As Habersham’s population grows, so do the needs of citizens. Not in just the capacities of infrastructure, but in needing access to information. That’s where public information officers (PIOs) in county government, law enforcement and emergency services come in.
From staying informed during weather events to finding out if an accident will impact their commute, citizens are looking to Habersham’s PIOs to make sure Habersham’s residents have the information they need.
Improving transparency for citizens
When Now Habersham spoke with the PIOs for Habersham County, Habersham County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) and Habersham County Emergency Services (HCES), they all had the same goal in mind: increasing transparency.
“My main goal is to create transparency between government and our great citizens,” County Public Information Officer Gibson says. “I am here to serve this community by opening the door of government for the community to see inside. I see myself as the pipeline from the information to the citizen.”
New HCSO PIO Kevin Angell says that getting information to Habersham’s citizens in a timely manner is his top priority.
“As we all know, information is power and people make decisions on information, and they make it faster now more than ever, especially with social media,” Angell says. “When it is appropriate, we want to get that information out as quickly as possible.”
While HCES is on the hunt for a new director, who, in the past, has covered the duties of a PIO, HCES Interim Directors Jeffrey Adams and Jason Davey are keeping the public informed as they serve in the temporary director’s position. Davey says that for him, public information is all about getting information to citizens to increase safety.
“My responsibility is to provide the truth to the citizens and to keep them safe and informed,” Davey says. “We will make every attempt to provide information that is accurate and up to date and try to provide a solution for the problem at hand.”
Connecting with community
It isn’t just about press releases and what happened when for these PIOs, though. They’re working on building relationships with members of their community to showcase their departments, answer citizen questions and engage with the public.
Angell says one of his goals as PIO for the sheriff’s office is to show the community how involved the HCSO is with them, something he thinks isn’t typically at the forefront of the information the community receives relating to the sheriff’s office.
“I want them [citizens] to know that we care,” Angell says. “Here’s the sad part about law enforcement, but it’s also a reality, sometimes you only see us in your hardest time. You’ve been in an accident, you’re a victim of theft, but even outside of that, our law enforcement officers care.”
Angell says that he hopes that in his role as the HCSO’s PIO, he can help the community see the day-to-day roles of the sheriff’s office, whether that’s helping someone whose car has broken down or helping an organization with community outreach.
“Let’s show the community what we can do outside of that eight to five,” Angell says. “What we do outside of documenting your crash or your theft report. Here are all the other things our law enforcement officers do because they love our community.”
Keeping citizens informed isn’t an easy task with so many depending on outlets for information. While providing information to the press is a huge part of the job, these PIOs are also trying to connect directly to the community through social media.
Angell has made a concerted effort to increase the HCSO’s social media activity on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and he hopes the community will engage with them there.
“I want to be able to not just publish information on Facebook for people to share, or Twitter for people to share, I want there to be feedback,” Angell says. “And I want us to be able to either answer someone’s questions or react to that feedback. . . We’re in a time now where communication has changed a lot, even outside of the pandemic. We used to talk face to face a lot, and now we text and now we email and now we use social media. We have to make sure that we keep up with those platforms where people are communicating.”
Gibson is also putting out content on the county’s social media page, from livestreaming county events to keeping citizens in the know about closed roads.
“Above all, [as a PIO], we are to provide credible and up-to-date information to the public,” Gibson says. “We are to make information easy to understand, and field questions between the public and local government to ensure the correct information reaches our voters and the public.”
She wants that information to be available, not just because it’s her job, but because she believes in her community. She says she wants to encourage people to be active in their local government, from helping them find jobs to encouraging people to share their needs with those who represent them.
“I love this place, and the community can call me or email me anytime, and when they do, they will hear a familiar voice on the other side of the line, with one of those famous North Georgia accents,” Gibson says. “I am not a government robot, I am a public servant ready to hear them out.”
