Alex Villanueva – 33rd Sheriff of LASD

this is Things Police See firsthand accounts with your host Steve Gold Welcome to the podcast that interviews actor and retired police officers about the most intense bizarre and sometimes humorous moments on the job It is I Old Gingerface here with you Thank you for being here everybody Great to have you You can see my eye Hey if you’re watching the YouTube you can see my eyes all jacked up I have one of those blood spots I used to see in people’s eyes and go I don’t think I can eat This guy’s got a blood spot Um this is my second one in six months so I don’t know I’m 45 I might be just falling apart Uh I did nothing to get it No one hit me Uh I don’t remember sneezing hard but yeah apologies Apologies to the YouTube viewers Uh but thank you for checking out the show Thank you for all the um all the the backlisting all the back catalog that gets watched It’s so It’s so cool The evergreen the the the content is evergreen so you can really once you find the show you can really just rip through them and just hear um these crazy stories the men and women of law enforcement bring to the show Uh is just I’m I’m blown away every episode and it’s all just so people can really get a better appreciation for what it is uh the men and women of law enforcement are actually doing out there You can hear the stories how they live them So thank you for being here If you’re new and I think you’re going to like it Before we bring on our guest I have to uh I have to tell you about a company you need to know about It’s an incredible disabled veteranowned business called Blackbox Safety They’ve been just been awarded a nationwide contract through Sourcewell to provide a point blank body armor to law enforcement agencies across the country Point Blank is awesome We use that at my agency It’s my fave All agencies receive a 38% discount on PointBlank vests shields and helmets Get your team geared up with the most advanced ballistic protection customized for your department To learn more head over to blackboxafety.com Drop them an email at sourcewellblackboxsafety.com or connect with them on Instagram at blackbox safety All this will be in the show notes You can check them out The owner reached out He’s a fan of the show Uh great guy Um his name is uh Jackson Dalton Uh just just a super good dude Loves the show Hence um hence him reaching out And uh it it’s important to support our sponsors It really does show support for the show So thank you Blackbox Safety Now onto our guest We have the 33 33rd sheriff of Los Angeles County defeated the incumbent sheriff Jim McDonald in 2018 for the LA County Sheriff’s race making him the first unseat an incumbent in over 100 years Before that he was a lieutenant with the department He also held um positions of staff instructor training officer and was one of the um first community policing officers to come on board um back in the 90s Without further ado let me bring on the great Alex Voeva Alex great to have you See you Hey man Good to good to have you on sir Um man I was think I couldn’t help but think uh when I was preparing for this interview looking at your career and thinking man he could have had like such a more peaceful career if he if he didn’t go for the sheriff’s position because that I mean the only only thing more stressful than being a cop is like being the top cop It’s incredibly stressful Are you in any way relieved that you’re retired now well disappointed only because we were doing so much We had achieved so much in four years I mean we probably did more than four years in the previous 40 years of the department’s history in terms of innovation Uh restoring the department to its former self getting it fully staffed getting body warn cameras implemented interacting with the public that in a way that never happened before I mean 104 town halls in four years We were all over the place and we broke down a lot of barriers and a lot of lot of positive things happened but it happened in an era where it was a total war against law enforcement Remember the board of supervisors was totally engaged in lawfare against my office and so it became a very tumultuous uh four years Yeah it was really weird because I’m I don’t know a lot about California politics I know enough about it to know that it’s I mean it makes national news all the time It’s it’s very tumultuous to be involved in But um you would see things like um BOEA is uh one of the most progressive sheriffs ever to come in And then like not long after being in office making changes and doing things then the the press there was saying you were actually very conservative So it’s like there’s you can’t any way they just they I feel like a sheriff or a chief of a huge agency like it’s almost impossible to win with the press It’s like they’re always going to they’re going to take an angle to try to cut your legs off That that’s got to drive me nuts Well definitely For example in prime example when I took over we knew that there was big problems in the county jail system which is the nation’s largest I mean the violence assaults against staff was just through the roof However the media and the board of supervisor had deluded themselves into believing that my predecessor had somehow reformed the system And no what they did is they just buried the data So when they took off they said “No we got five years of really bad data Here it is.” And as soon as I made that public and known oh it was comical It’s faulty data Wait a minute It’s the same data It just changed hands How did it become faulty overnight and that was the obsession to try to paint me as somehow rogue or controversial when actually I just followed the law I followed the facts the evidence and wherever it took us that’s where we were supposed to be Yeah Yeah Absolutely And that’s a that’s the cool thing now too is um especially the last like 5 years with podcasts have become so prevalent It’s like um you almost wish that you because like when you’re in that office and you want to get information out you only have like some official outlets But if you had some large podcasts back when you were when you were doing that that were pro law enforcement you could go on and really get in people’s ear They could hear you in a long form conver you know what I they would they’d get to know you and believe you You could really ex you would have the choice of the sound bite You would you would choose the information rather than like people cutting it up and taking what they wanted And um yeah man I can’t imagine I would uh I man I’d have trouble sleeping I’d be so stressed out being that And is it It’s one of the It’s obviously one of the biggest police agencies in the country right is like top five top three I think the the third Damn man That That’s crazy And then and now McDonald he’s at LAPD now right Same That’s the same guy Um and he so he couldn’t he couldn’t stay out of it He had to go back and do it Oh man Well you you’re I mean you’re still relatively young guy You there’s do you have any um plans for a book or or getting back into being some kind of consultant or advisor or anything like that brewing Glad you asked me that question Book is already written It’s already published It’s a sheriff holding holding the thin blue line in a deep blue state No kidding I didn’t know that Let me um let me uh the you can get it at Amazon It’s already available You can also get it on my website shabofba33.com All right And we will absolutely link um the a you want the Amazon link in the show notes Uh you know you can put the my website All right So we’ll link um Alex’s website in the show notes You can go right there uh to get the book There we go Better I usually better prepared but bam there’s the book right there Yeah Awesome That’s great man Got another one in the in the works Another one in you Uh the funny thing is the material keeps accumulating but um uh we we’re still in the process of deciding whether to uh go back in the into the arena or not So uh we’ll know pretty soon if we’re going to do that All right You got to do it then Then I have friends in high places You know what I mean get in there Um that’s cool man So obviously a long a long story career How how many years total did you do as a police officer 36 Oh my gosh I ran into a lot of guys like that at LA I worked as a background investigator with Ken at LAPD uh backgrounds and um a lot of the guys in the cubicles around me were like one guy Jay Moberly who’s like such a good dude became a good friend of mine He did like 44 years retired out of robbery homicide I mean just just incredible amount of years doing police stuff Can you take us back to um when you were a young deputy uh on the road to the first call you went to like your first hot call the first call that really got your blood going i could I could tell you when I was training and uh this is in in 1991 you know I did uh I hired on in ‘ 86 did four years in the jail did a a stint on active duty in the army in 90 and then 91 I go to patrol and when I was in training hot summer of 91 it was a fourth of July weekend and we got uh actually we didn’t get a call We heard uh gunshots and I’m with my training officer We’re like only like a block or so away from where it sounded like it came right and drove there and people were still ducked hiding behind cars and they were pointing down the road and there was a a chunk of flesh in the middle of the road O about that big and and we got enough information that the guys were on a motorcycle and uh and they shot up the neighborhood and drove away with the guy in the back seat hopping back on the bike So we put out the information in good faith and then about a minute later we got a call on the radio hey there’s a motorcycle accident about a half a mile away We thought okay I think we know where this went So we go over there and we have other units obviously helping us out Go back to the scene of the original shooting start canvasing for victims and witnesses and all that stuff We go to the scene of the motorcycle crash and there’s a dead guy and there’s a live guy The dead guy uh he was the driver of the motorcycle He took a round right in the in the tender ring and so he bled out over the motorcycle and died And in so doing he uh he was going about 60 m an hour dead on the motorcycle driving it Oh my goodness And he didn’t know he was dead but he ended up fading and clipping a post a signpost next to the 710 freeway It was one of those big 4×4 posts and just sheared it off So his femur is snapped in half and his leg is twisted the other direction Really and he’s dead as a doornail And then the passenger who was the suspect that was doing the shooting and he’s covered in road rash and screaming but he’s alive and well other than the road rash So we ended up detaining him We do the GSR gunshot residue on his hands you know nitric acid Imagine on raw hands Yeah he was he was pretty happy And then we go back to the scene We piece the whole thing together It was actually they came to shoot up a rival neighborhood and they did it on a motorcycle So strategic error doing a drive by a motorcycle And when they started shooting up the guy had got off the motorcycle to shoot up the neighborhood A kid came out with a Tech 9 He was on probation and fired one round at the guy on the motorcycle and hit him And then then the other guy jumps back on the motorcycle to drive away but doesn’t know that the driver was dead Oh my goodness M miraculously no innocent people were hurt in this thing It was just the dead guy and then the suspect So we arrested him for murder you know the felony murder rule Yeah So he got hooked up for murder Wow That’s insane So he took one through the Was it Did he take it in the chest or through the back the the motorcycle right through the through the front Through the chest And he just had enough left enough adrenaline left in him to start to shoot that bike down the road a little bit Yeah And by half a mile that’s all that left Yeah Pretty much Yeah You figure about 10 15 seconds of just cuz the b the motorcycle itself you know the whole gas tank area Yeah Covered in blood So he was just dumping out As a new deputy was this I mean that I mean at any point in your career that’s a pretty crazy call But as a new deputy was this kind of like mind-blowing to you that this is that this is happening it it was just a stark reminder of how cheap life was in those days Yeah And was it in um Did you start in East LA east LA East LA Okay Yeah Um Wow And the kid that uh the kid that got the the acid on his hands for the for the gunpowder did he did he um give up the info did he just start talking um he uh no he didn’t have to say much because we had so much physical evidence and then the other witnesses he was he was bought and paid for Gotcha And how did your training officer think you did um he he thought it was all right You know I didn’t have trouble writing So it was just a lot of you know getting all the information down getting all the witnesses all the victims collecting evidence and all that Yeah And when you take your on an agency that size if you when you take yourself off the road to report right you can you won’t get calls unless it’s like a real big one right you can peacefully do your report or is that Well when you’re in training the calls keep coming So we gathered everything and the writing part we set it aside because more calls keep coming At some point they say “Okay now let’s let’s try to catch up and get back up to speed with everything.” And if we have somebody in custody that part then we got to take care of the one who’s in custody make sure they’re medically treated transported then we book them and all that stuff right wow Yeah that’s a lot Um especially with that amount of calls coming then you sit down the computer and you have you know all these different victims and witnesses information from all separate cases You got to make sure you know obviously keep them straight Um that’s a crazy story brother My goodness Um can you describe the strangest or most bizarre thing you dealt with um I was on training and uh actually I had two two weird ones on training Same training officer We get a call of a family disturbance Father versus son and the other is the drunk one Go to the house talk to son Son yeah dad’s acting the full That’s a grown-up son I guess the dad was living there And we tell the dad “Okay you know what i think you guys need to cool it off Why don’t you leave and walk it off and come back later so the so the dad kind of looks at us and uh we’re on a porch with ceramic tile It’s important part of the story And as we’re telling him explain to him that he’s going to have to leave he reaches in and he plucks out his eyeball and he throws his eyeball at us It’s a glass eye Yeah So the the eyeball hits the tile and it goes everywhere I thought okay now that’s a new one That is bizarre Why did he do that i guess his version of I’ll show them you know And another one was um um years later I get a call of a of a person couple not seen in you know 2 or 3 weeks middle of the summer important to the story And so got check on the welfare elderly couple So I go there get to the house It’s in the hilly area of East LA south of the 10 freeway And manicured you know perfect uh lawns and everything and hedges and uh trash cans neatly placed on the side of the entrance the driveway There’s a sliding gate for the driveway So I slide the gill open I walk towards the house It’s kind of downhill and I can see the front door is a jar and it’s a small small house barely more than a cottage Couple of bedrooms at best Now I get closer I could smell Okay we got a ripe one Yeah So I call one of my pars Hey can you come over and help me out here looks like we’re going to have a 927D dead body And he comes over We walk in There’s a little yaffer dog running around I should say a wellfed yaffer dog running around and we enter the I just picked up on that Yeah We enter the living room and it’s a small living living room and there’s all kinds of you know the eclectic stuff that people gathered throughout the years and all the trips and all that There’s a sofa and there’s a a body on a sofa covered in a blanket and uh so okay well that’s one body and I walk past the body looking for where will be the second one and my partner goes and turns the blankets over to reveal the head of the body and you remember the the HBO series Tales from the Crypt Yeah The Crypt Keeper The Keeper Oh yeah That’s what it looked like the keeper Oh with the long fingernails the scraggly hair and the dark brown skin that skin that looked like bark Yep And thunken face and all that And um then she sat up What my partner jumped so high his head almost missed the ceiling And we were both whoa what on earth and her her name was Hermenia She was in her 80s and she was alive She was emassiated hadn’t had water in probably about close to a day or so So she was all you know they’re already shrunk up to begin with So on top of that it really exacerbated her appearance like she was dead and she was alive So Lord Jesus So we called medical uh get ambulance to show up to help her out and and get her transported So while waiting for the medics uh we figure wait a minute I still got the smell of the dead guy So where’s the dead guy so I on the other side of the sofa there’s a little hallway and there’s a bathroom like a Jack and Jill and there’s a bedroom kind of on each side and a kitchen off to the right Then look in the bedroom on the left and I can see half of a torso Like a Yeah half there half of the torso The pelvis is sticking out There’s little chew marks on the torso On the pelvis remember the yapper And uh there’s looks like old man pants old man shoes but it’s only half the torso So where’s the upper half oh About a yard away There’s the upper half of the torso but no head What is going on and now okay we both Okay now this is weird So the first place we go is to the fridge right i guess obviously the first choice No head in the fridge No head in the freezer And now we’re really thinking okay this is really bizarre So remember I said it was all really eclectic and built up and all that Yeah Well we we get the lady out and we obviously we called homicide because we’re going to have to roll in all that in the corners and all that So so while we’re waiting for them we figure well let’s check and we find this head So we start going through everything more carefully We slowed down We go to the kitchen There’s a big pan You know those aluminum pans mhm Baking pans There’s a bunch of hair and flesh in the pan Still no skull What we go back to the living room where all his eclectic stuff and the collectibles were There’s a human jawbone on the fire mantle the fireplace mantle Whoa And we’re there’s still no skull So now we’re thinking okay this is getting weird And by now the homicide showed up and they’re all scratching their head Then uh still can’t find we went through the whole house can’t find it And corners come and the corner examiner showed up with a brand new trainee It was his first day on the job Oh nice So they showed up with a body bag you know you know you know zip it open and he has a un dubious task of stuffing the body parts in the body bag right and of course at this point we’re outside like hey you know good luck with that We want nothing to do with that And they pack it all up The homicide guys surmise well you know what it looks like uh dementia set in He probably died of natural causes started decomposing She pulled him off the bed maybe or somehow and then the body just fell apart naturally So that’s that’s what their theory was Mhm But still doesn’t explain the missing head right but they figure she probably lost her mind Maybe she tried to preserve it or did something Who knows and so they they put all the parts in the in the body bag and then they head it on the little stretcher thing with wheels and they’re wheeling it up the driveway And this is a kid’s first day on the job As he’s going by the trash cans that we all walked by on the way down He saw one trash can had more flies than the other ones Looked in there was a trash bag picked up the trash bag and there went the head Proforce Law Enforcement sponsors this show It’s the best damn cop shop in the nation Whether you’re purchasing for an entire agency or you are an individual officer looking for firearms or duty gear these guys are the best in the biz They have law enforcement exclusive pricing and it’s the place you want to be buying your guns and duty gear guys Um right now I’m on the page the landing page they made tps.proforceonline.com You should go check it out The deals are fantastic You can just scroll through right here and see uh A Hollow Sun 507C $1.99 That’s nuts Aimoint Acro P2 red dot 412.30 Um just great deals and and the list goes on and on I I I highly suggest you check it out if you’re into guns and gear These guys are have great customer service They can help you through the purchasing process If you’ve ever been a procurement officer and you know those pains these guys can make it painless So go check them out Links are in the show notes Thank you Proforce Law Enforcement Oh my gosh And that might solved it One of the most bizarre stories I’ve heard on here man And then uh the lady her name was Hermania This is 92 when Silence of the Lambs came out Yeah So we renamed her Hermenia Lectctor in honor of the movie And we we actually got a hold of her her family I think they were in Arizona And uh so uh we uh took care of her got got the family connected with adult protective services and they took care of her after that That’s a tough conversation whoever had that Well your uh father passed away and uh a little bit more to the story I got to tell you You know I don’t know how much they would tell the family but oh my gosh that is that is insane So yeah she sounded like she needed like 10 10 IVs uh of saline or whatever Yeah I’d probably add like 30 pounds just in fluids to get her back to normal Yeah Yeah that’s not that surprising to me because I I mean I haven’t anything that crazy but um I did go to one I mentioned before in the show where um a guy died in his uh his chair like an older like elderly guy and the wife was there and she had dementia So he was kind of the one that was taking care of the household But while we were there waiting for um a medical examiner and all that um she kept forgetting that he died and she kept trying to go over and wake him up It was like it was so sad But she if if if we hadn’t been called there um I don’t know how long that would have went for He could have just sat in the chair and decomposed and she could have just been like Harold when are you going to get up you know she’s vacuuming around his feet It was it was crazy Yeah I have a lot of lot of stories like that and a lot of them involve involve older people who pass away and uh people lose track of the fact that they passed away and then there’s always an ugly aftermath when they finally find the body and it’s never pretty Well I guess the only upside is it kept that dog alive The dog might have starved to death otherwise Mhm Who’s going to want that dog hey this just so you know this dog ate part of a person So he does have a taste for flesh now So yeah I’m good Damn that that is a crazy one Um can you tell us about your most intense or terrifying call that you went on probably one that was closest to me pulling a trigger I guess would be a I wouldn’t describe as terrifying but definitely like oh this is like you know we end up dying here right and um that was my partner and I were in the in the projects some Marvia projects and we’re rolling through He’s driving I’m passenger And we come across a kid and his he was 15-y old kid We knew him as a local gangster belonged to one of the local gangs and his nickname was Lazy Boy So my partner pulls up next to him and starts engaging him in a conversation and and he just say “Hey you wouldn’t have any gun on you would you?” And he reaches out and the kid had a gun in his pocket a big ass revolver and he had these baggy cut off shorts the gangster lights Yeah And holy So he grabs onto it to not let go of it but he’s driving the car and the kid is backpedaling trying to get away So my partner ends up falling out of the car from the driver’s seat and the car’s in drive Now he’s on the ground The kid’s running away and I’m in the passenger seat and the car’s in one for the kid’s got a gun In fact you can see as he’s running the weight of the gun in his pocket and it was a big revolver It’s just bouncing around Yeah And holy So I reached over and I put the put the car in park and the gears grind to chach until it stopped I jump out and we both had on our bicycle uniform for bike patrol So we had shorts and everything So we’re built for the party and we took a took off after him And we were both the the two best runners for Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay So didn’t matter He picked the wrong cops Yeah we were going to So he as we’re chasing him down I catch up to my partner I pass him and the kid reaches in his pocket and pulls out the gun He’s in front of us and he’s got the gun in his hand and the gun is going back and forth and I’m looking out My gun is out and I’m running you know behind him with the gun out just uh hoping that he doesn’t turn around and I’m just watching the barrel of the gun thinking “Oh Lord please don’t because I’m going to drop the hammer.” Yeah And so I yell at him “Drop it or die.” and he finally realized he was about to die and he stopped and he threw it down and then we tackled him and hooked him up But we were oh so close and had we shot him that would have been the LA riots of 1992 pre Rodney King because this would have been um you know you shoot a kid in the back end of the project and he’s 15 Oh my god That would right They’re not to pull county over the edge They would omit the part about the gun being pointed at you and all that stuff It would just be He’s just trying trying to say hi to the cops and he started running away and they shot him in the back You know these monsters Um damn Yeah that’s intense man That that that’s really lucky I mean that’s such a hard decision to make when there’s a gun pointed in your direction You know what I mean you want to I said this recently It was like it’s um it’s like one of those things you just want to be sure sure before you do it You know I mean like people think cops want to shoot people Not true Like you see restraint way more often than you see free free trigger play You know what I mean it’s like cops really want to be sure because it’s your conscience You have to live with that Like you you want to be sure and it can and that’s the and that’s dangerous for us when we’re we’re trying to make that decision So well thank God that it worked out that way and you didn’t have to blast a kid I mean were you able to I mean I’m sure you run into so many kids like that but do you know what happened to him did he just go off in the gangs and disappear he was detained We He got sent to juvenile hall In those days it was a little bit easier to get kids in a juvenile hall Today they send you home after a homicide So you get home detention for homicide In those days he was sent to juven Hall I don’t know what his outcome was after that Yeah Yeah That’s tough man Especially so young We I don’t have that at all I work in a small regional department in Western Massachusetts and we just don’t um any any gangsters we would have would just be passing through from like Springfield or Hartford or something you know there’s no they don’t live where I work I don’t encounter them all the time And they’re and they’re certainly not like kids you know what I mean they’re they’re older That’s got to be intense You got to be on your toes all the time Every anybody you interact with this person could be trying to hurt you Well that project that we worked at we were assigned to that was part of that community policing effort from Bill Clinton There was four gangs in the project that only had 2,000 residents There’s about 500 units but you had they were generational So you had the youngest ones were the Rascals or actually Marvia Project Boys Then you had the Rascals They were like in their 20s or so Then you had rock mavia These people were in their 30s and 40s Then you had Lomita Maravia and they were in their 50s 60s and 70s So you had all these different generations of gangs in the same area Is there is there a such thing any longer as like the the classic cholo like the the dickies and the and the the flannel shirt all the way up like are they kind of the old school gangster now uh when I was working patrol you had that classic but then you also had the stoners the like the long hair and they’re all about the weed and all that So you kind of had like a struggle between that classic cholo type thing and then the stoner type thing It was like a back and forth between the two Okay Yeah A guy I used to work with um he came on the show uh just um crazy police stories from Anglewood He was an Anglewood gang cop and um when he was a kid he was they would run back and forth to school because of the gang stuff Um and he had a story about two a friend of his they were getting picked on by a by a local gang and um his cousin had like uh it was almost like a movie his cousin had like cholos in his family like old school like men not like you know grown men fully developed not like teenage gangsters and they showed up at the school and you know scared the living hell out of the gang that was bothering them and kind of saved the day for him Uh which you know I thought was kind of a cool story because it sounded like I think there actually is a scene in a movie like that But yeah Dave Keroskeo he uh he his stories were so so nuts I mean um just doing the gang thing in where you guys live is it’s I used to the guy who one of the guys who went to my church in Ontario when I lived out there uh he was gang caught for LAPD in um South Central and uh just nicest guy beautiful family you know like just but every day you know he went in to South LA and did the gang thing That’s so impressive to me You know what I mean it just like blows my mind even that your wife would be having a panic attack all the time You know what I mean like I think my wife would’s head would explode Yeah Know some of these people leave leave you know lead a double life and uh some of them Yeah hold down you know real jobs and they gang bang on the weekend It’s nuts It’s insane brother Um all right Sometimes a difficult one for people to answer Sometimes they have good ones for it Um you tell me positive scenario heartwarming scenario from the job Uh one uh I came across a mom with two minor kids two little kids like three four year olds and she was homeless living in a car And uh I guess uh she had some kind of a domestic violence situation ran away from the abuser boyfriend and was in a car and barely had enough clothes to cover herself her kids and uh and to feed them So I um took him in I got him some food went to a local store We bought him clothes got him some uh something to wear and uh got a shelter to take the lady in cuz she had the two kids And uh it had a a positive outcome for sure but it was just sad to see you know you know how life adults are uh you know the short stick Yeah man That’s that’s an awesome story Beautiful I mean it is hard when you’re dealing with with um homeless people and and it’s so easy to write them all off because you the ones that approach you on the street when you’re in cities are like crazy you know and and they’re a lot of times dangerous but there is legit people in that scenario that need the resources They need the help And uh it’s great that you found one Did that did that was that over one shift or did that take a that take a while no that that took me almost an entire shift just to deal with them and to get you know people to to show up and get the shelter situated and all that Yeah No those type of things anything has to do with minors as well it’s it’s going to eat your shift and you’re stuck with it You cannot they’re not going to sign you any other calls because now someone else has to watch over the people that you’re dealing with Yeah Yeah Absolutely Someone’s got to be responsible for them Um I remember there was uh when I was out there there was some kind of some kind of controversy going Uh I don’t know what they called it out there Out here it’s called DCF Department of Children and Families DCFS Yes Department of Children and Family Services Okay So same thing there Um I remember there was uh I mean talk about an impossibly hard job Um but there was they were going through a real lamb basting about not removing kids from homes when they should have or not you know a couple kids died I think in custody of people that maybe shouldn’t have had them Um I just feel like when I’ve gone to houses before and had to take kids with that service before it just is like the worst call You’re like h I don’t want to go on this call Um but their job isn’t impossibly hard I mean there one of I went to uh the most recent one I went to one of the DCF agents had been uh put in supervision in the office for a while but now was in the field for this particular thing I don’t know why Um and she started weeping and I was like oh my gosh like and she’d been doing it like 25 years but we were taking these kids and the she like went outside and was quietly like weeping because it was so painful doing it So I mean the sto the headlines for that I mean they get bashed but I remember when I was in LA I knew well enough to be like I wonder what the story is here Why you know it’s like I don’t think these people take this job to let kids be in danger Uh I wonder how politics are involved or how tied are their hands helping these kids you know well actually our DCFS gets into a lot of trouble because they don’t take a proactive approach and they allow kids that should be taken into protective custody to remain in danger And that’s how you had the case of Gabriel Fernandez made national news He was beaten to death 8-year-old boy Then you had Noah Quattro you had Anthony Avalos You had all these cases where they should have intervened and they didn’t even though there was a a mountain of evidence that said take this kid out of the home and they were ignored So the board of supervisors worthless entity if there ever was one they created the office of child protection But wait a minute why do I have the department of children and family services why would I need the office of child protection isn’t that what they’re supposed to do so they create another layer of bureaucracy on top of the bureaucracy they already have that’s not working as if that’s going to solve the problem And it’s just a lack of accountability And sad to say we’re seeing that again and again So when the pandemic hit and all the schools were shut down all of the the scars report suspected child’s abuse reports that are generated by the schools they’ve dropped in half 50% which is alarming because that means there’s some valid child abuse cases that no one is seeing right so I took it upon myself as sheriff hey you know what let’s partner up with DCFS Give me your list of all your big cases where your highest risk kids are and we’ll start doing door knocks just to check on their welfare Say hey how you guys doing want to make sure everything is okay And can you believe the board of supervisors oppose that effort yeah I believe it We don’t we don’t we don’t want deputies with guns you know scaring these kids I’m thinking one thing and the supervisor Sheila Cule that said that is that cops when there’s an issue with the protective services and minors cops are actually the good guys in the scenario because we’re kind of like the referee and the ones that call for our assistance are the families or DCFS because they’re afraid they’re going to get assaulted if they remove a child and there’s opposition So we’re actually the good guys in this but she didn’t know that All she wanted to do was score political points by claiming that somehow us bringing guns into a home is going to harm the children No we actually need to have eyes on the kids because they’re not in school anymore Yeah So that it shows you how pathetic politicians can be Yeah That’s too bad Especially if they were there was already they were already there was already cases and like you just want to make sure they’re okay I mean and the other thing it does to that agency though if a cop is there now there’s a now there’s accountability because you have a witness that is a law enforcement officer So if they were going to broom something or or kind of you know make something go away can’t really do it now because there’s a uniformed officer there witnessing it And he’s going to he might do his own report that you know might contradict what you’re doing here I bet that was part of it Um damn man Um Alex uh really popular question uh for listeners Advice to new police officers or people looking to get into the field Um I would say a few years ago I say uh try another profession but I think now I can say the pendulum has finally swung in the right direction Nice that I think you’re on the upswing now where people are starting to figure out that public safety is important right the defunding movement has been thoroughly discredited Most agencies have acknowledged that public safety is the number one priority of local government The reason they exist is to provide for the welfare of the community and if you’re not alive there’s no welfare So I think they figured it out The LA County Board of Supervisors still hasn’t figured that one out They’re still playing games but for the most part the profession I think people are now it’s on the upswing And if you see in the fires you notice how they were celebrating the fire department this and that and everywhere and all that Did they ever mention law enforcement no they couldn’t Hell no They only for fire department and our first responders they couldn’t even mouth the word law enforcement because the Hollywood obsession that cops are bad The LA and California the scene that cops are bad But I think we’ve broken the ice now where people are starting to acknowledge Last night I was at an event for Whittier the Whittier Police Department They have an annual Star and Shield Awards uh program brings the community and Whittier cops together and they give you officer of the year volunteer of the year and all It’s real nice event Yeah There was like 500 people there and they were not afraid to say we support police Now we just need to make that countywide of course and statewide But it’s a start I think people are going to take the job today uh do it for the right reasons because you want to help your community be stronger and safer and you want to be contribute to that effort by all means uh get educated Uh get in shaped don’t go to the academy waiting to get in shape No show in shape That will be painful Yeah it is And it’s always a huge mistake uh recruits make Yeah absolutely Great great words of wisdom Yeah And what like what you said about Whittier which is a great city I I um spent some time there I really like that So especially the main drag with all those beautiful old trees I forget what they’re called Um but they’re they’re an agency like that that does something like that is going to get the good cops That’s because cops talk and they’re going to know what agencies are supportive So they’re not going to have as much trouble filling the ranks I mean there’s I just got an email um last week from a a young man who said “Hey do you know any agencies that like stick out in your mind where like he’s like I’m young I’ll go anywhere I just want to be a cop.” And uh I happen to say Westminster Colorado because they reached out to me and I I I’ve had chats with them and um you know it’s a it’s a small city maybe 100 thousand people There’s a couple hundred cops Um really great um have a unit for everything though just big enough to have different specialties Super pro cop and great pay and they take they support them Community loves them So that those are the kind of places that are are going to keep grabbing everybody if um if the real it’s all the it’s all the huge large agencies that have the biggest trouble You know it’s it seems like like Chicago New York the LA agencies Um it’s like when I was there doing I started doing uh backgrounds for the city of LA in um 2017 and they were the other background guys were kind of telling me he said like you know we used to us and the sheriffs both used to just go on the hey we might not pay as much but you get to be LAPD or you get to be LAD like that was enough to to get guys in these fame these um you know famed agencies Well it started not being enough when because what 2017 and on like you were saying through your period Uh it was really bad It’s part of the reason I started this podcast so you guys could come on and and get people to appreciate what you actually do because it was real bad And the recruitment and all the answer to recruitment was just lower standards They’re like “Well we got to throw this stuff out We got to throw this stuff out.” Um it was hard Yeah Lowering standards is exactly what’s happening now When I was in office we raised the standard to a two-year degree Two years of college or I think have a four-year or military enlistment We were raising the standard And as soon as I left they dropped the standard Then they dropped it to where you don’t even have to be US citizen Now I heard that they were going to like under your green card you could carry a gun or something or Yep All of that is because and again if you have leadership that people don’t trust you’re not going to recruit people Your employees are your number one recruiter And if your own employees don’t trust you they’re not going to invite their family and friends and acquaintances Hey come over here It just doesn’t happen So I hired,00 deputies in 2019 my first year on the job as sheriff Nice We set a record for one year 1100 We can do it again but it’s not going to happen under the current guy Yeah I don’t hear good things I don’t know the man but uh I am friends with Ken and um I do watch your show once in a while and I and I and I do see the news and it’s like man not good Not good He was recruited to be a politician and that doesn’t work in the office of sheriff You have to be a leader He talks about oh partnership this partnership that but that’s no substitute for leadership Yeah Yeah Absolutely Um let’s uh before we before I let you go here um let’s talk a little bit more about the book and the kind of the impetus to to get this out there what when did it publish it published in uh December beginning of December of last year So it’s only been out a few months And uh feedback I’m getting is been amazing really appreciate it It takes my like journey from my humble beginnings and uh all the way through my career you know and then my time in office as sheriff and the fights with the board So the subtitle is holding the thin blue line in a deep blue state So you get a a primer on lawfare and how dirty politicians are and they don’t give a a rat’s ass about public safety if they can score political points Yeah that sounds fascinating man That that is California is I mean a lot of people think of Massachusetts as kind of California junior you know like the little baby brother over here but um the weird thing about Mass is they haven’t reduced our budgets and they want cops Like they definitely I think out they’re they’re well aware that they want protection on the street They don’t The stuff California does is mind-blowing to everybody else It’s like oh my gosh I can’t believe they’re doing this to these guys Well the the theory the big theory that basically governs California and the the progressive ideology is they want to defund law enforcement and replace it with a progressive utopia where everybody sings kumbaya and they can invest They love to reimagine We’re going to invest in the community which means they’re going to divest from public safety right so that’s that’s the whole sticktick of everything they do And I said at LA City LA County across the state you look at the measures that Sacramento passes that are absolutely anti-law enforcement Oh my god they trip over each other The the legislators of see how can we screw over cops and they’re now the new criminals Criminals are victims and it just goes downhill from there Yeah that sucks man Yeah I mean Mass is it’s it it is pretty progressive but it you know like they they wanted us to they wanted um clinicians to go to mental health calls but what they did was they contracted with an agency that has um clinicians and now it’s an overtime shift So you go with that you ride with a cop and if you take the overtime shift you run like pretty much countywide and you go to that town with the clinician to the mental health call to help whatever cops are dealing with in that agency and you’re kind of just like the clinician’s protection and you get to dress down you wear like a khaki or gray pants and you know you don’t have to wear your outer um you you put your outer on on the way if it is a hot call but um it it’s they don’t do it without cops Like it’s like the clinicians want the cops with them That’s the co-response model is the official title of it right exactly Started that in in 1991 with the sheriff’s department under Sherman Block Wow And uh that model has been wildly successful and now they want to get rid of it because they don’t want cops having anything to do with mental health Really yeah We’ve had so much success with it It is successful And the clinicians themselves say “I don’t want to do anything unless I have a cop with me.” Yeah You and you see the clinicians too as they work with us they their mind becomes more and more like a cop’s mind They get more and more complex Start seeing the big picture Yeah Yep Well that’s that’s great You got I mean yeah you guys are and I’ve said this to uh Ken before a bunch of times that California on the flip side has been like through the years like in on the cutting edge of law enforcement like like with training and how much you guys shoot and tactics Um that stuff has always been like light years ahead of the East Coast in my opinion Like when I see what California did was doing like when I went to Legion Park and watched their shooting facility and their training compared to like the Northeast I was like “Wow the they really put a lot of money into training these guys.” I would hate I would hate for that to crumble on with this landslide of lack of support you know Yeah Unfortunately that’s what the political reality is today I think it’s going to change the fires that happened this year in 25 has caused you and the politicians don’t like law enforcement to realize hey you know what we can’t evacuate without law enforcement And so the big picture is starting to change now And uh let’s I have a a good feeling about the future That’s awesome Like you said the the pendulum is swinging and let’s um let’s look forward to that So if hey if you’re out there you’re thinking about doing it you heard it from uh the 33rd sheriff of uh LA County Might be a good time to get in and you you might have a nice time if you get in now Alex absolute honor to have you on the show Thank you for coming on The link to your book will be in the show notes where everybody can grab it Go check it out Um I have to do the outro to the show Can you hold on for just like two or three minutes yeah Thank you to the great Alex via Noea Um really fun interview Um really surreal to be interviewing really because I remember when I was at LAPD and like I said I don’t know anything about their politics but I remember him winning and people were like “Wow I we can’t believe he won.” Like it was kind of like he was kind of like a an underdog for the for the position Um so really really cool to finally meet the meet the man behind all those stories I heard and um him kind of uh going in there and really doing a lot with the sheriff’s department So thank you to him check out his book Like I said link will be in the show notes Um now is the time of the show where I thank the Patreon sponsors Thank you Patreon for supporting me I love you guys You keep the boat afloat It’s truly appreciated I’m talking about Lieutenant Andy Biggs the great and powerful Andy Biggs none other than Lieutenant Kyle Roberts Lieutenant Michael Roach of Roach Machines AI Solutions Check them out The great Lieutenant Thomas Connell A thank you sir Now to the sergeants Adam Alexander Adam McMahon Adam Mihal Ben Peters Bentley Barnett Brad Thompson Dan Carlson from Berley Bores Thank you sir Sher Fitch thank you Madam Clark Luff everybody Dave Elman Dennis Caris Skio everybody Douggee Kelly Newman love you guys Hope you’re enjoying Wyoming Dylan Mosher everybody Elliot Sykes ladies and gentlemen Gabriel Decknop thank you sir or madam or not Yeah it’s Gabriel sir Sorry brother I’ll get it right next time Gary Steiner George Karaotus Greg Bad Boy James Rose Jason Labri Jason Wow Jessica King everybody John Jordan John Shoemaker John and Eric Kate love you guys See you at church Lauren Stimson the handsome Lane Campbell everybody Lisa Goau Monica Brian thank you madam Iceban from Motorcop Chronicles out his podcast Nancy Hammond everybody Nick Adams ladies and gentlemen Paul Maloney Pasca it’s great episode checking out Raymond Arsenal everyone Richard Tols keep on trucking brother Stay safe out there Sasha McNab Scott Young Sean Clippard Seth Wright Sheriff Ronald Long Thank you sir Tammy Walsh holding it down dispatch Thank you Tammy The great Tony A He James Longest Deputy William Vong to you Thank you very much Zachary Ple in the great George Tessy Air Thank you sir Guys the list is getting long and I don’t mind at all Thank you so much for that I truly truly appreciate it Don’t forget to support our sponsors Blackbox Safety and Proforce Law Enforcement I love you guys and I’ll see you next week