The Oxford Police Department Launches New Podcast

“Off the Beat” podcast setup at Oxford Police Department. Photo by Marissa McCardell.

You don’t generally think of a microphone as a crime-stopping tool, but Oxford police have recently created a new podcast called Off The Beat. This podcast is designed to help officers learn how to handle the stress and challenges of the job and to provide necessary in-service training hours as well.

“It’s going to be a lot of officer resilient stuff that’s really big right now. So, the one we did this week was on fitness, nutrition and kind of overall health,” said OPD Captain Hildon Sessums. 

With 80 officers on the force, Sessums says it can be a challenge to get all the needed training hours in, but the podcast adds a useful option.

“They can listen to it on their own time when they are driving around, working out or doing something else,” said Sessums. “They listen to quality individuals and they can also get training hours for this as well.”  

Oxford Police Department Media Specialist Breck Jones says the podcast is set up to have an impact on officers both on and off the job.

“It’s not just a work thing or police thing, it’s something where you can go home and be a better husband, better father, just a better person in the community,” said Jones.  

The department plans to create a podcast once a month, which will allow the officers to gain half the hours they need for training just by tuning in. 

Although the podcast is only available for officers right now, OPD said that making it available for the public, is not out of the picture.

By Marissa McCardell, mkmccard@go.olemiss.edu and Griffin Demarrais, gsdemarr@go.olemiss.edu.