Blab.im live video & chat for Police, Fire and Law Enforcement

screen shot from the live session

Blab.im is a new live video chat service logged in via Twitter. It's very easy to use and requires virtually no setup.

Edit 25 Aug 12 noon - last night saw a panel discussion lead by Kerry Blakeman with Lauri Stevens as Talking Police/Law Enforcement Social Media @lawscomm (link opens in a new window 47 mins).

As the word spreads so do the blog posts, see this one from Joanne Sweeney-Burke called Blabbing About Law Enforcement ...

Edit 1 Nov 2015 - here's a list of recent Police Blab Events

19 Aug Live patrol with @trafficwmp - West Midlands Police - #blab with @NorfolkSgt
17 Sep #SurreyPCCLive - Join the Police & Crime Commissioner for #Surrey
7 Oct Smile Conference meets @NorfolkSgt & @MPSKingston - live from Canada
16 Oct COPS on BLAB: #LESM Facebook Pages Are For The Community, Not The Police
26 Oct Handsworth Police Community Tasking replay
28 Oct UK Police Social Media replay hosted by @sgtTCS
29 Oct Azusa Police Talkin' Halloween Parties, Trick-or-Treaters, DUI's and Costumes
30 Oct Live during #MPSKingstonLive with @TorontoPolice @KerryBlakeman @TrooperBenKHP

Coming Up
19 Nov 2015 - Handsworth Police and Community Meeting, Birmingham, UK
.. and there are more by searching Blab for police.


Joanne was also a guest in last night's policing blab along with Scott Mills Toronto Police Service, Alex Vass Communication Strategist at Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Tim Burrows from #CopChat ..

I've embedded the replay video as demonstrates Blab's versatility (minus the chat).

The audience were also invited into the discussion like Matthew Ward from @HistoryNeedsYou..

Edit as Wed 19 Aug 1.30pm - The first ever UK Police Blab broadcast successfully took place at noon today.

Watch the replay at blab.im/kerryblakeman Live Patrol or see the player below for Promo and a full screen recording of the entire session. On a replay, you will notice the loss of colorful text overlays

blab.im/kerryblakeman 100 + views already

For Apple users, get the beta app at: blab.im/ios, Android will be coming very soon. As it says on my google collection, stop by for mins stay for hours .. fuelled by webRTC and people.
desktop, we are talking webRTC technology - it all works in the Chrome (or firefox) browser - as I say on

You also get a snazzy custom URL blab.im/mikedownesz (or in a police officer's case: blab.im/kerryblakeman identical to a twitter account: twitter.com/kerryblakeman from West Midlands Police UK).
like: 

7pm, 17 Aug 2015 edit - see the tweet below as Kerry Blakeman was fast to test out blab ..

Thanks @mikedownesz @brittanymetz for my 1st @TeamBlab - lots of opportunities for the world of policing #BLAB pic.twitter.com/lWeVFRZJdY

— Supt Kerry Blakeman (@kerryblakeman) August 17, 2015

It seems there are many periscope users on blab, delighted on how they can meet other people face to face in a video call in public and in front of a live audience. Other blab users have migrated from google hangouts (where you can video chat with 10 people and broadcast live to youtube.

The team at blab like Shaan Puri (Head Coach & CEO of TeamBlab) are Brittany Metz (lead artist turned community builder) super excited about growing the platform and helping every user they can. 

As I've been following Police and Fire on social media for the last five years, I seen many progressions in live video - Blab will offer something immediate and fresh for the Police (and other public sector orgs) to engage with the community they serve in realtime.

The simple brilliance of Blab - the record, pause, resume button - although all chats are in public, the host can select an On the Record (live and recorded) and Off the Record (live but no recording). The meeting URL is preserved and so is the chat.

A Case Study .. Supt Kerry Blakeman, MPS Kingston and Sgt Joe Simon have all been using Periscope with great effect - for me it's the what if they met in a blab? 

That would connect the West Midlands, London and Norfolk together in one place. Take a common theme like road safety and we have a discussion. 

Or even one of Supt Kerry Blakeman's drink drive hangouts - he could have the blab filled with video feeds from four places live in Birmingham - CCTV almost to the masses - with a vibrant chat for Q and A.

If you want more on blab and it's uses, I have a google collection, a playlist and most of all - find me in a blab and let's talk. 

Only this morning I saw a tweet bigging up West Mids Fire Service, on my reply I heard back from a couple of people I know - Commander Simon Shilton and Commander Neil Griffiths. And of course met someone new too: Lorna Prescott.

Want more, here's a playlist, and be sure to read the blog.blab.im for updates and sign up for Brittany's daily digest. Still want more, then see the fantastic Early Blab Whiteboards post.