BLTN Dispatch #004: Smarter Notifications, Critical Posts, and Open Share

We've rebuilt how notifications work in BLTN, added Critical Posts for time-sensitive intel, and launched a new way to share posts with anyone, anywhere.

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🔔 Smarter Notifications

We completely rebuilt how notifications work in BLTN.

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Now you control exactly what you hear about and how—completely customizing notifications across desktop, mobile, and email:

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• Track your posts — Stay updated on posts you've authored, saved, or reposted
• Follow SmartLinks — Get notified when patterns emerge tied to your cases
• Monitor your region — See what's happening across your network in real time
• Do Not Disturb — Silence everything for 8 hours, 24 hours, or a full week without losing your settings when you're back

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The Notifications Feed is also rebuilt from the ground up. It's faster, cleaner, and now lives in the main navigation—one place to check for updates.

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🚨 Critical Posts

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We've expanded Critical Posts beyond Officer Safety. Now any post can be marked as critical, because some situations can't wait for users to check their feed.

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Critical posts jump to the High Priority sidebar and push a notification to everyone at the agency—regardless of their individual settings.

• Critical status lasts four hours and can be extended or resolved as the situation evolves
• Posts can be tagged as updated when new notes are available
• Posts can also be cancelled with status updates pushed out immediately so no one's working off outdated information

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🔗 Open Share

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We launched Open Share to make it even easier to share intelligence.

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Open Share lets anyone with the link view a post—no login required. Distribution lists, group inboxes, forwarded emails all work without authentication.

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When sharing externally, choose between:

• Secure Share — Magic Link for direct contacts with personal emails
• Open Share — Public link for distribution lists and shared inboxes

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Recipients can create a free guest account to see all shared posts you've shared with them in one organized feed—or just view the post and move on.

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These updates move BLTN closer to what it's always been built for: getting the right information to the right people when it matters most.

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These features are live now. If you're already on BLTN, check your notification settings and try Open Share on your next external post.

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If you're not on BLTN yet, get in touch.

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