In this episode Steve and Ken pick the brain of 20 year LAPD veteran, Andrew Gonzalez. Andrew works in one of the most dangerous parts of the city and shares a lot of insight into gang culture. He is clearly dedicated to the community and loves his job.
Andrew’s company Battle Cry Gear – https://www.battlecrygear.com/
@battlecrygear on Instagram
hey guys it’s Steve welcome to thepodcast before we get started I want tolet you know that WWE things policec-calm is now officially up and runningI’m super excited for you to check itout it looks amazing I can take zerocredit for it daniel Jurkowitz frombumpit marketing he was a former guestfrom New York kind of just I think Imentioned before he just volunteered tobuild this website for me so that theshow could have a kind of a centralmeeting place and I’m just so gratefulthat the thing is awesome now if you ifyou want to be a guest you go to thewebsite things please see calm and youcan send me a message to be a guest isclick on be a guest for the show if youwant to join the newsletter I encourageyou to do that you can do that there ifyou want to listen the podcast you cando that there and also if you feel soinclined you can support the podcast andmake a donation and I put that on therebecause the podcast is a lot of work weput a lot of time into the podcastbetween scheduling 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good morning to youfrom wet and soggy Washington State yesyes it’s actually wet and soggy inSouthern California as well I’m in thehigh desert so they didn’t tell me whenI moved up here it’s a lot like it’s notmuch different than New England up herelittle chillyI got we have flood warnings out herebecause the river is sometimes overflowwe’re in an area that we won’t getflooded but the roads that could go intotown could be flooded but I got thisproperty I have I have a big swath ofland right in the frontI can easily build an ark so just knowwhat oh man it’s yeah we’re gettingslammed out here with with rain but Ilove it I think it’s the greatest thingevernow your property’s beautiful I’ve seenmany pictures and it looks absolutelyamazing that’s a goal of my wife andeyes is to make our way to the PacificNorthwest at some point before we aredeed will impose on you of course andtoday we have one of your someone fromyour Ala Moana LAPD 20-year veteranandrew gonzales and he’s uh he’s alsoworked gangs a long time so i’m reallyexcited to talk to him i don’t know alot about gangs i know i’ve been inprobably been in danger from gangs a fewtimes and probably didn’t even know itbut i can’t wait to pick his brain andi’m sure i mean you have the insidetrack you’re a– you’re a bit yourselfof LAPD yeah this will be cool i meanjust talking shop with with some of theLAPD guys that’ll be kind of cool i’mlooking forward to it and did you youworked at southwest for a while dan youwere the 77th is that what they call nowI worked at Newton and Wilshire whichshoot moves in those shootin Newton bothNewton and Wilshire they south and eastor west ends both butt up againstSouthwest AHA I know when we workedbackgrounds together if I got acandidate that was south of Los AngelesI would immediately take it to me to myneighboringLAPD buddy or I would take it over toyou if my people near me weren’t aroundand say is this safe what should I doI had a call that was in an area down byLa Brea and Rodeo which is anintersection there right in southwestit’s actually it used to be where thethe divisions the borders of divisionsfor Wilshire and and Southwest were andso half you know across the street wasWilshire and across the street wasSouthwest and when I was workingbackgrounds I recall that area veryspecifically they they it’s a very badarea anyways so I called the watchcommander cuz I would call the watchcommander of different areas and go heywhat do you what do you think about thisarea is a background investigator youthink I you know what should I takesomeone with me and I called thesouthwest background investigatorbecause I had a call right in the cornerof LaBrea and Rodeo and he’s justflat-out said he goes don’t go so I justput in my report for the watch commanderadvised not to go to this area and youknow backgrounds takes it becausethere’s some areas in I mean there’s alot of areas all of Southwest that youif you’re a gang officer you worksouthwest Patrol you know that’s justthat’s a very hotbed of murders anddrugs and gangs and this it’s just areally hopin division yeah yeah Iremember mailing in the few mailing afew questionnaires to neighborhoods inthat area it’s you know it’s not goodwhen you’re walking down the sidewalkand there’s like guys who are 30 and 40years old just playing cards on thesidewalk in front yard at like you knownew it’s like ya know job huhyou know I could somebody you knowsomebody from building inspection butyou you’re a kind of pasty white gingerguy and you’re not gonna fit in at allthere so yeah I wouldn’t go if I was youeitheryeah there’s no um I couldn’t even poseas like a predominant white gang memberbecause I’m not sure there is any whitegangs in LA name plate on and wear awhite shirt and just say you’re olderGould you know or something like thatbut yeah that’sbut that’s not I said that’s whateverybody used to say they said theyeither think you’re a Bible salesman oryou’re a cop yeah Mormon and elders aregoing down doesn’t it that’s the onlyreason you’d be down there so but yeahI’m excited all right my man let’s uhlet’s dial this guy in all right let’ssee Andrew Gonzalez LAPD how are youdoing sir I’m good thank you very muchfor asking how are you I’m great thankyou for coming on with me as Ken Roybull he’s from your alma mater a retiredLAPD good morning Andrew good to meetyou good morning good morning how areyou I’m good man it’s telling Steve I’mup here in Washington State I’m lookingat my window and we’ve been gettingdrenched so I’m just I’m just all in mysweater and it’s warm and I’m lookingout the window and it’s just a gorgeousgorgeous day out here I bet I missedthose days I grew up in New York and Imissed the snow and the changing of thethe colors of the leaves during duringthe doing the October months inSeptember’s I missed that but uh youknow California we pay for the weatherso yeah here too that’s amazing man youmoved el you moved all the way out herejust to just to work gangs no I actuallyI left home when I was 17 my dad signedsome paperwork and shipped me off toboot campI joined the Marine Corps when I was 17Wow that was more of a social safety netfor me but I’m glad I did it and I spentalmost eight years in the Marine Corpsand then and then transitioned rightinto the LAPD in in January of 2000that’s awesome and what do you how manyyears you have on is 20 right yeah yeahI’ll be hating 20 in January and that’sin the 77th right so I worked 77th foron and off for about 16 years I workedthe gang unit there twice I worked atgang detectives there I worked narcoticsthere and then I worked down in as farsouth of lays you can go down to SanPedro done at Harborwork gang uniform gangs there and thengang detectives I left I worked for atask force a human trafficking taskforce specifically developed target gangmembers that were trafficking multipleadult victims or minor victims and thenI I came back to the harbor and I’m partof the gang impact team gang detectivesin the harbor now wow man can youdescribe to the listeners what gang likewhat the gang scene is like in LosAngeles there’s I think a lot of peopleknow there’s a lot of gangs but theydon’t understand like just how big it isit is it it is pretty big I mean I haveto be honest with you the the culturehas evolved I mean as with any culturethere’s a new evolution that takes placethat goes without saying you know Ithink you know it’s fair to say that alot of their activity because of socialmedia and because of cell phones andbecause of you know encryptedcommunication applications a lot oftheir stuff has become a little bit moreclandestine and so you don’t you don’tsee them out there like you used to 20years ago or even 15 years ago and Ithink ken can attest to that where itwould not be uncommon for you to seeguys hanging out in front of anapartment complex from the corner youknow dressed down groups of gang membersyou know congregating in certaingeographical areas of the division butyou know it’s they’re still out therethey’re still super active they still Ithink in my opinion you know is doingalmost mangle hold on on the communitybut they’re a little bit harder to seeyou know because of evolution yeah I’msorry Steve say was that when we were inbackgrounds Steve and I would see wherethe gang members were getting kind ofsophisticated in their communicationsand social media and stuff and you wouldactually think these guys werebusinessmen the way they were presentingthemselves but it’s a verythere’s a very dark area in in gangswhere they actually utilize social mediato their advantage and make it look likethey’re actually legitimate folks butthey’re really they’re really gangmembers yeah I think I think and forgiveme Steve I don’t know if you wanted tointerject thereno go ahead but um you know we don’t wedon’t give them enough credit I meanlisten you gotta give credit where it’sdueand if you think that we’re dealing withjust you know a bunch of a bunch of guyswho aren’t as sophisticated as you knowsome you know top tier you knowexecutives you know managing bigcompanies you’re mistaken because thereare a lot of smart guys in there youknow and and remember this criminalenterprise has been going on as long asyou know you know we can find records ofit you know this is not you know for thefor the most part they run it just likea company they run it just like amilitary organization and within thatyou have factions and within thosefactions you have you have people thatare good at certain things and there arepeople who are good at you know socialmedia people who are good atwhite-collar crime people who are goodat you know creating these fakeidentities on social media you havepeople that are good stalkers you haveand then you have you know thepopulation of of those gangs like thosemembers who are just who are just reallyviolent and who are capable of somepretty heinous things so you know I meanas again with evolution you know youbecome smarter you adapt and youovercome you know as an agency as a asthe police do but so do gangs and so dothose those members you know they adaptand they overcome as well you knowAndrew I’d like to pose a questionso I’m white guy orange hair I’m reallycurious I think people wonder this theythink like how much danger am I reallyin if I go to South Central and say Ihave to knock on doors for a backgroundor or my job now as insuranceinvestigator I need to try to get videoor I need to try to talk to some youknow street person that supposedlywitnessed aan accident whatever how much danger amI really in like like you said they’rethey’re tempering themselves publicly alittle bit and I’m sure the business thebusiness minded gang members don’t wantattention drawn but there are thosemembers that are ultra violent that youknow that that lash out and are you knowmaybe crazy how dangerous is it for meas just a kind of unaware northeast guywho moved here four years ago walkinginto cell syndrome banging on doors youknow good question and I have to be verycareful with how I answer that becausethe the energy I would say or the youknow how can I answer this withoutsounding like a complete idiot I youknow Steve I gotta be honest herehundreds of thousands of people hundredsof thousands of people every day travelthrough South LA right nothing badhappens I would say that the people whocommit those violent crimes make up lessthan 1% of the population live in SouthLA South LA is primarily comprised ofgood hard-working people and and I knowthis goes without saying ken knows Imean you know to see that most of thepeople who live in South LA for goodhonest hard-working people right youknow and and those are the people thatyou were into most of the time thosegood hard-working people so when peopleare asking and they asked me quite oftenman how dangerous is it I mean listenwhen I was at 77 you know years ago Iremember a year where we had about 115116 murders you know and that’s thevision actually covers you know you knowthat you can occupy about nine and ahalf square miles right and my numbersmight be wrong plus or minus you knowmaybe you know 10 or or 20 but it’s hardto answer that question I would say thatmost people can travel through andconduct business and live a prettyworry-free life without being victimizedI would say that would be the norm rightbutthat’s what I found I mean honestly cuzI did do just what I described for awhile and I’m you know not from beingbeing from here it was always in theback of my mind like I would be so easyto be screwed with you know what I meanI obviously don’t look like I’m from theneighborhoodsomeone could even like a Nietzsche okaycould could shout at me and I’d be likewell you know that never happened andlike I was saying to Ken before umbefore we brought you in I did witnessedpeople playing like 30 and 40 year oldguys like playing cars and stuff onfront lawns and once in a while and Ijust went walked on the other side ofthe street and if they said anything orwhatever just kept my head down nothingever happened you know yeah and there’sa big difference between the daytime andnighttime as well I mean I wouldn’tsuggest you go walk in the street withyour dog at night in the southwest or77th there near any of those places it’sjust the way it is you know crimeelevates during the evening there was aI remember back in the 80s I think was1980 I was working a report car inNewton during the daytime and I and inthis area where she just wasn’tfrequented by white people and there’sthis guy he looked like he was 19 20years old anyways he comes down thestreet on a bicycle a white kid so rightbefore there was this racial profiling Iracial profile this white kid and Istopped them I said the reason I stoppedyou is because you’re white in this areabecause it’s just and it turns it out hegoes yeah oh no man I’m just going to tothe Rolling Stones concert over here inSouth West which is what was the thearea I forget the arena over there butanyways I stopped him for being white inNewton and then a couple years ago I dida background on this guy from like Ithink it was a North Dakota or somethinglike that kind of lanky not very streetsmart super super intelligent but notvery street smart white kid from I thinkNorth Dakota so I’m like that anyways hetells me as you know you’ve been avictim of a crime yeah so victim of acrime over here in this area and then hehe starts to describe this area issouthwest no I think of 77th is thatwhere Watts Towerversus no that’s in Southeast Divisionso Southeast Division he says how was itI went to go see watchtowers and I gotrobbed in the daytime this guy getsrobbed and I it’s father looking to godude you cannot be going to these areasand be white when that changes you goand visit but no so to answer yourquestion Steve and you I don’t have tobe politically correct because I’mretired but yeah there’s answer to yourquestion Steve don’t be hanging aroundthere be white especially with red hairyou know well there goes my weekendplansyeah and telling you it’s it’s a it’slisten man the the people that are goodpeople I think no I mean nobody here isdisputing that you know what I mean andI think that we can all agree that theviolent population of the criminalelement makes up a very very very smallpopulation of those people you know whatI mean and and to stay that you knowviolent crimes or crimes that arecommitted by gang members or motivatedbecause of race I mean it’s this supersuper like there’s little evidence toshow to prove that you know whites foragents are being targeted simply becausethey’re wider asian now the black andbrown thing i mean that’s been going onfor a long time you know ken you knowthat you know all right it’s been agangs you know black p stones and 18street and stuff like that but and thatdates back to even before I came on thejob but there’s very little evidence toshow that any any crimes committedagainst whites or Asians or any otherrace for that matter our motivator issimply because of race I mean it’s it’sa criminal element it’s a criminalenterprise that that really thrives onmoney you know obtaining money obtainingassets victimizing people but I mean youknow III would I would have morereservation walking through toughneighborhoods whether they be in SantaAna or Oceanside or San Diego or LAbecause I’m Hispanic shapes hair withtattoos you know I live in a Southiecity and I and I don’t leave my houseand I said we’re a hat you know what Imeanbut it’s there it’s it’s an environmentthat we have to live in it’s it’s it’san organization that exists and you kindof have to live around it you know whatI mean ken yeah and an end to verballylistening it’s not it’s not that thearea itself is is gonna you know they’renot going to attack white people whatI’m saying is that there’s a lot ofgreat people the majority of people inall these divisions are just awesomewonderful MA and they support the policea lot but you don’t hear that in thenews tree and there’s a lot of businesspeople of all different races and andcolors that that work in in these areasand it’s just it’s just it’s terriblewhat you hear in the news and so it kindof paints a picture of all this buteverybodygenerally speaking the crimes that arecommitted are mostly property crimes andthe the very violent crimes that you’veread about in the news or hear on the onthe news are people of color againstpeople of color and that’s that’s wherethe issue so I you know to preface topreface that it’s not white people youyou can’t go down these areas cuz ifyou’re white you’re gonna get attackedit’s not like that it’s just that youknow and ask you your questions to youbut overall these areas just haveregular people just like anywhere elseyeah that’s some and I never felt likewhen I when I go to these places becauseI still do I never felt I could beracially motivated towards me becauseI’m white I just think it’s it’s anattribute that immediately identifies meis not from the neighborhood you knowwhat I mean so they’re right awayI always feel like you know theyprobably have some kind of if you’refrom the neighborhood you’re probablyokay but if you’re like if they can tellyou’re an outsider maybe not yeah yeahyeah is there that that’s actually quitethe opposite that’s if if you’re anoutsider there’s more reservation anddealing with you because I’veinterviewed you know gang members a lotof them and not only gang members thepeople who can the crime you knowthere’s a lot of reservation dealingwith people who are not from theneighborhood people who are obviouslyfrom a different you know geographicgeographical area geographic area reallythat’s interesting yeah you know ifyou’re from the neighborhood right let’ssay let’s say if I’m if I if I’m part ofa gang that occupies a certain territoryand I see another male Hispanic who isobviously easily identifiable as a gangmember but he’s he’s from my area butnot my neighborhood there’s gonna beissues you know what I meanI’m you know if I’m a gangster and I seeyou know Pepsi delivery guy I’m notgonna say anything to him Oh ever I seeinsurance guy knocking door-to-door I’mnot gonna say anything to him he’s notin my worlddoes that make sense he’s not totallyyou know he’s not he doesn’t pose youknow a danger to me he doesn’t hedoesn’t threaten me at all you know whatI mean totally makes sense and it’s youknow it’s just like in the whole policeworld you know you’ll see that whenpolice gather at certain functionsthere’s this posturing it takes placeyou know this like you know who’s moreof the tough guy and that transcendsprofession and transcends you knowgeographic area that’s just part ofhuman nature and unfortunately mostmostly happens we know when mencongregate and get together this isposturing and it happens up in policedepartments gonna have us out in thestreet you know what I mean so it’s mostof the time when people don’t seesomeone as being an immediate threat didthey just kind of don’t even acknowledgetheir presence so it’s like if you’reyou know if you’re Steve Gould andyou’re you know doing backgroundinvestigations you know walking down youknow Florence and and Crenshaw nobody’sgonna say anything to you I mean on CDtheir likelihood of anybody approachingyou is pretty slim yeah there’s not alot of predatory behavior just ingeneral right and I think what we getall this these reactions is just fromthe news media and movies a lot inmovies and TV where they you know it’suh it’s just prevalent in that in thatkind of environment that’s what allpeople that’s all people see yeah it’sfascinating to pointyeah good point with them with the mediain the movies I mean seldom do you seeyou know the good you know hard-workingimmigrant who you know who’s building abusiness or who’s raising a veryconservative you know god-fearing familywho’s trying to do the right thing youknow you you never see that depicted infilm because it’s not exciting to watchyou know and so the things that areexciting some sometimes they influenceour our perspective on how we seecertain people who live in these certainareas it’s it’s shame honestyyeah especially when you’re thinkingabout your own safety you know you’regonna correct your own mind bringseverything to the tenth degree you knowsir anything you’ve ever seen about thatarea you’re gonna be like oh that’sgonna happen to me let go there yeah Ithink it’s more of a I think it’s moreof a discomfort and being an environmentthat you’re not familiar with or thatyou don’t fit like Steve was saying I Ithink that if I went to an area maybe inthe deep south where there’s Confederateflags and all this kind of stuff and Ididn’t fit in and I might make myselffeel uncomfortable as opposed to thepeople making me feel on can sayanything to you and you’re gonna feeluncomfortable that’s just you I don’tthink that the people generally do youthink no and do things that are overtthat make you feel like unsafe andthings I don’t think it’s like that yeahyeah I know you’re right I was thinkingabout that when you mentioned it youknow like if I go down to Alabama or ifI go down to the deep south you know youknow being Hispanic and you know I’m aveteran man and and I and I’m gonna puta police officer for 20 years and I’ve Ithink you know I’m gonna get on my highhorse here but I think I’ve done a lotfor my country in my community and I’vemade a lot of sacrifice absolutely notnot in you know also sacrifice in withregard to my emotional state to man youknow with the depression and the anxietyand and the traumatic stress and and Ishouldn’t have to feel worried aboutgoing to the deep south you know what Imeanbut um like you mentioned it’s in theback of my mind because of what I’veseen on TVit’s it I I think you’re right in thereI would make my own self feelingcomfortable without giving anyone fora community a chance to make me feelcomfortable you know right right so samething in that way humans are very veryflawed creatures that way yeah Andrewcan you tell us about the first hot callyou responded to and as a rookie cop youknow it’s tough because I was thinkingabout that and some of those things youkind of just put out of your mind thosethings you don’t want to remember reallyknow what I mean I do remember you knowbeing involved in a pursuit of a stolencar it started over there off of sauceand fig and you know gangster wasdriving stolen car we didn’t know thathe had a young girl in the car and heends up crashing on Audrey 30th andFigueroa what’s interesting is that Istill drive on fake you know because Ilive close by and I still see thebuilding like like the difference in thecolor of bricks from where this guycrashed back in 2000 even still you knowcoming up to 2020 well still buy it whenI see it and you know he ends upcrashing and the girl dies you knowthere’s there’s a lot of stuff that I’mI’m not mentioning with regards he knowmy observations of her and you know thethings that he said and the things thatshe said before she died but it sucksman because we often when I’m with mywife and and I’m with friends it’s likethe stories always come back to that youknow mm like man why is everybody sodepressed and they go you just finishedlistening to you for an hour of courseeverybody’s gonna be mmm you know kindof in a somber mood but you know thoseare the things that I remember because Ireally visit them you know so often inmy mind and you’re got a question foryou regard to that now that you’rementioning it and I know you’re gonnaget into the PTSD laterwhat are your after 20 years on the joband being working gangs and all thatworking weren’t in these Southenddivisions what would you say is yourtake on human suffering and the thingsthat peoplesee the cops do see how do you how doyou view yourself and your how you seethese things or how you feel about themtwenty years down the road from when youwere first a rookie cop with no facialhair and to nowyeah well I’m Hispanic so I had amustache when I was seven you know so sohere’s the interesting thing is that Igrew up in a really really badneighborhood – right and so part of mejoining the military was what was mydad’s attempt to get me out of that awayfrom that neighborhood away from thoseinfluences you know to preserve my lifeand you know so many of my familymembers have been victims of violentcrime and so I think that you knowjoining the Marine Corps as I saidearlier was a social safety net right soI was coming from a very traumaticupbringing and then I entered themilitary that was was a bit traumaticyou know I got through it but then whenI joined the police department what Ijoined the police department becausethis is this may shock a lot of peoplebut I joined the LAPD because I wantedto be a part of the solution that willbring reform to policing when I was akid manI didn’t look at the police I didn’tthink too fondly of the police you knowthere was there was a lot of what Iperceive and interpreted as in justiceswhether they be social or cultural Icouldn’t see past you know people wholook like me people who were of my samerace and ethnicity committing crimesagainst people who look like me you knowof the same race and ethnicity Ihonestly thought that it was the policeand and government holding you know aspecific demographic down it is thatmake sense so I joined the policedepartment to be part of reform what’sinteresting though is that after thefirst couple of years on the job I canreally see the transformation I couldsee myselfbecoming more depressed or I could seemyself always conflicted with what I sawand and really kind of beat up aboutknowing deep inside that there wasnothing I could do to change the cultureyou know and it still weighs veryheavily on me today because my truth isthat I don’t see things changing and itmay be because of my perspective youknow Steve I don’t know if that answerto the question I I kind of tend toramble a little bit so you kind of gotto redirect me sometimes no man that’sthat’s really a really powerful thing tothink about like you’re you’re stilldoing the job you’ve suffered trauma andit’s waiting there for you every timeyou know every time you punch in andyou’re not seeing like like big changesyou’re you’re just in the you’re in thetrenches you know that’s that’s brutaland suffering you know when youmentioned the word suffering I mean yeahI’m not the only one man I mean you gotto think about the kids that are growingup in these neighborhoods to you knowI’m Steve and can you guys have been outthere so you know walking past thehomeless person you know walking past abucket of urine and feces you’restepping over a hypodermic needle orgoing to bed and then waking up at 1:00in the morning to gunshots or to a crimescene or a helicopter that’s sufferingman and and there has to be some type oflack of developmental function duringthe formative years of these kids livesbecause they have to live through thatall the time I I’m in it for ten hoursand then I go home there there arepeople and kids living in that shit 24hours a day yeah if I’m if I’m dealingwith if I have some issues imagineliving in that neighborhood man it’ssuper hard it’s tough yeah it’s hard toget out of there and we can and I workedwith a woman who’s an LAPD officer who Iwon’t mention her name but we workedwith her and um I picked her brain aboutthat exact thing she grew up in a veryviolent bad part of the city and I saidhow did it um you know she’safrican-american and I’m amassing herlike it what was it like good closerrelationship with her she knew I was youknowjust genuinely didn’t know I was likewhat was that like how did you how didyou have the successful career and thennow you’re a cop and you know and shesaid you know her family her mom and dadreally kept them close straight homeafter school they weren’t playing on thestreets they kept on them they werestrict they as soon as they could theygot them into a better schools even ifit meant going further away from wherethey were but it seems like her familyunit really was strong and it made allthe difference for her and her siblingsthey’re all successful even though theygrew up in this terrible place you knowyeah it’s a big deal man there’s adoctor I don’t know if I’m saying hisname right got Gabor maté a he talks alot about how how important it is tohave a good family unit that his beliefand he’s been you know clinicalpsychologist for you know 30 40 yearsthat without that strong strong supportsystem without the nurturing and the ofthe family you know whether it be just asingle mom or a single dad but whatwithout loveyou’re gonna have a complete breakdownof the ability to deal with trauma andstress you know what I meanso it’s important you have to have thatstrong family bond that strong familyunit yeah I don’t think I don’t thinkkids because you grew up grow up in abad area dictates that you’re going togo down a certain path and that there’sno escape from these gangs and drugs andI I’d I highly disagree with thatbecause I know kids that grew up inthose areas that they’re their doctorsand their lawyers and they’re policeofficers they’re very successful peopleso it’s not necessarily the environmentI totally agree with you guys it’s it’sfamilial and if you have a very strongfamily bond and you’re loved when you’regrowing up you can do amazing thingsinto adulthood yeah my wife is a perfectexample of it you know she she grew upin a South East city she went to JordanHigh School in wattsI went to UCLA on a ride and now sheruns a global a global foundation youknow what an awesome oh yeah and again Igenuinely believed it was because ofthat really strong family unit and afamily support and having people aroundyou that love you they can help youweather the storm when the storm doescome yeah I can’t go full circle withwith the kind of direction that you’regoing in here is it’s a Steve and I knowa guyhe’s been on 15 years in LAPD Chris andhe he works in Olympic division where hegrew up and he also runs a foundationthat honors fallen officers and and doescharity events for fallen officers andhe he grew up in the in a very very badarea but he grew up to give back to thecommunity because his he would grew upin a single household but his mother wasvery very strong and loving and strongwith her three boys and he’s giving backtoday yeah that’s a blue coat musictoday no we actually I interviewed himlast year actually Oh awesome did youhear about that charity ride they werethat but where he helped a policeofficer right over 300 miles up toNewman California yeah yeah that was youSuperman stuff I was I bought the shirtI watch the videos unbelievableand oh my gosh what a honor no kinstarstruck I am Ithat’s an amazing feat on your behalfthank you I’ll get a sharpie I’ll signyour chest that’s that’s that’s a wholenother show on its own but yeah that wasincredible feat of endurance andstrength that’s cool man thanks mansorry Steve again you know know that allmenit’s great hey Steve you know that thatthat I don’t know it’s a profile pictureOh on my Facebook where I’m standingthey were counting I’m wearing thatshirt that’s that that’s the Newmanshirt oh okay awesomewhat was the name of the officer Andrewthat you were writing for him RonelleSingh yes yes that was big that was hugegood good for Chris yeah yeah I knownhim since he was I think eight or nineyears oldno way yeah he was one of the he was oneof Wilshire’s damps and then he becameone of my explorers he was one of mysupervisors in the Explorer program butI’ve known him since he was a smalllittle child that’s really cool andbefore he learned English he’s uh youshould go back and listen to hisinterview because it kind of dovetailsright into what we were talking aboutabout the family unit during the riotshe was on the roof of his building Ibelieve with his mom they were kind ofwatching what was going on but hisfriends in the neighborhood who were ishis age we’re running around guns youknow they were that’s that’s how theirfamily reacted you know they didn’t havethe strong family unit like we’re sayingyeah yeah and Chris could have takenthat rule toohe’s a good guy he’s a really good dudeman I’m glad he was on you sure I gottalisten to that podcastyeah he’s his story speaks exactly whatSteve Steve was asking about earlierthat’s just an incredible story ofsuccess and he grew up in a very badarea I know if you’re familiar with likeeighth and I Rolo athan Normandy thoseareas over there oh he used to borderrampart he grew up right in the mix youknow and he’s he’s so but he didn’t hedidn’t grow up there and then decideokay that’s it you know I’m gonna besuccessful he goes back into thecommunity and he gives back to thecommunity that he grew up in and givesback to the officers the organizationthat gives that gave him a chance thatlaw enforcement yeah it’s not a bigheart man just like you guys I’m sureyeah he could not be when I met him Iwas like you could not be a nicer guytoo you know he’s just like kind guygentleman it’s top notch yeah yeah yeahwe went to Steve a night I’m sorry justsay Steve and I went to one of hischarity events one of the the wherethey’re doing tattoos yeah inked aninked in honor I think is the name of itthat’s where Steve and I I’ve known himbut Steve met him there too and just asuper cool guy man yeah yeah hopefullyyou know he and I can connect again andI mean we’re good friends but hopefullythe next project indoor will be comingup here in about a year we’ll see whatthat what that’s gonna be cuz you knowhe started the whole project indoorthing the first one Joe Cerrito ran Ithink Joe Cerrito ran from Sacramento toHollywood right or from HollywoodSacramento yeah when they ran in fullClass A yeah yeah Wow mm-hmm yeah andthen you know we got together we didthis challenge to three hundred plusmiles on a single speed bike and thenthere’s another one coming up man sowe’ll see what that one’s gonna be asthis should be pretty interesting that’sawesome man that’s awesomethat’s excuse me as I pause for a momentbecause I’m in awe okay carry on Stevesorry all right Andrew you want to UMcan you tell us a strange or bizarremoment from your time in the job I’msure you had a ton of them but yeah yeahI’m trying to be careful I rememberdriving back to the station I wasalready like two hours overtime andwe’re right by like 70 I don’t know if Icould give the streets what do you thinkKen can I give the streets for now ohyeah no streets are fineso it was a 73rd and Broadwaycoming back to the station and I’m onFlorence and Broadway and as I’mtraveling southbound Broadway I hearjust one shot BAM and it was a gunshot Iknew it wasn’t a like a like fireworksor anything like that and I was with mypartner at the time Nick and and we’rekind of still debating like I was havefireworks I’m just go to the station andthen we just hear the call come out youknow shooting one shot heard seventythirty east of Broadway we’re like shitwe’re right down the street let’s justgo back and check it out you know soback northbound then eastbound 773footballthere’s a couple guys out there and oneof them’s you know smoking a cigaretteand I don’t want to give the details ofit but basically he’s standing outsideof an apartment complex the front doorsopen kind of get this feelingsomething’s not right my partner’sengaging in conversation with them youknow you know just pretty chill actuallynot nobody’s nervous or anything but Ijust kind of had this feeling so I wrotethe steps and I go into the apartmentand there’s a lady laying face downcovered in covered in antscovered in ants and roaches and she’sgot a bullet gunshot wound to the backof her like right below the bottom ofher head you know in the back like wereon the neighbor of her neck she’sobviously dead you know mm-hmm and she’sholding the phone in her hand and one ofthose guys that was down to that we weretalking to was was the guy that had justkilled her when we drove by I meanliterally the gunshot went off as wedrove by that it’s strange to me becauseif I remember correctly it was her ownson you know so when you talk aboutweird stories or crazy things to stickwith you mean that’s the side of humanbeings that you don’t ever want to seebut you see it you know what I meanand it’s just it’s just bizarrethe bizarre that somebody can do that Imean to your own Andrew what’s the dealwith the UM with the insects like sheobviously was recently dead that quicklythey get all over a body yeah I don’tknow what it is about about human likeblood right but or cuz sometimes you seelike it like a dead dog or somethinglike that or a cat on the street and youdon’t see the ants you know but whenyou’re in a crime scene I don’t knowwhat these hands come from and they getthere quick though really they’re justthey’re just you know I’m trying to becareful cuz my wife’s in the room butbut I don’t want to you know it’s likethere’s something about human bloodtherelet’s get to it man and they just starteating the body right away or eating theblood right away and it’s kind of sadbecause that you know that’s somebody’sson as somebody’s daughter somebody’smom you know even if it’s a homeless guywho’s died from you know you know overand over dose or or because ofalcoholism is like manna that’s thehuman body that’s that’s something thatwould the God created it’s just it’ssoulless it’s just a shell now on thepavement or on the sidewalk and you’rejust watching it to preserve evidence orwhat have youand it’s a really really strange feelingonce you connect with what it is thatyou’re doing you’re just like what thisis really strange this is really weirdthat this is normal for us in thisprofession yeah I mean I remember seeinga lot of different dead people when Iwas working the Northeast and I’d theexact same thought man when you lookit’s just they’re so clearly their soulis gone like they’re it’s so clearly anempty vessel it’s very I know if I everget used to that yeah yeah yeah I don’tthink anybody can I mean you have to bea special kind of person to justcomplete disconnect from it you know foranyone to say and at the cop culture toI mean you guys know guys are like youknow there’s a lot of machismo goingaround you know what I meanand you can deny it you can say all thisabout me it doesn’t affect me or you canyou could put on a different face youknow in front of the guys or to have youbut when you’re alone you can’t lie toyourself when you look in the mirrorevery morning there’s one person thatknows the truth and that’s you all thetime and you know that it affects you soyou can put it aside all you want to youcan play the tough guy you can mask itby having a couple beers that’s what Idid for a long timesure but eventually it’s gonna come upand it’s gonna bite you you know what Imean and for those of those peoplelistening for those people who are inour profession who are probably in thecompany of someone else listening tothis podcast you can deny it all youwant but you know the truth it’s gonnacome up and get you sooner or laterand the trick is to get in front of ityou know Steve’s to kind of identifythat identify it and startto remedy as soon as you can before itgets out of control absolutely man Imean when I when I was became a cop inMassachusetts they worked me for a yearwith the part-time training becauseyou’re allowed to do that for a year youcan be full-time with only theintermittent Academy so I really didn’tknow like anything really and I wasgetting all on-the-job training but longstory short a guy had bought a sandwichfrom that night who I knew and had arelationship with a know him for yearsdied sweeping up shopI was official in there there was a girlfrom the kitchen just kind of impishlytrying to do CPR on him medics ranthrough the door he was had that justopen mouth open eyes like that facealone was like whoa I just wasn’t readyfor it and this isn’t a hot call it’sjust a dead guy you know and that mysergeant showed up and then we you knowthe scene was busy and we were doingeverything we could help and CPR and allthat and later he was like are youyou’re right I’m like yeah yeah liketrying to be tough him again fine thoughyou know he’s like you were um greenlike the color green I’m like yeah Ifelt a little bit woozy for a secondhe’s like it’s okay that’s all righthe’s like don’t worry about it becauseno one you know no one not reallynoticed it was busy because I noticedcuz you know yeah kind of a trainee butuh yeah that just that little callreally rocked my world man yeah yeah youknow one of my training officers I kindof got worked up this years ago man itwas like 12 year old kid was shot overthere like I think he was somewhere likeoff like 54th around like badass areaand I just remember you know just kindof watering up a little bit you knowwhat I mean my boss my training officerwas like hey man you get makeup in youreye you know classic but yeah you cankind of oh we lost him where you go saidhe left the Commercelet me add him again you must havetouched something by mistakehello hey you’re back oh yeah sorryabout thatno problem but no so my trainingofficers like a man he’s like you gotyou get mascara in your eye I’m likeyeah yeah yeahneedle yeah but I guess see you Steveyou know that’s it I mean I think that’swhat we’re acknowledging right now thatit gets you man I was I mean I was atown cop in a small town and it doing 20years at LAPD is I mean I can’t evenfathom the the things you see daily fora blessing it really is it’s a blessingman it’s a great agency great people Ilove the people that I work with youknow just like any other agency you gotknuckleheads right like you got to workwith some boneheads sometimes that’sright people that annoy the hell out ofyou but it’s it’s a great job I reallycan’t see myself you know I want to doother things you know I want to I wantto grow in life but I’m happy man I’m Ilike what I do it’s stressful as hellbut when I get a couple days off and Ikind of decompress I’m ready to go rightback you know that’s great you have agood attitude about I mean you know youknow what’s up because you you selfidentify things that could be problemsfor you there’s a lot of I used to tellcops all the time whatever you do manget the poison out because I don’t careif you fall into a puddle in the cornerand bawl your eyes out don’tself-medicate don’t take pills don’t doyou know don’t have affairs don’t youknow drink yourself to sleep to try andmake that doesn’t make it go away youneed to talk about it and know that thatpolice work is stressful and it’ll screwyou up something awful if you don’t takecare of it yeah well how do you do thatthen I guess the question is you knowbecause you know how we deal with stressis as unique as our own personalityright I mean our experience is to shapeus and and and they’re kind of like theylay down the groundwork for us with withregard to how we deal with adversity andstress you know so it’svery different for all of us I’ve hadpeople ask me well how do you do thishow do you deal with that and and a lotof times my response is yeah I don’tknow man like you got to figure it outit I hate saying this but it’s like yougot to figure it out what what bringsyou joyyou know what allows you to get awayfrom work man is a hiking as a mountainbiking is it running is it reading andyou know what what does that look like Imean you guys have been around for along time you know what works and whatdoesn’t work yeah you Roy that’simportant because they say happiness istemporary but joy is that underlyingyeah feeling of goodness yeah differentfor everybody for you you know maybe youyou work out a lot and but you got toget that energy out but the thing isthose if you start exhibiting signs fromyour body that tell you that you’remelting down your and over time if yourbody starts telling you you know I’mgonna stop I’m gonna stop right nowbecause you didn’t then you’re justyou’re past due so the thing is to getahead of it if it takes talking if ittakes exercise you got to get thatenergy outbut Jif to just stuff it down or to tryand do things that are fake band-aids totry and deal with the stress you knowit’s just and it’s just to just sit andidentify and go hey I saw some stufftoday and it kind of messed with my mindyou know and I okay never mind don’tdon’t just ignore it it’s you know ifyou talk to someone or just get it outor I don’t care do something yeah Ithink I think you almost have to writelike you have to you have to be able tosay man I can’t give this any time rightnowright I mean you have to do thatthroughout the day right you got to sayI got a disconnect from the emotionassociated with this event and I candeal with it later right I think that’sthat’s how we get really good at doingthat because when you get a home you goman I don’t want to deal with this rightnow I wanna be with my family so I’lljust put this away and I’ll deal with itlater and then you get up in the morningand you go shit man I don’t want to dealwith what happened yesterday because Igotta get ready to go to work so I’lldeal with it later and then before youknow it your yourbucket of deal with it later isoverflowing mmm I’m it’s it’s too lateyou know I think that’s where you beginthat yeah and so when you see the kidthat you’re talking about the the thedead kid and you just you just act likeit doesn’t bother you but yet you canstill remember it there’s those thingswhere you goI specifically remember this dead personwhen you’ve seen countless dead peoplebut when these dead people that you seeyou remember them that’s something thatyou’re you’re holding on to because it’sit impacted you and you just can’t letit sit there in your memory because ifsomething you know you’re watching amovie or something and it’s somethingsimilar and all of a sudden thesefeelings start creeping back and youjust shoved them down it just tells methat people don’t deal with stuff but Ijust I I’m a real proponent of doingthose things that are that help you dealwith it but it’s not unhealthy you knowjust talking about it like I sayexercising just getting it out of yoursystem yeah yeah I think I think we’rebecoming what we’re getting better at ityou know as an organization and peoplelike yourselves who are in the industryare getting better with the awarenesscomponent that’s a big deal 20 years agoyou didn’t have the awareness componentyou know you just experienced change orthings were happening to your bodythings were happening physiologicallyand you didn’t know what it wasI think more so now there’s a there’s ahuge movement to become Oh to makepeople more aware like with the LAPDresilience you know you know Instagrampage where you know there’s someonethere who can listen to you or someoneyou know educating you on what on whatthis is because if you know what it is Ithink you can see it coming and you gowait a second man I okay I gotta I gottaget this out before it goes into mydon’t deal with you’ll deal with thelater bucket you know what I mean yeahthere’s more of an awareness componentmovement going on now you deal withtheirswhat am I trying to say there there is alot more information out there andthey’re dealing with it a lot more Iremember back in the 80s when going tosee the psychologist was likeno no because there is a stigma attachedto saying hey I don’t I don’t think mymind is really you know working thisthing out for me and even now today withLAPD resiliency program the there’s abig a lot of articles are out todayabout police suicides and that’s a bigissue and LEP led hit a milestone thatthey have gone I want to say I want tosay it’s a year maybe longer or anythingbut there hasn’t been a suicide of anLAPD officer in a very very long timemeans someone’s doing something rightthere’s also I saw an ad on Facebook andLAPD groups where there is aorganization comprised of retired policeofficers across the nation and you as aretired police officer can volunteer forthis organization and you man hotlinesfor officers that are struggling that’sawesome that’s pretty cool actually soyeah I mean it’s much different than itwas before and I don’t know if we’regetting off topic for you Steve but thisis that that’s a pretty cool thing thatthey’re taking care of that Dola this isthis is great in foam I’m having a goodtime just listening this is this is coolI did have a question for Andrew I kindof noticed that you you might have faiththere you’re believing God I do man I doI don’t you know I do yes does that umdoes that help you I think what’s gonnamake this podcast interesting is goingto be that work there’s gonna be there’sgonna be conflicting or differences ofopinion right I want to talk aboutthings that people don’t normally wantto talk about so when you bring up thequestion of faith I do believe in God Ido believe it is a creator I do believein God I do but because of the thingsthat I’ve seen throughout my entire lifeI often ask a question like why you knowwhat I mean like why why why are thesethings allowed to happen sure why why isthere like constant suffering you know Imean like why is this stuff happeningman and it gets me soooit gives me really really down at timesbecause I just can’t I just can’t makesense of it listen I understand thatthere are things that happen in life andin this universe that you’re never gonnaunderstand but by nature I think it isinnate in most police officers the mostinvestigators to want to try and figurethings out that’s just who we are I meanthat’s why this line of workattracts people like that is becausewe’re constantly trying to put thepuzzle togetherthat being said though I’m in thisconstant state of trying to figure outwhy these things were happening you knowso to answer your question yes I dobut I inflict a lot with itbecause I just can’t make sense of whyso many bad things happen sure Iunderstand that that’s that’s a verygood take on it too because policeofficers they see things that should notbe happening to good people and then youhave to it makes you wonder why it’s avery difficult place to be I understandwhat you’re saying yeah yeah and I thinkthe Bible promises promises suffering soit’s unfortunately part of my life yeahyou know I mean our government promisestaxes I don’t like it right yeah surethank you you know and just like youreferenced before the promise issuffering you don’t have to like it youjust got to know that it it’s a realthing it’s a constant you know how howhow you manage it with regard to youknow how you mitigate stress is is youknow that’s that’s the question I thinkwe’re getting it and I think that’s whatwe’re asking here how do you deal withit yeah I was wondering if you belong toa church or if that was something inyour life that helped you you know yeahI’d be lying if I said it didn’t youknow when I was you know dealing withwhen I was having no really bad thoughtsyou know I a buddy of mine took me downto Crossroads in in Corona and then Ihave another really really good friendthat I met when I was working humantraffickingshe’s the director of compassion atEastside Church in Anaheim a huge Churchgood people so yeah I mean when you getreally close to faith things just workout things get better you know when youconnect spiritually with with whateverit is that you connect with spirituallyright because I have colleagues ofdifferent faiths and they identify Godis it different you know it’s adifferent being or a different energybut when you’re close to your faith Imean things can only go right you knowbut again I like a lot of guys and galson the job I mean that’s something thathonestly a lot of a lot of people don’ttalk about you know yeah that’sinteresting it is kind of fall by thewayside mean can you worry chaplain foryears so yeah as an LAPD chaplain fromhe’s 85 to 90 yeah so I was I was justtalking to officers and and conductingfree tours did a couple of marriagesstuff like that but it’s there’s a lotof tragedy out there within thedepartment – that has to be dealt withand at that time back in the 80s it waschaplains and there wasn’t really anykind of a infrastructure as far asmental health for were the officers soit was us and you know there wasn’tanything really so who is can I had todeal with a lot of stuff on our own yeahthere was always beer was always flowing[Laughter]all the time you know but like I saidbefore Ellie peas is getting ahead of itmy hat’s off to him and the leadershipyou know of the LAPD because developingthis mental health awareness program andthe services and the BSS and theavailability of doctors for span it’sit’s unprecedented I think and and in asyou look at the organization and youlook at organizations throughout thecountryI think ourselves and NYPD I think wewere the tip of the spear with with thatcuz LAPD lost about eight guys in acouplemonths to suicide mmm Wow I’m sorry it’sa terrible thing yeah yeah okay back tothe fun stuff and ER do you want to tellus tell us about the most one of themost intense or terrifying calls youwent on yeah yeah yeah I think you hadto be you know the first shooting that Iwas in or the second the first shootingthat I was in was was yeah terrifyingman cuz you know ever think it couldhappen to you you know when you’rechasing the guy he turns around thenwhen you turn the corner there’s a gunpointed at you you know and and timefreezes it just stops and then you knowit sounds cliche but you do anybodywho’s ever been in that situation cantell you that you start thinking aboutyour life and all the mistakes you madeand all the good things and I mean inthat moment before the moment you pullthe trigger for me anyway and and thisis you know it’s you really startthinking about what’s important in lifein that split second before you youreally believe that your life is gonnabe taken from youit just goes into slow motion and youstart thinking about everything tacticsand communications and your bodypositioning and you know the everybreath for me the breath every breaththat I took when I was running I couldtaste the air you know so I not only doyou become hyper-vigilant but you be youyour your senses are on there they’rehypersensitive because I could hear soclearly I could see so crispI could actually taste the air we don’twant a gun when the gun went off and yourun to the smoke you can taste it youknow you can smell it and stuff and soyeah super it’s really intense that wasthe most intense moment of my life youknow not only on the job in my entirelife that was really really crazy wouldyousay it’s akin to like you have every oneof those dreams when you just can’t movefast enough like you’re in slow motionand it’s like you desperately know whatyou want to do but it just feels likenothing’s happening fast enough is thathow it feels you know that’s prettyfunny yeah yeah sort of you know butthis is like for real right you knowit’s like you know I in my mind I I wastelling myself you got to move out ofthe line of fire you got to move out ofthe way faster but I just couldn’t movefast enough like my mind was telling meto do something in the dispute at whichmy mind was processing the informationwas so much faster than my decision inmy reaction time you know and so it waslike this a really intense anxiety andfear because I knew what I had to do mybody just couldn’t do it fast enough andI know you probably don’t want to gettoo into the details but no were youfired upon as you were chasing someoneis that what you’re saying no the so Isaid to in the corner the gun wasalready pointed at me oh it was alreadyup in my direction so it was just amatter who can get the shot off firstmm-hmm you know and so I was I was ableto get the shot off first and and thenwe continued to run and then I get off asecond shot and then he ended upbarricading himself inside a house witha with a woman and SWAT I had to comeout and get him out but you know nonobody died nobody got hurt seriously sothat was a good outcome mmm wow that’suh that’s intense man how’d you sleepthat night like a baby like I burnt outright yeah running with body I nitrousyeah yeah I slept good doesn’t LAPD onceyou get into shooting then he it’s likewhat eight hours later you when you dothe walkthrough and everything it’s it’sit quite a long time right yeah dependson the crime scene I mean for me I thinkI think my interview was about yeahabout eight or nine hours lateryou know I didn’t go home for like 17 or18 hours after that you know becauseagain I mean LAPD they do it right mostof the time they’re not concerned aboutyour feelings during this processthey’re concerned about you know printpreserving evidence and collecting thefacts and making sure that this shootingwas done within the law you know what Imean and so secondary are your feelingsand how you feel about the process butfirst and foremost what they want to dois make sure that they did they gatherthe evidence and make sure that theyconduct a very very thoroughinvestigation you know all theseshootings are handled very seriously soit takes hours man and it used to bethat the the local divisional detectiveswould handle no hits shootings is thatstill the same no no F ID oh that’sright yeah if ID rose out to Albany Ithink even dog shootings now uh-huh thewhole team is coming out and you gotlike 20 guys with clipboards and suitsand cigars and fancy shoes going outthereyou know if ID is force InvestigationDivision it’s the one that handles allthe use of forces can they categorizethem now category one two or somethinglike that I can’t I can’t think yeahyeah categorical use of force yeah theyhave all the Monday morning quarterbacksyeah I don’t know what I’m talking aboutso yeah leave it on me dang man that wasuh that is intense I don’t want to makeyou overshare but you have anotheranother yarn you’d like to spin you knowyou know Steve it’s like I do but thenI’m I’m nervous about you know what whatits gonna feel like I’m not I’m notworried about anybody hearing it youknow mm-hmm it’s like you know thepursuit or you know the shooting or thecrime scenes and stuff but it’s like youknow you resurrects emotions and you’rejust like man I’m back there again no nono how about a positive situationor plausible yeah there is positivestuff and police for it there’s a lot ofwhen you when you you know I arrest alady who was committing burglaries andshe was a heroin addict and she wasliving in the back of a truckyou know she was you know some her bodyand yeah it’s just like it as bad asthey can get for a woman you know andand her brother was actually on the joband um the day before I arrested her allthe day that I arrested her we talkedfor quite some time about her familyabout how she became a heroin addict andyou know her grandkids and you knowprostitution and living in in the bed ofa pickup truck you know off of LomitaBoulevard and and all those bad thingsand she just she just broke down and Iget to see the really human side of herand she got to see the human side of meas well and and you know we were able tokind of walk through this process theadjudication process together and youknow it’s funny how things workedbecause you know I was able to go tocourt I was able to meet with the DA onthe case and you know she didn’t get tooharsh of a sentence and she actuallybegged to be incarcerated because sheknew that the only way for her to getclean you know would be to do some timeyou know to get her out of thatenvironment there was you know you gotto run away from it you got to weren’trunning away from evil and I think cuzshe was a very spiritual person too andand she said I got to run away from itI got to get away from it and you’reprobably the only one that can help meby arresting meyou gotta lock me up and get me into aprogram because if not I’m just gonnaend up right back out here and she whenshe was in custody she met a deputy whoaccording to her actually knew herbrother and he’s like I want to makesure that we get you into a good programand we’re gonna get you out of here andinto a an outpatient drug treatmentfacility and he did it he did it for herand she sends me pictures about once ayear she’s got a great job she’s backwith her family she’s actually engagedI mean she’s a supervisor now at theport of LA that’s how good she’s doingawesome but she soo she’s very veryconnected to her faith and it’ssomething that she mentions all the timebut there’s no doubt in my mind thatthat she’s gonna be more than okay youknow because she’s so grounded so thatthose are the good those are the thingsthat make you feel good like in 20 yearsman if I’ve affected anybody and it’sher and she’s living a really good lifeand she’s not a heroin addict you knowshe’s not she’s not doing those thingsanymore that’s a really good feelingthat’s goodbecause that affects so many otherpeople you know people to hear the storyand then you know people who now she’sshe’s helping you know get sober andclean and and then it does a lot for therelationship between LAPD and people whoare out there on the street to you knowabsolutely man I that’s a great story tohear because you know I’m empathetic andI’m I travel from Bakersfield to theMexican border for my job now and I goto bad parts of cities and I see womenlike that that are just destitute in injust in terrible shape and out therehooking and you think like is there anyhope like could this person possiblyturn around their life and just thisjust the cynic in your thinks no youknow like oh they’re not gonna this isit this they’re they’ve reached the endof the line but here in that story manthat really um that’s really greatthat’s really lifted me up I like thatgood there’s a lot of good people outthere there’s and there’s a lot of a lotof people suffering to do that but youknow you if you find one that when yousee hope you gotta you gotta followthrough you gotta stay with him you knowbecause even if you affect one personthroughout your career man that’s goodit’s one person that probably wouldn’thave been touched if it wasn’t for youyou know absolutely there was a therewas an officer I almost want to saywe’re Central Division but I think everyyear he does I could he puts togetherthis thing where he he gathers maybeit’s a food baskets or something likethat where he has a foundation orsomething where he helps the peopleservices sometimes there’s policeofficers you know in herea lot but sometimes there’s policeofficers that go above and beyond andthey see a need in from their work andthey go back to those areas and they doit’s kind of like Chris but likeChristmastime or Thanksgiving andthey’ll arrange all these things and Ithink one of the famous guys on Skid Rowis Deon Josephsenior lead officer these guys it’s likeyou know Andrew took took it anotherlevel he just go okay yeah yeah you knowdon’t come back here and and then justforget about this person you know youtake the time and it’s not that’s partof the job that people don’t see thehuman the human face of the job wherepolice officers actually go out of theirway where you see this there’s aarticles about shop with a cop all overthe country where police officers getdonations and things and then they takethese underprivileged little kids toChristmas shopping at these big storesand everybody it’s a big project but alot of people don’t see that that thathumanity beside behind the badge Andrewwhere you took the extra time to workwith this person and you know you youmentioned you know shop with a copcoffee with a cop and those things and Idid that stuff for a number of years toI I I’m gonna be honest with you theyknow I I don’t think they work for Idon’t think they work because and Ithink it’s it’s because if the line ofwork that I’m in you know specificallywith gangs and stuff oh yeah you knowyou know what works and I and I tell mywatch this whole time it’s it’s when youhave a conversation for 20 minutes or 30minutes with the lady who owns you knowthe the you know the liquor store in thecorner or the victim who was just shotat or the victim you know who was justrobbed and or you know when somebodysays hey man can you talk to my son oryou know when you when you you know I Itook one of my victims up to Ross andbottom you know closed for court youknow in this you know this kid didn’thave two pennies to rub together stuffthat no one sees no one hears aboutthat’s what makes a huge difference manto be honest with you because most ofthe time things like coffee with the copand shop with debt that shit’s all forphoto shoots you knowit’s it’s off the dog-and-pony show andthose relationships and thoseinteractions are very superficial andit’s insulting to the community becausethey know that they know that it this isnothing more than just a superficialphoto-op and and I’ve had people tell methey take offense to it I’ve had peopletell me to my face I’m not going to yourcoffee with the cob what I want from youis to be present when I call you what Iwant from the police is when somebody’scrying for you to put their arm aroundthem or for you to touch their shoulderand for you to say don’t worry about itwe’ll do the best we can and make surethat we do the right thing they don’twant political answers because they hearit all the timeyou know they hear it out they see it onTV all the time they they don’t want tobe lied to and I think a lot of timesyou know we insult people’s intelligenceyou know what what the community wantswhat they told me is that when I callyou man I want you to be here I want tosee you patrolling up and down thestreet I want you to get out the car andI want you to to talk to the kids outhere in the street and I don’t want herto be cameras around you know I want Iwant you to see the human side of us andI want these kids to see the human sideof you and and the beautiful thingshappen and the magic happens whennobody’s lookingyou know when the cameras are off andand and there’s no one around todocument it that’s you know just gettingout the car and playing basketball witha kid I used to do that all the timebye-bye Warmington middle school youknow two or three times a week I get outand play horse with a kid for 20 minutesyou know what I mean yeah I’m not a bigfan of the coffee with a cop thing butthey shop with a cop I think that’s abig deal to a lot of the kids and itjust makes brings a big smile to theirface that they you know the cops go anddo this thing with them and then theysee them in a different in a differentway where the cops are good peoplethey’re good guys yeah there’s a lot ofbring out like wrestling with a cop nobut hey you know be fun for ussling with the cob people you know it’sfunny eight police officers have adifferent sense of humor folks just takeit like it is you know yeah I’m sorryno appreciate it man appreciateeverything you have to say about um butwhat’s going on up therethe do you have like one question thatwe get a lot is we get a lot of youngpeople listen that are in the Academy orthey’re about to go or they’re they’reon the fence about being a policeofficer and they love this question andit’s some advice to new police officersor people thinking about it do you haveany um any advice for him yeah I I wouldsay that before you before you eventhink about coming on the job you gottayou gotta you gotta make sure that youhave really good support you know youcan’t you have to know yourself and knowwho you are as a person and understandthat this is not gonna be an easy easyroad i people asked me Steve and Ken andI tell them lately as of late I tell methis is not something you want to do youknow unless you absolutely have to orunless this is you know your absolutepassion there are especially with theway the economy is now the economy is sogood there are so many things that youcan do you know become an entrepreneuror serve a community in a different waybut if it is your calling make sure thatyou’re grounded spiritually make sureyou ground it with your family make surethat you have a good support system andmake sure that you have a way ofdisconnecting every day you know whetherit be hiking or taking a walk on thebeach or exercising or joining a runningclub or a cycling club or or somethinglike that or just make sure that you getover a and you have fellowship for youknow once a week or something like thatyou have to you have to find a way todecompress and disconnect from thereality that is police work because whenthe reality hits you and you realizethat it’s starting to affect youit like you mentioned earlier it’s toolate but at that point you know when youstart to feel the effects of it it’s toolate you got to get ahead of it so getahead of it and get a good supportsystem and and learn how to disconnectfrom the job that’s my adviceawesome and the other thing I want toask you about is battlecry gear this isyour side hustle right yes so we wecreate a battlecry gear because so againwhat as I mentioned you know my wifeshe’s in in a non profit world she runsa global nonprofit and she’s very versedin that and I wanted to find a way tocontribute to nonprofits and so apercentage of all of our sales goes tofund nonprofits and so up until January1st is gonna be pediatric cancerresearch every 90 days will change thenonprofit and the the EDC bag the warbag is a bag that I created yeah I waschecking that out man tell me you tellme about the bag things badass so it’sum you know for police you know a lot oftimes we get to gear this efficient tous and it it’s it breaks you know injust a full years so we created an EDCbag made of constructed of 1000 denierCordura nylon its YKK zippers you know550 cord it’s it’s in terms of you knowthe materials is some of the best thatyou can get and it’s gonna last foreverand it’s it it houses everything youneed to house for daily patrol and soyou can get rid of the you know theoverseas made stuff you know not thatthere’s anything wrong with that youknow it’s american-made made by Americanworkers and it’s made by firstresponders for first responders soeverything that you need for daily carrybag on duty there it is and it the nicething is that I wanted to create aversatile piece that not only could beused on duty but off duty as well so ifyou’re going on a 3-day trip you knowthe bag houses you know everything thatyou need for a three-day trip wedesigned it so that it fits an overheadcompartments on planes underneath theseat on planesif it’s a cage it’s just a veryversatile piece it’s very well made it’sbeautiful and it helps fund nonprofitsand that’s what we’re about that’sawesome man it’s very coolthank you Steve Colbert’s your site isbattlecry gear.com correct yeah yeahwe’re still a fledgling was – we’regetting it going well you know my wifehas another project going on with itwith other business and stuff and so youknow being a full-time police officerand trying to manage that it’s it’s atask but we’re moving along we’reprogressing and we’re happy with withthe rate at which we’re progressingthat’s great man maybe you can as youyou know the reduction in police workhappens that will grow in that can thatcould be your after work thing you knowyeah yeah I hope soor maybe podcasts yeah Kelly how did youcome up with the logo for baedal Craigagain my wife you know she’s a talentedlady I’m grasping here she was a ladyshe played a big part in getting Skypegoing for you today that’s right yeahyeah she wrestles for the WWE and WWIcome on in a dish Fabulous Moolah Ishould remember her now yes she’slistening to the podcast right now as wespeak so well done well done I like theI like the camp yeah I’ll get you guyswhat you know as soon as I get back toLA oh I’ll send one out to you guys forsure man oh cool thank ya I like that Ilike that blue a symbol there that’sthat’s coolyeah I’ll make sure you guys get one youjust just shoot me attacks or shoot me aDM what color you want I’ll make sureI’ll get it to you well thanks we haveSteve’s people contact your people yeahand I’ll get together in that yeahthat’s cool man I like this gear Iappreciate it man thank you for the plugI appreciate it of course man thank youfor coming on and are you this was agreat interview and man I really feellike we got to see inside the mind of ayou knowan officer that works gangs it wasreally enlightening to me I appreciateit and in the game and I tend to ramblesometimes I just appreciate theopportunity to kind of get some stuffout I hope you know I articulated thingsthe right way and I wasn’t too offensivebut I hope that it was engaging as wellyou know I know that this is the verybeginning of a very very long career inin these types of podcasts for you guysand I wish you guys nothing but the bestyou know and I’m really honored andflattered that you would invite me tocome on oh thank you sir again thank youfor coming on and please be safe outthere and we’ll definitely stay in touchI’ll get together and do some practicingon that coleslaw wrestling soon really areally great time it’s good to to catchup with someone that was on the LAPD andjust get some of those old streets thatI remember back in the day yeah but yeahit’s good that we interview someone likeyou because someone like me I can’tremember I can’t remember that goingback that far but it’s good that it mademe feel good thanks again I appreciateit guys man blessings to you guys and Ireally hope that we could talk to youmaybe have a reunion over lunch ordinner or something absolutely thatsounds great honeyall right now.i brother take care you besafeyou today Steve thanks Kenyou
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