COLDWATER
The Department That Policed for ProfitBy Mohamed Aslam
Length1h 21m
About this audiobook
For over a decade, a small-town Texas police department turned a nineteen-mile stretch of interstate into its largest source of revenue — seizing cash and property from drivers who were almost never charged with a crime. Then a routine stop over a broken taillight and eight thousand dollars in legitimate business cash ended with a man dead on the highway shoulder, and the department's official story very nearly held.
Coldwater: The Department That Policed for Profit traces a financially incentivized policing scheme from its quiet beginnings through the death it caused, the deputy who gave up her career to tell the truth about it, the reporter who spent three years fighting records requests to prove it, and the federal civil rights investigation that finally forced a reckoning. A story about what happens when a department's survival depends on treating the people it's sworn to protect as a revenue source.
Audiobook details
GenreTrue Crime
Length1 hr 21 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJul 27, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
16Chapter Twenty: A National Pattern, Not a Local One
2Prologue: The Corridor
17Chapter Twelve: The Indictments
3Chapter One: Policing for Profit
18Chapter Twenty-One: Randall Kessler Before the Stop
4Chapter Two: What the Money Actually Paid For
19Chapter Thirteen: The Trial
5Chapter Three: The Stop
20Chapter Twenty-Two: What the Medical Examiner Found
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter Four: Forty Minutes
21Chapter Twenty-Five: What Training Experts Told the Jury
7Chapter Five: What the Department Said Happened
22Chapter Fourteen: The Verdict
8Chapter Six: Deputy Vasquez-Reyes Resigns
23Chapter Fifteen: What Holcombe Said
9Chapter Seven: The Reporter Who Wouldn't Let It Go
24Chapter Sixteen: A Department Remade
10Chapter Twenty-Four: Three Years of Records Requests
25Chapter Twenty-Three: The Council That Looked Away
11Chapter Eight: What the Footage Actually Showed
26Chapter Seventeen: What Marcus Deveraux Left Behind
12Chapter Nine: The Department of Justice Arrives
27Chapter Eighteen: Rewriting Texas Forfeiture Law
13Chapter Ten: What the Data Showed
28Chapter Twenty-Six: Eight Places, One Country
14Chapter Nineteen: The Ones Who Never Got Their Money Back
29Author's Note
15Chapter Eleven: A Formal Finding
30Epilogue: What the Highway Remembers
More from Mohamed Aslam
STILLWATERMohamed Aslam1h 8m Only with Ultra
MILLBROOKMohamed Aslam1h 13m Only with Ultra
RAVENSWOODMohamed Aslam1h 25m Only with Ultra
MERIDIANMohamed Aslam1h 25m Only with Ultra
CEDAR FALLSMohamed Aslam1h 45m$2.99 · $0.00
LARKSPURMohamed Aslam1h 35mFree
HOLLOW CREEKMohamed Aslam2h 11mFree
Killer TriggersJoe Kenda8h 31m$20 · $0.00
BoundlessNick Kostov, Sean McLain9h 17m$29 · $0.00
Nine LivesAimen Dean15h 23m$23
Deadly ForceLawrence O'Donnell17h 18m$40 · $0.00
Walking the BowlChris Lockhart, Daniel Mulilo Chama9h 7m$29 · $0.00
Trial by FireScott James13h 31m$23
PapillonHenri Charriere18h 19m$40 · $0.00
The SuspectKent Alexander, Kevin Salwen14h 12m$23 · $0.00
The Cause of DeathCynric Temple-Camp8h 59m$29 · $0.00
GanglandJared Savage9h 21m$29 · $0.00
Riding with EvilKen Croke, Dave Wedge9h 42m$29 · $0.00
Raven 23Gina Keating8h 16m$26 · $0.00
The Two FBIsNicole Parker10h 8m$29 · $0.00
I Catch KillersGary Jubelin15h 32m$33 · $0.00
The Redemption Of Bobby LoveBobby Love, Cheryl Love9h 13m$29 · $0.00
The Life We ChoseMatt Birkbeck8h 57m$29 · $0.00
The Truth About AaronJonathan Hernandez5h 15m$24 · $0.00
No Ordinary BirdArtis Henderson6h 23m$24 · $0.00
I'll Be Gone in the DarkMichelle McNamara10h 7m$29 · $0.00
The Silk Route SpyDr Enakshi Sengupta5h 57m$24 · $0.00
You may also like
Irish EyesMary Kay Andrews10h 27m$29 · $0.00
MelaleucaAngie Faye Martin12h 20m$29 · $0.00
The Curse of the TurtleSuzanne Buchanan12h 24m$23 · $0.00
Show MeNick Pirog8h 40m$20
Surrender, New YorkCaleb Carr23h 45m$30
Academy, TheEva Maria Fredensborg11h 57m$12 · $0.00
Mapping the ShadowsBecky Black8h 22m$5.50 · $0.00
The Boy Who Was Buried This MorningJoseph Hansen6h 10m$17
Dangerous RefugeElizabeth Lowell10h 13m$29 · $0.00
Tumbling River RangeW. C. Tuttle5h 30m$2.30
Devil's CornerLisa Scottoline11h 28m$29 · $0.00
Doc. Turner's Death NumberArthur Leo Zagat37m$7 · $0.00
The Maine MutinyJessica Fletcher, Donald Bain7h 5m$22
North of NowhereSteve Hamilton7h 34m$23
Ten-Acre RockKris Lackey6h 55m$17
The Three Death Sentences of Clarence HendersonChris Joyner11h 4m$20
Dying to KnowRae Cairns10h 35m$29 · $0.00
The Invention of FireBruce Holsinger13h 47m$33 · $0.00
The Wasteful MurderRoy Lewis5h 43m$17
On Deadly GroundMichael Norman8h 36m$17