TeleMinder
TeleMinder is the most advanced automatic telephone notification system available. It can deliver hundreds of high quality voice messages per hour to residents, businesses or staff members. When the Police Department needs help locating a missing child or a wandering Alzheimer’s patient, TeleMinder makes phone calls, enlisting the help of area citizens to assist in the search.

Some of TeleMinder’s programs include: Emergency Notification, Community Bulletin Board, and Crime Alert Bulletins. TeleMinder can conduct surveys and is mutual-aid compatible with other agencies using the TeleMinder system.

TeleMinder can save the department thousands of dollars in staff time every year, while providing a higher level of quality service to the community.

Domestic Violence Unit

The Modesto Police Department Domestic Violence Unit was formed under a grant in 1996, based on a study which disclosed that the vast majority of domestic violence (DV) victims become reluctant to testify, inhibiting the successful prosecution of DV cases. By January 1997, all of our Patrol Officers were trained to use camcorders to take victim statements at the scene of the crime. Armed with this new evidence, the District Attorney’s Office was able to successfully prosecute more DV offenders, with or without victim assistance. In 1994, only 4% of our spousal abuse cases were successfully prosecuted. By 1997, we had jumped to a 54% successful prosecution rate. Because of successful prosecutions, offenders were placed on probation and ordered into re-education programs, giving victims the opportunity to rebuild their lives. The power of video recordings which show the victim’s injuries, provide the victim’s story in their own words, shows the location where the incident occurred and shows the emotional condition of the victim, led the way for an improved level of service. Victim safety was given priority.

In 1997, working in collaboration with the Haven Women’s Center of Stanislaus, the Modesto Police Department DV Unit started a new program to direct services to children in homes where domestic violence occurs. Previously, victims were given information about the available services and then it was up to them to call and request help. Most victims do not seek assistance. Children, who are identified as "silent victims" in DV cases, almost never receive services. What they learn by watching DV incidents in their homes is that aggressive, abusive behavior is "normal". The program has first-responding officers ask victims if they would like to be contacted by a victim advocate who could provide information about available services. Victim information is then referred to the Haven so they can contact victims directly. In addition, the Haven started a re-education program designed for children, called "Kids Count", so they might learn that abusive behavior is not normal.

The Modesto Police Department Domestic Violence Unit continues to evolve as community needs and laws change.

Crime Analysis Unit

The Crime Analysis Unit provides, free to the public, a report/map that divides the city into geographic divisions called "Beat Areas". There are a total of twenty Beat Areas. the report provides demographics of the city, as well as allows you to compare your beat area to the other Beat Areas in regard to the number of aggravated assaults, residential burglaries, auto theft, property damage, and vehicle burglaries that have occurred in a year’s period. The information is updated every six months.

Within the Beat Areas, there are smaller geographic areas identified as Reporting Districts. For a nominal fee, a report can be run identifying the number of homicides, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, residential burglaries, auto burglaries, vandalism and auto thefts occurring within a particular Reporting District.