San Bernardino Police Department’s Briefing Room Podcast has taken the community and world by storm

On March 23, 2021, San Bernardino Police Department debuted its community acclaimed SBPD Briefing Room Podcast, and has since taken the world by storm.

With topics ranging from human trafficking, female police, to law enforcement job interviews, and everything in between…its hosts Lieutenant Michele Mahan and Sergeant Jose Castro have profoundly hosted, produced and edited each episode themselves, amidst their many other daily job responsibilities.

But, as of late the podcast has paid off, tremendously, as it’s made its way around the inland region and international countries…while most recently becoming somewhat of a pillar to law enforcement job seekers.

“Last week we released a podcast called “Law Enforcement Job Interviews” regarding tips on how to prepare for this type of oral interview and this morning our personal training officer said two candidates came in and aced the interview. Both candidates shared that they listened to our recent podcast and that the law enforcement job interview advice we provided was helpful to them,” said Mahan.

In a world where people are seeking new ways to connect, this podcast has truly become a vehicle for the department where they have the ability to strengthen engagement and foster an elevated level of communication with the inland community and the world by listening and discussing topics based on what people in the community want to know.

“People are looking for new ways to connect, the world is busy and everyone’s multitasking…so with this audible podcast we’re meeting people where they’re at. What’s great about this podcast is that people can listen in from literally anywhere and our goal with this is to responsibly influence a fair understanding of a law enforcement and police perspective,” continued Mahan.

The target audience of the bi-monthly podcast are residents and stakeholders in the city of San Bernardino, but over the course of the past four months, its eight episodes have traveled around the globe.

“It’s so interesting how the SBPD Briefing Room Podcast has spread so much further than expected; we’re downloaded in 15 countries and 272 cities,” Mahan said. “We did not expect that, as it’s not what we set out to achieve, our goal is still to have an impact on our local community to build a stronger connection with them.”

Mahan says that with this podcast (which is recorded every other Tuesday) she hopes to restore more trust in law enforcement.

“Building a relationship isn’t achieved overnight, we have to earn it. So with this, I hope to restore more trust in our law enforcement by transparently and consistently sharing our perspective and answering questions from the community,” concluded Mahan.

An interesting fact about the SBPD Briefing Room Podcast is that it is recorded in the department’s old jail facility as the acoustics in that space provide for a crisp sound. The SBPD Briefing Room Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Buzzsprout, Google Podcasts, the iHeart Radio app and Amazon Music.