This is a case study in the importance of a detached, civilian public information officer. Even a well-organized department like Arlington, which has a Captain assigned to PIO duties, understands the need. What do you do when your PIO is also the OIC at a crime scene? He or she can’t just leave the scene to sit at their desk for a few hours and type up a press release.
We put together a pair of press releases, one immediately following the incident, and a second release a few days later, as a follow-up, with new information.
We also fielded media calls for Arlington and scheduled interviews, which helped free up police officials to focus on the investigation.