Our goal is to get media as close to the scenes of emergencies as safety allows and as quickly as possible. Town of Cary emergency responders have media relations training, and we understand the job you need to do.

When you arrive at a scene, ask for the Public Information Officer; if none is on scene, the Incident Commander will be your contact. In most cases, a media parking area will be designated as well as a media staging area where updates and interviews will occur.

For your safety, to maintain the integrity of any crime scene, and to allow our staff to provide the best emergency service, please stay outside of emergency response perimeters, usually designated with yellow tape or barricades and often monitored by police.

Helicopters

We appreciate the important role helicopters can play in reporting a story, and we understand pilot’s rights relative to airspace when a flight plan has been properly filed. We ask that as you use helicopters you keep in mind two issues: noise and the safety of those who are involved in the emergency response.

Live Shots

First responders’ lives can be put in danger if media show certain live shots during high risk emergencies such as hostage situations. What we want to avoid is showing live images of tactical units that allow the person(s) we’re targeting to see them, determine their location, and harm them. Remember that the people we’re focused on may be sitting inside a building watching your live coverage of the event.

Noise

Please keep helicopters as far away as possible (we prefer 3,000 feet or more) when covering high risk events involving multiple responders since the noise of the aircraft can interfere with communications on the ground.