Blue Canary: For Cops By a Cop: Recent Episodes
Steve Kellams
Who approaches the scene first risking their lives for the safety of others? We do. The blue canaries, law enforcement. We allow others to tell our stories. It's time for us to tell our own stories. Blue Canary is a show for cops by a cop, retired Captain Steven Kellams. In each episode, Steve goes behind the scenes of a police department. Giving you real-world insight into why decisions are made, what obstacles are ahead, and how the answers to your questions aren’t always found in the news. It’s unfiltered, it’s relevant and it’s for anyone brave enough to wear a badge.
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When we talk about police reform, we usually talk about body cameras, policies, accountability, or use of force. Those are important discussions, but I think we're missing something much more fundamental.
What if one of the biggest police reform issues isn't what officers do?
What if it's whether they're physically capable of doing the job in the first place?
Let's be honest about what police work actually is.
A police officer may spend most of his shift writing reports, answering calls, directing traffic, or talking to people. But that's not what defines the profession.
The profession is defined by what happens on the worst day.
It's defined by the foot pursuit.
It's defined by the fight.
It's defined by dragging someone out of a wrecked car.
It's defined by wrestling with a violent suspect who has no intention of going peacefully.
It's defined by sprinting across a parking lot, climbing a fence, jumping a ditch, and then making good decisions while your heart rate is 180 beats per minute.
And while you're doing all that, you're carrying somewhere around forty pounds of equipment.
Body armor.
Firearm.
Extra magazines.
Radio.
Handcuffs.
Taser.
Medical gear.
Flashlight.
Everything that comes on a modern duty belt.
Think about that for a second.
We ask officers to perform athletic feats while carrying the equivalent of a loaded backpack.
In almost any other profession we would recognize that reality immediately.
If I described someone whose job required running, fighting, climbing, carrying weight, making split-second decisions under stress, and performing in front of the public, most people would assume I was talking about a professional athlete.
But for some reason we don't treat police officers like professional athletes.
We expect athletic performance without athletic preparation.
And that wasn't always the case.
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It was poker night. Once a month the shift would get together and play poker. It rotated from house to house and this time it was my turn. My living room was crowded with about a dozen people. Eight of us were playing at the table and I was tucked back in against the wall. We were all drinking and having fun.
Cory stops bye. He liked to be the life of the party so when he came in it was high fives and greetings all around. Now Cory was a young officer, only been on the department for a little over a year or so, but I had known him for a couple of years already while he went to college and the IU police program. Back in those days he was cocky and that night was no different.
He started making fun of us being drunk, which was true and he said he could grab all the money from the table and take off and we wouldn’t be able to stop him. I called him out right there. I said “If you think you can grab that money and get out the front door before I stop you then go for it, and if you do, it’s all yours.”
Cory just laughed, knowing he was faster than me and I had a whole table between us. All he had to do was grab the money and get out the front door. I could see him measuring it up in his head.
But I had one little piece of information that Cory didn’t. I always…and I mean Always kept my front door locked.
Cory went for it. He grabbed a handful of cash and raced to the front, sure that he was going to make it.
I bounced him off a couple of walls.
[Insert Intro]
I went ahead and told that story because it is Cory’s favorite and he tells it all the time. A seasoned veteran with inside information and a cocky young cop who went on to be an FBI agent.
Cory Grass Graduated from IU in 1996 and worked for the Bloomington Police Department from 1996 – 2002. He then spent he next 20 years with the FBI. First in Miami with the Violent Crimes team and then in Terre Haute Indiana at the federal prison with counter terrorism, finishing up at the Bloomington Indiana office working on counterintelligence and source recruitment.
When I decided to focus on reform I knew I had to have Cory on the show. He is opinionated, outspoken, and really smart.
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I attended the police academy at Indiana University.
At the time, it was one of the only academies outside the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield that the state officially recognized as a full police certification academy.
The program itself was unique. While a full-time student with Indiana University you had to apply for the IU police department. The application process was very similar to getting hired by a police department. If accepted they put you through the complete Indiana Law Enforcement Academy over the summer while you were at IU.
But what really made the academy different was the way we were trained.
Most police academies in America were — and still are — based on a military basic training model. Drill instructors screaming at recruits, constant stress, punishment, collective discipline…You know, a lot of bullshit.
That wasn’t us.
We lived in our own apartments. We showed up for PT at six in the morning, then class at eight. We trained hard, studied hard, and we were treated like adults preparing for a profession instead of recruits surviving boot camp.
And a lot of cops around the state used to joke about it. They called it the ‘Country Club Academy.’
The implication was always the same — that somehow we had it easier.
But over the years, I watched the people who came out of that academy go on to become outstanding police officers, investigators, supervisors, and leaders at all levels of policing from local police chiefs, to sheriffs, to federal officers.
And I started realizing something:
maybe treating recruits like professionals actually produced better professionals.
Maybe teaching officers how to think was more valuable than teaching them how to endure screaming.
Maybe our so-called Country Club was working a whole lot better than the boys club.
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When I decided to talk about police reform I immediately thought of Brad Seifers. I had the pleasure of working extensively with Brad over the years and new that if anyone had solid thoughts on police reform it would be Brad.
Brad recently retired from law enforcement after a 32-year career. He started at the Indiana University Police academy in 1994, then spent over 22 years in municipal policing. He served in every roll from patrol officer to lieutenant of patrol and detectives. He then made the transition back to higher education policing by rejoining the IUPD as a lieutenant. Brad eventually moved up in the ranks to become the deputy superintendent of IUPD which is the position he retired from in January of 2026. Brad slso spent 29 years serving the US Army, retiring with the rank of Command Sergeant Major. That career was predominately in military police. He also holds a BA in Criminal Justice and a Master of Science in Performance Improvement.
Brad was gracious enough to give us some time.
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Real reform requires honesty.
It requires evidence.
It requires experience.
And most importantly—it requires conversation.
Not lectures.
Not slogans.
And not screaming people into silence.
That’s what this podcast is about.
Not defending bad policing.
Not pretending problems don’t exist.
But talking honestly about what real police reform should actually look like—from the perspective of the people doing the job.
Because for too long, police reform has been happening to officers instead of with them.
And that’s how you end up with bad policy, dangerous policy, and officers who feel abandoned by the very people making decisions about their profession.
This season, we’re going to talk to the people on the street. Patrol officers. Trainers. Detectives. Supervisors. The men and women actually doing the work.
Not because they’re perfect.
But because if you want to reform policing, maybe you should start by listening to the people who actually police.
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https://www.thethinlinerockstation.com/
In October of 2025, I got an email that made me pause for a second. It was from James Hathaway who said that he was one of the owners of The Thin Line Rock Station, an online radio station that was specifically designed for public safety. He had heard my podcast and thought I would have a great voice for their station and would I be interested in being a DJ.
I started doing a little digging and when I typed in The Thin Line Rock Station to my web browser it popped right up. I hit play and found myself listening to a real radio station. Commercials, ads, and DJ’s playing some really good music. A great mix of rock and country.
So, I responded and a week or so later, I was on the air, DJ’ing my first show.
Now for those of you that are hearing about this for the first time you really should take a minute and check it out. The Thin Line Rock Station is a radio station, like any other regular radio station you might listen to, but it’s streamed over the internet. You can listen to it from your computer browser or you can download the app and listen to it from any device.
To explain where the station came from and how it came about here’s a little background straight from the station.
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We find ourselves once again at the end of a season. This caps off Season 6 of Blue Canary and it’s been very interesting. I had been thinking about retirement for a couple of years. Once the greatness of it started to settle and the things you missed started to creep back in past the walls you built telling yourself it was the greatest decision you ever made, reality raised it’s ugly head.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy I am retired. But there are things I miss. I mean really miss.
I miss the people. The officers I got to work with every day. The ones who came to me for guidance. The ones who came to me with problems. And even the ones that came to me when they had screwed up.
I miss the work. Serving the community everyday was fulfilling. I knew what I was doing mattered, even when it didn’t seem like it at the time.
I miss the challenges, having to be sharp, fit, strong, and quick. Pitting yourself against bad guys and trying to solve problems on the fly.
I miss the adrenaline. Sure, that’s the thing you’re not supposed to talk about, but it’s there. They way your heart hammered in your chest when the Oh Shit button got pushed. The feeling you had at the end when you had won.
I miss the identity. I miss being a cop. And everything that comes with that.
When I settled on retirement for this season’s focus it was because I wanted to talk about that thing that had been weighing on me. The lack of support.
I had chatted with fellow retired officers who said they didn’t feel supported. I chatted with my military friends who had vastly different experiences upon retiring. And I did my research, looking for programs, communities, and people to help.
What I found just made it worse.
On a positive note, I am doing the DJ thing every Friday form 8am - Noon on the Thin Line Rock Station. Check it out.
https://www.thethinlinerockstation.com/
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“The Hollow Call” a Halloween Special.
Let’s just add a little more spook to an already spooky tail.
I received this email from a user who went by Mallory98. The email didn’t have anything in it but this attached story. I tried several times to reach out and get more information, but every time I sent an email it bounced back as an invalid address.
Every time.
Through every email provider
So, I just decided to share it in its entirety.
We will call this one,
"The Hollow Call"
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Jessica Flores served as a police officer and detective in the Kansas City Missouri area, but was forced to retire early due to medical issues. That left her struggling to find purpose and meaning in the post law enforcement world. That all stopped one day when she realized she could help other officers find their purpose after law enforcement.
That’s how Next Shift was founded.
Today Jess runs Next Shift to help coach officers leaving the profession to help them find purpose and community after law enforcement.
Jess was gracious enough to sit down and chat with me for a few minutes about her own experiences and Next Shift.
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When an officer retires, whether it’s after 20, 25, or 30 years, there’s often a handshake, a plaque, maybe a party. Then the uniform goes in the closet, and that’s it. After decades of service—after countless nights on patrol, after seeing humanity at its worst and sometimes at its best—suddenly, you’re just… done.
There’s no transition program. No debrief. No structured counseling. No real roadmap for what comes next.
Contrast that with the military: service members who retire or separate are connected with the VA, with veteran service organizations, with peer support programs. They’re eligible for medical and mental health services for the long term. Whether or not the system is perfect, there is a system. For cops? Not so much.
When it comes to support for retired officers, it’s really a mixed bag.
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Every day’s a Saturday.
That’s one of those great retirement sayings.
What it means is you get to do what you want, when you want.
After thirty years of being told where to be, when to be, and how to be, it’s very liberating.
My wife was at work and I had finished all of the little chores I wanted to get done around the house. I sat down and fired up the streaming services. I was looking for a little movie I could put on and probably take a nap. My search stopped on “The Fastest Woman on Earth”
That put a twist in my afternoon plans.
“The Fastest Woman on Earth” is a 2022 documentary about Jesse Combs, her quest to break the woman’s land speed record, and her ultimate death.
I was familiar with Jesse Combs, I had watched her in a number of television shows over the years, specifically “Overhaulin” and “Mythbusters”. I also enjoy documentaries so clicking play was a no brainer.
I started crying about 5 minutes into the film and couldn’t stop crying the rest of the afternoon.
As cops we get very good at compartmentalizing trauma. When we deal with all of those horrible thing’s day in and day out, we put them behind a door, lock it tight, and throw away the key.
Something in that movie opened one of those doors for me and let it all out.
It was a rough afternoon
But it would have been rougher if I didn’t understand what was going on with me.
[Insert Intro]
Mental Health for Law Enforcement is an issue that we still fight today. Even though we should know better, we still stigmatize getting help. We still want to portray ourselves and our profession as stoic, strong, and above those emotions.
We are not.
I wanted to talk to an officer who had experience dealing with mental health issues, someone who understood the problem and was willing to deal with it head on.
That’s when I connected with Zachary Saenz.
Zachary has over 8 years in law enforcement and has served as a patrol officer, field training officer, and now is a patrol sergeant. He is an advocate for mental health in law enforcement and his story is an important one to hear.
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When I retired from the Bloomington Police Department, I was done. I knew that, walking out the door. There was no way I was going to go back to the department and work for them again. I was moving on with my life.
But, to be fair, it was easy for me. I had prepared for retirement. I had followed the Dave Ramsey financial plan and was debt free save for my home mortgage. I had a substantial emergency fund and I had a job, teaching.
I started traveling the country and teaching right away, and I have to say being my own boss was a massive benefit.
But most officers when they retire aren’t in the same position. Many of them haven’t prepared for the possibility of retirement. They haven’t put away any money. They have no idea what they are going to do.
And that hurts.
When you combine the challenges of financial needs, the lack of social interaction, boredom and the loss of identity of being a cop, going back to the job is easy to understand.
Let’s take a moment and look at each of those reasons for going back to the job.
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Police Helicopters are quickly becoming a thing of the past. When the helicopters themselves cost anywhere from 500,000 to 3 Million dollars to purchase and have operating costs around 400 bucks per hour to fly nobody can afford them anymore. Not that anyone outside of a handful of major metropolitan police departments ever could.
But that doesn’t take away the fact that having eyes in the sky can and does offer incredible advantages when it comes to public safety.
In 2025 that means drones.
Over the last decade we have seen drone use increase among police department across the US. Starting with search and rescue functions the use of drones has continued to grow just as the technology has improved and today we have full time drone pilots in agencies all over the US.
I had the pleasure to speak with Matt Rowland. Since 2017 Matt has been a member of the Unmanned Air Support Unit with the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is currently a full-time drone pilot and an advocate of the technology.
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Author Willet Ryder said “Hobbies are both a mystery and a delight. They’re a mystery because many people with hobbies don’t always share them with others. They’re a delight because of the pure joy they provide to the hobbyist, making hours pass like minutes!”
But don’t take my word for it, listen to the experts.
First, hobbies help improve your mental health. Hobbies are a powerful tool to manage stress and improve your mood. Creative hobbies such as writing, painting, and yes roleplaying can substantially reduce depression, anxiety and stress. Studies have linked creative hobbies to lowering Cortisol levels (a stress hormone) and improving mood.
Second, physical hobbies will keep you alive. Moving everyday is important and taking on physical hobbies such as cycling, skiing, kayaking, running, hiking, or even walking can have significant effect on your retired self. You will be amazed at how fast your physical health can get away from you after retirement. You don’t have to fit into a uniform anymore and since people aren’t trying to kill you everyday you don’t “need” to stay in shape. But never forget that couch is a killer.
Third, mentally stimulating hobbies like learning a foreign language, taking up a musical instrument, or solving puzzles can significantly improve your cognitive function including memory and can reduce the risk of dementia later in life.
Fourth, hobbies can significantly improve our social life. If you’re a cop then most of your friends are cops and I have some bad news for you, the day you retire will be the last day you hear from those friends.
Do not underestimate the importance of social connections after retirement and hobbies are one of the best ways to meet people and interact with them.
And fifth, as a cop we always felt a sense of accomplishment. It’s one of the most rewarding jobs you can have. From locking up the bad guy, to changing a lady’s tire, everyday you were able to take something away from that job, something important, what you did mattered.
When you retire do you really matter anymore?
These are just a few of the benefits of having hobbies.
Check out my roleplaying podcast:
https://oddfishgames.com/pages/the-epic-adventure-podcast
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William Osler was a Canadian physician and one of the “Big 4” founders of John Hopkins Hospital. He created the first “residency” program for training physicians and he has been called the father of modern medicine.
I think it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two.
Osler once said “No man is really happy or safe without a hobby.”
That is especially true for law enforcement.
The stress of law enforcement can cause tremendous mental and physical problems if not addressed and hobbies go a long way to help alleviate that stress.
Not only does it help on the job, but once retirement rolls around and you hang up those 12-hour days on the emotional rollercoaster, you better have something to occupy your time.
Otherwise, that couch will be calling your name.
And that couch is a killer.
I wanted to talk to a retired officer that mastered the art of hobbies and one name rose right to the top.
David Rhodes.
Dave started with the Indiana University Police Department in 1980 and spent the next 40 years patrolling, investigating, and training new officers. He retired as the Lieutenant in charge of training at IUPD, and while his law enforcement career is impressive his off-duty life is just as interesting. In my opinion Dave mastered the art of hobbies. From martial arts, to music, to becoming a published author, Dave is never bored.
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Road School.
That’s what my wife calls it.
In 2017 we tuned into Netflix’s new series Mindhunters, based on the book by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. In the premier episode, directed by David Fincher, the FBI agents in the series are traveling across the country and teaching police departments how to identify serious violent offenders. They called it Road School and it stuck with my wife.
By then I had been doing that very same thing, albeit the topic was a little different, for 17 years. She even had “Bye Bye BPD, Hello Road School” put on top of my retirement cake.
My second career since my retirement didn’t happen overnight. I didn’t retire on Monday and then start teaching on Tuesday…well, actually I sort of did just that, but in reality, the ground work had started 20 years earlier.
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It’s amazing what getting a job will do to you.
I was still taking classes at IU, but the Bloomington Police Department had already given me a call and confirmed that I was going to be hired in a few months.
My first full time job.
At the time I was working as a part time officer for IUPD while going to school and I was making about 7 bucks an hour. That was great, because at the time minimum wage was 4.25 an hour. Even then paying rent, putting gas in a car, and eating was about all I could afford.
That call changed everything. In just a couple of months I was going to be making 41,000 dollars a year as a first-year officer. That might not sound like much, but in today’s money that would be over 86K a year and I don’t think anyone would sneeze at that salary for a rookie.
That’s when my buddy hit me up.
Want to go to Florida for Spring Break?
Silly question, but in the past, I didn’t have any money, and while I still didn’t have any money, I had a big-time job coming and I had this little plastic thing in my pocket I had just picked up, a credit card.
I wouldn’t recommend putting a week’s spring break vacation on a credit card.
That was just the beginning of my troubles.
Right after swearing in, I bought my first brand new car. No more barely running rust buckets, but a nice shiny brand-new Geo Storm sports car…don’t judge me.
It was a budget sports car coming in at 12,000 dollars, see I was being frugal. And, just to put it in perspective that would be just under 30,000 bucks in today’s money.
My spending habits didn’t get any better.
As a matter of fact, I look back on about my first decade of policing and wonder.
“Where did all my money go?”
Financial Stability isn’t something that comes natural to cops. As a matter of fact, my story isn’t unusual. Actually, I did a pretty good job compared to some of the things we see new officers do with their money.
Since I decided to focus this season on retirement I new that I had to talk to a financial planner, someone who understood not only money, but the special issues that money brings to cops, and ultimately how to retire.
So, I reached out to Nick Daugherty at Financial Cop
Nick is the President/owner at FinancialCop LLC and Serve & Protect Financial Texas, a full service, fiduciary only financial service firm owned and operated by first responders for first responders. They are also the largest financial wellness training group for first responders nationally, having taught over 30,000 first responders from over 3,000 agencies, police academies, and conferences nationwide.
Currently Nick is a reserve officer for the Grand Prairie Police Department after 14 1/2 years as a full-time officer / sergeant.
https://financialcop.com/
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The Gold Watch
The Brass Ring
Retirement
You know … Winning
It’s a simple topic, one that everyone should be interested in and one that everyone should applaud. Ask a retiree if they regret getting out, odds are 100 to 1 that they will just laugh in your face.
Easy days of putzing around the house, playing golf, and waking up whenever you feel like it. No calls, no emergencies, no trauma, no adrenaline, just boring day in and day out.
I guess it’s a little more complicated than that.
With a decentralized law enforcement system in the United States, it is easy to guess that the retirement requirements and compensation differ across the country. Every state is different, and depending on the type of agency you are serving in, the retirement package for one officer in the county could be different from another officer in the county. Add in State Police and Federal Law Enforcement and retirement benefits quickly become difficult to navigate.
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I am blessed with friends.
I am blessed to have neighbors that rushed to my home to make sure that we were safe. I am blessed that I have people who will be there for me and my family in the darkest moments. I am blessed that I have friends who will reach out and provide moral and actual support when needed. I am blessed that I have met some amazing people over my career and they will take the time to chat with me on this podcast and I am blessed that people like you take the time to listen.
This is a heartfelt thank you to all of my friends out there, for everything they have done and will continue to do. I can never truly repay you with anything but my own friendship. I love all of you very much.
I hope you have enjoyed Season 5 of Blue Canary. As usual we are going to take a couple of months off and start planning for next year. If you have enjoyed Blue Canary please do me a favor and rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform. We are also now on YouTube so make sure you like and subscribe not just on your podcast app, but also on YouTube so that we can continue to help you tell your stories. And finally, like and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.
We will be back in the spring with Season 6 of Blue Canary. What are we going to focus on for next season, well you will just have to subscribe to find out.
And remember, take a few minutes to make friends. They are everything.
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Jared Altic is a police chaplain in Kansas City, focusing his work in the patrol divisions of the Kansas City Kansas Police Department (KCKPD). He attends roll calls, goes on ride alongs, teaches at the police academy, and responds to homicides, suicides, and accidents in the city. Jared's passion is encouraging officer wellness among cops, which he also does through his podcast, Hey Chaplain.
I had the pleasure to talk with Jared about informal leadership and his role as a chaplain.
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Welcome to our annual Halloween Episode. These stories have been told to me by officers around the country and they swear they are true stories. Thanks to Parker for this one.
Happy Halloween.
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In the United States there are 3,116 local jails, 1,566 State Prisons, and 98 Federal Prisons. But let’s not forget the 1,323 Juvenile Corrections Facilities, 142 Immigration detention facilities, and 80 Tribal jails. These facilities house a little over 1.2 million prisoners.
These facilities are staffed with approximately 393,000 corrections officers.
At first glance that might seem like a lot.
A lot of facilities,
A lot of prisoners,
A lot of jailers,
But it isn’t.
Let’s take a look at crime for a minute. The causes of crime have been studied for decades, and while some of the results may fly in the face of what we have been told over the years, facts are facts. For example, poverty does not cause crime, and the number one way to lower crime is through incarceration. You want your neighborhood to be safe. Easy, lock up the criminals. Consequences matter and holding people accountable for their actions has proven time and time again to be an effective deterrent.
Studies also show that 1 percent of the population commit over 60 percent of crime in America. Today there are a little over 1.2 million prisoners accounting for .36 percent of the US population. I would also argue that statistically we are living in a period of very high crime rates.
In 2008 the US prison population peaked at almost 2.5 million prisoners and you wanna know what else happened. Our crime rates were at a historic low.
Don’t believe me look it up.
There are around 800,000 police officers in the US today and they seem to garner most of the attention. They get most of the praise, the complaints, the glory, and the training … what little there is of that.
But what about those 393,000 corrections officers. They seem to be left behind when it comes to the praise, glory, and specifically training.
We refuse to do that.
[Insert Intro]
Jeff Carter retired in December of 2018 as the Deputy Director of the Fayette County Detention Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Over his 20-year career, he has worked all levels of custody inside a 1,300-bed correctional facility located in the horse racing capitol of the world. Jeff was an instructor for 5 years inside the academy, where he trained over 700 recruits, molding them into successful leaders in the Corrections field. While promoting through the ranks, he commanded the Professional Standards Unit where he specialized in Internal Affairs investigations and Gang Intel for 7 years.
I asked Jeff to talk about leadership, specifically in the jail system, but most of his advice is relevant no matter where you work.
[Insert Interview]
And that’s the story we have to tell.
Chief of Police is a title typically given to the head of a police department, but that simple definition gets very confusing very quickly. Sheriffs are the name we give to elected officials who preside over county law enforcement in the US, while Chief’s of Police typically preside over municipal police agencies.
Sometimes Chief’s are elected. Sometimes they are appointed by a mayor or city council. Sometimes they are selected through the civil service act. Sometimes they are not called Chief’s of Police at all.
Police Commissioners are another term, frequently found in the larger metropolitan areas
Chief,
When we talk about the police chief’s we are talking about the head of a municipal police department not affiliated with the local sheriff’s office.
What do chief’s do?
Sorry to make you laugh, it wasn’t a trick question.
Chiefs of police are typically responsible for operational oversight, budgeting, planning, discipline, direction, regulations, communications, and in smaller agencies general police work. All at the behest of a governing body, either mayor or city council.
It’s not an easy job.
I rose to the highest levels of administration in my police department. I was third in charge, so while I didn’t ever actually do the job, I did learn one thing.
You can’t pay me enough to do it.
[Insert Intro]
George Sippert spent 32 years serving the people of Flint Township Michigan. Flint township is located on the west side of the city of Flint Michigan. He took over as chief of police in 2004 an served until 2018. Throughout his career, Sippert also served in various roles including: Field Training Officer, Firearms instructor, School Resource Officer, Community Policing Division Commander and Motorcycle Unit Commander.
He is also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy, a member of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, Genesee County Chiefs Association, Central Michigan Chiefs Association, Genesee County 911 Advisory Board and the Flint Area Narcotics Group Advisory Board.
I have had the pleasure of knowing and speaking with George on a number occasions and I couldn’t think of anyone better to discuss the role of the police chief.
Note: This was an extremely difficult episode for me to record. I want to apologize for the audio. It was the best I could do.
72 officers had to die.
I refuse to let that sacrifice go unremembered.
This one is for you,
Ethics in Leadership
It’s an interesting topic and at times can be very controversial. Peter Drucker was an Austrian American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of modern management theory. He famously said “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers”
This statement has led to some interesting classroom discussions as well as arguments about leaders. In my courses I typically lead with a few definitions of leadership and then ask the class a question. I ask them to give me a list of “Good Leaders.” What follows is an interesting take on leadership. We will typically start with George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and then the class will typically throw in George Patton, Bear Bryant, and then a modern president. Which president however is based on where the class is being taught. This is where the arguments start.
Leaving the list of “Good Leaders” on the board I ask the class for a list of “Bad Leaders.” This list starts with Adolf Hitler, followed by Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot. Jim Jones and David Koresh are added as the classes input starts to wind down. And then someone will throw out the name of the same modern president that was on the “Good List.”
Defining leadership as “someone who has followers” might be accurate from a technical point, but it fails to address what I believe is one of the major elements of leadership. Ethics. Those leaders in the “bad List” are leaders, they moved countries, cultures, and peoples to do some truly horrific things, but I could never look at them as leaders because to me ethical leadership is the most important element.
I believe that ethical leaders can lead anyone, but unethical leaders only lead unethical people, the rest they will drag along against their will.
Let’s take a look at ethics, morals and ethical leadership.
Commander Bob Meader retired from the Columbus Ohio Police Department in February of 2022. During his tenure at Columbus PD, he served in patrol, street attack unit, property crimes, legal and training. He retired as the commander of the Columbus PD Police Academy. While working Commander Meader managed to get his law degree and today spends his retirement training Ohio police officers on issues regarding the law in Ohio.
I had the pleasure to talk with Bob about legal issues pertaining to training, administration, and de-escalation.
Leading Up
General William T. Sherman once said "We have good corporals and good sergeants and some good lieutenants and captains, and those are far more important than good generals."
Sherman recognized the importance of leading up.
What is leading up? It’s providing leadership in an organization from a position of lower authority. It’s understanding the role played by various members of an organization and how to properly and effective work within that organization.
This is more commonly referred to as Followership.
Followership at its core is the individual’s willingness to go along with a leader. There willingness to follow. But it is much more than that.
We put tremendous emphasis on leadership. Hell, my entire season 5 is focusing on leadership, but we often forget the importance of the follower. Without followers there are no leaders.
It is said that all leaders are followers, but not all followers are leaders. And that is an interesting thought. The concept behind this is that to be a successful leader, you must know how to follow. Taking that a step further you must realize that every leader has a boss. For example, in the public safety realm, every sergeant must report to a lieutenant. Every lieutenant reports to a captain. Every Chief of Police Reports to a Mayor or City Council and every Sheriff reports to the electorate.
Everybody has a boss.
Being a good follower will provide you with the skills necessary to help you be a good leader.
Now let’s look at the second part of that saying…not all followers are leaders.
Another true statement. Some people are simply not cut out for leadership. They are not wired that way. They can be good followers, but refuse to accept some of the basic principles of leadership. Most people don’t start out as leaders, they start out as followers but as they learn to be good followers they start learning the skills necessary to be leaders and grow.
There are several essential qualities to an exemplary follower and we should always be looking to improve in these areas. Lets take a quick look at those essential qualities.
Sheriff, a word, and position that derive from the old English term Shire-Reeve. This person was responsible for managing a shire or county in England. The practice began sometime before 700 A.D. and when America was colonized by European settlers we brought the concept with us.
Today in the US, 48 out of the 50 states have sheriffs. Alaska doesn’t have counties and therefore has no sheriff’s and Connecticut replaced its sheriff system with State Marshalls in 2000. In 46 out of the 48 states with the sheriff’s system the sheriffs are elected officials and mostly serve 4-year terms.
The duties of sheriff vary from state to state and even from county to county. In the south and western states sheriffs are seen as the constitutional law enforcement officer and the position is held in high esteem. Also, the more rural the county the more likely the sheriff is the primary law enforcement agency. Sheriff’s are also typically responsible for the jail and court systems in their county making the position difficult and challenge on a number of levels.
For Sheriff’s, leadership is an important skill. Not only must they lead their officers and civilian employees, but they must also lead in the jails, the courts, and because of the political nature of the position, in the community
As for notable people that have held the position of sheriff in American history it’s an interesting list. From historical figures like Bat Masterson, Daniel Boone, and Grover Cleveland to controversial ones like Buford Pusser, Grady Judd, and Joe Arpaio.
I realized if I wanted to discuss leadership in law enforcement, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk to at least one Sheriff.
I had a perfect candidate in mind.
[Insert Intro]
Sheriff Chris Lane was elected on November 8, 2022 as the 59th Sheriff of Bartholomew County IN
Sheriff Lane has dedicated over 30 years to law enforcement. During this time, he has served in a variety of positions, including patrol, supervision, administration, and investigations. He was appointed as Chief Deputy of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department from 2015 - 2022. Sheriff Lane is also a 2019 graduate of the FBI National Academy, joining an elite group that makes up less than 1% of America’s law enforcement community.
And the most important part of his background…we went to the police academy together.
Fear is the Mind Killer,
That statement is as relevant today as it was in 1965 when Frank Hubert published his novel Dune.
Paul Atraides, the main character in Dune, quotes from the Litany of Fear in the first chapter of the book. The entire quote is;
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
The quote is designed to help you focus through your fear. It recognizes that fear will happen, that you will be scared, but you must not let that fear define you, or rule you. You must concentrate through the fear and let your reason win. It also acknowledges that fear will pass and you will have to live with the actions and consequences of your decisions once it is gone.
The number one enemy to effective leadership is fear.
Fear is why we fail
Fear is why our people fail
Fear is why or organizations fails
We let fear guide our decisions, we let fear dictate our responses and we let fear paralyze us from taking action.
I had been a sergeant for about 6 years before my agency sent me to my very first leadership class. I didn’t know what to expect and honestly, I thought it was going to be a waste of time. I mean I had been an informal leader on night shift for years as the old guy and the FTO. When they promoted me to sergeant, they obviously didn’t think leadership was important because they didn’t bother to send me to any training. So, I wasn’t very interested.
This story could have had a very different ending, but the leadership training they did send me to was put on by Bill Westfall.
Bill Westfall is an amazing instructor and one that really lit the fire under me to be an effective leader.
Since then, I began reading every leadership book I could get my hands on, from historical works to books by business leaders. I also took as many leadership classes as I could find, a few of them I took on my own dime and my own time.
So, when I tell you my guest on this episode is one of the very best teachers in leadership,
I’m not kidding.
Jack Enter has been associated with the field of criminal justice since 1972 when he began his career as a law enforcement officer. Since that time, he has worked as a street police officer, detective, vice/narcotics investigator, manager, and as the administrator of a law enforcement agency in the suburbs of Atlanta. Jack obtained his Ph.D. in 1984 and has served as a professor and administrator in the university setting and served as one of the planners of the security component of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. He has lectured throughout the United States and abroad on Leadership as well as Profiling Interpersonal Violence and The Future of Crime and Policing. He has authored two books Challenging the Law Enforcement Organization (2006; Revised 2022) and Law Enforcement Leadership in the Midst of Change (2022).
Leadership Journeys.
You are going to hear me talk a lot about leadership journeys this season.
What do I mean about leadership journeys? It’s how I describe the process of growing as a leader, of taking on formal and informal responsibilities and about not only learning the process of leadership, but embracing it as well.
I decided the best way to start this season off was to talk you through my leadership journey, and no it wasn’t very pretty.
Many of you out there have had the pleasure of having a mentor or role model for your leadership journey. I had none.
Ok, so that isn’t entirely true, I have found out while preparing for this season that we all have guides on our leadership journey, they just might not be formal ones and maybe we didn’t recognize them for what they were.
You see in my law enforcement career I had very few, and I mean very few positive formal role models. The supervisors and leaders that I had throughout my 30-year career in law enforcement were terrible. But I learned from them. I mostly learned what not to do.
What not to do.
That can be a powerful teacher.
Leadership, The Oxford English Dictionary defines leadership as;
The action of leading a group of people or an organization. The state or position of being a leader.
Got it. That’s a simple one. Next important lesson please…
Not so fast.
Leadership has to be one of the most vexing skills to learn in our profession. First of all, it’s critically important. It’s important for the officer working the beat who must deal with the public every day. They must lead on scenes and at calls for service, they must show leadership for the community and the people they serve.
It’s important for the line supervisor. They must show leadership to not only that same public as the officer, but also to the officers themselves as well as peers and members of other government agencies.
It’s important to the administrators whose management positions can at times exacerbate the divide between the working officer and the organization, who’s goals should be aligned, but rarely are.
And of course it’s important to the police leaders, who by their very title should be experts in a field that quite frankly, you can’t be an expert in.
“But Steve,” you say, “I know a lot of expert leaders, masters of the craft.”
Bullshit.
They are faking it.
On this season of Blue Canary, we are going to focus on Leadership. We are going to talk about what it means to be a leader, how to learn leadership skills and why leadership is abnormal behavior. I am going to talk about my personal leadership journey as well as interview Chief’s and Sheriffs about their leadership journeys and struggles. We will also hear from leadership experts about the challenges modern police leaders face.
Finally, we will mix in a few of our listeners favorite topics just for fun.
Our first episode of the season will drop on June 5th so make sure you like and subscribe so you don’t miss anything, because this is the story we have to tell.
That's a Wrap.
In 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic I decided to start this podcast. I had just retired and started full time teaching and consulting when the world came to a grinding halt. The podcast was a way to fill that void. To scratch my teaching itch and to share what I had learned in 30 years of working as a cop.
I couldn’t be more happy with the results.
Over the last four years I have had the pleasure of reconnecting with old friends, making new ones, and sharing information about this amazing profession.
I want to thank all of you that came along with me for the ride. Thank you for listening, sharing, and subscribing.
This wraps up Season 4 of Blue Canary, a season where I focused on the War on Cops. But, this podcast experiment is far from over. I will be taking a few months off to get everything ready to go for next season, and I think it’s going to be a good one.
Season 5 of Blue Canary is going to focus on leadership. You see, we don’t have a cop problem in the US, we have a cop leadership problem, one that seems to get worse every day. And it’s not just the big bosses, no, it’s a problem that starts with the frontline sergeants. I am going to interview all levels of police leaders and talk about the issues and problems facing police leadership. I am going to talk to researchers and experts in leadership, and I am going to share my own experiences as a formal police leader for 17 years. I think you will find next season fascinating.
Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. Look for the new season in the spring of 2024.
Until then, everybody be careful out there.
In 2022 Rafael Mangual a senior fellow and head of research for policing and public safety at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research published his book Criminal (In)Justice. If your profession revolves around the criminal justice system then this is a must-read book. Using extensive studies and documentation Mangual takes the fight to the decarceration and depolicing narrative. He quickly and succinctly destroys the concept of defunding the police.
Criminal (In)Justice points out that the defund police movement fundamentally does not understand the causes of crime. They believe that by transferring funds away from the police and putting those funds into non law enforcement services such as social work the cycle of crime will be broken and crime will decline. However, the facts and studies prove the opposite. In 2020 the United States saw more than 21,000 murders which accounted for a 30 percent increase over 2019 and the biggest year-over-year increase on record. His book goes on to state:
The year 2020 was preceded by a decade-long trend of
Increasingly vitriolic expressions of anti-police rhetoric in the media and academia.
Decarceration (between 2009 and 2019, the country’s imprisonment rate declined 17 percent)
De-policing (during the same period, arrest declined by more than 25 percent, going from more than 13.6 million to just over 10 million, while the number of full-time police officers working American cities went from about 452,000 in 2009 down to 443,000 in 2019.
He hits you with these numbers in the first 22 pages of the book. It only gets better from there.
https://manhattan.institute/book/criminal-injustice
https://manhattan.institute/article/hardening-the-system-three-commonsense-measures-to-help-keep-crime-at-bay
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime/impd-arrests-suspect-ramming-police-car-same-man-police-shot-february-george-leachman-indianapolis-indiana-trial-bond/531-3e8ab206-de34-45ae-9e4c-41cd43ccc305
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-23/washington-dc-mayor-wants-to-reverse-police-reforms-amid-violent-crime-spike
Rick Snyder started in law enforcement over 27 years ago and continues to serve on a major metropolitan police department. Rick is the president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 86 and also serves as the National FOP Chaplain.
Rick has been vocal about the issues involving police reform for many years and I was pleased to have an opportunity to talk to Rick about the state of policing and the war on cops.
Rick had so much more to say, but do to technical difficulties and schedule conflicts we had to postpone the second part of the interview. Don’t worry though, Rick will be back on and we will dig deeper into the issues at a later date because that’s the story we have to tell.
This is our fourth annual Halloween Special and it's a doozy. Ever had one of those creepy encounters that just set the hair on the back of your neck straight up. Usually we just move on and forget about them, but sometimes they can really spook you.
In this episode we hear the real true story of a creepy conversation that took a dark turn quickly. Dim the lights and settle in for another true Halloween story.
Jeff Schemmer is a longtime friend and colleague of mine. He is also an expert on the 911 system. Jeff began working in the 911 community thirty-five years ago as a dispatcher with the Bloomington Indiana Police Department. After the 1998 consolidation of dispatch services with BPD and Monroe County Sheriff's Office, he continued to serve as a dispatcher, training coordinator and Communications Manager until 2019, when he accepted the position of Executive Director with Hamilton County Public Safety Communications. In 2022 Jeff was selected to be the Executive Director of the Indiana Statewide 911 Board.
I had the pleasure of talking with Jeff about 911 telecommunicators and the challenges dispatchers face everyday.
There isn’t an easy answer to the origin of the black mourning band. The use of black clothing to show that the wearer is in mourning for the loss of a loved one, can be traced all the way back to ancient Rome, where the traditional white toga would be replaced with a black toga pulla. Over the centuries and in various cultures white and black have battled it out for dominance as the prevailing color for mourning however in the 14th century, Christian Churches had made the wearing of black at funerals a common custom. the 19th-century artist and professor F. Edward Hulme, explained the color black at funerals showed “the spiritual darkness of the soul unillumined by the Sun of righteousness.” By the 14th century, it was widely associated with death.
What arguably set the color black aside for funerals was its expense. To get the deep dark color of black required multiple rounds of dyeing. Black clothing simply cost more than other colors and funerals; specifically important funerals were theater in the day. It was an opportunity to show off, make a political statement, and impress your peers and commoners alike. As Katie Thornton of the Atlantic put it; Funerals were the red carpets of the early modern era.
The funeral of Queen Elizabeth the First in 1603 solidified black as the color of mourning. While black has become a more common color over the years and much less expensive it still has a historical connection with death and to this day is the most common color associated with mourning.
While the wealthy and political were trying to one-up each other in the black clothing department the military found itself with a conundrum. Early military uniforms were colorful. The bright clothing helped differentiate the fighters on the battlefield. It helped build cohesion and recognition on the smoke-filled landscape. Uniforms were at their most glorious during the Napoleonic era in Europe. Bright colors, gold buttons and ribbons, silver braids and polished leather. The uniforms were intended to display authority, power, status, and glamor.
They were everything but black.
To allow for proper mourning while still wearing the uniform of the day the black armband as adopted. By adding a black armband to the uniform, the wearer was able to convey the appropriate honor and respect for the deceased while still being gloriously appointed in the dress uniform of the day. The black armband was quickly adopted by anyone who had a specific uniform to wear during the funeral rights. We still see the black armband worn today by sports teams wishing to show their respect of a lost member or important person.
For law enforcement the practice of wearing a black armband quickly morphed into wearing a black band over the officer’s badge. Today it is common practice for law enforcement officers to wear a black band over the badge to pay respects to fellow officers who died in the line of duty.
Kathleen Dias isn’t a cop, but her husband was and the experiences he faced everyday as a rural police officer made her want to write about the issues faced by rural officers in America. She began studying, writing, and researching topics important to rural officers and speaking out against the Mayberry perceptions that most people have of the job. Not only does Kathleen write a column for police one dot com but she has also starting tracking rural officers who are assaulted and killed in the line of duty.
Having read her articles for years I was very happy to have an opportunity to talk to Kathleen about her championing the rural officer.
In this episode of Blue Canary, Kathleen and I talk about topics that impact rural officers a little differently than their counterparts in the urban areas. Things like officer safety, training, equipment, and de-escalation.
During my 3 years as the Administrative Captain, I hired 43 police officers. 43 in three years. That number becomes amazing when you realize that my department was only allowed 100 cops at maximum staffing. 43% turnover in 3 years.
Sadly, only in policing can you get away with that. If I were to address the board of directors for a company and told them that employee turnover was 43%, I probably wouldn’t have my job for very long. But in policing that’s not uncommon. If you add in corrections officers, you will see that number rise even higher.
The question we should be asking ourselves is why?
Why is turnover so high?
Why are officers leaving like crazy?
And, what can we do to stop it?
Administrations made that bad decision to ignore their employees and only focus on the applicants. But, it’s not too late to change that. It’s time that agencies realize that if I am retaining my proven employees, I don’t need to worry about hiring as many new ones.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/entire-minnesota-police-department-resigns-due-issues-pay-rcna100008
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/12/15/a-small-indiana-town-doesnt-have-a-police-force-because-all-its-officers-just-quit/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/29/us/north-carolina-police-resign-black-city-manager-reaj/index.html
https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2021-06-29/police-salaries-are-rising-in-departments-across-the-us
I will never forget some advice given to me by one of my FTOs. “Write it down. Write something down everyday and at then end of your career you’ll have a best-selling novel. You’ll never have to work again.”
Unfortunately, my rookie self wasn’t smart enough to take him up on his advice. I never wrote it down and because of that so many stories have slipped through the cracks.
Glenn Topping is someone who did write those things down and because of that he has gone on to write six novels. His first book “Look, a Quarter” details his journey from the military police to joining a Florida Sheriff’s department to finally retiring and becoming a novelist. Glenn has a unique perspective of law enforcement having being involved at so many levels and in so many specialties over his more than 30-year career. And on top of all that, he was on the first season of COPS.
In this episode we will look at the terms typically used to define the police, warriors and guardians. Where did these terms come from and why have they become so divisive within our profession. Warrior, Guardians, and Cops.
Officer involved shootings are some of the most difficult and important internal investigations you will ever be a part of. Making sure they are done properly at all levels is critically important to the officers involved, the agency, and the community.
To talk about this topic as well as other issues involving internal affairs, I had the pleasure of speaking with Marlon Marrache.
Marlon retired from the Los Angeles Police Department after 25 years of service. During his 15 years as a Sergeant, he successfully completed an assignment in Internal Affairs as an Associate Advocate conducting Board of Rights Hearings, as well as being assigned to the Officer Representation Section defending police officers.
Demotivation is simply a lack of interest and motivation at your work. It doesn’t seem like a big deal; I mean everyone gets a little demotivated at work. You slack off a little, spend some extra time at the water cooler or on a smoke break, and once the weekend kicks in you get a little rest and relaxation before you’re better next week.
That’s not what’s going on in policing. Demotivation is more than just a little frustration at the workplace. In policing it’s one of the things destroying are profession. Demotivation is a tool used by the anti-police movement to further their agenda and destroy policing as we know it in the United States. Today, moral and motivation in policing is clearly under attack and that attack is spearheaded by six issues.
ACAB
Hollywood
Politics
Work Environment
Job Expectations
And the destruction of the tribe.
Some of these things I have talked about before, but let’s take a few minutes and look at each one and see how together they are so destructive.
Today’s policing is more dangerous than ever. Staying sharp and following proper professional and tactical procedures is the key to staying alive and I couldn’t think of a better guest to talk to about this topic than Scott Savage.
Scott Savage began his career in public safety at age 19, first as an E.M.T and then as a licensed paramedic working in a busy emergency medical system. In 1999, he became a police officer with the Palo Alto Police Department in California where he worked assignments including Patrol, Narcotics, and SWAT. Scott has spent the last seven years with Palo Alto PD as a Sergeant, where I served as the Incident Commander for critical incidents and regularly supervised the police response to in-progress situations. After a great career with Palo Alto PD, he joined the Santa Clara Police Department (CA) as an Officer and continues to serve there today.
In 2019 Scott founded the Savage Training Group which provides high quality law enforcement training across the United States.
There are a lot of people, including those in our profession that don’t like to hear the phrase “War on Cops”. They feel it will promote the Us vs Them mentality and broaden the divide between the working police officer and the public they serve.
In 2014 Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown after Brown violently attacked him. That’s right, contrary to what you have heard from the media, social justice pundits and professional athletes the investigation, evidence and grand jury all agree that Darren Wilson was Michael Browns victim and that the shooting was in self-defense.
This incident sparked a year of national protest focusing on police and police brutality and the public attack against police and policing in America.
In 2016 Heather McDonald, a Thomas W. Smith Fellow of the Manhattan Institute and a conservative political commentator wrote The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe. In this book she coined the term Ferguson Effect and detailed that affect while looking at the history of anti-police movements and decarceration activism. This really jump-started the conversation on violence against police officers.
Police Academy is more than just a funny movie starring Steve Guttenberg from 1984. It is the basis for law enforcement across the United States and most of the world.
Police academies are training schools for recruit officers that provide the basic instruction on how to do job of a police officer. They include but are not limited to classes in firearms, physical control tactics, emergency driving, criminal law, arrest procedures, traffic stop procedures, medical skills, and emergency responses.
To get a look behind the challenges faced by police academies today I spoke with two experts in the field. Major Nick Luce of the Indiana University Police Department and Director of the Indiana University Police Academy and Lt. David Livingston the Director of the Mott Community College Law Enforcement Academy in Flint Michigan. Both had some interesting things to say regarding police academy training and how things have affected the programs over the years.
True Crime is a genre as old as Cain and Able. OK, maybe not that old, but it’s pretty close.
The True Crime genre is a non-fiction book, magazine, pulp, podcast, movie, or TV series that examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. Murder is the crime most focused on and Serial Killers make up 40% of the True Crime genre.
Today, True Crime is not only the most in demand type of documentary, but it also almost doubles the Science documentary which is number 2 on the list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(book)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_Beside_Me
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(1988_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost:_The_Child_Murders_at_Robin_Hood_Hills
A few months into my first year on the department I attended my first in-service training class with the agency. Interview and Interrogation taught by a guy named Stan Walters. I learned a lot from Stan.
Stan Walters has spent more than 40 years studying and researching the science of interview and interrogation. He is the author of Principles of Kinesic Interview and Interrogation, 2d, ed. and The Truth About Lying: How to Spot a Lie and Protect Yourself From Deception which has been published in 7 foreign languages. He has authored numerous interview and interrogation training guides, audio programs and videos including 145+ videos on his YouTube Channel.
Stan has regularly appeared on Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen. He has also appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, Fox & Friends, NBC, France Channel One and Australia Today. He has been profiled twice on National Geographic and was host and technical advisor on the National Geographic special “The Science of Interrogation.”
In this episode we have a great chat with Stan about the process and issues involved in training and interviews.
Dispatch is one of the most important parts of the emergency management system. They are the first ones to talk to the public, they answer questions, and send help where needed. It’s also the one we tend to forget about.
To help us understand more about Dispatch and what they do I talked with Adam Timm.
Adam Timm worked as a dispatcher for LAPD for 10 years before starting his own training company “The Healthy Dispatcher” He has gone on to provide international instruction for 911 operators as well as becoming a bestselling author, writing four books on Leadership, Stress, and 911 dispatching.
https://thehealthydispatcher.com/about-us/
I have worked with most of the federal agencies at one time or another and for the most part the individual agents were great. Dedicated professionals working hard to solve the cases. I always appreciated the resources they could bring to a case.
But the moment I had to deal with one of the “Guys in Charge” things tended to take a turn for the worst. The higher up the administrative ladder you went the ideas and goals of what you were all trying to accomplish would change very quickly.
The biggest problem is that the needs, desires, and decisions made in Washington DC do not necessarily coincide with the issues on the ground in Iowa. But that hasn’t stopped a historical push for a National Police Force and let me explain why that is NOT a good idea.
So, what is a national police force. A national police force is an organization run by the central government of a country with the purpose of providing police services such as enforcing the laws and ensuring health and safety to the people of that country. We’ve got King Louie the 14th to thank for that. In 1667 he created the first national police force in France. Since then, we have seen National Police Forces in many countries around the world. Today national police forces are common in places like France, Japan, Spain, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the Philippians, and dozens of other small countries. We also see variations on the National Police Model with Territorial Police in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Since it is so common it must be a good idea. And, when you take it at face value there does seem to be benefits from the concept. First, you get a force that is nationally funded. The deep pockets at the national level would far outweigh any small towns budgets so the national force should have all of the necessary resources. Secondly you get to control hiring and training. This way you could ensure that all of the officers are trained and ready to do their jobs. Lastly this central organization would be more efficient, and you wouldn’t have to worry about duplication of efforts. All in all, a good move, right?
Wrong?
At least for the U.S.
In this episode of Blue Canary we talk to Jason Harney, retired LVMPD Sergeant and documentary film maker about his upcoming documentary "Wrist Lock: The Martial Arts Influence on Police Use of Force." A documentary film featuring interviews with high level martial artists from around the country, who have also served their communities as Law Enforcement Officers, as well as experts in police training, wellness, & fitness.
http://lightningdigitalentertainment.com/wrist-lock.html
Wrist Lock will be released September 20th, 2022 to Amazon and other VOD platforms.
I thought we would have a little bit of fun this episode and break down the five best cop movies for you night owls. Back in the day you had to buy these on VHS, yes, I am that old, or DVD. But, today with streaming services you can probably find this without too much difficulty.
Before we get into the list here are a few caveats. First these are based on my personal opinion, just because I am right doesn’t mean some of you out there can’t be wrong. I am also not a professional reviewer so the things I am looking for might be very different from what you will find in any Rotten Tomatoes reviews. Finally, we have to recognize that we are reviewing Hollywood Movies.
Hollywood, you know that place that doesn’t particularly like cops and while it has made billions off our profession it never gets it right. Even in some of these movies I am going to talk about they don’t get it right. These just happen to be ones they get more right than others. And as far as political beliefs go, well let’s just say if I based my television viewing habits on political beliefs, I would start by throwing the TV out the window. Watch for fun and enjoyment.
Michael Brown retired as a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency after 32 years of service. His experience in the DEA not only involved interdiction and enforcement within the United States, but he spent a significant amount of time working in foreign countries attempting to stem the tide of drugs to the US. He is currently the Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Business Development Manager for Rigaku Analytical Devices.
We talked about a variety of issues around the war on drugs and his experiences working in the DEA.
On May 24th, 2022, a gunman entered the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde County Texas and murdered 19 children and 2 adult teachers.
The police stood by for over an hour while the active killer was on the loose in the school and did nothing.
That’s hard for me to believe.
But it’s true, and as we learn more about the police response or lack thereof, I personally become more disgusted.
That is not what police believe in. That is not what we do and that is not who we are. Unfortunately, we gotta own it.
Our profession failed that day.
It is the most egregious failure of law enforcement in the United States in my lifetime and arguable the worst failure of our profession in its history.
We must ensure that it never happens again.
What is an FTO?
Well, you should already know by now because you should have gone through an FTO program when you hired on the job. You mean you didn’t have an FTO program? You mean they just handed you the keys to the car, a map, and said call me if you have any problems?
Unfortunately, this is all too familiar.
Now what do we mean by Field Training Officer Program? It is simply an on-the-job training program that assists with the on-boarding and training of brand-new officers to the police department. It does this by having the new officers ride every day with a trained trainer called a Field Training Officer or FTO who teaches, mentors, trains, evaluates, councils, facilitates, and leads the new officer until they have proven they are capable of doing the job by themselves. The Field Training Program ensure that every new officer on the department has the skills and training necessary to do the job. Many people look at this as the first step in a police officer’s career, but the reality is it’s the last step in the selection process. There is no better way to ensure that someone can do the job then having them do the job.
Training, you are going to hear a lot about training in this season’s episodes. It’s the cornerstone of good police work and unfortunately, we don’t get it when we need it. There are lots of reasons why and we are going to explore those and other training topics on this episode with our interview of Lt. Jim Glennon.
Jim started with the Lombard Illinois Police Department in 1980 and held many positions at the department. In 1998 he became the first Commander of the Dupage County Major Crimes Task Force. He also holds a BA in Psychology and a master’s degree in Police management. He acquired Calibre Press in 2012 and today provides training through books, newsletters, seminars, online training, and in-person training.
Jim took the time to talk with me about the current state of training, the problems with training, and some insight into issues facing law enforcement today.
Training.
We have talked about it several times on this show. And we are going to talk more about it today. Police reform is a hot button topic today with legislatures all over the US passing law enforcement bills and police reform bills in an effort to improve the professionalism of policing.
But they are missing the mark.
The bills are focusing on specific topics like choke holds, which have been outlawed for decades, and de-escalation, which people struggle to define. Instead of specific topics we need to reform the overall training concepts found in police department across the country and get politicians and administrators focused on the real challenge, proper training.
This episode will focus on the challenges departments face when trying to train their officers and what we need to focus on to improve training for police across the US. We will also hear from Chief Ed Gebhart with the Fishers Police Department in Fishers Indiana and Major Nick Luce with the Indiana University Police Department.
Season Three is almost here.
The Blue Canary Podcast team has been hard at work creating new episodes for all of our subscribers and casual listeners.
In just two short weeks we will start dropping brand new episodes.
And we have some great interviews for you.
Here are a few teasers for what’s coming on this season of Blue Canary.
If you are finding us for the first time, check out our episodes from Season 1 and Season 2 and make sure you like, share and subscribe.
In this final episode of season two, I sit down and have some coffee with Matt Molter the owner of Agency360 and sponsor of Blue Canary to talk about the state of law enforcement and what the future might bring.
https://www.agency360.com/
In this episode of Blue Canary we will discuss the FBI LEOKA project and the issues regarding officers killed in the line of duty.
What's the spookiest thing you've ever had to deal with? This is one of those questions that can catch you off guard. Sometimes it will take you a few minutes to come up with an answer, but if you've been in this job for more than a minute you have had something weird, creepy, scary or spooky happen to you. It makes for a perfect true Halloween story.
This years true creepy story comes to us from a Sheriff's Deputy who had a real life encounter with something very strange a spooky. Thanks Deputy Dave for sharing.
Throughout most of the United States police salaries are pretty low. That means cops have to figure out ways to make ends meet through side jobs. Some cops are landscapers on the side, some are locksmiths, some work as much overtime as they can get. Robert Garland really did something special when he founded "Fund the First" are crowdsourcing platform for first responders and veterans.
https://fundthefirst.com/
In this episode of Blue Canary we talk to Robert Garland about how he got into law enforcement and his side job as founder of Fund the First.
All the small things we tend to take for granted. People look at the uniforms police wear and just assume that the department purchased everything for them. Uniform shirts and pants, gun belt, handcuffs, gun, magazines, ammunition, radio, badge, the list goes on and on. All those small things add up.
In this episode of Blue Canary we are going to look at all of the little things that add up to big things and how many officers around the country have to buy their own equipment out of pocket.
On this episode of Blue Canary we speak to Jim Bontrager, Chaplain and President-Elect of the International Conference of Police Chaplains about the role of police chaplains and their affect on officers and agencies.
Jim Bontrager is the Senior Chaplain with the Elkhart, IN Police Department and founder of Warrior on the Wall Ministries. Jim speaks at Law Enforcement conferences, retreats and conducts LE/ Chaplain training around the country. He holds his Master Chaplain credentials with the International Conference of Police Chaplains (ICPC) and serves as their Indiana State Representative. He is a certified law enforcement instructor with the State of Indiana and the ICPC, and serves full-time as Senior Chaplain with the Elkhart (IN) Police Department. Jim serves as a national board member with the Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers USA and spearheads a 24+ year national outreach to strengthen law enforcement families.
He is the 2012 recipient of the Wilbert A. Cunningham Award for excellence in law enforcement chaplaincy (IN) and a 2013 recipient of an Excellence in Leadership Award from Pointman Leadership Institute. He's the the 2016 recipient of the Richard S. Kassel Award and was appointed a Sagamore of the Wabash by Indiana Governor Mike Pence in 2015.
http://www.warrioronthewall.org/home.html
https://www.thecorneliusproject.com/
http://www.icpc4cops.org/
“What the hell do I do with these Millennials?”
That has to be one of the most common questions I get in my classes. Trainers and supervisors across the country are struggling to relate and deal with the millennial police officer. Well, I’ve got bad news for you. The millennials have been here for awhile and they’re not going away.
Generational Studies have been one of the go-to area of social science for a while now. With terms like the Lost Generation, The Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials we have been inundated with studies and research defining people based solely on when they were born.
Many supervisors and leaders in law enforcement have been in the profession for a bit. Some of your higher-ranking officers will find themselves in their 40s and are struggling to engage with the brand new 21-year-old officer. Having heard the terms bandied about they think that any officer younger than them must be a millennial. But let’s get our definitions right before we dig into behavior.
George Floyd should not have died in police custody. The actions taken by Derek Chauvin were reprehensible and universally condemned by law enforcement. George Floyd was a victim of police misconduct. But he was not a hero.
In this episode we will discuss the Robin Hood Effect, where criminals are labeled heroes. From the 1300's to today society has a penchant for proclaiming the good guy bad, and the bad guy good. It's not new, or even unusual, but we need to understand it and the severe problems it can cause.
The Robin Hood Effect is when people start viewing those who act out against society as the heroes and those who traditionally protect society as the villains. There are several common factors we have seen in this phenomenon.
The Outlaw is typically seen as a victim of injustice from the government.
The Outlaw is seen as a common harmless person of good intent.
The Outlaw is sacrificing his life for a political stance.
These outlaws turned heroes become very important to political, social, or economic causes and their “fight” is generally taken up by others.
In this episode of Blue Canary we speak to jail expert Jeff Carter about the challenges of housing mentally ill prisoners.
Jeff retired December 2018 as the Deputy Director of the Fayette County Detention Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Over his 20-year career, he has worked all levels of custody inside a 1,300-bed correctional facility located in the horse racing capitol of the world. Jeff was an instructor for 5 years inside the academy, where he trained over 700 recruits, molding them into successful leaders in the Corrections field. He has trained and commanded the CERT team, as well as taught Drill and Ceremony to the Division Honor guard. While promoting through the ranks, he commanded the Professional Standards Unit where he specialized in Internal Affairs investigations and Gang Intel for 7 years. Jeff completed over 200 administrative investigations, as well as, conducted over 100 PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) investigations. He is well versed in PREA and is a PREA Investigator Instructor. Jeff has completed the top Leadership Academies at the National Institute of Corrections in Aurora, Colorado. He brings experience from proudly serving 4 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, followed by obtaining his BS degree in Corrections and Juvenile Services/Political Science from Eastern Kentucky University, through his career as a Corrections Leader. Jeff was a Certified Deputy Coroner within the Commonwealth of Kentucky for 8 years. He presents jail training throughout the country and serves as an Expert Witness around the United States, focusing on jail litigation.
"Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine." That quote by Lord Byron explains why cops love comedy. We love to laugh, and to play pranks, sometimes at the most inappropriate times. Mostly because it helps us heal. Vinnie Montez comes on this episode of Blue Canary to discuss his journey into comedy and why we should all take a few minutes everyday and laugh.
You can find information about Vinnie and where he will be performing at his website, https://www.vinniemontez.com/ also following him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/vinniemontezcomedy
Police officers are frequently described as "Highly Trained", but that couldn't be further from the truth. Police are often expected to handle extremely confusing, difficult, and dangerous situations with little or no training. The true miracle is that the police manage to get it right a vast majority of the time.
In this episode of Blue Canary we are going to take a look at police training. How much they get, and why even that is not enough. We will also discuss the problems agencies have the providing the necessary training to their officers and how they might be able to overcome these training deficiencies.
Show Notes for The Myth of the Highly Trained Police Officer
https://www.foxnews.com/media/jocko-willink-why-police-officers-need-far-more-training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL5RzI5LyVc&t=4s
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/slleta13.pdf
https://ij.org/report/license-work-2/ltw-occupation-profiles/ltw2-barber/
https://tucson.com/law-enforcement-training-hours-by-state/table_6d1fa6d6-c3db-11e6-a719-df90e359ec68.html
https://www.in.gov/ilea/2330.htm
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.156
https://www.isomitigation.com/ppc/fsrs/
In the season two premier of Blue Canary, Steve Kellams interviews a police applicant and gets an idea of what the next generation of police officer candidates are looking for in a career.
They talk about everything from reasons to becoming a police officer to the current defund the police movements and how these things affect the applicants thought process.
Are you interested in what the next generation is looking for from a department?
Curious if any of your potential police hires have attended anti-police rallies?
Want to know how prevalent drug usage is with the new police candidates?
This episode answers those questions and more.
It’s the 21st century, so why is technology in law enforcement practically stuck in the Dark Ages? Even if departments are starting to adopt new technologies, the mindset behind it is often just a digitized version of an analog process, with no automation or innovation to make the job more efficient. If cops are going to do their jobs and serve their communities better, they need tech solutions designed for that purpose.
In this episode, Steve Kellams is joined by former cop and current programmer and friend of Blue Canary, Matt Molter, Founder and President of Agency360. Together, they break down their experiences with technology on the job and how the future of tech in law enforcement needs to evolve.
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
Agency360: https://agency360.com
As officers, we love our families, and they’re a big part of why we do the job. Yet, we often forget how our profession impacts the lives of our family members. We go to great lengths to help cops cope with the long hours and high-stress environment, but how do the spouses manage?
In this episode, Steve Kellams is joined by three cop wives who have agreed to discuss their experiences anonymously. They vulnerably share how the job’s stresses affect them and their children.
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
Agency360: https://agency360.com
In this bonus episode, Steve Kellams is joined by Stephanie Samuels to discuss CopLine, a national hotline for police officers. CopLine is a completely confidential resource staffed with vetted and trained retired police officers. If you’re a law enforcement officer looking for someone to talk to about the pressures of the job, visit https://www.copline.org/ or call 1-800-COPLINE.
Resources Discussed:
- CopLine: https://www.copline.org/
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
Agency360: https://agency360.com
We spend a lot of time training officers on how to handle “things”–the concrete skills needed to do the job every day: physical tactics, firearms use, traffic stops, and domestic violence response.
What we don’t do well is prepare them for the mental and emotional impact a career in law enforcement brings.
In this episode, Steve Kellams is joined by Stephanie Samuels, a psychotherapist and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder expert focused on issues in law enforcement, and Shaun Tieman, a former cop turned CrossFit expert and advocate. They break down the mental challenges facing officers and how they’re combating mental illness and supporting those on the front lines.
Resources Discussed:
- Copline: https://www.copline.org/
- Hoosier CrossFit: https://hoosierathleticclub.com/
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
Agency360: https://agency360.com
The decentralized and local-based policing across the United States has its advantages. Yet, it means each community has a different type of police force with varying focuses.
Why the differences across departments?
Politics. And politics is the dirtiest word in policing.
In this episode, Steve Kellams breaks down why, and how front-line patrol officers receive backlash for the policies they are ordered to enforce.
Resources Discussed:
- https://video.foxnews.com/v/6151671000001#sp=show-clips
- https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=3243941932496834&ref=watch_permalink
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX51VkEn24M
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
Agency360: https://agency360.com
Police reform is all over the news, yet, no one discusses what happens once the offending officers are identified. This episode will give you an inside look into the internal affairs investigation process with guest Lou Reiter.
Lou was a member of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1961 to 1981, when he retired as Deputy Chief of Police. During his twenty-year career, he served as a uniformed officer, an instructor, and an Internal Affairs Officer. He’s since become a sought-after expert with published works on police reform issues ranging from complaints of misconduct to discipline.
As you’ll hear in this conversation, the call for police reform is nothing new, and this episode digs into the reasons it periodically resurfaces. Listen as Lou shares what may be different this time around.
Resources Discussed:
- Broken Badges: Cases from Police Internal Affairs Files by Lou Reiter
- Shattered Badges: More Cases from Police Internal Affairs Files by Lou Reiter
- Where Is Law Enforcement Heading These Days? by Lou Reiter
- Police Union vs. Police Administration by Lou Reiter
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
- Agency360:https://agency360.com
It was a cool autumn night when the call went out. A woman called 911 claiming her ex-husband was trying to kill her. In this bonus episode, find out what happened when Steve and his partner arrived on the scene.
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:Agency360: https://agency360.com
When you work on the police force in a small city with nearly 50,000 university students, you get a lot of experience with civil disorder. As we’ve seen this year, this disorder can often turn into a riot.
In this episode, host Steve Kellams shares his experiences dealing with riots on the Indiana University campus and the lessons he’s learned along the way. He’ll examine the different types of riots, break down the various elements present in each one, and discuss the impact of police response to a volatile situation.
Resources Discussed:
- https://www.cnn.com/2000/US/09/11/knight.protest/
- https://bluelivesmatter.blue/oregon-sheriffs-refuse-to-comply-with-governors-call-to-send-deputies-to-portland/
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KtkjF-9UMqWN-S4YPF1QMAgGXGtjizAn/view
- https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/24/portlands-protests-three-months-in-no-end-in-sight/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_riots
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
- Agency360: https://agency360.com
As you watch what’s happening in the news, do you ever wonder how we got here? As a society? As an industry?
Joining this episode is Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a US Army Ranger, paratrooper, and former West Point Psychology Professor. Since retiring from the military in 1998, he travels the country as one of the leading trainers for military, law enforcement, mental health providers, and school safety organizations.
On this episode, Dave joins host Steve Kellams to answer these questions and offers encouragement to the men and women putting on a police uniform every day.
Resources Discussed:
- https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=7
- https://reason.com/2019/06/25/u-s-cops-are-facing-a-recruitment-crisis-will-it-force-them-to-change-their-ways/
- https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2218&context=masters-theses
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/arts/television/protests-fictional-cops.html
The need for good police officers is higher than ever. Yet, recruiting is down 85% across the country. In this episode, Steve digs into the contributing factors while sharing creative ways to encourage a new generation of applicants.
Resources Discussed:
- https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=7
- https://reason.com/2019/06/25/u-s-cops-are-facing-a-recruitment-crisis-will-it-force-them-to-change-their-ways/
- https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2218&context=masters-theses
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/arts/television/protests-fictional-cops.html
On April 11, 1986 in Miami, Florida a FBI Unit 55 is sitting across from a bank on South Dixie Highway, FBI agents Jake Hanlon and Ed Mireles are drinking coffee and shooting the breeze. Nothing different from hundreds of other stakeouts. “Attention All Units!” breaks out over the radio. The ensuing gunfight between 8 FBI agents and 2 heavily armed and military trained robbery suspects would dramatically change, not only the FBI, but all of law enforcement.
Ed Mireles joins the show to share his story from this historical date.
Resources Discussed:
- Mireles, Edmundo and Elizabeth, FBI Miami Firefight: Five Minutes that Changed the Bureau, Edmundo Mireles, 2018
- Guinn, Jeff, Going Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, Simon and Schuster, 2009
- https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/patty-hearst
- https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-north-hollywood-shootout-revisited-20170223-htmlstory.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/09/us/dallas-police-shooting.html
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
- Agency360: https://agency360.com/
When reform needs to happen, often, those in law enforcement aren't given seats at the table. It can feel like the experience and expertise we have accumulated are disregarded. Why is that? In this episode, we explore all the reasons and how the understanding of what profession means can make an impact.
As a professional in law enforcement, it's clear that change is taking place. While reform needs to happen, the question is, who should be leading this charge? Find out on Blue Canary while gaining a deeper appreciation of how law enforcement should be defined to enable us to make real change happen.
Resources Discussed:
- 300, Dir. Zack Snyder, Legendary Pictures, 2006
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profession
- Potter, Gary, The History of Policing in the United States, Part 1
- Walker, Samuel, The Police in America: An Introduction, New York, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.
- Zacks, Richard, Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, Anchor, 2012
- Grann, David, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, Vintage, Random House LLC, 2017
- Guinn, Jeff, Going Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, Simon and Schuster, 2009
This Episode Brought to Law Enforcers By:
- Agency360: https://agency360.com/
Who approaches the scene first risking their lives for the safety of others? We do. The blue canaries, law enforcement. And we allow others to tell our stories. Why?
When it comes to being in law Enforcement in whatever capacity that entails there are pressures all around. It can be administration, media, civilians, or the traditional hostility that comes from having to enforce the laws. It’s a myriad of factors. As cops, we start to build up armor to protect ourselves. Once that armor is built, we don’t want to let it go.
How do I know? I’m retired, Captain Steven Kellams. Now as a nationally recognized trainer, I hear your stories and this show is about sharing them.
This Episode Brought to You By:Agency360: https://agency360.com/