A public official, as a general proposition, is going to be any official who is elected by the public. It could be the sheriff, it could be your congressman, it could be your senator. In some cases lower level people, who are officials, who work for the government, can make themselves public officials by volunteering to go on television, by volunteering to answer questions. For example, an LAPD police detective, Mark Fuhrman, by volunteering to go on a news program could very easily have made himself a public official or a public figure. and therefore the higher standards of malice would need to be proved if he was going to sue for a false statement made about him. Thanks for watching our video Tort Law Terms For more how to videos, expert advice, instructional tips, tricks, guides and tutorials on this subject, visit the topic Tort Law.