ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Learning about safety and roaming the streets of the county alongside local law enforcement is now just a click away.

For the past year, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office has been uploading to its own YouTube Channel crime prevention videos, messages from Sheriff Ken Mascara and episodes of “10-8 St. Lucie,” the Sheriff’s Office’s TV show.

Sgt. Rich Ziarkowski said the Web site was created for more visibility.

“This way, anyone, anywhere in the world can see what we do here locally,” he said.

In addition to running the office’s Crime Prevention Unit, Ziarkowski has hosted “10-8 St. Lucie” for the past three years. The show, named after the police code for availability, consists of “COPS”-like ride-a-longs with local deputies.

The Sheriff’s Office began by running the show and public service announcements on the county’s public access channel, SLCTV.

Because people with satellite or without cable can’t view the channel, Ziarkowski said deputies put their heads together to come up with the idea of using YouTube.

The show has included SWAT team training, a tour of the St. Lucie County jail and a drug bust. Other videos have touched on carjacking, ATM-use safety and mail theft.

Posted before school began, the most popular video explaining when to stop for a stopped school bus was viewed about 5,000 times.

Expenses, mainly tapes, are minimal. Ziarkowski shifts responsibilities around his unit, so deputies volunteer to be filmed in between their regular duties. He said they have received all positive feedback from the community.

“We thought we could do a better job than the videos that were produced by these big companies and wanted to charge a lot of money,” said Deputy Gary Gonsalves, who works in Ziarkowski’s unit.

St. Lucie County’s media department began doing the camera operating and video editing, but Gonsalves taught himself how to shoot and edit video by researching on his own time. Now, as the show’s producer, he said they plan to move the videos to the office’s Web site.

Gonsalves said the show gives the community a chance to get behind the Sheriff’s Office doors to see its inner workings and how tax dollars are being spent.

When he films the deputies, they ignore Gonsalves and perform their normal duties. Some even have been recognized in public.

“We’ve got several who have been on that show numerous times,” he said, “and they really enjoy it. I think their friends and family get a kick out of it because it is on YouTube.”

Neither Indian River nor Martin county sheriff’s offices have a show or site like St. Lucie’s, according to the offices’ spokesmen. Both offices run public service announcements on TV.

Indian River County Deputy Jeff Luther said his office is upgrading its Web site to stream video, including some from dashboard cameras.

“The public has a right to know,” he said. “The more we keep the public informed, the better we can do our job.”

By Laurie K. Blandford, TCPalm.com