In this episode my co-host, Ken Roybal (ret LAPD), and I chat with Patrick Fitzgibbons retired Colorado Police Commander. Patrick had a very successful carrier as a police officer and is having just as much success in the private sector! He hosts the CJ Evolution podcast where he interviews law enforcement professionals about their carriers and post LEO carriers. He wrote his book “Evolve” to help motivate, educate, and inspire the criminal justice professional. Patrick also offers personal coaching to help you reach the next level of your career and life. Follow the link below to learn more about Patrick and the services he offers. www.cjevolution.com
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this is things police see first anaccount with your oast Steve gold heyguys it’s Steve thank you for checkingus out this is episode number 28 andtoday on the podcast I have a first timefor the podcast I have a co-host with megood friend of mine Ken Roybal he’s aretired LAPD police officer andbackground investigator and he alsocurrently runs police backgrounds dotnetfor all your background investigationneeds Ken thank you for coming on ahthank you this is exciting I’ve beenthinking about this for a few days it’svery exciting to be here I’m excited tohave you man today we have today we havea commander my friend I think it’s thehighest rank ever to come on the podcastwow that’s cool commanders are cool yescommander from ColoradoI think commander is that’s not anthat’s not a northeast thing we don’t Idon’t remember any agency having acommander but I think it’s betweensomewhere between deputy and lieutenantor deputy and captain is that right formost departments like commander isbetween captain and deputy chief butsome agencies have commanders as theydid away with the captain ranks likesome of the smaller California OrangeCounty agencies they now go fromlieutenant to commander is that like apay raise with no position move that’spretty small it’s still a captain gotchathis guy um this guy has quite theresume I mean checking him out he’s hewas in the army he was a police officerhe retired a commander he’s an adjunctprofessor he’s authored a book he’s alsoa personal coach so very he’s ago-getter I’d say for sure okay he’s gotquite a bit going on he’s got quite theresume makes me look like you know I gotmy resume from Kmart but he’s he’spretty incredible as far as all thethings that he’s done this is gonna be agreat interview but Ken does he have thestories he’s got to have he was therefor 23 years right and so he made hisway up through the ranks and now he goesaroundhelping other police officers to be thebest police officers they can andthere’s a lot that he has going on fromone one area like police stress toleadership so he’s got it all going onexcellent all right brother shouldshould i dial him in let’s dial him inall right this is gonna be a live dialand also never done this before so verycool looks pretty easy just added themright hello Patrick hey how’s it goingman hey thank you for coming on thepodcast my brother I appreciate it andyou’re with us is good buddy mind kenRoybal retired LAPD nice to meet youbrother hey how are you today I’m doingfantastic how are you good deal it’sgreat to be here with you I appreciateit thank you we were just we were justdoing a little intro and kind of goingover your credentials very impressive myman I mean we’re looking at from theArmy – police officer – you retired as acommander in Louisville Colorado you’readjunct professor you’ve authored a bookyour personal coach you host a podcastso you’ve got your uh you’re definitelya hard charger I’d say yeah I appreciateit I mean I had a great career in lawenforcement 23 years retired as a opcommander here in Louisville Colorado Imean that’s not a big agency about 35but had a great career and yeah I wantto continue to get back and started theshow and wrote a book and loved thebrave men and women who serve us everyday I love it man that’s awesome and Inoticed it’s Louisville not Louisvilleoff to the wrong start alreadyall right I already said that it’s acommon mistake and but yes LouisvilleColorado it’s it’s just that’s out ofBoulder Colorado if you’re familiar withthe area and about maybe 40 35 minutes40 40 minutes north of Denver how bigI’m sorry gonna ask what’s the size ofthe department about we were I retired Ithink we’re about 36 37 you know it’s asmaller agency I mean it’s nestled inbetween Boulder cotwell if you’refamiliar with the area of BoulderColoradofield and in Lafayette but it’s a goodit’s a good department it was a greattime seems like any agency over 20 25guys has is big enough to have the coolspecialties and some some areas you canget into you know yeah we you know wehad the options you know for ourofficers you know they had a SWATassignment it was a boulder county kindof collaboration that they get into SWATthey can get into you know d-r-e stuffyou know school resource officer it’snot a lot of options like you know LAPDor bigger agencies but we did have someoptions you know for for officers to getinto so it’s and it’s a pretty cool townand you know we got a lot of support youknow they love the cops here inLouisville which is great that’s awesomeyeah I like that I listened to us listento one of your podcasts I think yourlatest one and you you wanted to getthat straight put that out there thatyou know cops are you know the mediakind of portrays it one way but you seea lot of support from the community andI’ve actually I had guests say thatbefore it’s good to hear yeah I mean Ithink I mean you know you know we tendto hear the minority or you knowfraction of the population that kind ofis vocal I’m not talking about you knowminority groups I’m just talking aboutthere’s a very small amount of peoplethat are most vocal and you know Ireally do think the vast majority ofpeople do support law enforcement ourfirst responders I just I always say Ijust wish there were more vocal about itwell ken is a minority so we have himhere to kind of chime in on a lot ofI’ll be the resident minority you know Idid want to ask Patrick a question sincewe’re on this subjectyeah Patrick and I noticed that one ofyour interviews you were talking aboutor actually on your on your websiteyou’re talking about the how policinglooks looked different from the 23 yearsthat you were in from the beginning tothe end and I saw the same thing and I’mwondering what’s your what would you sayto people who bash the police and saypolice departments are inherently racistyou know I would say you know educateyourself I mean I I think don’t just goalong with people in media or talkingheads that areone thing I think we’re in a societyright now Ken and Steven where peoplejust watch a YouTube video or they hearit from their friends and they say wellI guess that’s I guess that’s how it iseducate yourself the vast majority ofpolice officers who interact withcitizens everyday in this great countrydoesn’t resolve the use of force doesn’tresolve in a shooting you know so Iwould just say educate yourself goride-along with a cop you know mostdepartments let people ride-along join acitizens Academy I mean there’s so manythings you can do out there the averagecitizens to develop your own pin in Ijust think that a lot of times peopleout there just run to a conclusionwithout knowing all the facts are therebad cops out there absolutely that youcan’t tell me the vast manat saying youguys wouldn’t people can’t convince methat the vast majority of cops out therea racist nobody gets up every morningand says you know I’m gonna go shootsomebody I’m gonna risk everything I’mgonna put everything on the line myhouse my family my wife my spousewhoever to go shoot somebody or beatsomebody up it’s just sudden happen thatwayyeah I I was gonna mention that I Iagree with you the vast majority ofpolice aren’t racists I think theyprejudge people based on yourexperiences if you if you worked in ahigh gang area where the the gangmembers were a certain color and theydrove certain cars and they dressed acertain way and they were constantly onreports for robbing and and all thosetype of things those are the peopleyou’re going to prejudge when you seethem on the street but that doesn’t meanyou’re racist I mean that’s that’s theperception yeah and I just think that weagain I mean I think I think most peopleout there are just good people but Ithink there are a percentage of peopleout there that just take the first thingthey see on YouTube or an Instagram feedor whatever and they say well I guess itmust be itand I always use the analogy you guyshave probably heard this I mean think ofthe NFL think of a catch you know widereceiver you know a 14-foot out how manyangles you see on TVplease don’t get that luxury so don’tjudge right away what you see sometimesit’s cut and dry a lot of times it isn’tjust wait until you get all the factsand then come to your own conclusionyeah that’s um I think that all the timewhen I see newspaper headlines and weknow from experience that a latewe’ll be all hashed out and that’s notthe fact but you see it you’re like justtake a minute to do some journalism isthat we just live in a society todaywhere there’s just people there soquickly they just want to judge soquickly and it’s like let’s just take aminute and get all the facts and if theofficers and the wrong the officer isgonna be in the wrong there’ll bepenalties for that but I mean come onjust don’t rush to judgment right awayabsolutely Patrick are you ready toanswer some questions what can you tellus about the first time you responded toa hot call what that was like oh jeezfirst time I responded to a hot call youknow as a brand-new police officer insoutheastern Colorado I didn’t spend mywhole career in one apartment but Iremember it was an active domesticviolence call I was one of the threeofficers responding and I believed thatthere was a knife involved and thefeelings that are going through yourhead the thoughts are you stabbed wasthinking you know first of all get theresafely but it’s an an adrenaline dumpand then you’re you know all thesethoughts are racing in your head youknow it’s just multitasking gettingthere safely getting on scene and thentrying to sort things out luckily we youknow we fused a situation made an arrestbut I’ll never forget that call I wasscared to deathyou know I’m Here I am a brand new cop Iwas a couple days off FTO my trainingand I get the first call of the nightthe high call course and yeah it was itwas a scary experience for me but youknow you got to go in there withconfidence you got to go in there withyou know I’m gonna fall back on mytraining and obviously obviously officersafety and often you know safety for thepeople around you but I was scared butwe got through it it was a it ended uppeaceful which was good yeah that’s sothere’s always that added pressure towhen you’re when you’re new and it’syour call yeah but that’s part of it youknow you’re gonna make mistakes andhopefully they’re not huge mistakes butyou’re gonna make some mistakes andthat’s what you know that’s what theseniorshe was there for hope hopefully guideyou and mentor you and I had some greatgreat officers I looked up to you knowas a young police officer that reallykind of helped me along the way did youum on that first call cuz I rememberthis myself uh something that caught meoff guard was my heart was racing andthen I when I tried to talk in the radioI kind of realized like wow I gotta likeyeah I gotta calm myself down it was aninteresting thing you said that becauseafterwards after the call was done andeverything and it settled down you knowmaybe two or three hours later I got acall from one of the dispatchers andthey said hey man you okayI said yeah they said you were kind ofamped up on the radio so just got totake it easy just got to slow it down alittle bit so yeah I remember that sothat was that was part of it but that’sall part of the you know that first dumpyou know that first experience when youget to you know be a veteran you knowyou’re like okay all right I’m in roundyeah well it’s kind of its kind of toughstill because I think you deal in thisis well Patrick where people don’t seemto realize that in a in a matter ofseconds your adrenaline pump just goesthrough the roof and then you’re likethat for a few minutes and all of asudden you’re supposed to just take itdown and you do that over and over againvert over the course of a career and itmesses with your stress and your heartyou know exactly I mean that’s just inone of the inherent you know dangers ofpolice work and you know like I saidyou’re right over time I mean it’s youknow two things happen you know overtime I think sometimes we becomedesensitized so you know the calls thatare coming out I know I did where it’slike okay like I said I just I just saidall right you could now you know yearslater you get that cone you’re likealright I’m in around knowing but that’sexperienced that’s you know it comeswith time but I grew through a hundredpercent I mean that you know up and downup and down up and down it just wreakshavoc on your sleep your body all kindsof stuff yeah they used to be a yearsago there was a statistic and I haven’tupdated it but the statistic was thatthe average American male lived to be 70and a half years old the averageAmerican male police officer lived to be55 and a halfoh yeah it doesn’t surprise me itdoesn’t surprise me hopefully we’vegotten better with those stats yeah Ihope soit’s brutal I remember in a policeacademy the we had this old trooperteaching class and he said I’m gonnashow you why you’re gonna die youngerthan everyone else and he to thechalkboard and he drew like a normalperson’s adrenaline spikes and he’s likealmost got a car accident six monthslater we’re not a roller coaster but itwas fun and then he you know it showslike two three bumps throughout the yearand then it shows let me show me I’llshow you yours are the typical policeofficers and it just is like boom boomboom up and down up and down and he’slike you’re basically just coring yourheart out with you know with adrenalinedumps yeah I always thought you know thefire guys have a great you know theythey go out you know they go and theyget their high calls and they’re busytoo but then they have that downtime youknow and police are always you knowobviously it’s just a different game Imean it’s you know we’re all out onpatrol patrolling all the time our youknow our situate wareness is always ahundred percent or it should be and youknow at least fire guy you know the firedepartment they get those breaks youknow we just I thought you know so it’slike hey man I want to go in there andplay video games yeah I got four wallsand a roof they can you know they’resafe they can take a nap now too muchlove and respect for the fire guys orwomen that are that are listening soit’s not that it’s not their faultthey’re smarter than us yeah exactlynow one thing you mentioned earlier whenyou’re talking about that domesticviolence call is that people don’trealize thatpolice work is scary and you know copsget scared when they have to go aroundthat corner that alley in the dark andit can be a very this can be traumaticfor for officers over the course of timeand you you counsel officers when youtalk to them and what do you say topeople that want to be police officerscuz I deal in police backgrounds andwhat would you say to a new officerwho’s who kind of has their their eyesyou know their head in the clouds andthink it’s all Hollywood fun and likethat well do your research I mean reallyI go on ride-along it’s like I saidbefore it for citizens do your researchresearch the department’s you want toget hired on I mean I know as a newofficer for people that are thinkingabout it you know they kind of get thismyopic view of it but that’s that’sprobably the best advice is go onride-alongs talkofficers befriend officers you know doas much research research said thedepartment that you want to work for Imean every departments a littledifferent culture is different so Ithink you know like I said it comes downto really know what you’re getting intoI’ll never forget this story this washappened when I was still on the job andI had one of the sergeant’s came to meand said hey commander uh you know oneof the our new officers just got off FTOshe wants to quit and I said well whathave you talked to her he said yeah andthey said we’ll send her in here I wantto talk to her and so I talked to herand say you know what’s going on and shesaid I just I just didn’t realize it wasgonna be this wayand I was like well okay I mean I’llsupport you whatever you want to do butand then she ended up resigning she justjust couldn’t do it but I goes back tothat point I mean you know what you’regetting into you know I mean Holly whatis Hollywood you guys know that I meanit’s just movies it’s a it’s not anaccurate portrayal a description of whatlaw enforcement do every day we’re notrunning gunning 100 percent of the timemost of its at least in my experienceit’s it’s community policing it’stalking with people it’s mediating it’sall that stuff so education I would tellpeople know what you’re getting intoyeah that’s interesting that’s funny tooand people look at Hollywood and it’slike actually it’s a lot less excitingthan that but you’ll be a lot morescaredeighty percent of boredom ten or twentypercent of you know you know what to thewall and you know hair on fire and stufflike that so yeah it’s funny you watchthese TV shows and within an hourthey’ve gotten like three shootings andthey’ve you know got in fights and thenthey go and they never write any reportsthey just go out and have fun they wrapup everything and they even go to trialin an hour yeah so so efficient it’s youknow it’s you guys probably heard of itit’s a it’s a CSI effect it’s kind ofthe same thing you know you go to courtand and you guys know this I mean peoplewatch like these all these I can’tremember how many CSI shows I don’twatch them but they want to see incourtroom what happens when it comes toevidence and stuff like that I mean it’sthe CSI effectand the problem is a lot of jurors youknow what I can’t remember a third of ahalf of shows out there a police-relatedwas just fine but a lot of people lookat that and say well this is what Iexpect from law enforcement this is whatI expect in a courtroom because I see iton TVsometimes it’s a lot of times it isn’tSteve and I have joked about this stuffbefore when people watch TV and thenstuff happens and you read about in thenews and they come up to you becauseyou’re the you’re the resident cop andthey go how come they didn’t shoot himin the leg welcome they didn’t throw thebaton and trip him as he was falling Igotta go you know with because I teachyou know and and not so much the policecadets but you know the college studentsthink we get into those discussionsyou guys know they’re like how come thecop doesn’t shoot him in the leg and Isaid well you know on a range in astatic situation no I mean machala knobsI mean even best shots to make that legshot I mean they probably can if you’rea good shot but now I have a movingtarget somebody moving around flailingrunning it’s just it’s not real yeah andthe problem is that people sincerely askthat question well it’s Hollywood youknow like you guys said I mean it theysee it on the shows and they sheet onthe movies where somebody you knowshoots a knife out of their you knowperson’s hand and I always tell peoplewhat’s the bigger target torso is itsinner man come on it just it justdoesn’t happen and police officers arenot trained that way and hopefully wenever will be trained you know to shootfor a hand or something or there’s a lotof people can get hurt the best thingthat doesn’t get enough play on the newsis when they take the the reporter andthey put him in the semi nation’straffic stops and all that yeah I needto shoot to everyone he shoots a driverpassenger he was what was terrifyingpeople I didn’t know where their handswere and what they’re gonna do it’s likeman they should play that all the timethat’s every day with law enforcementour brave men and women you know outthere every day patrolling our streetskeeping our community safe you know likeI said it’s it’s frustrating to hear thecriticism and then some of it some of itbut I think the overwhelming majorityisn’t yeah I would challenge anybody outthere listening you know go go rightalongI’ll go right along with LAPD or bigcity or even a small municipality andsee what these officers are dealing withon a daily basis I know when I left ourcall loads were going up 25% we’regetting busier officers are leaving theprofession it’s hard to get ranksreplenished because people don’t want tobe officers not all people but some youguys know I mean when I’m trying to keepa copy years ago I remember you’d have acouple positions you get hundreds ofpeople showing up mm-hmmwe’re not seeing that I was in charge ofrecruiting for a while in my agency wedid pretty well for the most part butstill everybody’s vying everybody’sjockeying the same people I imagine it’slike that California and any state yes Ispoke with several backgroundinvestigators from different agenciesand everybody’s in the same boat eventhough I read an article all the way toNew York where recruitments down by hugehuge huge percentage and nobody isapplying and to be quite honest with youa lot of times Steve and I saw or thetime we worked at backgrounds is thatthe a lot of people that are applyingshould not be lying to be policeofficers hello and I thought you guyshad probably heard I mean I’ve heard ofstories where I mean it didn’t happen inmy agency but law enforcement agenciessome are actually lowering theirstandards hey I’d rather work short onthe street and have some idiot thatshouldn’t either on the forceand but some agencies are resorting tothat and you know obviously I don’tagree with it but it’s hard you knowyou’re talking about I was talking to afriend of mine back east in a big hugecity I won’t name it but down like 800cops you know lazy crazy Patrick can youdescribe to us your strangest or mostbizarre call I’m waiting for this one Iremember it was Halloween this wasprobably about I don’t know 10 years agoand it stinks it settled down it was abusy night and I’m driving down the roadand I see this figure the medianthe road it’s you know two or threeo’clock in the morning and I’m like whatthe hell is that and I you know I’m apretty good distance away and I sloweddown and it had this weird form to itand I was like what the hell is that andI’m hit my spotlight and as I pull upcloser that it’s a person in a Gumbysuit remember Gumby oh yeah rememberGumby he’s in the Gumby suit and he’sgot this remember his head is all kindof distorted and stuff like it’s likethis big huge foam foam outfit and Ipull up and I’m like this guy’s like hecan’t figure out how to get off themedian and so let’s go on and he’s youknow drunk as hell and I’m like oh mygod I’m like what do you what are youdoingand and I’m like well you know hey youknow the agencies do it differently butyou know we could take him to detox orsomething like that and I said hey Jerrido you have anybody you know that that Ican shoot you home really quick I youknow I mean I said I’ll just bring youhome as long as there’s somebody who’san adult and there was responsiblethey’re not a toxic it out I’ll just goahead and bring you home sake all rightyou know and so I get this I try tostuff this guy that’s who my back of mypatrol car and I’m like dude can’t do mea favor you know can you can you can youtake off the suit I can’t I cannot fityou into this car I mean it’s a big hugephone suit and you know he’s like allright you know I’ll take it out whathe’s naked underneath so that was Ifinally get this guy home but that waythat’s the first thing that popped intomy head mostly because it was just youknow it wasn’t Halloween was not too farago but that was for I’m sure I couldcome up with many many more examples butthat was one of the strangest that youknow that popped into my head and ofcourse you know was just me there wasany other cops there and you know yeahand they you know they didn’t believe methey’re like what the hell are youtalking about I was like I’m seriousyeah and this was before we got dashcamsin the car and stuff like that so it wasI got to tell you if it was you and Iand we’re working patrol and it was 2019I would have had you take a picture ofmeoh I would know I didn’t have acellphone at the time but that waspromised probably one of the funniestthings and things that really stuck outto me but that was hilarious I was likewell let me take off your Gumby suit andI think you know figuring the guy wouldhave shorts on or some nice buck nakedWow people do did he take the suit halfdown or did he actually get naked andget completely took it completely offbecause you know it’s you know it’s likea big huge bulky suit and they you knowhow small those back seats are and thesquad cars always naked and it’s likeit’s like 20 degrees out or somethinglike did you I don’t know think aboutputting some clothes on today maybe someunderwear maybe a t-shirt or some oh noman the Gumby suit that’s great did youget to witness who you dropped him offto receive yes I did his roommate niceguy and he’s like oh yeah he was outpartying normal behavior that’s awesomeall right Patrick can you tell us aboutyour most intense or terrifying callthat you responded to yeah remember wehad a tactical team we had a big methhouse we were busting out in the countyand I remember I was one of the pointguys coming in first man second man inat the point second man in and Iremember everybody’s kind of peeling offand it’s the dark house it’s out in thecountry and I go straight and I shine mylight up and there’s this woman sittingthere cross-legged blanket right infront of me maybe ten feet in front ofme and she’s got her hands underneaththis blanket and you know I kept onyelling at her kept on telling her toshow me her hands and she was tweakedout you could tell but she was alsopregnant I could tell that she waspregnantand but she wouldn’t wouldn’t show meher hands and it was tense there for aminute because I knew she was pregnantand I knew if she came up with a weaponthings were gonna go wrongand I was able to finally convince herto show me her hands very slowly she didand she had a 38 that was in her lap hmmwe finally got her up so that was for methat was like a a pucker factor sothat’s one situation and I’ll neverforget and of course you know it’s she’spregnant you know and she’s you knowdoing sure maybe some of you have seenit before um you know she’s in this methhouse and I was like oh my god I if Ihave to shoot this woman you know it’sgonna be tough you know yeah yeah butshe could have pulled the gun out andpointed it at you and you that couldhave shot her and you would have been atfault yeah I mean that’s the thing Imean this was a while ago but yeah Imean it was it was it was a situationthat I’m glad was resolved the way itwas obviously but you know it’s thosethings again like we talked about thatyou know Offshore’s deal with every dayI mean this is not a unique situationthat I didn’t just mention and you knowthat and Stephen you know that I meanthese are situations that officers faceevery dayovertime you keep doing that over timeand time and time it really affectsofficers first responders and when youstacked up were you on the TAC team oryou uh you know I was on a TAC team okayso this was a call they were trying tonegotiate eight people that come outstuff so we finally made entry wellthat’s got to be freaky after they’vealready tried it’s not like a no-knockwarrant or anything it’s like theythey’re not wanting to come out mmm butwe knew other people were inside and itwasn’t like a barricaded suspect orsomething so very very intense Patrickcan you can you warm us up a little bitwith thatwith a heartwarming moment from yourcareer you know so many I mean I loveyou know I you know just I know it’s acliche but just giving back and helpingpeople I always like being involved withthe Christmas drives and things likethat where we’re helping less fortunatepeople in the community and towards thelatter part of my career I was activelyinvolved in you know shop with a cop andworking it’s different wherever you’reat but we my last year on thewe actually used a an old Sam’s Club andwe made it into like we had a lot ofdonations for Christmas and we actuallyhad people that couldn’t affordChristmas for their families we actuallyset up aisles and stuff like that weactually had it make it look like anactual store and we kind of oh that’scool an area where you know people itwas free and people could come in andthat was a very you know satisfyingthing that we could you know give backand you know what see it’s an excellentopportunity for people you know to see adifferent side of officers and there’snot a no agenda behind that but we justyou know we want to give back we want tohelp out our less fortunate in ourcommunity but it’s a great opportunityfor people to really talk with officersand you know I think we changed someminds you know when we did that wherepeople are showing up saying you knowI’m and I thought you guys were just youknow idiots and you know I have to getme and stuff and you guys really made myyou know kids Christmas special sothat’s a good feelingI wish they would do more stories aboutthat especially during the holidays whensometimes they’ll do were these LAPDused to do this thing where the motorcops used to stop people and they wouldgive them coupons or something like thatand or they would take they would filltheir trunks of their patrol cars withwith food baskets for turkey dinner andthings and you don’t see a lot of thaton the news but it goes on all over theUnited States all the time you justdon’t hear about it yeah I mean it’s thenews I mean it’s occasionally you willbut they report the bad that’s theirbusiness and but yeah but you know Iwouldn’t you know rely on news media youknow I mean if you’re out therelistening and you see cops doing thisthese great acts of kindness record itand post it on social it doesn’t have tocome from the media all the time oh it’snot an Instagram post on LinkedInwhatever Facebook get it out there sopeople are seeing I’m talking aboutregular citizens you know that want tosupport officers I mean that’s a greatway don’t rely on the media to do it foryou yeah you’re right I mean I printswith probably a third of the people ormaybe for the people on my Facebookthing or police officers or in lawenforcement and like cameras saying likeyou don’t see it at all andNews but I see it all over my feed whenthe holidays come so it’s like it’sreally nice it’s really amazing yeah andlike I said it goes back to where I saidbefore I mean I think the overwhelmingmajority of people out there support lawenforcement I think the next thing I’mgonna do I haven’t I don’t know why Ihaven’t thought of it before it justoccurred to be put it next time I see acop or cops in a restaurant I’m gonna goand pay for their meal and just thankthem for their service but that’ssomething I’ve been thinking a lot aboutlately is how do we thank our policeofficers when you see them in personmost people won’t go up and say anythingbut I’m gonna go ahead and I’m justgonna pay for their meal I don’t carehow many of them are there that’s a goodthing yes that’s awesome that’s a greatideaand they appreciate it but you know alot of times you know it’s like militarypersonnel every time I see when I traveland I see a brave man a woman in uniformI always go up to him and just shaketheir hand and thank them for theirservice and that is that is the world tothem you know same as same as firstresponders you know I mean I think it’sincredibly great gracious to buy themdinner and I’ve done that before too butI think sometimes it’s just a simple actof just going up to them and say youknow what thank you for your service andthey that that is huge with with mostcops I mean because they don’t hear thatall the timethey hear it very little especially whenyou’re in uniform because you’re right alot of people are afraid to approach anofficer male or female because of thatwhatever I mean they’re just in uniformthat’s a authority figure and but youknow most officers I can’t speak for allofficers are going to be very veryreceptive for that so that yeah it’sit’s one of those things where you knowwhat any police officer hears that it’sa really big deal people think god it’sno big deal because I just told them youknow appreciate what they do but inreality police officers whenever youmake contact with a citizen whether it’sa suspect or a victim those are negativecontext because on both scenariosthey’re going through something that isa negative contact with the policewhether you’re taking a report becausesomebody just you know robbed them atgunpoint or you’re arresting thembecause they did a bad thing so when apolice officerrarely here’s a thank you and whensomebody comes up and says the smallestlittle thing like we appreciate youthat’s huge to a police officer used tomake my day no matter how bad my day wasand if somebody didn’t happen all thetime but if somebody came up and saidyou know what thank you for your servicethat would have been like oh my god youknow it really is worth all the crapthat officers go through because it justtakes that one person to come least froma change the outcome I perception of theday because then I’m like oh Lisa thispersonit’s thanking me for my service and itreally is a game-changer for a lot ofyou can change the day for a lot ofofficers out there mm-hmmPatrick do you have give some advice fornew police officers and just for thisquestion assume that they they know whatthey’re getting into well I would justsay you know you got to listen you knowI listen you know they you know Godwhoever you believe in a higher poweryou give us two word or two ears and onemouth for a reason listen twice as muchas you talk so listen listen to thesenior officers listen to give thepeople that are doing it that have beendoing it a long time seek out the rightofficers what do I mean by that I’mtalking about any department has thecops that you know that are that are notI hate to say it but they’re toxic andyou you want to stay away from thosecops you will eat their dead weight mantheir rods retired on duty or whateveryou want to call it they’re you knowthey don’t want to be there and it is animperative that you seek out mentorshipand coaching from the right officersalign yourself with those cops they’regonna help you grow they’re gonna mentoryou they’re gonna teach you so thatwould be my advice you know and in everydepartment has its and any you know theythey have the people that are that aretoxic and FTO so this is where I I wasalways big on FTOs I want the rightpeople in those positions we need tohave the right people in those positionsI don’t want some some person in theresome cop who’s pissed off better and I’mnot saying you’re gonna have bad daysI’m not saying that we don’t live in abubble but I want FTOs that are pumpingmotivating and inspiring the youngofficers we don’t need people in therethatwe’re just gonna complain all the timeNo so seek out the right officers youknow seek out the people that are gonnayou know help you and mention youyeah that’s solid advice for sure mm-hmmPatrick you um like I was saying beforeyou have quite the quite the hustlegoing on and I really appreciate it cuzI love to see guys going after it whenthey’re done with their police careercuz most guys retire being cops andthey’re still relatively speaking youngguys you know you can have a wholenother career you and Ken are actually alot alike that way Ken’s doing a sidebusiness with police backgrounds net andyou’re doing you got the podcast and youalso have you do personal coaching canyou talk about that well yeah I startedpersonal coaching a while ago you knowand I want to help you know lawenforcement officers other firstresponders who are know overwhelmed withpersonal and professional obstacles tobuild self-confidence resiliency so theycan help you know so they can becomestronger and more happier in their livesand we all deal with stuff we all havebaggage especially first responders butI want to help officers and I’ve had alot of success with it and I just enjoyhelping people I want to continue togive back to a career that was so goodto me over the years and yeah I justlove helping the women who protect usevery day I think that’s a that’s a goodthing that you’re doing because foryearspolice suicides have been a big deal nowit seems like they’re in the news allthe time where Chicago and New York hasbeen having a rash of pleas suicides andand all over the country and I thinkthat your type of your type of serviceand counseling for for officers wouldgive them that boost they need to seelife in a much different way and it’s soimportant you know that officers reelout to I mean they just I know it’s hardyou know goes back to what we weretalking about about the media and whatyou hear in social media and stuff youknow you can’t just it’s you just haveto develop that right mindset and againI know it sounds simplistic but you haveto realize that there’s so many peopleout there that care about you thatcherish that love you and I’m talking tofirst responders right now and you knowI’m not a PE you know I’m not at someI’m a psychologist or anything like thatbut you have to realize that there’s alot of options out there there’s a lotof help you can talk to people you knowthere’s so many resources out there ifyou’re suffering you just you just haveto you have to reach out and a lotofficers that I both know this is a lotof officers thinking that it is a signof weakness to reach out and ask forhelp or I need a coach or I need somehelp and no no brother and sister thatit’s a sign of strength that you’redoing that you got to get rid of thatmindset that I’m weak if I ask for helpeverybody needs help at some pointeverybody does absolutely can helpbefore it’s before you go too far downthat rabbit exactly exactly is that whatyour your book evolve is that whatthat’s about is it kind of like amindset book for success or is itspecifically geared towards overcomingproblems I apologize I would have readit but we set this up pretty quicklyoh no no no so it’s a small micro bookand I and I wrote that for a reason it’san easily digestible read you know youcan do it in one sitting it’s only about70 pages but yes it’s you know it’s itsmindset it’s you know some tips andhabits and routines that I’ve learned inmy career in law enforcement not all ofthem but you know the more importantones I believe and you know advice andtips and suggestions that I’ve got byhaving so some of the best and brighteston my show but yeah it’s it’smotivational it’s inspirational it’llhelp you and you show your podcast is CGevolution correct correct I started theshow about three and a half years agoand I was still on the job and I was abig podcast junkie I listened to allkinds of podcasts and I remember I waslistening one day and I was like wellI’m gonna try that in and you know learnhow to do all the editing and all thatstuff and that’s been going strong I’mup to about 340 episodes now so I’mpretty happy wow that’s awesome it’savailable iTunes stitcher anywhere youcan get podcasts and I’m sure yeahiTunes stitcher I Heart Radio it’s it’syou can find it a lot of places awesomeand where else can people if oncesomeone’s gonna hold you or get yourservices where can they reach you thebest way brother is CG evolution comyou know I reached Mount InstagramLinkedIn Facebook but it’s all rightthere on the website CG revolution calmawesome and Patrick Patrick also authorsfor one of my favorite law enforcementwebsites law enforcement today oh reallyyeah that’s like one of my favoritewebsites I had yeah just a great youknow publication I mean onlinepublication it’s the biggest I believein the world law enforcement publicationonline publication and I became friendswith Kyle Rhea’s who’s the nationalspokesman for law enforcement today acouple years ago he’s been on my show acouple times and he reached out to meabout a year ago and say hey man wouldyou be interested in contributing to thethe publication I was like absolutelyI’ve been fortunate and blessed enoughto write a handful of articles but yeahyeah your your article Steve you wouldhave even would have got a kick out ofthis about two three years ago becausePatrick’s a steve has a YouTube channelwas called ghouls granny gaining groundand one of them was with his last day onpatrol in Massachusetts and Steve thearticle that Patrick wrote is titledleaving the force can be challenginghere’s how to start steering yourself inthe right directionwhere were you Patrick yeah you know thereality is is is that we’re all gonnaget out of law enforcement I tell copsthis and people all the time cadets Iwas like you know you know mica that’syou’re young but you know you are onecall away I hate to sound bleak you guysknow this your one call away from godforbid some sort of injury or somethinglike that that’s gonna force you to do Iit’s something else so what are yougonna do what’s your plan B what’s yourC or D I believe in versatility you haveto be versatile especially in this joband I learned that a long time ago whenI was younger and I knew that one day mylaw enforcement career would end andokay now what you know what am I gonnado and I’m blessed and fortunate to beyou know doing what I’m doing but youjust have to have that versatility youhave a plan man and then start nowabsolutely like you’re like you said inthe podcast episode of yours I listen tothe I see here this all-time cops werelike I do this cuz I got no skills I gotnothing this is hell I can do all I cando is learn law you kidding you kiddingI hear that too man I hear that too menand it’s like you are don’t pigeonholeyourself into thinking you you haveunbelievable skillsets absolutelycontinue to give back to the world don’tdon’t let people don’t let peopleconvince you or get in your head Iremember when I was real quick Iremember when I was retired I had goodfriends of mine that I’ve known foryears some of them it came out they saidwhat do you what are you gonna do youbeen a cop for a long time I said whatdo you mean I’m I’m going to that doorand I’m gonna do other great things butyou can’t you know so but you’re rightso many so many brave men and womenthink that well this is the only thing Icould do and you know yes I’ll dosomething enforcement-related or andthat’s fine I’m not saying that but youyou have so many talents so many giftsyou know so really really start tappinginto those man write it down if you haveto I talked about this in the book whatare your goals what are your habits putthem down on paper write them down youknow start tapping into that absolutelyI get I get emails sometimes from peopleand they’re kind of asking like they’reteetering you know they’re close toretirement they want retire early andthey’re like what could I do and theyknow that I’ve been investigating acouple different hats backgroundinvestigator now I’m an insuranceinvestigator I tell them it all the timeI’m like you got the skillsets man andif you just get a couple goodrecommendations they’re gonna know thatyou were a cop you manage your time onyour own you dealt with people byyourself you investigated you you knowyou thought on your feet inhigh-pressure situations most employersfind police officers to be very verygood employees exactly they’redisciplined they understand you knowrank structure I’m not talking about ifyou go to the private sector maybe youhave that but they’re disciplinedthey’re under they understand how totake orders they understand how tofollow through it’s just I hear that alot it just kind of gets to me sometimesand you just can’t let the thosenaysayers because there’s always gonnabe Nasser’s once you accept that onceyou accept the fact that people aregoing to criticize you no matter whatyou do there’s a sense of peace to thatat least there was for me because I knowwhen you put yourself out there and youput your name out there and you create abrand and you’re starting or doing stuffkeep are gonna be like what’s that guydoing he’s crazy but a lot of timeswhether you’re a copor not it’s that insecure it’s their owninsecurities that are coming out andthey’re trying to portray on you youknow you know and and these are goodpeople but they’re some of our insecureand then they have fears and they seeyou doing it or crushing it and you knowthat they’re gonna criticize but doesn’tmake them bad people it’s just that youknow some of them are just insecure andthey see you doing it and say wannacriticize you sure maybe they thought ofit but they were too afraid to try youknow a lot of people they they you knowif you come up to you go what do i whatam I supposed to do what am I qualifiedto do and and I’d say haven’t you beenhanging out with you for the last like50-something years you don’t know i saidgo talk to Patrick yeah I mean andthat’s what I would tell people so whatdo you want to do you know you knowpeople say well you know what peopletell me all the time or you know I’mgonna write okay what does that looklike well I want to I want to break outof this right okay well what’s causingyou to be in the rut and then you startget to the root of it well you startdigging deeper okay well you know I I’myou know I’m stressed about money okaywhat can you do to to alleviate thatstress you know I mean people tell methat a lot they say well I’m just in arut and I just need to get out of thisfunk okay all like it’s up to you I cangive you the tools to help you do thatbut you got to dig deeper in your I meanyou know people out there that arelistening right now if you’re in a rutfirst of all I’m sorry but you know thereason why you’re in a rut you know youjust got to do some soul-searching andit’s hard sometimes maybe it’sembarrassing but if you want to trulyget out of that and grow and learn andgo towards success you have to you haveto do some soul-searching and that’swhat I hope people with absolutelythat’s awesome man that’s um I mean Iwas in a rut myself with uh we all I wastoo we all go through with this podcastI did it for six months I had a bunch ofgreat guests and it became harder tobook cast and I was like haha manreached out to people challenging andthe podcast is sat there and as it satthere the listenership getting biggerand bigger and I was like man people arejust like listening to every episode andI was getting emails and emails and likeit didn’t matter like I was sin that rutI was reading them being like hey it’sgonna be too difficult but then Idecided to really go for it and then youknow three weeks later or month later Ihave Patrick Fitzsimmons I’mPodcast so yeah there you go it’s anhonor to beat your brother and here’sthe thing really quick I mean here’s thething that a lot of people don’t realizeis the more successful you get you knowand the more recognition you get theless competition there is really becausemost people stay in the middlemost people settle for mediocre rightand the game is on the fringes righthere that’s where the game is played anda lot of people just settle for thatmiddle in a lot of people once you kindof strain you start doing things and youbecoming better and you becomingsuccessful are you giving back a lot ofpeople want to pull you back into theherd and say no man hey Ben you got tocome back here yeah a lot of peoplesuccumb to that a lot of people do butwhat people don’t realize is you knowit’s it’s there’s not a lot ofcompetition when you start reachingthose top layers look at Tom Bradywhether you like him or hate him he’sone of the best quarterbacks everabsolutely Baxter how many quarterbacksyou’re in the NFLthere’s 30-some teams what quarterbacksare you always hearing about Tom Bradyyou know I mean Aaron you know AaronRodgers all these top rated quarterbacksbecause they play at a different leveland that’s what people have to realizeyou have that ability you can play atthat level but a lot of people settlefor mediocre and then they regrettowards the end of their life don’t dothat I like you Steve he’s getting mepumped Steve what I’m gonna do I justdecided this right now I’m gonna printout a picture of Patrick I’m gonna pasteit on the wall and you’re good enoughyou’re smart enough we just need to youknow you need to surround yourself withpeople that are there pumping you up youknow I know it’s hard but you need tosee what Jim Rohn and said here theaverage of the five people you surroundyourself with and it’s so true and it’shard for law enforcement I know I’vebeen thereyou know we you have these good friendsyou’ve been together for a long timeyou’re you know your team members andthings like thatbut I know from my experience a lot ofthose people were toxic and it’s notthat I don’t love them care for him butI started okay not hanging outall the time I started getting friendsoutside law enforcement and that madeall the difference in the world againthis is not a dig on law enforcement Ilove the brave men or women service butlaw enforcement is an inherently toxicenvironment people don’t call us whenthings are great they call us when youknow what hits the fan and a lot oftimes the toxicity comes into anapartment that’s what I was – that’salways saying you know with new officersseek out the people that are gonnainspire you motivate you I’m not sayingthere aren’t bad days but you know aswell as I do the people that areconstantly draining you of your energythat are toxic just get away from thosepeople new yeah what I’ve told peoplefor years is there is life outside lawenforcement you know there’s otherthings to do other people to hang outactually and you know we are conditionedat least I was you know in lawenforcement you know from a very youngage you know it’s us again to them youknow it’s that mentality I’m not sayingyou know you don’t keep your up youroffice your safety your not cognizant ofyour surroundings I’m not saying thatthe only thing I’m saying is you cantake off your cop hat once in a whileand actually meet people or outside oflaw enforcement and who the hell knowsyou might even enjoy it and that wasthat was really pivotal for me because Iwas one of those guys who are you knowif you don’t have a star or a badge andI got to talk to you you’re one of themand then I started to change my mindsetmainly through my wife and she was likewhy don’t we go out when we meet newpeople she’s a realtor so she knowseverybody and I started you knowbecoming friends with her friends and Iwas like wow this is great you know Imean these are actually good peoplethey’re not criminals they’re not peoplewho want something from me we’re just goout and have a good time so raw lawenforcement you know listening to this Imean if you have friends that’s how lawenforcement great if not I wouldencourage you to do so you know you gotto have that balance man it’s it’s thatsmall percentage of people that we dealwith the majority of the population isnot like that absolutely Patrick thankyou so much for coming on the podcastman it’s been it’s been awesome timeyeah awesome absolute pleasure and honorI appreciate you having me on andanything I could do to help with yourshow please let me know brother oh I’mgonna go through your list of guests andstart poaching awayI loved it to help you with some someguests and yeah anything I could do butit’s been a truly an honor and Iappreciate the opportunity Lawson Ithink I speak for Steve and I we arefans absolutely you I appreciate it Iappreciate it thank you sirall right take care hey guys I hope youenjoyed that interview with PatrickVic’s Gibbons he’s got a lot going onhe’s a hell of a guy I had a good timeinterviewing him don’t forget to go overto his website and check out everythinghe’s got to offer its WWC J evolutioncom from there you can get his microbook you can link to his podcast and youcan contact him for all your personalcoaching needs so go check out Patrickover there and I would like to requestthat you go to iTunes and rate andreview my podcast that would befantastic it helps the show in itsstandings just give it a five star ifthat’s how you feel about it and I hopeyou do in write a little comment or justgive it the stars and you don’t have towrite a comment but anything you can dois greatly appreciated that’s a that’s agood free way you can show your supportfor the podcast if you want to contactme you can reach me at Steve at thingsplease see calm now that’s a new emailthis is my legit big boy pants email theother email the gmail is still I’m stillmonitoring it I’ve still get email therebut uh I’m trying to transition to Steveat things police see calm so send anyyour questions there any guestsuggestions send them over there Iappreciate all that stuff and I justappreciate all the emails and Facebookmessages and Instagram comments I’vebeen getting it’s it’s really cool Ilove interacting with you guys if youwant to join the Facebook community goover to the things police si force andaccounts Facebook page and I’ll try toUM post stuff there maybe if we talkabout something in the show I can post alink there and you can check it out onelast thing I said the wrong sowed numberat the beginning of this it’s actuallyepisode number 29 so sorry about thatI’m getting confused sometimes becauseI’m I’m trying to do my due diligenceand get these interviews done beforehandget them edited and get them in thequeue to be published so because of thatI’m easily confused and sometimes Iscrew up the number but this was episodenumber twonine thanks guys we’ll see you next timeEnglish (auto-generated)Up next
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