The University of Oklahoma police department brings us a wonderful website. Easy-to-navigate and easy on the eyes, this site is made for the public. As soon as you log on, the first thing you’ll notice is the site’s police affiliation, granting it an instant ethos boost for the content it provides. Any kind of safety you can imagine is covered on this website, and they certainly cover the big ones: fire, Internet, drug and alcohol, personal, and especially for children.

First of all and most important for some people, the site is ergonomically laid out. A friendly welcome page tells you where you are and gives you a pointer on where everything is. A quick menu on the left hand side allows you to instantly access anything that you wish. So if you wanted to search by broad topic you were concerned about, say being safe and having a solid plan for a fire, you could search the “fire safety” link. Or if you are a parent or guardian and are concerned about child safety, you could click on the “kid safety” link to bulk up on strategies and techniques to keep your loved ones safer than ever.

The site includes many articles about this broad spectrum of topics. The articles are neatly organized and easy to navigate, as they are in chronological order. This eliminates the possibility of reading an article about “phishing” before you even know what it is! Once a topic that interests you from the umbrella of themes is selected, you are brought to a page that shows all of the articles in chronological order, as was aforementioned. Then you pick from the one you are most interested in and read and glean all of the pertinent and well-researched information that it has to provide. There are excellent Internet safety articles here that talk about IP addresses, and even gives information on how to use change IP proxies to change static IP addresses.

Although some sites about safety can feel sterile and machine-run, this one is definitely an exception. The graphics and design of the site isn’t really flashy, and you can tell it is a labor of love by the sheriffs, and not one out to make a profit or tout the University of Oklahoma’s greatness. There are fade out and fade in graphics to each page, and sound effects to keep everyone awake and interested.

There is a page where it gives a little bit of info about citizen’s arrest. Then, in a sardonic manner, (and it says it is satirical) it allows you to fill out a form to arrest yourself. This is a funny way to keep kids aware of the processes and have a couple of laughs; one of the procedures says you can only talk to yourself, no one else.) This comedic relief is a god-send for parents trying to show kids that being safe and being educated on it doesn’t always have to be a boring and banal affair.

This site is so useful. It represents key information in an exciting and engaging manner. Filled to the brim with generous amounts of imperative  information, you can spend hours browsing the site and become an expert on every kind of safety. Even though this generation is known by the meme of “Information Generation”, most people neglect to learn about online safety. Hackers and identity thieves improve their skills as an illicit profession, and they prey on innocent and blissfully unaware users; and it is as easy as taking candy from a baby for them. Don’t be a sitting duck for these criminals! This site has a wealth of security information; learn about privacy filters, firewalls, and what your IP address actually does and how you can change your IP. The site even provides you with an extensive list of phone numbers to put to record to use during an emergency! Make http://www.ou.edu/oupd/doclist.htm your first stop on your journey to bolster your safety all around, because you won’t need to go any further!

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