The Los Angeles Police Department has started a blog, with police chief William Bratton taking a fairly prominent role. If the early posts are any indication, the LAPD blog could become a worthwhile tool for talking back to the media, seizing the initiative, and providing transparency and insight for the public. The blog complements other robust online tools the department provides, such as neighborhood crime maps. Bratton is well-known in law enforcement and public policy circles for innovative use of data and technology to heighten street-level accountability of police commanders in reducing crime. To that end he pioneered the Compstat system in the early 90s as chief in New York City, under Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The danger with an institutional blog is always that PR and puffery will predominate. Government agency blogs that go beyond press release-fluff have value, as demonstrated by the blog of Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Chairman Carole Brown, among others. Brown just about totally gets it. Generally, comments can be moderated, even held for approval before posting, or the community can police comments that are out of line, reporting violations to the blog's operators. The LAPD seems to understand, however, that the credibility of a government agency blog is enhanced by allowing reasonably-stated critical comments.

Communications specialists at government agencies in Seattle, King County and Washington State might want to check out the CTA and LAPD blogs, with an eye toward opening up new and better avenues for online community-building with their, ah, customers. It's early, so it will take some time to see how meaty the LAPD blog becomes.