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In Touch with Tennessee
In Touch with Tennessee
Building Better PIO Networks
When public trust is at an all-time low and emergencies unfold at lightning speed, who prepares the people responsible for communicating critical information? The UT Law Enforcement Innovation Center offers a certification rapidly becoming the gold standard for public information officer training across the United States.
Two years ago on one of our episodes, we highlighted the Law Enforcement Innovation Center's 40-hour Master Public Information Officer certification. Since that time, the program has continued to grow and attract public information officers from across the country. Hi and welcome to In Touch with Tennessee, a podcast of the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service. Here today to update us on the program is Jeff Hunley, a training specialist with the Law Enforcement Innovation Center, along with Chris Mikowski, public information officer for the town of Somerville, south Carolina, public Information Officer for the City of Bristol, john Latrelle and Sergeant Jessica Sheehan, public Information Officer for Virginia State Police in the Richmond area. Thank you all for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for having us.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:So, jeff, we'll start with you. For those not familiar with the program, can you tell us how it got started?
Speaker 4:Absolutely. First of all, thank you, Susan, for doing this follow-up on our program. We're so excited about what's going on with our communications programs here at LEIC and just glad to do an update. In 2022, we developed our Master Public Information Officer certification, really in response to the rising need for training for public information officers, specifically in the public safety arena. We just see that it's a growing field and lots of people were looking for training in that area.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what was the initial response to the program?
Speaker 4:Initially, we had an overwhelming response. Our first cohort, in the fall of 2022, actually had 35 people in it and we just primary target audience at that point was law enforcement officers, based on the nature of what we do here at LEIC, and the response was really, really great. So we decided we were definitely, after that first cohort ended, that we were definitely going to do another cohort in the spring, when initially we planned on hopefully a success just being one a year. But we found in that first cohort that we needed to add another, another one on in the spring of 2023.
Speaker 1:Oh, OK. So how has it evolved? I know you have said there are different components. Now Can you give us an update on what's going on?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, initially our target audience was law enforcement officers, but our course has expanded to include participants from fire, ema, ems, pios, from city and county government, because a lot of times those individuals are responsible for being a PIO for their city, but also for those specific agencies as well. We've even had some participants with health care and schools as well. In our programs To date, we've had 21 states that have sent participants to our MPIO cohorts in Nashville, and last year, in 2024, we launched a PIO Essentials course, which is a three-day basic course for those that are new to the PIO role, and we've had held those classes in Tennessee, florida, texas, and we have some scheduled for California, missouri, north Carolina in this coming year.
Speaker 4:And then we have just developed I finished the curriculum just recently for a social media dynamics class that allows participants to manage a media crisis using a virtual platform in real time. Manage a media crisis using a virtual platform in real time. So in the two-day course the students will receive, they'll cover topics such as foundations of social media engagement, moderation of their social media accounts, misinformation, and then we also have a section on hate speech and threats that are made online. So we're super excited to launch that as our third piece to our communications programs here at LEIC.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is exciting. So, to our guests who are here with us today, if you could introduce yourselves and tell us when you received your certification your certification.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my name is Jessica Sheehan. I'm a sergeant for the First Division Area in Richmond for the Virginia State Police, so I cover 22 counties and four cities and it's a lot. So I was looking for some training. That would really help well round me in my position, because, unfortunately like I'm sure it's pretty well known but in law enforcement nobody wants to talk to the media Right. So when you take this job, it's kind of overwhelming at first because there's not really anything to go on. They're like OK, it's, you now go. And so I started looking online and I had come across the certification on LinkedIn and I was super excited about it and my my upper command staff, my executive staff they were super excited about it as well, and so I was able to go at the end of September. So it was September 23rd through the 27th. Actually, hurricane Helene hit the day that I went home, so, yeah, that made for a fun trip home, oh good.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, yeah. So I mean it was awesome, it was a great week.
Speaker 1:Good, okay, john, or Chris Chris.
Speaker 5:Sure, so my name is John Luttrell. I'm the director of community relations and kind of de facto public information officer for the city of Bristol, tennessee. So, as Jeff mentioned, I'm one of those folks who serves in a role where I handle communications for kind of our organization as a whole, across all the city departments. But then then quite frequently I'm the one who's standing between our public safety professionals and the media as well, trying to communicate urgent information, that sort of thing.
Speaker 5:And I initially learned about the program my city manager.
Speaker 5:She had seen some communications from, probably through maybe MTAS or one of the other, the IPS organizations, and saw that this class was being offered and she forwarded to me and said, hey, is this something you would be interested in?
Speaker 5:And it sounded perfect, just because I don't come from a public safety background. But since I do kind of travel in those circles from time to time, I thought it would be really really beneficial to kind of build out those skills on that side of things. So I was in the cohort in the fall of 2023, that September, and it was just such a wonderful experience and going into it I was a little bit nervous because, you know, I'm not in law enforcement. I'm not in fire and EMS or emergency management, but I found several other folks in there, um, who, who I was grouped with, who also kind of work in the general government space, and, uh, it was just a really, really great experience to see how the the, the skills are really universal for anyone in the public sphere, who who interacts with the public and especially with the media.
Speaker 1:And Chris.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good morning. Um, I'm Chris McCaskey. I'm the public information officer for the town of Somerville, south Carolina. It's just outside of Charleston. Somerville is actually one of the fastest growing. It's considered a town, but really a city in the country, and we're also the birthplace of Sweet Tea. So, just you know, fyi there.
Speaker 2:Um, no, I've been a public information officer for a few years now here in somerville, for a little over two years. Um, I consider myself more of a innovative type of public information officer, um, very video oriented, podcast oriented. Um, and, and you know, website design. I'm really just kind of looking towards, you know, bringing it to 2025, right, um, but I you know this program I learned about it from the national information officers association meeting, not in 24 but in 23 um, and that's when I heard about it for the first time and I was part of the fall of 24 class and honestly, it was a great experience. Not only did I learn so much, but I made so many great connections to. That will not only benefit me but I think will benefit others as well. And then also, just you know, you know the exercises we went through were some of the best exercises I've had in any type of PIO training that I've been through. It was really impressive and I couldn't recommend it more to anyone.
Speaker 1:That brings me to my next question about the program's curriculum. This is for all three of our participants who have become certified. What was most valuable to you about the curriculum?
Speaker 3:So for me, I think that I have. I had not done a lot of. I'm not like Chris, I'm not very savvy with Canva, so doing stuff online and doing that graphic design, that sort of stuff so I was really excited to have that opportunity to take a deep dive into that, not just do something that was going to like skim the surface and be like, oh you know, just an easy project. I learned a lot from the people in my group on tips and tricks and things to use Canva better and how to make things to make my, to present my department in a much better light, and so to me, that helped me out a whole lot. And then also from another aspect, pre-planning.
Speaker 3:So messaging plans were have been my savior since I came back. So I came back and I'm like what are the things that I respond to the most? I sat down and I wrote out some messaging plans that are very specific and tailored to me and my position and they have helped me with stress on the back end. So it's just, I learned a ton of just super valuable information for my specific job. Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, I think the messaging plans were um were very, very beneficial. Uh, also, just like hearing from the uh, the presenters and their experiences and the stuff that they use and basically what um you know their, their day to day and how they operate and their systems that they have in place and how you know they failed. You know learning from failures or learning from successes, and I thought that was very beneficial as well, because Jeff and the crew brought in some incredible speakers and that was very eye opening Just listening to their, their successes and failures and and learning from those.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 5:One of the elements that I found really beneficial that was introduced was some of the emotional intelligence components of understanding communication. Communication not only learning about ourselves and how we communicate and how we feel and perceive information, but also understanding that about the people that we communicate with right, because, you know, trusting government and communication and what government is telling people is really at an all-time low. So if we can talk to the people we're communicating with as people and kind of understand the fears and the things that they may have, especially in a crisis situation, I think that makes our messaging that much clearer. It makes people trust us that much more, and so I was really pleasantly surprised to see that a component like that was included in this program. To see that a component like that was included in this program, because that can be just as important as any you know day-to-day tactics that you might have.
Speaker 1:Okay, great, and how is the program? I mean, all three of you have kind of alluded to this a bit, but can you talk about how the program has helped you in your career? Maybe name one specific thing?
Speaker 3:Sure, well, yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead, chris, you, you're great, okay, thanks, um, I was just gonna say, um, for me, um, everything that and I wanted to touch back to on your previous question everything that everybody just said was spot on. I like it was really hard for me to pick just like one or two things. So one thousand percent and it's really helped me a lot, like I said, in my career, moving forward with with a lot of stress relief, which I know might sound odd, but with our job, I mean, I'm on call like 24-7-365. That was on my when I took the job posting. That's what it said. You will be on call 24-7-365 days a year and so when, if I can do these little things like the pre-planning and all that sort of stuff, that takes away some of that stress for me. It allows me to be a better mother, a better person outside of my job. So I'm not constantly on my phone, I'm not constantly doing this job. So it makes me enjoy my job more in the long run.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I couldn't agree with that more actually, because you know learning the systems to make your life easier helps you, and especially in our role, have a work-life balance. You know, as a dad myself, you know spending time with my daughter having that time is very important, but I also have a career that can take, you know, anytime Christmas, you name it right Like I could be on, you know, on on the, on the job at any moment, and so having systems in place that help me spend the most time I can with my family is important. And then, on top of that, this program just you know, having a master PIO certification it just looks good. People understand. You know, having a you know master PIO certification, it just looks good. People understand. You know you're you're bettering yourself as as as you continue to grow in this role and going through different programs and learning from different agencies and everything like that, and it elevated my career a lot actually, even in these just few months since I've graduated from it. So I'm very thankful.
Speaker 5:I think one of the elements that has stuck with me and that I keep, that keeps replaying in my mind every time I'm in a communication situation, especially with the media, is one speaker in particular Mr Larry Flowers, our colleague with the Murfreesboro Tennessee Police Department.
Speaker 5:You know he serves as a Murfreesboro Tennessee Police Department, you know he serves as a PIO there now, but he had, you know, a very successful career on the media side of things. And so just his perspective from the reporter's side, understanding what information they're looking for and helping us understand, you know kind of how to, how to frame it so that we give them what they need but, you know, still still be in a position to protect our, our organization, and only share what's needed and not fall into the I don't want to say the traps, you know I don't. I don't think most of our media partners deliberately try to trap us, but just to be aware of kind of what, what their needs are in that communication situation and how to balance those with our own. I think that input was extremely valuable, since you know I've not worked on the media side as a reporter, you know I've only worked on this side, so that was a really, really great piece of information that I've carried with me. I definitely agree with that 100%.
Speaker 3:Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1:Okay, any plans to jump into the social media dynamics portion of this training?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I think I love the program, I love what Jeff's putting together, so that's definitely in conversations over here. As long as the budget allows for it. Here at the town of Somerville I'm always, I'm always looking to continue that education.
Speaker 3:Same here. We actually were discussing upcoming training for the next year and that was one of the classes that we were discussing. And, if I don't go to it, we do have a social media coordinator who works with our public information office and we're trying really hard to get her involved with it. So, um, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5:I had the had the benefit, um, you know, jeff, Jeff, let me see a little bit of the uh, the kind of the behind the scenes of the, the social media dynamics, um, you know, platform that they had initially been looking at, and it's one of those things.
Speaker 5:I think it can be so beneficial to people in all different parts of an organization, not even necessarily the person who manages the social media communication side of things. I could see it being a fantastic opportunity for even elected officials to experience something like that and understanding just, you know how, how, the way we react, as good as our intentions may be, you know how the way we react, as good as our intentions may be, you know they can really swing a situation one way or another very quickly on social media because it's such a reactive atmosphere. So I think elected officials would benefit from it. I even think students, who aren't even in the public sector communications world yet. I think it could be beneficial for them to just understand, you know how the way they communicate and portray themselves online, you know, makes a difference. It's just, it's such a cool opportunity and it's just, it's a phenomenal fit within this program.
Speaker 1:Great Well, jeff. Going back to you, you know we've got Chris from South Carolina and Sergeant Sheehan from Virginia. Did you think when this all started that you would go nationwide?
Speaker 4:No, absolutely not. I do consider myself a dreamer, but I didn't. I didn't think that it would happen, especially not this fast. I thought, if we got through a couple of cohorts of Tennessee individuals, that that would be success for us. And so for it to be for us to have such great professionals coming to Nashville twice a year to be a part of the master program, nashville twice a year to be a part of the master program.
Speaker 4:And now, because of the alumni network, you know we're getting close to 300 people who have completed our program and we've put together this alumni network that we're able to then reach out and say hey, would you like to host our essentials class? Or, you know, you have anyone that you would like to put into our virtual class, the social media dynamics, and so I didn't imagine that. And something else that I didn't mention earlier is that we've been contacted by the Center for Public Safety Excellence and they do a credentialing for PIOs, so public information officers can get an international credentialing, and in order to do that you have to meet education requirements, and so they've chosen our program to be one of those roads in to receive your credentialing. So I'm super, super thrilled that you know a program as young as this one and still has a lot of growth opportunities, has been able to reach outside of Tennessee but also be recognized by the Center for Public Safety Excellence as well but also be recognized by the Center for Public Safety Excellence as well.
Speaker 1:Right, that's great. Well, and I know and you know maybe our guests can talk a little bit about this in the communications field how important it is to build that network of peers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's extremely important. Yeah, it's extremely important. I think that's, I mean, one of the biggest takeaways from that. My experience as well is just Carolina. We sent some of our, we did a drive a food drive and a supply drive and we were looking for a place to take it up. But we didn't want to take it to one of the main spots because they were kind of closed down because there were so many supplies being sent in. So I reached out, actually, to some of the connections I made through the class that were in the um east side of Tennessee and I was able to get um our firefighters to deliver um supplies to uh folks who needed it up there on the east side. That wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have those connections that I just made what? A month before. And so it's crazy how it all works out like that. But you never know when you're going to need those connections, and when you know someone calls me, you know I'm available, I'm ready to help as well. So yeah, it's very important.
Speaker 1:That's great. Well, thank you all for joining us today. It's been a very, very informative discussion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for having us.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:And thank you listeners. Be sure to look for In Touch with Tennessee where you find your favorite podcasts.
