Bill Bratton, who has run three of large police forces, is preparing to launch the first comprehensive social media network for police officers, Reuters reports. The network, known as BlueLine, will be launched at the International Association of Police Chiefs annual conference in Philadelphia in October. Combining popular user functions of leading social media sites, BlueLine is billed by Bratton as the first secure network for cops.
It’s also a safer alternative for a younger generation of officers who Bratton says share a shocking amount of information on public networks. “If you’re a SWAT officer, it gives you the ability to find other SWAT officers in departments around the country and engage them, share best practices, talk about innovations,” Bratton said. A for-profit company, Bratton Technologies, was founded to develop the network, and aims to generate revenue from cop-related products “from socks to Glocks,” said the firm’s Jack Weiss.