The Monongalia County Office of
Emergency Management / MECCA 9-1-1 has a commitment to caring for the Media
and the community which we serve. This section of our website was designed to
further this goal.
The information contained on these
pages is designed to direct and aid members of the Media in acquiring the
information needed in order to inform the public as to the latest events. The
media log is updated as soon as calls are entered into the Computer Aided
Dispatch [CAD] system. The log will provide you with a call description,
general location, date/time of incident and the agency responding to the call.
MECCA is not authorized to release any other information than what is included
on the Media Log. For more information you are asked to contact the responding
public safety agency.
Please remember that as a Media
representative, it is your responsibility to verify all information displayed on
these pages. An initial call will be dispatched based on the best information
gathered from the caller. On occasion the nature of the call does not truly
reflect the initial unicode assigned by the dispatcher. You are encouraged to
investigate and report any incidents you encounter and deem newsworthy on these
pages.
Please do not ask for names of
suspects, victims, witnesses, etc. MECCA 9-1-1 will not provide this
information. Following is a copy of the Media Policy our agency
operates under.
MEDIA
POLICY
The local news
media (newspaper, radio and television) has a duty and obligation to inform the
public of noteworthy events that happen in Monongalia County. In return MECCA
has a responsibility to inform the media of all such noteworthy events to the
best of its ability. The media will seek information from time to time regarding
incidents such as fires, vehicle accidents, flooding, etc. The following
procedures are to be adhered to by all Telecommunicators and shift supervisors:
Ø
Only the shift
supervisor should handle media calls.
Ø
All media calls should
be handled in a courteous and forthright manner in accordance with the
guidelines set forth in this operations memo.
Information
normally provided to the media includes the following:
1.
Time of the incident.
2.
Nature of the incident.
3.
Agencies dispatched to
the incident.
4.
Contact numbers for
responding agencies, if requested.
The following
information shall not be divulged to
the media at any time unless authorized:
Ø
Any information
concerning fatalities. Refer all such calls to the responding law enforcement, EMS and fire
agencies handling the incident.
Ø
Information as
to the extent of fire damage. Refer all calls to the Chief of the responding fire department.
Ø
Number and/or
nature of injuries during the course of an incident.
Refer all calls to the Chief of the EMS and fire agencies handling the incident.
Ø
Information
regarding the suspicious nature of a fire.
Such calls shall be referred to the responding fire department's Chief or the
West Virginia State Fire Marshall's office.
If the activity in
the communications center is of such high volume that speaking with a member of
the media would be detrimental to MECCA operations, the shift supervisor shall
ask the media caller to hold or call at a later time when the activity has
lessened.
Should the shift
supervisor encounter any difficulties in dealing with members of the media, such
happenings shall be reported to the public information officer, who will then
take the appropriate action necessary to rectify the problem.
During EOC
activation all media calls are to be directed to the public information officer.
For more information
or issues relating to the releasing of information from the Office of Emergency
Management or MECCA 9-1-1, please contact 598-0301.
MECCA Media Log Login Page
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