The PIO Podcast

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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 all public-facing messaging for a police department of 200+ men and women (plus one dog), as well as UMB’s newest department, the Office of Emergency Management. 

Prior to joining UMB, Morrell spent three years as PIO for the Maryland Department of Health Office of Preparedness and Response, where she managed all public-facing communications related to public health emergencies for the State of Maryland. In 2019, she was selected to present a social media accessibility poster at the National Preparedness Summit. She was recognized by Governor Hogan’s Office of Communications for social media management and routinely ran the Maryland Emergency Management Agency Joint Information Center during graded statewide and national exercises.

Morrell has also served as communications coordinator for the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University and spent years producing newscasts at WBAL-TV and WISC-TV. Morrell taught news reporting at Loyola University Maryland, led nationwide social media campaigns, spearheaded departmental website redesigns, and developed branding and marketing strategies for state political campaigns. She earned a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2012 and is currently earning a second master’s degree in strategic communications from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Carin's Linked in link 

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Dionne Waugh has worked in the field of law enforcement public information for nearly 13 years. She joined the City of Boulder (Colorado) in November 2020 as the Public Safety PIO for Boulder Police and Fire.

 Prior to that, she worked for the Jefferson County (Colorado) Sheriff’s Office for six years as its Digital Communications Manager. There she managed the agency’s social media and served as a backup public information officer. Before moving to Colorado, she spent more than six years as a public information officer and unofficial social media manager for the Richmond (Virginia) Police Department.

She has spoken about law enforcement and social media at numerous conferences and trainings across the country in addition to happily helping anyone in public safety/government who has social media/media questions.

 Waugh is a former newspaper reporter who wrote about crime, government, and the court system for several years. That experience and a desire to make the world a better place fuel her drive to improve communication between individuals.

Dionne's e-mail address - [email protected]
Dionne's Twitter - twitter.com/dionnew

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About Trent Faris - Trent Faris serves as Public Information Officer for the York County Sheriff’s Office, a full service, and nationally accredited law enforcement agency employing approximately 400 full and part-time, sworn, and civilian personnel.  He has held this position for nine years.  

Trent is responsible for the daily coordination, circulation, formulating, and disseminating of communications to the media and publicity pertaining to the York County Sheriff's Office.

Trent is trained in Crisis Communications achieving Advanced PIO training through FEMA, as well as the FBI-LEEDA Master PIO course. 

He develops communication strategies and tactics to promote, enhance and protect the agency's brand of fostering a positive and mutually beneficial relationship with the citizens of York County and the Sheriff's Office. In addition to those duties, Trent oversees video production for the York County Sheriff's Office aimed at public service announcements, crime prevention and assists with criminal investigations through visual media.

Trent manages website content and social media sites for the York County Sheriff's Office, The Sheriff's Foundation of York County, Inc., and Crime Stoppers of York County.

A native of Rock Hill, SC, Trent graduated in 2002 from Winthrop University with a Bachelor's Degree in Mass Communication, one of only two accredited journalism schools in South Carolina.  Trent was nominated for an Emmy for work on a series of stories about World War II veterans living in the greater Charlotte area. Also earning and winning several awards for stories from the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas. 

Before joining the YCSO, he worked seven years as the South Carolina Bureau Reporter/Multi-Media Journalist for WBTV News in Charlotte NC. Prior to WBTV, he worked as a Sports Reporter and Photojournalist at CN2 News in Rock Hill SC. While attending Winthrop University, Trent worked and interned at WBT Radio, WLNK Radio in Charlotte, NC

Trent is a veteran of the US Navy, serving as an Aviation Ordnanceman as well as serving with the US Marine detachment for ship security from 1994 to 1997.

In his spare time, Trent is a volunteer soccer and basketball coach and is the Cooperative Weather Observer in Catawba, SC for the National Weather Service.    

Trents Twitter handle @trentfaris
"The Many Heroes" - Part 1: The Call & Officer Down
"The Many Heroes " - Part 2: The Boat & Ambush
"The Many Heroes" - Part 3: The Aftermath & Never Forget 809

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Katie is the Social Media + Public Relations Coordinator for the Mountain View Police Department in northern California. Katie specializes in social media management, speaking across the country on social media best practices, crisis communications, and forming positive working relationships between law enforcement and the media.

Before joining MVPD, Katie worked as a public safety reporter for papers including the San Jose Mercury News, the East Bay Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Published nationally,  Katie was an award-winning journalist for my breaking news coverage of the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco International Airport and my investigative work on the state Department of Social Services led to major legislative reform to protect elderly residents in California.

Find me on Twitter at @katienelson210 and at [email protected].

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Nelly Miles has been employed with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) for 21 years.  She currently serves as the GBI’s Public Affairs Director, acting as a liaison between the agency and the media/public, coordinating the release of information about GBI services.  Additionally, she serves as the GBI legislative liaison to Georgia's legislature and the Governor's Office. 

 Mrs. Miles earned her Chemistry degree from Emory University in 1999.  That same year, she began working as a Forensic Chemist. After six years, she was promoted to Assistant Manager and one year later promoted to Forensic Chemistry Manager.  There, she oversaw the daily operations of the Forensic Chemistry Unit for the next nine years.  

 In 2015, Mrs. Miles made a leap from the sciences to communications, appointed as GBI’s Public Affairs Deputy Director.  One year later, she was appointed as Public Affairs Director.  

 Mrs. Miles is the Southeast Regional Vice-Chair for the International Association of Chiefs of Police PIO Section. She is a current member of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, Peace Officers Association of Georgia, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, National Information Officer’s Association, and the Georgia Association of Women in Public Safety.  

Twitter - @nmilesgbipio

Email [email protected]

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A proud and dedicated member of the Albany Police Department in upstate New York. With over 17-years of law enforcement experience, I am honored to serve as the department's public information officer.

In addition to my duties at the police department, I am a proud member of the Public Relations Society of America’s Capital Region Chapter's board of directors, Chairman of the board of directors for the Northeastern Association of the Blind at Albany, and coordinator for the Capital Region Crime Stoppers program, a nonprofit that allows residents to provide anonymous information to law enforcement in an effort to keep communities safe.

My passion continues to be strategic and crisis communication, as well as social media engagement.

Email - [email protected]
Telephone - (518) 469-2862
Twitter -  APDsmith

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25 year veteran of the fire service and experienced public information officer.

Firefighter supervisor with a municipal fire agency. Supervise a crew of firefighters with emergency response and day to day business. Make command decisions as needed during emergency incidents to protect life and property and to stabilize the situation.

Public information experience includes working with internal and external partners to promote fire department programs. During significant public safety incidents, provide information to members of the community and media locally and throughout the state. This is done with traditional media interview, news release, website, and social media.

As a member of a federal incident management team, respond as a co-lead PIO when the team gets activated for large scale incidents. Work with hosting agency(ies) to identify information needs, manage them for the duration of the incident, and prepare for an effective transition back to the host agency at conclusion of the assignment.

Experienced project initiation and management. Recent experience involved establishing a team to archive fire department records and migrating them to a new records management system that was customized to the organization’s needs. Established, built up, and maintained the Garden Grove Fire Department’s social media presence. This included working with other city departments to establish and formalize an official social media committee.

21 years of in-class adult education experience, including 10 years of Emergency Medical Technician program coordination. Curriculum development & clinical coordination.

Twitter @piothanhn

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With more than 30 years of experience, Judy Pal has served in management and public relations positions for public safety, government, and the professional sports and entertainment industry in both Canada and the United States. She has been teaching media and public relations skills and serving in executive staff positions with law enforcement for more than a decade. She has extensive experience dealing with sensitive, image-threatening issues including criminal conduct of police officers, international scandal, and acts of terrorism.

A former broadcast journalist and news anchor; she has a unique understanding of the critical objectives on both sides of the camera. She is passionate about image development, media relations, crisis communications, and the use of social media; and has hosted workshops and training for public safety agencies, government services, non-profit and professional associations, and retail and business executives.

Before joining NYPD as an Assistant Commissioner serving as Advisor to the Police Commissioner, Pal was Director of Operations and an instructor for the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (FBI-LEEDA). Prior to that, she served as Chief of Staff with the Baltimore Police Department. Previously, she served as Operations Director with Kroll Security Group where she worked with international clients, including the Government of Chile and the Trinidad & Tobago Police Service. Before joining Kroll, she was Chief of Staff with the Milwaukee Police Department in Wisconsin and served on the command staffs of the Atlanta Police Department, Savannah Chatham Metro Police and Halifax Regional Police in Canada.

Pal is credited with re-tooling the image of the largest police department in Atlantic Canada and developing innovative and award-winning marketing and communications programs. While with the Atlanta Police Department, she created and carried out a plan to regain public trust after officers shot and killed an 87-year old woman during an illegal search. She has overseen communications in many instances of crisis – including the tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta in 2008; and while with the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police spearheaded a communications campaign for precinct realignment.

Pal is a past president of the National Information Officers Association and is a former columnist with The Insighter magazine of FBI-LEEDA and Blue Line Magazine, the national law enforcement publication in Canada. She has served as an adjunct professor with Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia, Canada; as well as being an instructor with the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration in Texas.

Pal began her career in professional sports, working with the Stanley Cup-winning Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League before joining the Edmonton-based Canadian affiliate of Ogilvy-Mather as a consultant. She moved to the east coast to pursue broadcast journalism with Global Television, serving as a program host, anchor, producer, and reporter before moving to law enforcement.

Upon moving to the U.S., Ms. Pal worked with Madison Square Garden as the Public Relations Director for the Hartford Civic Center, Rentschler Field, and the minor league affiliate of the New York Rangers.

Pal holds a Masters of Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University in Canada, and earned her Certificate in Police Leadership from Dalhousie University in Canada, along with various certifications in management, ICS, NIMS, death notification, suicide intervention, and domestic violence.

Email - [email protected]
Twitter - @10_8_Comms 

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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.

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Amanda Hunter was promoted to Public Information Manager at the Pasco Sheriff’s Office in Sept. 2020. In this role, she oversees the media relations and social media arms for the agency, with a daily focus on strategic communication, branding, and marketing. She began her career with PSO in Dec. 2018 as a Community Engagement Specialist, focusing on promoting the agency through entertainment television programs and other media formats.

Hunter previously worked in the intercollegiate sports industry in marketing, promotions, and communications roles for nearly eight years. Additionally, she held marketing and communications positions in the theme park industry for nearly four years.

Hunter holds a Bachelors in Mass Communication/Public Relations with a minor in Criminology from the University of South Florida and a Masters in Sports Management/Marketing, New Media & Communications from Georgetown University. She was selected to travel with Georgetown to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games as part of their Global Immersion program, designed to add an international perspective to the business of sports. She also holds a graduate-level certificate in Post-Crisis Leadership from USF’s Muma College of Business and is in the process of completing FEMA’s Professional Development Series.

Amanda's email address 
Amanda's Twitter

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.