Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
and check to you too, too.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This way I can monitor your level you good, I'm
good, well you can watch thecamera, you can look.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Just we're having a conversation, hey, you know,
kind of, come on, you do the tvthing usually they have some.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
The reporters like to give me a picture just look
right here in my eyes I'm like,okay, yeah, easier said than
done though sometimes.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Yeah, all right, coming to you in three, two, one
.
Hello everybody.
It is skip clark and I am livefrom the inner harbor media
studios at the beautifulsyracuse inner harbor,
overlooking the harbor, ofcourse, on a on a beautiful day,
start to a Sunday, and you knowwhat With me today.
You may see him.
I know he does a segment on CNYCentral, but Sergeant Tom Blake
(00:52):
is with me, not only a policeofficer, but you handle the
media side of it plus you do themedical side of it plus you.
Just there's so much that youdo.
How are you?
I'm great.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I hope you're well.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
It's great to be here with you finally, after all
this time, I know the truth tothe matter is we've been going
back and forth with texts andemails and I've been trying to
get you in and get you on,because there's a lot of
important things we talk about.
But the moment we met, all of asudden, it just opened up a
whole new door that we knew alot of people in common and I
(01:30):
hope, if you're watching this,that you would do this as well
that when you see a policeofficer which was the case with
me, with Tom he was in linegrabbing a sandwich, working his
day, you know, the day shift,whatever that is pulled up, got
in line, he was ahead of me andI said, no, no, sir, I'm going
to buy you your lunch and I wantto say thank you for doing what
you're doing.
And then we started thatconversation and you know now
here we are.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So you were very persistent.
You would not take no for ananswer.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
No, no, absolutely Well.
You know what you do is.
You know being on the streetsevery day and we all know how
the world is changing.
It's so very dangerous and Iwouldn't be able to do a lot of
what I do here with the radiostations if it wasn't for
individuals like you whetherit's the city, county, town, the
police officers all deservejust a nice round of applause, a
(02:14):
lot of credit for what you do.
So I appreciate this.
But we do want to talk aboutSPD a little bit, recruitment,
and we'll talk about you just abit.
Can you walk me through yourjourney?
You became a sergeant, but tellme about that journey.
How did you start?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
When did you start?
And now being sergeant?
Sure, well, I started at a veryyoung age.
So growing up, my stepfatherwas a police officer out in the
Mohawk Valley area, and so it'ssomething that I kind of always
had in the back of my mind asgrowing up, I got very
interested in the medical partas well.
Like first responders as awhole was always intriguing to
me, but specifically I reallyliked the medical stuff.
(02:55):
So I became an EMT.
And then, after becoming an EMT,I decided maybe I wanted to
follow in my stepfather'sfootsteps and become a police
officer.
So to do that, I ended upjoining the air force and the
only job they had open at thetime was was military, police or
security forces.
So I went through that routeand did that.
And then, uh, uh, you know whenI, when I got done, I kind of
(03:17):
gave up the idea of being anurse.
I'm like you know what I can do, I can do this instead.
Uh, let me go be a cop.
So I ended up becoming atrooper in the wonderful state
of South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Really, I had no idea .
You never told me that yeah, Iwas a trooper.
How long were?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
you, yeah, how long.
A little over three years I wasstationed in York County, which
, if anybody's been down toCharlotte and drove south, you
drive right into York County,south Carolina, right there near
the Carowinds Amusement ParkNow where are?
You from, though?
Are you from here?
I am from a small town way upon the northern border, malone,
new York.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Okay, well, yeah, that's a little bit of a drive
it's way up there.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
You probably haven't heard of it unless you watch
that documentary about the.
Either you watch thedocumentary about the prison
break there out of Denimora oryou are a lover of glazier hot
dogs those are the two claims ofclaim that.
Uh, one's good, one's bad, yeahyeah, I'm not sure which one's
which yeah, I know exactly, butI'm being a trooper.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
How did, how did all that come about?
Yeah, because you're frommalone and now you're like south
right, right.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
How did I get down to south carolina exactly so?
Uh so my ex at the time she wasmoving to research triangle
park, and so I went down aheadof time, knowing that she was
going to move down there.
And I got a.
I got got a job, startedapplying for police jobs and
South Carolina was the firstplace to hire me.
And right about the time that Iwas getting off FTO, my ex had
(04:38):
taken a teaching job at SU anddecided she was no longer moving
south.
So, lo and behold, I came uphere and started looking for
jobs.
Very quickly and, fortunatelyfor me, syracuse Police
Department became my new homeand I've been there now for
about 16 years.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
That's pretty old, wow, 16.
So for 20 and out, I know Iknow We'll talk about that in a
little bit because I want totalk about recruitment- yes, and
I love SPD.
So you do, I know, and you gota great, your chief, I mean best
, the best I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So yeah, I have a lot of admiration for.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, let's let's talk about some of the biggest
challenges facing policerecruitment today, especially
right here in.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Syracuse.
Sure, well, there's a lot ofchallenges, right.
So you know, when I came on andthey would have information
sessions you'd have wouldn't beuncommon to have four or five,
six hundred people show up forthese, where you would come in
and get exposed to what it isthat you'd be doing once you got
on the job.
And you know, the last 10 yearsor so, I think, generally
(05:38):
there's been some negativepublicity on the law enforcement
career field and so because ofthat, we're getting a lot less
people that are coming forth andbeing interested in doing this
as a profession.
So those numbers where you usedto see four or 500 people show
up, we're down to very lownumbers, less than a hundred,
and so that's your candidate.
You know your candidate poolNow people sitting for the test.
(06:00):
The numbers have gone downconsiderably.
We are starting to see a trendwhere they are starting to come
back up, so we're very hopeful.
Slowly, though Slowly, yeah.
So our recent academy sizeshave been as small as 10 people.
This one that we have in rightnow, I believe there's 22 people
currently in the police academy.
I was with them this morningtraining them on first aid and
(06:22):
medical topics, and so that'sencouraging to see those numbers
start to come back the otherway.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
It is what is.
For example, you were out therethis morning like what is the
age?
How does that vary?
Are you get some that are like19, 20 and others that have
decided you know, I'm done withthis career and I want to be a
police officer.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned that.
So I went around the room todayand talked with the recruits
that are in the academy and andthe youngest one in the academy
is is 20 and a half.
So when he graduates the policeacademy, he won't be old enough
to to take on a beer at thatpoint, uh.
And then there's somebody inthe class that's uh in his
forties as well so he's.
(07:01):
he's going to be a member of thepolice force out at the airport
, but he's in his 40s and he'sdone a career change.
So interesting group.
It's an eclectic group with anage range spanning over 20 years
.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
So how has the Syracuse police adapted to their
approach to attracting youngerand more diverse candidates?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So I think you have to kind of get a multifaceted
approach.
We realized that we weren'tgetting the same number of had.
We've had somebody leave to godo landscaping.
We've had somebody leave to godo automobile repair.
(07:50):
We have another one that wentinto auto sales.
So people were leaving forreasons that you just didn't see
prior to five years ago.
Traditionally, when somebodygot into law enforcement, they
were in there for at the veryleast 20 years.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, and the same thing with fire.
I mean, you know, my brotherwas with the fire department in
the city, for he retired alittle over 20 years he had put
in.
But you're right though, a lotof these guys are like just
leaving.
Is it because of theenvironment, is it because of
what's going on in the world?
And they're a little afraid Imean just being realistic about
(08:23):
it to be out there in thestreets and kind of like in the
wide open.
I mean, I think about that allthe time.
I've got nephews that arepolice officers down South, by
the way, and I just pray everyday that they're safe.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Oh, no doubt.
I think there's additionalchallenges that you didn't face
even 10 years ago.
You're dealing with acompletely different dynamic.
I would say now that the pathto the right answer on how to
handle any particular call is asnarrow as it has ever been.
You know, if you get there tooquick, you're doing too much,
you're overzealous.
(08:58):
If you don't get there quickenough, then you're lazy, you're
unmotivated, you're doingsomething else, then you're lazy
, you're unmotivated, you'redoing something else.
So there's the, thesatisfaction level, I think, for
the, the police officer that'sdoing this job.
Now it's it's.
It's not what it used to be.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Gotcha, what would you say to somebody that, let's
say, they come up to you and sayyou know, I want to be a police
officer.
Why should I be a policeofficer?
What would you tell that person?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
It is literally the greatest job on the planet.
That's what I would tell them.
I don't know anywhere elsewhere you can go and get exposed
to so many different things.
Take, for example, my careerpath.
I used to be a trooper, which Ithought was great.
I had never done thetraditional style of policing,
so I came here and I had tolearn a whole new way of doing
things.
But I have never been at a jobwhere I can get exposed to so
(09:48):
many things.
Throughout my career I've workedas a medic.
I have worked in schools withthe kids.
I've worked community events.
I'm currently working inaddition to my patrol duties.
I'm working in public relations.
I've done, for a short periodof time, did investigations.
I've done pretty mucheverything that there is to do
and no two things are the sameand really rarely are any two
(10:10):
days the same, coming fromdifferent lines of work.
The other work to me wasmonotonous.
Doing the same task over andover again just never appealed
to me.
In law enforcement you have theopportunity to do so many
different.
Every day is different at ahundred percent.
Every, every call is different,every interaction is different
and and really I I found a greathome in this, this new role
(10:33):
that I took on in publicrelations.
It really gives me theopportunity to go out there and
engage people in conversationsand not maybe not necessarily
change their mindset on how lawenforcement is, but give them
something to at least thinkabout, something to take with
them and go.
You know what?
That guy's all right, andpeople that I interact with that
are looking for something new.
(10:54):
Maybe they work in an officeand they're just unsatisfied
with their role.
I tell them visit our website,come see what we have to offer.
Come out to Citizens Academyand check that out.
Request to do a ride along.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I was just going to ask you you still do the ride
alongs.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
We do.
Officer Jackson handles theride alongs and I would
encourage anybody that'sinterested in doing it to reach
out.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Let me know, are you on the road at all?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, no, I'm still assigned a day shift patrol.
I work six in the morning untilfour at night, in addition to
the Lake and Clark road patrol.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
That would be awesome .
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I think there wouldn't be any crime within a
within no no sleep on thepassenger side.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I thought you said this is going to be interesting.
No, you know, it's funny to saythat my, my son, Carter.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
He went to school, for he wanted to be a robotics
engineer.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Oh, very cool, but he wanted to go out to like RIT,
out to like rit, you know hewanted to go.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
So I'm thinking, oh boy, that's like 30 000 a
semester, yeah.
And so he was headed on thatpath and he goes, daddy goes.
Can I do a ride along with you?
And I'm like sure, son, if youwant, I'm like come on out.
At the time I was assigned tomidnights and I think we were in
the car about 20 minutes andarmed robbery went out.
In fact, steps from where weare now right over on genesee
street.
Oh wow, the suspects took, tookoff running and I, I told
(12:04):
carter, I said we're up on thenorth side.
I said if we cut across vanbranselier, I said we're gonna
run right into that suspect.
Sure enough, we pull up, getthe guy, get him on the ground,
get him in custody.
Successful arrest on a on arobbery that just went out.
My son was enthralled.
He dropped the idea of going torobotics engineering.
He's like I want to be a copand uh.
(12:25):
So he completely changed hispath and in the end he he saved
me about thirty thousand dollarsa semester.
He ended up going to courtlandand playing rugby and doing all
that stuff and I'm still waitingfor him to come on here with us
.
But it's something I put in hisear all the time so he's
considering it, it just hasn'tactually made very, very
seriously considering.
And he'd make a.
He'd make a fantastic.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Are there any incentives for new officers?
Or let's say, somebody'sworking in one of the town
agencies and do you guys throwan incentive out there and say,
hey, if you want to transfer tothe city, you get so much Like I
I know it was a while ago itwas like 4,000 or something.
You get a little bonus orsomething like that, but do you
guys still offer that for other?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I would.
I would argue that theincentive is personal
satisfaction.
I would tell anybody it's.
You can institute a impactfulchange in urban policing.
I think it gives you, itaffords you, an opportunity that
you don't get in other agencies.
You are exposed to so much hereand our agency is just big
enough to where everybody stillknows you, but it's also not so
(13:27):
small that you don't get theopportunity to to explore other
areas of interest.
So there is that Now.
That said, if you are a lawenforcement officer in the
central New York area and you'reinterested in coming to us, yes
, we have a very attractivelateral program incentive in
place.
It's a as last checked it wasabout $20,000 for coming over to
us, which is great, and themoney here is good, but the job
(13:51):
satisfaction you get is secondto none.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Can you tell us you don't have to say exactly, but
what's the pay range to become acity police officer?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So an officer with five years on the job is base
salaries making around $80,000 ayear.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, excellent, and you just build from there.
Oh, there's a plus, there'sovertime.
I mean you have a lot ofdifferent things going on.
You and I have hung out atdifferent events.
You've been working at theevent, so have I, and you know
those little things as well.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Oh for sure.
Yeah, If you, if you want toput the time in and work several
hours, you can definitely makemoney to have a very comfortable
living here.
There's no question.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
There you go.
What is it?
So somebody out of the bluewants to become a cop.
What is the procedure?
What does he do first and then?
How does all that come about?
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
First, internalize it .
Make sure this is what you wantto do.
Make sure that you've thoughtabout the good, the bad, the
indifferent.
Once you've done that, I wouldsay you probably do a ride along
, Talk to a couple of policeofficers you've been on for a
little while Explore all theagencies and see which one's
going to be a best fit for yourpersonality.
After you do that, go toongovnet, Click on exam
(15:02):
information.
Sign up for the examnotifications.
They offer them about twice ayear.
When you sign up for thenotification they'll send you an
email.
You sign up for the test.
You go, take the test.
Now you're on the civil servicelist.
When you're on that civilservice list, you can be hired
by any of the agencies in andaround Onondaga County.
And then, once you arecanvassed, you go in for an
information session.
You'll meet with a backgroundinvestigator.
(15:23):
After you meet with thebackground investigator, you'll
fill out a packet.
You return that to thedepartment.
They'll begin a backgroundinvestigation which I will say
is pretty intrusive, a littlebit of an uncomfortable
situation, but it has to be.
I mean, we want to make surethat we're attracting the best
candidates and these people aregoing to be entrusted to enforce
the laws of the state of NewYork.
They're going to be entrustedwith an awesome responsibility
(15:46):
and that's not given out lightly.
We have to make sure that we'regetting good high quality
candidates?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, no doubt about that.
Can you talk about how?
Training, because you said youwere there this morning, but can
you talk to me about howtraining has changed in the
recent years?
Are there new emphasis on uh,you know, de-escalation?
Thank you, absolutely, there is, yeah and community interaction
.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
So I'll be honest with you.
You know, going back probablysix or seven years ago, there
was a huge first you had todefund the police movement.
They've proven throughout thecountry that that is not a good
move, right, that just simplydoesn't work.
I don't care what environmentyou're in.
They've proven time and timeagain.
We've seen it all over the newswith the autonomous zones and
so on.
You see what happens exactly, itdoesn't last 12 hours and
(16:33):
somebody's getting killed right.
So, uh, they've proven thatdoesn't work.
Now they have instituted apolice reform, which I'll tell
you what some of the stuffthat's came out of it is great.
Some of the way that we weredoing law enforcement as a
practice were archaic and neededto be changed.
So I think, by and large, eventhe most salty of a police
(16:54):
officer with years of experienceat least understood the change
and welcome some of it.
It's hard to get an older cop toreally change a whole lot.
Police officers just don't likechange.
That's that's you dog, so tospeak, and teach them new tricks
.
It's very difficult, yes, yes,you cannot take an old dog and
have them jump through a hoop.
It's difficult.
So, uh, but at the same time,it was given to us, whether
(17:15):
whether we liked it or not, andwe had to.
We had to do this new style ofpolicing.
Now, as folks come on, theyknow this new system and that
becomes the culture, thatbecomes their norm.
That's all they know.
They don't know the old styleof policing, which is great.
And so, as time goes on, you'regoing to see these changes that
were, that were put in place,implemented, and you're going to
(17:38):
see how they play out, and someof it's good, some of it's bad,
and so I think I think if youdon't make change as you
progress through any kind ofprofession, you're wrong.
If you want to improvesomething, improvement requires
change.
If you don't change, somebodyelse will.
It happens across the board.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
It's in any business Where's?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Kmart today, exactly it's gone.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Gone.
But here's a radio stationwhere we're sitting right here
and there's change every dayTechnology and all that.
If you don't keep up with thechanges, you lose.
Oh, you're, okay, you're in thedark.
Can you um explain a little bitabout a call 9-1-1 to report
something.
They take down all theinformation, they get a hold of
(18:19):
the police.
Why is it and this is notagainst anything or anybody just
don't understand how it works.
Sometime, maybe some of theviewers, some of the listeners
don't understand that you maynot get a police officer right
away.
You may not, you know,depending on the call.
Is that correct to say,depending on you know?
While you got to this guywalking down the street and he
(18:39):
looks a little strange, you maynot get a car right away because
they prioritize things right.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah.
So how it works is and a lot offolks probably don't know this
because I didn't know it until Istarted working in law
enforcement so when you call upin and they're the ones that
actually dispatch it, so asthese calls come in, they're put
(19:13):
into a tiered system.
You have priority one, two andthree.
So anything that's a priority,one that's going to be armed
robbery, that's going to be aphysical, domestic, it's going
to be a shooting, it's going tobe a stabbing, it's going to be
something that requires policedo immediate response.
We don't wait, we immediatelygo, regardless of the territory
Somebody's going to it.
So when that call comes in asthe person is on the phone
(19:37):
communicating the problem to 911, the dispatcher is on another
part they are dispatching thatover the air and they're getting
that information real time.
So what that does it's not it'snot a call taker taking a bunch
of information and transferringit to somebody else.
It's a completely efficientsystem.
You're bringing in somethingand you're immediately putting
it out through the means ofanother person.
So it's great because as soonas that call comes in, it'll pop
(20:00):
as a priority.
One say it's a shooting.
The dispatcher's putting out,requesting units, giving the
address giving the informationalmost as it's popping up on the
screen.
Call taker is entering thatinformation, Dispatcher's
putting it out, Somebody's onthe way and you're still on the
phone.
That's it.
You might not even be finishedtelling them, and we're pretty
close to getting there Could bepulling up.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Then you have other levels, so that's a priority one
call.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
A priority two call might be if you had a burglary
at the house, maybe you've beenin and you realize that there's
nobody there, but you wereburglarized.
Maybe it could be somethinglike a serious property
complaint.
It could be another type ofdomestic where maybe there's no
injuries.
So there is any number ofthings that could be put into
that priority one designation orpriority two designation.
(20:43):
So, when it's a priority two.
We're going to try to get thereas quick as we possibly can,
but priority ones come first.
We're going to try to get thereas quick as we possibly can,
but priority ones come first.
So that might be, you know, youmight be up to an hour wait,
maybe something like that, to toget an officer.
And then the tertiary one,priority threes, those are
everything else.
That's a.
There's somebody actingsuspiciously, suspiciously.
There's something in the road,there is a neighbor's dog is
(21:05):
barking.
My neighbor's dog is barking.
My neighbor's dog is barking.
These are all things that willcome into us, that they will get
them when we can, but thosecalls are probably going to.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Well, I'm glad you explained that.
I knew a lot of that already.
But a lot of our viewers,everybody wants, like,
gratification instantly.
They want it all.
Like where's the officer?
I called you know 20 minutesago and there's nobody here.
Well, that explains it.
Yeah, I called you know 20minutes ago and there's nobody
here.
Well, that explains it.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, Obviously they're not the only person
that's having an issue as well,Right, and that's a problem and
I do attend a lot of thesecommunity meetings and that
becomes a point of contention orfrustration.
Like, well I'm, you know, I'mcalling a cop and I should get
one.
Well, I agree I agree theyshould get one.
So if you're a taxpayer and youcall for the services that you
pay for, you should get a policeofficer as quick as possible.
(21:52):
So it's all about, like I saidwe're constantly trying to
improve our system, so somebodyshouldn't have to wait several
hours to get an officer to showup to handle their burglary call
and start the investigation.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
What about manpower too?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
That's the challenge that we have.
I mean, you know it's cliche tosay that we're low in numbers.
We don't have the manpower.
Well, that's why our chiefshave done a really nice job of
coming up with new methods ofhow we can handle the increased
call volume with the lowermanpower.
And so one of the ways thatwe're doing that now is through
we have e-serve and we haveteleserve.
So if it's something where, say, your package that you got from
(22:30):
Amazon came up missing, you cancall in and you can do a
self-report online.
Or you can call and you canspeak with an officer over the
phone, and what that does is nowyou're not having a police
officer show up at the house totake a report you might lose
that officer for 90 minutes ofservice.
That officer can go handlethose more higher priority
complaints in there as opposedto handling the minor stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
So and sometimes it's still getting reported.
It's still getting reportedthere, just like if an officer
was at the house and we'reresponsible about it.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
So so you know there's there's specific
parameters, there's dollaramounts, whether there's a
suspect or no suspect there.
There's a, an order in placethat kind of shows whether
something can go to teleserve ore-serve, and if we can handle
it that way, we will.
But if it's a situation whereit doesn't meet those parameters
, then you'll still get theofficer when we can get one
(23:17):
available?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, we're talking with Sergeant Tom Blake, the
Syracuse Police Department.
This morning you mentioned themeetings in the community, and
how would you describe thecurrent relationship between SPD
and the community?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Well, there's work to be done.
There's definitely work to bedone, but that's part of what I
get to do when I put on mypublic relations hat and do that
.
As a public information officer, I'm in a unique position to go
out there and interact directlywith the public, and earning
public trust is no easy task.
When I do trainings for mediawith both police officers and
(23:58):
with people from the communitywhen they come in, I talk about
this and how we refer to stories, for example, as green dot
stories and red dot stories.
So green dot's like a feel-goodstory, that is, you know, we
might have shop with a cop eventor we might uh, you know, we're
highlighting great work that'sbeing done by police officers
that you just don't see a lot.
(24:19):
So these are green dot storiesand we need to try to emphasize
more of those, because these arethe stories that are untold
skip.
Everybody can go to youtube andfind thousands of examples of
the minority situations wherecops do something wrong.
There's a misstep.
We're humans.
Cops are going to make mistakes.
Most of the time, it's not doneintentionally, but these are
the ones that run over and overand over again the 10, 15, 20
(24:42):
seconds of video clips with anarrative that's slightly
twisted so that somebody can getmore clicks or whatever.
This is what, uh what gets putout there A lot of times.
There's not a lot of emphasison those stories where an
officer stops in the rain tohelp somebody change a tire on
their car.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
You never hear about that.
You don't hear about it.
It happens all the time.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
All the time this work is being done constantly,
Absolutely and, and so part ofmy job is to get that out there
too.
So unfortunately, it's anuphill battle because you can
have 20 of these, what we callgreen dot stories.
These are great, you know,shows the public the great work
that's being done by ourofficers.
But the first time that a reddot story comes in or something
(25:21):
bad happens, it's so hard toovercome.
It takes so much work torebuild that trust and we are
we're public servants.
We're accountable, maybe not tosomebody's feelings, but we're
accountable to be responsiblefor our actions and to hold
ourselves to a higher standard,regardless of the conduct that's
directed towards us, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I will say one thing, however I do work in the media,
but the media is part of theproblem as well.
At times.
And they're only showing.
If we were to watch the news Imean, I watch you every Sunday
morning on channel three andit's cool because I get to hear
what's going on.
But uh, you know, when youwatch the news at night, all it
it shows maybe a police officerwith somebody's leg on
(26:03):
somebody's neck and do it.
But they don't understand.
You know, that's all they'reshowing, and there's a lot more
that's behind that that youdon't see, and there's a reason
for that.
I'm not saying everything isperfect, I get that.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
No.
So the other side of the coinis that piece right there the
media relations.
You have to and this issomething I preach all the time
internally to our members youhave to have a good relationship
with the local news media.
You have to and I give anexample when I'm doing these-
(26:37):
trainings.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I'll show a.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Jackson Pollock painting and I'll tell everybody
to look at it and I'll say whatdoes everybody think of this?
And I give them the opportunityto examine it and I want their
honest feedback what do youthink of this painting?
And I have all sorts of answersthat come back from this on
what they think about it.
And I talk about this is.
This is truth, this is, andsometimes truth is elusive, and
I use this as an example.
So the painting that I use is,I believe it's called, I think
it's called November 5th 1948.
(26:58):
It's a painting by JacksonPollock.
It's sold for $140 million.
Now, to me, when, when I askpeople their opinions, there's a
kaleidoscope of answers, but Itell everybody it looks like a
place mad at McDonald's after mykids are done eating a happy
meal.
I mean, there's red everywhere,yellow, brown, it just looks
like a mess, but somebody lovedit so much they paid $140
(27:21):
million for it.
And so why I use that isbecause to that person, this
thing was the most beautifulthing in the world.
To somebody else it just lookslike trash.
And so, uh, because there's awide range in in in those truths
or beliefs.
As they say, beauty is in theeyes of the beholder, you can
have two very same scenarioswith a completely different
(27:42):
narrative.
There's a lot of subjectivityand headlines, and so if you
don't have a good relationship,if you're not working with your
news media, if you're notunderstanding of their needs,
what they want, if you're notcooperative with them, they're
not going to go to you as thesubject matter expert anymore.
They're going to go to somebodyelse that may be much less
(28:03):
credible.
So it's very, very importantthat you get along with them and
, based upon your relationshipwith them, it could grossly
change the public opinion oroutlook on your department.
And to go to the point that yousaid Skip.
When you have somebody on theground and you're trying to get
them into custody, it neverlooks good.
(28:23):
When you're showing that, it'sterrible.
If I went into a supermarketand had to watch a cow be
slaughtered in order for me tobuy my hamburger.
I probably would never touch itagain.
There are things that peoplejust don't want to see, and the
reality is to overcome force,you have to use at least two
(28:44):
people to exhibit the sameamount of force, or you have to
use a force higher than what theperson is using against you.
It's common sense.
The point of the matter is that, or the fact here and this is a
fact is that if somebodydoesn't want to go into
handcuffs, it is inherentlydifficult to get them to go into
handcuffs.
The arm bars, the pinning tostatic positions, the forcing
(29:08):
the hands behind the back, thedeployment of a taser or
application of a pepper spray, achemical agent it doesn't look
good, it looks terrible.
As a cop between law enforcement, state police and city policing
, I have over 20 years of lawenforcement experience.
I watch these videos.
That's part of my job is to goback through as a sergeant and I
(29:44):
review use forces.
I look at it and to this dayI'm like it's tell you that the
vast majority, almost all ofthem, have met that standard of
being reasonable and necessaryand within the law Excellent.
Excellent With all this that'sgoing on what about mental
health?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I mean day in, day out, what the officers are
subjected to?
Many different variables,everything from the simplest to
the like.
Somebody did something you knowtook their own life.
I mean, that's got to you thinkabout family.
You think about your job.
You think about everything.
Do I really want to do this?
It affects your mental health.
(30:24):
How do you guys handle all that?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So before I speak to this, just to your listeners,
skip.
If anybody out there is dealingwith somebody who maybe just do
you guys handle all that.
So before before I speak tothis, just to the your listener,
skip.
If anybody out there is dealingwith somebody who maybe just
you know, took somebody, knowssomebody just took their life,
maybe they had a family membersuffering with chronic
depression, I can tell you, wewe know and understand what
that's like and we we sympathizewith anybody that is either
(30:47):
lost somebody to suicide or wasgoing through it.
It's no secret that lawenforcement members and military
members have some of thehighest rates of suicide in any
profession.
Yeah, it's, it's no doubt.
I will say that you know.
At least with our agency wehave done a lot.
We have a wellness programthat's in place.
We have a doctor that's onstaff where we can reach out if
(31:10):
we're having these issues.
They have really put a lot ofthings into place and so I think
we're doing a good job.
I think there's always room forimprovement on that, but the
emotional responsibility or theemotional, I guess, sacrifice
that you make, it's a real thingand you have to find an outlet.
(31:31):
I tell everybody that comesthrough the police Academy.
It's one of the first thingsI'm like doing.
20 years of law enforcement.
If you don't find a healthyoutlet, here's the results.
Here's what's likely to happen.
We have one of the highestdivorce rates.
We have one of the highestalcohol abuse rates, and there's
a reason for that.
You have to find a healthycoping mechanism in there.
(31:52):
Skip, nobody.
Nobody calls to say hey, I justwanted to let you know you're
doing a great job.
Today People call becausesomebody hurt a child, somebody
got beat by a loved one orspouse, somebody had something
taken from them, somebody'sstuck somewhere, there's a bad
car accident, there issignificant trauma, we we almost
every time we get called, it'sfor a bad reason.
(32:15):
And so, while it's a greatthing to be able to go and have
a successful outcome and have apositive impact on somebody, you
take on some of that baggage,you take on some of that burden.
And unless you are in a positionwhere you've either served in
the military and have beendeployed or lost a friend
because of a military conflict,or you've been in a position
(32:35):
where and it's not just policeofficers I want to take that
moment and be very clear it'snot just police officers, it's
peace officers, it'sfirefighters, it is emergency
medical people, it isdispatchers.
Can you imagine?
So?
I, so I.
I tell my cops all the timethat you know you have to worry
about you, you have to worryabout your partner.
These dispatchers that aredoing this job, not only are
(32:59):
they worried about everybodythat's logged in and currently
handling calls, they are worriedabout what happens with you.
They are worried about stuffthat they have absolutely no
control over whatsoever.
They take calls and they might.
Maybe it's a, maybe it's a anofficer involved, right, maybe,
maybe somebody took a shot at apolice officer.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
It's happened multiple times, and it wasn't
all day.
Long ago, we witnessed that andbroke everybody's heart Just
everything that happened.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Imagine being on the other side of it where you're
listening to this call go outand you're helpless because
you're trying to communicate andcoordinate event over the radio
but there's nothing you can doand there's pauses in the air
and all this stuff.
So emergency dispatchers aswell are 911 center.
I'm very grateful to what theydo.
They are also giving part ofthemselves that you can't return
(33:46):
.
So because of that, I think nowthere was always a stigma,
always a stigma, specifically, Iknow, with law enforcement,
where we're the ones they'recalling, we can't have any
problems, we're the ones thatare sent there to solve other
people's problems.
I'm okay.
Couldn't be further from thetruth.
And it was, yes, and it wascliche to even say to somebody
hey, are you okay?
(34:07):
That was you.
Don't say that to somebody.
We're tough, we're alpha type,we take control of the situation
.
We need to have commandpresence.
We cannot have problems.
Are you okay?
Are you okay and it's, that'sjust it.
It's simple to do that skip andit and it just.
I would say within the lastfive years specifically, we've
seen a huge shift.
People are starting torecognize that cops suffer too.
(34:30):
We're starting to realize thatmental illness just like going
to a dentist to fill a cavity isvery important.
You have to take care ofyourself.
You have to have some kind ofrelief from all the stress.
Me personally, I play guitar.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Not very well.
That's your outlet, that's myoutlet.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
I don't play it very well.
I always tell everybody aguitar to me is that woman I
love that never loved me back.
There you go.
As I'm talking to you, I'mlooking at a guitar on the wall.
I want to reach up on the wall,take it down and play some
songs.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
You don't want to play that.
It's out of tune.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I can tell you right now, well, it's a stress relief,
I'll take a hard rock song,I'll turn it into a soft song.
I'll take a soft song, I'llturn it into a hard rock song,
just to change it up.
And for me that's that's astress relief.
And I tell these new guyscoming in I said listen, I don't
(35:25):
care what it is, play guitarlike me, do artwork, go out and
do something outside.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Have a hobby.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Have a hobby Work out .
Some people like to do the.
I'm not into it, but peoplelike to do the modeling stuff or
they like to do remote controlcars.
I don't care what it is, teachtheir own.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Find something that brings you happiness, because
the worst thing you could do isturn to alcohol.
It will ruin your marriage,it'll ruin you and might
ultimately cost you your life atsome point.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
No, no, don't do it, and I preach this to these guys,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
It's terrible.
You know, like that song says,they put the bottle to the head
and pulled the trigger.
And that's true.
We see, unfortunately we see alot of people turn to alcohol
and I think for some thatbecomes a natural progression.
Maybe they grew up around it.
I grew up my my father, my realfather, was an alcoholic and I
knew at a young age I don't knowwhat I want to be, but I know I
(36:17):
don't want to be that Exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
How would you?
Um, that didn't mean to cut youoff.
I apologize.
How would you?
Uh, what's the crime rate?
Speaker 2 (36:24):
right now in the queues, it's come down right.
Yes, I am proud to say thatwe've had a reduction in a lot
of this.
We monitor every week and Iwould challenge everybody to do
this.
If you go to the city website,you can click on the Comstat
report, and so every week wepublish a report which is kind
of an overview or a snapshot ofwhat's going on for criminality
(36:48):
within the city that you live in.
You should be informed.
I'll tell you what, skip.
When I was a young guy, I was inthe Air Force, I moved to Oak
Street in the city and I wasignorant to what was going on
around me.
I had no idea of the stuff thatwas going on just a few houses
over.
I was oblivious to it.
So I think to be responsible,be a responsible person, I think
(37:13):
it's important to know what'sgoing on so that you know how to
keep yourself safe and you knowhow to not become the next
victim.
And so I would say reviewComstat reports.
We put it out there.
It has a snapshot of mostly thepart one crimes, the ones that
are reported to the FBI, butit'll show you trends, it'll
show you what's going on in yourneighborhood, and that's part
of my job If I see somethingwhere there's, say, an increase
(37:36):
in stolen vehicles, or I seethat there's larcenies on the
rise within a particular sectionof the city.
That's part of what I do, butwe also have a whole team.
Like, our commanders are inmeetings every single week where
they review this, believe it ornot.
Like they, we are payingattention to what's going on and
we know and, based upon whatwe're learning, we're employing
(37:58):
our resources the best we can.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
You'll be stepping up the trolls in a certain area,
exactly.
Yes, that's good.
Tell me about the shot spotters.
I know they've been around fora little bit I heard Matt
Malinowski talk about it a whileago but are they very effective
?
I know I'm reading saying shotswere fired uh, such and such
street.
Uh is noticed by a shot spot.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Uh, spar sure so yeah , I can tell you so shot spotter
is used throughout the country.
Uh, what?
What it does essentially isit's there are sensors that
typically will sit on top of abuilding.
They'll pick up a sound.
They'll triangulate that soundto find out where it came from.
Once they get that signal, it'ssent out to california where
people listen to it.
(38:39):
So there's a human element.
It's not just it's not just, oh,not know that oh yeah, somebody
reviews it to say, okay, well,is that a car backfiring?
Is that fireworks?
Is that an actual shot?
Right, this is happening almostinstantaneously.
So when a shot is fired andit's picked up by a shot spotter
, it's instantly sent.
Somebody's listening to it,vetting it, to say is this a
legitimate source, is thislikely a gunfire?
(39:04):
And so once that happens, itgets sent out, we get an alert
to our phones so the officersalready know they can head there
ahead of time and get thereeven before the call is getting
dispatched.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
We are, we are aware of it and we're going to.
So it goes across country andthen comes back.
Yes, that's amazing and almostalmost instantaneously it's.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
It's a very quick process and I'll tell you what.
It's remarkable how well itworks.
So when they triangulate it'llgive a confidence factor,
usually within a couple ofmeters, and more often than not
we'll get there and it'll sayhere's your confidence factor,
here's where it's coming out.
We'll get there and find thosespent shell casings in a very
close proximity.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
We're talking about the spot shotter, but let's talk
about fireworks, because I mean, it's been a big issue over the
past few years.
Come summer, look over the city, you're going to see lots of
different fireworks.
Does that affect the shotspotters?
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yes, it does, but just like inflection.
So if I'm talking like this,where it's like talking like
this, like that rise.
Fireworks sound very differentover shot spotters so it's a
little harder to discern duringthe times where you see the most
fireworks out there.
But fireworks are a problem.
There's no question about it.
I'd be lying if I said theyweren't.
It is one of the most commonlyreported.
(40:17):
I would say fireworks and ATVsare probably the two, and
motorbikes right?
Speaker 1 (40:20):
Yes, because I've been going over Geddes Street,
going down through Geddes area,and all of a sudden a couple of
bikes go flying past me.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Yes, yes, yes.
Unfortunately, we see thatquite a bit, and those are two.
As far as quality of lifeconcerns go, those are two of
the biggest ones, and sofireworks still remain a problem
.
We do put out fireworks details, so if you are caught lighting
off fireworks in the street, youwill be arrested.
There's no question about it.
We find you, you will bearrested for it.
So we do have these events comeup.
It still remains a problem,it's still commonly reported and
(40:50):
we have task force, like whatthey're doing, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Gotcha, we've been talking with Sergeant Tom Blake.
A lot of great information thismorning, and is there anything
else you'd like to add?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Well, first and foremost, I'm really happy to be
here.
I really really appreciate thisopportunity.
It's certainly very nice to sitdown with you and, yes, what I
would like to say is that we areseeing numbers increase with
recruiting.
We are getting those numbersback up to where we like them,
but we still have some vacanciesavailable.
If it's something that you'rethinking about at all, I would
(41:20):
challenge you to reach out toone of our recruiters and speak
with them about what we couldoffer you and what you could
offer us, and it doesn't matterwhat your background is.
People automatically think,well, geez, you know, I need to
have a degree in criminaljustice.
That's not true.
Do you know that, skip?
We have people that have a GEDand we have people that have a
PhD.
It is a huge range, and Ibelieve truly that everybody
(41:44):
offers value and everybodyoffers a different perspective.
I love that and, yes, and weneed you.
I don't care if you're an automechanic, I don't care if you
worked at a library.
There's somebody in thisacademy right now that she was
telling me today she is ascientist.
She, uh, she worked in the inthe field of, of, uh, healthcare
science, and now she isbecoming a police officer.
(42:06):
I just think that is super cool.
We have people that are, youknow, which is great.
So, no, I don't know anywhereelse any other profession where
you see people come from otherprofessions who are just
unsatisfied to become lawenforcement officers.
And I'll tell you, it's greatbecause I've got friends now
that are professional roofers.
So you know what, if I need aroof done, guess who I'm calling
?
I got guys that have done HVAC,I got mechanics, you know.
(42:31):
So you, you develop theserelationships and everybody has
something else to offer and it,and I think, uh, throughout
history, at no point do we havea more eclectic, diverse group
of people.
I mean, we have people thathaven't been in this country
very long, their firstgeneration.
I mean, how unique is that tocome?
in and just yeah, and now you're, you're exposed to, to
different cultures, differentbackgrounds, and it just really
I'll tell you some of the someof the best friends that I that
(42:54):
I've had I've met through beinga law enforcement member and it
just, it's uh, it's been supercool.
So, if it's, you know, if, ifyour listeners are listening to
this and they think you know, II've been been kind of toying
with the idea of maybe becominga police officer or checking it
out I can assure you, hand toGod, it is the best profession
in the world, it is, it is.
(43:15):
And they say if, if, you know,if you love what you do, you
never work a day in your life.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
And.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
I, and I won't say that there aren't some bad days,
but I can tell you that thegood days really outweigh the
bad ones and to have thatexperience, you know where you
can go in.
I go in.
I recall a few times in my lifethroughout this journey where I
know that I've made adifference.
When somebody comes back yearslater and thanks you for what
(43:40):
you saw as just a regular call.
I had somebody approach my mom,somebody who suffered with
severe substance abuse.
She went and got clean, she gota great job.
She ran into my mother and whenthey were just happy to be
talking my mother was workingfast food at the time and they
just be happy to talk, talk andand and she goes.
Oh my God, she goes.
I know your son and sheexplained that call.
(44:04):
That was just just another callfor me, but how that call was
handled was it was life changingfor her and for her to go tell
my mom and then have my mom comeback to me.
I felt a sense of pride withthat.
I felt like this is why Ijoined Right, so it's not people
like, oh, I get to, I get todrive faster, I get to do all
this stuff.
I think, by and large, policeofficers join to make the
(44:27):
situation better than it wasbefore they got there, and that
was for me.
I saw a lot of frustrations.
I saw I I didn't like thecriminality that I was seeing.
I did this to to be able to dosomething.
But you know like when you'rein traffic and somebody's going
a hundred by you, they cut youoff, they cut somebody else off,
they almost caused twoaccidents and you're like, hey,
and then they flip you off tohave the ability to be able to,
(44:49):
because I always got frustrated.
I wish I could do something.
I can't do anything about it.
Well, you can.
You know what you can do.
You can come be a policeofficer.
You can experience some of thegreatest things, some of the
funniest things.
Skip, you're going to see stuffthat you just want.
I could write a book when I getdone here.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
I can write a book.
I'm just telling you.
I'm just telling you there issome really wacky crap going on.
I'll tell you, at least there'ssome great conversations.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
It really does, but I'll tell you what I can't think
of another profession that isrewarding as being a police
officer, and I can't think of abetter age, and I mean that
wholeheartedly.
I love Syracuse police.
I know that sounds cliche, butthey took me on, they entrusted
me and I swear allegiance tothem.
I still love my job to this dayand I work with people that I
(45:35):
admire.
I won't say him by name, but ifhe's listening I know he knows
there's one cop in particularthat I just admire him so much
for a number of reasons.
I get to work with him, which Ilove, and I tell other people
that because he trains in theacademy as well.
I tell other people I'm likeyou were fortunate to be able to
sit in this chair and listen,because this guy is humble.
He won't admit that he's one ofthe greatest cops to ever strap
(45:58):
on a badge.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
I love that attitude.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Oh, and he is so humble.
And that's what I findtypically is that the people
that are humble and I find thatthey're most skilled and I just
find it interesting, and and Ifind this particular cop
interesting and and, uh, I telleverybody, if you're, if you're
anything like him, you're goingto be fantastic at this job.
You know, and and and the otherpart, when I get somebody in a
(46:23):
car, I'll drive around the citywith them.
I'll get a new recruit and andI'll one of the first things I
do, skip, I'll pull up to anoverpass and I'll point out to
somebody that's down on theirluck, got to sign up flying
signs, begging for money, and Iwill look at them.
And I'll look at the person inmy passenger seat and I'll say I
want you to look at that personright there.
And I'll make them look overand I'll say remember something
(46:46):
the only difference between youand them is that you made better
choices, and that's it.
You are no better than thatperson and you have the ability
to step into somebody's lifelike that.
You can't help everybody, skip.
You can't help everybody, butyou should try to.
You should try Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
And this job gives you the ability to do that
Quickly before we say goodbye.
What is the?
You're getting more and morefemale officers.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Yes, and I've noticed more black officers, I've
noticed you mentioned a widevariety.
So what is the ratio, forexample, like female to male
minority candidates?
(47:27):
Because that's what the publicwants.
The public wants a police forcethat mirrors the demographics
of the area, and that's, that'ssimple.
And I, you know there's it,does I get it and I don't, but
that's what the public wants.
And so our department has beenvery, very diligent in trying to
attract diversity, trying toget, uh, candidates that we we
(47:49):
didn't have, and sometimes it'sjust people aren't interested in
certain things.
You know, you don't see,unfortunately, you know you
don't see a lot of men beinghairdressers, for example, right
, so so it's sometimes like alot of times, traditionally a
lot of women weren't interestedin law enforcement, but now I
think, like we, the culture haschanged a lot and and women,
some of the some of the bestpolice officers we have are
(48:09):
women police officers.
I admire and I look up to andand uh, the fact, you know, I
don't like to makegeneralizations, but the fact is
, women are generally morepatient with people, they're
more empathetic.
Uh, they, they work very welland in most applications.
And uh, we'll take as many aswe can get and you're right and
in recent time, like we arereally really pushing hard.
(48:30):
So, if you're thinking about itlike and and you know we've
highlighted some storiesrecently where people have come
from from impoverished areas,poor areas, and they grew up in
undesirable parts of the cityand maybe before they were
afraid of becoming a cop ormaybe they felt like they
wouldn't be embraced by thatsame community.
If they came over and and someof these cops it's true, when
(48:52):
they get on the road they dothey kind of get a little
backlash from from the people,but you know what?
That is another opportunity forthem to change.
Sometimes all it is skip isit's it's it's a perception,
it's it's information, it iseducation.
And when they get exposed tothis, then other kids say you
know what?
I don't want to be like this guyover here that has a flashy car
(49:16):
but probably going to prisonmay lose their life.
I want to be like this guy.
I want to be like the guy who,who went against the odds, who
went against popular opinion andbecame a police officer.
I want to be this person.
So that's who we should begoing after.
We should be going after peoplethat live in the city, that are
willing to step up andrepresent their community in a
(49:36):
different way and just impactsome, some, some real change
quickly on govnet.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Yes Dot net right yeah On govnet where they can
find all the information aboutthe SPD.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
Yeah, so yep, so we have uh.
So we also have join spdorg soyou can go to.
You can go to either one, Uh,so if you go to the website for
the County, it'll bring you tothe exam information.
It'll tell you like the police,salary and stuff like that.
But, uh, you can go to ourwebsite, just type in join SPD,
hit enter.
It'll bring you right to thewebsite.
It'll tell you our, it'll tellyou our hours.
(50:09):
We have a great schedule, Skip,we just went to this new
schedule.
Never have we had more time off.
It is an awesome schedule,awesome benefits.
We have some of the best healthinsurance out there.
There you go.
The pay is very good and sky'sthe limit if you want to put the
time in.
But again, the pay is great.
But the personal satisfactionis greater than the pay that you
pay Again.
Speaker 1 (50:29):
Thank you for being here Just hanging out having a
conversation.
Sergeant Tom Blake, we watchfor you on Sunday mornings on
CNY Central.
Always good information and ifyou're not there, the big guy's
in.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
Traditionally it's Chief Cecil.
I just fit in when I just fillin for him.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
So when he can't make it, it's like I'm the runner.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
I'm the B squad.
I don't uh he, he does a muchbetter job than I do.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
I'm just happy to step in when he can't makes it
well.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Thank you, thank you, uh, yeah, it's uh I I'm happy
to do it.
I'm very, uh, very thankfulthat you brought me on today and
if, uh, if, you ever need me tocome in again, I'm more more
than happy to be your lunch.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
So I you know what you're right.
No, I, yes, I do, yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
I would never take that from you or any officer for
what you do.
Well, I tried to tell you no.
You wouldn't take no for ananswer.
But, at some point.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
I'm going to do just that Return the favor, sergeant
Tom Blake, and if you're theleast bit interested, at least
check it out.
Go to ongovnet or.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
Google type join SPD.
There you go, click on the linkand it'll bring you to it.
In fact, from our website, youcan drop in and request to speak
with a recruiter.
They'll get ahold of you.
Or again, I'm, I'm out there,I'm around, contact me.
I'll be happy to tell you allabout everything that SBD has to
offer you.
On a stop sign, you might needtime.
There you go.
That's a quick way to do it andyou don't have to schedule.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Just kidding.
Just kidding.
Thanks for joining us, sergeantTom Blake.
Thank you for being here today.
Skip, thank you so much Iappreciate it.
and check to you too, too.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This way I can monitor your level you good, I'm
good, well you can watch thecamera, you can look.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Just we're having a conversation, hey, you know,
kind of, come on, you do the tvthing usually they have some.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
The reporters like to give me a picture just look
right here in my eyes I'm like,okay, yeah, easier said than
done though sometimes.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Yeah, all right, coming to you in three, two, one
.
Hello everybody.
It is skip clark and I am livefrom the inner harbor media
studios at the beautifulsyracuse inner harbor,
overlooking the harbor, ofcourse, on a on a beautiful day,
start to a Sunday, and you knowwhat With me today.
You may see him.
I know he does a segment on CNYCentral, but Sergeant Tom Blake
(00:52):
is with me, not only a policeofficer, but you handle the
media side of it plus you do themedical side of it plus you.
Just there's so much that youdo.
How are you?
I'm great.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I hope you're well.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
It's great to be here with you finally, after all
this time, I know the truth tothe matter is we've been going
back and forth with texts andemails and I've been trying to
get you in and get you on,because there's a lot of
important things we talk about.
But the moment we met, all of asudden, it just opened up a
whole new door that we knew alot of people in common and I
(01:30):
hope, if you're watching this,that you would do this as well
that when you see a policeofficer which was the case with
me, with Tom he was in linegrabbing a sandwich, working his
day, you know, the day shift,whatever that is pulled up, got
in line, he was ahead of me andI said, no, no, sir, I'm going
to buy you your lunch and I wantto say thank you for doing what
you're doing.
And then we started thatconversation and you know now
here we are.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So you were very persistent.
You would not take no for ananswer.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
No, no, absolutely Well.
You know what you do is.
You know being on the streetsevery day and we all know how
the world is changing.
It's so very dangerous and Iwouldn't be able to do a lot of
what I do here with the radiostations if it wasn't for
individuals like you whetherit's the city, county, town, the
police officers all deservejust a nice round of applause, a
(02:14):
lot of credit for what you do.
So I appreciate this.
But we do want to talk aboutSPD a little bit, recruitment,
and we'll talk about you just abit.
Can you walk me through yourjourney?
You became a sergeant, but tellme about that journey.
How did you start?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
When did you start?
And now being sergeant?
Sure, well, I started at a veryyoung age.
So growing up, my stepfatherwas a police officer out in the
Mohawk Valley area, and so it'ssomething that I kind of always
had in the back of my mind asgrowing up, I got very
interested in the medical partas well.
Like first responders as awhole was always intriguing to
me, but specifically I reallyliked the medical stuff.
(02:55):
So I became an EMT.
And then, after becoming an EMT,I decided maybe I wanted to
follow in my stepfather'sfootsteps and become a police
officer.
So to do that, I ended upjoining the air force and the
only job they had open at thetime was was military, police or
security forces.
So I went through that routeand did that.
And then, uh, uh, you know whenI, when I got done, I kind of
(03:17):
gave up the idea of being anurse.
I'm like you know what I can do, I can do this instead.
Uh, let me go be a cop.
So I ended up becoming atrooper in the wonderful state
of South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Really, I had no idea .
You never told me that yeah, Iwas a trooper.
How long were?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
you, yeah, how long.
A little over three years I wasstationed in York County, which
, if anybody's been down toCharlotte and drove south, you
drive right into York County,south Carolina, right there near
the Carowinds Amusement ParkNow where are?
You from, though?
Are you from here?
I am from a small town way upon the northern border, malone,
new York.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Okay, well, yeah, that's a little bit of a drive
it's way up there.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
You probably haven't heard of it unless you watch
that documentary about the.
Either you watch thedocumentary about the prison
break there out of Denimora oryou are a lover of glazier hot
dogs those are the two claims ofclaim that.
Uh, one's good, one's bad, yeahyeah, I'm not sure which one's
which yeah, I know exactly, butI'm being a trooper.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
How did, how did all that come about?
Yeah, because you're frommalone and now you're like south
right, right.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
How did I get down to south carolina exactly so?
Uh so my ex at the time she wasmoving to research triangle
park, and so I went down aheadof time, knowing that she was
going to move down there.
And I got a.
I got got a job, startedapplying for police jobs and
South Carolina was the firstplace to hire me.
And right about the time that Iwas getting off FTO, my ex had
(04:38):
taken a teaching job at SU anddecided she was no longer moving
south.
So, lo and behold, I came uphere and started looking for
jobs.
Very quickly and, fortunatelyfor me, syracuse Police
Department became my new homeand I've been there now for
about 16 years.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
That's pretty old, wow, 16.
So for 20 and out, I know Iknow We'll talk about that in a
little bit because I want totalk about recruitment- yes, and
I love SPD.
So you do, I know, and you gota great, your chief, I mean best
, the best I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So yeah, I have a lot of admiration for.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, let's let's talk about some of the biggest
challenges facing policerecruitment today, especially
right here in.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Syracuse.
Sure, well, there's a lot ofchallenges, right.
So you know, when I came on andthey would have information
sessions you'd have wouldn't beuncommon to have four or five,
six hundred people show up forthese, where you would come in
and get exposed to what it isthat you'd be doing once you got
on the job.
And you know, the last 10 yearsor so, I think, generally
(05:38):
there's been some negativepublicity on the law enforcement
career field and so because ofthat, we're getting a lot less
people that are coming forth andbeing interested in doing this
as a profession.
So those numbers where you usedto see four or 500 people show
up, we're down to very lownumbers, less than a hundred,
and so that's your candidate.
You know your candidate poolNow people sitting for the test.
(06:00):
The numbers have gone downconsiderably.
We are starting to see a trendwhere they are starting to come
back up, so we're very hopeful.
Slowly, though Slowly, yeah.
So our recent academy sizeshave been as small as 10 people.
This one that we have in rightnow, I believe there's 22 people
currently in the police academy.
I was with them this morningtraining them on first aid and
(06:22):
medical topics, and so that'sencouraging to see those numbers
start to come back the otherway.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
It is what is.
For example, you were out therethis morning like what is the
age?
How does that vary?
Are you get some that are like19, 20 and others that have
decided you know, I'm done withthis career and I want to be a
police officer.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned that.
So I went around the room todayand talked with the recruits
that are in the academy and andthe youngest one in the academy
is is 20 and a half.
So when he graduates the policeacademy, he won't be old enough
to to take on a beer at thatpoint, uh.
And then there's somebody inthe class that's uh in his
forties as well so he's.
(07:01):
he's going to be a member of thepolice force out at the airport
, but he's in his 40s and he'sdone a career change.
So interesting group.
It's an eclectic group with anage range spanning over 20 years
.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
So how has the Syracuse police adapted to their
approach to attracting youngerand more diverse candidates?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So I think you have to kind of get a multifaceted
approach.
We realized that we weren'tgetting the same number of had.
We've had somebody leave to godo landscaping.
We've had somebody leave to godo automobile repair.
(07:50):
We have another one that wentinto auto sales.
So people were leaving forreasons that you just didn't see
prior to five years ago.
Traditionally, when somebodygot into law enforcement, they
were in there for at the veryleast 20 years.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, and the same thing with fire.
I mean, you know, my brotherwas with the fire department in
the city, for he retired alittle over 20 years he had put
in.
But you're right though, a lotof these guys are like just
leaving.
Is it because of theenvironment, is it because of
what's going on in the world?
And they're a little afraid Imean just being realistic about
(08:23):
it to be out there in thestreets and kind of like in the
wide open.
I mean, I think about that allthe time.
I've got nephews that arepolice officers down South, by
the way, and I just pray everyday that they're safe.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Oh, no doubt.
I think there's additionalchallenges that you didn't face
even 10 years ago.
You're dealing with acompletely different dynamic.
I would say now that the pathto the right answer on how to
handle any particular call is asnarrow as it has ever been.
You know, if you get there tooquick, you're doing too much,
you're overzealous.
(08:58):
If you don't get there quickenough, then you're lazy, you're
unmotivated, you're doingsomething else, then you're lazy
, you're unmotivated, you'redoing something else.
So there's the, thesatisfaction level, I think, for
the, the police officer that'sdoing this job.
Now it's it's.
It's not what it used to be.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Gotcha, what would you say to somebody that, let's
say, they come up to you and sayyou know, I want to be a police
officer.
Why should I be a policeofficer?
What would you tell that person?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
It is literally the greatest job on the planet.
That's what I would tell them.
I don't know anywhere elsewhere you can go and get exposed
to so many different things.
Take, for example, my careerpath.
I used to be a trooper, which Ithought was great.
I had never done thetraditional style of policing,
so I came here and I had tolearn a whole new way of doing
things.
But I have never been at a jobwhere I can get exposed to so
(09:48):
many things.
Throughout my career I've workedas a medic.
I have worked in schools withthe kids.
I've worked community events.
I'm currently working inaddition to my patrol duties.
I'm working in public relations.
I've done, for a short periodof time, did investigations.
I've done pretty mucheverything that there is to do
and no two things are the sameand really rarely are any two
(10:10):
days the same, coming fromdifferent lines of work.
The other work to me wasmonotonous.
Doing the same task over andover again just never appealed
to me.
In law enforcement you have theopportunity to do so many
different.
Every day is different at ahundred percent.
Every, every call is different,every interaction is different
and and really I I found a greathome in this, this new role
(10:33):
that I took on in publicrelations.
It really gives me theopportunity to go out there and
engage people in conversationsand not maybe not necessarily
change their mindset on how lawenforcement is, but give them
something to at least thinkabout, something to take with
them and go.
You know what?
That guy's all right, andpeople that I interact with that
are looking for something new.
(10:54):
Maybe they work in an officeand they're just unsatisfied
with their role.
I tell them visit our website,come see what we have to offer.
Come out to Citizens Academyand check that out.
Request to do a ride along.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I was just going to ask you you still do the ride
alongs.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
We do.
Officer Jackson handles theride alongs and I would
encourage anybody that'sinterested in doing it to reach
out.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Let me know, are you on the road at all?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, no, I'm still assigned a day shift patrol.
I work six in the morning untilfour at night, in addition to
the Lake and Clark road patrol.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
That would be awesome .
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I think there wouldn't be any crime within a
within no no sleep on thepassenger side.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I thought you said this is going to be interesting.
No, you know, it's funny to saythat my, my son, Carter.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
He went to school, for he wanted to be a robotics
engineer.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Oh, very cool, but he wanted to go out to like RIT,
out to like rit, you know hewanted to go.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
So I'm thinking, oh boy, that's like 30 000 a
semester, yeah.
And so he was headed on thatpath and he goes, daddy goes.
Can I do a ride along with you?
And I'm like sure, son, if youwant, I'm like come on out.
At the time I was assigned tomidnights and I think we were in
the car about 20 minutes andarmed robbery went out.
In fact, steps from where weare now right over on genesee
street.
Oh wow, the suspects took, tookoff running and I, I told
(12:04):
carter, I said we're up on thenorth side.
I said if we cut across vanbranselier, I said we're gonna
run right into that suspect.
Sure enough, we pull up, getthe guy, get him on the ground,
get him in custody.
Successful arrest on a on arobbery that just went out.
My son was enthralled.
He dropped the idea of going torobotics engineering.
He's like I want to be a copand uh.
(12:25):
So he completely changed hispath and in the end he he saved
me about thirty thousand dollarsa semester.
He ended up going to courtlandand playing rugby and doing all
that stuff and I'm still waitingfor him to come on here with us
.
But it's something I put in hisear all the time so he's
considering it, it just hasn'tactually made very, very
seriously considering.
And he'd make a.
He'd make a fantastic.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Are there any incentives for new officers?
Or let's say, somebody'sworking in one of the town
agencies and do you guys throwan incentive out there and say,
hey, if you want to transfer tothe city, you get so much Like I
I know it was a while ago itwas like 4,000 or something.
You get a little bonus orsomething like that, but do you
guys still offer that for other?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I would.
I would argue that theincentive is personal
satisfaction.
I would tell anybody it's.
You can institute a impactfulchange in urban policing.
I think it gives you, itaffords you, an opportunity that
you don't get in other agencies.
You are exposed to so much hereand our agency is just big
enough to where everybody stillknows you, but it's also not so
(13:27):
small that you don't get theopportunity to to explore other
areas of interest.
So there is that Now.
That said, if you are a lawenforcement officer in the
central New York area and you'reinterested in coming to us, yes
, we have a very attractivelateral program incentive in
place.
It's a as last checked it wasabout $20,000 for coming over to
us, which is great, and themoney here is good, but the job
(13:51):
satisfaction you get is secondto none.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Can you tell us you don't have to say exactly, but
what's the pay range to become acity police officer?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So an officer with five years on the job is base
salaries making around $80,000 ayear.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, excellent, and you just build from there.
Oh, there's a plus, there'sovertime.
I mean you have a lot ofdifferent things going on.
You and I have hung out atdifferent events.
You've been working at theevent, so have I, and you know
those little things as well.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Oh for sure.
Yeah, If you, if you want toput the time in and work several
hours, you can definitely makemoney to have a very comfortable
living here.
There's no question.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
There you go.
What is it?
So somebody out of the bluewants to become a cop.
What is the procedure?
What does he do first and then?
How does all that come about?
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
First, internalize it .
Make sure this is what you wantto do.
Make sure that you've thoughtabout the good, the bad, the
indifferent.
Once you've done that, I wouldsay you probably do a ride along
, Talk to a couple of policeofficers you've been on for a
little while Explore all theagencies and see which one's
going to be a best fit for yourpersonality.
After you do that, go toongovnet, Click on exam
(15:02):
information.
Sign up for the examnotifications.
They offer them about twice ayear.
When you sign up for thenotification they'll send you an
email.
You sign up for the test.
You go, take the test.
Now you're on the civil servicelist.
When you're on that civilservice list, you can be hired
by any of the agencies in andaround Onondaga County.
And then, once you arecanvassed, you go in for an
information session.
You'll meet with a backgroundinvestigator.
(15:23):
After you meet with thebackground investigator, you'll
fill out a packet.
You return that to thedepartment.
They'll begin a backgroundinvestigation which I will say
is pretty intrusive, a littlebit of an uncomfortable
situation, but it has to be.
I mean, we want to make surethat we're attracting the best
candidates and these people aregoing to be entrusted to enforce
the laws of the state of NewYork.
They're going to be entrustedwith an awesome responsibility
(15:46):
and that's not given out lightly.
We have to make sure that we'regetting good high quality
candidates?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, no doubt about that.
Can you talk about how?
Training, because you said youwere there this morning, but can
you talk to me about howtraining has changed in the
recent years?
Are there new emphasis on uh,you know, de-escalation?
Thank you, absolutely, there is, yeah and community interaction
.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
So I'll be honest with you.
You know, going back probablysix or seven years ago, there
was a huge first you had todefund the police movement.
They've proven throughout thecountry that that is not a good
move, right, that just simplydoesn't work.
I don't care what environmentyou're in.
They've proven time and timeagain.
We've seen it all over the newswith the autonomous zones and
so on.
You see what happens exactly, itdoesn't last 12 hours and
(16:33):
somebody's getting killed right.
So, uh, they've proven thatdoesn't work.
Now they have instituted apolice reform, which I'll tell
you what some of the stuffthat's came out of it is great.
Some of the way that we weredoing law enforcement as a
practice were archaic and neededto be changed.
So I think, by and large, eventhe most salty of a police
(16:54):
officer with years of experienceat least understood the change
and welcome some of it.
It's hard to get an older cop toreally change a whole lot.
Police officers just don't likechange.
That's that's you dog, so tospeak, and teach them new tricks
.
It's very difficult, yes, yes,you cannot take an old dog and
have them jump through a hoop.
It's difficult.
So, uh, but at the same time,it was given to us, whether
(17:15):
whether we liked it or not, andwe had to.
We had to do this new style ofpolicing.
Now, as folks come on, theyknow this new system and that
becomes the culture, thatbecomes their norm.
That's all they know.
They don't know the old styleof policing, which is great.
And so, as time goes on, you'regoing to see these changes that
were, that were put in place,implemented, and you're going to
(17:38):
see how they play out, and someof it's good, some of it's bad,
and so I think I think if youdon't make change as you
progress through any kind ofprofession, you're wrong.
If you want to improvesomething, improvement requires
change.
If you don't change, somebodyelse will.
It happens across the board.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
It's in any business Where's?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Kmart today, exactly it's gone.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Gone.
But here's a radio stationwhere we're sitting right here
and there's change every dayTechnology and all that.
If you don't keep up with thechanges, you lose.
Oh, you're, okay, you're in thedark.
Can you um explain a little bitabout a call 9-1-1 to report
something.
They take down all theinformation, they get a hold of
(18:19):
the police.
Why is it and this is notagainst anything or anybody just
don't understand how it works.
Sometime, maybe some of theviewers, some of the listeners
don't understand that you maynot get a police officer right
away.
You may not, you know,depending on the call.
Is that correct to say,depending on you know?
While you got to this guywalking down the street and he
(18:39):
looks a little strange, you maynot get a car right away because
they prioritize things right.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah.
So how it works is and a lot offolks probably don't know this
because I didn't know it until Istarted working in law
enforcement so when you call upin and they're the ones that
actually dispatch it, so asthese calls come in, they're put
(19:13):
into a tiered system.
You have priority one, two andthree.
So anything that's a priority,one that's going to be armed
robbery, that's going to be aphysical, domestic, it's going
to be a shooting, it's going tobe a stabbing, it's going to be
something that requires policedo immediate response.
We don't wait, we immediatelygo, regardless of the territory
Somebody's going to it.
So when that call comes in asthe person is on the phone
(19:37):
communicating the problem to 911, the dispatcher is on another
part they are dispatching thatover the air and they're getting
that information real time.
So what that does it's not it'snot a call taker taking a bunch
of information and transferringit to somebody else.
It's a completely efficientsystem.
You're bringing in somethingand you're immediately putting
it out through the means ofanother person.
So it's great because as soonas that call comes in, it'll pop
(20:00):
as a priority.
One say it's a shooting.
The dispatcher's putting out,requesting units, giving the
address giving the informationalmost as it's popping up on the
screen.
Call taker is entering thatinformation, Dispatcher's
putting it out, Somebody's onthe way and you're still on the
phone.
That's it.
You might not even be finishedtelling them, and we're pretty
close to getting there Could bepulling up.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Then you have other levels, so that's a priority one
call.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
A priority two call might be if you had a burglary
at the house, maybe you've beenin and you realize that there's
nobody there, but you wereburglarized.
Maybe it could be somethinglike a serious property
complaint.
It could be another type ofdomestic where maybe there's no
injuries.
So there is any number ofthings that could be put into
that priority one designation orpriority two designation.
(20:43):
So, when it's a priority two.
We're going to try to get thereas quick as we possibly can,
but priority ones come first.
We're going to try to get thereas quick as we possibly can,
but priority ones come first.
So that might be, you know, youmight be up to an hour wait,
maybe something like that, to toget an officer.
And then the tertiary one,priority threes, those are
everything else.
That's a.
There's somebody actingsuspiciously, suspiciously.
There's something in the road,there is a neighbor's dog is
(21:05):
barking.
My neighbor's dog is barking.
My neighbor's dog is barking.
These are all things that willcome into us, that they will get
them when we can, but thosecalls are probably going to.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Well, I'm glad you explained that.
I knew a lot of that already.
But a lot of our viewers,everybody wants, like,
gratification instantly.
They want it all.
Like where's the officer?
I called you know 20 minutesago and there's nobody here.
Well, that explains it.
Yeah, I called you know 20minutes ago and there's nobody
here.
Well, that explains it.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, Obviously they're not the only person
that's having an issue as well,Right, and that's a problem and
I do attend a lot of thesecommunity meetings and that
becomes a point of contention orfrustration.
Like, well I'm, you know, I'mcalling a cop and I should get
one.
Well, I agree I agree theyshould get one.
So if you're a taxpayer and youcall for the services that you
pay for, you should get a policeofficer as quick as possible.
(21:52):
So it's all about, like I saidwe're constantly trying to
improve our system, so somebodyshouldn't have to wait several
hours to get an officer to showup to handle their burglary call
and start the investigation.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
What about manpower too?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
That's the challenge that we have.
I mean, you know it's cliche tosay that we're low in numbers.
We don't have the manpower.
Well, that's why our chiefshave done a really nice job of
coming up with new methods ofhow we can handle the increased
call volume with the lowermanpower.
And so one of the ways thatwe're doing that now is through
we have e-serve and we haveteleserve.
So if it's something where, say, your package that you got from
(22:30):
Amazon came up missing, you cancall in and you can do a
self-report online.
Or you can call and you canspeak with an officer over the
phone, and what that does is nowyou're not having a police
officer show up at the house totake a report you might lose
that officer for 90 minutes ofservice.
That officer can go handlethose more higher priority
complaints in there as opposedto handling the minor stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
So and sometimes it's still getting reported.
It's still getting reportedthere, just like if an officer
was at the house and we'reresponsible about it.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
So so you know there's there's specific
parameters, there's dollaramounts, whether there's a
suspect or no suspect there.
There's a, an order in placethat kind of shows whether
something can go to teleserve ore-serve, and if we can handle
it that way, we will.
But if it's a situation whereit doesn't meet those parameters
, then you'll still get theofficer when we can get one
(23:17):
available?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, we're talking with Sergeant Tom Blake, the
Syracuse Police Department.
This morning you mentioned themeetings in the community, and
how would you describe thecurrent relationship between SPD
and the community?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Well, there's work to be done.
There's definitely work to bedone, but that's part of what I
get to do when I put on mypublic relations hat and do that
.
As a public information officer, I'm in a unique position to go
out there and interact directlywith the public, and earning
public trust is no easy task.
When I do trainings for mediawith both police officers and
(23:58):
with people from the communitywhen they come in, I talk about
this and how we refer to stories, for example, as green dot
stories and red dot stories.
So green dot's like a feel-goodstory, that is, you know, we
might have shop with a cop eventor we might uh, you know, we're
highlighting great work that'sbeing done by police officers
that you just don't see a lot.
(24:19):
So these are green dot storiesand we need to try to emphasize
more of those, because these arethe stories that are untold
skip.
Everybody can go to youtube andfind thousands of examples of
the minority situations wherecops do something wrong.
There's a misstep.
We're humans.
Cops are going to make mistakes.
Most of the time, it's not doneintentionally, but these are
the ones that run over and overand over again the 10, 15, 20
(24:42):
seconds of video clips with anarrative that's slightly
twisted so that somebody can getmore clicks or whatever.
This is what, uh what gets putout there A lot of times.
There's not a lot of emphasison those stories where an
officer stops in the rain tohelp somebody change a tire on
their car.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
You never hear about that.
You don't hear about it.
It happens all the time.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
All the time this work is being done constantly,
Absolutely and, and so part ofmy job is to get that out there
too.
So unfortunately, it's anuphill battle because you can
have 20 of these, what we callgreen dot stories.
These are great, you know,shows the public the great work
that's being done by ourofficers.
But the first time that a reddot story comes in or something
(25:21):
bad happens, it's so hard toovercome.
It takes so much work torebuild that trust and we are
we're public servants.
We're accountable, maybe not tosomebody's feelings, but we're
accountable to be responsiblefor our actions and to hold
ourselves to a higher standard,regardless of the conduct that's
directed towards us, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I will say one thing, however I do work in the media,
but the media is part of theproblem as well.
At times.
And they're only showing.
If we were to watch the news Imean, I watch you every Sunday
morning on channel three andit's cool because I get to hear
what's going on.
But uh, you know, when youwatch the news at night, all it
it shows maybe a police officerwith somebody's leg on
(26:03):
somebody's neck and do it.
But they don't understand.
You know, that's all they'reshowing, and there's a lot more
that's behind that that youdon't see, and there's a reason
for that.
I'm not saying everything isperfect, I get that.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
No.
So the other side of the coinis that piece right there the
media relations.
You have to and this issomething I preach all the time
internally to our members youhave to have a good relationship
with the local news media.
You have to and I give anexample when I'm doing these-
(26:37):
trainings.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I'll show a.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Jackson Pollock painting and I'll tell everybody
to look at it and I'll say whatdoes everybody think of this?
And I give them the opportunityto examine it and I want their
honest feedback what do youthink of this painting?
And I have all sorts of answersthat come back from this on
what they think about it.
And I talk about this is.
This is truth, this is, andsometimes truth is elusive, and
I use this as an example.
So the painting that I use is,I believe it's called, I think
it's called November 5th 1948.
(26:58):
It's a painting by JacksonPollock.
It's sold for $140 million.
Now, to me, when, when I askpeople their opinions, there's a
kaleidoscope of answers, but Itell everybody it looks like a
place mad at McDonald's after mykids are done eating a happy
meal.
I mean, there's red everywhere,yellow, brown, it just looks
like a mess, but somebody lovedit so much they paid $140
(27:21):
million for it.
And so why I use that isbecause to that person, this
thing was the most beautifulthing in the world.
To somebody else it just lookslike trash.
And so, uh, because there's awide range in in in those truths
or beliefs.
As they say, beauty is in theeyes of the beholder, you can
have two very same scenarioswith a completely different
(27:42):
narrative.
There's a lot of subjectivityand headlines, and so if you
don't have a good relationship,if you're not working with your
news media, if you're notunderstanding of their needs,
what they want, if you're notcooperative with them, they're
not going to go to you as thesubject matter expert anymore.
They're going to go to somebodyelse that may be much less
(28:03):
credible.
So it's very, very importantthat you get along with them and
, based upon your relationshipwith them, it could grossly
change the public opinion oroutlook on your department.
And to go to the point that yousaid Skip.
When you have somebody on theground and you're trying to get
them into custody, it neverlooks good.
(28:23):
When you're showing that, it'sterrible.
If I went into a supermarketand had to watch a cow be
slaughtered in order for me tobuy my hamburger.
I probably would never touch itagain.
There are things that peoplejust don't want to see, and the
reality is to overcome force,you have to use at least two
(28:44):
people to exhibit the sameamount of force, or you have to
use a force higher than what theperson is using against you.
It's common sense.
The point of the matter is that, or the fact here and this is a
fact is that if somebodydoesn't want to go into
handcuffs, it is inherentlydifficult to get them to go into
handcuffs.
The arm bars, the pinning tostatic positions, the forcing
(29:08):
the hands behind the back, thedeployment of a taser or
application of a pepper spray, achemical agent it doesn't look
good, it looks terrible.
As a cop between law enforcement, state police and city policing
, I have over 20 years of lawenforcement experience.
I watch these videos.
That's part of my job is to goback through as a sergeant and I
(29:44):
review use forces.
I look at it and to this dayI'm like it's tell you that the
vast majority, almost all ofthem, have met that standard of
being reasonable and necessaryand within the law Excellent.
Excellent With all this that'sgoing on what about mental
health?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I mean day in, day out, what the officers are
subjected to?
Many different variables,everything from the simplest to
the like.
Somebody did something you knowtook their own life.
I mean, that's got to you thinkabout family.
You think about your job.
You think about everything.
Do I really want to do this?
It affects your mental health.
(30:24):
How do you guys handle all that?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So before I speak to this, just to your listeners,
skip.
If anybody out there is dealingwith somebody who maybe just do
you guys handle all that.
So before before I speak tothis, just to the your listener,
skip.
If anybody out there is dealingwith somebody who maybe just
you know, took somebody, knowssomebody just took their life,
maybe they had a family membersuffering with chronic
depression, I can tell you, wewe know and understand what
that's like and we we sympathizewith anybody that is either
(30:47):
lost somebody to suicide or wasgoing through it.
It's no secret that lawenforcement members and military
members have some of thehighest rates of suicide in any
profession.
Yeah, it's, it's no doubt.
I will say that you know.
At least with our agency wehave done a lot.
We have a wellness programthat's in place.
We have a doctor that's onstaff where we can reach out if
(31:10):
we're having these issues.
They have really put a lot ofthings into place and so I think
we're doing a good job.
I think there's always room forimprovement on that, but the
emotional responsibility or theemotional, I guess, sacrifice
that you make, it's a real thingand you have to find an outlet.
(31:31):
I tell everybody that comesthrough the police Academy.
It's one of the first thingsI'm like doing.
20 years of law enforcement.
If you don't find a healthyoutlet, here's the results.
Here's what's likely to happen.
We have one of the highestdivorce rates.
We have one of the highestalcohol abuse rates, and there's
a reason for that.
You have to find a healthycoping mechanism in there.
(31:52):
Skip, nobody.
Nobody calls to say hey, I justwanted to let you know you're
doing a great job.
Today People call becausesomebody hurt a child, somebody
got beat by a loved one orspouse, somebody had something
taken from them, somebody'sstuck somewhere, there's a bad
car accident, there issignificant trauma, we we almost
every time we get called, it'sfor a bad reason.
(32:15):
And so, while it's a greatthing to be able to go and have
a successful outcome and have apositive impact on somebody, you
take on some of that baggage,you take on some of that burden.
And unless you are in a positionwhere you've either served in
the military and have beendeployed or lost a friend
because of a military conflict,or you've been in a position
(32:35):
where and it's not just policeofficers I want to take that
moment and be very clear it'snot just police officers, it's
peace officers, it'sfirefighters, it is emergency
medical people, it isdispatchers.
Can you imagine?
So?
I, so I.
I tell my cops all the timethat you know you have to worry
about you, you have to worryabout your partner.
These dispatchers that aredoing this job, not only are
(32:59):
they worried about everybodythat's logged in and currently
handling calls, they are worriedabout what happens with you.
They are worried about stuffthat they have absolutely no
control over whatsoever.
They take calls and they might.
Maybe it's a, maybe it's a anofficer involved, right, maybe,
maybe somebody took a shot at apolice officer.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
It's happened multiple times, and it wasn't
all day.
Long ago, we witnessed that andbroke everybody's heart Just
everything that happened.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Imagine being on the other side of it where you're
listening to this call go outand you're helpless because
you're trying to communicate andcoordinate event over the radio
but there's nothing you can doand there's pauses in the air
and all this stuff.
So emergency dispatchers aswell are 911 center.
I'm very grateful to what theydo.
They are also giving part ofthemselves that you can't return
(33:46):
.
So because of that, I think nowthere was always a stigma,
always a stigma, specifically, Iknow, with law enforcement,
where we're the ones they'recalling, we can't have any
problems, we're the ones thatare sent there to solve other
people's problems.
I'm okay.
Couldn't be further from thetruth.
And it was, yes, and it wascliche to even say to somebody
hey, are you okay?
(34:07):
That was you.
Don't say that to somebody.
We're tough, we're alpha type,we take control of the situation
.
We need to have commandpresence.
We cannot have problems.
Are you okay?
Are you okay and it's, that'sjust it.
It's simple to do that skip andit and it just.
I would say within the lastfive years specifically, we've
seen a huge shift.
People are starting torecognize that cops suffer too.
(34:30):
We're starting to realize thatmental illness just like going
to a dentist to fill a cavity isvery important.
You have to take care ofyourself.
You have to have some kind ofrelief from all the stress.
Me personally, I play guitar.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Not very well.
That's your outlet, that's myoutlet.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
I don't play it very well.
I always tell everybody aguitar to me is that woman I
love that never loved me back.
There you go.
As I'm talking to you, I'mlooking at a guitar on the wall.
I want to reach up on the wall,take it down and play some
songs.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
You don't want to play that.
It's out of tune.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I can tell you right now, well, it's a stress relief,
I'll take a hard rock song,I'll turn it into a soft song.
I'll take a soft song, I'llturn it into a hard rock song,
just to change it up.
And for me that's that's astress relief.
And I tell these new guyscoming in I said listen, I don't
(35:25):
care what it is, play guitarlike me, do artwork, go out and
do something outside.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Have a hobby.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Have a hobby Work out .
Some people like to do the.
I'm not into it, but peoplelike to do the modeling stuff or
they like to do remote controlcars.
I don't care what it is, teachtheir own.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Find something that brings you happiness, because
the worst thing you could do isturn to alcohol.
It will ruin your marriage,it'll ruin you and might
ultimately cost you your life atsome point.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
No, no, don't do it, and I preach this to these guys,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
It's terrible.
You know, like that song says,they put the bottle to the head
and pulled the trigger.
And that's true.
We see, unfortunately we see alot of people turn to alcohol
and I think for some thatbecomes a natural progression.
Maybe they grew up around it.
I grew up my my father, my realfather, was an alcoholic and I
knew at a young age I don't knowwhat I want to be, but I know I
(36:17):
don't want to be that Exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
How would you?
Um, that didn't mean to cut youoff.
I apologize.
How would you?
Uh, what's the crime rate?
Speaker 2 (36:24):
right now in the queues, it's come down right.
Yes, I am proud to say thatwe've had a reduction in a lot
of this.
We monitor every week and Iwould challenge everybody to do
this.
If you go to the city website,you can click on the Comstat
report, and so every week wepublish a report which is kind
of an overview or a snapshot ofwhat's going on for criminality
(36:48):
within the city that you live in.
You should be informed.
I'll tell you what, skip.
When I was a young guy, I was inthe Air Force, I moved to Oak
Street in the city and I wasignorant to what was going on
around me.
I had no idea of the stuff thatwas going on just a few houses
over.
I was oblivious to it.
So I think to be responsible,be a responsible person, I think
(37:13):
it's important to know what'sgoing on so that you know how to
keep yourself safe and you knowhow to not become the next
victim.
And so I would say reviewComstat reports.
We put it out there.
It has a snapshot of mostly thepart one crimes, the ones that
are reported to the FBI, butit'll show you trends, it'll
show you what's going on in yourneighborhood, and that's part
of my job If I see somethingwhere there's, say, an increase
(37:36):
in stolen vehicles, or I seethat there's larcenies on the
rise within a particular sectionof the city.
That's part of what I do, butwe also have a whole team.
Like, our commanders are inmeetings every single week where
they review this, believe it ornot.
Like they, we are payingattention to what's going on and
we know and, based upon whatwe're learning, we're employing
(37:58):
our resources the best we can.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
You'll be stepping up the trolls in a certain area,
exactly.
Yes, that's good.
Tell me about the shot spotters.
I know they've been around fora little bit I heard Matt
Malinowski talk about it a whileago but are they very effective
?
I know I'm reading saying shotswere fired uh, such and such
street.
Uh is noticed by a shot spot.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Uh, spar sure so yeah , I can tell you so shot spotter
is used throughout the country.
Uh, what?
What it does essentially isit's there are sensors that
typically will sit on top of abuilding.
They'll pick up a sound.
They'll triangulate that soundto find out where it came from.
Once they get that signal, it'ssent out to california where
people listen to it.
(38:39):
So there's a human element.
It's not just it's not just, oh,not know that oh yeah, somebody
reviews it to say, okay, well,is that a car backfiring?
Is that fireworks?
Is that an actual shot?
Right, this is happening almostinstantaneously.
So when a shot is fired andit's picked up by a shot spotter
, it's instantly sent.
Somebody's listening to it,vetting it, to say is this a
legitimate source, is thislikely a gunfire?
(39:04):
And so once that happens, itgets sent out, we get an alert
to our phones so the officersalready know they can head there
ahead of time and get thereeven before the call is getting
dispatched.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
We are, we are aware of it and we're going to.
So it goes across country andthen comes back.
Yes, that's amazing and almostalmost instantaneously it's.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
It's a very quick process and I'll tell you what.
It's remarkable how well itworks.
So when they triangulate it'llgive a confidence factor,
usually within a couple ofmeters, and more often than not
we'll get there and it'll sayhere's your confidence factor,
here's where it's coming out.
We'll get there and find thosespent shell casings in a very
close proximity.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
We're talking about the spot shotter, but let's talk
about fireworks, because I mean, it's been a big issue over the
past few years.
Come summer, look over the city, you're going to see lots of
different fireworks.
Does that affect the shotspotters?
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yes, it does, but just like inflection.
So if I'm talking like this,where it's like talking like
this, like that rise.
Fireworks sound very differentover shot spotters so it's a
little harder to discern duringthe times where you see the most
fireworks out there.
But fireworks are a problem.
There's no question about it.
I'd be lying if I said theyweren't.
It is one of the most commonlyreported.
(40:17):
I would say fireworks and ATVsare probably the two, and
motorbikes right?
Speaker 1 (40:20):
Yes, because I've been going over Geddes Street,
going down through Geddes area,and all of a sudden a couple of
bikes go flying past me.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Yes, yes, yes.
Unfortunately, we see thatquite a bit, and those are two.
As far as quality of lifeconcerns go, those are two of
the biggest ones, and sofireworks still remain a problem
.
We do put out fireworks details, so if you are caught lighting
off fireworks in the street, youwill be arrested.
There's no question about it.
We find you, you will bearrested for it.
So we do have these events comeup.
It still remains a problem,it's still commonly reported and
(40:50):
we have task force, like whatthey're doing, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Gotcha, we've been talking with Sergeant Tom Blake.
A lot of great information thismorning, and is there anything
else you'd like to add?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Well, first and foremost, I'm really happy to be
here.
I really really appreciate thisopportunity.
It's certainly very nice to sitdown with you and, yes, what I
would like to say is that we areseeing numbers increase with
recruiting.
We are getting those numbersback up to where we like them,
but we still have some vacanciesavailable.
If it's something that you'rethinking about at all, I would
(41:20):
challenge you to reach out toone of our recruiters and speak
with them about what we couldoffer you and what you could
offer us, and it doesn't matterwhat your background is.
People automatically think,well, geez, you know, I need to
have a degree in criminaljustice.
That's not true.
Do you know that, skip?
We have people that have a GEDand we have people that have a
PhD.
It is a huge range, and Ibelieve truly that everybody
(41:44):
offers value and everybodyoffers a different perspective.
I love that and, yes, and weneed you.
I don't care if you're an automechanic, I don't care if you
worked at a library.
There's somebody in thisacademy right now that she was
telling me today she is ascientist.
She, uh, she worked in the inthe field of, of, uh, healthcare
science, and now she isbecoming a police officer.
(42:06):
I just think that is super cool.
We have people that are, youknow, which is great.
So, no, I don't know anywhereelse any other profession where
you see people come from otherprofessions who are just
unsatisfied to become lawenforcement officers.
And I'll tell you, it's greatbecause I've got friends now
that are professional roofers.
So you know what, if I need aroof done, guess who I'm calling
?
I got guys that have done HVAC,I got mechanics, you know.
(42:31):
So you, you develop theserelationships and everybody has
something else to offer and it,and I think, uh, throughout
history, at no point do we havea more eclectic, diverse group
of people.
I mean, we have people thathaven't been in this country
very long, their firstgeneration.
I mean, how unique is that tocome?
in and just yeah, and now you're, you're exposed to, to
different cultures, differentbackgrounds, and it just really
I'll tell you some of the someof the best friends that I that
(42:54):
I've had I've met through beinga law enforcement member and it
just, it's uh, it's been supercool.
So, if it's, you know, if, ifyour listeners are listening to
this and they think you know, II've been been kind of toying
with the idea of maybe becominga police officer or checking it
out I can assure you, hand toGod, it is the best profession
in the world, it is, it is.
(43:15):
And they say if, if, you know,if you love what you do, you
never work a day in your life.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
And.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
I, and I won't say that there aren't some bad days,
but I can tell you that thegood days really outweigh the
bad ones and to have thatexperience, you know where you
can go in.
I go in.
I recall a few times in my lifethroughout this journey where I
know that I've made adifference.
When somebody comes back yearslater and thanks you for what
(43:40):
you saw as just a regular call.
I had somebody approach my mom,somebody who suffered with
severe substance abuse.
She went and got clean, she gota great job.
She ran into my mother and whenthey were just happy to be
talking my mother was workingfast food at the time and they
just be happy to talk, talk andand and she goes.
Oh my God, she goes.
I know your son and sheexplained that call.
(44:04):
That was just just another callfor me, but how that call was
handled was it was life changingfor her and for her to go tell
my mom and then have my mom comeback to me.
I felt a sense of pride withthat.
I felt like this is why Ijoined Right, so it's not people
like, oh, I get to, I get todrive faster, I get to do all
this stuff.
I think, by and large, policeofficers join to make the
(44:27):
situation better than it wasbefore they got there, and that
was for me.
I saw a lot of frustrations.
I saw I I didn't like thecriminality that I was seeing.
I did this to to be able to dosomething.
But you know like when you'rein traffic and somebody's going
a hundred by you, they cut youoff, they cut somebody else off,
they almost caused twoaccidents and you're like, hey,
and then they flip you off tohave the ability to be able to,
(44:49):
because I always got frustrated.
I wish I could do something.
I can't do anything about it.
Well, you can.
You know what you can do.
You can come be a policeofficer.
You can experience some of thegreatest things, some of the
funniest things.
Skip, you're going to see stuffthat you just want.
I could write a book when I getdone here.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
I can write a book.
I'm just telling you.
I'm just telling you there issome really wacky crap going on.
I'll tell you, at least there'ssome great conversations.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
It really does, but I'll tell you what I can't think
of another profession that isrewarding as being a police
officer, and I can't think of abetter age, and I mean that
wholeheartedly.
I love Syracuse police.
I know that sounds cliche, butthey took me on, they entrusted
me and I swear allegiance tothem.
I still love my job to this dayand I work with people that I
(45:35):
admire.
I won't say him by name, but ifhe's listening I know he knows
there's one cop in particularthat I just admire him so much
for a number of reasons.
I get to work with him, which Ilove, and I tell other people
that because he trains in theacademy as well.
I tell other people I'm likeyou were fortunate to be able to
sit in this chair and listen,because this guy is humble.
He won't admit that he's one ofthe greatest cops to ever strap
(45:58):
on a badge.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
I love that attitude.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Oh, and he is so humble.
And that's what I findtypically is that the people
that are humble and I find thatthey're most skilled and I just
find it interesting, and and Ifind this particular cop
interesting and and, uh, I telleverybody, if you're, if you're
anything like him, you're goingto be fantastic at this job.
You know, and and and the otherpart, when I get somebody in a
(46:23):
car, I'll drive around the citywith them.
I'll get a new recruit and andI'll one of the first things I
do, skip, I'll pull up to anoverpass and I'll point out to
somebody that's down on theirluck, got to sign up flying
signs, begging for money, and Iwill look at them.
And I'll look at the person inmy passenger seat and I'll say I
want you to look at that personright there.
And I'll make them look overand I'll say remember something
(46:46):
the only difference between youand them is that you made better
choices, and that's it.
You are no better than thatperson and you have the ability
to step into somebody's lifelike that.
You can't help everybody, skip.
You can't help everybody, butyou should try to.
You should try Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
And this job gives you the ability to do that
Quickly before we say goodbye.
What is the?
You're getting more and morefemale officers.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Yes, and I've noticed more black officers, I've
noticed you mentioned a widevariety.
So what is the ratio, forexample, like female to male
minority candidates?
(47:27):
Because that's what the publicwants.
The public wants a police forcethat mirrors the demographics
of the area, and that's, that'ssimple.
And I, you know there's it,does I get it and I don't, but
that's what the public wants.
And so our department has beenvery, very diligent in trying to
attract diversity, trying toget, uh, candidates that we we
(47:49):
didn't have, and sometimes it'sjust people aren't interested in
certain things.
You know, you don't see,unfortunately, you know you
don't see a lot of men beinghairdressers, for example, right
, so so it's sometimes like alot of times, traditionally a
lot of women weren't interestedin law enforcement, but now I
think, like we, the culture haschanged a lot and and women,
some of the some of the bestpolice officers we have are
(48:09):
women police officers.
I admire and I look up to andand uh, the fact, you know, I
don't like to makegeneralizations, but the fact is
, women are generally morepatient with people, they're
more empathetic.
Uh, they, they work very welland in most applications.
And uh, we'll take as many aswe can get and you're right and
in recent time, like we arereally really pushing hard.
(48:30):
So, if you're thinking about itlike and and you know we've
highlighted some storiesrecently where people have come
from from impoverished areas,poor areas, and they grew up in
undesirable parts of the cityand maybe before they were
afraid of becoming a cop ormaybe they felt like they
wouldn't be embraced by thatsame community.
If they came over and and someof these cops it's true, when
(48:52):
they get on the road they dothey kind of get a little
backlash from from the people,but you know what?
That is another opportunity forthem to change.
Sometimes all it is skip isit's it's it's a perception,
it's it's information, it iseducation.
And when they get exposed tothis, then other kids say you
know what?
I don't want to be like this guyover here that has a flashy car
(49:16):
but probably going to prisonmay lose their life.
I want to be like this guy.
I want to be like the guy who,who went against the odds, who
went against popular opinion andbecame a police officer.
I want to be this person.
So that's who we should begoing after.
We should be going after peoplethat live in the city, that are
willing to step up andrepresent their community in a
(49:36):
different way and just impactsome, some, some real change
quickly on govnet.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Yes Dot net right yeah On govnet where they can
find all the information aboutthe SPD.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
Yeah, so yep, so we have uh.
So we also have join spdorg soyou can go to.
You can go to either one, Uh,so if you go to the website for
the County, it'll bring you tothe exam information.
It'll tell you like the police,salary and stuff like that.
But, uh, you can go to ourwebsite, just type in join SPD,
hit enter.
It'll bring you right to thewebsite.
It'll tell you our, it'll tellyou our hours.
(50:09):
We have a great schedule, Skip,we just went to this new
schedule.
Never have we had more time off.
It is an awesome schedule,awesome benefits.
We have some of the best healthinsurance out there.
There you go.
The pay is very good and sky'sthe limit if you want to put the
time in.
But again, the pay is great.
But the personal satisfactionis greater than the pay that you
pay Again.
Speaker 1 (50:29):
Thank you for being here Just hanging out having a
conversation.
Sergeant Tom Blake, we watchfor you on Sunday mornings on
CNY Central.
Always good information and ifyou're not there, the big guy's
in.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
Traditionally it's Chief Cecil.
I just fit in when I just fillin for him.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
So when he can't make it, it's like I'm the runner.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
I'm the B squad.
I don't uh he, he does a muchbetter job than I do.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
I'm just happy to step in when he can't makes it
well.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Thank you, thank you, uh, yeah, it's uh I I'm happy
to do it.
I'm very, uh, very thankfulthat you brought me on today and
if, uh, if, you ever need me tocome in again, I'm more more
than happy to be your lunch.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
So I you know what you're right.
No, I, yes, I do, yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
I would never take that from you or any officer for
what you do.
Well, I tried to tell you no.
You wouldn't take no for ananswer.
But, at some point.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
I'm going to do just that Return the favor, sergeant
Tom Blake, and if you're theleast bit interested, at least
check it out.
Go to ongovnet or.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
Google type join SPD.
There you go, click on the linkand it'll bring you to it.
In fact, from our website, youcan drop in and request to speak
with a recruiter.
They'll get ahold of you.
Or again, I'm, I'm out there,I'm around, contact me.
I'll be happy to tell you allabout everything that SBD has to
offer you.
On a stop sign, you might needtime.
There you go.
That's a quick way to do it andyou don't have to schedule.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Just kidding.
Just kidding.
Thanks for joining us, sergeantTom Blake.
Thank you for being here today.
Skip, thank you so much Iappreciate it.
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