By Adam Crisp
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Guns and ammo? Check. Patrol cars and plenty of gas? Check. A spokesman ready to take a barrage of media calls?
These days, some in law enforcement argue that full-time public affairs officers are as essential as weapons and technology.
And in the Chattanooga media market, you can tell.
Chattanooga police, the Hamilton County sheriff, East Ridge police, the Bradley County sheriff and others all have full-time public affairs officers whose primary responsibility is to speak to the media.
In the state’s top law enforcement agency, one woman gathers all the information and reports back to reporters. Kristin Helm’s official title is public information officer, but in this newspaper and other media outlets, most of her peers are identified as spokesmen or spokeswomen.
”... On a slow day I might get five calls, and on a busy day I’ve gotten about 50 calls or e-mails,” she said of the 350 media outlets she works with “constantly.”
Ms. Helm isn’t a sworn law enforcement officer. Until a year ago she was a reporter herself, asking questions of police and other public figures on behalf of a Nashville television station.
“I know what reporters want, so I can focus and narrow the information to what I think they want or need,” she said.
In Chattanooga, Lt. Kim Noorbergen and Sgt. Jerri Weary handle media calls for the Chattanooga Police Department. On one hip they carry a gun and badge, and on the other side is a Blackberry to keep them in constant contact with reporters and police contacts.
Until recently, the Hamilton County sheriff’s public information office consisted of two officers and a civilian. Lt. Max Templeton was transferred from the office recently. Now Deputy Dusty Stokes and civilian Janice Atkinson handle the responsibility. Ms. Atkinson is a retired Chattanooga police detective.
Other PIOs in the area include Officer Erik Hopkins, who handles media calls for fire and police departments in East Ridge, as well as Bob Gault, a civilian spokesman working for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office.
His boss, Sheriff Tim Gobble, said the position is “invaluable.”
Having someone like Mr. Gault communicating with the media keeps the department’s work in the public eye. It also means one message will be communicated to the public, rather than sending out conflicting details, the sheriff said.
“We have a one-voice policy,” Mr. Gault said. “That means either myself, one of our captains or Bob are the only people allowed to speak publicly.”
The same goes for the TBI, which bars its agents from talking to reporters.
“Pretty much they are not allowed to talk to reporters, because they will be called to testify in court,” Ms. Helm said.
Thirty years ago that wasn’t the case, said retired FBI special agent Bill Cheek, who now trains police information officers for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Reporters then either called individual officers or agents or they just didn’t get information at all, he said.
“Having a full-time spokesman is relatively new,” Mr. Cheek said. “It helps, because most FBI agents, for example, aren’t going to have the time to dig out information for a reporter while also working the crime.”
He estimates most forces with more than 75 uniformed officers will employ a full-time employee with public information responsibilities. Forces smaller than that usually defer media calls to the chief administrator, Mr. Cheek said.
In Ms. Helm’s case, when reporters call her, she usually has been briefed on the particular crime or incident, she said.
“It’s kind of like being a reporter for the TBI,” she said. “I work very hard to gather information from out of the bureau, filter it and send it out.”
Sometimes that filtering process means reporters don’t get all the details they want exactly when they want them. There are inevitable conflicts between spokesmen and journalists, Ms. Helm and Mr. Cheek admit.
“A detective might give out information that shouldn’t be released or kept quiet,” Mr. Cheek said. “When I was a PIO, if you asked about a piece of information relating to the case, if I could tell you that, I would tell you that. But reporters want it now, and that’s when there is conflict.”
Copyright 2008 The Chattanooga Times Free Press