West Tennessee public information officers meet with media

JACKSON, Tenn. — Three years ago, a 2-year old boy named Noah Chamberlin went missing near Pinson, in south Madison County. Tragically, he was found dead seven days later.

As a result, local law enforcement, along with other agencies, realized the need for working together to relay accurate information. Mainly with PIO’s, or public information officers.

The host site for today’s meeting was West Tennessee Healthcare. Amy Garner is the Vice President and Chief Compliance and Communications Officer for the WTH, and she described the necessity of the “jump team”.

“We found that it’s really important that all of the public information officers get together, network, know who we all are, and communicate with each other on a regular basis.”

One of the topics of discussion was social media, and how agencies can better prepare themselves to combat any misinformation that arises.

Public information officer for Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Tom Mapes, explained how social media impacted the public reaction to the Chamberlin case.

“One of the big issues we had with Noah–all sorts of stories were going out that just weren’t true, we said wait on us. It’ll be slower, but it will be accurate and it will be true,” added Mapes.

Mapes says he’s optimistic going forward, thanks to these meetings.

“If anything else big ever comes up, we know each other, we can put a plan of action in that will work with the media, and keep social media at bay.”