Effective media relations are a must in the 21st century. An Emergency Service Agency that wants to connect with its citizens, but omits media relations from the equation, is damaging its ability to effectively serve the citizens.
Emergency Managers and the media need each other. Those that work in Emergency Management know that most people form their impression of first repsonders through media accounts, as it is the media that report emergencies and many disasters.
To that end (in an effort to enhance community awareness) the Anderson County Sheriff's Office-Emergency Services division has appointed Public Information Officers to be the “informational liaisons” to the community. These Public Information Officers routinely field questions, and provide timely information to the various media outlets serving Anderson County. These outlets include radio, television, print, as well as “on-line” media.
In addition, other forms of communicating information to the community is also employed, such as popular social media outlets including Twitter®, Facebook®, and others to be added soon.
For further information contact the Anderson County Sheriff's Department Office of Public Information. For those seeking information via a "Freedom of Information Act" request, you can obtain more information by clicking here.