The PIO Podcast

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we speak to Lt. Baxter of SFFD  we talk about his role as the only PIO,  the impact of community outreach, and public-Ed?   A  campaigns effort to raise awareness about water fatalities around the coastline.  A discussion over how agencies can connect with community-based groups. Bio of Jonathan Baxter: started his career in Public Safety at the age of 14 working...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Trahan is a retired Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Reserve (USAR), and a former Commander of the 314th Public Affairs Operations Center located in Birmingham, Alabama.  While in the armed forces, Dr. Trahan successfully operated four Joint Information Bureaus and one Joint Information Center from 1991-94. Some of his assignments were: Joint Logistics Over the Shore -19...

Send us Fan Mail In our final episode of season 1 we talk to Laurie McCann, Social Media Officer with the Toronto Police Service. We discuss her advocacy of social media education for young people. Mistakes that young people make when engaging online.  Why listening and engaging on social media is imperative. Laurie provides examples and talks about Amanda Todd's story and its impact on her....

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we talk about Social Media Listening and the value of engaging your community. Michelle offers insights into engaging, responding thoughtfully, and what listening tools a PIO can use. Michelle will also expand upon what happens if agencies do not socially listen. This episode is packed with insights enjoy! Michelle's Bio Michelle Proffitt is a content creator...

Send us Fan Mail Jeff Butera is a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Florida, he has reported for stations across the country, including in Phoenix and Tampa. He is currently the primary news anchor at WZVN-TV (ABC) In Fort Myers, where his work earned him a coveted Murrow Award for Hard News Reporting. Jeff's Twitter @WriteLikeUTalk A lin...

Send us Fan Mail In this week's episode, we talk to Dr. Jeff Thompson, Ph. D., NYPD detective and the creator of the Warr;or21 Project. This week's focus is on self-care and so much more.  We talk about the stresses that PIOs are faced with and how to manage themselves. Jeff explains how to normalize fear, stress, and anxiety. Jeff cover "reframing", which helps take control an...

Send us Fan Mail Lynn Hightower has an interesting perspective brought about by years in the private sector and working with local communities. We discuss dealing with unwelcome communications, managing the message, and the importance of doing it properly. What-ifs can result in speculation, Lynn discusses the importance of phrasing responses the proper way to get your agency's message across...

Send us Fan Mail We talk to Jessie about a variety of topics including self-care as a PIO, owning your responsibility, and setting boundaries. Jessie talks about dealing with trolls, making mistakes, and the three-and-out rule. Jessie Brown is the Social Media Specialist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. She believes in the power of social media to inspire, engage, educate and build qu...

Send us Fan Mail Kate talks about how Silence is not a winning strategy. The importance of police leaders speaking in times of crisis. The importance of frequent updates affirms the agency's voice in the discussion. Kate is a firm believer in transparency and we discuss transparency portals and these three questions that the public asks. Why do we keep seeing these headlines? How are you prev...

Send us Fan Mail Ashley Morris is an emergency management planner for the Baltimore County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in Maryland. Her primary role involves emergency plan management, exercise coordination, social media messaging, community outreach, and volunteer management. She is also involved in emergency operation center roles involving situational awareness, weather...

Send us Fan Mail Support the show Our premiere sponsor, Social News Desk, has an exclusive offer for PIO Podcast listeners. Head over to socialnewsdesk.com/pio to get three months free when a qualifying agency signs up.

Send us Fan Mail Amanda is a crisis communication specialist and is the director and founder of crisis communication consultancy Amanda Coleman Communication Ltd. Based in the UK, she has more than 20 years of experience in emergency services communication and leading in a time of crisis.  She is the author of Crisis Communication Strategies published in May 2020 by Kogan Page. In 2017, Amanda led...

Send us Fan Mail Robert has over 27 years of law enforcement background, having worked as a Public Information Officer for over 10 years. Robert works tirelessly to further connections with Public Information Officers, Public Relations professionals in the public sector through the use of the PIO Podcast. Robert has worked in three law enforcement agencies over the last 28 years and continues to w...

Send us Fan Mail Elisa Bubak is from Northern California born and raised. Upon graduating from St. Mary’s High School in Stockton, she followed her father’s footsteps to the University of the Pacific. She graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor’s in Political Science with minors in Pre-Law & English. Two weeks after graduation, she accepted the Social Media and Content Coordinator position at Jackso...

Send us Fan Mail Jeremy Warnick is the Director of Communications and Media Relations at the Cambridge, Mass. Police Department, where he develops, distributes, and manages information between the police department, the media, and the people who live, work, visit and study in Cambridge via the department’s website, social media channels, e-mail platforms, and marketing programs. He has more than 1...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Doyle, Sr. is a public safety professional with over 25 years of comprehensive emergency experience. Currently, Andrew is an Emergency Boat Operator assigned to the Special Operations Command of the Baltimore City Fire Department. In plain terms, he operates the fireboats. He previously worked with the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management coordinating public information a...

Send us Fan Mail Emily Allen Lucht is the Director of Communications at the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.  Previously, she was the Communications and Media Specialist at the Maryland Center for School Safety (MCSS).  She was responsible for creating and updating accessible social media content, graphic, audio, and visual designs, website content production and maintenan...

Send us Fan Mail Emmy award-winning communications and public affairs practitioner specializing in strategic communications, media relations, legislative advocacy, and social media influence in the government, non-profit and corporate sectors. Significant expertise in crisis communications, organizational reputation management, internal & executive communications, and issue-campaign developmen...

Send us Fan Mail Christine has over fifteen years of experience in crisis and emergency communication as well as shaping the digital policing narrative in the UK. As one of the founding teams to bring social to the public sector, Christine has trained emergency services and government agencies across the world in how to engage with the public through digital channels. With previous experience as a...

Send us Fan Mail Kevin Maccioli is the Director of Media Relations and Public Information for the Middlesex (Mass.) Sheriff’s Office. Kevin has served as the lead Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office (MSO) since joining the office in June 2012.  He previously worked for a decade as a newspaper reporter at the Malden Evening News and Medford Daily Mercury, where he co...

Send us Fan Mail Connor Hagan entered on duty with the FBI in July 2015 as a member of the Milwaukee Field Office’s Special Surveillance Group. In this position, he covertly surveilled and documented the activities of foreign spies and suspected terrorists to further critical national security investigations. In May 2016, he moved into the Milwaukee Field Office as an Operational Support Technicia...

Send us Fan Mail Maj. Kevin Sandell is an Army Public Affairs Officer serving with the Army's Office of the Chief of Public Affairs (OCPA) at the Pentagon. He has served in the military for 14 years, with 10 years as a military public affairs officer at Fort Campbell, Ky., Fort Drum, N.Y.; Fort Hood, Texas, and Shaw A.F.B., S.C. Maj. Sandell has served as the unit spokesman, communications ad...

Send us Fan Mail Captain Brennan Matherne has served as Public Information Officer of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office (Louisiana) for nearly 10 years. He has 16 total years of experience as a PIO and has been managing social media for public agencies since 2008. Most notably, he served as PIO for Lafourche Parish Government during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico wh...

Send us Fan Mail Genevieve Judge joined the Sarasota Police Department in Florida in May 2013 to serve as the Public Information Officer after nearly 10 years working in TV News as a Multi-Media Journalist (MMJ) and Anchor. As a Florida native, born and raised in Sarasota, Genevieve is responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating partnerships, community policing communication strategie...

Send us Fan Mail In June 2019, Carin Morrell joined the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) as the first Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Police Department and Office of Emergency Management. As PIO, she’s a social media manager, photographer, videographer, graphic designer, speechwriter, website developer, and crisis communicator. She manages media inquiries, community complaints, and...