0:00

So we had all gotten

0:02

together before the academy, we'd

0:04

been working out together. One

0:06

of the laterals at the time

0:08

was, I think he was 50, 52

0:10

maybe? Total, total, total, total

0:12

redneck. I mean, cowboy boots, he

0:15

was a rancher. We kind of knew

0:17

that we were going to show up to

0:19

this academy and it's going to be,

0:21

okay, let's go. And so we told

0:23

him, hey, you might want to go

0:25

put some tennis shoes on and get

0:28

ready for this. kicking our butts and

0:30

I'm like I don't think so and

0:32

he's like oh yeah we'll be fine

0:34

we show up they start yelling and

0:36

screaming they throw a bunch of these

0:38

PT clothes at us tells we got

0:40

30 seconds to change he comes back

0:42

in And he's wearing the new ISP

0:44

shorts, he's wearing the t-shirt, and you

0:46

know those hunting socks are gray and

0:49

they got the big red thing on

0:51

the top? He's got those pulled up

0:53

to his knees standing in his cowboy

0:55

boots, getting ready to get peteed. I

0:57

remember I got in trouble because I

0:59

couldn't stop laughing. Hey

1:14

everybody welcome back to the next episode

1:16

of Game of Crimes with Murphy in the

1:19

morning love that you guys keep coming back

1:21

every week Don't know what the heck's wrong

1:23

with you, but I do appreciate you and

1:25

don't ever think that I don't I know

1:27

this would be possible without any of you

1:30

We're coming without any of this would be

1:32

possible without any of you We're coming up

1:34

on the end of this would be possible

1:36

without any of you We're coming up on

1:38

the end of the end of the guy

1:41

for dropping out of this for that we

1:43

thing. Although, those that you listen to me

1:45

quite a bit, you know, my wife started

1:47

feeling sorry for him and now she's doing

1:49

all the editing of these podcasts. So if

1:51

you guys sound real good, it's because of

1:53

her. Should we sound like crap? It's cause

1:56

of her. I blame everything on her. Nothing's

1:58

my fault. I'm the husband, right? Anyway,

2:00

it's an honor to bring on

2:02

a super stud guest here again.

2:04

You can see this young gentleman

2:06

sitting here with a cute little

2:08

beard mustache. Ladies and gentlemen, this

2:10

is Justin Clitch. We're going to

2:12

call him Clitch because that's what

2:14

everybody calls him there at work.

2:16

Justin's a veteran of the United

2:18

States Coast Guard, so thank you

2:20

for your service there brother. He

2:22

is also still an active state

2:24

trooperper and detective with the Idaho

2:26

State Police with more than 20

2:29

years experience. Well, let's hope you say

2:31

that at the end of the show. You

2:33

see how the day goes, right? You're a

2:35

legend, brother, so this is cool. My own

2:37

mind, that's it. I tell you, my partner,

2:39

Javier, and I, we just got back last

2:42

night from a conference down in McAllen, Texas.

2:44

And I've never been to McCallon. I don't

2:46

know what I thought it was, but it's

2:48

not what I thought it was. What a

2:50

beautiful place. It's like a quarter million people

2:52

down there. We spoke at the Civic Center,

2:55

and it was as nice as any. Heck,

2:57

we've been in the Sydney Opera House over

2:59

in Australia, and it was as nice as that. Oh,

3:01

wow. The people were just fantastic. I mean,

3:03

they make you want to go back. I

3:05

guess that's a good compliment to give us.

3:08

That's awesome. So any of the folks that

3:10

are listening down there, thank y'all for

3:12

it was the South Texas All Hazards

3:14

Conference. So had first responders from all

3:16

FEMA, FEMA, police, fire, EMS, everybody was

3:18

down there. So great trip though. Thank

3:20

you very much. And some pretty good

3:22

Mexican food. You're six miles north of the

3:24

border. You might get a little authentic food

3:26

down there. So for our listers here, as

3:28

you know, our next thing up is our

3:30

small town police blotter. And before we get

3:33

started, I got to give you our disclaimer.

3:35

This is a show about crime. We talk about

3:37

bad people doing bad things. We talk about

3:39

bad people doing bad things to good people.

3:41

Now we take our stories here on game

3:43

of crimes very serious. We're never going to

3:45

miss an opportunity to have a little laugh

3:48

at some of the stupid thing these criminals

3:50

do out here. And we got two doozies

3:52

for you today. Klitch has one here from

3:54

Idaho. Now you know where I'm coming from

3:57

Florida. So Klitch, take it away there brother.

3:59

All right, meet Rocky Fisher. 35-year-old bank

4:01

robbery suspect was wearing a t-shirt

4:03

declaring it's all fun and games

4:05

till the cops show up. When

4:08

police showed up and arrested him

4:10

as he exited an Idaho

4:12

motel. Fisher and Jennifer Balf

4:14

19 were collared in connection

4:16

with Friday's robbery of a U.S.

4:18

bank branch and Cottonwood Idaho

4:20

population 900. They were each

4:23

jailed on robbery, burglary, and

4:25

grand theft counts. Investigators

4:27

reportedly gone on Fisher's Tale after receiving

4:29

an anonymous tip that a man matching

4:31

the suspect's description had been spending wads

4:33

of cash at a local casino. And

4:35

that folks is why you can't fix

4:37

stupid. You know, and that last thing

4:39

is the key to all of it.

4:41

I finally got a little cash in

4:43

my pocket so when am I going

4:45

to go flying in front of everybody

4:47

and I'm going to throw it away

4:49

in a casino. Job security. For us, you're

4:51

exactly right. That's what we say. People

4:54

used to say, you think you ever

4:56

going to stop the war on drugs?

4:58

It's job security. I mean, we got

5:00

the best job security anybody in the

5:02

world. That's true. Thanks for playing in

5:04

that, brother. I got one, of course,

5:07

from Florida. And ladies of gentlemen, actually,

5:09

there's a show here called Florida Man

5:11

that talks, there's so many stupid criminals

5:13

in our state that there's a show

5:15

about it. So he writes books and

5:17

everything. This guy seems to make a

5:20

habit of starting fights. This time he

5:22

picked on the wrong guy. 50-year-old Omar

5:24

Marrero attacked a former MMA fighter with

5:26

a 14-inch knife. Dumb-ass move. And you

5:28

guessed it. It's in well for the Florida

5:30

man. It was around 4am the former

5:32

fighters. He's just pulling up in a

5:34

parking space. And this jerk, Marrero, he

5:37

starts banging on the guy's window with

5:39

a knife. I know what would happen

5:41

in my car. I know what would happen

5:43

in my car. I'm pretty sure it happened

5:45

in yours too. Marrero then opened the

5:47

driver's door and tried to cut the

5:49

guy, tried to cut the MMA fighter.

5:51

So as you can guess, things escalated

5:53

very quickly. Now this is former MMA

5:55

fighter Javier Baez. He explains what happened.

5:57

He said the guy was out there screaming.

5:59

on the phone literally was fighting for a while

6:02

with some woman he tapped on my car window

6:04

I told him to leave me alone and then

6:06

he came at me with a knife I told

6:08

him to leave me alone I'm calling the cops

6:10

I hope he doesn't break my window when

6:12

you train so many times and I believe

6:14

this it becomes reflective which is why you

6:17

train you develop muscle memory so he said

6:19

he goes on to say once he came

6:21

to that it's all instincts I could

6:23

do much but react I've been training

6:25

my whole life, Black Belt, Jiu-Jitsu, wrestled

6:28

in college, I've got eight pro fights,

6:30

MMA masters, I've got great training partners.

6:32

So what happened? Mr. Marrero, he just

6:34

got a good old-fashioned Southern Florida ass.

6:37

Well, that's exactly what happened. Bias Dodds,

6:39

instead of Florida man, they called him

6:41

lunging man. Then he body slammed him

6:43

and he held him down with his

6:46

knee until the cops got there. Marrero

6:48

was charged with burglary, assault, and battery,

6:50

and battery, and also aggravated battery. Dude,

6:53

find a different line of work,

6:55

because you're not going to make

6:57

it, is you think you're a

6:59

Billy badass? There's always one out there

7:01

worse than you are. Anyway, that's it

7:03

for this week's small town police water.

7:05

Again, Clitch, thanks for playing along. I

7:07

know it's kind of silly, but when

7:09

you talk about crime and criminals, it

7:11

can tend to be a dark topic.

7:13

That's why we have to try to

7:15

put a little humor in this show.

7:17

And I've actually tried to take this

7:19

out and our loyal listeners keep coming,

7:21

and I've actually tried to take this out

7:23

and our loyal listeners keep coming back,

7:26

and I've actually tried to take this

7:28

out and our loyal here, and our

7:30

loyal listeners keep on, who this was.

7:32

when we first logged on to here

7:35

to start the interview. I'm putting this

7:37

on here because it comes from Tyler

7:39

Hoover, who's one of the co-hosts on

7:41

the anti-hero podcast. You may have seen

7:44

my interview on their month or two

7:46

ago. Love these guys. They're a hoot.

7:48

His partner is Brent Tucker. And when

7:50

you do an interview with them, Brent

7:53

owns a cigar company. So you get

7:55

free cigars to smoke while you're doing

7:57

the interview. That's the part I like.

8:00

Just a shout out to the boys over

8:02

at Anti Hero Podcast, thank you for the

8:04

shirts. You guys know, free is me, free

8:06

99, that's Merf, and this was a free

8:08

t-shirt. So, take the time to send me

8:11

a t-shirt, I'm gonna be able to shout

8:13

out. All right. Okay, enough of the silliness.

8:15

Now who's this guy we brought? Oh, Clitch,

8:17

yeah, sorry, I keep talking, and you're not.

8:19

That's not what it supposed to be about.

8:22

So just quickly how we met, if you

8:24

guys remember on episode 185 that just came

8:26

out on February 24th of this year, that

8:28

was Zach Schofstahl. And if you remember, Zach

8:31

was the FBI agent that got screwed over

8:33

for maintaining his integrity. He did the right

8:35

thing. He stood up for his people. He

8:37

didn't count down to whatever politics was involved

8:40

and you go figure it out. If you

8:42

hadn't heard his episode, go listen to it.

8:44

He got real rooted out of the FBI

8:46

and he still doesn't have a job.

8:48

Fortunately for him, his father had

8:50

built a company called Sharpe's Arms, I

8:53

guess, is the name of the company.

8:55

And if you don't know what a

8:57

Sharpe's rifle is, go look that up.

9:00

That's just like that MMA fighter. It

9:02

will kick your ass. It's a tough

9:04

gun, man. That's the Buffalo gun.

9:06

So Zach sent me a message and

9:09

he said, hey, I got some good

9:11

buddies out here. And he said, there's

9:13

Idaho State Trooper, you probably want to

9:15

talk to. And we want to talk

9:17

about that video here in a little

9:20

while. You guys know how to do

9:22

a pit maneuver right now. I wouldn't

9:24

call it a pit maneuver, but yeah,

9:26

I put it started out. I put

9:28

it in to it for sure. Absolutely.

9:31

And so we'll talk about that here

9:33

in a little bit. But man, I

9:35

mean, when you spun that guy and

9:37

then bam, rolled him right over. I

9:39

even showed it to my wife. She's

9:41

like, oh my gosh, I love that.

9:43

All good stuff here. Clitch, what we

9:46

usually do to get started is tell

9:48

us a little bit about your background,

9:50

where you grew up, what you find

9:52

family dynamics, others and sisters, going through

9:54

school and sports, that kind of thing.

9:56

Yeah, so I'm a third generation cop.

9:58

My grandpa was a local PD. officer

10:00

in central Ohio. Both my parents

10:02

are Army veterans. They met in

10:04

the Army. I got married, had me,

10:06

well, they were stationed in Indianapolis.

10:08

They were both MPs in the

10:10

Army. And then when I was about

10:13

six months old, they moved to

10:15

Idaho. My mom got a job

10:17

with the Sheriff's Office as a

10:19

jailer. And my dad got hired

10:21

with Idaho State Police, where he

10:23

spent almost 30 years working for

10:25

the same agency I work for now.

10:27

What was the attraction in Idaho,

10:29

going from Ohio to Idaho? My

10:32

mom was from Idaho. Okay. Dad

10:34

was from Ohio. And I think dad

10:36

had just put a bunch of applications

10:38

in everywhere and he liked the idea

10:41

of the Idaho State Police, even though

10:43

they only paid like $4.25 an hour.

10:45

I actually grew up, but I grew

10:47

up in a trailer park in Southeast

10:50

Idaho, a pretty rough trailer park.

10:52

So, I mean, the stories as a kid. I remember

10:54

at least one time where... dad came down to

10:56

our rooms grabbed his all brought us to his

10:58

room only to find out a guy that he

11:00

had arrested that threatened to kill him was had

11:02

climbed a tree in our yard and was sitting

11:04

in the tree and then dad runs out in

11:06

his underwear chases him down arrest him but it

11:08

was something like that every week I bet you

11:10

once a week he'd send me go get my

11:12

handcuffs I'd have to run we'd be at the

11:14

park I'd have to run to the house get

11:16

his handcuffs bring him down there so he could

11:18

arrest somebody huffing pain pain at the pain at

11:20

the park and pain at the park or you

11:23

name at the park or you name At his retirement

11:25

party it was kind of

11:27

funny because one of the guys

11:29

that worked with them got up and spoke

11:31

and they said that dad was the only

11:33

person they ever heard check into service

11:35

and in pursuit at the same time.

11:37

I'm ten-eight sent back up. I love

11:39

it! Yeah, so that's kind of how

11:41

I grew up. I never wanted to

11:43

be a cop. I watched dad and

11:45

the sacrifices that the job took and

11:47

just the sacrifice on a family to

11:49

do this line of work, as you

11:51

well know. I mean, to be a

11:53

good cop takes a lot of sacrifice

11:55

and your family suffers because of it.

11:57

And oftentimes the kids, they struggle through.

12:00

school, they have relationship issues, all kinds of

12:02

problems from that kind of lifestyle. But dad

12:04

made a big difference. He saved and changed

12:06

a lot of lives over his career, but

12:08

it just wasn't something I was interested in.

12:11

It wasn't until I got into the Coast

12:13

Guard and then was stationed in Puerto

12:15

Rico that I kind of got that itch for

12:17

law enforcement, that kind of run and gun.

12:19

And I came to the Idaho State Police

12:22

because dad didn't want me to come to

12:24

the Idaho State Police. And I was like,

12:26

well, I'm going to show you. Yeah, so

12:28

here I am today now after after almost

12:31

20 years, so Just to back up a

12:33

second. They're talking about our families. That's I

12:35

refer to them as the unsung heroes absolutely

12:37

Because the kind of the mercy of what

12:39

we do Whether we're doing it out because

12:41

we want to help our family man

12:44

or we just want an exciting lifestyle

12:46

right in this little bit of both

12:48

there I mean to be honest and

12:51

we all enjoy that excitement that adrenaline

12:53

rush and taking down bad guys, but

12:55

they don't get the credit they never get the

12:57

credit they deserve so big shout out to the

12:59

families of law enforcement military and all first responders.

13:01

100% putting up with our crap and letting us

13:03

go do what we think is the right thing

13:05

to do. I'm pretty sure you think it is

13:07

too because we are helping our fellow man. I

13:10

want to ask you why did you go to

13:12

the Coast Guard? What was that all about? Or

13:14

wait, let's go back to high school first of

13:16

all because you're not a little man. How big

13:18

are you? And I thought you looked

13:20

big in your picture. Maybe there's other

13:22

years. Hey, trademark of a good cop.

13:24

Never saw a donut shop we did

13:27

like. But I saw pictures of

13:29

it. It must have been some

13:31

short guys you're standing with because

13:33

you're taller than everybody else. Those

13:35

pictures. Don't tell them I said that.

13:38

The water in Idaho makes them short.

13:40

But did you play any sports in

13:42

high school? That helped keep you out

13:44

of trouble? Yeah. So I played football.

13:46

pretty much only when I was consistent

13:49

with and loved and had a passion

13:51

for. So yeah, that's really the sport I

13:53

loved. I grew up in, I went to

13:55

high school in southern Idaho and then my

13:57

senior year, I ended up going to Ohio.

14:00

with my uncles who were also both

14:02

cops at one point in their lives.

14:04

One of my uncle was retired.

14:06

I took a medical retirement from

14:08

an agency in Ohio. Anyway, I

14:10

went out to Ohio, was kind

14:12

of struggling my senior year and

14:14

went out there with my uncles

14:16

and ended up graduating in Ohio

14:18

from high school out there. So, got

14:21

a scholarship to play college football.

14:23

I know. I've been a smart eyes, I'm

14:25

sorry. But how did you, how did

14:27

you select a Coast Guard at all

14:30

the branches of the military? So

14:32

my uncle had, or was in the

14:34

Coast Guard, he was actually a pretty

14:36

high level enlisted person in the

14:38

Coast Guard. So I had a little understanding

14:41

of the Coast Guard and what they

14:43

did. And at the time in 2001,

14:45

this was right before 9-11, I wanted

14:47

to go into a branch that was

14:49

active and doing some things that... I

14:51

didn't want to sit around and just

14:53

wait, you know, like and train for

14:56

what may happen. I knew the Coast

14:58

Guard, you'd be throwing into work right

15:00

away, you'd be doing the missions set

15:02

right away. That appealed to me, and

15:04

if we'd only known that 9-11 was

15:06

going to happen, I might have taken

15:09

a different route, but shortly after boot

15:11

camp, I got shipped to Kodiak Alaska

15:13

on a ship up there. Yeah, it

15:15

was actually an awesome experience, except I

15:17

wasn't 21, so I couldn't drink. And

15:19

you got to be Brad Pitt to get

15:22

laid. So I'm not very many women

15:24

up there, but a little tough for

15:26

a 18-year-old kid. But went up there,

15:28

and then shortly after I got up

15:30

there, we're sitting on the mess deck.

15:32

It was about breakfast time and Kodiak

15:34

and drinking coffee and eating some breakfast.

15:36

And that's when the TV screen had

15:38

the planes going into the towers. And

15:40

the Coast Guard changed from that day

15:42

on, it wasn't the same. I remember we

15:45

got called back to the ship, got underway,

15:47

and then we sat in the harbor at

15:49

Kodiak protecting, I don't know what, but we

15:51

felt like we had to do something. Yeah,

15:54

that was a game changer, changed their

15:56

whole mission set, and it was a pretty

15:58

active five years after that. So

16:00

yeah, it's funny how everybody remembers

16:02

where they were on on 9-11

16:05

2001 and I can tell you

16:07

a funny story because you'll appreciate

16:09

it. I was assigned I just

16:11

got into our special operations division

16:14

up in Washington and we're at

16:16

this secret facility out in the

16:18

Lord Virginia down on I-95 and

16:21

I'm like the token southern guy

16:23

there. Everybody else is from New

16:25

York, New England, a couple guys

16:27

from LA, and here comes to

16:29

Country Bumpton, from West Virginia and

16:32

Tennessee, transferred in from Atlanta. And my

16:34

boss was from Long Island. He was

16:36

an, what we call assistant special, he's

16:38

a charge, he's a charge, you know,

16:40

when a day seconds. And so we

16:42

go in his office and we're watching

16:44

it, we're watching the towers, and I

16:46

mean it's spookyy. And then we see

16:48

the second plane, So our big boss

16:51

came out and put out to the

16:53

second level bosses, all right, let's get

16:55

security out in our building here just

16:57

in case because things were just going

16:59

crazy in DC. And we were probably

17:01

15 to 20 miles south of DC

17:04

at that time, DC proper. So our

17:06

boss is going to say, all right,

17:08

everybody, we're going to do shifts in

17:10

the parking lots around here. Who's got

17:12

a gun? And out of, I don't know,

17:14

80, 90 agents, I think there were four

17:16

of us that had our guns with us.

17:18

Well, here's the funny part. We're

17:20

located, we're not in that site anymore,

17:23

so I can tell where the site

17:25

is now. It's in Lorton, Virginia, right

17:27

across the road from the aviation fuel

17:30

tanks for National Airport. So if they

17:32

want to hit a target and

17:34

they hit those tanks, we're vaporized.

17:36

It sure was crazy and I'd

17:39

like to say we learned our

17:41

lesson but you don't know how

17:43

so you do what little thing

17:46

you think might help. What a

17:48

time. I mean just thank God

17:51

we got through that safely. It

17:53

sure was crazy and I'd like

17:55

to say we learned our lesson

17:58

but I'm not sure. It's scary

18:00

what's coming in and what we're

18:02

facing. How quickly we forget. Yeah,

18:04

I think that's the number one

18:06

threat to law enforcement is just

18:08

we're so inundated with the drugs

18:11

and other crimes that we just

18:13

don't have the time to focus

18:15

and be prepared for if something

18:17

happens like that again. It's just

18:19

unfortunate, but it's just the reality

18:21

of the situation we're in and

18:23

the time and the lack of

18:25

manpower we have. Yep, that's absolutely right.

18:27

Then we got these idiots that are to

18:29

fund the police. What a stupid thing to

18:31

do. I don't care what race you are,

18:33

I don't care what political party you are,

18:35

I don't care if you're male, female, or

18:38

you pretend to be something else. I really

18:40

don't care. But if that's what you believe,

18:42

he's going to live in a third world

18:44

country. Find out what life is without law

18:46

enforcement and then see if you want to come

18:48

back. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So how

18:50

long did you stay in Alaska before you

18:53

headed? You mentioned Puerto Rico. So I got

18:55

out of there as fast as I could.

18:57

So I actually, when I went to Alaska,

18:59

I didn't have a job. I was called

19:02

a non-rate. which they send out from boot

19:04

camp out into the field and you can

19:06

kind of get an idea of what jobs

19:08

there is and so I learned which job

19:10

was the fastest to get out to get

19:13

to a school so I could get a

19:15

job and it was actually a quartermaster job

19:17

which basically they run all the navigation for

19:19

ships at that time. So I went to

19:21

that school and And as any, your decisions

19:24

you make as a kid, it's just, it's

19:26

just crazy. But so at the school, at

19:28

the end of it, you get to, you

19:30

get several choices on where you want to

19:33

go. I picked Puerto Rico, and the sole

19:35

reason I picked Puerto Rico is you only

19:37

had to be 18 to drink. Probably, brother.

19:39

Yeah, so I went to Puerto

19:41

Rico, I was stationed on two

19:44

different. 110 foot patrol boats down

19:46

there which at that time was

19:48

our fastest ship and it was

19:50

just counter drug and counter immigration

19:52

operations non-stop and of course with

19:55

9-11 the security was the

19:57

highest priority so we were underway

19:59

a lot. and had a great time.

20:01

It was such a great place to

20:03

work and learned a lot about myself

20:05

and met my beautiful wife down there.

20:07

We've been married for 22 years now.

20:10

Congratulations. Yeah, it was awesome

20:12

experience. Is she Puerto Rican? She

20:14

is. Do you speak Spanish now? Enough

20:17

to put you in handcuffs. Do you

20:19

know when she's fussing at you in

20:21

Spanish? Well, if she's talking to me

20:23

in Spanish, I'm in deep trouble. So

20:25

I don't even need to understand what

20:27

she's saying. I know I'm in trouble.

20:29

Do you guys get to go back

20:31

to PR very often to visit her

20:34

family, things like that? So once we

20:36

moved back to P.R. very often to

20:38

visit her family, things like that. So

20:40

once we moved back to P.R.R. very

20:42

often to visit her family, things. It's

20:44

just been awesome. It's great for the

20:46

kids. And then her dad lives in

20:48

southern Idaho. So her grandparents still live

20:50

down there. We've made a couple trips

20:52

back there, but we've kind of found

20:54

a love for Costa Rica. When we

20:56

go on trips, we like to go down to

20:59

Costa Rica. Beautiful down there, really.

21:01

Oh, that's awesome, yeah. Man, you got

21:03

both oceans, you got rainforests, you got

21:05

volcanoes, just beautiful. It is. Except in

21:07

San Jose. Did they ever put street

21:09

signs up on the corners in San

21:11

Jose? You know, I haven't been to

21:13

San Jose. I always have flown into

21:16

Liberia, so I haven't had to go

21:18

that far south. We went there a teeny

21:20

while we were in Columbia, and they

21:22

told us, listen, when you're driving, don't

21:24

look for street signs, because they don't

21:26

exist, when you get directions there, and

21:28

they go, go down to the third

21:30

white house on the right, look for

21:32

the big oak, look for the big

21:34

oak tree, and that's back there. Now

21:36

did you also do some time on

21:38

driving the smaller boats there? Yeah, so during

21:41

that time I was in Puerto Rico, my

21:43

job actually kind of merged it with you

21:45

had two choices. You could go and be

21:47

a boats inmate, which is basically the Coxons

21:49

and the people that drive the boats and

21:52

the people that do most of the law

21:54

enforcement or you could go and be sitting

21:56

a radio room. So I chose the boats

21:58

and mate route and And so I'd been

22:01

in Kodiak and then I'd been in

22:03

Puerto Rico and in the Coast Guard,

22:05

that's considered overseas because that's their only

22:07

two overseas locations. And so I was

22:09

supposed to get my first pick. So

22:11

I put all West Coast stations and

22:13

I really wanted to go to Coos

22:15

Bay. And I was actually in Louisiana

22:18

and I'm sitting at a table, my

22:20

captain's at one end, I'm at the

22:22

other end. And he's like, hey, I

22:24

got your orders for where you're going

22:26

next. And he gives it to me.

22:28

and it said the Chigan City Indiana

22:30

and I didn't even know there was

22:32

water there. And I was so pissed

22:34

off I was eating this shrimp poor

22:36

boy and I chucked it barely missed

22:39

hitting him in the head and hit

22:41

the window behind him because at the

22:43

time I was upset he knew where

22:45

I wanted to go and I expected

22:47

him to fight for me to get

22:49

to where I wanted to go and

22:51

he thought it was funny. And I

22:53

didn't think it was so funny. Then

22:55

he agreed to go to bat for

22:58

me and try and get a change.

23:00

And then I'm like, well, if you

23:02

go to the detailer who assigns these

23:04

and complain, he's probably going to send

23:06

me to, who knows where, New York

23:08

City or I said, no, I'll just

23:10

go there. And it actually was a

23:12

great decision. We loved it there. It

23:14

was on Lake Michigan. I got to

23:17

further my law enforcement experience there. It

23:19

was obviously different. But I remember, I

23:21

think I got like a. couple ounces

23:23

of weed off a boat one time

23:25

and I thought I was this big

23:27

drug interdictor and it was a great

23:29

experience and Then at the at the

23:31

end I had a choice. I got

23:33

assigned to a recruiting station in Boise

23:35

So I had a choice to go

23:38

there or get out and I'd already

23:40

had several applications out all over the

23:42

country and the day the day I

23:44

got off active duty I actually started

23:46

with the Idaho State Police so Wow

23:48

really that quick. Yeah, the timing was

23:50

yeah, it just worked out that way

23:52

We probably has some terminal leave time

23:54

to take right? Yeah, I had a

23:57

month and a half or so, but

23:59

yeah, the timing was perfect so I

24:01

guess it was meant to be. And

24:03

the dad fights at that point because

24:05

he didn't want you to join?

24:07

Yeah he just all the cops

24:10

are notorious for only thinking about

24:12

the negative right so yeah. He just

24:14

thought about the negative with the agency,

24:16

which every agency has their problems. It's

24:19

not an agency problem. It's a leadership

24:21

problem really is what it is. But

24:23

thankfully a lot of changed from when

24:25

he had come up the ranks and

24:28

yeah, it's been a great agency. They've

24:30

been great to me. It's been a

24:32

great experience. I've had every opportunity that

24:35

you could possibly imagine. Idaho supports law

24:37

enforcement. Our agency doesn't pay a lot.

24:39

But they really take care of as

24:41

equipment wise and training and... Yeah, it's

24:44

a very professional agency, so

24:46

I've been fortunate to, for

24:48

the most part, just have a

24:50

ton of fun and kick some

24:52

butt out there. What year was

24:54

it to join them? 2006. Do

24:57

that just update my notes here a

24:59

little bit? I don't know why just

25:01

because I'm I'm anal retentive My wife

25:03

says I'm not anal. She says I'm

25:05

an asshole She's probably right. Yeah, it's

25:07

funny that you talked about going to

25:09

Indiana And I like the way you've

25:12

talked about going to Indiana and I

25:14

like the way you've turned it afterwards

25:16

that you were fortunate Because I don't

25:18

believe in luck and I don't believe

25:20

in so incidents I think I believe

25:22

things happen for a reason to be

25:25

quite every year a bunch of the

25:27

guys I was stationed with

25:29

in Indiana. They all fly

25:31

out here to Idaho and

25:33

we do a two-week elk

25:35

hunt. So, yeah, and it's, we've

25:37

all, over the past 22

25:39

years, we've all gone our

25:41

separate ways and found our careers,

25:43

but we've all had an impact on

25:45

each other in one way or another.

25:48

One of them works for customs, another

25:50

one. He was the hardest working guy

25:52

I'd ever worked with in the Coast

25:54

Guard, but he had no motivation to

25:56

move through the ranks. He just wanted

25:59

to do it. his time and get

26:01

out and he really didn't have

26:03

a plan. So I remember when I

26:05

got hired with ISP, I brought

26:07

him out to Idaho and he went

26:09

to a power lineman college and

26:11

now he's making triple what I make,

26:13

but we all had a positive

26:15

impact on each other and you need

26:17

those friendships. So had I

26:19

not gotten to Indiana, I

26:21

wouldn't have those friendships

26:23

that changed my life and helped me through

26:25

the dark times and keep me motivated and

26:27

support my family. So yeah, it's been a

26:29

real blessing to have had that experience for

26:31

sure. Yep, I'm with you brother, as a

26:33

Christian I believe the good man upstairs has

26:35

a plan for all of us. 100%. I

26:37

just don't believe in coincidence and luck. No,

26:39

no. And we all say it, I say

26:41

it on emails, good luck in your assignment

26:43

or whatever and no one I don't even

26:46

believe in it, but it's just terminology I

26:48

guess. So

26:50

where are you in Idaho to go through their

26:52

state police academy? That's down in Boise. Boise,

26:56

okay. And how long's your academy? At

26:58

that time it was, they've since

27:00

changed this but you would go through

27:02

the Idaho Police Officer Academy so

27:04

you'd go with all the other agencies

27:06

and I think that was 10

27:08

weeks at the time and then after

27:10

that 10 week academy then you'd

27:12

go to the Idaho State Police Stress

27:14

Academy which was another 12 or 16

27:17

weeks. So it's a long time

27:19

to get through all those academies.

27:21

Now we just do it all

27:23

on house so they don't go

27:25

to the Idaho Post Academy.

27:28

We've got our own

27:30

academy which I'm not a big

27:32

fan of because those relationships you

27:34

build with those allied agencies going

27:36

through that initial police academy last

27:38

a lifetime. I can't tell you

27:40

how many times those relationships have helped

27:42

me over the years. But

27:44

it is what it is, I

27:46

don't get to make those decisions. But

27:48

yeah, so I went to the Stress

27:51

Academy. The police academy was super easy,

27:53

chill. And then I thought boot camp

27:55

was difficult. That stress

27:57

academy was something else. I mean,

27:59

yeah. The basic academy, did

28:01

you have to live there at night

28:04

time? Yeah, yeah, we lived on hosts

28:06

during both academies. During the initial one,

28:08

you got a lot more freedom and

28:10

you can kind of go out at

28:13

night and stuff like that, but then

28:15

you're welcome to ISP with zero freedom

28:17

and a lot of running. You belong

28:20

to me now? What time of year

28:22

was it that you were at the

28:24

stress academy? It was winter. You guys

28:26

get cold winters, don't you? Yeah, you're

28:29

hosed either way. You're either, it's either

28:31

hotter than heck, because Boise's down

28:34

in the desert, or it's colder

28:36

than heck in the winter, so

28:38

I'm not sure which one's worse,

28:41

but it's gonna suck regardless. I

28:43

don't, it could be the perfect

28:45

weather, it's gonna suck. Yeah. Did

28:48

you get weekends off? And I try

28:50

and forget about most of it,

28:52

honestly. But yeah, it was definitely a

28:54

challenge. I wasn't quite expecting it

28:56

to be, because you'd gone through boot

28:59

camp. And I think the biggest thing

29:01

with boot camp is you've got 80

29:03

people from across the country and

29:05

there's always going to be a couple

29:08

idiots, right? Oh yeah. Take all the attention.

29:10

Well, at ISP, these were all squared away

29:12

guys and it was equal attention to

29:14

everybody. So, yeah, so. How many guys are in

29:16

your class? I think there was about 15

29:18

of us. Lost a few of the first

29:20

week, as is pretty common. We always lose

29:23

it to you the first week. And then

29:25

we, yeah, after the first week, I

29:27

think everybody kind of made it

29:29

through and all kind of took different

29:31

paths. Looking back on it, because you

29:34

still work with these guys around the

29:36

state, I think a lot of them

29:38

left our agency. Every one of them's

29:40

promoted. Yeah, it was a good group

29:43

of guys. Was there any women in

29:45

your class? We had one, but she

29:47

disappeared the first night. It was crazy.

29:50

I don't think she told anybody or

29:52

anything. She just disappeared. So, yeah. I

29:54

went through the West Virginia State Police

29:57

Academy originally back in 76, but then

29:59

with DEA. And the state police academy was

30:01

living academy, got to go home on weekends. And

30:03

the EEA, after five weeks, you got to go

30:05

home on a week. Or you could have a

30:07

little bit of freedom like you're talking about. But

30:09

we would have people that you'd wake up and go

30:11

to class the next day after PT or something.

30:13

And they got these tiered classrooms. There'd be an

30:16

empty seat and the name tags going on. What

30:18

happened to him? What happened to her? You don't

30:20

need to know. It's a need to know. We

30:22

had one guy in our class. He was massive.

30:24

He's a big man. He looked like a bodybuilder,

30:26

broad shoulders, just tone, six-pack, oh boy. I got

30:28

the keg here. He's got the six-pack going. And

30:30

when it came to academics, he was scoring the

30:32

top end of class. And then we went to

30:34

the range. His profession was a chemist. And we're

30:36

all wondering, what the hell are you even doing

30:38

here to be an agent? He didn't know that

30:40

we carried weapons. Yeah, so, I mean, we've been

30:42

in it for a couple weeks when we come

30:44

to class one day and he's gone. Like, that

30:46

was going to be our number one student. Nope,

30:48

I'm believable. Some people just aren't cut out for this.

30:51

I mean, it's just a fact. The job, and it

30:53

doesn't mean they're bad people. It takes a different kind

30:55

of mindset and different kind of mindset and different skill

30:57

set and different skill set and different skill set to

30:59

get through this skill set to get through this job

31:01

to get through this job for sure. It does and

31:04

it helps if you got a few

31:06

screws loose up here too. Like when

31:08

I shake I hear water. Dirty muddy

31:10

water up there. But do you think

31:12

were they equally tough on everybody or

31:14

do you think your dad might have

31:16

made a phone call? No, I think

31:19

they were actually I know they were

31:21

a little bit easier on us that

31:23

were veterans because they knew we'd already

31:25

been through the head games and we'd

31:27

already been through this once before. They

31:29

were still hard on us but if

31:31

you weren't a veteran. We were a

31:34

pretty tight group, so we had all

31:36

gotten together before the academy. We'd been

31:38

working out together. We had plans, we

31:40

were organized, we were ready to go.

31:43

Except two of the folks were lateral,

31:45

so they never got to really join

31:47

us on anything. So they show up,

31:50

we meet for breakfast the morning, we're

31:52

going to the academy. One of the

31:54

laterals at the time was, I think

31:56

he was 52 maybe, 50 or 52. Total

31:58

redneck. I mean. Boy boots, the hole,

32:01

he was a rancher. And we kind of knew

32:03

that we were going to show up to

32:05

this academy and it's going to be, okay,

32:07

let's go. And so we told him, we

32:09

said, hey, you might want to go put

32:11

some tennis shoes on and get ready for

32:14

this. And he's like, no, they're going to

32:16

give us time to go change before they

32:18

start kicking our butts. And I'm like, I

32:20

don't think so. And he's like, oh, oh,

32:22

yeah, we'll be fine. So anyway we show

32:25

up they start yelling and screaming they

32:27

throw a bunch of these PT clothes

32:29

at us tells we got 30 seconds

32:31

to change and he comes back in

32:33

and he's wearing the new ISP shorts

32:36

he's wearing the t-shirt and you know

32:38

those hunting socks are gray and they

32:40

got the big red thing on the

32:42

top he's got those pulled up to

32:44

his knees standing in his cowboy boots.

32:47

Get ready to get PT'd I remember

32:49

I got in trouble because I couldn't

32:51

stop laughing. I couldn't stop laughing. I

32:53

didn't care what they were going

32:55

to do to me. I could

32:57

not stop laughing. It was just

32:59

so funny. Now that would have

33:01

been a picture. It was something

33:03

I'll never forget. But yeah, he

33:06

still works for. I guess 72

33:08

now, 70 or 72. Oh, he made

33:10

it through, huh? Oh yeah, he was

33:12

a stud. Yeah, but. He never lived

33:14

that story. No, no. We still get

33:16

together, we laughed about that. So

33:18

for sure. In law enforcement, we always

33:21

remember the worst about each other. We

33:23

don't remember the good things. No, no.

33:25

We like to eat each other up

33:27

for sure. Yes, we do. But nobody

33:30

else could pick on us. No, true. That's

33:32

all in-house. Oh, yeah. Oh, Lord, I

33:34

gotta catch my breath through. That's how I

33:36

can just see that guy. Got those red

33:38

rings around his socks. Yeah. Actually,

33:41

well, those instructors are like, well,

33:43

you ain't from around here, are

33:45

you? That's hilarious. How many sworn

33:47

officers there are there on the

33:49

Idaho State Police? I think we're

33:51

between three and 400. Man, we've lost

33:53

a lot the past year, year and a

33:55

half, so we're probably in that low 300s,

33:58

I would guess. Do you know how many?

34:00

they're authorized to have? I think it's

34:02

right around 400. Which is not a

34:04

lot for a big state like I

34:06

really don't know how big Idaho is.

34:08

Yeah I mean I mean geographically it's

34:10

large our populations about two million people.

34:12

We have the same amount of troopers

34:14

as we've had 30 years ago, so

34:16

we've never really grown. It's a very

34:18

conservative state, so they're pretty conservative with

34:20

money. But yeah, we haven't been able

34:23

to keep up, obviously, with the population

34:25

and our pay, we've had some pay

34:27

problems keeping people. But I think that's

34:29

getting addressed and they're trying to get

34:31

that under control because Washington State Patrol

34:33

has taken several like 10 of our

34:35

guys the past couple months, but they

34:37

go from... 35 bucks an hour to

34:40

like 70 bucks an hour immediately. So

34:42

that's significant. We're never going to make

34:44

that kind of money. And I'm okay

34:46

with that because the quality of life

34:48

in Idaho is definitely better than Washington.

34:50

So there's got to be some given

34:52

case there, but they're working on it.

34:54

I hope they can get it fixed.

34:56

Yeah, I read what I was doing research on

34:59

it. I saw where there's 700 people that work

35:01

for the Idaho State Patrol, but you

35:03

could tell that includes staff and

35:05

secretaries and secretaries and everybody. So,

35:07

that's not a whole lot of

35:09

people, man. No, we're, I'm one

35:11

of the bigger offices. We have

35:13

six offices across the state, and

35:16

each office has a investigations unit

35:18

and a patrol unit. So, the

35:20

quarter lane area is our second

35:22

largest office. Boise's obviously our largest

35:24

down in the capital city, but we

35:26

got a pretty decent crew here, and

35:28

we've been able to keep people here,

35:30

but, you know, that Washington State Patrol

35:33

pay is just, if you're a young

35:35

guy, it's almost dumb not to take the...

35:37

It's like a magnet. Yeah, you got our seriously

35:39

considered if you're young. I've gotten to meet

35:41

the chief here in Orlando. Orlando City Police,

35:43

he came up through the ranks, Eric Smith,

35:46

just super guy. He's agreed to come on

35:48

the show and give me an interview. He's

35:50

just getting on his schedule is pretty tough.

35:52

And when I'm talking to him and to

35:54

talk about how big your agency is, 900

35:56

officers. I said, how far down are you?

35:58

He's like, well, believe. not. We're only down

36:00

like I think at the time of 18 officers.

36:03

Oh, really? And what he's doing is advertising

36:05

in Washington State and Oregon and they're

36:07

giving them enough money as a bonus

36:09

to cover their moving expenses to give

36:12

them to Orlando. If you've sworn officer

36:14

out there, you go through an abbreviated

36:16

academy here just to learn Florida laws

36:18

and so forth and OPD policies and

36:21

procedures. And then you're right down on

36:23

the street and it's working. No, that's

36:25

smart. That's good leadership there.

36:27

He's a very impressive man. I saw on

36:29

LinkedIn one time where at least one night

36:32

a week he'll come out and go patrol

36:34

with either the evening or the midnight shift,

36:36

just to get to know his people more,

36:38

to show support for what they're doing. He

36:40

answers calls with him. He's not the lead

36:43

answer, but he'll show up on site with

36:45

him while they're doing things. If they get

36:47

in trouble, he'll show up. He's a big

36:49

man, former football player, college football player. They

36:52

have audiovisual department at their department and they

36:54

put out a nice video of that. Man,

36:56

I reposted it. I think last time I

36:58

looked at like 45,000 hits, just saying, this

37:00

is what leadership looks like. This is leadership

37:03

from the front. Not sitting in the ivory

37:05

tower or telling everybody what to do

37:07

and not facing any of the dangers.

37:09

So it's got the utmost respect for

37:11

Chief Eric Smith here in Orlando. True

37:13

leader of men. This goes to show,

37:15

you know, leadership's the most important thing

37:17

in law enforcement and law enforcement. It

37:19

really is and without good leadership. the

37:21

public suffers, the employees suffer, crime goes

37:24

up, I mean you name it, it's

37:26

just like anything, but especially in law

37:28

enforcement, you got to have solid leadership

37:30

and you know I wish there was

37:32

a lot more quality leadership out

37:34

there and I wish they took it more

37:36

serious but I'm pretty fortunate to work for

37:39

a good agency that is great

37:41

leadership but there's also been times

37:43

where we didn't have such good

37:45

leadership and you just watched the

37:48

just everything collapses and yeah. But

37:50

yeah, it's cyclical. Funny thing here

37:52

in Orlando. This is a liberal.

37:54

Orange County where Orlando is located

37:56

is a liberal county. And we've

37:58

got Governor DeSantis is very and

38:00

this is a blue county, but the

38:02

citizens here support the police department as

38:04

well as the city council. They don't

38:06

always always agree on everything, but Chief

38:08

Smith, he stands up for his department,

38:10

he stands up for his people. Every

38:13

year they have their blue line gala,

38:15

which is a big fundraiser to help

38:17

law enforcement officers, dinner in need,

38:19

through traumatic events or death in

38:21

the family, and things like that.

38:23

It supports Orlando police and then

38:25

Orange County, Seminole County, Seminole County,

38:27

and Asiola counties. and I don't

38:29

mean to brag, but I am

38:31

bragging because I was so proud

38:33

to do that. And over a

38:35

thousand people in the audience and

38:37

they play the little trailer from

38:39

the narco series on Netflix, just

38:41

get everybody's attention. And then this

38:43

old man comes out. Well, he

38:45

was expecting the actor, weren't you? Sorry,

38:47

you got me. But there had been a

38:49

male female partner on OPD who had gone

38:51

on a traffic stop. And the guy came

38:54

out and lit him both up, hit him

38:56

both, took him down. He was wanted for

38:58

murder down in Miami. They didn't know it.

39:00

So he ran, SWAT team comes out, and

39:02

they take care of business before the night's

39:04

over. But those two officers were off for

39:06

a long, long time, recuperating. Both very young.

39:09

And the male officer, they said the only

39:11

reason he survived was because he was in

39:13

tip-top physical condition. Plus he got a positive

39:15

mindset and all that. And the young girl, her

39:17

whole family, I met. I met her dad, her

39:19

couple uncles, some cousins, they were all OPD. So

39:21

she got a support system like you wouldn't believe

39:23

it. I got to meet them there and I

39:25

recognized I didn't really know they were there because

39:27

I thought they were still off injured. But I

39:29

got to meet them. A man, just what an

39:31

honor to meet these guys. Their frame of mind

39:33

is I can't wait to get back on the

39:35

job. Oh, it just makes you so proud of

39:37

what they go through. I'm not sure how I

39:39

got off on that I got off on that

39:41

tangent tangent. The city here, even though it is

39:43

somewhat liberal in the county, they do support the

39:45

law enforcement agencies here. So I really respect that.

39:47

Yeah, good people. Try to get off on the

39:49

tangents there, but I got to promote cops everywhere.

39:51

I was a cop for 38 years. I don't

39:53

know how to do a whole lot of other

39:55

things. Well, I'm making it out of myself on

39:57

a podcast, but I do that on stage too.

40:00

I was going to ask you to

40:02

give us a funny academy story, but

40:04

I don't think you can beat the

40:06

guy out of the socks and the

40:08

boots. No, you can't beat that one.

40:10

And just to start it off like

40:12

that, it was just... Yeah. I'll start

40:14

laughing again. We'll be here for three

40:16

more minutes. Just wait for me to

40:19

stop laughing. So when you're ready to

40:21

graduate the academy, do you get to

40:23

fill out a wish list of where

40:25

you'd like to be stationed? So when

40:27

they hired us at that time, we

40:29

knew where we were going. And initially

40:31

I was going to South Central Idaho,

40:33

a town called Twin Falls. And during

40:35

the academy, there was actually some openings

40:37

in Boise, where my dad was stationed

40:39

as well. And so a couple of

40:42

us got the stay in Boise. So

40:44

I knew before I graduated that I

40:46

was from life. That's a good problem.

40:48

Oh yeah, man. We've had some real

40:50

winters on here, so we really had

40:52

some studs on here. I'm real proud

40:54

of this show, the people that agree

40:56

to come on. So you get there

40:58

and now do you have like a

41:00

field training officer you have to work

41:02

with for a while? Yeah, so our field

41:05

training was three months. I had three different

41:07

field training officers. Once I got through that

41:09

three months, then I was out on my

41:12

own as a, what we consider a district

41:14

car or a metro car in the Boise

41:16

area. Are you working in the city? a

41:18

little bit of both down there the

41:20

interstate running through Boise takes most of

41:23

our attention between the crashes and all

41:25

the traffic and it was it was

41:27

a really good experience because it's basically

41:29

between the officer critical incidents the shootings

41:31

the amount of crashes amount of criminal

41:33

investigations you're getting you're getting double quadruple

41:36

what some of these guys in smaller

41:38

areas are getting so you're really advancing

41:40

fast getting those experiences I remember And

41:42

I'm pretty sure he did it on

41:44

purpose because he knew what was going

41:47

to happen next. But as a fairly

41:49

young troop, I think at the time

41:51

we were short back then as well.

41:53

There was two. I had another partner

41:55

on my team and we had a sergeant so there was

41:57

three of us and of course you know how it is.

42:00

got three of you only one's working usually.

42:02

Wait, but that's a state road. Yeah,

42:04

but got a got a pursuit with a

42:06

gal and I don't remember what she had

42:09

done to start this pursuit. I think it

42:11

was a robbery or something. Anyway, we chased

42:13

her several miles at high speeds and anyway,

42:15

one of our older troops ended up spiking

42:18

me as I'm chasing her and he ended

42:20

up spiking a deputy that was behind me

42:22

behind me too. And I remember me and

42:24

the deputy both pulled over. He got two

42:27

of his tires spiked and I only got

42:29

one. and I'm changing my tire and he's

42:31

changing his tire and then he comes up

42:33

and he goes, hey you got another spare

42:35

tire? I said who hauls around two spare

42:37

tires? No, I don't know if it was

42:39

a spare tire? Come on. And about that

42:41

time we got up and rolled and she

42:43

had stopped and tried to hijack a semi

42:45

truck and ended up. from the deputies ended

42:47

up shooting her, but I'd only been on

42:49

about a year and I remember her in

42:51

the ambulance after she'd been shot and crying

42:53

for her mom. And I remember looking at

42:55

the bottom of the ambulance, I'd never seen

42:57

it before, and I don't know if I've

43:00

ever seen it since, but there was a bag

43:02

of meth that had fallen out of her pocket

43:04

and had a purple hue to it, so it

43:06

was tended methamphetamine. And I just remember like that

43:08

was kind of a game changer for me.

43:11

emotionally, her crying for her mom, and

43:13

then seeing that meth on the ground, I

43:15

kind of knew that I was going to

43:17

take that route of chasing these criminals down.

43:19

She ended up dying on the way to

43:21

the hospital. But, yeah, it's those little things,

43:24

those little experiences, and boys, he offered a

43:26

lot of those experiences. Those

43:28

experiences. I think she was probably

43:30

25, 30, fairly young. What kind of

43:32

women you guys got out there in

43:34

Idaho that are running from the cops

43:36

and sky jacket or hijacking them? That's

43:38

a tough woman, yeah. Yeah, for sure.

43:41

It'll turn anybody into a beast,

43:43

so. Yeah, unfortunately, we just

43:45

experienced an issue with that

43:47

in our family. It's just devastating.

43:49

It's unbelievable what the drugs are

43:52

doing to our country. I was

43:54

told you, we were just in

43:56

McCallin, Texas, and after we did

43:59

our presentation, to get with smaller

44:01

groups of people and answer their

44:03

questions. And it could be anything about

44:05

our careers, investigations worked on, the narco

44:07

series, our families, things like that. And

44:09

when. people ask me about what my

44:12

opinion is on the war on drugs

44:14

or the fentanyl crisis or whatever the

44:16

drug crisis is. I tend to get

44:18

up on my little soapbox and go

44:20

around and offer it, but if you

44:23

ask me, I'll tell you. My partner,

44:25

Javier, if we start talking about legalization,

44:27

like, oh my God, don't ask Murf

44:29

about legalization. Don't ask him unless you

44:31

got two hours. Well, it impacts, it

44:33

impacts every walk of life. You've

44:36

just mentioned, you've got... You know something's

44:38

having your family. I've had it

44:40

in my family and the fentanyl

44:42

has really touched people You know,

44:45

I mean everybody everybody is hit

44:47

by this You know crap, and I

44:49

don't care which drug it is. They

44:51

all have the summer probably worse than

44:53

others, but you know, it's it's destroying

44:56

our community, it's destroying our families, and

44:58

it's just, the stuff so potent now,

45:00

it's even if you got a person

45:02

that wants to get clean, it's a

45:04

lifelong battle to stay clean. Yeah, that's

45:06

a good point. It's not just getting

45:08

clean and you're done. Right. That desire

45:10

continues, even though you're your art clean.

45:13

Yeah, the rest of your life, you're

45:15

going to be wanting that hit, you know.

45:17

That's a good point. And here I go on a tangent,

45:19

but... I think you'll understand, I know you'll understand, I hope

45:21

you appreciate this. The world of drugs has never been taken

45:23

seriously. I mean, we just, we throw a band-aid on it

45:25

basically. And I'm a real big proponent of educating children at

45:27

the very youngest age, and I mean, before they even start

45:29

school, to the dangers. And I gave an example, because that

45:31

was one of the questions I got asked. And I said,

45:33

one of my granddaughter, I've got five granddaughters, one of them

45:35

was business business in Florida, set in Florida, said in Florida,

45:37

said in Florida, said in Florida, said in Florida, said, said,

45:39

said, said, said, said, said, said, said, said, said, said, said,

45:42

said, said, said, said, said, said, in Florida, in Florida, in

45:44

Florida, in Florida, in Florida, Once in a while an alligator

45:46

will swim up and our backyard is slowed down so we

45:48

could get in the house before you could ever get

45:50

to us. It's a good little distance. But I'm talking

45:52

to her about, she's about five years old then. And

45:54

you know how kids are, they're innocent and they'll say

45:56

what's on their mind. And she said, if that alligator

45:59

comes up here, pop... I'll smack him right on

46:01

top of the head. I said, baby, let

46:03

me tell you a little bit about alligators.

46:05

By the time I finish, she was up

46:07

in my arms and she's like, Pops, can

46:09

we go inside now? And I scared the

46:11

crap out of her. But you know what?

46:13

She knows to stay the hill away from

46:16

alligators now, doesn't it? So what if we

46:18

did that on the drug side? I don't

46:20

know. It's just we've got so permissive in

46:22

our society, whatever we're trying's not working. We

46:24

spend a lot of time going to

46:26

schools now. We've really, really amped up

46:28

our program as far as fentanyl goes.

46:30

And you know, we're talking to young

46:32

kids and I know it's been successful.

46:35

And I mean, I've always looked at

46:37

this job. If you can just impact

46:39

or save one life, you've done more

46:41

than most people will ever do. Yep.

46:43

And you'll never know. That's the thing

46:46

about this job. You never know who

46:48

you've impacted or what lives you've changed

46:50

or you just got to keep trucking

46:52

and have. of making a difference every

46:54

day. Let me just ask you a question,

46:57

because I've started asking all cops this,

46:59

because they have to fund the police

47:01

and the anti-police sentiment that's out there.

47:03

Did you become a police officer because

47:05

you want to go out and kill people?

47:08

No, that's ridiculous. Thank you. We

47:10

did it because we wanted to go

47:12

help people. It's not like you get

47:14

to deal with the professionals in business

47:16

and the clergy, the house moms. You're

47:18

dealing with the worst of society. Of

47:20

course they know they can get a

47:22

sleazy attorney and they can make all

47:24

kinds of accusations against us and that's

47:26

how police get a bad rep. Whether

47:28

it's true or not, the media exploits

47:30

that. Well, and I can tell you over

47:32

my career, I probably had 10 to

47:34

20 situations where I could have shot

47:36

my firearm and killed somebody. We'll talk

47:38

about one of these incidents where I

47:41

decided not to do that, but I

47:43

personally... And I know most officers

47:45

are like this. You've got to take it

47:47

to the very edge where I'm almost willing

47:49

for you to shoot me first before I'll

47:51

shoot you to make sure that I'm making

47:53

the right decision. And you can call

47:55

that indecisive or whatever you want, but

47:57

I think all cops have this moral

47:59

company. in their head that they don't

48:01

we don't want to take somebody's life

48:03

unfortunately sometimes we're faced with that situation

48:05

we have to but I mean I've

48:07

always tried to err on the side

48:09

of caution give that give that person

48:11

every benefit that's worked out for me

48:13

fortunately but to make that statement's ridiculous

48:15

and it's not truthful and it's not

48:17

truthful and somebody's gonna listen to that

48:19

buy into that and we're gonna lose

48:21

trust with somebody over something that's so

48:23

stupid that you can't even defend making

48:25

that statement. That's exactly right. So

48:28

I'm just promoting that as much as I

48:30

can because I know cops. I know

48:32

cops all around the world and they

48:34

all do it for the right reason.

48:36

Do we get a bad apple occasionally?

48:38

Yes, we do. But so do doctors,

48:40

so do preachers, so professional business. Name

48:42

me an occupation that doesn't have a

48:44

bad apple in it because I don't

48:46

think you can. No. Hey gang, this

48:48

is the end of part one. Part two

48:50

comes out tomorrow and you certainly don't

48:52

want to miss that. In the meantime, just

48:55

a reminder that Game of Crimes

48:57

is now posting interview videos on

48:59

YouTube. You can find those and you

49:01

can subscribe at Game of Crimes Podcast.

49:04

Our website is Game of Crimes

49:06

Podcast.com where you'll find all our

49:08

episodes, our guest booklist, and more.

49:10

And for more content, join us

49:12

on patron.com/Game of Crimes. I have

49:14

several monthly episodes that range from

49:16

silly to serious so come on

49:19

over and join the fun. In the

49:21

meantime, everyone stay safe. We'll see

49:23

the marra for part two.