Technology has effectively changed the way the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office (HCSO) manages cases and data entry/storage.
During our visit with HCSO public information officer (PIO) Larry McKinnon, he established the importance of becoming an environmentally-friendly agency as well as providing as much access, as needed, to the public and media.
Rather than having boxes and boxes of case files, the HSCO has begun writing and sending reports electronically. Allowing officers to enter data and fill reports from their portable computers stationed in their cars or on the streets. Economically speaking, the HSCO is saving $40,000 a year going without a paper trail and have increased their amount of scanning documents to PDF files and shredding copies.
Mr. McKinnon said it’s also important to have transparency between government and the media. A positive relationship between the two is a bridge of communication, allowing important stories to be dissected by reporters and the not-so important cases to keep in-house.
The HCSO has even created their own YouTube video page, showing full speeches and raw footage of officers and officials on duty. This creation in itself has made the HSCO agency its own media outlet. Almost forgoing reporters, the HSCO has established a way of getting the “correct” information out to the public, rather than from a reporter quoting witnesses or taking portions of speeches out of context.
McKinnon reiterated that it’s important to have solid communication between himself, a PIO, and the media. The media can either make the agency look really good, or really bad and its McKinnon’s job to protect the agency. Whether or not he shares information on a case ultimately reflects how the reporter writes up the story and the angle he/she takes. Thus, being translucent with the media helps facilitate a positive relationship between the HSCO and media outlets.
A visit to the HSCO 911 Call Center also opened my eyes to a new array of communication skills and tactics. Over 1.5M calls are answered by the agency each year. That amount is absurd, and the majority of the time, the calls are overreactions or need to be directed to a fire or medical service.
What I took from the 911 Call Center was that although technology has enabled this branch of the agency to keep up, using pinpoint maps and specialized computer programs, it’s about the people who take the calls.
The individuals who listen to people call in to tell them they are committing suicide or listening to a sheriff stand-off are strong-hearted individuals that are calm under pressure. These people are “life savers” and can do more for the agency in preventing harm and stopping obstruction than a typical person may think.
In all, visiting the HSCO brought to my attention the importance of the agency as a media outlet and as a center of safety and control. The people who work at the HSCO are positively contributing to society in more ways than just throwing the bad guys away.
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