SAN MARCOS — As podcasts become a more popular choice of entertainment in society, law enforcement personnel have begun to join the movement, including the Hays County Sheriff’s Office.
When HCSO multimedia specialist Miranda Allman began her position in July 2024, she knew that she wanted to encourage the community to build a more sociable connection with its local sheriff’s office. Beginning with TikTok, the office posted funny and relatable content for community members, but halted when the potential ban was announced, said Allman: “We wanted to figure out a new way to connect with the community, so that’s where the podcast idea came in.”
“White Settlement [Police Department] does it. Then, there’s also TMPA [Association’s podcast, Blue Grit]. It’s not a sheriff or a police department, but they are retired officers who started it,” explained Allman. “We have had one of our deputies go on to their podcast and we work pretty close. They’re kind of helping me with planning it.”
The official description for the podcast is as follows: “The podcast covers law enforcement updates, public safety tips, crime prevention and community involvement and serves as an educational resource, providing insight into how the sheriff’s office protects and serves Hays County, while promoting transparency and strengthening community relations.”
After taking a few months to work on the idea and find a space to film, she continued, the podcast, titled HCSO ONAIR, premiered its first episode Feb. 5, starring the newly elected sheriff, Anthony Hipolito, with Allman as the host.
The episode focused on Hipolito and his life, both in and out of the uniform.
“Law enforcement tends to dehumanize the person and [the podcast's goal] is to help shed a little light that this is a person. They have an outside life; they have these hobbies and then, it goes into — casual chat is what I like to call it — we’ll start a casual chat. Then, we go more into work: What do you do? What kind of training do you do? How did you get into that?”
The episode concludes by asking what updates are currently happening within the specific department that the individual works in. For example, in episode three, which featured a school resource officer, Allman explained that Deputy Korey Smith noted that there are now two resource officers at the high school he works at, with one on each floor: “Parents didn’t know that, so it's just something for us to communicate what they don’t know.”
Continuing the same approach, another episode featured community outreach officer Mark Andrews, who frequently does fentanyl awareness presentations at the school. Allman and Andrews felt as though the podcast was an opportunity to have parents learn what information their child is receiving.
Although the first three episodes were filmed, the multimedia specialist explained that future episodes will be audio only, as she hopes this will make the show more accessible and will move to a monthly schedule, rather than weekly.
“We’re going to do it once a month and just see if maybe that will increase viewings because I feel like whenever you do content [so often], you’re constantly having to keep up with it. We want this to be something you can listen to while you’re working out or you’re doing laundry,” she said.
The podcast will feature a new position each episode and eventually discuss trends HCSO is noticing in the community and how to stay vigilant.
“This is going to be a new call to action, like, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on.’ Because when you say it to someone in a human voice, people process it better,” Allman said.
In addition to safety and awareness, the podcast aims to promote positions and entice potential employees by letting community members know what goes into each position and how they aid the county.
HCSO ONAIR is available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@hayscountysheriffsoffice or on PodBean app for IOS and Android.
