Guest post by Matt Melton, BlueLine Grid

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) annual convention will kick off during the third week of October 2016 in San Diego. Planning is in full gear, and Cisco is highlighting its partnership with Washington, D.C.-based BlueLine Grid. BlueLine Grid is solving the mission critical collaboration challenges of law enforcement agencies.

Cisco together with public safety ecosystem partners are showcasing digital public safety solutions at the conference.

BlueLine Grid is integrating Cisco services to bring state of the art capabilities to the market. By leveraging Cisco Spark, BlueLine Grid offers accelerated critical communications between law enforcement agencies and private sector stakeholders over a secure, trusted network for a real-time, collaborative response.

In the event of law enforcement incidents, cyber events, natural disasters and accidents, a successful response obviously depends on how quickly, accurately and efficiently agencies share information. The joint Cisco-BlueLine Grid solution is focused on increasing speed and efficiency of communication while reducing cost of ineffective alternatives. Agencies can:

• Track officers on foot
• Send mass notifications
• Invite individuals into secure group messaging and file-sharing environments
• Initiate instant one-click teleconferencing or push-to-talk (PTT) channels.
• Collaborate on any device
• Share information and intelligence with other agencies and jurisdictions

BlueLine Grid is already deployed across the national network of fusion centers to share real time intelligence across the country. Fusion centers, such as the Boston Regional Intelligence Center and Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, use the solution every day to communicate with their mission partners -local law enforcement, first responders, and private sector security. Leading agencies like the Los Angeles Police Department use BlueLine Grid to replace archaic practices such as phone trees to mobilize officers. Even small departments can leverage the solution as a cost-effective way to manage and task their workforce.

The BlueLine Grid solution an excellent way to get a quick win with Cisco collaboration tools. The low cost of ownership is driving interest from clients across the country and throughout the world, while enabling a common identity credentialing and access model that can be leveraged by Cisco Public Safety and Spark solution architectures.

To learn more about Blue Line Grid, go to Cisco and BlueLine Grid  or find us during#IACP2016!