WTBL - Walking the Blue Line

WTBL (00:11)
Hey there, we're back again. We're interviewing our daughter, Dallace and her husband, Drew. they've both been with the Sheriff's Office for

at least a year. And how long for you, Drew? A little under? Yeah. Almost a year. Almost a year. So compared to when you very first got hired to now, do you guys have any?

feelings. How do you feel? In some ways I would say I feel more relaxed, but in other ways I feel more stressed out. It's weird because I can't like pinpoint.

Right?

What about you, Drew? What do you think now? I feel pretty relaxed. I'm having a pretty good time. I'm having quite a bit of fun. I felt like when I was in the academy, everything felt like a tryout day. And now that I've kind of figured a lot of things out, just, I'm just out there having fun. It's basically the end of that one. Lyle

you said you felt like you had a calling. Did either one of you have those feelings? I feel like I did. When I decided to get my bachelor's degree in criminal justice, I felt like I had a calling to it where I wanted to get into investigating things and really like diving deep into like helping true victims and everything like that. Yeah, I can understand that. What about you, Drew?

I kind of just out of nowhere did this in my opinion. Did it have anything to do with your fiance? Yes, it definitely did. It definitely did. Obviously Lyle and Dallace wanting to do this. I kind of just winged it. It like, you know what? That sounds actually fun because I feel like I can't sit still and I feel like this is the one job that I don't have to sit still. Well, that's true. You're kind of driving around all night, huh? Yeah. So everything's new and

Can't sit. Yeah, I can't sit still at all. So most of the jobs that I do and I don't really you know, this was the one thing to do and Yeah, anyways, yeah, this was the one job where I felt like I don't have to sit still for and I've had a lot of fun with it so well so in a way you kind of just Fell into it, but almost like a calling

No, not really. Yeah, yeah. was kind of until I started doing it, then I fell into like really liking it. You know, at first I was didn't know what really the job entailed until I started getting into it.

what Dallace told me though was when you guys first started dating, you kind of had a poor opinion of the police. I think I heard that in one of your stories too. So how did your...

view change or what caused it to change? I started off with kind of a bad experience, with police and stuff. And in my opinion, I was a lot like with everyone else where it was like they're fun ruiners and they're just uptight and everything is kind of where I was thinking about it at first. And then obviously overall I started to realize like the good that they do and

I was naive to a lot of things where I wouldn't understand. like, I don't know, for example, explaining things to even like my parents, like in the last podcast where they openly said they don't understand why cops do certain things, certain situations and stuff. And that was how I was is I'd be like, why did they shoot them this many times or why did they do this? Why didn't they do that? And then it was kind of like actually doing it opened my eyes to things and

I feel like when I'm curious about something, I want to do it. And so I had an opinion about it. I figured if I have all this curiosity and it's such a talked about subject, I feel like anytime you throw cops into the mix, it's pretty important to know. I always, I feel like the best way to learn is to actually do it. And I felt like we were always talking about what police were doing, why they were doing certain things. And so me actually doing it, I learned quite a bit and I got rid of a lot of the naive.

thoughts I would go through my head. My opinion really changed obviously because Dallace, you, Lyle, I feel like you guys taught me quite a bit prior to me even signing up where it was like, makes sense. I just had to see it from a perspective from somebody who has experience. That was kind of the way I was thinking about it. Dallace, you started out actually working in the jail. ⁓

How's the comparison of having the experience of that versus being out on the street? I would say they are very similar jobs. just, I mean, they definitely have their differences. Like both jobs, I would say you're under pressure and

You have to have like a certain personality type, I guess, to do both jobs. ⁓ I started with the jail because I felt like I needed some experience in the people that I was gonna be working with. Like, I felt like I hadn't really gotten into any fights, you know, like growing up, I did boxing, I...

you know, obviously as like a younger kid in elementary school, I did have my share of fights, but, I wanted a little more experience with that. And I thought that starting at the jail, I would have more backup or I would have, more help with that kind of thing. So I thought it would be safer to start in the jail. ⁓ so I would say that the jail for me so far anyways, it was more,

close contact and so you had to learn how to talk to people. You had to learn how to deescalate people. You had to be close with them. There was no shielding yourself. There was no like, you know, I would have expected to have more backup, but when you really think about it, if you're on a floor, I mean, you're like 40 to one and you do have backup, but you have maybe like nine officers that are going to come help you out. So talking to people is super important.

And I feel like I learned how to apply that to this job because now when I'm talking to one specific person, it's a lot easier for me to deescalate them or to focus on just them because I don't have to necessarily focus on like a bunch of other inmates at the same time or what those other inmates are thinking because they're not there. So, think I remember you telling me a story when you were working at the jail where a girl came in and a couple

ladies were like not deescalating her. I remember you saying you're getting mad. You're like, if you would just baby her a little bit, we'll get through this a lot quicker. Yeah, there's like different personality types at the jail and you also have those on the road. mean, cause you know, not everybody has the same patience level. And so sometimes when you're at the jail, you have a crew that...

is they have a lot of patience and they want to get everybody through that way they can go upstairs and they don't have to deal with them but then every now and then you get the crew that likes to have maybe a little bit more fun and has less patience and is more willing to not baby people and see what happens which I mean you get that on the road too where some people have less patience than others and are more willing to challenge people rather than

talk them down and deescalate them.

You can't let people walk all over you, but at the same time you don't want to be so aggressive that you're just getting into fights with everyone that you talk to. There has to be like a happy medium. I feel like the jail kind of helped me like set that baseline of de-escalating people, but then also being strict with people.

to the point where if it got physical, I was ready for that. When Drew, you like to talk a lot to people. So I think you're pretty good at that too. Or you have more fun with it. Maybe. Yeah. I like interacting with people and yeah, I just grew up talking with people. I'm very talkative.

Some of the naiveness thinking and prior to this is somewhat true with some people in certain departments where they're super strict, upfront, abrupt, my personality is I just try to have a good time regardless of the situation. So I try to talk with people in certain ways where at the end of the day, I try to have fun with everything. So in my opinion, that's my way of deescalating cause I humanize myself as much as possible in front of people. Now, obviously, yeah, I can get.

mad at certain times, but in my opinion, I just think it speaks more to people when you talk as a person that's outside of, you know, the bulletproof vest you're wearing or the gun you have on your hip. So I think personally, I've never been in any of your jobs. So, but I know I've been pulled over once or twice. I definitely prefer a cop that approaches you as like a person and not just

You screwed up, you know, I, it's helping. Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. I mean, that's why, like the bad experience I had, I know sometimes you just, there's nothing you can do to make someone have a positive opinion about yourself, regardless of how you present yourself. But I tried to not give that bad experience to other people because I experienced that way.

I'll just explain that situation guy didn't announce who he was it was late at night I locked my car kind of far away it made a noise some guy snuck up behind me when it was pretty dark out and shine the light right in my eyes and I thought I was about to get robbed and I told him to put the flashlight down because I was expecting someone to rob me because he asked if that was my car and I was like

Why do you want to know? And it was a cop trying to just figure out what's going on. And then he started yelling at me. And then when his flashlight finally went down, I realized he was a, a deputy and I was like, ⁓ gosh, I was being disrespectful, but I also didn't realize that he was a cop. thought it was some, some dude who was trying to steal my keys to my car. And so that was a bad experience that I of developed opinion. And then now I'm like, no, well, I don't want to present myself that way. I'm.

pretty open honest about who I am when I first meet people and my attitude towards the situation that's going on. ⁓ Staying calm too, instead of being too abrupt, I think goes a long way with people.

the interview with your parents, they made it appear that you were a little hesitant to let them know that you were going to become a

what was the feeling there? Yeah, I guess, I mean, I'll be honest, my communication was just pretty poor. I mean, I felt like I was telling them, but after listening to them on the previous podcast, I guess I really didn't tell them anything. it seemed like upset about it. But I thought I honestly, I thought I was like,

explaining to them like, yeah, this is happening. I nonchalant. I didn't treat it as that big of a deal. And that's why I think they were like, you're not telling us everything. Cause to them, it was a big deal to become a cop. Well, to me, I was just like, yeah, I'm in the process. Like, yeah, I'm getting interviewed on this day. Yeah. I my medical exam. Yeah. I have my polygraph. Like I wasn't stressed I was kind of worried about it when I was thinking about it, but I wasn't really stressed about it. And I didn't think it was that big of a deal.

So I guess I didn't present it to them as a big deal where they probably thought it was a big deal. So I could understand where they were coming from though, because like why is my son doing this without telling us anything? Whereas I'd probably be like, yeah, my polygraph's next week. And they're just like, what the heck is going on? And so I think that's why they were probably thinking I wasn't telling them anything, because of how relaxed I was about it.

Well, I have to say that I wasn't overly crazy when Dallace was like, ⁓ yeah, by the way, I want to be a cop. I'm like, no, you don't. The one thing I thought was interesting is drew your mom mentioned how good of communication the academy stayed in and how they led you through the entire process. And they, they really helped out and we're sitting there both thinking.

We never heard any of that from Dallace. didn't communicate any of that to us. We didn't get a book. Yeah. Oh, I did get a book during the corrections academy, which I was like.

They don't need that. It emotional survival for law enforcement, but since I was in the Corrections Academy, I was like, wow, we're not technically law enforcement. But then I went to the law enforcement academy and they tried to give me the same book. And I was like, well, I already have this book, so I just didn't take it. And still never gave it to us. I never gave it to you. Well, I was like, eh, dad was in law enforcement. They know what's going on. They know all about this. They already know what to expect. I don't know if this will be usable.

But I think the reason for what she was talking about was my previous department that I worked at before I started at the Academy did a pretty good job with, they basically told friends and family to come to a meeting and they laid out a schedule with papers, a book to hand out to everyone and just explained what's going to happen, what it's going to look like, what are the next few years.

I thought that was pretty good. I think it looked good on the department showing like we understand these things. How is it going to change this person? How is it going to, you know what I mean? And so I think that department did a pretty good job with that prior to me going into the academy. And I think that's what that was referring. Cause I remember that meeting where they just laid it all out what to expect, what to do, what to just really good in my opinion for that incorporating the family tone.

And so I think that's what she was referring to. I didn't go through the academy with the sheriff's office, so I didn't really know what the difference is with that. But I think that meeting was pretty beneficial to families and stuff to just sit down and- to families that aren't used to what we were- Yeah. Exactly. I think that's always good to do. Just explain what are the next-

weeks gonna look like, what is the next year gonna look like, what are the next two years gonna look like, because I believe I heard my mom talking like this job's gonna change my personality and all that and so far I haven't really noticed any change.

my ways of thinking have changed just because of dangers and stuff, like things that I wouldn't typically find threatening or dangerous or, a simple noise while I'm sleeping could alert me more than I feel like before.

dog barking or anything like that, feel like I'm definitely a little more worried, but it still hasn't changed the way I interact with people or speak or do anything else. But yeah, no, I remember her being worried about that and she did express that to me. My mom was like thinking I was going to lose my good attitude on everything. And so far I haven't, in my opinion, asking even my wife, I don't, I don't see me really in that.

I remember being new in the first year or so. I was just so thankful to have a job and I was happy about everything. And,

I don't think that, dealing with the citizens ever changed my attitude. If anything, sometimes it was the laws, the policies that changed that kind of, saw other officers become disgruntled and.

disenfranchised with the things they're doing. That's a good point. Actually, that was a good discussion. was kind of, I want to know your opinion about how I felt like maybe back in the day, and this is just an opinion I'm wondering, I felt like back in the day, cops were more respected by the public and going into it, you had maybe a sense of respect.

I've noticed everyone that I was in the academy with, all the new hires are going into this job thinking they're going to be hated regardless. And I wonder if that's kind of a good thing because now they're just expecting the public to hate them and yet they're still doing this job anyways. Whereas I wonder if back then people were like, well, I'm to be respected and now they're not respected. And maybe that was like a change of perspective to them now. I just don't know. I was wondering if maybe that made a difference with new policing, with maybe people thinking they're not as mad at the public.

I think that if you looked at it, ⁓ it's probably more of a society study type question that, you know, we won't really know the answer to for a lot of years down the road because I can see the problem with if you go into a job thinking that you're going to be hated right from the get go, then how compassionate are you going to be towards those people that hate you? know, ⁓ versus if you go in like I did, which was

They respect me and ⁓ I'm here to help and those kind of things. ⁓ I really wanted to live up to those expectations of the public that, this guy that I'm calling is gonna be here to help me and he's gonna do a good job and those kind of things. So to my way of thinking, I think it was probably better back then than to have that kind of attitude that, ⁓ everybody, for the most part,

sees that I'm trying to do something good. so to some degree I got out at what I thought was a good time because I see it that way too. I will say I've been slightly surprised by the amount of people a day will tell me that

they're grateful for what I do or that they're, you know, they were give respects or like the amount of people that say thank you for your service to me. Because when I went into this job, I was expecting everyone to hate me. I mean, even when I'm in my patrol car wearing uniform and I pull up to, you know, like a food place because I want to bring dinner home or if I forgot to bring my lunch and I go to get lunch like.

I'm sitting there worrying about someone's gonna spit in my food or, you know, like, I worry about those kinds of things and it has kind of come to a shock to me the amount of people that have been like, thank you for what you're doing. Because, I mean, when I was at the jail, I obviously didn't get that at all. Even if I was, you know, taking somebody to the hospital, it seemed like the hospital employees didn't even like me. I mean, they were more likely to cater to...

the inmates and tell me that I needed to respect their privacy and you know, they didn't like me there. And so, I mean, being a deputy and like going out in the public and having multiple people come up to me and say like, thank you, and actually showing like a little bit of respect to me, that comes as a shock. Cause I was not expecting that at all.

Yeah. I think that it depends on what part of the country you live in. ⁓ to some degree, I think I wouldn't want to be an officer in Portland, Oregon right now.

⁓ I wouldn't, there's a number of places where it just seems like things are falling apart. when you look historically, even comparing yourself to like the military, mean, there were a lot of military vets that came back from Vietnam and people were spitting on them, you know, calling them baby killers and all of that kind of stuff. And they had no respect for the military. And yet today, even with the things that are going on there, I mean, I'm a

retired military and it seems like everybody celebrates the vets and is willing to help out. Well, they'll say that to you in stores. Like, you'll show your ID and they're like, thank you for your service. It's kind of like you guys. I do think there's a bit of a pendulum swing there where some years it'll go more liberal and more conservative and it kind of goes back and forth, but it is nice to see.

it be a little bit better than it was a few years ago. But even today, just before we hopped on this recording, I was reading a thread on Facebook from a nearby town and this individual was saying, is there corruption within the department? And ⁓ he was asking about one or two instances of some events that happened. And I don't want to go into that department's ⁓ what was going on, but

What was surprising was the majority of people that answered that threat were all very supportive of their local law enforcement and said, you know, that's nice. Yeah, it was kind of like ⁓ someone had questioned. Well, why is six cops showing up to a traffic stop? Isn't that a form of corruption? They're just wasting money and stuff. And a number of people jumped on there and said, well, you have no idea how they operate. Obviously, maybe you should go on a ride along. I mean, there were all kinds of people saying good things.

to support the law enforcement. I do think that right alongs are a good thing because before I went out, I didn't have any idea what the job really entailed. So going out and watching what you did was kind of eye opening. Even just traffic stops. And I would say like, here, you know, you hear that a lot where you'll show up to a call and you'll have three or four buddies show up with you. And the people that are there are like,

I can't believe there's so many of you showing up to this call. And in a way, they take it as an insult. They think that, like, you know, we're all showing up there to gang up on them or something, but it's, you know, in reality, we're having multiple people come for their safety because we don't have to do things as dramatically or as quickly if there's more resources, there's more people there. And I feel like that's a hard thing for a lot of people to understand is...

You can be a lot more comfortable when you have five other people there to help you with something. You can move a lot slower and you can have a lot more resources versus if there's one of you there and something goes wrong, you have to be way more dramatic in how you respond. Well, it's like if you compare it to a regular job, there aren't very many, there are some, but there's not very many jobs where you go in and you're basically alone and...

You know, you usually have somebody there that you can ask for help or an office full of people or a store full of people. It's a little bit different when you're in your car. And I've been in those situations where when you are there by yourself and you have to fight someone one-on-one, I mean, I've been in fights where it's taken five or six officers to restrain one guy.

⁓ our defense instructors, we put it, I live by it as everyone's a

black belt in defending themselves because it's easy to just restrain your hands, throw random punches, but to like to control someone by using the least amount of force as possible because obviously you can't just start throwing haymakers on someone who's just pulling their arms away. It's easier for them to just restrain their muscles to themselves. So it's so much easier to defend yourself than it is to...

use the least amount of force to restrain someone So I do think when he said that, it put in perspective to me of anybody, even someone you could think is way smaller than you could just easily defend themselves. And it takes one good hit to the chin and that can be lights out for you. So more officers is always a good thing. So, is there anything about your job?

that excites you, makes you look forward to going to work the next shift.

The boys. The boys. The camaraderie. The relationships I've developed. And before when I mentioned, you know, I went in this job thinking people would hate me and stuff. Obviously the community has changed that, but I will admit I did think that. I'll just get that clear though that the community now has impressed me. Yes, obviously there are people out there that...

openly expressed to me how much they hate me just from the uniform I'm wearing, of course. But the community that we live in and that we work in has definitely impressed me with that. yeah, the camaraderie with my team and stuff, that makes me want to go to work more. Especially that. I think when you're friends with your team and you have a good time and everyone kind of has a similar attitude to you, I think that just makes the job.

a hundred times more fun. could not imagine doing this job if it wasn't for the vibe, if you will, of the department that we have. I think if it was all toxic, I would hate this job. Yeah. What about you, Dallace? I think it is fun to like figure things out and a lot of the job is a big mind game.

It's like a mind game of how you're gonna talk to certain people, cuz you're meeting different personalities every day and every single call that you go to, you're dealing with different people and you have to figure out the way that they think or the way that, you know, they think of you just to even have a conversation with them and like you have to play all these games to bring them down. mean, Drew has multiple stories of his little mind games that he's played with people to place them under arrest.

Oh, that's funny. don't even know about this. Without without them knowing about it until he's actually placing them in cuffs. I love it. It's so much fun. just, I feel like the more you do this job and you, the more experience I've developed, like, like, I like to mess with people in a ways and I kind of treat it as like a puzzle the way I think about it. Like with

the new laws, new policies, the things that were prevented to do. I think it's fun to see what works, what doesn't. Sometimes it doesn't work with everyone. An example, like this guy who just strangled someone. ⁓ He was refusing to come out from a fence, but he said he was scratched in the front doorway of the house. And I was like, ⁓ well, you play these little tricks to get them to like, you

come out to speak with you and I find it so much fun when it works out. For that one, I believe he said he was scratched in the front doorway. I told him I was gonna leave, but can you at least show me where you were scratched? And he was kind of back and forth and then finally he was like, well, if it's just in the doorway and you're gonna leave, yeah. And then he came out and I was able to arrest him instead of turning into a huge search warrant problem. And those situations make the job also fun. I think that's cool, like solving the puzzles of the way people are thinking.

Yes, it's deceptive, but also these are criminals in a ways. You gotta keep that in mind. Like, it sounds wrong for me to, you know, do those mind games on people, but, you know, at the end of the day, this dude, you know, committed a crime, so what's the easiest, safest way? And I feel like those mind games just solve things so much faster than it turning into something that's more dangerous, because obviously people don't comply with us. I...

flat out told this guy, hey, you're under arrest, but I can't go grab him or a, hey, this is what's happening then. And he goes and barricades himself. Sometimes that turns into a whole ordeal. Whereas me playing mind games, I think just is a quick solve for situations. You had a funny story you were telling about how you got this guy to actually get in cuffs. Like you were like, Oh, hey, can you do this? And Hey, can you do that?

Yes, I watched a video of somebody who had a DUI where he, and I mimicked it and I was actually very impressed that the person did it where I was like, all right, for this last test, he, was a PCS charge. So this person had fentanyl on him and I said, for this last test, you have to, you know, extend your arms out slowly, bring them behind your back. And he was listening to me. And then that's when I put them in cuffs because his hands were already behind his back. And I told him he was under arrest.

He wasn't too happy with that one. admit that. yeah, after watching that video, just watching other officers do it, I thought it was so funny that I had to do it myself. And then sure enough, this person who had a bunch of fentanyl on him did it. And I was very impressed with the fact that he hasn't seen that video in my opinion. Have you ever tried any of that Dallace?

I guess I've had funny arrests of people, not like that. I haven't talked somebody into doing that. I know when I was on patrol, it wasn't a mind game in that sense, like one of the guys that I worked with, he was a really good.

bad cop type temperament. So you guys did good cop, bad cop? And so we had a robbery one night and we figured out there was four people involved. And of course you go after the weakest link and the weakest link was a young girl ⁓ who had been along in the car when they committed this robbery. And so ⁓ we get her cell phone number, we're calling her and talking with her. She's halfway admitt...

what's going on. I'm talking nice to her.

the other deputy gets on the phone to her and just starts yelling at her. was like, need to get down here right now and bad things are gonna happen to you. He's going off on a whole diatribe, probably for five or 10 minutes of just yelling at her. And she's crying on the other end of the line and she finally goes, can I talk to the Dice Officer? And so I get back on the phone and talk to her for a couple of seconds and get her to come in and then. ⁓

through her confession we end up arresting all four of them for this robbery.

there's been a couple of situations where even in major crimes Jim Dresbeck and I used to do that occasionally I can remember a couple of interviews where we were good cop bad cop and it works out ⁓ But you are kind of playing that game. There's all kind of whole host of ⁓ Like interview techniques and stuff that you use to talk to people like you said playing that ⁓ Trying to figure out the puzzle like what's gonna work in this situation

I will say some of like some of the you know funnier arrests that I've had have been kind of more that way where it was playing the mind games of how can I get this person to admit this? You know and you kind of like chief them a little bit like well we saw video footage and you're in that video doing this and They don't know the answer to that. They don't know if there's video footage or not and I mean that was

you know, like one of my last days of FTO, that was one of the things that mean my FTO joked about was he was like, if you can get this guy to confess to this crime, I'll just be your partner for the rest of the day and you'll pass. And it was a joke because he really didn't think that I was going to get this guy to confess. And so I went in there and I was like set on getting this guy to confess to what he had done. And I had spent like all day investigating this crime.

And I showed up there and I talked with him and I kind of pulled that on him. Well, there's video footage of you doing this. I know it was you. I can clearly see you in this video doing this. And at first he didn't want to talk to me and he's like, no, it wasn't me. I was so high out of my mind. I don't remember anything that happened that night. And I was kind of trying to play good cop a little bit.

And then I was like, okay, well, and then I went to leave. Well, as I went to leave, he stops one of the corrections officers and is like, no, I need to talk to those deputies again. And so they came and asked us, hey, do you want to talk with him again or do you have enough? And I mean, at the time we pretty much had enough, but I was like, I want this confession. So I went back and I talked to him and he broke down and confessed everything to me.

So to me it was hilarious because as we're leaving there, I'm looking at my FTO and I'm like, so what was it that you were saying again about getting this guy to confess everything? So to me, like those are kind of like those funny times where you can like get someone to confess to something and those are fun little puzzles to figure out. And sometimes I feel like the good cop, bad cop thing is a little fun because I'm a young female. So a lot of the times when I'm dealing with juveniles or when I'm dealing with

a lot of female suspects and they'll kind of look at me and you can just see the look on their face. They assume I'm going to be good cop. And so I'll kind of try to play a good cop with them a little bit and I'll have one of my male partners be bad cop and they'll want to talk to me. Well, I just want to talk to her. Like, can you go away and I'll talk to her and I'm like, sure you can, you know, and see where it goes. Right. Yeah. So far I feel like interrogating from what I've learned is just your attitude. mean,

Obviously a stern hand does work, but I feel like I've gotten more out of kind what we were talking about before, just being a nonchalant, like nothing's going to happen, don't care kind of cop where you're just like, you find obviously ways to word things to where they'll admit something. But if you're just like acting like something's not that big of a deal because I'm not.

trying to get initial answers or for you to admit something. I find that important because if you're just talking like how we are now, just having a conversation like, Oh, that's screwed up, dude. I understand why you did this or did that. I feel like you get so much more out of that than, but there are some people obviously that if you nonchalant, they'll treat it as a nonchalant situation. Maybe not admit to some things unless you're like, this could happen because they don't understand the totality of the whole situation. But

I think if you're just relaxed with people in some things, I swear they just spill everything with that way. You use certain verbiage to get things to admit without flat out asking, but you act like you kind of don't care. I've noticed that's how I get people to do everything where it's like, yeah, I'm going to leave. Yeah, I'm going to do this or I don't really care too much, man. It's just, where do you get this? Where do you do that?

Where do you find this? How much is this worth just for my own knowledge or where, you know, like how much do you think this weighs or, know what I mean? Just simple things like that to show knowledge of a certain subject. swear it. You get so much out of it. And I find that super important is just being relaxed, being nice, even though you're super ticked off to begin with about a certain situation, holding back your own emotions. feel like is really good. And I've noticed that with my FTOs I had

some were funny guys, they could get people to do basically whatever they wanted because of a good attitude they had towards people. And I think I learned the most from that because that's how I wanted to be. And so I think they did a good job with that. And then I was doing that with people and I feel like it's just now a fun puzzle. So is there anything that you've learned on the job that

you would say is surprising. ⁓ Other than how people thank you, Yeah. And to give you a little direction of what I'm thinking is like, one of the things that I found surprising about being a cop was like, all of a sudden you have to learn about everything else that's out there.

I never knew how some retail systems worked and how they figured out shock lifters or I never knew. Car accident investigation, I never knew how some of those things worked. But then once I became a cop and all of sudden you have to learn, like it seems like you learn everybody else's job. I probably did more of that as an investigator, but is there anything that you've learned that's kind of surprised you?

yeah, I, this podcast could probably go on for like 12 hours. like, I feel like, yeah, there's tons of stuff. Like for a simple example, like when we do car collisions and you have to make a diagram where it's like a little drawing of that. thought that was the funniest thing where I'm building a tree out of like a shape of a rectangle. And I'm like typing it out, putting a little diagram for people. I just found that kind of.

funny that we did that. I feel like, I'll be honest, before starting this, I'm like, running and gunning and doing that kind of stuff sounds fun. And I used to think calls were people in all total crises or bad things going on. And then I found out majority of the calls are kind of things that you would not expect people to want police to respond to. And I've learned how.

cameras work, businesses work, facial recognition, how plates work, to like names, running names, what police see, what is shown, the history that's involved with suspects, with average people. It's just so crazy and that list can go on. I've numerous things about, doing this job, like driving, just being an average driver out on the road. I feel like now I know all these laws where it's so insane.

what is put into place that you can get pulled over for, what you can do that's a violation, know, riding a bike at night, even like, was like, that's crazy. Like you can pull someone over for riding a bike without a light on, you know, or a reflector on the back. Like it just, those things just kind of opened my eyes to how much I did it now. I can remember going out with him and why I would be like, yeah, almost any car out there, you can find a reason to pull them over. And I was like, what?

I had no idea. It's the laws are crazy. It's just there's so much put into place and you know, know, you just don't know until you really, you know, think about it or read onto it where you're like, holy moly, I've been doing this wrong my whole life. Ever since I started driving.

I would say one of the things that surprised me or I guess maybe not surprised me but impressed me was with like, I could see it in Lyle specifically.

⁓ how you know a lot of people always assume with law enforcement that they're lazy or that they don't follow through with things or that they're just so they have so many cases they can never pay attention to yours it's how far a lot of deputies are willing to take things or how much investigation will go into what seems like maybe a small case that it's like all the deputies that I've seen just with the job in general it

You don't just give up when it gets hard or when it gets difficult or when there's too much, paperwork. I mean, it's like with every single case that we deal with, you have to go to the full extent. can't just, like legally, I mean, you can't just look at something and think this is gonna be a lot of work for no reward or this is gonna be a lot of work and we're never gonna figure it out. You can't just give up at that point. You have to go.

and you have to see through the entire thing, which I mean, I really appreciate. But I mean, a lot of people look at us and they think, well, this is just a small thing or whatever. This is just going to be a waste of your guys' time. Yeah, like, you know, a lot of people just assume when they call that we're going to show up and say, well, we can't do anything for you. And I mean, I'm sure it feels that way when people call. They're like, well, you can't do anything for me. But they don't see what happens behind

the closed doors of when we leave, think we just left and forgot about the whole thing. But it's like you have multiple people spending their entire day looking into, something that they think is small. I mean, like somebody will say that, somebody broke into my house and they stole a TV remote and like they'll take this, take it as something super small. Well, they only stole a TV remote. But yeah, you have all of these detectives and these patrol officers looking at all of these cameras.

and watching the footage and just going the full extent to figure out who broke into that house and fingerprints and everything. Yeah, the amount of ⁓ intelligence that's gathered behind that. I used to, as a patrolman, I used to always encourage people is like, no matter how small it is, call it in, report it. Because even if it just goes to crime check and a deputy or an officer doesn't respond, that report will get funneled to our intelligence office.

they watch trends and says, hey, you know, you've got a hotspot developing over in this area because we've got 20 reports now, or we've got, you know, 30 reports of this and there's similar M.O.'s. And so when we catch that one person doing that, then all of a sudden we can track back and solve all of these crimes or at least know who was responsible for them. And then we can kind of focus on that. So what specific things did you, do you see in your dad?

Well, there's been multiple projects that I've worked on with Dad where something will seem kind of difficult and I'm like, ugh, well it's gonna be hard so I guess it's not worth it. Like, we should just give up. And he cannot give up. He has to see the whole thing through it, he has to finish it. Or, you know, he's a perfectionist so it's like, you know, when me Drew have like a little project at home or something like that, we need to go fix this fence or something like...

we will make it to where it's functioning. And yeah, it's not the prettiest, but I mean it works and that's kind of where we'll leave it. And dad's like, nope, that's not good enough. It has to look nice, has to be nice. All the angles need to be perfect and the measurements have to be perfect. Like it has to look good, it has to function good. And I mean, there was one time, I don't remember what it was that we were working on, but I mean, we had driven to like,

five different stores looking for like a specific part. And I remember you talking to the employees and like being like, okay, this is what I need. And like, they would say no, you're like, to the next. it's like, immediately like, we're gonna go, we're gonna find this thing and we're not giving up until we have it. And I mean, we eventually found it. But I mean, that's what I mean where it's like with this job, I feel like that's where that's kind of applied because you know,

like a lot of people when something gets hard, they're just like, well, this is where we get off the train. It just ends here and you can't do that in this job. You have to keep finding things. That's how you got the guy to confess to you, right? Yeah, exactly. You know, my dad was like that. You don't remember my dad, but he passed away. My dad was like that. Every angle, every level and yeah.

If I could only be so much a perfectionist with my

I don't like to go into your shop. gives me anxiety.

you happy with your choice at this point? You think that if you could go back and redo the last year, is this where you would have spent

You should go first. Yes. Yes I am. I'm having so much fun right now. I'm having a blast. I'm super excited for what the future entails and having a really good time. So yeah, I am. I wouldn't change a thing. I'm having way too much fun right now doing this job. Dallace? I would say I'm having fun with this job. I have a lot more to learn though.

And I think that once I feel comfortable in the job or I feel like I know what I'm doing and there's less stress, then I think I'll enjoy it more. Well, like your dad and his best friend, Rob said, it took them both like two years. Yeah, at least a couple of years to feel comfortable because there's so many laws and there's so many procedures

in every single situation you go to even every traffic stop is different. Each one of them might be for speeding on a certain day, but you're going to deal with a different person, a different personality, a different history. Some of them have never been stopped in their life and they are so scared of you and other people.

get pulled over every single day or they have a revoked license or something and they come out of their car angry at you the second you pull them over. And so it really, everything is situational. No two days are ever going to be the same. And it really feels like ⁓ it takes you a long time to get in the groove of that and really know what you're doing.

you're newly married couple. mean, you've been married just a little over a year and you both chosen a career that's really difficult, has a high divorce rate, lots of things to...

be negative about, but how do you think that your marriage is doing in terms of your job? mean, do you guys enjoy being together and talking shop or do you try to avoid it? I would say me and Drew are on different ends of the spectrum. Cause Drew is, and he's told me that if I would just let him.

he would be obsessed with this job. mean, he could work overtime, he could talk nothing but work. And I'm on the other end of the spectrum where I am at work when I'm at work and when I'm not at work, I don't wanna talk about work, I don't wanna think about work, I wanna live my life outside of work. And Drew's got a lot of work friends and we'll get together and we'll...

hang out and the thing that we talk about is work. And I am like sitting there just like, okay, what are we gonna talk about something else? I mean, it's good that he loves his job.

Dallace's way of thinking is probably healthier, but I feel healthier because I'm a good time. But at the same time, during the podcast with your parents, you know, they mentioned that you guys had gone down to Georgia and you got away from work and you felt some stress come off. And so, I mean, you feel like this career is really inducing more stress than you ever anticipated. ⁓ Yeah, that's a good point.

I wasn't thinking about that actually. Yeah, when we went to Georgia and we had some time off, ⁓ I had seven days off and I didn't realize after about maybe the fifth day of me not working how...

how I was finally relaxing. I was getting back into a day schedule. graveyard does take it slow. I love graveyard. probably won't be leaving anytime soon, but I just felt like there was maybe some weight lifted off my back. If that makes any sense

Yes, there's stress. have a good time. I don't really feel like when I'm working, I have that much stress. But yeah, once we went to Georgia and spent just some time away and it was kind of our first vacation since we started working, it did make a difference. And I did notice a difference. So it's good to take time off. I'm a, you know, Dallace saying, I talk about this job and, you know, me and my friends BS about this job and me and the people I work with BS about this job. It is good to get away from it.

And I didn't realize that until I actually did it. And even just five days later, was like, holy moly, like I feel so much more relaxed than I guess I never knew I needed to feel. So it's good to take care of yourself. Take that time away. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you two for sitting down and talking with us. And hopefully we'll have you back again when you have some really funny stories to tell.

about all of the antics out there. And for everyone that joined us, thanks for tuning in to Walking the Blue Line. You know, if you like our podcast, please click like and subscribe. And we hope that we will see you on the next one. Until then, bye. Bye.