Innovative Information Outlets

When you think of police work the typical things of flashing lights, arrests, court dates, and bail generally come to mind. Unless you are a member of the media you don’t think of the criminal report affidavit, booking sheet or general offense hardcopy. All of which are important documents in order to write a story about the happenings of Hillsborough County.

While a reporter drowns in papers from the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office and Courthouse there are other ways that social media allows for citizens to get the news “from the source” easily. This is where J.D. Callaway and Cristal Bermudez Nunez come into play.

Callaway and Nunez are a part of the HCSO Community Affairs Office. They answer the media inquiries from broadcasting, radio, print etc. They handle press releases which must meet three general standards. Is this information in public interest? Is there media interest? Will this helps us get leads?

Social media has allowed Callaway and Nunez to broaden the horizons of HCSO community affairs. Internet sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have helped to revolutionize HCSO’s communication.

On Facebook, the “fugitive of the week” allows citizens to see who they need to be on the lookout for. Twitter allows immediate posting of important information, and YouTube broadcasts “pseudo-newscasts.” The pseudo-newscasts are of surveillance videos or press conferences in their entirety. These outlets allow citizens to be more informed and have transformed HCSO into a newsmaker and producer. Or as Callaway so aptly put it, “We don’t generate news. We release facts.”

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube may not be the conventional ways of emitting information, but they are the tools that allow places like the HCSO to reach the masses easily. Press releases are the traditional way, but with technology traditions change. The HCSO Community Affairs Office is working with today’s technology to help create a safer tomorrow.