Public Safety Media Blotter - Real-Time Incident Alerts
Keeping the general public informed is just one of the responsibilities of being a Public Safety Information Officer (PIO). Having access to a reporting tool that is quick, convenient, and easy to use, is very important.
Just imagine the time it takes to handwrite on-scene incident information, go back to a PC at your office, and type an email to send to various media groups and contacts. To solve the problem our team worked with Public Safety to create an easily accessible blotter for current incident information generated by a PIO.
Now the PIO just posts the incident information in the blotter and sends a link to the media groups in real-time. The blotter is updated automatically every 60 seconds in the event a PIO adds a new incident or updates a current incident. When an incident occurs, a "blot" can be created in the office or on-scene. The platform is mobile-friendly so it can be accessed on any device that uses a browser and has an internet connection.
The positive impact on the city and the Public Safety Information officers, in particular, is significant. The time that is saved by the PIO is incredible and not easily measured.
Check out the Public Safety Blotter in Action!
Value Created by the Public Safety Media Blotter
- Reduced Stress
- Increased Convenience
- Reduced Cost
- Saved Time
How Has the Public Safety Media Blotter Impacted You?
it's allowed us to better focus on our mission of informing the public, it's created a clearly-defined space for us to release info about anything that happens in the city, it's reduced off-hours media inquiries (we used to get 5 or 6 calls on a single-car crash, but now we get none because everyone knows to check the Blotter), it's helped us grow our audience to the point where we don't have to rely on media's help getting our story out, and it's streamlined our efforts on scene at incidents. I can post from my phone, so often when I talk to reporters on scene, the information is already publicly available”
-Chris Togneri, PIO, Department of Public Safety
I like the Media Blotter. It has made the job easier for us in the PIO office. With the Media Blotter, there are less emails and phone call questions to answer. Media outlets and citizens can read what information we have at that time."
- Maurice Matthews II, Assistant PIO, Department of Public Safety
Fun Fact:
In 2018, Public Safety had 3,000 followers on Twitter. By putting everything out there on the blotter, they were able to grow their audience. Today, thanks to the blotter and the hard work of the PS team, their Twitter following has reached 27.1 K followers.
