We here at Puritan City love the idea that blogging is the new public relations; to us, the medium brings to fruition the internet's promise of real human voices triumphing over faceless spin-speak. Over the past few weeks one of the hottest blogs in Boston and a great example of this PR 2.0 has been the Boston Police Department blog. So when David Bratton and Sgt. John Daley (of Daley blog fame) agreed to answer a few questions for us, we were delighted.

Puritan City: How did the department get the idea to start blogging, and what kind of effort was required to get the necessary support?

Boston Police Department: Two things happened more or less at once. We were focusing on new ways to distribute more information, quickly, including the idea of using blogs to distribute and collect information on crime within the department.
At the same time we were frustrated with the existing web model for communicating with the public, the traditional Web site. Writing something up and emailing it to a web designer who would then layout a page with the update was just too slow and cumbersome a process. Commissioner O’Toole had indicated that she wanted to speed things up and make the delivery of information more interactive, and more immediate.
We were aware of blogs (some of us maintain our own) and the power of Content Management Software. After a while, a Blog seemed to be a no-brainer.
We presented the idea to Commissioner O’Toole, and she embraced it wholeheartedly.

PC : What are the goals you have with the blog?

BPD: Our main goal is to provide the public with a direct source of official information generated by the Boston Police Department. From the beginning, the real-time capabilities offered by the Blog promised to be an incredibly powerful tool for getting information out to the public.
On a daily basis we generate a lot of information that does not get carried by the media, for a number of reasons (deadlines, reporting resources, etc.) The Blog is intended to be an outlet for getting out all types of information, without having to rely on another party to carry our message to the community.
We also strongly believe that an informed public is better positioned to take steps to prevent crime. The Blog was seen as a great way to send out word of emerging crime trends, safety tips, and to publicize our crime Tipline 1-800-494-TIPS .
And finally, during large-scale ongoing critical incidents, the blog allows us to provide real-time updates to the public on things like unexpected road closures and hazards. We’re still experimenting with this last one, but it holds real promise.

PC: It seem that for a long time, this sort of communication was limited to the police blotter. How do you differentiate the blog from the blotter, and what do you think are the strengths of the web approach?

BPD: There’s a lot of great stuff that goes on in the Department that isn’t captured in a police blotter or a typical news story. Items such as the recent Boston Run To Remember, or some of our various anti-crime initiatives. We believe there’s a real appetite for this type of info, and the Blog gives us a chance to get that information out there.
The police blotter is still a popular item, however. That’s one reason why we made the Incident Summary feature a daily staple of the Blog, because people like to know what’s going on in their City.

PC: I’ve noticed that at a certain point, the wording on the blog became less rigid and impersonal, and took on a witty tone, occasionally making quips about various incidents. Some of these have been a little cheesy, but overall I think the new tone is good. Do you guys see this as a concrete change, or was it more of a process?

BPD: We’re glad you like it. Making the blog more conversational in tone was a definite goal, but there was no deliberate process. Moving from issuing carefully-worded press releases to conversational blogging has been a challenge. It’s a fine line. We don’t want the entries to sound too dry, but we need to be careful not to seem insensitive or flippant regarding what are often serious incidents.
This is an evolving process. We’re willing to bet that a year from now, BPDNews.com will have developed a voice all its own, and the entries will read quite differently than the way they do now.

PC: Have there been any unexpected problems or successes with the site? What kind of reception has it gotten, both with the public and inside the department?

BPD: Comment management was an initial concern, but other than spam, things so far have been pretty tame.

The reception from both the public and inside the Department has been mostly positive. We can see that the general public is utilizing the site on a regular basis for up to date crime stats in addition to general information. The various Boston Police Districts, Divisions and Units have begun accessing to the site to get their messages out regarding various news and events on a more local level.
What’s most interesting is the response we’ve gotten from other police departments, both locally and nationally. Agencies from as far away as Los Angeles have contacted us, asking how they can start their own blog. We’re hoping this is the beginning of a trend, whereby departments in other cities explore ways to better communicate with their citizens.

PC: Occasionally I’ve noticed that the blog will respond to news articles or coverage to clarify or correct issues, and at least once the site rebuffed criticism of the force. I think this conversation is really where the true power of the blogging medium comes alive. Do you plan to continue do this sort of thing, or even to get more involved with other local blogs, instead of just the mainstream press?

BPD: The press makes mistakes and we make mistakes. But since the blog gives us direct access to the public it allows the public to challenge us and it allows us to publicly correct our mistakes or clarify areas of confusion. And when the traditional media makes mistakes or if we disagree with its interpretation of events, the blog allows us to set the record straight, or at least get our viewpoint out. We think that’s a big improvement over the past.
One interesting example of this occurred after we disagreed with a Herald report calling an incident where shots were fired — but no one was hit — a shooting. We differentiate between the two but the Herald didn’t and the disagreement led to a clarification on the blog, a correction in the paper and a dialog on the blog between us and the reporter.
As far as our participation in the blogosphere, we have already noticed comments and postings on local blogs linking to our content. We haven’t linked much to other blogs yet, preferring to link by trackbacks, but that is something that we are talking about doing more of.

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