Sacramento Police – Drug Dealer Loses Russian Roulette, Bad Guy Spares His Life, FTO Felony Stop

this is things police see firstand accounts with your host Steve gold welcome to the podcast that interviews active and retired police officers about their most intense bizarre and sometimes humorous moments on the job it is I old Ginger face guys thank you for being here thank you for joining us thank you for all the the binge listen and the people that come and find the show and just rip through the entire catalog uh I truly appreciate that thank you to the all all the new U fstar ratings whatever plat platform you listen to on that’s always appreciated and of course thank you to the patreon sergeants and patrolman who keep the boat afloat that uh send me a couple extra shekels uh every month to uh help me out I truly appreciate that uh before we get to the interview quick um cash update I want to say a heartfelt thank you so much to all the people that have sent uh extra donations to go towards uh Cash’s vet bill gigantic help and I mean that so so much when one comes in I show it to my wife and we’re like yes oh my gosh thank goodness um so we did get the results back from the cancer test after his kidney was removed and um it’s not the bad cancer so it’s a it’s a it is a dog cancer but they took his kidney they believe they got the whole thing it’s not the cancer there’s that one cancer out there where it doesn’t matter what they took out your dog has like 3 months to like uh 30 days of 3 months to live that’s one they were afraid of it’s not that one so they are hopeful that cash is um in the clear and he’s going to have a good and normal life from this point on so um that is uh we are so grateful for that I never thought that uh I’d be in the position where I’d have to drop that kind of money on a dog and I actually never thought I would do it so uh I am I’m one of those people now guys like what can I say uh he’s a great dog if if you don’t know if you’re just listening he’s a four-year-old German Shepherd family dog he’s uh 125 lbs big blocky head uh just awesome dog stoic when he needs to be stoic uh friendly and loving if he knows you that type of deal so it really was worth it to keep him keep him with us so thank you to everybody and thank you for all the messages and the support otherwise it it really meant a lot to me so um thank you thank you thank you for that today’s guest is going to be a great one guys excited to have them on um took some scheduling my fault I I have uh my life is a is a scheduling disaster uh typically but this gentleman is retired from Sacramento Police Department he retired at the rank of Lieutenant he’s got over 25 years of experience he’s also an author instructor and crisis management professional throughout his police career he served in numerous tactical instance in high stakes missions with several accommodations for meritorious service he also LED numerous specialties teams and during his time as a SWAT commander and Specialty team leader he developed a strong understanding of the Dynamics that make people in missions Thrive which leads to his retirement gig now uh his passion for empowering others led him to pursue his work at the national command and staff college and international Think Tank and with colleagues and with colleagues wrong emphasis there he launched Magnus Works in education and data analytics platform dedicated to Peak Performance and well-being let me bring on without further Ado the Great Brian Ellis Brian welcome to the show hey thank you thanks for having me and um thanks are um I’m glad that the pup is doing well that was uh and I’m leaning in as I’m listening this call I’m like oh goodness but you have your hands full with a 125 pound Shepherd uh yeah I too I have a 85 pound malamoo and he’s he’s either on or off so yeah those things can they are real intense they got a real Drive the malma absolutely but yeah they we got them from a breeder that bred for um health and hips and hips and elbows and temperament and size so I saw one of them and I was like we were in the market I’m like damn I want one of those shephers that thing’s huge but now you feel bad he’s like an Imperial Walker like he’s afraid of stairs like highly intelligent dog he’s like really good was house broken it like you know 11 weeks just that good but he sees a set of stairs going down him anyways and he’s like he’s like putting the one leg out you know he’s like afraid he’s just so freaking tall like a Great Dane absolutely kind of big so um you’ve done a lot Brian in your career and you look good brother I gotta say you look you don’t look like an old man you know you’re you’re on to the next thing which is good yeah well the body feels old sometimes it just it’s day by day right yeah Sacramento that’s no joke that’s a busy City yeah it was it was definitely a busy City for sure it’s uh you know the experience that you get it’s it’s not because you know other than working in a in like what I call it’s like a Vitamix right you know you’re going to get spun around uh at a lot of a lot of revolutions real fast in in a big city for sure yeah absolutely and so you are now that your your retirement gig before I get into the questions I just want to ask you about that what you have going on actually not even retirement your new career um Magnus works now I recently um saw somebody on a Instagram reals tell me that if I drank at least uh like 32 ounces of water when I first woke up in the morning and I got to tell you it is kind of working that you will feel better in the morning if you get that that water after the overnight fast is that is that like the long do you do like body um what do you call that uh body hacking stuff like that or is it different yeah absolutely we do a um at Magnus works we do a lot of different things so we basically look at performance and wellness as um you know they’re interrelated and that’s and it’s a systems approach right you know there’s a there’s a system in regards to how you take care of yourself and there’s a system approach to you know how you take care of an organization and both of them have to thrive if we want you know PE people to to perform at their best and so yeah if you if you think about physical health optimization there’s no better way of of starting your day with you know to try to get a little bit of hydration and um you know you breathe all night long and and as you breathe you know you got moisture coming in you know are leaving the body and so um yeah we it’s it’s it’s it’s a good thing to to stay hydrated for sure yeah I’ve I’ve actually noticed a difference in feel because I sit there in the morning if I if I have time and I have coffee and I kind of wait for myself to wake up if you know what I mean like I just never feel ready to actually do something but with the water it’s actually I’ve gotten there quicker it almost feels like it revs me up a little bit like it like like a multiplier for the coffee almost well that’s called shift work brother uh you know just can’t you can’t help some of that but some of that is a shi work itself so yeah yeah absolutely um no I think that stuff’s really cool and you know with police work let me share this with you as as you know as you get older on patrol um you your body is you sit in your car for a long periods of time then you hop out you’re cold um you don’t get enough sleep so it’s it’s it is really tough and I’m in my 40s now and um I recently have had a problem come back that I had 10 years ago and I got it to go away is my pelvic floor muscles tighten and if if younger people probably don’t a lot of people might not know what that is but it’s like it’s the muscles like around and in your pelvis around like your prostate and like all those connecting areas down where you and you sit you sit on it and um I am just in general a tight person I’ve always had trouble touching my toes I barely made it through the police academy like minimum you had to stretch to like I just like bounce to the line and they’re like all right good enough like just I’m a my tendons are tight anyways so it kind of makes sense but um this pelvic floor thing started happen to me again recently and it’s like it is Hell on Earth like you have to urinate like you’re 80 like all the time sitting down for long periods hurts um it’s uncomfortable and it all it all has to do with just me completely ignoring um doing basic things like you know walking a couple miles a day or or stretching in the morning which you know I’m the big fan of right now cuz it’s helping this problem go away but it took this problem for me to even want to do it you know what I’m saying so I’m sure if someone can get themselves more in line with the program and the things you guys teach you might be able to avoid these little pitfalls where these these little ailments that come out of nowhere and then you Google them and get on like a a message board and there’s like millions of people that the young men especially now when we’re all you know seditary type of Lifestyle it’s it’s happening to so many people well yeah I mean sitting is the new smoking essentially and and Beyond just I mean even if you work out for an hour a day and you’re sitting all the you got to get up move I the body is designed to move and the body’s designed to move even when you’re in when you’re injured and so uh Mobility is a good thing and and yeah it’s one of one of several different domains that we uh that we work on through Magnus works we spend a lot of time in the mind though because you know especially when you think about this job um you know you’re dealing with people with their saddest maddest and baddest for you know nobody’s inviting you to their Bar Mitzvah and wedding receptions you know you’re dealing right volatility uncertainty complexity and ambiguity 247 and so you just start thinking about what that does to your brain um you know because there’s a thing you know muscle memory is is is is true in training uh we know we know it as cops on firing range and everything else we teach muscle memory muscle memory but we’re dealing with people at the at their saddest madest and baddest all the time well what kind of repetitions are we getting with negative behavior and it’s no no uh it should be of no surprise that cynicism you know sets into our jobs and you know that kind of mindset kills us early um and we really need to do something about it so we really look at ways that we can practice that repetition uh in in positive thinking and mental toughness and resiliency and coping mechanisms in in in playfulness uh in dealing with stress not all stress is bad but some of it is and finding ways to to make sure that you can live a long time uh post retirement yeah it’s wicked important I mean it’s it’s kind of all over the place in in um in every field now the um the Mind empowerment thing and all that but it couldn’t be more true with police work because uh it is it is a you fall into almost in within the first year you just think everybody’s a dirt bag everybody’s bothering you everybody’s going to you know everybody’s a problem you go out with your family and you’re like you know hypervigilant for everybody it’s not it’s not good and I’m helps me with that is I’m a Christian so it’s like you I I have a an ideology I can reset to and go well you know God created us in His image he loves all people he sees the good and wants people to repent and come to him so it’s like if you’re walking around for me as a Christian and looking at people and treating them like dirt bags all the time without without anything else by just reading the cues I’m getting from them that’s that’s sinful on my part like I’m not supposed to do that you know what I mean and so I can kind of lean on my Christianity a little bit for that but it is it’s an active um you have to actively do it you have to like you have to have some it has to be in the front of your mind you have to be cognizant of it you can’t because otherwise you will just it’s like every cop falls into and they become a cop then they hang out with all cops and they’re at cop cop hookout and you’re doing choir practice with cops and before you know it it’s like the cops and then everybody else and that’s like every guy that comes on here that’s um had any time on as a cop or who’s retired well one of his things for advice is always don’t just hang out with cops like totally be a normal person you know what I mean yeah totally uh you know get lost you know in in people and just enjoy yourself and and I back to your uh earlier point you you you couldn’t be more right I mean the the reality of it is the toughest neighborhoods in America need us the most and um and those and I found in some of the you know like I said most crimer ridden neighborhoods uh in Sacramento I had more thank yous and and more people appreciate uh our service they do it quietly because they’re afraid of their environment they got to live in in their environment 247 and um so you might not get you know the the high five out on the street but you know deep down inside there’s a lot of people that love you uh on the sidelines and uh and they and they need you absolutely yeah it reminds me of a news clip a few years back when we were really taking it hard and um you know this man on the street type thing on YouTube went into the the bad neighborhoods and the the people they interviewed were like no we we want to see you guys more don’t believe it I’ve had two of my sons were killed in gangs I wish you guys were parking in front of my house like there it’s it’s not true most in the LA cops I work with said the same thing they said East LA South La he’s like there’s a lot of good people there and and they like to see us you know it’s always the annoying minority you know that that makes the most noise and and makes us you know put what they say it’s 10% of the people hate us and but they make all the noise so that’s all we hear which is which is too bad but ran um can you take us way back to Young officer Ellis um the first hot call you went on the first call that like you really had like an adrenaline dump yeah I think it’s day one uh you know uh phase one day one you know a city like Sacramento never uh like I said you’re just gonna you’re GNA go into a grinder and and whether you want it or not and so I I remember I was uh like I said I I I got to roll call early I got the car loaded up I you know got the the the best car I could for my fto and uh after a roll call I thought I was you know doing everything that that I was supposed to do and getting getting to shift early and getting the the best car for your fto and my fto goes unload that car we I I got a car out in the back we’re we’re going to take that car and you’re like oh okay well I and he seemed a little disgruntled and he was just kind of old crotchy you it was day shift so um I on phase one I picked or uh I got I got the short of straw I got senior day shift team and so um naturally right after roll call we went out to breakfast uh with with some other officers and and literally uh after eating some breakfast and next thing you know the radio call comes out and it’s a robbery in progress and you know it’s it’s it’s code three time uh uh a couple of miles down down the road and um and I’m just sitting there you know riding shotgun because I’m phase one day one and I’m like oh this is really cool this is really cool right you know and and now we’re going faster and faster and and descriptions coming out and you know this I I started to realize that this fto that I’m that I’m with you know initially my assumption was he’s just an old guy that doesn’t want to you know do any kind of work you know we breakfast in the morning but when when it when it came time I mean he was mission focused and literally a couple of u-turns a couple of side street dips and next thing you know we’ve got the guy uh you know walking down the street and do a felony stop and you know put the guy in a kneeling position and he’s like what are you waiting for kid you know this is this is this is your time and and like whoa you know like yeah it all it all happen so fast you know expect it to to to go down just that fast and um that call was over bad guy gets arrested you know uh somebody else wants to take him to jail and you know my fto pulls into a parking lot to pull out his paper to listen and he’s just waiting for that next call for you he had a he had his little routine going but I’m sitting there you know in that parking lot just like you know what are we doing now you know like legs are jumping what are we doing and he’s like take it down a little bit let’s I got stuff to do you know yeah so it was good but yeah it right off the bat yeah I bet I bet in I mean I’ve never worked a big city like that um but I bet you don’t even have to be proactive you can probably just shag calls on a busy day you’re just going to be going the whole time yeah I feel for some of these kids uh now that that work because they I mean they’ll go to 20 calls uh in in a shift and they’re just call to call to call to call yeah and you know there’s some of them that are trying to be proactive as proactive as they possibly can but you know when I first came on you you did have at least you know parts of your day that you could maximize to go you know try to find some bad guys and and not just worry about uh you know the call board and I think those days are kind of fleeting so yeah I’ve heard that from uh friends that work at Big agencies they said like at like at roll call which is now 30 seconds um the board already has like multiple calls that have been triaged that are waiting for you to attempt to clean up as the ones for your ship come in which is like that alone would get old I mean you know after a couple years of that it’s like damn this is like overbearing just constant you you well you you learn how to get efficient especially if you have stuff that you want to do and projects that you want to work on um and sometimes you get ere efficient and that’s sometimes where where unfortunate things could happen right you know you code for cover because you never think you’re going to find somebody and you know i’ I’ve been I’ve played that card it’s a ringer at a warehouse you know it’s daytime nobody’s going to be there burglaries are nighttime things and you know so I get there to go clear the call out real fast and oh my God there’s burglers in here right now it’s a big mess and everybody’s coming to me and I got people running all over the place and so yeah I’ve been I’ve been chewed out for those kind of things in the past for sure yeah you get a little bit complacent for sure yeah that’s that’s tough man the with the um with the call volume and not enough cops it’s like and it’s a shame too because you don’t get a chance to do you know some follow-up stuff some investigations some like you don’t get to give you don’t get to give the people you’re dealing with anytime either you don’t get you know what I mean like you just if it’s big enough pass it on to detectives and if not you know pick up your report in a couple weeks and and that’s it there’s we’re really not going to investigate this you know what I mean that’s rough totally and I think you know um you know so there’s that Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book about you know uh that the doctors that spent more time with their patients were sued less frequently and so you know there’s there’s there is a relation there is something to be said about you know if you really want a truly Community oriented policing philosophy then you really do need to have enough time to actually deliver legitimate service um and sometimes some of these agencies that I mean it doesn’t have to be a big agency there’s a lot of small agencies that are short staffed when you’re short staffed I imagine people are going to get not the best service they can possibly get and that’s not you know that’s that’s even in your crime fighting efforts and so I um you know it it’s uh it’s it most certainly weighs on you especially being have been in the business to see agencies that are struggling because you really know what it’s like when when your Staffing is short it’s it’s it’s tough on everybody yeah it’s it’s brutal I have a friend of mine who um lives in LA and she was watching a guy in a car garage just you know do b& to Motor Vehicles in front of her and she kind of had to go buy him and the cars he was doing it to to get out and she was terrified you know so she called 911 and they were like no one’s going to be there anytime soon and well she’s like well I want to leave and they’re basically like well if you want to leave and you feel threatened then do what you got to do basically like run them over like whatever just get out of there then and she it’s you know it’s like almost giving you know that in of itself and I’m sure the the the psrs or whatever they call them it LA are overburdened too but they’re probably like I gotta get this lady just run the guy over get out of there what’s your problem you know but she’s you know she’s a small woman she’s afraid and she doesn’t want to have a confrontation with some big thug who’s smashing windows but they you know they never came so um that’s painful and it’s painful too for the the guys I were when I was at lepd backgrounds just civilian background Ator I worked with lepd policemen and retired LPD guys and it drove them crazy they hated those stories that people would get bad service from lepd they they it drove them nuts because these guys were 40 years Robbery Homicide you know these guys have all been like five six seven shootings they’re just like old school coppers but like really proud of the service and like the way LAPD was like they didn’t they didn’t used to have to pay because you just wanted to be an LAPD cop like that was a thing and once that veneer slid then the pay was like well this is a problem we’re not paying enough money Beverly Hills starts at 95 and we’re at you know 595 or something when I was there in like 2016 so um yeah it’s hard it’s hard to watch man totally it’s brutal so Brian can you tell us about a strange or bizarre thing from your career oh man well there’s there’s probably a lot of them oh I’m sure you got a billion but you know I think one of the one of the silliest things that that that I’ve ever seen that I really couldn’t it was just like is this real I mean did this really happening so we we go to a uh a suspicious uh a suspicious suspicious activity call and it’s a person that said that they thought they heard a gunshot and so we’re we’re looking around it’s in a it’s in a decent neighborhood it’s not uh you know it’s it’s kind of on the edge of a a part of town that you know starts to get pretty crime ridden but there’s these so we’re looking around and everything seems all right and and then me and my partner were were like well you know there’s a uh there’s a bunch of duplexes on this back street over here maybe maybe it’s maybe it has to do with you know something over here so we start going on um house to house and don’t see anything and we knock on a couple doors and we get to this one door and this lady’s like you know two over um and we walk uh over and the guy’s reluctant to let us in but he he lets us in and there’s a dead guy in in in his living room and he’s got this huge fish tank and these guys on on face value they look like they’re Stoners right I mean if you were just to kind of typ cast somebody you’re going okay well what is beas and Butthead I mean these guys don’t look like I mean they just long hair like whoa way out of it one guy’s got a tiedye shirt they both are just completely freaked out and there’s a dead guy on the floor well uh we separate the guys you know we start the investigation get a couple more units come over and uh you know and ultimately homicide comes out as I’m sitting there waiting for some more resources you you look over in this big huge fish tank right next right next to the the door this guy’s brains are floating around in this fish tank and the fish are actually you know what having lch uh you’re like oh my God that’s disgusting you know yeah come to find out that uh these you know these two guys had had uh you know they were kind of local drug dealers you know nothing big but they their the bigger dealer came over to collect a debt that that that he was do and he told them how crazy he was and he whips out his gun and he says I’ll show you how crazy I am and uh puts one round in into his revolver and Spins it around and and plays some Russian Roulette on himself and well he hit the lottery that day and and uh and punched his car and you know so we’re like ah no there’s no way you know like one of these guys shot him or or whatever and so that was the story that they were both sticking to and you know of course thasi does their thing and we find out later on the guy’s got GS so I mean like every last bit of the story the trajectory of the bullet the GSR in his hands everything I mean it’s exactly what happened um oh my gosh and apparently there you know I can’t vaguely remember somebody there might have been another instance of him in the past playing Russian roulette or something but you’re like there’s no way that something like that could happen but yeah you you you see some bizarre things there’s there’s that what’s that that line Stephen um you know of course you know when you go to dinner parties and and and whatnot you do talk to people that aren’t cops you know I always I always start with a disclaimer that I can I can tell you but I can’t untell you right yeah I can show you but I can’t unshow you the minute I the minute you you you visually or or or audibly hear this it might stick with you you’re like oh my God that was that’s so gross yep absolutely I’ve had that happen on the show you just did it to [Laughter] me oh my gosh yeah that is insane man that if someone never told you you were going to go to that call you’d be like no way so the guy was I mean that’s how crazy he was he was that crazy yeah Mr crazy I guess you know uh crazy enough to say well but today’s the day so you know those guys high-fived after he shot himself in the head we just won the lottery bro I think they sat there on that couch for a long time going what are we gonna do like you know uh maybe thinking about pul fiction or you know who how do we call the wolf or you know where’s that guy’s number like what are we gonna do next so they they didn’t seem to they weren’t rocket scientists for sure damn man that is insane that’s one of the wackier ones I’ve heard that’s crazy I definitely not would not have believed them at all I been like no this that’s not what happened damn um Brian can you tell us about a very intense or terrifying call that you dealt with um that’s a great question I mean the one call that I that I would really love to talk about because uh that really broke my heart but uh you know in 2019 I lost an officer in the line of duty and love to talk a little bit about that call but it’s still pending uh it’s still in the courts and and uh you know love just you know that case to get all the attention it needs to in its criminal prosecution but I’ll tell you one other call that really comes to mind and I never really thought about how Intense or or kind of something that would be stuck with me uh for as long I mean to this very day and uh it was when I was in swat I was I was our SWAT commander and I get a call uh you know kind of in the middle of the night by one of my SWAT guys and says uh one of my team members is in the hospital and um and so he had been working uh an overtime job with another officer and they’re sitting in the car at a restaurant that he just went into use the restroom and as he as he comes and he’s sitting in the car with this other officer and the other officer recognizes that he’s having a stroke and um lu uh you know luckily that officer recognized the the the symptoms of a stroke and then equally as lucky they’re right across the street from a trauma center hospital and he rushes him over there and boom he immediately emergency you know he’s admitted right away and so one of my other you know team members calls me and says uh you know hey we you know this gentleman’s in the hospital and uh you know he’s they’re going to do some emergency surgery well I mean he’s we’re a tight-knit group you know we’re all we’re all you we do things off duty and everything else and and I I know he lives fairly close by to me but his his best partner you know his his best friend slash team team partner lives downtown close close to the hospital and I didn’t see any reason to send him up to you know grab the guy’s wife and I said you I sent him to the hospital I’m like I’ll run by and I’ll I’ll get uh you know I’ll get his wife to the hospital ASAP and I mean for any cop listening you know when you go knocking on a spouse’s door in the middle of night yeah you can you can imagine what she thought you know um and it was a it was a it was a host negotiation type situation I mean um I me it was it was horrific I mean I it it took me 20 plus minutes to get into I mean I had to demand that she’d you know kind of let me in because we were wasting time I needed to get her to the hospital and you know her kids were up and cry I mean it was it was a mess uh oh my goodness so she really she really just assumed the worst right away and break down felt I felt compl completely awful about the whole thing yeah you know there was there was you know this internal clock with me going okay I’m gonna only be so nice for so long and then I’m GNA have to take the bull by the horns and we’re GNA have to make this Mission happen yeah got the kids in the car got her in the car got the kids dropped off to grandparents and rushed her I mean she literally by the time I got her to the hospital they’re seconds away from Wheel him into an emergency surgery and um uh you know thankfully uh he makes a full recovery he’s a he’s a lieutenant now uh with the agency and um but every party or every barbecue after that you know like hugging her at an event was always T you know it’s like there’s something you know there’s there’s probably uh deep down down body chemicals that you know are just forever etched in you know uh we always have this kind of weird like we look at each other and kind of go you know oh yeah yeah and and I think I think it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do uh in uniform uh because again just just the sheer uh nature of what what that knock on the door at that hour brings uh you know to to anybody who who has a loved one in this in this profession and so um it was The Ultimate Nightmare I think for her and um and and we didn’t have a whole lot of time to you know to make things you know to make things go and yeah it was that was tough that’s brutal man yeah that I mean so was it just a random aneurysm in his brain or something or yeah I can’t I don’t remember the yes so basically he had an aneurism uh and I I think it was a it I mean I know if I remember correctly I think he got it from you know working out at work the that day earlier that day or or before and it was just um yeah I hate stories like that H was just I mean he’s a fit guy and just it was and again thankfully uh you know he was in all the right scenario you know all the right places to get fast care and um and and everything worked out but it was uh yeah it was it was a stressful call for sure man I’d say so yeah that’s tough man especially when somebody’s young and healthy and they work out there’s every reason for them to be okay you know what I mean that is I remember that my buddy of mine on shift went to a call for a guy that was vacationing where I work and um young gu’s like late 30s runs every day even on vacation but he had um abandoned his really strict lifestyle regimen of healthy eating and exercising and pigged out for like three days at Lobster and butter and all you know all that stuff and then he decided to go for a run on day three and he dropped dead when he got home just and it was like it was some it was some combination of saturating his body with fats that he didn’t normally you know what I mean like he was too strict almost and then he let loose on vacation then really pushed himself on a run should normally be fine but not in this instance you know that that type of thing man well thank thank God he’s back on duty and he’s a lieutenant so good for him that’s great he’s he’s he’s a he’s a fun guy for sure and he’s uh I’m yeah I’m happy work everything worked out but it was like I said uh that that scar that carries over because you’re like we’ve shared stress we’ve shared the ultimate stress together so yeah unfortunately you are uh probably when she sees your face it’s like gonna take some a few years for that to uh wear off oh that guy threat threat oh man geez that’s that’s that’s rough Brian can you tell us about um a positive encounter or heartwarming dare I say encounter on the job yeah I mean I think go going back to some of our uh conversation from earlier um you know I’ve always tried to make sure that you you you make time for people right and so I I’m in just having positive interactions with with with with people in the job I mean the vast majority of cops that that uh in their applications you know and and people ask them why do they want to be a police officer it’s because they they want to do good they want to help people and so right I I still believe that at the end of the day that that’s what motivates most people in this profession is you know making a difference in in human beings lives and so um so you know I know that I’ve got dozens and dozens of stories of just you know buying kids lunch or or or or just doing something nice uh for for for a stranger but I think the biggest story that jumps out to me and it’s it’s one that I’ve told uh in you know I used to be an agent uh or guest speaker at a at a college uh in in the criminal justice department and did a lecture on community Orient policing and um I think the biggest story that I could share right now is just um is just how humility uh can save your life and and just the impacts of just even when you’re dealing with criminals is treat them with dignity and respect and and and so that it’s going to have a different heartwarming twist to you and you’ll see in in a minute so heed there’s this guy named Eric and and uh we chased him all the time when I was on a fugitive apprehension team he came up on our desk a couple times we chased him he was always good for a um you know some kind of barricaded situation or or or a or a pursuit or a you know you just knew he was going to give you a run forh for your money and so um we had arrested Eric about a year year earlier and and uh lo and behold he his uh his name comes across our desk again as a as a Pei at large and so at the time I was working in a fugitive apprehension team and so we we were just looking for bad guys all day long and so we knew where Eric hung out and um and we uh you know prior before I get deeper into the story I forgot to tell you the previous time that we arrested Eric we had arrested him and we arrested him in this in the South South Sacramento area and just for po uh points on uh Compass points on a map his mom lived in the east side of town and jail was in Midtown so it’s kind of in a different direction uh of where our the last place we had taken him into custody and when when we took him into custody he knew he was going to go away through the holidays and and he had one request and that was he he loved to see his mom before he went to jail and my partner’s like we’re not taking you we’re not taking you to go see your mom you know we’re we’re taking you to jail um and you know and I I was talking to Eric and I said well hey look you know like let’s we we’ll we’ll take you to jail but can you just do something for us you you know and and lo and behold I I Bartered with him in regards to giving us some information of some some folks that were doing the farious things in the community that you know he didn’t think that were uh uh that that the police should at least have some attention to and you know I thought the the information that he gave me warranted us to take him by to see his mom the whole time my partner complaining because you know lunch time you know we had other you know he had other uh warrant services that he wanted to to do sure this was complete waste of time it’s like 15 miles outside of the you know it’s against policy because it says you know we’re to take him directly to jail and you know something it something in me was just saying that this was just this was the right thing to do and so um and his mom had always been cordial to us when we were looking for him and unfortunately I think she always thought that the best place for Eric was was in jail because of the things that that he did and so I you know I knew she was she was you know a nice old lady that lived in you know poverty and had a son that she was constantly worried about and um you know like every other parent wanted the best for their children and of course sometimes can’t lead a horse to water uh and and expect them to drink so we take them by and see see his mom um you know give him a little bit to to to to share a few minutes uh with her and then we take them to jail and of course my partner you know doesn’t let me not have it for a little while you know that I’m you know so U I’m getting soft and blah blah blah or whatever and so again a year passes and now Eric’s sheet is on her desk again and it’s like oh okay well we kind of know where these spots are he normally hangs out so we we check around for him and you know couple couple PL knock on a couple doors we don’t see him couple days later uh we’re just driving down the street and I see him riding a bike right past us and you know I look over my partner and say there’s Eric right there well what we didn’t know is he had just committed a crime in the adjacent jurisdiction to us we you know and and literally as that radio call is coming out we’re already in putot pursuit of him uh he dumps you know he dumps his Spike around a couple corners and and we’re chasing and you know I’m I’m 6 foot 250 pound so I’m I’m not your fastest guy uh so uh hit a couple of go around a couple of streets and and whatnot and what by this time Eric had he in his mind he had he had said I’m a two- Striker I’m going away for the rest of my life I’ve committed this robbery it’s it’s shootout time he was armed so he he went around a corner of a house he crouched down he had his gun he was he was ready and I had lost track of them uh around uh around a street corner so as I come around the corner I’m just kind of looking around and looking for broken fence boards and listen you listening in the neighborhood to see if there’s any dogs barking or you know any kind of Clues on because I know he didn’t go straight down the street the Street’s clear I you know I didn’t hear him hit any fences so I kind of had a feel pretty good feeling he’s somewhere nearby while I’m doing all this Eric can see me and he’s got a gun pointed at me and initially you know he he he sees a uniform until he sees that it’s me and then and then he gives up he drops his gun and he just raises his hands up in his in the air and says I want my mother wow and he and he full and he tells us I was going to shoot it out with you guys I you know I don’t want to go back to jail you know my life’s over blah blah blah and then I saw it was you um and you you know the last time I got you know to jail you you drove out of your way to take me to go see my mom and I was like wow and he goes that he goes that saved your life bro and you’re like wow so uh so the heartwarming experience for me is you know it doesn’t cost you anything to be to be kind and what I found is when you play the night when you play the nice guy to to most criminals anyway they’ll they’re willing to talk to you and they give you they give you stuff uh um you I had a I had a guy that arrested for uh you know selling marijuana on the on you know he’s he was selling um marijuana and cocaine on on a street corner and before we took him to jail you know just started asking him hey do you know anybody that’s got a gun you know anybody’s got a gun he’s like no no no no no and and probably the stupidest criminal in the world because after 20 minutes of asking him and and him not being able to give anything he goes oh I know somebody’s got a gun I got a gun and he and he walks us uh a half a block down the street and and gives us H or shows us where his gun is at in a bush and gives himself up um and and you know the officer that was working with me that day at the time I was a sergeant he just he goes what the hell just happened Serge I can’t up so but that I mean it goes back to just the power of being just being being nice and genuine I mean there’s a time to be a a tough guy and there’s a time to be abrasive um but more often than not if you’re just you know if you lean into that compassion a little bit you’ll probably F your fi cards up with other bad guys to go get and information that you would have never had because you were the jerk guy who who pinched somebody for something they didn’t they didn’t expect to to be pinched for so absolutely yeah that that goes far like when I got hired my dad told me that years ago he said CU he was a cop for 32 years he said treat everybody with respect and be nice and you’ll know when it’s not when it’s time to not be nice you’ll figure it out but default should be respect and be nice because you’re gonna see these people again totally I always had a saying I it it you know I would I would turn to somebody and look them straight in the eyes and I would say don’t mistake my kindness for weakness yeah and then you would get the you know uhoh you know and that’s that’s usually that’s was usually the place in a conversation you’re going okay well maybe I maybe I’m this person’s perceiving me as maybe too nice but you know always give a give people the opportunity uh to do the right thing so absolutely um briyan last question for you um advice to new officers candidates people in backgrounds people on the fence thinking about becoming police officers I get a lot of emails that people say they listen to you guys tell your stories and they become a cop because of it which is like the best email to get so do you have any advice for him yeah that’s a great question uh I I still believe it’s a very Noble job um I think it can be a very fun job and I think if you OverWatch the media play um you know like we talking about earlier that you’ll everything is just you know policemen bad you know which I think at the end of the day I the best advice I could give you is you do your homework on the agencies that you that you that you want to be hired with I mean every every organization’s going to have different Vision Values and cultures and and you know because at the end of the day if you if you do get involved in critical incidents and you you want to work with an for an organization that you know is is going to have your back and and I’m not saying have your back when you’re doing something you’re not supposed to be doing I’m just saying that you know not uh freak out that they’re getting some media attention over something that that that that they and you can handle um and and know that you know you’re working for an organization that that you know you share some uh SAR values with that uh uh you there’s a there’s a lot of great organizations out there that that are really trying to make a difference and um again it’s a great job uh we need a lot of people in in in in this line of work and um and we’re hoping at least my organization is hoping to restore uh some of the um the thriving and not surviving uh to the to the profession from a leadership perspective and from an individual perspective because a lot of times you know an an organization is the one that puts the most stress on uh you know on their people it’s not it’s not the call volume it’s not the calls that they go to you know it’s the organization that they have to work in um so picking a good organization I think is the the the most important equation to that uh to that factor yeah very smart very true guys you have one chance to apply to your the first agency that you work for or to pick you get to pick we we’re desperate for if you’re a good candidate you have the golden ticket research it talk to the guys there talk to somebody who knows somebody who works there see what the culture is like see what the town or city is like and um yeah just be careful about it don’t just um a lot lot of people will just apply to their Hometown because it’s where they grew up which I get I mean I get it but it the place is a dumpster fire maybe think twice maybe a neighboring town it’s got something better going on but that’s so that’s so smart because you really do have all the cards right now if you’re a good candidate and you’re applying you can really set yourself up nicely especially if you’re young and you want you could you could go to a different part of the country even you know totally and and don’t be afraid that like um you know hindsight’s always 2020 right I started uh I was a volunteer for the Sheriff’s Office and I got hired by the local police and of course the sheriff’s looked at me like I was a Traer they’re like oh you evil monster why’d you go to the dark side uh and you know at the end of the day it was I didn’t want to do seven years in the jail right off that because that was what that was the ongoing talk of hey your first seven years you’re going to be which wasn’t true but the the problem is the organization wasn’t doing anything to combat that story with with new hires and paint painting a different picture and so I was thinking okay well I’m you know this is how old I am I mean that’s what you know you’re like wow that’s a long time and uh you know I want to kind of get out there and and and make a run for stuff right now uh course and so my point to that is be patient too um because you know what I what I have learned in working in the business and now servicing the business is there’s a lot of phenomenal things uh that that the deputies have over you know police officers that that time if you do spend in custody you learn about people you learn about mannerisms on such a more just such a faster scale so when they do come out they’re so much more um you know they just they have a lot A Gift of Gab um and they’re able to make things you know they make that transition really easy and then not and and then you know if you hear those it’s going to take a long time to get out to the streets you know from the from the sheriff organizations ask them those questions and I and I you know I’d be certain that you would hear that it there’s no Universal rule I mean if you’re a good hardworking person that’s that’s doing you’re you’re going to have opportunities within the oran Organization no matter what so get in work hard Thrive you know pick pick the organization has the best culture for you um and and have fun I mean it’s still I mean it’s no it’s Noble work and and you’re you’re helping people when they need you the most absolutely great words of wisdom Brian thank you for that I’m sure everybody appreciates hearing that from you um especially some with your experience years on the job so can you tell us about Magnus work say someone wants to get involved or um benefit from some of the things you guys offer how do they do that yeah before we do that I’ll leave some last parting words because I uh one of my um a guy that I it was a peer of mine and and uh and and he he had this big book of quotes that that he had he said he once said um police work is an art I you can be a master or a finger painter the choice is yours and that always stuck to me so you know when you’re in this job remember that uh you know you’re going to have a lot of autonomy and uh and you you really get to decide who you’re going to be in this in that role and so you know be be Batman you know be Superman be you know be some kind of superhero for that community that you that you serve but it’s very true yeah Magnus Works uh so we are a a company that uh uses data analytics to to drive organizational and individual outcomes so we we basically um uh through the power of data um we collect that data anonymously meaning that as we authenticate you into our system um we can keep all your aggregate data points about you uh but you can stay hidden in a system so so when you do interact with us nobody can come back and say Stephen said this uh but we can still know that oh Brian is a male white he’s 51 years old he’s got a master’s degree he’s the SWAT Commander I can keep all these D data aggregate aggre data points but I can’t crossfilter that data to start trying to figure out who said what um and then we use that data to uh to look at both organizational and individual stressors and then we provide what we call nutrients back to an organization to you know back fill the gaps that they struggle with and what we see in our partners is that as organizations start to understand that wellness and performance are interrelated into their organizational outcomes and they start using uh our our app and and and the dashboards and and the the power the communication power that that it has to their Workforce that you know every every part of their organization starts to ascend so um that’s fascinating yeah it’s it’s it’s fun stuff that’s really cool so that that’s um so an agency would get the get a contract with you or can can an individual officer do it on his own no So currently we’re set up as a an or organizational Enterprise so we’re we’re a we’re a kind of a B2B business right now we’re entertaining the idea of you know what does a b2c uh look like um uh but we have I mean our our our product is is is tested in several different Arenas we we have some profession professional sports clients we we are we are uh active with the military Public Safety we’ve got some large agencies some small agencies and and uh just signed a large Statewide initiative uh just recently so yeah we’re we’re interested in in really trying to change the culture of of policing when it comes to you know just making this transformational push into uh you know performance and well-being because when I first came on it was you know suck it up you’re going to see bad stuff and you know right uh the very first shooting uh you know I had been involved in you know you got uh I didn’t you know you didn’t get three you got three days off unless your days off were right after you know the incident happens on a uh on a Monday and I have Tuesday Wednesday Thursday’s off so I’m back to work on Friday so you know it’s uh but today’s a a different game and we want to make sure that we equip uh organizations with the best op opportunity to to make good decisions um and uh and to feel good about what they do and to take care of the people at home as well because that’s that’s another big thing that we do sounds awesome yeah it sounds like you show them showed the organization that um lifting employees up and take care of them that way actually gets better performance out of them and everything just runs better because of it right kind of like that in my my previous life you know the executives were always interested in morale but the way that they try to figure out about moral is they come to a roll call and say hey did you hear any good rumors lately because they knew people wouldn’t really Express the way they feel you know because you know you might get snared by you you’re talking bad about somebody’s ugly baby so right I mean and that’s the nice thing about data is data is really care about your feelings data is very objective and hey if we want to jump from this point to the next Point these are the issues that we have to address and it’s fascinating especially in public safety because when we first came into public safety people said cops wouldn’t talk to us and that’s the furthest thing from the truth um we we get data dumps like you can’t believe out of our organizations and then it’s you know getting organizations to to look at that data and and make you know make changes to to business that impacts their people and they’re doing it and their people are responding so it’s totally awesome that’s cool that is fascinating so any anybody out there who’s that’s their uh their the pointment for their for their agency Magnus works.com I’ll put a link in the show notes and also Brian do you want um anything else anything in there any social media or any email people can reach out to you at yeah you feel feel free to share my email um you know we’re active I wish we were more active on social media platforms we we promise we will be um right now we’re only on LinkedIn uh so you could follow us uh Magnus works on LinkedIn or myself I’m I’m on LinkedIn as well and uh uh love love to have you uh love to have your connection and if there’s any way that I can help anybody uh in in the profession yeah please feel free to reach out and and uh do whatever we can do to to to help you through awesome LT it was an honor to have you you had fantastic stories brother I’m glad uh we we’re finally able to make it happen I’ll put all those links in the show notes and I’m going to do the outro here takes like two or three minutes do you want to hang out for a second in chat afterwards I know you might have a ball game to go to or you got a couple minutes I got a couple minutes yeah all right great I’ll be right back with you thank you the great Brian Ellis ladies and gentlemen honor to have him uh fantastic stories really good stories I knew they would be once he said Sacramento cuz uh that’s a big city and things get nuts in the gritty City this is a time in the show when I thank the patreon sponsors who I’m talking about is the Great and Powerful Andy bigs Greg Gad boy the great Adam mihal ladies and gentlemen Chris June the great Gary Steiner Jake Pineo everybody John Shoemaker ladies and gentlemen the Great Lauren Stimson everyone the handsome Lane Campbell Seth Wright James Rose the great Tony Fey the handsome Ben Peters Jason laau none other than Jason Lao everyone saucer McNab the Great Scott minkler Tammy Walsh holding it down at dispatch William James long this Deputy William James long to you thank you very much Shan Clifford the great Dennis kis Iceman from motorcop Chronicles check out his podcast George T I’ll see at church Brother Scott young everybody the 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reach the maximum amount of people as possible so that these men and women of law enforcement can share with you what it’s really like to be a cop guys thank you so much and I’ll see you next [Applause] week Videolytics Tools Compare – off Summary