WSPD Briefing Room

WSPD Briefing Room

WSPD Briefing Room features stories, true crime stories, and educational information from the White Settlement, Texas Police Department. The goal is to broaden community awareness of how we operate, have the public assist with solving cases and crimes, learn more about what we do, and increase public trust in the department.

Episodes

October 5, 2025 21 mins

Lt. James Stewart joined Chief of Police Christopher Cook to discuss upcoming community engagement initiatives and programs. The Community Services Division is responsible for all citizen engagement activities across the city. Check out a small sampling of what our team has to offer the community!

Mark as Played

Officer Wesley Gregory, who serves as the team leader for the White Settlement Police Department Honor Guard, joined Chief Christopher Cook on the WSPD Briefing Room podcast to discuss how the Honor Guard recruits, trains, and performs at various ceremonial events to honor our Fallen Heroes. 

Mark as Played

Join Chief Cook, Corporal Laura Gonzalez and WEST COMM Dispatch Supervisor Brandi Vineyard as they dive deep into the department's 2024 Annual Police Report. 

Mark as Played
January 19, 2025 16 mins

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a police dispatcher? This episode explores how the WEST COMM 911 Dispatch Center provides services to multiple cities, federal agencies, and military partners. Dispatcher Debbie Stephens joins Chief Cook to talk about "all things dispatch" as we welcome 2025!

Mark as Played
September 14, 2024 11 mins

As the department kicks off season #2 of the WSPD Briefing Room, our first podcast of the fall season has everything to do with the upcoming National Night Out that will be hosted on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at Veterans Park. Check out the great things that will be happening during this event with Corporal Laura Gonzalez and Chief Christopher Cook. Make plans to attend today!

Mark as Played

It takes a lot to pull off an amazing Air Show. Go behind the scenes with Chief Cook and Officer Jonathan Loser to discuss some of the operational aspects on how the department partnered with the U.S. Navy and other local, state and federal partners, including the Department of Defense to ensure a safe and fun event. God bless our men and women in military uniform along with their families who sacrifice and defend our freedoms arou...

Mark as Played
March 10, 2024 42 mins

In this episode, Chief Christopher Cook unveils the 2023 Annual Police Report that captures the accomplishments across operations, programming, and crime trends across the city. Check out the Annual Police Report and deep dive on this important topic. You can follow along with this podcast by downloading an electronic copy of the report at www.wspd.us and clicking "Publications and Reports." 

Mark as Played

Want to learn more about a new technology adopted by our department to provide an additional tool for officers and supervisors to consider during a car chase? The January 2024 episode features Officer Wesley Gregory talking about StarChase - a new technology tool that fires GPS tags on fleeing vehicles to track them in certain types of pursuits. This episode is dedicated by Chief Cook to Officer Nathan Laurie, a police officer in R...

Mark as Played

In this episode, Chief Cook talks with Officer Samuel Brown who serves as one of our recruiters at WSPD. You will hear everything you need to know about what sets our agency apart from the rest. Check us out on your favorite podcast service and learn more about why you should apply for our department. 

Mark as Played
November 20, 2023 18 mins

In this month's episode, Chief Christopher Cook interviews Sergeant James Stewart who serves as a team lead on our firearms team to talk about guns that officers carry and how the department conducts training. If you have ever wondered what is involved in the selection of handguns and rifles, this episode demystifies that topic. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Mark as Played
October 21, 2023 10 mins

Ever wonder why police officers wear badges? This historic journey takes you behind the scenes on the origins of the modern day badges, how our team designed our badge, and why it's important to exemplify honor, integrity, and service as a Texas peace officer. 

Mark as Played
September 14, 2023 9 mins

In this third episode, Chief of Police Christopher Cook interviews Detective Laura Gonzalez on what it takes to plan the biggest party of the year - National Night Out. Get a behind the scenes look at what community members can expect for this annual event. Mark your calendars now to attend Tuesday, October 3, 2023 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Veterans Park!

Mark as Played
August 25, 2023 27 mins

Join the WSPD Briefing Room as the department highlights a recent shootout between multiple suspects that occurred on July 29, 2023. This episode discusses this particular case, how these types of incidents are investigated, and what the department's response and plan were as it related to quickly making felony arrests. Working with the ATF, local news media, and the public, detectives had this case wrapped up with the main su...

Mark as Played
August 18, 2023 17 mins

In our first episode, Chief Christopher Cook brings Corporal Jonathan Russell in the studio to discuss our new Public Safety Cadets program that is about to kick off this fall. This new youth program allows teens, ages 14 to 20, who have an interest in pursuing a career in law enforcement or other public safety vocational field, to join with our team and meet biweekly to learn what policing is all about. In addition to learning abo...

Mark as Played
July 29, 2023 4 mins

Check out our newest community engagement tool, the WSPD Briefing Room, a podcast dedicated to expanding your knowledge on all things WSPD. From real life stories to crime incidents, don't miss the WSPD Briefing Room. This introductory trailer talks about the show's purpose, our commitment to transparency, and how you can partner to solve crimes and improve quality of life for our community, Subscribe today as new episode...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Burden

    The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.

    SmartLess

    "SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.