Apple has published an article looking at how the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) is using podcasting for communciations and training:

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD), much like any organization with a critical mission, requires lightning-fast communications between senior staff and troops. The department also needs to deliver in-depth training, especially for situations that involve a high risk of exposure to injury or liability. The need for fast, easily accessed communications is more important than ever, particularly for staff members who’ve grown up in the Internet age.

To more effectively reach its far-flung workforce, OCSD is using Apple Podcast Producer, an integral part of Mac OS X Leopard Server, to create podcasts in-house. The media services made possible by Podcast Producer rival the quality of a professional broadcast facility—all at a fraction of the cost.

The article is obviously Mac-centric, but it has some good info on the technologies that the OCSD is using, including the OCSD’s workflow:

Staff can capture podcast content on MacBook Pro computers using the Capture desktop application in Mac OS X. They can then submit content to Podcast Producer for automatic processing. This enables OCSD to create, encode, publish, and distribute high-quality podcasts on a large scale that are available to staff via iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and other means.

Link