Jest Out of Jurisdiction
Law Enforcement / First Responder stories and experiences with a focus on comedic blunders, events, and the lighter side of stressful jobs. Stories are firsthand accounts told by the hosts Flash and T-Dot with accompanying guest interviews.
Jest Out of Jurisdiction
Big Ditches, Busted Doors, and Dangerous Gentlemen
Outro Music.
Speaker 3:I got new hearing aids. I got two, now the V8 special.
Speaker 2:Do they work better.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I can listen to my podcast. Oh, you can. Out of both ears now. Oh really, one in each ear.
Speaker 5:One in each ear. Different podcast, each year podcast. Oh, you can Out of both ears now. Oh really, one in each ear, one in each ear, different podcast each ear.
Speaker 2:So when did you?
Speaker 3:get that Last week, okay, because you know, I wore one, yeah. And then I went to the VA and I said, let me try two. They're like, your hearing's okay on this ear, you don't need it. However, them this year, you don't need it. However, I was like, well, are they free? And they was like, yeah. I was like, well, give me two, give me two, yeah, because I was like I wear them, like I mean I'm very consistent and I do like like walk around school and stuff, I'll turn them like a sucker.
Speaker 2:So I don't listen to music, or oh, there's bluetooth. Yeah, it's just a hands up listen to music, or oh, it's bluetooth. Yeah, it's just a hands up. If you're listening to your music and gunshots start at the front door, would you know it? Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, that's it, I hope.
Speaker 5:I hope I can hear you never hear the one to get you anyways no that's what they say.
Speaker 3:I went golfing yesterday or the day before, whatever, and my brother was like I thought you got no hearing aids, I'm not listening. I'm listening to the Sean Ryan show. It's a good podcast. It's not this one.
Speaker 2:We were just talking about it before you got here. We said we got mints and water. Sean, we were just talking about it before you got here. We said we got mints and water, and there's one. Sean Ryan gives out seeds. I wish we would have that.
Speaker 3:I wish you did. He did there for a while. It's a gummy bear A little 365.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd take it in a minute.
Speaker 4:I'll be a regular guest on your podcast. You boys start handing out gum.
Speaker 5:I'll clear my schedule. He said give me one of these when you at now AOC.
Speaker 4:I'm their court security guy. I'm over the protection detail for Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals and then I also work with each of the sheriffs. Well, court security for each sheriff to kind of keep our judges safe. We've got about 280 judges across the state. You hiring me? I'm ready to get out of the school business. You tired of the school business? I ain't right now. God dang it. John Pratt man. John Pratt was you know, john, don't you. John was contemplating retirement but his mother-in-law moved in with him, so I think he's probably I'd have to fight Doug.
Speaker 3:Well, you ain't going to leave your gig up there, are you, me Heck, no.
Speaker 4:No, he's good.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that's a gravy train right there, you ain't a kid.
Speaker 4:Ask him on the Tuesday of the full week that he's worked, and then he might. He grumbles a little bit. Tuesday is the busiest day that we usually have Did y'all have court yesterday.
Speaker 3:Yes, that place it shut down.
Speaker 2:Well, they're doing all that construction work up there. I guess that's why.
Speaker 3:But it's pretty outside.
Speaker 2:I was expecting to see somebody walking around. Let me tell you, it's Monday through Friday. Tuesday and Thursday is usually the busiest days. Sound like me? Don't have no, but there's just not a lot of traffic in and out there unless you've got probationary people coming there to go to probation office. That's about it.
Speaker 4:I just appreciate it and I eat everything in the restaurant. I'm full plus. I finished off with a big hot fudge cake. Oh, you have to.
Speaker 2:Was it the full-size?
Speaker 4:Yes, People in the booth next to me were laughing when I was licking my plate. Gosh, that hot fudge cake. It's so good, man, did you share? No, I did my wife to give me a bite. Where'd she go. Where'd she at? Oh, they left. How are you getting home?
Speaker 3:I guess they're sitting in. I'm here spending an hour.
Speaker 2:He can sleep with Daisy Juggle riding yesterday. Oh yeah, had a good time 65 miles 65 miles. What yeah, when we're at Red Hill, Jackson County area S-Tree.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what was your own Jeep?
Speaker 2:Sibeside, sibeside, yeah S tree. Yeah, what was your own jeep Siperside? Oh, I love it. Karen always says I said you care if I go riding with Foote?
Speaker 3:She says no, you go she's got you out for at least 15 hours.
Speaker 2:Foote makes you a better person when you come up, she said. I hope it don't have the opposite effect on him.
Speaker 4:I love my brother Thomas time.
Speaker 3:You got one police. You got one in the state police area.
Speaker 4:Yeah, a voice trooper, are we going? Are we rolling? Yeah, we're hot, oh, we've been hot for a while.
Speaker 5:That's what he does today.
Speaker 4:Did you catch the story about?
Speaker 5:repelling. No, okay, no, you'll get to tell him again if you want to.
Speaker 4:I better not. I'm kind of sensitive. Well, you'll get to tell him again. If you won't tell him, I better not. I'm kind of sensitive. Well, you never know.
Speaker 3:So intro here, because I'm limited on stories. This is going to be the Doug and Foot conversation and we'll just laugh a lot. So I do want to tell you one story before we get started. I do want to tell you one story before we get started. I'm down in Atlanta, Georgia, on a spring break of all places, and we're standing at the Omni Hotel right next to like all the. We went down there for the aquarium and the Coke Museum and all that stuff and we was going gonna watch a basketball game, hawks game. We're staying there. We come down this elevator or I'm getting ready to go up the elevator and ding and I look up and there's foot. He grabs me and hugs me. My wife's sitting there like who is that? What is going on here? That's my buddy.
Speaker 2:I hadn't seen him in a couple years.
Speaker 3:There we are looking at each other in Atlanta, small world. Some of you are like what are you doing?
Speaker 4:He's there for a drug conference or something I don't know if it was that or was it SEC tournament, I don't know, I don't remember. It may have been a drug conference. I was down there some for that.
Speaker 3:I think it was because there wasn't that many people, that like it wasn't packed, it was just normal spring break traffic. I was like what are you doing here? He said what are you doing here? I was like I'm here on vacation, you know everybody talks about.
Speaker 4:Everybody talks about the police, brotherhood and the fraternity and that's. You know that's what it is. You know I can pick up, I can leave here tonight and I'll see you for five years. But when we will embrace absolutely, we will share our life and we will. It's just we reconnect quicker than any other occupation just like you saw them yesterday.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah it's so much bull and craziness. Yeah, that you, when you say you know, I know what you went through and I know what Doug's went through and I know what Bill's been through, and it's just that calm and bring you together like, yeah, you've had to, you've had to muddle through the muck and mire and and the nastiness, and then you've not, we've got that common bond. Yeah, and that's what's. That's what's cool about this line of work.
Speaker 5:It's slowly dying out, unfortunately true friends, true friends I think they'll always be that way yeah
Speaker 2:you'll always yeah yeah, well, we may not talk for four or five months.
Speaker 4:Well, we talk soon more, now more now. But if we didn't, if we didn't, we'd be fine, we'd be fine we would be, I mean. Lord, I think of him every day, something he said or done yeah, I love.
Speaker 4:Doug Thomas. Yes, I mean he we'll tell a story or two on him as we progress along. But to your point, dylan, it's not what it was. Because there's so much pressure on the police now and when you factor in and I don't know how political you guys get, and my intention is not to get political but when you factor in that the FBI goes around telling all the police, if you don't tell us what you know on your buddy, then we're coming after you too.
Speaker 4:Well, that kind of sets a tone. It's a little bit hard for me to trust the dudes I work with. Now I'm not saying I'm corrupt, I'm not saying that I'm a bad police officer, but when that tone and that culture gets established in the ranks it's really hard to overcome and that hurts that fraternity. Now I know people in there have been. Well, what are you saying? I'm saying that there's a fraternity here, I trust my brothers. And when you enter in a factor, when you factor in an entity that says we're going to prosecute you if you don't tell everything you know on your buddy and you get everybody on edge. I hope that Trump's Department of Justice will change it.
Speaker 4:I mean you know ultimately police are going to be a target going forward.
Speaker 3:They just thought Anytime when we talked about that. Anytime you have the ability to take someone's freedom we talked about that Anytime you have the ability to take someone's freedom, you can hear all about somebody preachers, teachers. It's sad when you hear them being bad or doing something wrong, but nothing fills the airways and gets more clicks than an officer Like a police officer messing up.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and it's really that the power that's given to us. I didn't understand it when I first got hired. It's a huge responsibility. It is, and you can't take that lightly. You have to know what you're getting into. You've got to do your due diligence. You've got to do good casework. You've got to do your due diligence, you got to do good casework. You got to do these things, and that's that's why people look at it, because we have that a little bit more way and you're kind of starting behind the eight ball now with the way, with the media, the media and everything is.
Speaker 5:You're already starting. So you've got to prove yourself to the public that this you know I'm not that one bad apple does not represent all of us. So it's you know, it's interesting.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it is. I didn't mean to get all serious right at the start.
Speaker 5:We'll go back around we try and stay on the lighter side here, but we end up serious you know, people just need to understand what.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're trying to promote the fun side and trying to say, hey, policing is not this or this, it's not what you see all the time. It's not what they make us on tv is. There's a little bit of that law and order tv show and there's also a little bit of the other guys, and doug said it the best I've I've heard yet, and I don't know why, it just came to me when you said that was this like a?
Speaker 3:we're like a movie or a play yeah, we're playing a part, and everybody's it changes.
Speaker 2:We play in movies. Well, like I said before it's, you can have drama, horror, comedy. It just goes on down that way. You never know what it's going to be like.
Speaker 3:It could change from call to call, or a phone call from a buddy can change it. It changes how you're feeling your emotion, what's going on, so it could become a tragedy into comedy real quick. Yes, it can Go ahead with the intro, since we've been on for a while.
Speaker 5:All right, yeah, we've been yapping for a while, got another good episode for you guys today. I think this one's going to be a lot of fun. We may actually get to sit back and not yap as much, because I think these two may take up a lot of the air.
Speaker 1:That's tough for me if you can't do it. That is tough for.
Speaker 5:T-Dot. I have heard a few times.
Speaker 3:From your.
Speaker 5:That's what it is, but it seems like Doug has been mentioned in almost every podcast that we've done from some sort. We don't know why, but somebody has referenced him or a quote or something. But he's back with us. We've had several people ask when he was coming back, so he's finally back. And then we've got Foot with us there. I am a product of Doug Thomas, so he's finally back. And then we've got Foot with us Foot.
Speaker 4:There. I am a product of Doug Thomas and therefore I have the stories to tell.
Speaker 2:Ask him how he got the name Foot. Well, that's where we're coming in.
Speaker 4:It's really anticlimactic, but anyway, I'm good with it. I'm glad to be here, man. This is fun. I love to talk and I'm a highfalutin because I get to hear myself talking these headphones, yeah, these headphones.
Speaker 2:You're going to be a chatterbox tonight.
Speaker 3:Some people can't stand to hear it on their phone.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm a little goofy, but I've found if you're going to succeed in life, you've got to laugh at yourself. You've got to, and this guy right here in front of me probably taught me that many, many years ago.
Speaker 5:He was my first FTO.
Speaker 4:That explains why he's rolling his eyes. Listen, I mean, I didn't really know. I wanted to be a police officer. I was a senior in high school and we went to project graduation training Rock Castle County. My class 1988 was the first class to have project graduation, at least at Rock Castle County, and we went to a seminar in Louisville to to learn how to do that, raise money for it and also what to do. You know, did for a safe alternative for a graduation party of what it was built. So anyway, I go there and it's mainly put on by the state police. I'd kind of already been thinking. I mean, you know how it is when you're in high school, you change your mind five or six times. But I watched those guys in that uniform where that campaign at and I was like man, I want to do that. They're silent professionals, you know, just walk around and just they're so nice to everybody, I'm like man, I'm gonna do it. Then I went home and told my mom. My mom told me I was crazy, Don't even think that way.
Speaker 4:So, I went to school. I went to school at Sioux Bennett. I got a degree in secondary education, but I went to Eastern. I got over there, you know, and I'd drive by the state police post every day. I'm going to be a trooper, it's right there on campus basically. I'm going to be a trooper. So I tried and tried. I tried four times. They finally hired me on the fourth try. I guess they thought, man, this dude won't keep coming back.
Speaker 5:We're going to hire him.
Speaker 4:So they took a chance on me. But you know I first got hired as a deputy. I went in Shirley Smith, the guy that hired Doug A diamond in the rough. Old Shirley pulled him out of the charcoal and shined him up. He was my first FTO. You know how it is. It consists of ride-alongs and stuff. I was trying to piece together one uniform.
Speaker 2:Poor folk, wasn't it? We was poor folk, I didn't even get paid.
Speaker 4:I was a wannabe so I wanted to look the part. So I'd have a vinyl holster and a leather belt and a mask and whatever. I mean, you know, I look like a constable in the very poorest district of the county. That's what I look like. But anyway, I rode with Doug.
Speaker 4:We did get to a point where Shirley paid me a little bit if Doug walked off. But we only had one cruiser, so if Doug could get off ship he'd have to bring me a car that I could drive the boat with. I mean, it would ideal. I literally worked 46s, you know, at Ejier Acc's on the interstate in my pickup truck.
Speaker 1:I'd flip my hazard lights on and get out and block the interstate.
Speaker 4:And Doug, done it too when you hit more than one man can handle and I've often wondered. I worked a pretty bad record from people from Michigan and Ohio collectively one morning about 4.30 in Rock Castle. At that time you were dispatched by the inmates because the 911 was in the jail, so the inmates would often call you and wake you up at night, right or Wilmer. Wilmer was the.
Speaker 4:God rest his soul. He was the deputy jailer and they'd call me and they sent me to a wreck and I rolled out. I didn't have nothing but my leather belt and what I told you, and I rolled out and people looked at me and I said I promise, I'm legit, I'm here to work the wreck, but I didn't know much and Shirley smoked a pipe.
Speaker 4:He's a great big man. I want to put you working the road. You know, and that was my nickname and I mean, like I said, that's kind of anticlimactic because well. I mean, you know, that was my cuss word. I would say I flew it. Well, I can sure tell you. Unfortunately, I've managed to say a more since that, since the indoctrination of that word, but anyways, I'm glad they were with foot than the latter.
Speaker 4:So I went to the state police academy in 96 and Jimmy Silver's old unit 660 and he was my buddy mentor, him and Doug mentored me and he kind of showed me how it was. But but I, jimmy, called up part of the academy and said that Allen boy call him Cadet Foot. Well, they did. And then after I left the academy it was just they dropped Cadet and I was Foot and you know I don't get called that much anymore. Where I'm at now. Nobody really knows me as Foot.
Speaker 4:Whatever man, I don't answer to anything.
Speaker 3:I didn't know your real name until, like, yeah, I've been up in rock castle for a little while.
Speaker 4:I've heard people say that man, a lot of people say that. But I tell this story. He knows I'm going to tell it because every time we we offer, every time that we enter in a new person in our realm, in our little circle, gets a little better. I always tell it on him.
Speaker 4:But but you, know I was a studious young police officer. I wanted to do it right. We went down to the Broadhead Apartments and there was an old girl in there that needed to go to jail. Well, I was young and impressionable. Doug said get her. Well, you want me to charge her with? I don't care, get her Well. I snatched her up and we walked her outside and put her in the car In our her up. We walked her outside, put her in the car in our 1990 ford.
Speaker 2:Uh was it ltd or uh is uh. When did you? When was that? I don't know. I think it was 80.
Speaker 4:Well, it was 94 when you were ordering me what to do but I want to thank you for 92 ford.
Speaker 4:Okay, well, anyway, we'll get in the car and she's, he's aggravated. I don't know if he worked a hard shift or what, but he wasn't really in the mood to deal with me or her. And we were on our way to the jail and and she was running that mouth back there in the back seat and I was wanting to fill out the tickets, you know, trying to be studious, and I was trying to fill out every block appropriately, you know, and I guess I was writing a little bit of a voluminous narrative on the citation and I wanted to make sure that it was right. I did not know you could charge people. You could not charge people with alcohol intoxication in their apartment, but anyway we did because Doug Thomas told me to the statute of limitations has run out, but that's okay.
Speaker 4:I love Doug Thomas. I charged her and we were on our way to jail and I asked him a question. He was getting tired of me, he was getting irritable. Anyway, I asked one too many questions. He looked over at me while driving. He's driving us, remember? I'm filling out the citation. I look over at him, ask one last question. He says fill out the damn ticket and hush. I don't think it was?
Speaker 2:I don't think it was it was that?
Speaker 4:yes, I was, my feelings were hurt, oh, but I recovered. But anyway, I loved little Thomas.
Speaker 1:If he needed a kidney.
Speaker 4:I'd give him one and he'd fuss and gruff about something while we was laying there together. It wouldn't matter, I love him, we're like brothers, your kidney's going to fit in here. You're too tall.
Speaker 3:He's a problem.
Speaker 4:He has taught me a lot about just being a man, just being getting along with people laughing at yourself. I mean just how to treat people. You know, doug thomas could go win for sheriff right now in rocos county and he's been in law county for two decades or three decades probably now we've tried to talk him into that so many times.
Speaker 4:He's great man, he's got a good way with people and I'm not surprised that he comes to London PD and mentors many of you. I mean I'm not surprised at all because he's just a natural born leader and you've got to draw to him because he tells funny stories. He tells on his self. He runs around going gah gah. Humor is a great mental health for us as police officers, and Doug Thomas is the best at it. I've talked enough. It's time to cut him loose.
Speaker 2:No, you're doing good, I know Everybody's heard Doug's little bit of a bow.
Speaker 3:However, we don't know exactly everything. You started at Rock Castle, so Did you go then from there to the state police?
Speaker 4:No, sir, I didn't, and this is a story of resiliency, but I went to Lexington Metro and I went through their academy about 32 weeks maybe. They had a basic and then they had an advanced and I went through their academy and I was on the street for about six weeks and they called me in and said buddy, you ain't gonna make it with us, no, listen I ain't lying, you know I hit that forever, but I ain't got nothing to hide and I didn't know.
Speaker 4:I didn't know, I was kind of shaking, you know, because you know, basically you get fired from a job. Yeah, I wonder, if I'm cut out to be a police officer, right, is it meant for me? You?
Speaker 4:know, and I won't get into all the reasons why. It don't matter. I got some good friends that I went through the class with and was with them a few weeks back at a reunion, but but last semester wasn't for me and I wasn't for them and uh. So anyway, I come on back home and I was kind of shaking. Doug knew I was shaking. Doug picked me up and you know he reminded me that I, that I was meant to be a police officer and don't give up on your dream. And about three months later I was getting yelled at in the state police academy. There you go, and that I started in 96 and I retired in 2018 with a blessed career. I done worked the road for 10 years richmond post, london post. I was fortunate to be a bodyguard for governor fletcher for four years that reminds me of a story.
Speaker 5:Yeah, chicken festival yeah, that's the first time I met you yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3:It was when you was on his detail and that's almost like that was in 2006 he's running for re-election, so it would have been 06 at the chicken festival we're out there on that and nobody likes the chicken festival parade because it was it clogged up everything.
Speaker 3:You remember that? Oh yeah, that Saturday is horrible, it is. And Fletcher the governor walks through and somehow I mean he legit was picking up babies and kissing them and holding them. I was like, oh my gosh, he's legit. And then he would look over there and he'd be like, buy me that over there. I don't know how much money you spent, I don't know. Hopefully they didn't pay you back.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's why you get reimbursed for stuff like that.
Speaker 3:They were just trying. They were doing their thing and I complained to them. Yeah, he was doing it, right, he really was. I had no problem until he turned around and decided to walk back through and I had to stay on that detail a little longer with you guys and my wife. We were having she was pregnant, oh boy, and we were having pictures done and I missed them for that detail. Oh man, oh, I heard about it.
Speaker 5:Oh, I bet she voted to save Bashir that fall Nope.
Speaker 3:Oh, she was like I can't help. The governor went by but yeah, I missed him. There's my little daughter and her pregnant with my son. I'm out of it. I was like, oh, I'm in trouble. I was supposed to be in here, but it was one of them volunteer details on that festival because I'd usually work night shift or second shift on them.
Speaker 3:I thought they had everybody working it. They used to, but I was second shift. I feel like, on that, you come in at that time. But I came in for that parade early. I volunteered for it.
Speaker 3:I thought it'd be over in like an hour and now it didn't work out, she'd probably go Photoshop you back here Election year it's not going to work out that way, and that's the first time because I was impressed by not only his demeanor with handling the public and making sure they moved along, but also how much cash that guy kept in his wallet. Well, I was bought.
Speaker 4:The festival when you do you know, when you do that executive security, you know the shoulder man often is the is is the money man. You know you pack some cash for instances like that, but but yeah, and then I, you know I finished up. It's kind of funny when you're on that detail. You kind of know how you're doing with your supervision because based on the assignment you get, you know if you're doing a good job and they like you. You're going on vacation to Florida with the Fletchers, yeah, well, whenever the Fletchers got beat, governor Fletcher brought us in. He presented me a nice certificate, gave us a meal, and the certificate was Latin for ad finum fidelis, which was Latin for faithful to the end. It's one of my prized possessions, one of my prized trophies, because I did man. I love that guy.
Speaker 4:Now, glenna, if you hear this, I'm sorry, she's a little difficult, she's a little difficult, she's a little difficult. Ernie Fletcher was a fine man, it was an honor to work for him. But anyway, we'd finished up and the Steve Beshear camp was coming in and they called a meeting and we were going to do the inauguration. That's about 18, 24 hours of nonstop activity. And so they called a group in Dylan and they said all right, this is the governor's brother. They had packets, you know, and we're going to pick them up.
Speaker 4:you know, on different things, different little bit about them. Here's the governor's brother, the governor's son, the governor's sister, general van Allen, where you at. General van driver Allen, where you at. So I was the general van driver, so I knew then that I was going to be a short-timer on the Steve Beshear administration. And then I was. I came back and worked three years at the Morning Post and then from there I went to cannabis. Yeah, I went to cannabis and cannabis.
Speaker 3:When you went back you worked a little marijuana that's what a lot of people know what that is. So I remember me and Jason McCall was out there working interdiction and we'd give you a bunch of tickets out there a lot of times well, we did sign detail.
Speaker 4:You know, and I love that sign detail because you get you know and I love that sign detail because you get you know that's the one where road check ahead. You know you bait people to get off the interstate, thinking they're avoiding a road check. And it is based on the biblical passage of the wicked flee when no man pursues. They're fleeing because, oh, I'm about to get in trouble. And then you're waiting on them watching them you know it is man.
Speaker 5:That's some cool stuff why didn't we ever do anything like that?
Speaker 3:I got to do that with them guys when I was on that interdiction team and they were we'd set up down at the welcome center.
Speaker 4:Yep, we did a truck stop at 59 yep, I would.
Speaker 3:I was always that decoy. I was the decoy. Yeah, that was out past the sign.
Speaker 4:So they were like you were the general van driver. I was the general van driver.
Speaker 3:They were waiting through some trash to see what they were throwing away. But was you down there with that guy? They got like I don't know, two gallons of GHb from a guy yeah from and I was like I don't even you know that's a date rape drug or something. I was like gallons of it, yeah this guy had I was like man, so they were doing the lord's work, you know, and getting dope off the, off the street and who knows how many that protected, you know, back then money and drug money.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we got large seizure money down there one time at the weapon center. Yeah, you know war. Then money and drug money. Yeah, we got a large seizure of money down there one time at the welcome center. Yeah. And you know warrants. People got warrants on them. You know big warrants. You know you're talking murder and rape stuff. You know they're like oh, I'm about to get caught, I better, I better not go through this road check, I better turn off before I get to this road check.
Speaker 4:Yep, we happen to be there waiting on you oopsie it's funny, yeah, it's great when you walk up and badge them and be like, hey, how you doing today. Yeah. You can see their face, you can.
Speaker 4:It's like ah, and you know I did a lot of knocking talks and I love that man because there's a study in it. And I could walk up and you know, and you can see a level of anxiety. You know, I could walk up and you know, and you can see a level of anxiety. You know, most people are generally a little bit afraid of the police but, boy, when you see, when you see the heart beating through the shirt, I need to be at this location. And then you know, and then you can see it in their neck and then they start stuttering and they sweat. You know, all those are elements of something's going on here. We stress.
Speaker 5:We talked about that when we had Joey on and that was do an interdiction. That was one of my favorite things is you? Start listing off stuff. Ask them in the car and they'll tell them there's no time.
Speaker 2:It's like I mean well, I found out too that people that if you was with them or he was around them and they, they were overly friendly or they started talking a lot. I said time to look at this person.
Speaker 3:There's a little more to your overly kind. Yeah, are you like that with? Everybody. You start narrowing down. There's some questions, easy questions you start asking right off the bat that start that you're right or you're wrong. That was the fun stuff of our job. Oh yeah. The hunt was fun. The paperwork after sucks when you're a proactive police officer you're at your best, proactive police officer.
Speaker 4:You're at your best Mm-hmm. You know I mean, and it's hard to be proactive this day and time because you're not rewarded for it like you were when we were coming up. You know, most of them now police supervisors are like don't get anything. It causes me to have to do more work. I'm not saying it all that way, yeah, but there's a significant amount of police officers that are supervisors, that are like listen, don't get into nothing. Their supervisors will be like listen, don't get into nothing, don't hit nobody, don't chase nobody. And we win, the community wins when the police officer is proactive, that's how you're looking.
Speaker 4:You're hunting and I know that's not a popular word in policing but you're hunting and you're productive.
Speaker 5:We talked about that in the city when we were hunting dope heavily like all the squads were hunting dope heavily in the. We pushed the dope dealers out of the city for the most part that's right.
Speaker 2:We didn't stop them, yeah, but they weren't in the city, they were, yeah yeah, they're operating out in the county you just have to.
Speaker 3:People don't understand. It's not, it's life or death and that's all it's what it boils down to. Yeah, we have a lot of fun, we talk, we cut up, but really when we're out there we're trying to keep the bad out of your community, out of your life, out of your front door. You don't know. I mean, if people steal from you for dope, what else will they do? They're desperate people. So you know, without law, without the police out there, imagine what? And then when you handcuff the police and make it taboo to arrest somebody or do something, it puts really a bad spot in the community you bring in hesitation.
Speaker 5:I think that environment is going to change.
Speaker 2:I hope so.
Speaker 3:I have hopes that it will there's only so long before there has to be a shift back towards like hey, we got to get after more aggressive style policing. I'm not saying do it wrong, I'm just saying don't get the bad guys you're not at their goose stepping everybody really wants proactive policing. They do. They don't want drugs in their street and they don't want bad things around, so you got to get to it again. Alright, boys, what else you got?
Speaker 2:I know y'all got some stories now, yeah, go for it when you put me on the spot, I forget all of them, Hood how long did you spend at the OCJT?
Speaker 4:I was there 18 months and that was one of the finest jobs I ever one of the most enjoyable jobs. You enjoyed it. I was a mentor, for I think I counted up to 450 police officers came through during that time. That's awesome. What was you? Teaching I was a coordinator. Oh, during that time, that's awesome. What was you teaching? I was a coordinator? Oh, so I was like a daddy figure to a lot of them. You know I was the disciplinary and the motivator Did you get to toss any rooms all year.
Speaker 4:Well, you know DOCJT, they don't believe in that sort of thing. But I did. You did, though you believed in it and on Fridays I'd send them home with a little love, we'd meet and I'd do an inspection and we'd go out in the hallway and we'd do TV time. Yeah, I mean, but you know what they still call me? A lot of them still call me to this day. It's awesome, you know, and, man, you can't put a price tag on that. That means a lot to me, was that not after you retired.
Speaker 4:I stayed and retired 11 months, got on at the OCJT, worked there a year and a half and now I'm at the administrative office of the court, I think it was.
Speaker 5:I'm a court bailiff. Were you there when Logan and Ben and all that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:Logan was in 507, I believe. But I was there, I used to give. I'd walk up to Logan and I know his dad was, you know, in command staff at London. But I would always I know you boys are pro-London PD and I am too, but I would always try to recruit for the state police I'd walk up, I'd get in the rear especially after Redman, you know and I'd get in there and I'd say, boy, you look good in that campaign hat, you know. But Logan would always push back on that. He'd say I'm a lot of PD.
Speaker 2:I think he was loyal.
Speaker 4:Loyal, loyal to their brother, yes, sir, but I mean I would, and I wouldn't quit, and he wouldn't quit.
Speaker 2:Logan would have made a good one too.
Speaker 3:He, yeah, they were. They come out I think 507 and you know, yeah, I enjoy those fellas. They're good guys. But I went to in-service up there me, and I thought I'm gonna say it's greg turner. We was up there at a stress and wellness class when, when that class was going on, so we walked over there to eat with them you know, over quackers or whatever to eat and they just looked at us. I was like y'all want to eat with us. I said you don't have to. But we came over here to we could be a whole lot better restaurant over here, but we'd like to just cut up with you and talk. And they were like y'all sitting there, all I was like I guess I was a lieutenant, I don't know. I was like I guess I was a lieutenant, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I thought what's wrong with you all. They just locked up. And then Logan came in and he's like smacking me in the back of the head Like hey.
Speaker 5:Hey dude.
Speaker 3:The other two were like what?
Speaker 5:did I say I think Ben was late. His first day he was, he was late to orientation yeah, yeah, ben was late, checks out, ben.
Speaker 4:Ben was a good guy, a good he, just he didn't start taking it serious till maybe just a little bit later on in the process. Yeah, well, and then, you know, and his coordinator was, she ended up being the supervisor. May have been at that time, I guess, but she was about five one, five two and uh, but yeah, he was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, ben, I remember that smile, you know, he just infectious smile he's a good good old boy, you can't help how I like being Ben if you listen to me, I love you.
Speaker 4:I miss you hope you do.
Speaker 3:Well, I'd love to. We're not having any. We're sticking to retired folks for the most part right now, so we'll eventually we'll see what they do, but because I don't want to put them in a spot yeah, I accidentally say something about something that's going on and then, well, you know to your point we're talking about go the ocj.
Speaker 4:I'm of the opinion that I'm old school, you know, I think we all are. But when you're in the academy and there's a push nationally to take away the stress in a police academy and I'm completely against that yeah, uh, you know, like florida florida tends to have, they tend to just send a bunch to go through a bunch of college courses and then, once you get your certain criteria met, then you can apply and be a police officer and and then you just, you know, go go through a collegiate like training academy, and there's no stress, there's no yelling, there's no intense PT. I'm of the opinion and DOCJT was transitioning when I was leaving, but they wanted to document everything, like they wanted to write people up for insubordination. And I'm of the opinion no, let's make them do 50 push-ups, smoke them and let's go and then smoke them and we move on. Yeah, because when I write you up for insubordination week 12 of the academy and you get in a shooting two years later, the defense attorney is going to come up with a problem from the start.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Exactly, and I just I was against that. I preached against it many times as I was there. I don't want a paper trail. No, you know, know, we all make mistakes in the academy. You're under stress. That's what you're going to do.
Speaker 3:Let me smoke you, let me grass drill you and we move on and I shake your hand and I'll tell everybody, what, what a wonderful cadet recruit me wherever a cadet and recruit is a much different person, yeah, than a five-year officer that's been on Absolutely. And if something happened in the academy, that doesn't really reflect who that officer became and turned into. Well, unless that was a need to rid that person and get them on out of the academy, I get that.
Speaker 4:And that's a great point, t-dot, because because, look, I've had mothers ask me why are they so hard on them, boys up there? Well, I'm going to tell you why. I got to know that when you graduate you have at least met the minimum standard. That minimum standard is high stress, and that minimum standard is three years when you've been on and it's four o'clock and you were due to get off at four o'clock but there's a mess in front of you, like a fatality. I've got to know you're going to stick it to the end. You're going to stay there until the road's cleaned up and you can move on.
Speaker 4:There's a certain thing that we identify in the academy. The person's going to stick to it because if you ain't willing to get yelled at and not, then likely you probably won't stand there and be willing to guard a crime scene all that long. You likely won't stay there for fatality all that long. So there's some. You know, I get it, I get that. We I think the state police this time started out like 90 and they're down to 29. Yeah, I get it, man People, I understand both sides of it. But, having speaking from the DOCJT perspective, there needs to be some degree of a little bit of stress in an academy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you can only put some A happy medium. Academically there was a lot of stress. They put that stress but really the physical side of that red man fight, that pepper spray in the driving training, the things that all of a sudden I'll tell you what stressed me the most. And I failed the nystagmus test and DUI and I was like I'm out, I'm going to fail. I put unnecessary pressure on myself after that but that's who became the best at doing all the DUI detection Felt sobriety Because I was not going to fail.
Speaker 3:I put extra work into that and then when I got out of the camp I knew it pretty good and felt very confident in my ability at that. Where I might not have just if I'd have passed the first time, where they'd have been like you were close, we'll just let you go, yeah, instead of saying you failed, you were close but you've got to redo it. Yeah, that made me a better teacher.
Speaker 4:Failure is a good teacher. It is there's.
Speaker 2:there's nothing very good and then he's talking about, you know, failing and having confidence. I was in the Academy and accident investigation because I'd worked the road about three years or four before I ever went to the Academy mm-hmm so it come up the accident no problem? No problem. Didn't pay a bit attention to that class for nothing. Just set sat there and twiddled my thumbs. Test time, looked at me.
Speaker 1:Never heard of that before Next thing.
Speaker 2:You know, I go look at the score. Of course they don't tell you what, you just have to go look at your ID and see what your score was. So I looked up at the wall Fail. I said uh-oh. I said uh-oh. I said I guess I knew as much as I thought I did. I went to the coordinator and said hey. He said you can take it again.
Speaker 3:It's funny how there's fear as a motivator. Yes, the best I did in the academy I was getting ready to get deployed again to go to Iraq or somewhere. I was 2003 and got pulled out of the class for a couple of times. And I'll tell you this coordinators have a way to make and break you. Sometimes my coordinator reassured me that, hey, everything's gonna be okay, you'll. You'll have a spot here, don't worry, go do your thing. Military, they hold your spot, they, your agency's not gonna fire you took that stress off of me. So when I and then he said if something happens, call me and we'll get you back in this class right quick, or you'll be in the class behind, no matter what. So just came, you know, it's like two days. So I met that right there.
Speaker 3:Boy, the homework they gave us, though it was ridiculous oh my god, best ever did, though I was scared into like I gotta there's other things. I'm still in the guard, I'm could do this. And I was like man, I locked in and knocked out that. That rest of that academy was no joke for me and there's only a couple. I was in like the last phase but best test score, I had the best pt time I had. You know, all that stuff just kind of was like. I was just like motivated, like yeah, and it was fear that drove that yeah it was crazy so yeah fear fingers of motivator.
Speaker 5:You mentioned Redman. After you saw, redman is when you start trying to recruit and I can agree with that, because Redman was kind of the. That was the thing that you're going to make it, you'll be all right. Because, there was several in our class that we was watching. We were standing up on the top watching them as they was going.
Speaker 4:He ain't going to make it, they ain't you it, they ain't you know yeah just too soft I mean it's, it's definitely, uh, it's definitely an occupation where you can't be bashful. No, like when they would show up on sundays. I would get in their face and I would say tell me I'm under arrest now. That sounds kind of silly, but that's really the first.
Speaker 1:You know, that's the con that's where the conflict starts, you know when you tell somebody you're under arrest.
Speaker 4:I'm getting ready to take your rights and your freedom away. That's where the conflict begins. So if you're making mild and bashful, well sir, you're going to have to go to jail. So I immediately start on them.
Speaker 5:I like that. I do too. It's a switch that you've got to flip and if you can't flip that switch, then you're not going to do.
Speaker 4:Well, I want to be, and I'm old now and I'm irrelevant, but I always try to be a dangerous gentleman. I've heard people say man, we never thought you'd be a trooper, you were just so nice, too nice. Listen, that's okay. I want to be nice, I want to be a gentleman, I want to be cordial and friendly and buddy and hug you. You mentioned hug man, I'm a hugger and I hug tight. But listen, I've had to flip that switch and I'm okay with that too yeah, you know for sure, I would.
Speaker 5:I've always said I would rather talk my way out of a fight but I want you to know that if we're going into a fight you're not going to enjoy it. Be a dangerous gentleman.
Speaker 2:You've got to be a good communicator in this you've got to man, because I would you know, like you said, when you're under arrest, there's ways about saying that to people you can really be a dick about it.
Speaker 2:You can, or you'll say where we were from Rock Castle. We knew about everybody in the country. I mean, it was just that type of community. You knew everybody, mostly Even the thugs. You went to school with them or somewhere down the line. You knew them somewhere. And then you're saying, listen, old man, yeah, this is the way it's got to be. I'm sorry, but I'm going to take it too. I said it's nothing personal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you know, got to do a job here Most of the time. I mean, if you communicate with them, they're going to be all right. There's an old guy up there. I guess he's dead now, but Chester McFerrin I've never heard of him.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I remember Chester, he liked it, he liked the weather. The weather was pretty good he did, and he liked to fight.
Speaker 2:He didn't care who it was, and some people could go and arrest him and not have a problem. There's two or three that could go to arrest him. It was, it was over and the fight was on. It didn't matter. But the same way with the big, the big David. What was his name? Oh, david Rowe. I was thinking him when you was talking about Chester.
Speaker 1:David Rowe would fight every time. Yes.
Speaker 4:You couldn't talk him into the back seat. No, but I mean, you know, as a police officer you got to that's. I guess that's where courage comes in, you know. And police don't get enough credit for being courageous. No, you know, I mean no offense military veterans. I love them, man. I wear a flag on my hat most every day of the week because of what veterans have done.
Speaker 4:But I don't think police get enough credit for being courageous. When I drive through the bad part of town, or I drive through that bad holler, or by myself with no backup close, it would be awful easy for me to go down to PD and talk about what a bad dude I am. But when you're in the car by yourself cruising through these neighborhoods, when you're on your way to that hot call active shooter and we've all worked with those guys that get car trouble when a hot call comes out, I mean you know we have, but you have to make yourself overcome that fear and push forward and address what's in front of you, and that's a good point is that it's not that you're not afraid.
Speaker 2:Anybody that gets out there and says that you're not afraid, you've got to have that fear. That's what keeps you alert and keeps you on your toes.
Speaker 5:But it's the fact that you're going.
Speaker 4:I'm going to throw a little Stonewall Jackson at you. You ever heard this? No, I don't know you, jackson, that you ever heard this? No, no, you know. Stonewall jackson, southern. Now we can't hardly talk about southern generals anymore because they'll say I'm a racist.
Speaker 4:But this is profound. What this man said thomas jonathan stonewall jackson doug's laughing at me was after the battle of manassas started to get a reputation of being a general that was oblivious to danger. He would walk out in the middle of gunfire to direct his people. And a newspaper reporter asked him this is in a book, gods and generals. A newspaper reporter asked him said general, how is it that you just, you just don't seem to be afraid? And he told him you know, I'm afraid, but he said this. This is the profound. We're sitting in a church. So he said my, my religion teaches me to be as comfortable in battle as I am in bed. I do not concern myself with the time of my death, but always be ready. He goes on to say that it's the way all men should live and all would be equally brave man, we don't have enough.
Speaker 4:We don't have enough stone walls no we don't. We're alpha males, we're not afraid of conflict, but our culture does not reward and does not encourage and even often even develop alpha strong personalities that will address conflict.
Speaker 3:Alpha is tried to be, the Alphas are tried to take away.
Speaker 2:They've tried to push them away. You're taking away masculinity.
Speaker 3:That's what they say, if I get into politics, I'll get upset. I think we're getting a block bed, or maybe people coming around to the reality.
Speaker 1:I think so.
Speaker 3:We were wrong here. Yes, men have to be men, exactly, and that don't mean everybody needs to be an alpha, but the alpha has to be around. Yep, there has to be alphas and there has to be betas. I mean honestly in life, and there's nothing wrong with that, be betas. I mean honestly in life, and there's nothing wrong with that. When you're in a, when you're in a field where you have a lot of alphas, it, uh, there's conflict. That happens in, within, oh yeah, within our own ranks.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a lot of times, the competitiveness of a promotion is craziest thing I've ever seen how mad we get each other for, for couple of extra dollars, a whole lot more bull crap. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's true, but it's okay. It is. It's okay because we end up back around. I didn't mean that, whatever, but it's just tough. It's a tough line of work that we do to be an alpha, in my opinion. When you're trying to teach your son what it means to be a man, that pride and that stuff you want to come out and you don't back down Sometimes. But I've learned sometimes it's better to back away, retreat a little bit, take a better stronghold on this and let's regroup.
Speaker 5:You've got to survey your situation a little bit before you can always react.
Speaker 3:A lot of times we hard charge when maybe we should have flanked them sometimes. That doesn't mean we never. You know, retreating is not an option a lot of times in online work. But sometimes we can get a better position by backing up and thinking like here's what we need to be and here's what we need to do, and maybe wait, maybe talk, maybe take a different approach and on different things. I'm talking about life in general, but in policing there's been so many times you learn this over the years like I don't have to rush, this is called exactly.
Speaker 5:Yeah, you're not. On. Time is my time is.
Speaker 3:Time is my friend a lot of times.
Speaker 2:When I first started I was your gung-ho. Hey, man, I've got to get there. I've got to get there right now. Quit first Got to be first one there, oh 660,. He'd tell me, don't do that. He said it's going to be there when you get there. It's not going anywhere.
Speaker 5:So I kind of said he's right, and you put stress on yourself by doing that now, we would always try and beat each other to the cause because we wanted to be the one that ended up getting foot pursued or get the first one we were trying to be like, but we had the luxury of several officers coming. Yeah, we knew that. You know you're first on scene. You got somebody two minutes behind you anyway.
Speaker 2:But for me as a supervisor, I wanted you to answer the call. I mean, I didn't want you to, just I mean Get there in a timely manner.
Speaker 3:There's a fine line. Do it in a timely manner, a fine line.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You know he's talking about Jimmy there and Jimmy taught both Doug and I this and I know you've worked with these guys that love getting on the radio and tell every move they're going to make, every move they've done. Jimmy always said and I've taught in each of my FTOs and even I mention this to my classes if you sound like a fool on the radio, you will be perceived a fool. Jimmy used to say when it's happening and you hear it developing, just head. That way you don't have to tell nobody when you get there, say I'm 97. I'm on my way, but I just cleared so-and-so and I'm a 15 minutes away. No sense for all that, no, just go. You know, and that's the one thing about Jimmy he was that he was kind of like I don't know, he just, I just always had that assurance that he was close, even when I knew he wouldn't. I just, and you never knew it, you never knew it, just like it happened to me many times yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll be on a call or something. It'd'd be pretty serious, man, of course, with us. I mean, if you went to a domestic you used to buy yourself most of the time yeah, you didn't have two or three or what, but I'd roll up and if you missed Jimmy Simmons you'd be pulling. You never even knew he was around.
Speaker 4:Yep, but that's you know. Yeah, he was coming, he was that silent overwatch.
Speaker 1:I loved him today.
Speaker 4:I miss him so much I do too.
Speaker 2:He was a great guy, he was quare.
Speaker 4:He was quare and he was hateful. I swear Doug's got a little quare and hateful streak in him.
Speaker 3:He came from a lot. He came from him.
Speaker 2:He did, it rubbed off on me. Those guys were instrumental in my life.
Speaker 4:And then you talk about Tony Terry. Tony's the chief deputy there in Madison County. Tony was I was the last guy that he trained before he started. He ended up retiring as a major and him and Britt Roper Roper worked London Post for a while but those guys, they took me under their wing. I often say they made me me troopers. But this guy sitting in front of me and tim fee over in jackson county, they made me police officer. But you know, I mean, and so yeah, and jimmy, jimmy of course I've had, you couldn't beat him.
Speaker 2:He's just, he's just outstanding in every way yeah, yeah, I mean, you know he was. I mean, he was a true trooper, he was. There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 4:He was Steve. Walker was his sergeant. No offense, steve, but it is what it is. Steve was his sergeant and Steve wanted to change his schedule. Steve was going to make him work a day shift. That was taboo to Jimmy Silver it sure was. Oh no, he was 18 to 02 or not, or 20 to 04. He'd do that. He was working the night that the old boy got in at post with a hatchet and started beating the place up. Connie was dispatching. Connie called Jimmy for help. Jimmy said it's a good thing that fellow was gone before I got there.
Speaker 5:He wouldn't have been doing that, no more.
Speaker 4:Anyway to the point that silent overwatch. I'm watching out for my people. He knew I didn't have no training. He knew I was green as could be, but he let me go off by myself and take those calls. But he was there. He was listening in.
Speaker 3:But yeah, those that stand and watch, that have your back. There's nothing like it. They'll let you learn, but they're reassuring you that you're right. And laughter if you've done something wrong. He probably pulled you aside and said hey, maybe we'll change this up a little bit, because.
Speaker 5:I've had that, I've had those mentors.
Speaker 3:And it's cool that I get to sit here with Doug, who I mean, I wasn't even pleased when I first met Doug and for him to mentor me as well through my early. You know, even when I started the PD he was still at the sheriff's office, but that's the guy I looked up to and then you know getting to watch him finally retire out he was blowing a lot of smoke. I'm telling you, there was a respect. I know I appreciate it. You weren't honored, but still it was fun to work with you. I miss it.
Speaker 3:I miss that time. That was the time that was the most fun for me, especially night shift with doug and jesse and tc and all them guys. We had gary profit, we had the time of our lives.
Speaker 2:That was that was, to me, was the time well, there's no finer bunch it was fun I mean it was, it was a lot, and the camaraderie we had with each other like that's not, not like it used to be it's uncommon no and I will say this and you all had a group like that too, dylan, that you all got well, and that was the thing is like we had.
Speaker 5:So the group that we went in under that trained us. The camaraderie that we had with them was good, and then our camaraderie together subsequently was good, but then something happened with the generation after, and then admin changes and things.
Speaker 1:It just wasn't there was a trust that was broken there somewhere somehow, and it just wasn't the same anymore but now all those guys I still have pretty good communication with yeah, I don't but I don't know different, know what?
Speaker 3:you remember at Sarge's can?
Speaker 5:I don't know what happened that changed it?
Speaker 3:well, you remember the Sarge's came to them talking about, you know, learning generation yes, different generations, yes, hardest thing you can do because I am a Gen X guy you're more closer to the boom generation yeah, there's just a couple and we Latchkey kid is a little different, a lot different than Gen Xers or Gen Z Millennials you're a millennial.
Speaker 5:I think Unfortunately.
Speaker 3:One of the best classes I had in that academy, or in that sergeant's academy, was that class, because I was like, oh my gosh, I've failed so many times with younger officers, even though at the time I'm in the 30s, mid-30s. I'm like I have screwed up the way way I talked to these guys.
Speaker 2:They don't care how the way you placed in 1984, whatever it was.
Speaker 5:No, I mean, we always like to hear the stories but it's like well, that was cool, but we'll never get to do anything like that, no, I mean I do.
Speaker 4:I mean I hate it. Ben's a trooper and he tells me some stuff he has to put up with and I grit my teeth and it's just a different time. And it bothers me when I hear of police officers that the feds are looking at them, they use too much force, or I feel very hypocritical because I too, if such what's that saying? Except for the grace of God there go I. I maintain humility with that, because I know that there there's some stuff I probably should have been indicted for. That's what I mean.
Speaker 3:I'm just going to tell you you know, I don't think anybody said here, I mean honestly.
Speaker 4:I probably crossed the line at time to to DDOT but, there's a little bit. I like to think I represented the people well and I didn't just dish it out for people because I didn't like them.
Speaker 2:They did something to get what was coming down you got to operate in a grade, just a little people don't understand.
Speaker 4:They don't understand it at all, don't understand it no, sir, but it has to.
Speaker 2:There has to be fear of the police.
Speaker 4:There has to be a fear that when TDOT calls for help, and I'm coming to save him or help him, the dude that's inflicting the pain on TDOT or Doug or whoever, or Dylan, they have to know that when Foote gets here he's going to hurt you and if we eliminate that, if we try to erase that, then it makes it hard to have a successful culture of freedom.
Speaker 5:Well, if there's no consequences, then what's the problem?
Speaker 4:That's right. I mean there has to be a respectful fear of the police.
Speaker 5:And it used to be I mean some of your older criminals. There was a mutual respect between it.
Speaker 4:If I run, I know that there's going to be a brief struggle at the end. Yeah, I mean it's. You know that most of them will laugh yeah or they thought, well, we had to test you.
Speaker 3:Buddy, I didn't know you. You know it's stupid, it's different man, it's just. I remember we was talking, y'all talking about fear of um, you know, heading to a call or something. I remember some of the calls we've gotten and one of the scariest ones I went to was like, right kind of at the end of my career, we had a SWATing call where they call in shooting at a school, at an elementary school here, and I remember I was on the phone with gals ordering uniforms for the pd and I said I've got to go and she said I heard that call go, be careful and call me back.
Speaker 3:You know, gals, the, the uniform company, thought be careful and call me back and tell me you're safe, you know they were scared yeah and here we go, running out the door and the first one's in these things, and I remember that it was a short trip. I was at the PD driving to London Elementary that's what a half mile. Yeah, I was scared to death, oh yeah, and I was the first one to hit that door and I remember that.
Speaker 5:I remember that An active school shooter is something that's like the nuclear of policing.
Speaker 3:Luckily, it was just a swan. Our guys figured out Some goober hacked one of the cameras.
Speaker 3:It was scary, don't get me wrong the seriousness of everybody coming in there, guns drawn, and clearing that place, with babies in that place, and I had a niece and nephew there, so ultimately I was ramped up even more. But there is nothing. I remember thinking to myself just breathe. That's the first thing you can do is just breathe, get a hold of your emotions and check yourself and go do your job. And my job wasn't to be a supervisor at that point. My job right then was to be a hunter, exactly. And as I wear those bathrooms and me and Chris Edwards busting it, guys I hadn't policed with in years were the first ones through that door where there's our bathrooms, and me and Chris Edwards busting it you know, guys I've had in police within years were the first one through that door is the sheriff's the chiefs and admin.
Speaker 3:Yeah, first ones there, and we're the ones clearing that together and there was no rivalry of where the county and you know all the differences, all the pain. It doesn't matter we were about that, but I remember that calming my nerves for that now after after you figure it out, you're like oh my gosh, you know you're sitting back, you debrief that stuff, you talking to your guys after the calls over and you're like y'all good, yeah, okay, all right, let's go get something to drink some medical marijuana here, or I don't know.
Speaker 5:Chill out Kudos to whoever ended up doing the investigation on that, because they tracked that goober down.
Speaker 4:That's Lee.
Speaker 1:Was it Lee?
Speaker 5:He tracked that goober down and found his IP address and it's like New Jersey or somebody it was cool.
Speaker 3:We've had that fear, though. You can either operate in it or you get out of the way. Yeah, and that's okay too.
Speaker 4:If you can't hack it sometimes, well, let somebody else deal, cjt you know what's the tactics part of training and jason mack does a great job. He's over that now. He's, he's a, he's a dude, he's just a good guy. Man, just yeah, he's got and he's got the, the file to back it up. But man, but he uh, I've literally seen recruits getting not not happen often, but I've seen it happen getting the fetal position and that's why we got to know what you're made of before we send you out and uh, and you know, because you can't.
Speaker 4:That ain't the time to your point. You can't get in the fetal position well, that was yeah when we would have new guys, yeah, and that's in a training. Yeah, situation, a controlled situation where you've been introduced to some fear and anxiety. You're getting some sim rounds. Sim rounds operate about 400 feet per second. They'll leave a mark. They hurt, they hurt. But you know, if you're going to do that, the sim round is probably you need to go be a librarian.
Speaker 1:Yeah this is not your.
Speaker 4:This is not your occupation. I agree so, but I, you know, I don't know, I keep going back to train stuff. But but no, I mean, I love police officers, man, I love. I've got countless shirts about the blue line and you know, I just I love police, I know what they deal with and with. My heart goes out to them. He used to talk about man to go. I'd arrest the guy. I won't say his name, he's out of jail now. Me and him have since resolved our differences. But I'd arrest him on a Saturday and he had swallowed some meth. This was back when meth first started was homemade. Matter of fact, we did a search on his house. The DEA from Lexington was so interested. They came down and took over the case. They did a search on his house and they found an actual recipe to make it.
Speaker 5:Was he doing red P-Lab?
Speaker 4:Yeah, and it was a big. I'd never seen it. It was on the side of the road and it was a big old, gooey brown in wax paper and he had three, see, I would have thought that was like tar, heroin or something like that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would have said that too. But he had three balls and he ate one of them. I charged him with. You know he had a substantial amount, but he ate one. Well, that made him wild and he was literally in my back seat spinning around Guy in the jail. He wanted to fight. It Took about six or eight of us to wrestle him down, get him in jail.
Speaker 4:But at that time when you charge somebody with a felony, I had to fingerprint and photograph the arrest and I told the jailers I said, look, I'll come back tomorrow and I'll just I'll do this, I'm not going to do it now. He's too wild. So I came back the next day about lunch and he was in the holding cell and they brought him out and set him in there and I just, he was fine, he didn't say much, he's really quiet, and uh, I fingerprinted him and then I got ready to photograph him. You know you had to hold that sheet under your chin and uh, I just I don't know what I said. I don't think I really said anything. I maybe he didn't like my mannerisms, I don't really know. Maybe maybe he didn't like that. He was submitting to my request. But he looked at me and he said it's all right, alan, I'll get out of jail. I know where you live and when I get out of jail I'm gonna burn your house and then I'm going to blank your wife.
Speaker 4:Listen, I'm a God-fearing man and I try to be a good guy. But you tell me that terroristic threatening fits that. No, me and him had a conversation and I violated his rights that day and I'm not bragging about that. But there's a line and you cross it. There has to be consequences. You said it a while ago, have? There has to be consequences. You said it a while ago. There has to be consequences. And terroristic threatening get amended down to jaywalking. Ain't the fix? No, it ain't. It ain't going to teach him a lesson so he learns not to do that again now. Anyway, he, me and him had a conversation. We made up since then. But now you know there's some things you don't say and I'm gonna call you out on if you say it. I know this person is.
Speaker 2:So that reminds me of a little incident it happened in Livingston no, no footnotes were talking about here, but anyway, this guy was we go man. A trooper was down there, steve long, and I wished he could be here. I other two yeah he'd be awesome, he'd be awesome to have and, but we were okay. We were at the homecoming Livingston homecoming foot knows what it is and we're down there at the corner where the elementary school used to be.
Speaker 2:It's a community center or something now, right there next to the pool hall or whatever it was. But they said there's a guy giving a stirpence up up the street here raising all kinds of cane, whatnot. So me and Steve we ease up there. It's this guy Foote's talking about. Got no shirt, got a pair of flip-flops on and a pair of jogging shorts. So we tell him what's going on, we place him under arrest anyway. So we get him down to the car and he's a big old boy. He's a big old boy. And so we're trying to get him in the car. He's struggling a little bit, fussing, cussing, carrying on, and well we finally get him in there with his foot hanging out the door. Well, shirley was there.
Speaker 6:He said yeah, he's in the car. He was at the pop?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was, but anyway he's a slam in the door. Surely he is. This guy's going. Wow, I mean he's screaming like a panther or something I go. What in the world. And every time Shirley slams that door, he's slamming it against his foot, against the frame of the car. No, it's not, he didn't break his foot. He finally got his foot in there. It's in Steve's car, by the way. This is something that needs to be stressed, Very, very seriously stressed. No matter if they're naked, always search a person. Yes, always.
Speaker 2:I don't care. So we get this guy to the jail, open the door, get him out. A big Budweiser bottle of beer falls on the blacktop. He's in a prayer jogging shorts. Now Bam Hits the source. Now bam hits the floor or hits the ground and buzz. I said what? That ain't right. But we move him around a little bit. Move him again. Pistol hits the ground. And we had him handcuffed behind his back. But that don't matter, that don't matter, that don't matter. You talk about taking. You know, oh my god, what could have happened here, walking down the steps at that time they didn't have a sally porter, but you had to go down a set of steps inside the jail. Get him down to the steps. Another bottle of beer falls out of the shot Dang. Two bottles of beer and a pistol. This was a 45 too, wasn't it? It was a big. No, it wasn't a 45. I don't remember it wasn't. It was a. It was a gun, it was automatic, but it wasn't. I thought it was a 45 it could have been.
Speaker 2:I don't remember the big, large frame semi-auto, but you know me and Steve looks at me and says you know this, this serious, and I would any place officer that listens to this. I'm telling you if they're naked, yeah don't have nothing on search well.
Speaker 5:I can attest to that. We had a call at the hospital.
Speaker 6:That's scary, it is we had a call at the hospital. That's scary. It is scary.
Speaker 5:We had a call at the hospital. It was a 202. Yeah. And she had been wandering around and had left the hospital AMA'd or whatever. They didn't have any hold paperwork on her, so it was one of those. You know, we always fought with the hospital over that. Yeah. So I go and said, all right, I'll just go give her a ride wherever she wants to go.
Speaker 5:Well, what they didn't tell me she'd been wandering around the parking lot breaking into people's cars. So I go and I take her, you know, give her the pat down, get in the back of the car. You know, she's 202. She's not under arrest, not under custody, she's just 10, 12 on her to go back to her house. So I take her. Well, I get a call back to the hospital. Two hours later she had broke into somebody's car and stolen a 380 out of their car and have it shove up in her yeah and didn't find out till.
Speaker 5:Yeah, didn't find out till later wow, so her sitting there not cuffed nothing yeah could have been. I mean in her crazies alone.
Speaker 2:Yeah wow, so it's very. It's a lot of there's a lot.
Speaker 5:You said it by the grace of god.
Speaker 4:A lot of near misses, you know we've all had those and pursuits and wrecks and, oh yeah, walked away from it. But I mean, lord of state police, it got. Listen, no lie, I've been on about a year. I wrecked the car in climaximax, kentucky. I remember it well. Yeah, I overturned. I was chasing the beer can before he told me we'll steal his thunder. I was. I found a spinning beer can in the road and I thought, hmm, there's a DUI around here somewhere. So I accelerated. Well, I got a little too hot around the curve, ended up upside down in climax.
Speaker 3:That's what you want to be A lot of times.
Speaker 1:that's a good day that sounds like a good day, I say you'll have to delete that part, dylan.
Speaker 4:But anyway, that's a good time, we've had a good laugh. But sorry, lord, to be so close to your sanctuary. But anyway, that was one car. Well, about two months later I still had the pool car because we didn't have a lot of it, and I turned on a guy on a motorcycle who was wanted for questioning a robbery and I tore the rear end out of that one.
Speaker 4:Well, that very same day I go to Joey Peters' house to finish out my shift. He's got a brand-new 1993 Ford, I'm sorry, a brand-new 1996 Ford. Beautiful car, beautiful car. I said Joey, I've got to borrow your car to get through my shift. And he looked at me, fearing his eyes. I had that reputation P-Doc, don't let foot have your car. He started shaking and said no. I said Joey, I got to. Sergeant said I got to finish up my shift. It's like I'm due about two in the morning and like it's like 730. And I just tore the rear end out of the one. The wreckage just drove off in it. There's no other pool cars at post. So he reluctantly gave me his keys.
Speaker 4:Well, that night I was on my way home and did I mention it was a brand new 1996? Ford Crown Vic. I mean, it had the best of everything. And I got a call of a domestic in Anvil. I was at Big Hill and this 14-year-old kid had, as I was responding, uh, had had supposedly whipped his dad. He, dad, he whipped his dad. Good, you said dad had a big pump down his head and he threatened to kill his mom and we were told he was armed. But when I get there, steve Bryant, dear friend of mine, deputy up in Jackson County at that time, steve was trying to negotiate with him but he wouldn't have none of it and he started shooting the cars.
Speaker 4:Well, that was the third car in line. Yeah, you know you hate to kill a 14-year-old kid. You want to give him every chance in the world. Oh, yeah, but, son of honey, he done some damage before we got him corralled up. But yeah, he shot up that brand new. Did I mention a brand new? Yeah, he shot up that brand new car. Did I mention a brand new car? I mean, listen, nobody wanted to give me a car and it was a long time before I got a new car.
Speaker 1:I was hard on.
Speaker 4:KSP vehicles yeah, but yeah, that reminds me, there wasn't too many straight roads up there, no, jackson Gale County.
Speaker 2:I was riding with Flo one night man. I was off or something.
Speaker 4:Oh, I remember this Gosh. What am I holding up here?
Speaker 2:We get a call I don't remember what it was anyway. Oh yeah, maybe somebody trying to break into a store or something. I don't remember exactly what it was. We was on 421 though. We arrested this guy for DUI, that's what it was. We was heading to the jail. Then they give that back. We give that call and they break an entire grocery. We're right here out swinging around there to see if I can catch them. We walked a mile away or something. We was on 30 going toward Bumble, turned around.
Speaker 4:sure enough, we'll get after this vehicle and we're in pursuit 10-15 in the back seat let me add to this two weeks before that, ksp had come out with a new pursuit policy and it said you shall. You know what shall is? Mr former police chief you shall not pursue with the defendant in custody. Yeah, go ahead tell your story.
Speaker 2:Put broke that right then. So we're chasing this guy over the place and we get into a hill down into a cow field or somewhere we don't know where we're at. That's the 10-15 where we're at.
Speaker 5:I said are we in Jackson or Avila?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this vehicle drives through a little. We go as far as we can go in the cruiser, no further we can go. He whips in there and foot jumps out of the car. I'm sitting there, I can't get out because I'm right up against the bank like that. You can't even open the door and the 10-15,. We're just sitting back there having a casual conversation. Well, I don't know how he's doing out there. I guess he's all right. Finally, foot comes walking back in, gets in the car, I in the car where they went. But anyway we had to ask that guy. He said do you know where we're at?
Speaker 4:I had to tell the director to come get me. I was stuck, couldn't get out, so he's able to tell us, so I might have negotiated a little reduction of sentencing for him.
Speaker 3:He wasn't a prisoner anymore.
Speaker 2:Another time, another one we're sitting down at Mount Vernon, down at the bottom of the hill there, coming off 461 down going towards the interstate Across the road. There was the countdown, what it was then, but it used to be Godfathers and Subway. You know where I'm talking about. Yeah, I know exactly where. It looks like it's falling down now? Yeah, it probably is. There's nothing in it, but right there in the front of it was a big, old, big swag like a big ditch, yeah, big ditch.
Speaker 2:Big, ditch Big ditch and Foot's sitting over there or something. I'm sitting there talking to him.
Speaker 1:Somebody gets in pursuit.
Speaker 2:They go by, I take out and take off. You don't remember this? I don't guess. No, I didn't get to be a part of it.
Speaker 4:I didn't tell you stories.
Speaker 2:Anyway, we run, run, run. We finally catch this guy. I said where's Darren at? Where'd he go? He's running off. I guess he went home. We come rolling back there's foot, nose, dive down in that big gully. That cruiser was behind him sticking straight up there. I said, oh there's where you went.
Speaker 4:I was sitting there. You know, listen, it's tough when your buddies are in pursuit you're just sitting there, incapable of doing nothing. Yeah, so it goes to that point. Studies are in pursuit You're just sitting there, incapable of doing nothing, yeah so, yeah, it goes to that point. When I train guys, I'd say listen, when you first hear the word pursuit, or when you first turn your lights on and you see that car accelerate and you become to the realization there's a pursuit happening and I'm in it, your heart rate has a tendency to go from like 70 to 150. Oh yeah, and you've got to control it. You got to take a breath, settle down any high stress situation. You know, if you're rolling in the building searching for somebody. I was. I went on a. You guys will appreciate this too, because it we've all done it. I went on an alarm drop one thursday afternoon and and I mean you know how many alarm drops have you have you been on? We've all done it. I went on an alarm drop one Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 3:And I mean, you know how many alarm drops have you been on?
Speaker 4:A ton, A thousand, yeah a thousand, you know wind or storm or lightning Easiest thing to get complacent about, absolutely.
Speaker 4:Well, I go in this I meet this woman. She said I come home, my garage door's open, okay. She said I'm going through a divorce, okay, so I'll go through and check the house. Well, I was meandering through the house. I thought well, this woman. I didn't know her. But I said she just left her garage door up. She didn't close it on the way to work. So I'm meandering through the house, I'm looking in the bathroom I'm spending a little time, you know, because I'm still relatively young, but exactly complacent. I go in the and I raise up the she's got her bed made and it's overlapping the mattress and the box spring and I raise up the bed cover and there's a hand underneath the bed and I went. I know. If you'd have had a video on me.
Speaker 3:That was my.
Speaker 4:Barney Fife moment.
Speaker 5:Looking for you bullet. I was like whoa, so I just took a breath.
Speaker 4:I stepped out of the room, I got on the radio and I kind of whispered Regimen sent somebody this way. And then I went over and stuck my gun in that guy's face and drug him out of there.
Speaker 4:But a month later and this is why I appreciate police so much, because I know how ungrateful of a job it is same woman. I get a call one now on Saturday night. It's from from her friend, a woman, her friend, and she says and I didn't realize it was the same woman. She says my friend had she has. She said she just left my house, we were playing cards. She went home and there's a certain code word that we have that tells me that she's in danger. And she called me and gave me that word. She couldn't talk, but she gave me that word.
Speaker 4:I'm like, okay, I'll head down there, do welfare check. Well, I knock on the and I'm like, okay, I'll head down there and do a welfare check. Well, I knock on the door and I swear they're the thickest doors to this date that I've ever knocked on. Couldn't budge them. There was nothing in the house. Couldn't see nothing. The garage doors were sealed, couldn't tell.
Speaker 4:You know, I called my sergeant down. I'm like man, what do we do? This woman's convinced that this woman, han, old buddy of mine. He got there, he went around the back side of the house and the curtains were about a foot short of the floor and he got down and he looked in the bedroom and he said there's a woman who is. She's bound behind her back, she's bound over her mouth and she's bleeding, and there's a guy standing over with a baton.
Speaker 4:I go, okay. So the sergeant says well, boys, we can't call the special response team because you're looking at four to six hours arrival. He said we got to go. I mean, so I beat on that door and listen, I've seen all them cool Miami Vice documentaries that you all have, but they don't work at it. I couldn't bust that door. So the easiest way that I found to get through this door was I took my asp and I beat out our glass patio door and I thought well lord no tactical approach on this one, you know so we go in steve, I want my brother to be.
Speaker 4:He said you go first foot. And I said what?
Speaker 1:I gotta go first because I'm thinking, you know, he's gonna shoot the first dude that comes through the door.
Speaker 4:He says you go first. I said what I gotta go first. He said because you're big, you soak up rounds he was thinking the same thing. We go down that hallway and I've got my gun up and I, you know, I was thinking it's on right here. I kick that door in and that dude looked at me. He was so surprised and I'm thinking, dude, you're the dumbest criminal in the history.
Speaker 4:You ain't heard my approach. So I tackle him, we arrest him, we send her off to the hospital. She stays a couple days. He treated her pretty bad. He beat her up pretty bad and you know, being handcuffed and bound not handcuffed but being duct taped behind your back and over your mouth it's probably not going to end well. He's not going to turn you loose and say don't tell on me, probably going to kill her. So I felt like we did some good that night. You know, we high-fived. She went off the hospital. We charged him with a pretty severe charge. Well, about a week later I was at post. I saw her come in the lobby and I thought to myself I bet she's coming to thank me for saving her life. I just know she is. Well, my sergeant who happened to be there that night goes out and meets her and I can tell the conversation is heated up and I'm like what in the world? Why did you make her mad?
Speaker 5:She's come to commend me and you're running her off.
Speaker 4:I'm expecting something out of this man. I saved her life. Well, he comes back in there and says what was that all about? He says man, he's cussed. She won't believe it. She was coming to complain on you for beating her door out. Oh my gosh. So boys welcome to policing. That's the truth. I appreciate what you boys have done, all of you You've served. I appreciate what the boys and girls do now who serve an ungrateful occupation I only rival to that of a basketball official in tournament time.
Speaker 2:I hate them guys speaking of, there's a time we get a call this Timmy Cameron, you know Timmy. Oh yeah, timmy's a pretty big bully. He's riding with me one night. I give out a call, a welfare check. His neighbor's calling.
Speaker 2:I said listen, we've not seen this woman in three or four weeks. Her car's sitting in the driveway, not laid out, and she's supposedly you know, she's got a sickness and it could be a fatal sickness, of course. Anyway, we go out there. It's on Highway 70. We pull up in the driveway. She lives in a single-wide trailer and we get out, talk to the neighbor. I said when was the last time you saw her? It's been, oh, it's been three or four weeks. We know she's sick, there's something wrong.
Speaker 2:I said okay, so we go up and we beat on the door, bam, bam, bam. Timmy goes around the back, beats on the back door, Bam. We go around just to try to just beat on windows and everything. No one comes to the door. I said well, if she's, we know we we probably need to go in. She knows she may be, you know, maybe she can't, you know, call for help or anything like that, or worse, she could be deceased. So Timmy hauls off, kicks the door. You know how trailer doors are. I mean, it just tires that plumb off the hinges. There's nothing left, just Just to open it. So we go in there, all the lights are out, and we go through and we're flicking lights on and I open the bedroom door and I flick the light. I reach around and flip the light. She sat straight up in the bed. What in the world is going on? I said are you okay? She said yeah, why not.
Speaker 2:What would you think I wouldn't be okay? I said well, the neighbor's called, Said they hadn't seen you in four or five weeks. She said, well, ain't nothing wrong with me? I said did you hear us banging on the trailer, Knocking you know, hitting the door and stuff? No, I said okay, she gets up out of the bed gets her knock down alone, comes in there.
Speaker 2:First thing she says she walks up who's gonna pay for that door? Yeah, yeah, that's the way it is. Yeah, so yeah, no, no, me and tanny cobbled it up the best we could, but you know, yeah, she was upset. She didn't care if we was checking on her or not. See if she's okay, she wanted that door fixed. And then what do you do? How do you? How do?
Speaker 4:you do that differently yeah how do you?
Speaker 2:how do you do that differently? How do you do it differently? There's no other way you can do it.
Speaker 4:You've got existing circumstances. Your belief is the information you've been getting. Is that she's in harm's way or you're thinking she's probably dead.
Speaker 3:Preservation of life. That's what we're there for.
Speaker 4:You've got to do that. You've got no other options. I can't believe she didn't hear all that, I used to get ticked at pain. I still get this. You know, tell your buddies to not cut my gate if they're going to go in cut marijuana. I'm like how do they know to call you yeah?
Speaker 1:I mean it ain't like you know, I hear that a lot.
Speaker 4:Well, they could go to the. Okay, so we're supposed to send a fleet of troopers to the courthouse to determine who owns that property and then I guess, google the name and for a number to call you and say hey man, is it okay to go through your gate to cut the marijuana that's on your farm? I mean some of the stuff people comes up with.
Speaker 2:Be glad we're getting it off of there.
Speaker 4:That's why it's good for stuff like this Kudos to you guys to bring it in, because it helps us, kind of kind of it's therapy for us. Yeah, yeah, to talk about the absurdity that we deal with and you and you'll deal with probably absurdity more as a police officer than you will as a veteran and I know that's a service has its bureaucratic nonsense, but the people you serve and the people you deal with and the people you work for, it wears on you over time.
Speaker 3:So kudos to you all for doing this stuff and letting people come in and chat so yeah when I was going through, you know, some therapy and stuff, when I'm, you know, going through some craziness there they they talked about that you know the military has they go for nine months and then they're home or whatever year and they're back for the rotations and stuff. Really, officers, police and every aspect of it, not just police, but you serve 20 years doing anything and first responding, especially us. You're on deployment for 20 straight years basically With a couple breaks here and there for some vacation, especially if you're deploying in the same community that you live in. So it's like you never really leave it.
Speaker 3:You're just in a different capacity Coming from you know, being deployed before and the front lines of belgium, yeah, you know, but we it's a huge dip there yeah that's stressful and it's scary and I know the guys that you know went and shot up and got you know that's a different story. Yeah, but we had that and we brought it home with us a lot of times with our families deploying. How many times did somebody say to you at a grocery store or somewhere, you took me to jail and you're sitting there pushing your kid in the car and you don't?
Speaker 2:know what to expect. You remember me yeah, Not really Exactly and you're like I will take my to hurt you.
Speaker 4:You remember?
Speaker 3:me? Yeah, not really Exactly, and you're like I will take my kid out of this and beat you with it.
Speaker 5:There's two types of officers too. You've got the officers that when they get off duty, they want nobody to know that they're police officers. And then you've got the other guys that are walking around with everything, wanting to know. I was always like I don't want anybody to know. For one, I don't want to have to work while I'm off duty and then for two. I don't want people to know who I am.
Speaker 2:They know us. I find people tend to know that you're a police officer, whether you present it to them or not that's true, and I'll tell you a perfect example Me and Karen.
Speaker 2:When we got married, we went on a honeymoon. Guess where we went? Kings Island. Anyway, Boy, that's Big spender. Well, my brother-in-law at the time was a bride programmer at Kings Island, so he'd done all kinds of stuff. So you got a good deal Smart as hell. Oh yeah, smart as hell, I'll get you in free. Come to the back gate. I'll open the gate. Come on in.
Speaker 3:So anyway, real big spirit, you stay in great form.
Speaker 4:You're very much man. Karen's going to hear this.
Speaker 2:I love you, Karen.
Speaker 5:No, that was probably like gold to her. Oh, we don't have to spend no money on that. I mean, it's all good. She said don't say nothing that's going to get me in.
Speaker 2:You've already done it, the CBO will be alright. I always tell her you've got to bypass Congress sometimes, but anyway. But anyway we're in there going around doing our thing. We go in these guys doing these caricature or whatever cartoons.
Speaker 3:So I said let's get one of these. We go in these guys doing these caricature or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the drawings, cartoons, cartoons and drawings. So I said let's get one of them. And still hanging up today back there in my little bedroom. So we go sit down and that guy says he looks at me and says I know what you do for a living. I said what's that? He said you're the police. I said what makes you think that? He said you just got the look. It's a demand. You got that hateful ass look.
Speaker 4:Well, you know most of us wear a watch or some kind of. You know you got an insignia of a fallen brother. You know most of us tuck our shirt in and line our gig line up, or at least when we're. You know most of us tuck our shirt in and line our gig line up, at least when we're. You know there's just certain indicators. Most of us wear a cap and we know how to wear a cap. You know it ain't no flat bill for any of you.
Speaker 1:New generation police officers wearing a flat bill correct that now.
Speaker 4:But you know, I mean there are certain indicators. But I'll be honest with you. Just Thursday, man, I was in Bullitt County and I was leaving and some guy said you must have been a trooper. You look like a trooper. I'm like, yeah, a long time ago I was. But you know that makes me feel good, yeah. It does.
Speaker 4:You know, I mean I'm okay with that. But, Chad, I'm getting ready to design a class to teach court security about off-duty. You know there's a lot of police that get killed off-duty, yeah, you know. And so so when do you intervene and when do you just?
Speaker 1:get your notepad out and be a good witness.
Speaker 4:No, so I'm designing that now, but some of the stuff we talk about because, man, your danger level skyrockets off-duty, absolutely, because you really in the force continuum. You've maybe only got two factors. Yeah, you know, that's your ability to de-escalate, or hopefully you're armed for an armed encounter. But I mean, it's a difficult parameter to operate under Yep.
Speaker 3:You don't have that tool belt full of pepper or a taser or handcuffs.
Speaker 2:And you don't have the luxury of having somebody there to back you, unless some of the citizens are in the car.
Speaker 3:And the worst thing you could do is probably take somebody to the ground by yourself, because you don't know who they're with.
Speaker 4:That's right, exactly.
Speaker 3:So off duty is maybe a good witness to that. There's time in life. I kind of want to hear your class now, that would be a good one the refresher stuff for us. You know I went to the academy in 2002 and 3, so my experience and what I've already forgotten is different. Police officer skills needs to probably be part of the academy, so my experience and what I've already forgotten is different. You know police officer skills needs to probably be part of the academy's things every year, at least a little bit.
Speaker 2:You know, during your 40-hour deal, in-service stuff, because I forget. Well, I think after two or three years or so, if you've been on the, you know, because we get complacent a lot of police officers do, and I think that needs to be, you know yeah, and it's.
Speaker 3:It's just a reminder. If it is getting shot with a, with a sim, round every now and then to wake you back up to like, hey, this, this routine traffic stop or this domestic or this alarm drop that you think is just the everyday thing, hey, it is not. No, and you know approaching vehicles and you know. Everything changed when I went back to teach. I went up to academy class to teach defensive tactics. Well, the handcuffing it changed 100. Like what?
Speaker 5:What do you mean? Putting on a figure together? It's probably different now than what it was when I went through and I'm not saying our way was the best.
Speaker 3:I don't think it was and I don't think you know there's all I mean, like if you're, if you can get a guy to do everything they've just throw them the handcuffs, they'll handcuff themselves yeah that.
Speaker 3:I understand that, but there has to be a reality check in the academy and I know they're teaching basic and I gotta you know I'm careful because basic training is what it is. Yeah, it is not about totally becoming the law. You know like square away, because there's a whole lot more you're going to learn. But a good basic and I get it, but there's also like we're spending a lot of time on something well that.
Speaker 5:I think that's an agency thing. See, we at london we didn't, we didn't train a whole lot. There was no like scenario training afterwards. There was no like re-up. We shot twice a year, I mean daylight, dark and that's it. And then a lot of these other agencies you're looking at are monthly trainings. You've got some kind of refresher training, some kind of you know ground fighting, some kind of tactics, something that come up learning to shoot differently, learning, learning different things, that keeping these keeping the skills, the skills the diminishable skills keeping them.
Speaker 2:That's what I like about it. Towards the end of my career the last two, three years, I think, travis, you fire arm instructor no, but Jesse was, jesse was, but now we they integrated the the ground fighting type of stuff and me and I thought that was the greatest thing ever.
Speaker 3:That should be, yeah, they took the windshield out of that car, so we didn't, and then I had them over there doing a problem of God.
Speaker 5:That was one of the best trainings that we had ever done. Shooting from the car I'd never done that.
Speaker 3:I'll be honest. It took me about six weeks to get over that ass whooping I took from everybody. I mean I took everybody whipped a fire at me when he's laying on that mat for a while. He's laying on that mat for a while.
Speaker 2:Everybody's like all right, you did a good job. But it was good. I mean that should be integrated into any kind of training.
Speaker 4:To reiterate your point listen, man, if you're in a gun battle, your heart rate's going to be up, and that's what you guys are talking about. You know what do we do when we go to the ranch. We sit out there about 15 yards and we we focused on that front sight and we squeezed that trigger because we want our target to look good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we want to show her, but look how much better I did Look at that small group I put in the upper abdomen.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we want that, but the reality is this, boys, it's not going to.
Speaker 5:In real life You're looking at, maybe hitting 50% of your shots, your heart rate's probably 180, 200.
Speaker 4:You ain't seeing that front side. And then if you have to do a reload you know we talk about fine motor skills deteriorating Good luck. And then if you factor in a malfunction, and clearing that malfunction at a heart rate of 170. Yeah, I mean. So that's why it's you know, young guys may, why you make us do that, for that's why, that's why, yeah, cause we're preparing you for the worst day of your life. Yeah to reap, to perform under the most intense circumstances of a heart rate of about 180 and that's the difference.
Speaker 3:I really think and I didn't go to State Police Academy, but I think that's the difference, that they put that a lot of stress.
Speaker 4:Well, it could be the OCJ too.
Speaker 3:I mean, all our police academies do that, but I think that was the difference of it is a lot of city agencies and you don't have a lot of backup. But you all were training. You're by yourself on every call and they put that physical stress because you can't go out and fist fight or I can't go out and get an actual gun battle with you to simulate that stress that it's going to be. So how do you do it? Physical stress, you get that heart rate up and then you go function a skill, because that's the closest we can get to. That is by getting you winded and getting your heart rate up physically, like doing push-ups, making you sprint out, do something and then try to go shoot something.
Speaker 5:It's a lot different than popping off from a 15-yard line like that. It needs to be put into perspective too. I think one of the stops training. I'm assuming they still do that up there at DOC.
Speaker 4:I'd say they do. I don't know. We've been going a while.
Speaker 5:But yeah, but that puts things into perspective, because you're being a police officer, you're a superhero for the most part, and you think you're bulletproof and you're not. You don't ever think you're going to get shot at, you don't ever think you're going to get shot. You go through that stops training. And I remember I mean I'll never forget it, because I was like you know I always thought in my head you know, your feet are the first ones out You're going to be able to do all that. The second scenario I went through I popped my door, leaned my head out and the guy that was in our class I mean he could shoot the wings off of a gnat and he shot me right in the eye through the crack of the door. I said well, I mean I'm done.
Speaker 5:I didn't even get to get out of my car, so I mean that right there, puts it into perspective for you. It don't matter, I mean there's.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you a quick funny story on me. You remember when we all went through rapid deployment again you know, I don't know if you all did when they hosted all that stuff, I had to go over to Wattsburg, me and Joe Smith, and final day you've done all the tactics and ran through and you did all your searching and all that. So they came in they didn't tell us where the, so you know the subject was on this active shooter.
Speaker 3:You go to stimulate, but they come around to let you know, to speed it up, and they would pop off them sim rounds and just uh, get you to chase them. To speed up the scenarios to the slow search, here I am. This dude comes around, he was an officer up there at Weisberger somewhere. He comes around and just does this around a corner door and I'm down the stairs and he hit me right in the ankle. Just boom Like that.
Speaker 5:You're out, I mean you're out.
Speaker 3:He's like, no, you don't get to get out that easy. So I was like, oh my gosh, how lucky. And that's the way it is. You can get taken out just like that by a straight, just accidental, just to have like here we are and that's how quick you can be out of the fight, or I'm like it's just an ankle, let's go.
Speaker 2:They were like oh, you're good, that's a pleasure, let's go.
Speaker 3:But I remember thinking I'm out before I started and that could happen. Yeah, so be mentally prepared to go and anything could happen. And my stress level went way up then because I was like, ah, that hurt, and then you're running up them steps and trying to find wherever that was, and all those tactics that you've been practicing all week is, like, really quickly diminished.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because of that stress Because it got real, because they had hostages in there and they had bad guys in there. That's a good training. But training you have to train you do. You can't sit back on your honchos and think I got this in the academy or we've done this before, Because nothing's the same.
Speaker 4:And even on a small scale man. I watch a lot of YouTube and I watch a lot of police shootings and police interactions. Watch a lot of YouTube and I watch a lot of police shootings and police interactions. I don't want to be judgmental, but I need to watch what happened and then I need to analyze and evaluate what would I do differently. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean, you know. So there's more than just classroom training. It's something you need to do something about every day to stay in the, stay in the realm of it, especially if you carry a gun for a living.
Speaker 3:When you don't, when you're not thinking you better go and get out and it's time to hang it up.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of jealous of the people in the courthouse where I'm at Probation. They shoot three times a month Really. They don't even carry a gun in the courthouse Not allowed to carry one in the courthouse. I am the only one allowed to carry a gun in the courthouse, but they shoot three times a week. We shoot once a year. It makes no sense. It just makes no sense.
Speaker 3:That was the oddest feeling when that courthouse, when I went in there on a call to go to probation parole and they were filling us in on something and to give up my firearm to you guys you're like uh-oh, that's a weird feeling yeah.
Speaker 5:I'm not supposed to do this for anybody.
Speaker 2:We get a lot of flack over that. When the FBI comes in DEA Secrets, I don't care who they are you're not bringing a gun inside the score house. That's the rule. I'm with the FBI, sorry bud that's even more reason.
Speaker 4:I deal with it on the state level. But here's what I was meeting with the judge on Thursday and she's contemplated the state level. But here's what I here's what I was meeting with the judge on on thursday and she's contemplated taking every gun out of the courthouse with the exception of court security. And I just said I caution against that, ma'am I said because I want more guns in the courthouse, especially the people that are trained to use them. I you don't tell a plumber to come fix your lanky sink and leave his wrench in the car.
Speaker 4:I agree, and she looked at me like I had one eye but I found that. Well, anyway, moving on, I better not comment, but anyway I hope I can deter that. But I know, Doug's, it is a rule and I know I'd always bug me to have to leave my gun in the cabinet and you know and I understand why you can't do it at the jail. But how many times have you put your gun in the cabinet at the jail and your old wife forgot your?
Speaker 2:gun, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I worked about a six hour.
Speaker 4:I got to a point where I was putting my gun on my gas pedal. Yeah, Because I knew when my big clumsy foot would touch my gas pedal to drive off. That was my key. Oh, I better put my gun in the holster.
Speaker 5:I started throwing mine in my trunk.
Speaker 3:Arrested somebody Went and ate at Wendy's. Oh Lord, really, I was a joke, took somebody to jail early, went and ate at Wendy's and reached down like I always do and wrenched my hand on my gun. I was like it ain't there and I worked four hours without a gun and I didn't say nothing. I said I gotta go right quick. Guys, I had to go to the bathroom left, went back to jail. I got some paperwork in here. I was like, oh my gosh, I've done that one time.
Speaker 2:I'm running radar Up down 461, up in Mount Vernon, this car I made it. It's running like 90 miles an hour. I said that's good, I lock him in, I whip around, get him pulled over and I get out of my car, get all situated and everything. Well, he steps out, person of it, he gets back to back about the trunk of his car and I'm at probably the front end of the hood of mine. He said hold up there. I said what Stop? I said what he said I need to ask you a question. I said what he said I need to ask you a question. I said yeah. He said where's your gun at? Oh, no, first words out of his mouth. I went.
Speaker 4:I said uh yeah, you have a good day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, be careful, yeah that's very good when he puts on a badge he said I'm with ABC alcohol beverage control. Yeah, and his big I know, you know. When he went to the badge he said I'm with the ABC Alcohol Beverage Control and his big I know. He's got a big, rough, husky feller. I know you remember who he was. He's from Somerset. Oh. But after he entered, where did you leave?
Speaker 4:it at the jail, the jail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I just slept there. Yeah, I mean that's easily done. It's very easily done, you know.
Speaker 4:I get it, but man, it's tough.
Speaker 5:But yeah, I was thinking, you know, I figured you guys might ask my most embarrassing police story, and I was Well, we hadn't yet, but since you mentioned it, you know, travis alluded to it.
Speaker 4:Doug alluded to it. When the public figures out you ain't got no gun on, that's pretty humiliating.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 4:Mine. I don't know. I mean I forgot my gun but I always managed to figure it out before anybody else did. I think best I remember maybe I did no, when I was in Metro's Police Academy I drove all the way from out running to Lexington Metro Academy and forgot my whole gun belt.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, I got rid of me and forgot my whole gun belt.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, I got. That's probably the reason they said you're not going to. Probably that led to the file of dismissal, but but anyway, I was running right on 75 northbound and I stopped a guy between the the 90 and the 95 and I got his license and and I I set his license in my lap while I typed his ticket. And uh, so I got done typing his ticket and I looked for his license and it had evaporated.
Speaker 4:Don't know where it went and I looked and boys, there ain't no tactical, promising way to look for a man's license underneath the seat of your cruise room.
Speaker 5:And there's an abyss between the seat and the.
Speaker 1:French fries, mints all kinds of.
Speaker 5:That console and between that console and seat, if you go down there, I've been looking for that for a year I knew that's where it was.
Speaker 4:But how? How do you fix it on the side of the interstate with a motorist 40 feet in front of you? I looked, and I looked and I tried to look up and see if he was looking in his mirror. I know he was and I was thinking man Barney Five stopped me. I never found it. I walked up to his car and I said, buddy, listen, I'm just going to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:Here's your ticket, by the way, slow down, I'm torn up, down, I'm torn up. I probably would I know.
Speaker 4:Then I said I've really misplaced your license, but I will find it and I'll mail it to you. You be careful. He was a little bit aggravated, and rightfully so.
Speaker 5:But that's okay. I got a ticket and it's going to cost me. It costs him $22 to get his license.
Speaker 4:If you knew how hard it was for me to learn to do e-citation. You would appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, that was tough. And then hit print and then you're hoping your printer works.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, it wasn't a smooth transition for me. I hope it was for you, phil. No, I remember we had them junky printers that you know, after we went away from the carbon, the ones that done the heat. Yeah, those were okay because they were at least connected.
Speaker 3:I'm talking when we've got them, ones that we sit in our seats there, that would connect sometime. Or the paper jam. I remember going out getting my first ticket early on the FOT. You know I was working on federal overtime. You out there, hit that thing, hit print and have nothing, nothing and it jammed up. You know I was working on federal overtime. You out there, hit that thing, hit print, nothing nothing and it jammed up.
Speaker 2:That was in my Canon printer.
Speaker 3:Yes, I was just screaming up for 20 minutes on the stop I couldn't print out this ticket. You know what, trevor? I was the reason we got them. Uh, oh well, here's the deal with the one so I had. That still sucks. I let that person go Went home. You know we had Went home, didn't work any. Came out on a day off to work that Got so mad at that printer. I think I broke it Pretty sure and went home. Wasted my time, wasted a bunch of that person's time. I'm serious. I'm on the side of the road for 30 minutes with them and like I can't get nothing done here. When I changed cars they was doing inventory. You know y'all do inventories on the cars. They found four printers in the back of my crib.
Speaker 3:That's one of the reasons. That's where the reason is.
Speaker 5:That reminds me of another story. So on those same printers, we always did have problems with them. Once we went to the thermal printers it was great, but those printers sucked.
Speaker 3:So we had thermal.
Speaker 2:See, I had mine connected directly. I didn't do no Bluetoothing.
Speaker 5:I ended up connecting mine, but I went through one. It didn't work. Little Lee got me another one. I don't he probably pulled? It out of one of the four that came out of your car and this is how I know it probably came out of your car.
Speaker 3:It wouldn't work either, and it was jammed that's because I smashed it, probably on the front we took it completely apart, and there was a corn dog stick stuck out. That's great. Let's do this some more. We'll end it here. We've got to keep coming back for some more of this. I don't know what the time is.
Speaker 5:We're close to two hours. That's good.
Speaker 3:Didn't it go by fast? I've enjoyed it, man, I have too. It's fun.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you guys bringing this in. I mean, I love it.
Speaker 3:Well, listen you guys, don't think you're in, You're always invited. I mean, what I'd like for you to do is let's bring those other guys in here.
Speaker 4:Well, steve Long is like a robot. He talks monotony, he tells some funny stories, but you'll never know it by the way he talks.
Speaker 1:So you get him in here and he's got a lot of little Doug Thomas disease he might embellish one to quantify more life.
Speaker 3:I didn't hear any lies.
Speaker 2:tonight I did have to tell one on stage before I leave. Yeah, and he was notorious for wearing that campaign hat while he was driving. Why he never took it off hard again. He didn't.
Speaker 4:It was a gold ball or something. No ball or something.
Speaker 2:No it had to be on his head. Well, he gets after a four-wheeler down in Pine Hill and he's driving, he's going around and we get in this man's yard.
Speaker 2:We're just doing donuts in this guy's yard, rooster tails are flying straight up and anyway his car gets stuck. It won't go well, he jumps out. When he jumps out I guess his head hits the, his hat hits the top of the car. Well, it flies off. He's running around. He's gone for 10 minutes and I'm'm out there and he's squalling. He does arrest the guy. He gets him arrested. I don't know how, but he did.
Speaker 2:And he said bring a car up here. I said I don't think I can get it out. He said see if you can get it out. I said, okay, I get in. I put it in reverse, it backs up. It backed up, kind of eased around, I get back up on the road, finally Pull up there. At first he said where's my hat at? I go, I don't know. I don't know where it's at. He ain't got it. You're using a gun. You're holding on to that thing like a baby holding on to a bottle. You're a stiff, tony, yeah. But anyway, we get the guy in the car. We we gotta go back down there and get my hat. I said, okay, well, we drive back down there and I I get out, we search around and I walk over it and I backed over it.
Speaker 6:I mean it oh yeah, he looks at him what I'll do now.
Speaker 2:I said, well, we'll get you a new one somewhere. He truly wore it everywhere he went he did, buddy, he is.
Speaker 4:I'll tell you a good one. Well, that's the story. It everywhere he went. He did, buddy. I'll tell you a good one. Well, that's the same thing. Tell the story about the night we were sitting at the 911 playing cards. Oh Did. I tell you have you told it before? I don't think so Hot mic.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we were sitting. We go to the sheriff's office. Actually, we were going to go play Rook or something probably yeah, it was late at night, it was raining.
Speaker 4:To all you listeners who raining and late at night go ahead.
Speaker 2:We get into the sheriff's office. We're sitting there and Steve walks in. He takes his hat off when he gets inside. We just tosses it like that over on the desk. We're on that desk, it's where the sheriff's office radio is, because it during the day the secretary would actually would do whatever, not the jail jailbird yeah well, he toss it over, keys the mic up. Of course we're unbeknownst to.
Speaker 3:You're at the sheriff's office. Yeah, we're at the sheriff's office, okay but it was that I could communicate.
Speaker 2:It was right, it was a yeah, we could communicate with other deputies, whatever. But anyway, keys the mic up and we're sitting there chitter-chattering and carrying on about doing this and doing that and what good talk. I would say that. But phone rings it. I said, hmm, it was like 2 o'clock in the morning or something like that. Hello, sheriff's Office. It was a deputy. He said I think you got your radio keyed up there. I go why. He said I'm hearing everything you said. I've heard everything you've all said. Of course there was a lot of public cuss. Who knows what I would say I don't remember. I do remember but I'm not going to tell it. Let's put it that way. I said oh my Lord.
Speaker 2:We're looking around everywhere and I just happened to glance over there on the desk and there was that big campaign. Hat Got that microphone keyed up. I grabbed that hat and said there throw it to him. Yeah, it wasn't good had a Spathagor, because back then everybody had a scanner. I mean there was no encryption or nothing like that. So everybody in scanner land heard everything we said. I'm surprised somebody didn't call and say you got a bunch of wild men up there. You can do something with that.
Speaker 5:I want to tell one of them You've got a bunch of wild men up there.
Speaker 4:You can do something.
Speaker 3:They were just sitting back with the popcorn. I want to tell one of them, doug Thomas. Oh, absolutely, we got all that. This is where I want it.
Speaker 4:We're getting tired. But we were sitting at Denny's one night. That's where we'd go Most nights of the week. We'd convene our police operations at Denny's at X-62. Oh yeah, and we all had the same things. We'd order Mine was a sampler, you couldn't beat them Denny's chicken strips and cheese sticks, buddy, listen, heaven. But anyway, we were sitting there and Doug was monotonous, I mean, he was just he would dip right there. Well, that night he was dipping in a Denny's cup. Now you know where this is going. Yep, and this is a tribute to our old, dear friend, now deceased buddy, jimmy Silver.
Speaker 4:And Jimmy was the gang leader. He'd mentored a bunch of us. We'd all sit around this table. It was a round table. If you go there to this day it's a Mexican restaurant, but that booth is still there, awesome. And Jimmy always sat in the same spot and we'd fill in around him and we'd laugh and talk. Well, jimmy got done eating and I believe he liked, was it Dr Pepper? Yeah, he loved Dr Pepper. Well, dr Pepper kind of looks like Ambeer Old Jimmy. He was thirsty, he was eating. I think Moons Over Miami was his favorite meal.
Speaker 4:Moons Over Miami was his favorite meal. Moons Over Miami. He was drinking and he rinsed and he got the wrong cup and he turned it up and down, it went and he went oh duh. And we started laughing. Jimmy didn't like to be the blood of the joke. I never did like to be the blood of the joke, but, boy, the joke was on him. Oh Doug, I'll kill you. You know what he said if it hadn't been anybody else, I'd have killed him.
Speaker 2:I'd have killed him oh Doug, yeah, he said it two, three times yeah, that was a oh bubba bubba.
Speaker 4:He quit drinking what, what the cup or the rest of we eating, and he quit using that for his big cup.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's awesome, it's awful but hey, listen, I appreciate you guys letting me come on. We've enjoyed it.
Speaker 5:We've got to sit back and kind of just listen to the caterwauling.
Speaker 4:Well, this dude here, man, I'm proud to call him my friend. We were buddies. I used to. I'd court to. He was a before he was a deputy. He was like the cashier at Carter's Market, not clerk. He was a desk before he was a deputy. He was like the cashier at Carter's Market, not clerk. He was an out clerk. He'd roll in at 11 and work till 7 in the morning and I'd court till Friday night and I used to think of reasons to leave my girlfriends early so I could go up and hang out with Bubba at Carter's.
Speaker 4:Market and I'd sit with him until 3 o'clock in the morning. We'd laugh and make fun of each other. But man, this guy's been my buddy for years, a long time. We've been through a lot together and I love him Love him like my brother. I never had that's awesome.
Speaker 4:I love you too I mean, I'd tell him that yesterday we rode four-wheelers yesterday and about every time I leave him I lot about dealing with people and you know and I know he did you fellas too just the interaction, social interaction. He's one of the best right there.
Speaker 2:I prayed all the kindness, I really appreciate it listen.
Speaker 5:This has been, this has been fun for me yeah, I've got to show it up too, and it's rare for me.
Speaker 3:I know. Sorry everybody, but I have. This is what I wanted. This is I have. This is what I wanted. This is you guys. This is what it's about, and I love getting out of just what we know, because I don't know all. We're friends. I've known you for a while but I had no idea all your stories and your shenanigans you got into and that's. We're going to continue this one we're going to have some fun.
Speaker 5:It's just as much entertaining to me as it is anybody listening, because it's just a lot of stories. I've heard the goal of this and what I've told.
Speaker 3:when I tell people like, hey, listen to this, we're just it's like man, you're on to something there. I'm like maybe we'll see We've got to get beyond just our little region, yeah, and get out there and spread, you know maybe this way I've got a couple.
Speaker 2:I'm sure Foote's got plenty.
Speaker 1:Oh I know, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Just get them. I mean, I don't know if you can do it remotely, or however you can do it. Listen, I'm ready to start traveling. I'm ready to start getting on the road. Don't know how barren it feels. Greg Brown. Yeah, he's a good storyteller, oh my gosh, yeah, I could tell one right now. I mean, you'd laugh, your honey, will he come on? You think, oh yeah, oh yeah, I believe he would Well save him.
Speaker 3:Then, yeah, I'm To sit right here without this mic in front of my face, hard to believe, and just listen to that and let you all have it. And that's what's fun about this, because I don't know everybody's story and I want to hear it Just as much. I like telling stuff and hearing it. I just want to sit back and just enjoy it and laugh at you, because there's some I mean we get into stupid stuff.
Speaker 2:I've met a couple guys down at Fletzy and one's a retired Louisiana State Trooper. We got to get him. Oh my God, I mean hey, we got to figure it out. He could bring you to tears, laughing, just like that.
Speaker 5:Does he have a Cajun accent?
Speaker 2:Not real bad, but you can tell he's from the South very much.
Speaker 3:So that's the goal. We'll keep bringing them in and y'all. It'd be cool. We don't have to be the MCs of it, we don't have to sit here, we can just do it. Y'all can do it.
Speaker 4:I'm old, I only know about three stories and I've done twice tonight.
Speaker 2:I'm scared to death. You've got plenty.
Speaker 3:That's what frightens me, but you've got to be careful with the ones you take what scares me is we get old and nobody the next generation behind us will never hear these funny stories that they can build off of and help their career, or just who we really are as people. Not just that badge that we wore yeah, but we're well, I'm into.
Speaker 2:I was telling hammer up at the courthouse the other day I said you know, I don't know nobody at the PD. Mm-hmm. I said do you think they remember who I am? Did they know who I? Probably not. So that's, that's really sad in a lot of ways. That make me know, makes you because you of course, you gain a lot of friends.
Speaker 5:You know the friends you used to work with they're there, but the new guys well they, they say you're relevant once you retire, you're relevant for about six months and then that's it. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I agree, I agree with that.
Speaker 3:And that deep in your heart you're like, that hurts because, I gave them so much, I broke bones, bled for them cried Well, that's the cool.
Speaker 4:Thing about what you guys are doing. It gives you to pay tribute to people who have gone before us. You know we talk about Jimmy a lot tonight, but we honor Jimmy. His wife, nancy, still mourns his loss, but I mean we honor him. Yeah, I'll tell you an example that backs up what I'm saying and this goes to all of you. This is a state police story, but you can insert London PD Laurel, so whatever you want to insert, because guys have paved the way and established the lines, the rules of engagement, if you will, long before we did so. This is a way to pay tribute and homage to them.
Speaker 4:But I was over on 577. It was on a Sunday afternoon and I turned on a. I mean, you all know what a drunk looks like. I'm talking to a bunch of seasoned professionals here. He had that red face, that cigarette dangling, and I met him. And to me, I tried to be a drunk hunter and Sunday afternoons was my best time. Friday and Saturday night was good, but I'm telling you Sunday afternoon wasn't. Anyway, I met him and I turned on him Old Kirby's, you know, 577, old Kirby Road. Well, I sped up about a mile and a half, couldn't find him. I know he turned off. So I turned around and went back, circled back to check on him and I rolled up on the driveway that had a trailer that ran perpendicular to the road or, I'm sorry, parallel to the road. It was even with the road and the driveway was gravel and there were skid marks going in the driveway. I thought, well, there he is. Well, I wheeled around and I pulled in the driveway and, sure enough, there's the vehicle that I turned on. Well, I'm young, I'm hunting a DUI and in my opinion, he ran for me.
Speaker 4:I knock on the door. Guy opens the door up and he says hey, trooper, how can I help you? I say I need to come in and I look and I see the guy I just met moments earlier sitting on the couch breathing heavy. I said I need to talk to that guy. He said well, come on in. So I gave a field sobriety test in the living room of that house. I know, I know I've got a former major and a former chief and you're going Sergeant, oh my God, what are you doing? But I'm a trooper, I'm hunting a DUI. Well, I gave him a few sobriety tests and I said, sir, are you going to jail for DUI. Well, the guy that opened the door and his six friends. They were playing pool and cards, they were drinking. He said, buddy, you ain't taking our friend to jail for dui I'm one guy and I ain't chuck norris.
Speaker 4:I can't whip three men, I can't whip two men. This is this is escalating to you gotta have the ron white mentality yeah, I don't know how many they it's gonna take, but I don't have any they're gonna use exactly, and uh, and you know, and everything that I teach was defined in that moment, right there, because they're watching me and I'm watching them. It's probably the only Clint Eastwood moment I've ever had in my whole career, but I'm scared to death.
Speaker 1:You talk about fear a while ago.
Speaker 4:T Dot I was scared to death because there's eight of them in there looking at me mad because I'm getting ready to take one of their dudes to jail. He said you ain't taking anybody to jail? And his friend looks at him and he said man, that's a Kentucky State Trooper you're talking to Now. That's a tribute to the men and women who have gone before me. Again, this is not just a trooper moment. This is the same thing. Could be London PD, that is. Or not just a trooper moment. This is the same thing. Could be London PD, that is. Or Laura Leso. That's a tribute to those who have paved my way and made it easier for me. Yeah, now that turned out they were willing to fight me, taking him for DUI, but post hollered a few minutes later and said 902, are you 10-12? I'm like, yeah, dummy, I'm standing here with them all.
Speaker 4:You know it's 10-4 that vehicle stole out of Corbin they was going to fight for a DUI. But when they heard that they sat back down and said bubby on y'all we ain't going on the map for a stolen vehicle.
Speaker 4:No honor among thieves, we're out on that one, but that was a credit right there to all. I tell that story when I get around police reunions and troop reunions because that's a credit to the gray-haired men right now who are feeble and getting old. But hey, listen, you paved the way for a guy like me and I hope that the young guys will say that about me.
Speaker 3:And they will, and that's the cool thing about it. Hopefully, even though we don't know them, their traditions and the things they hear from us. Hopefully we paved the way too, Made it a little easier for them. They've learned from our silly mistakes in life. That's part of it too. We took some hard ways, we did it the hard way sometimes. Maybe that helped them do it a little easier, a little smarter. I agree. Good, that's awesome. That's an awesome story.
Speaker 5:Alright we'll shut up Everybody good.
Speaker 2:Just one more.
Speaker 3:We'll keep going. This was so much fun.
Speaker 2:Thank you all so much. Thank you all for having us.
Speaker 5:Alright, guys, catch us on the next one. See ya, we'll see you next time.