Montgomery County Policing Entities Meet Under Public Information Umbrella

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX -- Since the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the need for factual and timely information released from official law enforcement sources, in regards to active police situations, has never been more important. The tragic massacre identified multiple areas for improvement, and receiving and processing information to present to the public was identified as one of the critical areas of concern. During the 2025 Texas Legislative Session, House Bill 33, the ‘Uvalde Strong Act,’ was passed and signed into law, taking effect last. In an effort to coordinate all Montgomery County law enforcement Public Information Officers (PIOs), Pct. 3 Constable's Office, PIO and Community Information Officer, Lt. Ken Washington, recently hosted all MOCO law enforcement official PIOs from its different arms of policing, for an initial meet and greet and overview of HB 33, and what it entails for Montgomery County. Local media outlets such as Community Impact, Montgomery County Police Reporter, Montgomery County News, and Hello Woodlands were on hand this past Tuesday to round out the LEOs aim to involve the media as much as possible, via establishing relationships between agencies.

The Public Information portion of the act, mandates that law enforcement entities, including school districts must appoint certified emergency Public Information Officers (PIOs), to maintain accurate and truthful information in informing the public during and after crisis episodes. Designated PIOs for each law enforcement organization were required to complete a 3-day ‘Texas Public Information Officer Course,’ designed for local governments, school districts, and law enforcement personnel. The training focused on early communications, crisis coordination, and disaster messaging, all designed to get the best message out to the public at the right time.

The continuing education aspect portion of the PIOs involves annual training that is required to maintain compliance under Texas Government Code, with reporting to the appropriate state authorities such as the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, and the Texas Division of Emergency Management. The PIOs are the official liaisons between other police departments, sheriff’s offices, the news media, and the public. Their duties include handling media inquiries, the issuance of press releases, releasing social media advisories during critical incidents and taking the lead at press conferences.

The Pct. 3 Constables office meeting, although not a formal alliance of MOCO PIOs, is more like a network, focused on the coordination and communication of information to the media and public. The big emphasis was placed on the timely, accurate information shared, to build trust and avoid misinformation, and it’s the beginning of the framework in building a bond between the PIO organization which has been in the works for several years.

Discussions amongst the PIOs centered around the need for regular meetings, social media management, and partnerships with local media, which highlighted the importance of inter-agency collaboration as set aside in the Texas Public Information Act.

Events such as National Night Out offer multiple policing agencies to enhance public relations, and make inroads into negative assessments asserted by activists and other social media influencers whose aim is to abolish the police. Such public events allow PIOs invaluable occurrences for public interaction, to spread awareness and influence to the public to support policing agencies. Innocent interactions such as NNO provides a human face to the public, and set the stage for confidence to a PIO to be the single authorized voice to represent an agency to prevent confusion, in reference to live scenes when exact information is needed to inform the public and reduce instances where citizens feel misinformed, which reflects right back to the Uvalde incident, where even Governor Abbott received wrong information for his initial briefing to the public.

PIOs work with investigators and county attorneys to avoid compromising ongoing cases, while providing quick responses to media inquiries typical within 2 hours. In recent years, social media has grown to be an effective tool for public communication, but requires special care to reduce instances of misinformation. By the PIOs building strong relationships with members of the media, it provides that trust that is needed when the rubber meets the road, knowing the media has enough faith in the information being provided to have confidence in their reporting.

“I have no problem working with anybody on any given day, because I know what the collateral effects of not working with your peers is, and it can be catastrophic,” said Lt Washington. “Someone can get hurt. Someone can miss out on something in a case or a significant vehicle down the road, or a suspicious person.”

The PIOs face challenges themselves, especially with long hours in being on scene at an incident location, including managing multiple media requests and ensuring consistent messaging across agencies. As the newly formed network of PIOs continues with their meets, and new ideas are bandied about, easier ways there will be discussions such as using digital lists and portals to streamline information dissemination, essentially creating a clearinghouse of information approved by PIOs ready for media to access.

The Montgomery County model for Public Information Officers’ across all agencies will have entities from across the state and nation calling for advice. And the networks’ commitment to meet on a timely schedule, discuss case studies, lessons learned, and foster policy updates, will continue to display a unified message during incidents, crises, and other resource deployments. And besides the media, average citizens can get involved, by attending Citizens Academy classes when offered, which can allow graduates to be an arm of the departments in representing the different agencies such as in National Night Out, especially when resources are requested in abundance for appearances.

The PIO meetings will continue to happen with some frequency, with every other month to start, then rotating to quarterly; with the next meeting to be hosted by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Public Affairs Director Miranda Hahs in early November.