May 10, 2023 • 8 mins
On this week's episode, we take a quick trip to Washington, DC to chat with Madison Heitzenrater, Manager of Community Engagement for the National Law Enforcement Museum! Madison gave me the scoop on everything the museum has to offer including some of her favorite exhibits like their "reel to reel" exhibit which looks at how law enforcement is portrayed in the media and the "take the case" exhibit which looks at the forensic side of law enforcement as well! Madison also gave me a preview of what's to come for National Police Week, and a fun fact: the entire museum is underground! Take a listen to our full conversation!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning, and welcome back toWhere Too Next a travel podcast with me.
Your host, my name is FranciscoPressy, and we're taking a hop,
skip and a jump down the streethere to go to Washington, d
C. To talk with Madison Heightsand Ratter, manager of Community Engagement for
the National Law Enforcement Museum. Madison. Welcome, Thank you so much.
Good to be here. Absolutely nl EOMF dot org online for everything you
(00:23):
need to know. We've got detailsand all the information there. But we're
going to talk a little bit aboutthe National Law Enforcement Museum today and we
like to kind of start with thebasics here in Madison. So why don't
you give us the overview of theNational Law Enforcement Museum. Yeah, for
sure. So we're a very newmuseum here in Washington, d C.
We are located right in the middleof Judiciary Square, so we're smack in
the middle of all the court buildingsthat are here, which is why our
(00:44):
museums actually underground because we had tobe Yeah, it works out well,
so we do get some Yeah,it's the way that you set it up.
It's really beautiful. We have twopavilions that you can come in and
out of so there's plenty of windowsthere, but then once you get down
the stairs, you're underground and therest of the museum which does help checked
our artifacts, So it works outreally well. That standpoints and then preservation
standpoint. It's great, exactly.Yeah. So yeah, we're here,
(01:07):
our museums here to help support thememorial that is across the street. The
memorial has been there for a longtime and opened in nineteen ninety one and
it currently has the names of twentythree seven hundred eighty five officers who died
in the line of duty on it. We just finished engraving last week getting
ready for National Police Week. Sowe're here to really help support the memorial
(01:27):
in their mission. The museum,like I said, pretty new, although
it took us a really long timeto get here. Congress passed for us
to be created in two thousand,but we didn't actually yeah, we didn't
actually open our doors till twenty eighteen, so it took a while. Yeah.
Yeah, but we're here now.Definitely a baby museum in DC compared
to the Smithsonians and everything else around, but we do have a very large
(01:49):
collection, which is exciting for ourmuseum and everything. Yeah. Absolutely what
sort of exhibits in programs does themuseum offer. Yeah, so we have
a lot that we offer and thingsare constantly changing, so we have all
a lot of permanent exhibits that aregoing to be here year round. Some
of my favorites are real to realexhibit, So if anyone is a fan
of law enforcement movies or TV shows, it takes a look at how they
(02:12):
are portrayed on the big screen.So if anyone likes RoboCop, we have
the RoboCop costume from the second moviefrom nineteen ninety So we definitely have some
fun stuff there, kind of likea walkdown memory Lane in that exhibit.
But we also have to take thecase exhibit that looks at the forensic side
of law enforcement, which is wheresome of our higher profile artifacts are,
like things from the oj Simpson trial, the Beltway Sniper, Boston bombing,
(02:36):
things like that. We also havetwo simulators that are permanent in our museum.
We have the L three Harris drivingSimulator and the Embarrassed Decision Making Simulator,
and both are really there to givevisitors an in the shoes experience of
those split second decisions law enforcement hasto make on the job. Simulators are
definitely very popular, and there's thingsthat we like to promote because our visitors
(02:57):
love them. Especially during National PoliceSpeak. They are always past. That's
where the lines are in the museumfor people trying to go to the simulators.
But we definitely have special programming aswell. So we have different things
that happen every month, such asa true crime scavenger Hunt. That true
crime scavenger hunt happens the last Saturdayof every month, and then we have
a walking tour that takes visitors aroundWashington, DC and focuses on presidential assassinations
(03:21):
and how those how to impact onfederal law enforcement. So, you know,
we have always fun programs that happenthroughout the months as well as what
we offer regularly, which is alot of fun. Yeah, you guys
have a lot of really interesting programsand exhibits. I don't know what I
was thinking, but I guess Ijust wasn't really thinking about like a true
crime scavenger hunt. Are those sortsof things, but it sounds really really,
really interesting. Yeah. We alsojust launched last year a podcast called
(03:45):
Precinct four four four that does someof those true crime things as well.
So We have different episodes that releaseevery week, some on true crime,
some on family interviews, like howfamilies are impacted by a law enforcement family
member and how you know that Cuviercan take a toll on fam members.
So we always have new stuff comingout every month, which is a lot
of fun. Keeps us on ourtoes. Definitely, I love it.
(04:05):
Madison Heights and Ratter, manager ofCommunity Engagement for the National Law Enforcement Museum.
If you'd like more information, youcan visit them online at n l
EOMS dot org. And you didmention a little bit earlier in the interview
national Police Week. It is comingup, so I'd love to hear about
any special things that you guys haveplanned for that. Yeah, so it
is quickly approaching and we're both forcewe are gearing up for it here.
(04:30):
So this year is actually a littlebit longer than Police Week have been in
the past. It will be themuseum will be open May ninth straight through
May twentieth, and there's events happeningat the memorial in the museum throughout that
time. So every day that themuseum is open during National Police Week,
we're open our regular hours from tento five. But like I said,
there's a lot going on, sowe have numerous refling ceremonies for officers and
(04:51):
burkanine units from different departments and agenciesall throughout the week. We also have
Police Unity Tours arrival on twelfth,and that's a huge thing with so many
writers coming in who have been ridingfor days to honor the officers who passed
in the line of duty. Theywill arrive at the Memorial on that Friday
afternoon on Friday the twelfth, andwe also have the Emerald Society Marching Band
(05:14):
playing at the Memorial on Sunday,May fourteenth, which is always really popular.
Aside from those, we have ourthirty fifth annual Candlelight Vigil on Saturday
May thirteenth, which is really youknow, the whole thing that Police weeked
arounds. Right at the candlelight Vigil, we read off the names of the
officers who passed in the line ofduty for the previous year, and so
this year we will be reading offfive hundred and fifty six names, so
(05:35):
that's officers who passed in twenty twentytwo, plus any historic names that were
brought to our team's attention last yearas well. Absolutely so we all know
that police in policing in America hasbeen a hot topic for a little while
now, So I guess my questionto you is, how does the museum
address those societal issues or breakdown betweenthe general community and the police community.
(05:56):
Yeah, for sure. So wehave different programming that we put out online.
Sometimes they're in person. COVID kindof changed how that looked over time,
but we'll do different programming where wehave panel discussions when anyone's able to
attend in our Verizon theater, butwe'll bring in members of the community and
different law enforcement officers or agencies tokind of have these discussions and talk about
(06:18):
ways that we can make changes withinthe community and how we can build on
those police and community relationships. It'salso something that we talk a lot about
when we're giving tours as a museum. We have a patrol car that sits
on the exhibit floor and it's oneof the spots people love to visit,
so we talk about on the tourand while we're there, we talk about
how because more police officers are doingpatrol work in a patrol car in a
(06:40):
car nowadays, rather than walking thebeat or being on sike or horseback like
you used to see. We're seeingthis downgrade in community relationships because when you
drive past an officer on patrol,you know the windows are up, they
have the ac blasting the heat glassthing, which is great for them,
but they're not interacting with the communityquite as much. So it's something we
talk about and how can we changethat? And it's great because so many
law enforcement go on our tours andso hearing their perspective on what their agencies
(07:03):
are doing are things that we continueto talk about every day in the museum.
It's so important. I love tohear that. Madison Heights and Rater,
manager of Community Engagement for the NationalLaw Enforcement Museum, and I'd love
to touch on before I let yougo, how can the public support you
guys? How can we support themuseum? Definitely a couple of ways that
the public can help out with thatnumber one, just going to our website
(07:25):
and going to the donate page,clicking that donate button. All of that
is going to help the Memorial Fundfacilitate programs that help us honor the fall
in, help us tell the storyof American law enforcement, and also help
us make it safer for those whoserve through our Officers Safety and Wellness program,
So donations help with all those typesof things. Also just coming to
the museum, so you know,helping us get the word out, getting
(07:46):
those admission tickets, and just tellingpeople when you visit, you know,
if you had a great time,spread the word. We also have a
thing called Stand with Honor Membership,which get you a free lifetime admission with
the purchase of a membership and otherperks as well, such as discounting the
stores and things like that. Sothere's definitely ways that you know, spreading
the word and helping the organization outwould be great. Absolutely. Madison Heights
(08:09):
and Ratter, manager of Community Engagementfor the National Law Enforcement Museum. You
can find them online at n lE O MF dot org. Madison,
I want to thank you so muchfor taking some time with us here this
morning. I think you guys aredoing really fantastic work, important work over
there, and thanks so much forjoining us. Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
Good morning, and welcome back toWhere Too Next a travel podcast with me.
Your host, my name is FranciscoPressy, and we're taking a hop,
skip and a jump down the streethere to go to Washington, d
C. To talk with Madison Heightsand Ratter, manager of Community Engagement for
the National Law Enforcement Museum. Madison. Welcome, Thank you so much.
Good to be here. Absolutely nl EOMF dot org online for everything you
(00:23):
need to know. We've got detailsand all the information there. But we're
going to talk a little bit aboutthe National Law Enforcement Museum today and we
like to kind of start with thebasics here in Madison. So why don't
you give us the overview of theNational Law Enforcement Museum. Yeah, for
sure. So we're a very newmuseum here in Washington, d C.
We are located right in the middleof Judiciary Square, so we're smack in
the middle of all the court buildingsthat are here, which is why our
(00:44):
museums actually underground because we had tobe Yeah, it works out well,
so we do get some Yeah,it's the way that you set it up.
It's really beautiful. We have twopavilions that you can come in and
out of so there's plenty of windowsthere, but then once you get down
the stairs, you're underground and therest of the museum which does help checked
our artifacts, So it works outreally well. That standpoints and then preservation
standpoint. It's great, exactly.Yeah. So yeah, we're here,
(01:07):
our museums here to help support thememorial that is across the street. The
memorial has been there for a longtime and opened in nineteen ninety one and
it currently has the names of twentythree seven hundred eighty five officers who died
in the line of duty on it. We just finished engraving last week getting
ready for National Police Week. Sowe're here to really help support the memorial
(01:27):
in their mission. The museum,like I said, pretty new, although
it took us a really long timeto get here. Congress passed for us
to be created in two thousand,but we didn't actually yeah, we didn't
actually open our doors till twenty eighteen, so it took a while. Yeah.
Yeah, but we're here now.Definitely a baby museum in DC compared
to the Smithsonians and everything else around, but we do have a very large
(01:49):
collection, which is exciting for ourmuseum and everything. Yeah. Absolutely what
sort of exhibits in programs does themuseum offer. Yeah, so we have
a lot that we offer and thingsare constantly changing, so we have all
a lot of permanent exhibits that aregoing to be here year round. Some
of my favorites are real to realexhibit, So if anyone is a fan
of law enforcement movies or TV shows, it takes a look at how they
(02:12):
are portrayed on the big screen.So if anyone likes RoboCop, we have
the RoboCop costume from the second moviefrom nineteen ninety So we definitely have some
fun stuff there, kind of likea walkdown memory Lane in that exhibit.
But we also have to take thecase exhibit that looks at the forensic side
of law enforcement, which is wheresome of our higher profile artifacts are,
like things from the oj Simpson trial, the Beltway Sniper, Boston bombing,
(02:36):
things like that. We also havetwo simulators that are permanent in our museum.
We have the L three Harris drivingSimulator and the Embarrassed Decision Making Simulator,
and both are really there to givevisitors an in the shoes experience of
those split second decisions law enforcement hasto make on the job. Simulators are
definitely very popular, and there's thingsthat we like to promote because our visitors
(02:57):
love them. Especially during National PoliceSpeak. They are always past. That's
where the lines are in the museumfor people trying to go to the simulators.
But we definitely have special programming aswell. So we have different things
that happen every month, such asa true crime scavenger Hunt. That true
crime scavenger hunt happens the last Saturdayof every month, and then we have
a walking tour that takes visitors aroundWashington, DC and focuses on presidential assassinations
(03:21):
and how those how to impact onfederal law enforcement. So, you know,
we have always fun programs that happenthroughout the months as well as what
we offer regularly, which is alot of fun. Yeah, you guys
have a lot of really interesting programsand exhibits. I don't know what I
was thinking, but I guess Ijust wasn't really thinking about like a true
crime scavenger hunt. Are those sortsof things, but it sounds really really,
really interesting. Yeah. We alsojust launched last year a podcast called
(03:45):
Precinct four four four that does someof those true crime things as well.
So We have different episodes that releaseevery week, some on true crime,
some on family interviews, like howfamilies are impacted by a law enforcement family
member and how you know that Cuviercan take a toll on fam members.
So we always have new stuff comingout every month, which is a lot
of fun. Keeps us on ourtoes. Definitely, I love it.
(04:05):
Madison Heights and Ratter, manager ofCommunity Engagement for the National Law Enforcement Museum.
If you'd like more information, youcan visit them online at n l
EOMS dot org. And you didmention a little bit earlier in the interview
national Police Week. It is comingup, so I'd love to hear about
any special things that you guys haveplanned for that. Yeah, so it
is quickly approaching and we're both forcewe are gearing up for it here.
(04:30):
So this year is actually a littlebit longer than Police Week have been in
the past. It will be themuseum will be open May ninth straight through
May twentieth, and there's events happeningat the memorial in the museum throughout that
time. So every day that themuseum is open during National Police Week,
we're open our regular hours from tento five. But like I said,
there's a lot going on, sowe have numerous refling ceremonies for officers and
(04:51):
burkanine units from different departments and agenciesall throughout the week. We also have
Police Unity Tours arrival on twelfth,and that's a huge thing with so many
writers coming in who have been ridingfor days to honor the officers who passed
in the line of duty. Theywill arrive at the Memorial on that Friday
afternoon on Friday the twelfth, andwe also have the Emerald Society Marching Band
(05:14):
playing at the Memorial on Sunday,May fourteenth, which is always really popular.
Aside from those, we have ourthirty fifth annual Candlelight Vigil on Saturday
May thirteenth, which is really youknow, the whole thing that Police weeked
arounds. Right at the candlelight Vigil, we read off the names of the
officers who passed in the line ofduty for the previous year, and so
this year we will be reading offfive hundred and fifty six names, so
(05:35):
that's officers who passed in twenty twentytwo, plus any historic names that were
brought to our team's attention last yearas well. Absolutely so we all know
that police in policing in America hasbeen a hot topic for a little while
now, So I guess my questionto you is, how does the museum
address those societal issues or breakdown betweenthe general community and the police community.
(05:56):
Yeah, for sure. So wehave different programming that we put out online.
Sometimes they're in person. COVID kindof changed how that looked over time,
but we'll do different programming where wehave panel discussions when anyone's able to
attend in our Verizon theater, butwe'll bring in members of the community and
different law enforcement officers or agencies tokind of have these discussions and talk about
(06:18):
ways that we can make changes withinthe community and how we can build on
those police and community relationships. It'salso something that we talk a lot about
when we're giving tours as a museum. We have a patrol car that sits
on the exhibit floor and it's oneof the spots people love to visit,
so we talk about on the tourand while we're there, we talk about
how because more police officers are doingpatrol work in a patrol car in a
(06:40):
car nowadays, rather than walking thebeat or being on sike or horseback like
you used to see. We're seeingthis downgrade in community relationships because when you
drive past an officer on patrol,you know the windows are up, they
have the ac blasting the heat glassthing, which is great for them,
but they're not interacting with the communityquite as much. So it's something we
talk about and how can we changethat? And it's great because so many
law enforcement go on our tours andso hearing their perspective on what their agencies
(07:03):
are doing are things that we continueto talk about every day in the museum.
It's so important. I love tohear that. Madison Heights and Rater,
manager of Community Engagement for the NationalLaw Enforcement Museum, and I'd love
to touch on before I let yougo, how can the public support you
guys? How can we support themuseum? Definitely a couple of ways that
the public can help out with thatnumber one, just going to our website
(07:25):
and going to the donate page,clicking that donate button. All of that
is going to help the Memorial Fundfacilitate programs that help us honor the fall
in, help us tell the storyof American law enforcement, and also help
us make it safer for those whoserve through our Officers Safety and Wellness program,
So donations help with all those typesof things. Also just coming to
the museum, so you know,helping us get the word out, getting
(07:46):
those admission tickets, and just tellingpeople when you visit, you know,
if you had a great time,spread the word. We also have a
thing called Stand with Honor Membership,which get you a free lifetime admission with
the purchase of a membership and otherperks as well, such as discounting the
stores and things like that. Sothere's definitely ways that you know, spreading
the word and helping the organization outwould be great. Absolutely. Madison Heights
(08:09):
and Ratter, manager of Community Engagementfor the National Law Enforcement Museum. You
can find them online at n lE O MF dot org. Madison,
I want to thank you so muchfor taking some time with us here this
morning. I think you guys aredoing really fantastic work, important work over
there, and thanks so much forjoining us. Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
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