Does anybody read the police log?

One of my daily jobs as the Sun-Star's crime and courts reporter is typing out the police log from the Merced Police Department. In a nutshell, the police log is a list of the calls the department receives during a 24-hour period. The log is not a definitive list of every crime that goes down during a day -- but it is a glimpse into what alleged crimes police respond to during the day.

Of course, the department receives literally hundreds of calls on a daily basis -- so there is no way I can type out all of the calls. That's why the police log in the Sun Star carries a disclaimer that states it is only a "short list" of calls the department receives. For example, the calls that I include on the logs generally include aggravated assaults, burglaries, auto burglaries, thefts, missing persons, etc. Oftentimes if I see a call that stands out, such as a shots fired call or an aggravated assault, I will call the department to get more information.

Typing out the police log is nothing new for me -- I've done the same thing at two other newspapers where I’ve worked. Still, I am always amazed that the paper rarely receive any comments or questions from the public about the police log. I have always been told that there’s a segment of the community that reads the police log religiously on a daily basis. Is that true? If you are one of those religious police log readers, I would like to hear from you.

Why is the police log important and why do you take time out the read it?