Feb 10th, 2020
The communications department of Jackson State Community College hosted the 11th quarterly meeting of the Jackson-Madison County PIO (Public Information Officer) Jump Team on Thursday, February 6. Special guests were Jacob and Destiny Chamberlin and their children Rae-J and Ezekiel.
The Chamberlins spoke to the group about their experiences and perspective during the intensive multi-day search for their son Noah in January 2016. That event led to extensive media coverage on both national and international levels. Several members of the PIO team spent many hours on this effort.
The PIO Jump Team was founded by Tom Mapes, Madison County Sherriff's PIO, in the fall of 2016. The idea came about after 2-year old Noah Chamberlin went missing in January of that year and local first responders were inundated with an onslaught of media from around the country and around the world. Mapes came across the idea for a jump team in law enforcement periodical.
The mission of the Jackson-Madison County PIO Jump Team is "to create a network of communication professionals who are knowledgeable of each other and will work together to provide truthful and timely information and mitigate misinformation in a crisis management situation."
There are currently 27 registered members in the group. JSCC has been an active member of the group since May 2017 and has hosted the quarterly meeting twice. The next meeting will be hosted by JEA in May 2020.