Strategic Public Safety Communications & Public Information Officer (PIO) Operations
Course Description:
This Oregon-based, 20-hour intensive course (delivered over 2.5 days) is designed for law enforcement leaders, public information officers, command staff, and public safety administrators responsible for managing communications during routine operations, critical incidents, and emerging crises. The course is taught by a multidisciplinary instructional team with deep, real-world expertise in public communications, journalism, prosecution support, and homeland security.
Instruction is led by a Naval Postgraduate School professor with nationally recognized expertise in social media, homeland security, public communications, and strategic messaging, who has advised federal, state, and local agencies on policy development and communications during sensitive and high-risk events. The faculty also includes an Emmy Award–winning journalist with 20 years of newsroom experience, a chief district attorney investigator who previously served as a PIO for a large police agency, a current public information officer from a major Oregon sheriff’s office, and a Naval Postgraduate School CHDS graduate who focuses on effective information flow between investigators, command staff, and PIOs during major cases.
Course Topics Include:
Foundations of public safety communications and PIO roles
Media relations, message discipline, and press conference strategy
Social media risk, opportunity, and real-time engagement
Communications during critical incidents and emerging events
Legal, ethical, and policy considerations in public messaging
Coordinating investigators, command staff, and PIOs
Case studies from law enforcement, prosecution, and media perspectives
Why Attend:
Participants will leave with practical tools, policy-informed strategies, and firsthand insights to strengthen public trust, reduce organizational risk, and deliver accurate, timely, and effective communications during the most challenging public safety situations.