Christopher Cook was appointed in 2022 as the Chief of Police for a suburb of Fort Worth of 21,000 residents in Western Tarrant County and nestled in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area, the 5th largest in the U.S., with almost 7 million residents. He previously was appointed as Deputy Police Chief for the Arlington, Texas Police Department. White Settlement, known as the gateway to national defense, is home to major defense industries, including Lockheed Martin and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base-Fort Worth. The fifth-generation strike fighter F-35 is being built in White Settlement, with the neighboring military base being home to 40 major military commands. In July 2022, the City Manager appointed Chief Cook as the Director of Public Safety, overseeing both the police and fire departments, along with animal services. 

The White Settlement Police Department, one of only 186 agencies across Texas out of 2,700, is accredited by the Law Enforcement Agency Best Practices Accreditation Program, the gold standard for recognition, through the Texas Police Chief’s Association. The department, nationally recognized with awards, is a full-service law enforcement agency with 54 team members.

In May 2024, Christopher became a published author with The Art of Strategic Communication, a Police Chief’s Guide to Mastering Soundbites, Storytelling, and Community Engagement. This book culminated a three-year project that started while working as a Deputy Police Chief in Arlington, Texas, including writing and pulling resources together to assist law enforcement leaders and strategic communication advisors. 

Christopher Cook was appointed in 2023 to the Caruth Police Institute Executive Advisory Board, also appointed as an Associate Advisor to the Advisory Board of the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration and appointed to the Executive Board of the FBI National Command Course Association. He was also elected in 2023 to serve as a member of the Fort Worth Airpower Council, which provides support to military members and families. On December 6, 2023, Chief Cook was appointed to the International Association of Chiefs of Police – Police Professional Standards, Ethics, and Image Committee by IACP President Wade Carpenter.

Christopher Cook began his law enforcement career at the Tarrant County Criminal Justice Training Center in 1995 and eventually worked at the Arlington, Texas Police Department, where he assailed through the ranks and retired as a DeputyPolice Chief in 2022. While in Arlington, he served as the department’s Chief Spokesperson and Chief of Staff as a member of the executive team. Prior to being appointed to Arlington’s command staff that accompanied a 12-year assignment on the executive team, Chief Cook worked in patrol, traffic operations, fatality crash investigations, and commercial motor vehicle enforcement. Many of his ancillary duties and assignments included working at world-class attractions including the NFLDallas Cowboys football franchise, MLB Texas Rangers, Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, and the International Bowling Museum & Hall of Fame.

As a Police Chief, he has experience in overseeing federal task forces, school resource officer programs, jail operations, crime scene, intelligence, criminal investigations, and patrol operations. He has managed municipal budgets in the range of millions of dollars under his commands as a police chief and deputy police chief. 

Recent published works include the Branding Guidebook for Policing (2023) by the Department of Justice – Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Thinking Outside the Box to Address Common Nuisances and Crime Issues(2023) by the Texas Municipal League Magazine, Amplifying the Speakers, article (2022) produced by the RAND Corporation in coordination with the Police Executive Research Forum, and AMBER Alert Best Practices for PIOs (2022) by Department of Justice – Office of Justice Programs. Over the past two decades, Chief Cook has been published in several high-profile journals and magazines including the IACP Police Chief Magazine, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Police One, and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.