North Texas police chief’s book seeks to fix ‘damaging’ communication strategies

When an Arlington police officer accidentally shot and killed a woman while aiming at her dog during a welfare check in 2019, then Deputy Chief Christopher Cook advised his superior to not wait to release the body cam footage.

“When I looked at that situation, we knew there was going to be a lot of questions, we knew there’d be a heightened level of controversy,” said Cook.

So they released the video “lightning fast.” Within 24 hours, they had consulted all stakeholders and put the officer’s body cam footage out for the public to view.

And the footage did not look good. The shooting led to the officer’s resignation, and the family of the woman later sued the city of Arlington. But the department did the right thing by being up front with the family and the public as quickly as possible, Cook said.

“Building trust, maintaining trust is more important when you are transparent and you talk about incidents that occur,” said Cook, now the police chief in White Settlement. “And you can leave the community with the caveat that, hey, we don’t know all the facts yet.”

On Wednesday, Cook published “The Art of Strategic Communication,” his latest endeavor to improve relations between law enforcement agencies and the media that cover them.

“Leaders, executives, and public information officers must be dialed into principles that relate to transparency, trust and accountability,” Cook said in a press release announcing the book. “Too often, I hear from news media that an agency refuses to provide information or even reply or acknowledge an inquiry. Offering no comments, ignoring requests, or refusing to work with the media is not the way forward, and so this book project seeks to change these harmful mindsets that are damaging to community trust and our policing profession.”

Its publication happens to come at a time when the relationship between law enforcement and the public is being tested in Tarrant County, as the media, citizens and the family of a man who died in the county jail in April call for transparency from the sheriff’s office with regard to his and other recent deaths at the jail.

The department has denied the Star-Telegram’s request for video of the in-custody death of Anthony Johnson Jr., citing its role in an ongoing criminal investigation.

With new copies of his book sitting on his desk just behind him in his office on Friday, Cook stressed that he was in no position to offer critiques on the sheriff office’s communication strategy in the case of Johnson’s death.

“I know that Sheriff [Bill] Waybourn loves his county and loves his agency, and I trust that Sheriff Waybourn will get to the bottom of what happened in this incident,” Cook said. “Bill’s always been a guy that takes responsibility for his commands.”

Cook’s publisher set the date of the book’s release long before the events in the county jail occurred in April, but he’s a big believer in things happening for a reason.

“There’s no better time in our profession — take Tarrant County out of it — where we can get good best practices in the hands of leaders,” he said.

He called the 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald in Chicago a “turning point” in how police departments have to view their relationships with the media and the public, especially after events in which the police don’t have the “high ground.” He was inspired to write the book following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.

Johnson’s family has not been shown the video, and aside from a meeting with members of the sheriff’s office three days after his death in which all they were told was that it was under investigation, they have not received further details.

Members of Johnson’s family demanded answers from the county commissioners on Tuesday, as did several Tarrant County residents who spoke in public comments.

Waybourn did not attend Tuesday’s Commissioners Court session. A spokesperson for the office cited the ongoing investigation as the reason he was not present. No sheriff’s office representatives were at Tuesday’s session.

Speaking with the Star-Telegram on Friday, Johnson’s mother Jacqualyne Johnson pointed to another law enforcement killing in Florida that recently made national news, noting how quickly the officer’s body cam footage was released. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office took a week to release the footage of a deputy sheriff shooting and killing a U.S. airman.

“They already have everything out in public, but we still don’t know anything,” she said. “It’s very interesting.”

Johnson, 31, was the second inmate to die in the Tarrant County jail in April. His death came less than a week after 42-year-old Roderick Johnson (no relation) was found dead in his cell.

County Administrator Chandler Merritt gave a briefing of their deaths at Tuesday’s Commissioners Court session. It consisted of reading the sheriff’s office’s press releases that were issued after each death and a comparison of raw numbers of jail death counts in other Texas counties.

Precinct 4 County Commissioner Manny Ramirez said in a statement Thursday that the county is “not doing enough to share information with the public,” and said he will propose a plan to address “deficiencies” in how the sheriff’s office communicates with the public about events like these.

“The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office needs more transparent, structured, and consistent communication policies for handling critical incident reporting and releasing video,” Ramirez said.

Cook’s recommendation for all law enforcement agencies dealing with events that may put them in unflattering light is to not shy away from the situation.

“Facts are facts,” he said. “Not talking about it doesn’t stop the story.”