Moore Police Department Featured on Television Series
Moore police Sgt. Justin Sternberg made a name for himself last summer when he ran through a fence during a foot pursuit.
Video from Sternberg’s body camera was a hit on social media and drew the attention of producers for On Patrol: Live, a reality series that airs on the cable and satellite television network Reelz.
“It went viral. Millions of viewers on various platforms and networks,” said Clint Byley, public information officer for the Moore Police Department. “On Patrol saw that and was like ‘hey, we want to put that on our show. This is awesome police work; this is exactly the type of police work we’d like to see.’”
Video of the pursuit aired on the show’s Triple Play segment and led over time to a larger role for the department. Other video clips followed, including one showing a Moore officer delivering donuts to a child who had called 9-1-1 to place an order.
“We talk about the power of social media,” Byley said. “That’s kind of how this got started.”
A year after Sternberg gained fame for his exploits (he helped repair the damaged fence), he’s back in the spotlight again, this time for his role in On Patrol: Live.
The series, which airs from 8 to 11 Friday and Saturday nights, follows camera crews going on ridealongs with U.S. law enforcement agencies. It is produced by Half Moon Pictures, a subsidiary of the same company that produced Live PD for A&E.
Sternberg, a 10-year department veteran, teamed with officer Brendon Hughes in shows that aired June 13 and 14.
On Patrol: Live is a revised version of Live PD, which was cancelled in June 2020. Dan Abrams is the host and executive producer.
“It’s very fluid back and forth,” Byley said of the show. “They look for great police work, and so if you have great police work, if you have really awesome videos, if you have that ability to tell a really good story … they love that stuff.”
According to Byley, the show is an opportunity to showcase the department and how it differs from other Oklahoma law enforcement agencies.
“When you watch the show, it’s actually pretty apparent,” he said. “We have commentors and people on social media saying, ‘you guys are incredibly professional … we love to watch and see how you operate … you have a high level of patience with people.’
“And that’s what we want to show, and those are things that we can’t necessarily show you every day on social media, right? You can really see the level of professionalism our officers have.”
The public response has been mostly positive so far, Byley said.
“The majority of our citizens love our police department,” he said. “They love what we do in our community. It’s kind of turned into a fun cult following.”
Byley, a former TV news producer, called the On Patrol crew, which rides with officers, “incredibly experienced.”
“They’ve been doing this for a very long time,” he said. “They’re highly trained, highly skilled cameramen. Their goal … is to document what’s happening and not get involved.”
Byley said Police Chief Todd Gibson has put a high focus on department accountability, which in turn builds public trust.
“Transparency obviously flows into that accountability,” he said. “This is … the ultimate form of transparency.
“We get the cameras there (and) it’s straight from the field to the production crew onto the TV screen. It’s as real as you can get in real time.”
Viewers learn there’s more to police work than what they see on the news, Byley said.
“People are fascinated with police work,” he said. “Whether it’s good, bad, ugly, happy, people are fascinated with the job and the career. This is just good TV at the end of the day. The work that officers do day in and day out is really interesting,”
Byley, who also has a public relations background, was hired by Gibson in September 2023. He has played a prominent role in boosting the department’s social media presence from 32,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram in 2023 to 57,000 followers in June 2025.
The department’s media reach, which measures Facebook views, totaled 1.1 million accounts in 2023.
From March 14 to June 11 — a span that included two weeks of On Patrol: Live appearances — that reach grew to 12.3 million, according to Byley.
“Growing accounts is important, but at the end of the day it’s about public safety,” he said. “It’s about letting people know these are the things that are happening, this is what’s going on in our communities, this is what the police department, the city, first responders are doing to combat those issues.”
On average, 2.2 million people view the department’s Facebook page daily, Byley said.
“Chief Gibson has really doubled down on this mentality, and it really shows because people are comfortable asking us for help,” he said. “All that reach helps us locally get more eyes.”
Much of the information is spread through messaging similar to that of news organizations, and On Patrol: Live is another way to grow that message, Byley said.
“We have a very high respect for our officers, for their professionalism,” he said. “And so, we know at the end of the day that they’re going to go out there and do the right thing. We really don’t have to worry about it because they do it day in and day out.”
By Tim Willert
