Behind the Badge
When he was notified on Jan. 22, 2016 that three inmates had escaped from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana, then-Public Information Officer Jeff Hallock knew an open line of communication with the media would be key.
“We really worked on, from day No. 1, being as transparent as we could,” said the OCSD captain, who recently was named 2016 Spokesperson of the Year by PR News for his handling of the jailbreak. “The priority was getting these three people back in custody.”
Though they’d never imagined an inmate escape, the Sheriff’s Department public affairs team – including, at the time, Hallock, Carrie Braun, Gail Krause and Ray Grangoff – had strategized on how to handle media inquiries in high-publicity cases such as this.
“We’d spent time kind of loading the gun; it was cocked and we were ready to go,” said Hallock. “We never in a million years imagined a jail escape … but we did imagine some kind of catastrophic situation.”
So when the day came, Hallock took the straightforward approach. He understood there was a need to accept responsibility on behalf of the department, and at the same time, the agency needed the media’s help to find the convicts.
“There wasn’t anything we wouldn’t answer,” he said. “We were very transparent throughout the entire process.”
He scheduled news conferences twice a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, always providing some bit of new information and scheduling the conferences so TV news outlets could air them live.
OCSD Capt. Jeff Hallock’s award. “Obviously, I was honored to be selected,” he says. Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
He offered a prepared statement, followed by 10 to 20 minutes of questions. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens also spoke during a news conference to “allow her to get out there and say, ‘Hey, I accept full responsibility for what happened, but right now the priority is to get three felons back in jail.’”
The jailbreak attracted not only local media attention, but national outlets as well. And the same strategy worked for both.
“They’re looking for honesty, transparency and a little bit of access, and I do think we did all those things,” Hallock said.
On the weekend of the escape, Hallock released photos of the breach, showing where the inmates cut out a metal plate in order to get free. Before those images were released, there’d been a misperception that someone had fallen asleep on the job (“That was not the case at all,” Hallock said).
That perception changed with the release of the photos.
“I really felt a sense of … a shift of the current, from, ‘Hey, Sheriff’s Department, how could you let this happen?’ to ‘What can we do to help out?’” said Hallock.
The media and the public could see it was a well-planned escape.
“The term I kept hearing was, ‘This was like ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’” he said. “I really felt after those pictures, the media, the public, was on our side.”
Hallock even gave access to some print media outlets to the plumbing tunnels where the escape took place.
“It wasn’t just a simple, ‘Hey, somebody ran past the deputy and now they’re free,’” he said.
One of the three inmates was taken into custody a week later on Friday, Jan. 29 and the other two on Saturday, Jan. 30. On Monday, Feb. 1, Hallock guided the media through a timeline from the moment the inmates went missing through their capture.
“You could see that we were just a little bit behind them the entire time,” he said.
During the course of the inmate search, Hallock had to shift gears to address another media relations situation when a south Orange County deputy lost a patrol rifle.
“It wasn’t fun,” he said, adding that taking the same straightforward approach and taking responsibility went a long way.
During the investigation, Hallock also was promoted from lieutenant to captain. The jailbreak turned out to be Hallock’s last bit of media relations work. On Feb. 2, he left as public information officer for a new role overseeing the North Operations Division.
Prior to becoming the PIO for the OCSD, Hallock had an extensive background at the agency, including working in patrol, jails, investigations, narcotics and internal affairs.
“I hoped it would serve me well [in]being the spokesperson for the sheriff,” he said of his background. “Obviously, I was honored to be selected.”
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
