The statement, “Keep the media off everybody’s rear and make sure we look good,” found under the heading “Public Information Officer Duties” in The EMS Incident Management System (1), paints a partial description of the TEMS liaison to the media, the public, and jurisdiction administrators and government officials. The added layer of criminal or terrorist acts requiring the intervention of a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team and thus a tactical emergency medical service (TEMS) unit piques the interest of attorneys, business, and commercial interests as well as civilians, local and afar. The added sophistication of a TEMS Public Information Officer (PIO) to know and understand the activities of a SWAT team enriches the opportunities to appease the appetite of the audiences noted above, as well as further the objectives of the SWAT and TEMS teams in the community. An Incident Manager will determine the location, scope and scheduling of debriefings under the auspices of the PIO. In the dynamics of a SWAT action, the PIO may have to operate under pre-determined policy and procedures to assure accurate dissemination of information in the context of operational security and other considerations. Frequent scheduled debriefings, with instructions for late-breaking intermittent information discussions, as well as computer links, handouts, graphs, diagrams, and any other factual information to assist the reporters, will only lend credibility to the PIO but reduce the unauthorized forays that may jeopardize the reporter and crew who venture into harm’s way (1) (Table 38.1).

The TEMS PIO may wear many hats, including any number of administrative posts with the TEMS, law enforcement, or EMS/fire/rescue agency; other PIO responsibilities within a specific agency; or even a position within the county administrative structure separate and distinct from any response, field, or prehospital care agency. This chapter addresses unique aspects of the duties and responsibilities of the TEMS PIO, not only for useful knowledge synergy, for those wearing multiple PIO or other hats, but as a distinct discipline for all governmental PIOs to utilize during a SWAT operation. There are volumes of public information and relations guides, which have led to mountains of policies and procedures for law enforcement and fire/rescue/EMS agencies, emergency management offices, and jurisdiction administrators to follow as they stand before camera lights speaking into a host of microphones with the backdrop of the incident still unfolding (2). SWAT PIOs have their gold books of pearls to remember and pitfalls to avoid when ambushed or presented with confounding questions. An adaptation of all of these trials and tribulations, improved after a retrospective analysis of how the PIO could have or should have presented their organization and the information with more alacrity and poise, is the challenge of the TEMS designer. Department of Defense Directive 5122.5, issued by the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (ASD[PA]), September 27, 2000, adds the complexity of military activities.

The position of TEMS PIO shares similar duties with others in industry, business, politics, public service, and athletics. Above all, the TEMS PIO is the internal and external face and voice of the agency, fully aware of the agency’s policies, procedures, and relationships with constituents. The responsibility to ensure a free flow of information bound only by operational security, jurisdiction, and agency policy in today’s 24/7 instantaneous news
coverage is not only challenging but potentially lifesaving. Auf der Heide’s editorial in the Annals of Emergency Medicine (3) espouses how an attentive TEMS PIO can positively affect the media’s initial desire to help victims and the responders of an incident requiring SWAT deployment requiring TEMS. The TEMS PIO should work closely with all local media to follow a mutual plan of action to reduce confusion at the scene by communicating all the factual information available as the dynamics of the incident unfold; limit interference with operations, ranging from traffic avoidance, reduction in cell phone usage, and specific responses of volunteers if any are required; family rendezvous points; and where to find information to permit the response agencies the most appropriate freedom to attend to the mission at hand (3) (Table 38.2).

The Incident Management System will guide duties and responsibilities tailored to the specifics of the TEMS agencies’ operational guidelines. Configurations of different TEMS agencies may place the TEMS PIO duties under the auspices of the jurisdiction administrator, law enforcement agency charged with SWAT, fire/rescue/EMS, or a separate entity within the jurisdiction. Therefore it is paramount that the TEMS officer-in-charge work closely with the non-TEMS PIO who may not be as facile or familiar with the specifics of TEMS or SWAT teams. Information can be made available, specifically if covered under the Freedom of Information Act and not confidential regarding personnel or jeopardizing operational security (3). Significant adjustments to the data set employed by the non-TEMS PIO may include an adaptation of the Department of Defense Principles of Combat Coverage. This includes the principles of open, if not transparent, information exchange, which may be different from a non-TEMS practitioner’s awareness of operational security and may require a more detailed briefing for each mission or operation under the direction of the SWAT and/or TEMS officer-in-charge. Journalists who request and receive permission through proper channels to gain access to either the warm or the hot zone (see previous chapters) will be credentialed after a security clearance and abide by set rules established and clearly communicated to protect SWAT and TEMS personnel and their operations. Any violation of these rules may result in sanctions ranging from reduction in access to expulsion from that specific operation and future operations. Embedded journalists are discussed in more detail later, with applications of some of those provisions to other types of journalists. While acting as a liaison, the non-TEMS PIO should not interfere with operations while permitting the journalists access to operations cleared by the SWAT and/or TEMS officer-in-charge. All efforts should be made to facilitate the timely transmission of journalists’ reports as long as mission or operational security is not jeopardized, like light and sound discipline (3).

The military media pool was established to limit the total number of journalists while providing sufficient coverage for any organization that requested privileges, out of economy of scale as well as security considerations. This can be applied to SWAT/TEMS operations, specifically if these are long-running (hostage standoff), involve dignitaries (presidential visit), are high-profile political (political party national conventions) or government conferences (G8 Summit) or athletic events (World Series), or are industrial accidents requiring specific special operations for rescue and recovery. This may not be standard in local jurisdictions, or even have been considered in the past, but remains in the TEMS PIO armamentarium for utilization. Journalists from local, state, national, and international organizations, as well as freelancers, will approach the scene of an incident at different times and from different locations. Scene security should have a clear plan of action to remove journalists who were either on-scene before the incident and remained or managed to evade deploying
scene security. The TEMS PIO and/or the on-scene PIO, in concert with the on-scene Incident Manager, should establish a media representative venue, at least initially safely located, with easy access and sufficient power, if not unaffected by the incident; then, if possible, on-scene assets can be utilized for this location, for example, a generator. If a hardened facility is not available, the on-scene assets can be utilized, such as a tent or some type of shelter, if available. It is difficult to establish one plan for on-scene media relations, since each incident will not be the same. As plans evolve, review the literature available, in a retrospective manner, to learn how to tailor plans to guide future incident media relations (4).

Cunning on-scene SWAT officers have utilized local media resources to facilitate hostage negotiations and rescue efforts and to communicate, transmit, or send information back to a command and control location. Communication between SWAT/TEMS personnel on-scene in zones and between zones during the dynamics of an operation may be hampered by limited electrical power, poor visual access, reduced communication through jammed cell towers, damaged infrastructure, weather, background sound or noise levels, and lack of interoperable communication equipment among responding mutual aid organizations, agencies, or units. Media ethics and standards balanced with the desire to capture and report the incident as an observer should be considered when approaching a journalist to assist in operations. Reimbursement for damaged equipment should be assured and reinforced as soon as possible by a signed agreement. A detailed discussion of what materials may be retained or transmitted by the journalist for the journalist’s use must occur to protect the integrity of the operation’s security, confidential information of SWAT/TEMS personnel, and any legal proceedings afterward. The First Amendment protections may not apply if the journalist’s equipment has been usurped by operations.