Hamilton County, TN – The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office will have a temporary PIO on duty beginning Thursday night, August 24, 2017 beginning at 4:00 pm thru Tuesday, September 5, 2017 ending at 8:00 am.

During this time, all media requests should be directed via email to the On-Duty PIO at MediaPIOonDuty@hcsheriff.gov. Any inquires not forwarded to this email cannot be guaranteed to be answered.

The email above will be automatically directed each day to the appropriate personnel responsible for responding to media inquiries. Absolutely NO direct personnel or Command Staff personnel should be contacted.

Please note, during this time, media representatives should expect minor delays in response times to inquiries, especially those pertaining to non-critical incidents.

Media Requests during normal work hours will be responded to as per normal protocol. Any daily requests for interviews for incidents or stories should be requested before 11:00 am each day Monday – Friday. No interviews will be given after 3:00 pm unless necessary due to an emergent/critical after-hour incident which requires a PIO response.

Only critical incidents will be responded to during the weekend and after hour periods.

Any non-emergency, non-critical news related requests/issues will be responded to during normal business hours.

Accident and Incident reports may be requested as normal by contacting 423-209-7111 during the hours of 8:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday – Friday.

HCSO PIO J. Matt Lea will be out of town during this time will have very limited access to email/phone/text.

Attention Producers/Assignment Editors:

Please print this release off and give to your reporters and communicate in your morning staff meetings the changes.

Normal Public Information Office duties will resume on Tuesday, September 5th at 8:00 am.

The HCSO and the Public Information Office appreciates your understanding and cooperation.