Police public information officers (PIOs) serve as spokespersons for their departments and are often considered gatekeepers of information to the public. PIOs work with media to ensure information is put out in a timely manner and to manage department image. The media landscape has drastically shifted in the past decade, particularly with the introduction and popularity of social media. The role of the PIO has also continued to become more professionalized as departments realized the importance of the position. Prior to this study taking place, two major events took place: the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. These events cannot be ignored and may have impacted the role of PIOs as well as their use of media. With these advances and context in mind, this dissertation sought to fill the dearth of information about the current role of the police PIO in the U.S., to examine how organizational and institutional pressures may impact this role, and to understand PIOs’ responses to a few high-profile cases. To accomplish this goal, a national survey of PIOs was conducted (N=144) and linked with collection of public social media data and organizational characteristics. Analysis of the survey results revealed that PIOs now use and prefer social media for many job tasks, but still also use more traditional media. Social media also seems to have removed the barrier of traditional media gatekeepers, allowing for PIOs to craft their messages, responses, and department image more directly. This study also found individual and organizational factors that influence PIOs social media outputs include PIOs perception of their competence with social media, enjoyment of social media, view of importance of social media, diversity of the area served, and size of the agency. Finally, the major events of 2020 were found to bring stress to the role of the PIO. COVID-19 moved even more of the PIOs’ role online and required a shift in engagement strategy. In a shift back, the murder of George Floyd required PIOs to connect with their community again, sometimes offline. This dissertation serves as an update to our understanding of the role of the PIO and a beginning to our understanding of how PIOs responded to drastic shifts in the media environment and how organizational theory components may impact PIOs’ use of social media. Finally, this dissertation was uniquely situated to capture PIOs’ responses to the high-profile events of 2020, which highlighted how major events impact the role of the PIO and how important context is to their work.
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