sets up support for SMS messages for the officer to receive a text message with a link to the results to reference later. SMS message support is pending further development.
22 February 2024
- Cloaking device at 95-98%. The few remaining links that remain uncovered are very public URLs that coverage on them is irrelevant.
- Removed the City Computer Required section from mobile devices since none of those services are accessible, or usable on mobile networks.
19 February 2024
- The cloaking device is expanded to cover more links.
- Implemented the 7G Firewall to increase security.
15 February 2024
- Cloaking device activated. This increases security. Potentially sensitive URLs no longer appear in the source code or the database. This will eventually be expanded to all URLs.
- Removed a few links that are no longer relevant or in use.
- Added the VEC Records link back into the investigative section after locating the new URL.
- Updated links to crime data and calls for service to the new public data-sharing URLs.
1 February 2024
- Restored the link to ZetX with new link.
17 January 2024
- Added link to Flock Cameras login.
- Removed ZetX. Appears to offline
- Removed Virginia Employment Commission. Link is bad.
- Updated Pill Identifier to new resource.
- Removed link to Training Dates Lookup. Have not yet implemented a lookup for 2024 since the schedule is more varied this year.
4 August 2023
- Updated the Riskmaster link to a more reliable one.
25 July 2023
- Deployed the new Lethality Assessment tool. This will assist in efficiently asking the questions and delivering a report to the officer. This tool does not collect any private information.
20 July 2023
- Removed the zone map since it is no longer available from the city.
- Started work on an anonymous Domestic Assault Lethality Assessment tool. The goal is to make it easier to conduct those without the paper sheet, or the MDT in hand.
21 June 2023
- Axon's mobile app for Records/Standards is now live. The link is now fully integrated here. When viewing the site on a mobile device, the Records link defaults to Axon's mobile app.
12 June 2023
- Added link to Starchase. Courtesy TJ Schultz.
- Fixed the link to Chorus Intel. Credit to L O'Konek.
6 June 2023
- Add link to the City's property map application to make it easier to understand property lines and public vs private property.
15 May 2023
- Updated the Riskmaster link to the new link. Credit to J. Atwood.
25 April 2023
- Updated the link for Prisoner Status since VBSO is no longer supporting VineLink. Credit to JE Davis.
- Added the Chorus Intel link to the investigative section. Credit to C Gervin.
- Updated the ShotSpotter links to support the new URL addresses after the company rebranded to SoundThinking.
15 February 2023
- Removed the link to ShotSpotter Ground Truth Report since these are now done in Axon.
- Added link to ShotSpotter Respond App to the top section of the homepage. This will ease speedy access to loading the apps used every day.
- Removed links ERTF forms since they are now done in Axon.
- Moved the Training Dates link out of the announcements section and into the main section.
1 February 2023
1 January 2023
- Updated E-Ticketing to the updated login portal.
28 December 2022
- Added link to iPOAD to the City Computers Required section. Credit to Anonymous.
- Updated the phone number for Juvenile Intake.
5 December 2022
- Cleaned up link organization to Axon Records and Brazos.
3 November 2022
- Reordered the homepage to make links to the new tech apps more prominent. Brazos e-ticketing and VB time are now in the top row for quick access.
- Removed Pistol access link.
- City cameras are accessible from any computer; moved it out of City Computers Required section.
- Added banner link announcement to the Axon Records Training site to make it more accessible before Go-Live. This will only display on desktop devices since Axon didn't make the app mobile-friendly, and it is unusable on phones.
- Made small typo corrections to the phone directory.
14 October 2022
- Added links to Brazos Tech E-Ticketing site, and VB Time web app.
16 September 2022
- Corrections to the phone directory with misformatted phone triggers.
22 August 2022
- Added links to the planned patrol feedback forms to the forms page. Credit to J. Atwood.
3 August 2022
- Added link to PTO Program Site. Credit to D.R. Small.
2 August 2022
- Added link to BannerCX to the investigative links. Credit to A.K. Treadway.
25 June 2022
12 May 2022
- Added the Roadmap to start tracking the planned implementation of new features.
4 May 2022
- Fixed Home link on Elements of Work page to be a relative link.
- Made an adjustment to the joke page to link to the correct recruiting page. Credit to a conversation with S. Adams.
- Minor changes to the header design to reduce vertical space.
- Corrected various typos and grammar on the Critical Incident Stress page.
- Implemented various administrative quality-of-life improvements.
- Changed to a new backup method for improved off-site backups.
21 April 2022
- Removed the link to the training dates lookup.
8 April 2022
- Consolidated useful form links under the main Forms button on the homepage.
- Added link to the vehicle report card. Credit to a conversation with J. Wilkerson.
3 April 2022
- Audited all internal links for relative URLs to support improved resiliency and access.
1 April 2022
17 February 2022
- Add the training dates feature back in on request. Thanks to M.J. Smith.
31 January 2022
- Add link to Virginia Employment Commission Records. Thanks to D.M. Nolff.
25 January 2022
- Online ERTF forms are now available for each precinct. The forms load immediately, do not require a login, and can be submitted from mobile devices.
23 January 2022
- Removed the Training Dates feature. A lot of swaps have occurred, making its information less useful.
12 December 2021
- Removed the Readiness Inspection information, since that is now complete.
28 November 2021
- Added a searchable index of the 2022 training dates. Will leave this up at least until the end of January.
17 November 2021
- Added information about the Readiness Inspection, including the schedule and item list.
8 November 2021
- Added link to an ISP legal contact list, and ZetX. Credit to D.M. Nolff.
3 November 2021
- Added link to the city EOC portal. Credit to J. Orr.
- Added new IBR Code for Straw Purchases to the IBR code reference. Credit to L. Geluso.
- Added link to Facebook Law Enforcement Requests. Credit to D. Walker.
2 October 2021
- Added the link to the ShotSpotter Insight app.
- Added Field Guides page with links to all of the Field Guides in PowerDMS.
28 September 2021
- Added link to ShotSpotter policy in PowerDMS to the ShotSpotter page.
27 September 2021
- Make the IBR Codes table more mobile-friendly to remove horizontal scrolling.
20 September 2021
- Efforts to make the site faster have paid off. Today's performance report shows a siginificant speed improvement over the prior report tested on March 23, before the work began to lighten the load and improve the speed. Now receiving near perfect performance scores.
- Added more event tracking code. More clicks are now being tracked to better determine the most used links. Still have to complete the Miscelleneous Links Section.
- Added link for Message to the Chief. This is a feedback form for officers to send input and feedback anonymously to the Chief.
9 September 2021
- Added new usage tracking. This is to replace Google Analytics, which is too invasive. The new tracking is privacy-oriented. More details in the future after the intial evaluation period is over.
8 September 2021
- Small design and layout repairs, mainly focused on mobile devices.
7 September 2021
- Finished updating content to use the more efficient build method.
- Removed a large piece of software that was adding bulk to the site, this will result in even faster loading times.
6 September 2021
- Added link to the precincts and zones map. Credit to J.P. Agudelo.
- Updated the Forms page to include a couple of PD forms. This is the IBR form and the FI Card as a fillable PDF. It was not possible to link the forms on the network, so the forms were uploaded to the server, which is not ideal because I don't have permission to store them there. If asked to remove them, they will be removed.
- Added a new page for ShotSpotter to include all of the ShotSpotter links and assets.
26 August 2021
- Rebuilt the Elements of Work page. Uses a new layout and format. This was a major step toward removing some software bloat on the site, and to clean up the infrastructure.
24 August 2021
- Added a section to the home page to list various investigative links to sites that the detectives use. This is a start, there may be more. Moved the LINX link into this section. Credit to D.M. Nolff.
23 August 2021
- The city stopped using SeeClickFix to handle defect and service requests. They have a new site located at https://vb311.virginiabeach.gov/assist/servicetypes. Updated the City Defect Report link to the new target.
3 July 2021
- Added link to ShotSpotter sign-in. Credit to S. Lindemeyer.
- Reorganized the homepage to better group frequently used links into a separate section. Also finally added labels to identify the sections. It was never clear what the city-computer-required links were, that is now improved.
24 June 2021
- Add a page to link out to commonly used Court Forms. Credit to T. McNeil.
- Fixed the suggestion box. It seems ComIT is filtering emails at a very high level, so I wasn't receiving the suggestions in my work email. I'll now receive them at my professional email for my consulting business, but when I reply to you, I'll contact you through our work email.
- Also started tracking suggestions publicly, with a public response from me. Went back through the database to track down older suggestions I received in the past. New suggestions will automatically get added to the list and I will publicly reply to them, in addition to contacting the sender.
8 June 2021
- Updated the link to Pistol to an internal page with the updated instructions about how to access it on the MDC.
23 February 2021
- Added link to Child Protective Services Mandated Reporter portal. Skip the long waits on hold at the hotline, and file reports directly online. Credit to L.B. Parker.
- Updated the link to InSITE
20 January 2021
- Added link called Crime Bulletins to link out to the Web App for Microsoft Teams. It directs to the VBPD Crime Bulletins curated in Teams by the Crime Analysts. Login is handled Microsoft Services and Active Directory.
4 November 2020
3 November 2020
- Updated link to MakeNote
- Updated link to BlueTeam
- Added link to EIPro
- Removed link to PD3 template. It was outdated, better to get the latest version from the forms folder on the network
20 August 2020
- Removed CADS Guide link - it never developed into anything useful.
- Replaced it with a link to myVRS retirement site. Credit to S. D. Lindemeyer.
5 August 2020
- Added link to SeeClickFix to handle the reporting defects to the city for street signs, potholes, etc. Called it City Defect Report
- Removed the link to the text editor I built. I don't think anyone was using it anyhow.
30 June 2020
- Updated link to Riskmaster. Credit to M. Banks
3 June 2020
- Added link to the city camera monitoring. Credit to M.B. Blackburn.
6 May 2020
- First iteration of a dark theme. This is the start to rebuild the infrastructure to make the site even faster.
30 April 2020
- Added the following links. Credit to E.C. Kendrick
- Link to property owner search for address tax records
- Link to VB Crime Solvers unsolved crimes listings
- Link to a prisoner status search
- Link to NHTSA's VIN decoder
27 April 2020
- Added link to the Project Lifesaver portal. Credit to T.L. McNiel.
14 April 2020
- Updated email link from mail.vbgov.com to outlook.office.com. This reflects the new sign in location for web mail.
13 April 2020
- Added link to State PD Division 5 scanner. Credit to R.C. Borman
- Added link to Covid-19 daily wellness check-in form.
- Fixed the link to BeachNet
23 January 2020
- Added link to Taleo Learning site. Credit to B.W. Fessel
2 January 2020
- Added links to the Jail Calls and Jail tablets monitoring sites. Credit to M.J. Koch
- Updated the links for Crime Data and Calls for Service. The city changed their provider for the Open Data project in October 2019. The new vendor doesn't provide any analysis tools and only provides the raw data as downloadable CSV files. Will explore the possibility of developing a data analysis tool to import and dig into the data provided.
2 June 2019
31 January 2019
- Add link to access Pistol via Citrix. Credit to J.A. Little.
29 January 2019
8 January 2019
28 December 2018
26 December 2018
- Added new info to CADs Guide (How to access the Windows taskbar)
13 December 2018
12 December 2018
- Added start to CADs Guide. Still needs more content.
4 December 2018
- Internal links from the homepage now open in the same tab.
- Added a header to get back to the homepage from internal pages.
- Created a universal footer for the site.
- Added information about the Mutual Aid Channels.
- Created this What's New section to track changes.
