November 7, 2024 • 56 mins
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Join us as Chief Rafael Padilla of the Kent Washington Police Department opens up about the profound changes in policing and community relations over the course of four transformative years. Against the backdrop of nationwide racial reckonings, the George Floyd protests, and the global pandemic, discover how Chief Padilla's perspective on law enforcement has evolved, prioritizing values like service, integrity, and professionalism. We navigate the complex journey of adapting policing practices to better serve and protect communities, ensuring that every officer is a beacon of compassion and accountability.
The episode takes a critical look at pressing social issues threatening community safety, particularly the rise in youth violence and the devastating fentanyl crisis. Chief Padilla sheds light on the socio-cultural dynamics at play and the urgent need for comprehensive strategies to tackle these challenges. We also tackle broader topics such as immigration and border challenges, highlighting the humanitarian aspects and real-world implications for local communities. Throughout, we emphasize finding peace in chaos, encouraging hope and proactive community engagement as pathways to reconciliation and progress.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Grantley Martelly (00:09):
Welcome to Above the Noise, a podcast at
the intersection of faith, raceand reconciliation, and I'm your
Gr antley Martelly.
In this episode of Above theNoise, we'll be looking
(00:31):
backwards and looking forward.
Our guest is Chief RafaelPadilla of the Kent Washington
Police Department.
He was with us four years agoin the middle of the pandemic,
in the middle of the racialawakening going on around the
world, in the middle of policebeing criticized, in the middle
(00:52):
of the George Floyd issues.
There were calls to defund thepolice and the Kent Washington
Police Department was strugglingwith how to adjust to this new
normal.
Here we are, four years later,and we're having a conversation
about how things have changed,where they are now, the new
challenges facing the city,facing the world, and how
(01:15):
policing is adjusting, and howhe and his team are adjusting to
serve our communities better,and how he is doing as a person
and as a person of faith,serving in a totally dynamic and
ever-changing role.
Welcome, chief.
It's been a while since we gottogether.
I just went back and looked atour episodes and it was from
(01:39):
episode 11 back in 2020, when welast get together Four years.
Lots of things have happenedsince then and I'm sure we've
got lots to talk about, but Iappreciate you taking the time
to talk to me today.
Before we get started, justlet's talk about your family.
How are you doing?
How's your family doing?
Well, first off, it's mypleasure and thank you for the
(02:01):
invitation.
I look forward to thediscussion, as I did four years
ago.
My family's doing great.
We're blessed.
We're in a season now where ourkids are all adults and three
of them still live with us, butthey're doing their adult stuff.
You can see they're moving intothat phase where they're going
(02:24):
to be on their own, married andhopefully not too soon, but soon
enough grandkids will be on theway right.
Yeah, so Tracy and I are veryblessed and starting to enjoy
our adult life back again, withthe kids doing their own thing
more and more.
That's great, I'm glad.
It's good when your family isdoing good.
That's one less thing you haveto worry about, absolutely.
(02:46):
And you're still chief today,four years later, and that must
be good.
To be still here at Kent cityof Kent, yes.
Chief Rafael Padilla (02:55):
It's very good.
You know, most of yourlisteners are probably not aware
that the average tenure of achief is three to five years.
And so I've got six under mybelt now.
So I feel very fortunate thatthat is the case, and I still
feel that there's a lot of workthat I want to get done.
I see some things we wentthrough.
(03:18):
We'll talk about the last fouryears, but now that we're coming
out of that, there's arefocusing on some longer-term
goals that I had that I'd liketo see come to fruition.
Grantley Martelly (03:25):
Well, now that we're coming out of that,
there's a refocusing on somelonger term goals that I had
that.
Chief Rafael Padilla (03:27):
I'd like to see come to fruition.
Grantley Martelly (03:28):
Well, that's great, so let's get right into
it.
So in 2020, we're in the middleof what I call the racial
awakening.
The George Floyd issues and theprotests were all going on
around the country.
Some started in Seattle, endedup here in Kent a couple of
protests as well.
We were in the middle ofpandemic and wearing masks and
(03:49):
immunizations and all of thosekinds of things, trying to feed
people up the hill here at thechurch.
We're trying to feed about 500people a week who were without
able to provide for theirfamilies.
Have you seen things change andhave you think we made any
progress?
Chief Rafael Padilla (04:08):
Yes to both of those.
I felt like that entire periodwas constant change on multiple
fronts.
I think the way that we lived,the way that we interacted as
human beings, our ability togather and worship the growing
need for people in our communityand how that went up.
(04:29):
And then also a big you know,obviously a big part of my
perspective is the changes, theconstant change in law
enforcement, and so I feel thatcoming through that while not
necessarily a pleasantexperience for a lot of that
looking back absolutelynecessary for us to be where we
(04:49):
are now, where I feel we were ina much better position than we
were in terms of meeting theneeds of our community.
Grantley Martelly (04:57):
Okay, well, let's get into that.
We talked back then in Episode11 about your views on policing
and why.
My question was why you thoughtsome of the things in the
country were happening the waythey were.
You know, it seems to be notunique to any one community and
you had some pretty strong viewson policing back then.
(05:17):
Have your views changed or havethey matured?
Chief Rafael Padilla (05:21):
No, I would say they've matured.
My views have not changed andthe values of law enforcement
have not changed the values ofservice integrity and
professionalism are there.
It is now the way that we makethose things present in our
(05:41):
community, the way we go aboutensuring that we're living up to
those values that the communityexpects of us.
Grantley Martelly (05:49):
It's been operationalized in a way that
comes through, so that we arenot just relying on our good
name in law enforcement.
Chief Rafael Padilla (06:00):
We're actually demonstrating that
we're living up to those values.
So my views haven't changed.
Some of my views have beenactually more solidified, if you
will, I believe, for a verylong time that the authority
that's granted law enforcementfrom the public has to be given
to those that are worthy of it.
(06:21):
Given to those that are worthyof it, those that have the right
temperament, personality,compassion for people, in
addition to the courage to standand you know be in harm's way
to protect people and when wedon't invest right in the
training and development of ourlaw enforcement officers and we
don't recruit and retain thebest and brightest people in our
(06:44):
community.
You can see how the stress ofthis type of job can result in
tragedy.
I still believe that, I willalways believe that which is why
I think we're very blessed herein.
Kent Our officers getexceptional training, get
exceptional support here here.
Grantley Martelly (07:10):
So we had you know, at that time we, we you
talked about you know we hadsome of the tragedies going on
as well, but you talked aboutsome of the things that you've
been doing.
You know what are some of thethings that you've done
specifically in the departmentsince then to try to ensure the
things that you just spoke about.
Chief Rafael Padilla (07:24):
There's been so many things.
I'm worried you're not going tohave enough time on this
podcast, but let me touch onsome of the highlights.
First, we really took a long,hard look at our operations, our
policies, the way we conductedbusiness, from top to bottom,
and overlaid that with animportant focus on were we doing
(07:48):
things equitably and withoutdiscrimination?
Were we serving in a fair andimpartial way or were we
allowing our personal biases topermeate how we did things and
how we served, and so that was avery long process.
I stood up a new position.
We have a diversity, equity andinclusion officer.
(08:10):
Currently that's Officer EricDoherty.
He's got college degreesrelated to this field.
He's an exceptional ambassadorand I elevated him to the office
of the chief, so he worksdirectly for me.
And so he has gone through allof our policies, our hiring
procedures our training and hasreally brought that lens and
(08:33):
input from the communitydirectly, along with our
longstanding network ofcommunity groups that advise us
and tell us what we should knowand how we should do things.
So I would say that we startedwith our policy and operations.
Grantley Martelly (08:47):
The second part was we really looked at our
hiring.
Chief Rafael Padilla (08:51):
We were like all law enforcement
agencies probably in the countrywhere the demographic hire
every year was over 70% whitemale and there's nothing on
white males great policeofficers.
But we weren't really living upto the goal of representing our
community to the best of ourability.
Let's face it, not everybodywants to be a cop, right?
(09:14):
So it's easy to say, oh, youshould look more like your
community.
Well, a lot of our communitywon't have anything to do with
police work or so um, so we haveto break through that.
But we put huge investments inour recruiting and hiring.
We got strong support from themayor and the council in terms
of our salary and benefitspackage is the best in the state
(09:34):
, which makes us one of the bestin the country money where our
mouth is and went out there andI'm very proud to look back and
see that for 2022 and 2023.
Grantley Martelly (09:51):
Over 50 percent of the people we hired
were from underrepresentedcommunities wow, that's good.
Chief Rafael Padilla (09:55):
And and historic highs in terms of
hiring women, um, and they'rereally exceptional people.
So that's one um, and the lastthing I'll hit on is that we
really elevated our capturingand analysis of data to
(10:15):
understand we really knew whatwas going on through our
body-worn camera programsthrough our drone programs,
through our fixed camerasprograms to our drone programs
to our fixed cameras, reallyelevating how intensely we
examined and reviewed what ourpeople were doing to ensure they
were meeting up to ourstandards.
(10:36):
That has opened a lot of things,including, you know, working
with the union in terms ofprocess and discipline, but also
it's opened our eyes to we dosome incredible work out there
too and we need to be able totell that story.
Grantley Martelly (10:50):
That's the power of data, right?
You see the good and you seethe not so good and you see the
things you need to change if youlook at it objectively and let
the data tell the story.
But that is powerful.
One of the things that haschanged also since then and, by
the way, to our listeners, itwas episode 11 on our podcast,
(11:13):
where we interviewed ChiefPadilla first back in 2020.
But since then, at least forsome people of color.
The thing that has reallyhappened significantly is that
we've had three police officersin this country convicted of
(11:33):
crimes from murder to assaultbecause of their work, and
actually one here recently, justin the city south of us, yes,
which to many people are sayingthat is unheard of.
I heard some people say Ididn't think I would live to see
that in my lifetime.
Has that impacted how you doyour job or how your officers
(11:57):
see themselves, or even impactrecruiting?
You seem to have a pretty greatrecruiting record as far as
diversity is concerned.
Chief Rafael Padilla (12:05):
Yes, so you're referring to Officer Jeff
Nelson's conviction for murderRight?
Just down here in ourneighboring city of Auburn.
You know, the good news, Ithink, for us is that we as a
department did not sit back andeither try to dig our feet in to
(12:27):
defend how we were doing things.
We didn't push back on what wasbeing demanded of us.
We took the tack of trying toembrace it and looking for how
we could really change thethings we needed to change.
Grantley Martelly (12:43):
You mentioned in your statement that many
people felt like they'd neversee that in their lifetime.
Chief Rafael Padilla (12:49):
Well, I will assure you, many officers
felt the same way, but for adifferent reason, because if you
ask our women and men that workhere, they truly believe,
because they're doing it, thatthat could never happen, right
that an officer to murdersomeone would never happen.
And so it has happened, andyou're seeing the accountability
(13:10):
level go up.
And what's changed is therehave been some modifications to
the law that changed thethreshold for being able to
convict an officer.
So, prior to 2021, the standardof proof that the government
had to prove to convict anofficer was that they had
malicious intent.
(13:31):
So this is an extremely hardmental state to prove.
You have to prove that theofficer went into it absolutely
just wanting to kill somebody.
Grantley Martelly (13:40):
That's basically how it was Specific
legal definition.
Chief Rafael Padilla (13:43):
And so that got modified to what is now
the reasonable officer standard, where the officer has to act
in good faith, and what we sawrecently is that there is a
process where the things thatlead up to the lethal use of
(14:05):
force matter.
So, how the officer responded.
Did they de-escalate thesituation?
Did they look for alternativesother than using force to remedy
the situation?
You know, was the threatimmediate?
So that it is concrete that,yes, everything leading up to
(14:25):
that shows that the officer wasor was not justified, and so
that has changed the way we lookat things.
Grantley Martelly (14:33):
If you can imagine if you're in this law
enforcement profession and oneof your colleagues from another
agency gets convicted of murder.
That gets everybody's attention.
Chief Rafael Padilla (14:44):
So we and I want to say this too we
respect the decision of thecourt and the rule of law Right.
How we feel about the outcomeof that, you know, I happen to
know some of the family membersfrom former Officer Nelson and I
feel bad for a family as Iwould feel bad for a family
(15:04):
whose father was convicted ofmurder, that I didn't know it
affects more than the office itdoes.
It's yes, the family's there,the department's left.
So I want to say we respect thedecision of the court and the
rule of law, but I also knowthat we're studying that, so
we've pulled the records, we aredoing a very deep dive on how
(15:25):
they, what the prosecutor had tosay, what the defense was, what
the jury felt and what theircomments were, and we are in the
process currently of developinglessons learned for leadership
lessons learned for protocolsand procedures, because the one
thing I want to make sure interms of making answering the
(15:47):
question for the officers whichis, could that be me Is, well,
here's the, here's what you needto know.
Grantley Martelly (15:53):
right, arm them with the tools and the
information and they'll do verywell.
So the challenge we face I wasthinking about this the other
day the challenge we face andhow to say, is you know, we
about this the other day?
The challenge we face and howto say is you know we?
Nobody in society argues thatwe don't need law enforcement.
Right, we need the rule of law,and in order to do that, we
(16:19):
need police officers, we needpeople who are specialists and
experts that help us throughthat process.
Then there are times whenthings happen when people say,
well, you know, this shouldn'thave happened.
We started in this conundrum.
We need them, we need officers,we need law enforcement and we
need to learn to work together.
And so you see things like thatand it causes everybody to
pause and say, wow, you know,this can happen.
(16:40):
And we also think about thefamily of the people right who
passed away, who died as well.
Chief Rafael Padilla (16:44):
Absolutely .
Grantley Martelly (16:51):
But one of the things that you're doing is
in this vein of trying to changethe community perception, and
working with the community is,first of all, just for our
listeners as well, and ourviewers.
At a time we talked back in2020, kent with the ninth most
diverse city in the UnitedStates, and I looked last week
and I think it was like up tosix or something like that.
Chief Rafael Padilla (17:09):
Yes, the statistic I saw is five, five.
Grantley Martelly (17:13):
Okay, five In the entire country, In the
entire country.
So you have a city that isextremely diverse, and that
means you have a lot of peoplethere who and we talked about
this in the first episode youhave a lot of refugees.
You have people, asylees,people who come from countries
where the police are not seen asfriends, as neighborhoods, and
(17:36):
you're trying to create aneighborhood-friendly police
department that represents them,which I commend you for.
So one of the things that youstarted since we talked was
Coffee with the Chief.
Yes, and that's one of yourattempts of showing the more
humane face of law enforcementand trying to bridge some of
those gaps.
(17:56):
So how is Coffee with the Chiefgoing and are you satisfied?
You're making progress.
Chief Rafael Padilla (18:03):
So Coffee with the Chief is still going
very well.
We still have a greatattendance.
We just had an event up northin our city last week and it was
really well attended.
But I want to be really up front.
That event draws some of ourunderrepresented communities,
(18:24):
but not many.
It's pretty people that havebeen you know what I'll say just
more mainstream in terms ofcommunication and establishment
in the city, attend those events.
But there is a program that Ithink is really making an impact
in our community.
So when we talked last, Ibelieve we were just starting
(18:46):
the Community Immersion LawEnforcement Program.
Grantley Martelly (18:48):
Oh yeah.
Chief Rafael Padilla (18:49):
And it has grown.
It took a long while.
That trust issue made a lot oforganizations hesitate getting
in partnership with us.
Grantley Martelly (19:00):
Right.
Chief Rafael Padilla (19:00):
But we've been able to break through that.
So we started with World Relief.
You mentioned asylees andrefugees, and our officers were
assigned for people that are notaware of the program.
When you get hired as a newpolice officer in Kent, you get
assigned to work with one ofthese community-based
organizations and you just goand serve, you're assigned to
(19:22):
them.
They mentor you.
You get an indoctrination inworking with multiple cultures
and ethnicities.
Are they in uniform or not?
No, they're not in uniform andit's before they get any
training whatsoever.
Their role is to start servingBecause, you know me, one of my
biggest things when I hiresomeone is they have to have a
heart to serve, and so they'reliving up to that.
(19:51):
So World Relief was first.
They got on.
They've been awesome.
If you remember when the um,when the the crisis in
afghanistan, we had our officerswere showing up at the airport,
picking them up, taking them tomedical appointments, taking
them to their housing, um, andthen so that's grown.
It took a while, but then vinemaple Place came on board right
Helping more so with our diversecommunity there and
volunteering.
And most recently, we now placeour officers with the YMCA and
(20:15):
they spend over 400 hours justserving their community before
they ever put this uniform on,that is making a tremendous
difference.
Grantley Martelly (20:25):
Lots of basketball and baseball and
background.
Yes.
Chief Rafael Padilla (20:31):
And going to get food, runs and clothing,
shelter, and it's beenincredible.
And so we, our partners, like Isaid, were very hesitant to
start.
And now you know, their onlycomplaint is we're not able to
provide them as many officers.
(20:52):
Oh, Because we've gotten caught.
The other good thing is we'vegotten caught up in our.
We've stabilized our hiring.
We're one of the fewdepartments anywhere that has
all their positions filled.
Grantley Martelly (21:02):
Oh, you have a okay that's great.
Chief Rafael Padilla (21:04):
But, the other side of that and I want to
be clear we're still wayunderstaffed.
I need another 35 officers.
Okay, yes, for sure.
Grantley Martelly (21:12):
Yeah, well, that is a great program.
I heard about that and youtalked about it and my wife
talked about it when she workedat World Relief to help launch
that program and I was wonderinghow it was going.
Relief to help launch thatprogram and I was wondering how
it was going.
How is the officers find itafter they go through it?
I assume some of them go intoit pretty hesitant.
Chief Rafael Padilla (21:30):
But yeah, I think there's.
I think most of our youngpeople are very excited.
You know, when we werelaunching the program and
developing it, one of theconcerns we had was how would it
impact our recruitment?
Because, let's be honest, mostpeople don't get in law
enforcement to go volunteer atby mabel place right um, but
that it really is a component,like I said, that the the to now
(21:54):
live the values and not justsay we have them um, it has
turned into being a powerfulrecruiting tool
wow any of our young people saythis was a deciding factor for
me to come to Kent that you dothis because it shows who you
are, so that's been excellent.
University of Washington hasconducted two rounds of studies
on this.
The second one is beingcompleted now.
(22:16):
The initial study showed thatthe officers both felt like it
enhanced their competency in theDEI space and it also was a
fulfilling enrichment, thingthat they personally enjoyed to
do, wow.
Grantley Martelly (22:31):
I expect that this second survey will
reinforce what the first surveysaid.
You know and I'm here thinkingalso, you know, from the
civilian standpoint it alsoestablishes relationships with
community members before theyeven put the uniform on.
That they may encounter thenwhen they're our officers and
(22:54):
like we talked about in thefirst episode, we did, you know,
the need to have thatpre-existing relationship before
a crisis happens, especially inthose diverse communities where
there's that fear of theuniform, especially in those
diverse communities wherethere's that fear of the uniform
.
Now it seems to me like this ishelping in terms of some people
have actually met this personwho they're now going to see in
(23:15):
a uniform.
It's like, oh, I know you, youplayed with my kids at the YMCA
or you picked me up at theairport when I first came here.
Now they're seeing the personrather than the uniform because
of that pre-establishedrelationship, right?
Chief Rafael Padilla (23:31):
yeah, that's powerful.
That is at the core of whywe're doing it.
Yeah, um, that officer that'splaying soccer at the ymca this
week, um 10 years from now, whenthat that kid?
Who was six is now 16 andthey're in the community.
That connection is there.
Grantley Martelly (23:49):
They're going to remember.
Yeah, see, that's a powerfulthing.
I'm going to look forward tothat University of Washington
study and see how it comes out.
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Forward slash above the noiseand thanks for your support.
So let's change a little bit andsay you know, we are in a
different world right now.
We've talked, we started onthat premise and we have a whole
bunch of new challenges now.
And we're not saying that, youknow, the racial issue has been
(24:55):
completely solved or thepandemic issue.
We think it's been solved, butnow they say there's a new
strain and a new vaccine.
You know, I don't think that'llever be gone, but we're facing
some new challenges right now inthe community.
What are some of those currentchallenges that you're seeing
right now that are occupying awhole bunch of your time?
Chief Rafael Padilla (25:17):
so, um the main thing that um is front and
center right now is theexplosion of violent crime with
youth offenders and youthvictims okay, that is right now
at the top and the center of myfocus?
Um, we, there's a lot that goesbehind it, and I think we're in
(25:40):
the process of of recenteringsome of our systems to address
the need.
We did a really deep pushtowards the restorative measures
of the offender, interdictionand prevention, which I think
are good, and I want to continueto see us work in those efforts
, and I think there's room forimprovement there in terms of
(26:05):
data collection and reallymaking sure we're hitting the
mark on helping our youth.
So that's there.
But at the same time we reallymoved away from the
accountability piece and none ofus, as a father of four, want
to see any of our youthincarcerated.
But I have to tell you, youknow, just last week we had
(26:27):
three youths that we have nowthat three of them in custody
that
Grantley Martelly (26:31):
that for no reason whatsoever shot and
killed a 13 year old.
Chief Rafael Padilla (26:36):
Wow, you know, in the last month in this
this region, there's been, Ithink, six teens murdered by
other teens.
Wow, and the numbers are prettystaggering.
So while we're starting to seea more, leveling out with our
(26:58):
adult offenders.
Grantley Martelly (26:58):
the youth crime is going through the roof,
and so that's a really bigchallenge right now.
Chief Rafael Padilla (27:02):
To address it, we're in partnerships both
with the.
Regional Gun Violence ReductionTeam.
We are launching a pilot withthe King County Prosecutors
Office, specific for Kent.
We're with CommunityPassageways for the outreach
work that needs to be done forthe intervention.
So we're doing all of that andat the same time we're investing
(27:24):
in the resources toinvestigative tools and
resources to get out there.
So we minimize the time fromtragedy to identifying and
arresting people and it soundshorrible and it is horrible.
A teen is more likely to be shotthan they are to die in a car
(27:44):
accident.
That can't.
We can't stay this way.
So we really have to examinewhy it is that we're here and
how to address it.
And I agree, if it is a healthissue, then let's follow what
the doctors do.
The doctors don't allow cancerto grow.
The doctors they quarantinesomeone who has an infectious
(28:05):
disease and doctors work toprevent with early testing and
intervention.
And so, if it is really amedical crisis and I agree, we
need to look at it that way andmake sure we're applying the
strategies that doctors use.
Grantley Martelly (28:23):
Yeah, I mean, that is a tragedy.
We hear about it every day.
Is there any research going onwith your department or the
university about trying toidentify what are some of the
reasons that we see in thisspike?
Chief Rafael Padilla (28:35):
So our systems don't capture the social
components of why this is right, yeah.
So that that work I hope I knowis being done by others.
We we can.
You know, an easy thing topoint to is the socioeconomic
situations of our city, butanecdotally, what we're seeing
(28:57):
is that there is there's a trendamongst our youth that they
feel like they have to have agun.
So where you and I grew up, youknow we have a district
screaming at school.
We go to the playground, wesettle it.
A fight's going to remain afight.
Right In today's youth culture,that fight very seldom, very
(29:22):
rarely, remains a fight.
That fight quickly becomes ashooting.
And where even even youth thatare not involved in crime rarely
remains a fight, that fightquickly becomes a shooting.
And even youth that are notinvolved in crime their school
surveys are showing they feel asthough they have to be armed
because if they're not and theyrun into a problem, they're
going to be the only one withouta gun.
So we have to address that.
(29:45):
We really have to address that,and I don't have the solution
for that.
Grantley Martelly (29:48):
Another question, though, another
challenge we are seeing rightnow also is the fentanyl crisis.
How is that impacting your city?
Chief Rafael Padilla (29:58):
So it has been a devastating impact
regionally, and we're noexception to that.
The mortality or the lethalityrate of fentanyl is unlike
anything I've ever seen.
So back in the 90s, when I couldgrow hair um I um, I was an
undercover narcotics officer andthen the tail end of the crack
(30:23):
epidemic was was coming and theemergence of methamphetamines
were coming out.
Crystal methamphetamine wasreally starting to emerge in
Hawaii and as I went out and didmy job and arrested dealers and
traffickers and saw thedevastation, even in my own
family, that drug ofmethamphetamine affected my
(30:44):
family huge in Hawaii.
I thought I'd never see anythingworse than that.
I thought there's nothing thatcould be a bigger affliction to
people than this, and I waswrong.
Fentanyl is far different andfar worse.
I have seen people recover frommeth from heroin from crack
(31:07):
from cocaine, many substances.
I am not seeing very manypeople and I've not met any
person who has recovered fromfentanyl.
It is something that alters theway the brain chemistry works
and pain receptors chemistryworks and pain receptors.
(31:30):
It's dangerous to try and quitcold turkey from fentanyl
because there's healthimplications that come with that
, and so it is a very scary andreal thing In 2022,.
According to the DEA, 110,000plus people died from fentanyl
overdose, wow, 110,000.
(31:50):
And I look at that and it and mylaw enforcement hat goes on and
says well, what would we do toan organization like a terrorist
organization that killed110,000 Americans?
What would we expect ourgovernment to do?
I think we all would agree, wewould expect our government to
(32:12):
go remove that problem, get ridof it.
And so that's a question for me, because the fentanyl is coming
clearly from two cartelsJalisco and Sinaloa cartels in
Mexico.
The Jalisco and Sinaloa cartelsin Mexico and the chemicals
that are used to make the drug,the precursor drugs, come from
(32:33):
China.
We know where it is, we knowwhere it's at and yet there
seems to be this really bigreluctance to go in.
And take care of the problem andI don't understand.
And so there's that.
So until that gets worked out,you know we're pouring as much
resources as we can intotreatment and when we arrest
(32:54):
someone, so remember that wecould not arrest anyone for for
openly using drugs, includingfentanyl, for about two and a
half three years.
The laws have changed now whereit's a misdemeanor, and so when
we arrest someone, theyimmediately get diverted to
treatment, and if they completetreatment, their arrest record
(33:18):
or conviction record getsexpunged.
And we're starting to see peoplemake a good faith effort to try
and complete treatment.
Grantley Martelly (33:26):
It's small, but it's an improvement over
three years ago, for sure.
Okay, I also heard that part ofthe challenge is that there's
not enough treatment beds andstuff when we try to get people
into treatment.
Chief Rafael Padilla (33:41):
Yeah, that is absolutely true.
There is not enough treatmentbeds for people who don't have
the means to pay for it.
So it's the same issue.
You know, if there's a money,there's a way, but so many of
the people that we incarceratedon't have the means for that
medical treatment, and sogovernment is trying to
(34:05):
facilitate that, and we arewoefully woefully behind.
There's been improvement,there's been money put into
budgets to elevate that and it'sgetting better, but what
compounds things is that manytimes, substance use disorder
and mental health areoverlapping issues for people
(34:26):
and mental health areoverlapping issues for people,
and so one of the challenges isthat if you have someone who has
both substance use disorder andmental health, there are very
few facilities that areavailable are set up to handle
both of those situationssimultaneously.
Grantley Martelly (34:43):
Okay, yeah, that may be a part of the issue.
It's a challenge as we continuewith how things have changed.
Another item that seems to havechanged is the country seems to
be really polarized, you know,politically and socially.
Now it seems like, you know,the middle ground is getting
(35:04):
smaller and smaller, or that'sthe way it seems.
Yes, has that affected yourdepartment, or has some of this
political polarization andcultural classes affected the
way you have had to do your work?
Chief Rafael Padilla (35:19):
I would say that, like any segment of
the population, officers areright in there, right.
In terms of those polarizingissues, what we really strive
for here and what we had to do abetter job of doing is getting
back to neutrality, in that,when you wear this uniform and
you have the authority that'sgranted law enforcement our role
(35:43):
is to stay neutral right andstay consistent with laws and
the Constitution and how we doour job and not allow our
personal biases or politicalbiases to get in there.
But they have impacted.
I think we're leveling out ofthat may have.
May have focused more on onsome of the political decisions
(36:09):
being driven that become law andmoved away from really just
saying our job is to to make thelaw work, not to really be
upset about we didn't like thatlaw right, and so I think we've
matured that way quite a bit so.
So we try to keep our officersand our messaging free of
political rhetoric, free ofpolitical bias, and just say
(36:34):
here's how you do your job theright way.
Grantley Martelly (36:38):
Okay.
So another issue is immigrationand asylum issues.
Our election year and that'sfront and center, and we've had
over the last four years, lotsof debates about immigration and
everybody expected that therewould have been a bill to revive
(36:59):
the immigration policies of thecountry.
And there was a bill and thenit didn't get support so it died
and now we're all back to whereit is.
But people keep coming and wehave these groups that has been
busing people around and youknow so many things going on.
I mean, we again pre-covid, wenever heard about you know,
shipping bus loads of people tocities and stuff.
(37:20):
So that has also changed.
And, as um and I'm sure that kKent's not immune from some of
those issues of you know, peoplecoming in, people showing up
and trying to figure out how to.
Eventually some of it's goingto spill onto your plate because
people are going to call andsay, hey, chief, what are you
doing about this?
(37:40):
And these people here and thosepeople there.
Have you seen some of thoseissues that are also creeping up
on your door?
Chief Rafael Padilla (37:47):
Absolutely , and this is going to fall into
that category.
We could take a whole episodeto discuss this, so I'll try to
keep it specific.
So we have a robust asylumseeker camp on the north side of
our city.
They're off of Central Avenue.
Grantley Martelly (38:02):
It's been there for a little over a month.
Chief Rafael Padilla (38:04):
The property there is controlled by
King County.
The asylum seekers came fromthe church in Tukwila Riverton.
For a little over a month theproperty there is controlled by
King County.
The asylum seekers came fromthe church in Tukwila Riverton
and they moved here and theyreally thought that if they came
here we would open the hotelfor them and they could move in
there.
And that property is controlledby King County.
(38:25):
It's privately owned,controlled by King County.
Both King County and Kent agreethat that is not a great
location.
There's issues with the hotel,but just the location itself and
the suitability of that right.
And, mind you, there was nopre-budget for any of this.
Grantley Martelly (38:42):
There never is Right.
This is unexpected, yeah.
Chief Rafael Padilla (38:47):
And so what I do want to report is that
, you know, over 169 people nowhave been placed in housing.
We're trying to continue that,and but I also want to be clear
that that camp is unlawful undercity code and is against our
use, our city use laws as well.
But we're doing thecompassionate thing.
(39:07):
Our officers are in that campevery day doing walkthroughs,
ensuring people are safe we callthem welfare checks, checking
on the welfare people there andso we've been doing that.
This really comes down to afederal issue.
Cities, states, counties arenot equipped to do this.
It's questionable whether ornot the nation is equipped to do
this.
Questionably, uh, it'squestionable whether or not the
(39:27):
nation is, is, is equipped to dothis right, so, and I don't, so
I won't.
This is not a politicalstatement, but I think it's your
, your um audience wouldappreciate some of the
perspective I had.
so a few months back I went withum, members of the federal law
enforcement community and someof the local chiefs here I'm the
(39:51):
chair of the HIDA board.
It's high-intensity drugtrafficking areas and the
purpose of the board is tofacilitate operations and task
forces to go after the cartelsand the drug traffickers
nationwide.
So I'm on this board.
We're doing a meeting down inSan Diego really to go down
(40:14):
there to learn about how SanDiego is dealing with the influx
of fentanyl and.
I found out I was going to learna lot about the human element
of people coming across theborder.
On my visit there we sat at theSan Ysidro border crossing and
met and got to go and see and Iwas amazed to hear that it's
(40:38):
tens of thousands of people justat that one border crossing are
coming into the country andthat, yes, fentanyl is coming in
.
But I sat and literally sat andI watched Chinese people come
in, Venezuelans we watched Ibelieve they were from Georgia,
(41:01):
the Republic of Georgia, come in, and I had lived in San Diego
for part of my life and so Iexpected we were going to see
Mexicans coming across theMexican border.
There was still that, but itwas a lot of international
people coming through the borderwhich makes you scratch your
head.
Grantley Martelly (41:19):
Oh, so there was a lot more diverse people on
the border now than you wereliving there and so you know.
Chief Rafael Padilla (41:26):
so we talked about it and there was a
policy shift to where the agentsthat work at the border, if
they cannot adequately processsomeone seeking asylum, they let
them in.
So there's criteria based oninternational law of how you
(41:46):
qualify for asylum, what itmeans, and that has kind of been
overrun because there's notsystems to adequately screen
people, and so the default is ifyou can't screen them, let them
(42:25):
in.
And even if every one of a daycoming into our country, I think
a legitimate and objectivequestion is how do we sustain
that?
How do we pay for it?
Even if we could get on boardthat we all wanted to do the
same thing, which we're not,obviously we're polarized.
Just the sheer volume makes mego.
How do we we, how do we evenafford?
Grantley Martelly (42:46):
to do it.
So they're saying this is abouta hundred thousand people a day
.
Chief Rafael Padilla (42:53):
Well, at the border at times at times at
times.
So at the border crossing wewere at it's in the tens of
thousands that.
So the way the director put itto us was about 50,000 people
cross in for work and otherthings and about 20,000 go back
or 30,000 go back Um, they'reseeing um anywhere from um uh,
(43:17):
1,200 to 5,000 people come inand seek asylum on certain days
and they have the capacity toprocess 300.
Wow, and so you see where thisis going.
There is a significant humansmuggling process.
This is, you know, we got tosee the tunnels.
(43:37):
I was in the tunnels.
We got to see them come on landand again, our nation was built
on immigration.
I am here because somewhere,and my great-great-grandfather
came and joined the US, calvaryand that's how our family got
here.
We immigrated here, like somany of our families immigrated
(44:05):
here like so many of ourfamilies.
So it is not a departure fromum, from the value of
immigration and the awesomecomponents of that.
For me, it comes down to nowjust a practical how do we, how
do we pay for it, how do wesustain it?
how do we, you know?
Because that kind of growth isnot something that our economy
is even prepared to keep up with.
Grantley Martelly (44:23):
Most of us civilian people.
We hear about immigration andwe have our perspective on it,
but I'm not sure we trulyunderstand the full magnitude of
the issue at the borders andwhat's going on at the borders
and what's going on and I wouldassume it's probably a little
(44:44):
bit different in Arizona fromSan Diego and the Canadian
border To get a true picture ofwhat's really happening.
It's really really difficult toknow, the news tried to do it in
30-second sound bites and it'snot a 30-second sound bite thing
and it's probably not a15-minute 2020 thing.
It's probably a biggerdiscussion that needs to take
(45:07):
place in trying to beresponsible and, at the same
time, trying to be compassionateand trying to do things.
The challenge for a city likeyours, for people like me as a
minister, when people appear atyour door, you've got a
situation, you've got a dealwith it, right.
(45:28):
So you have all the stuff atthe border going on that we
don't understand.
You get a glimpse of it hereand there, but then you wake up
one morning and there's it couldbe five, it could be 50, it
could be 100 people that says weneed help, and then you've got
this situation saying what do wedo about this group that's in
front of me right now, which Ithink is where most people get
(45:52):
their touch to it, right,dealing with that microcosm in
front of them at the time.
Chief Rafael Padilla (45:58):
Right, well, and what we have learned
in our own experience here thislast month and a half.
Grantley Martelly (46:08):
Is that the scope of the issue is such that
when you do help people morepeople go.
Chief Rafael Padilla (46:15):
That's where I'm going to go.
Yeah, the word gets out, thewords get out.
They go here and these peopleare compassionate, they'll help
you.
And Kent doesn't have.
I'll be really clear Kentdoesn't have the budget for any
of this.
None of this exists and we'retalking millions of dollars now.
You've got a house fee, clothes, medical.
It's a huge deal.
Grantley Martelly (46:34):
You've got children.
Chief Rafael Padilla (46:37):
And I didn't touch on this because it
is, but it is a thing I want ourcommunity to know.
At the same time, you know,there's the humanitarian issue
and the sustainability of that,but as the chief of police, I
also have to be really cognizantof not every person coming here
is going to be good.
There are bad actors that willcome here, and what is that?
(47:01):
How do we guard against thatwhen we don't know who they are?
Right there's, we don't knowwho they are, and so that makes
us vulnerable, and I thinkthere's room for us to be
compassionate and do our part inthe world and, by the way, I
think other countries should dotheir part too but also be wise
(47:23):
in ensuring that we're notinviting people that want to do
us harm.
Grantley Martelly (47:29):
Yeah, so that's one of the polarizing
issues now that has changed usand we are seeing these issues
going on in our community.
We talked about the gunviolence.
We talked about the fentanylissues.
How's your faith holding upthese days?
It's good.
Chief Rafael Padilla (47:47):
You know it's interesting that for me
during the pandemic and most ofthat, I got the opportunity to
reconnect with my faith and bemore regularly attending my
church, because I slipped back alittle bit.
I wasn't going all the time butI got back in there and it's
(48:09):
good.
I think attending church is abig component to staying
connected, staying growing andhearing the word and being part
of the community.
I'm a Christian, so Christiancommunity I mean.
It's easy to kind of detachfrom that.
My belief and my faith in Godand Jesus is never wavered.
(48:32):
My discipline in following whatI'm supposed to be doing is
something I'm always working on.
Grantley Martelly (48:41):
Well, that's great.
I'm glad to hear you're holdingup, because you face lots of
different things in your job andhaving that community around
you that's not necessarilypeople in your profession is
important.
Chief Rafael Padilla (48:56):
I always welcome prayers so that's great.
Grantley Martelly (49:02):
So what recommendations or tools would
you have to give to people whomay be listening to this and
saying you know, there's so muchthings going on around us, I
don't know what to do.
You know, we came through thepandemic, thought we'd have a
lull.
Now we're back up with all ofthese other things.
And how, how am I dealing?
How can I find peace andreconciliation and not just
(49:25):
always feel like the worldaround them is about to explode?
Chief Rafael Padilla (49:30):
You know, I don't know that I'm an expert
in this, but what has worked forme is to really try to make
time to focus on the things thatare going well, really focus on
the positive things in yourfamily and life, the things that
(49:53):
you're working on, the thingsthat you have some control over
as well, and be mindful to setaside time to do that, whether
it be prayer and meditation andreflection or even just
connectivity with friends andfamily or a mentor and focus
there.
It is easy and almost humannature to look at the negative
(50:17):
of everything and you can reallyget focused on that.
Um, particularly I have found,if you're, if you're spending
way too much time on media,whether traditional media or
social media, um, and so, for me, I have to look at social media
because it's I'm the policechief and I have to pay
(50:37):
attention to what's going on.
But I gotta tell, to tell you,when I don't have to to mess
with social media, I don't.
Um, I think people get upset.
They wish me happy birthday andmy birthday's in March and
sometime around October I mightsee it because I don't pay
attention to it.
Uh, my personal stuff it's justwork related, but and then also
I, you know, I would ask peopleto to always ask why and
(51:01):
question if they are seeingsomething and if it's related to
our department, you know, sendme an email, call me.
The good part of social mediais that we do put a lot of our
communication information out onsocial media.
So I don't know if that helps,but I think that we are a city
(51:24):
that benefits greatly from itsfaith-based community, and so as
long as we have that we haveawesome faith-based community
here, I think we're going to beokay.
Grantley Martelly (51:38):
Thank you, remind the audience just for how
they can get in touch with you.
You have that website or youhave that email that people can
get in touch with you or thecity.
Chief Rafael Padilla (51:49):
Yes, so if you go into your search engine
and just put City of Kent Police, Washington will come right up
For my email.
It's rhadia.
My last name, P-A-D-I-L-L-A.
Washington will come right upfor my email.
It's our idea.
My last name P A D I L L a atKent w agov.
And you can also call our mainline, which is two, five, three,
(52:13):
eight, five, six, five, eight,zero, zero, and ask for me.
I get a lot of emails, I get alot of phone calls.
I so give me some time to getback, but I always make it a
point to get back or to get youto the person that you should be
speaking to.
Grantley Martelly (52:29):
Yeah, well, thank you for that.
I've always been impressed howopen you are to speak to people,
to talk to people, to respondto emails Some police chiefs are
really hard to get a hold of,but, as busy as you are, and the
things that you've got going on, I've always been impressed
about how you take the time toshow up in places to respond to
(52:53):
emails or phone calls or, likeyou said, to even make sure
people get referred to the rightplace.
And from the time we met you,we've always been impressed with
your openness to conversation,have conversation with people.
Thank you Well, thank you again, Chief.
I really appreciate it and wewill get this out there and
(53:17):
hopefully, you know, people willlearn from what was shared and
see that there is hope, that weare, we are improving.
Uh, the world may be changing,but constantly focus on, like
you said, the things we havecontrol of, what is positive.
Even the bible reminds us ofthat right.
What is just, what is what ispositive?
(53:37):
What is um know, think on thesethings and help, and we can all
be a help in helping change ourcommunity.
And it's not always up to lawenforcement or the government or
the federal government, butpart of the issue is what can I
do as a regular citizen to helpme and my community better?
(53:59):
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(54:21):
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We'll see you next time.
Welcome to Above the Noise, a podcast at
the intersection of faith, raceand reconciliation, and I'm your
Gr antley Martelly.
In this episode of Above theNoise, we'll be looking
(00:31):
backwards and looking forward.
Our guest is Chief RafaelPadilla of the Kent Washington
Police Department.
He was with us four years agoin the middle of the pandemic,
in the middle of the racialawakening going on around the
world, in the middle of policebeing criticized, in the middle
(00:52):
of the George Floyd issues.
There were calls to defund thepolice and the Kent Washington
Police Department was strugglingwith how to adjust to this new
normal.
Here we are, four years later,and we're having a conversation
about how things have changed,where they are now, the new
challenges facing the city,facing the world, and how
(01:15):
policing is adjusting, and howhe and his team are adjusting to
serve our communities better,and how he is doing as a person
and as a person of faith,serving in a totally dynamic and
ever-changing role.
Welcome, chief.
It's been a while since we gottogether.
I just went back and looked atour episodes and it was from
(01:39):
episode 11 back in 2020, when welast get together Four years.
Lots of things have happenedsince then and I'm sure we've
got lots to talk about, but Iappreciate you taking the time
to talk to me today.
Before we get started, justlet's talk about your family.
How are you doing?
How's your family doing?
Well, first off, it's mypleasure and thank you for the
(02:01):
invitation.
I look forward to thediscussion, as I did four years
ago.
My family's doing great.
We're blessed.
We're in a season now where ourkids are all adults and three
of them still live with us, butthey're doing their adult stuff.
You can see they're moving intothat phase where they're going
(02:24):
to be on their own, married andhopefully not too soon, but soon
enough grandkids will be on theway right.
Yeah, so Tracy and I are veryblessed and starting to enjoy
our adult life back again, withthe kids doing their own thing
more and more.
That's great, I'm glad.
It's good when your family isdoing good.
That's one less thing you haveto worry about, absolutely.
(02:46):
And you're still chief today,four years later, and that must
be good.
To be still here at Kent cityof Kent, yes.
Chief Rafael Padilla (02:55):
It's very good.
You know, most of yourlisteners are probably not aware
that the average tenure of achief is three to five years.
And so I've got six under mybelt now.
So I feel very fortunate thatthat is the case, and I still
feel that there's a lot of workthat I want to get done.
I see some things we wentthrough.
(03:18):
We'll talk about the last fouryears, but now that we're coming
out of that, there's arefocusing on some longer-term
goals that I had that I'd liketo see come to fruition.
Grantley Martelly (03:25):
Well, now that we're coming out of that,
there's a refocusing on somelonger term goals that I had
that.
Chief Rafael Padilla (03:27):
I'd like to see come to fruition.
Grantley Martelly (03:28):
Well, that's great, so let's get right into
it.
So in 2020, we're in the middleof what I call the racial
awakening.
The George Floyd issues and theprotests were all going on
around the country.
Some started in Seattle, endedup here in Kent a couple of
protests as well.
We were in the middle ofpandemic and wearing masks and
(03:49):
immunizations and all of thosekinds of things, trying to feed
people up the hill here at thechurch.
We're trying to feed about 500people a week who were without
able to provide for theirfamilies.
Have you seen things change andhave you think we made any
progress?
Chief Rafael Padilla (04:08):
Yes to both of those.
I felt like that entire periodwas constant change on multiple
fronts.
I think the way that we lived,the way that we interacted as
human beings, our ability togather and worship the growing
need for people in our communityand how that went up.
(04:29):
And then also a big you know,obviously a big part of my
perspective is the changes, theconstant change in law
enforcement, and so I feel thatcoming through that while not
necessarily a pleasantexperience for a lot of that
looking back absolutelynecessary for us to be where we
(04:49):
are now, where I feel we were ina much better position than we
were in terms of meeting theneeds of our community.
Grantley Martelly (04:57):
Okay, well, let's get into that.
We talked back then in Episode11 about your views on policing
and why.
My question was why you thoughtsome of the things in the
country were happening the waythey were.
You know, it seems to be notunique to any one community and
you had some pretty strong viewson policing back then.
(05:17):
Have your views changed or havethey matured?
Chief Rafael Padilla (05:21):
No, I would say they've matured.
My views have not changed andthe values of law enforcement
have not changed the values ofservice integrity and
professionalism are there.
It is now the way that we makethose things present in our
(05:41):
community, the way we go aboutensuring that we're living up to
those values that the communityexpects of us.
Grantley Martelly (05:49):
It's been operationalized in a way that
comes through, so that we arenot just relying on our good
name in law enforcement.
Chief Rafael Padilla (06:00):
We're actually demonstrating that
we're living up to those values.
So my views haven't changed.
Some of my views have beenactually more solidified, if you
will, I believe, for a verylong time that the authority
that's granted law enforcementfrom the public has to be given
to those that are worthy of it.
(06:21):
Given to those that are worthyof it, those that have the right
temperament, personality,compassion for people, in
addition to the courage to standand you know be in harm's way
to protect people and when wedon't invest right in the
training and development of ourlaw enforcement officers and we
don't recruit and retain thebest and brightest people in our
(06:44):
community.
You can see how the stress ofthis type of job can result in
tragedy.
I still believe that, I willalways believe that which is why
I think we're very blessed herein.
Kent Our officers getexceptional training, get
exceptional support here here.
Grantley Martelly (07:10):
So we had you know, at that time we, we you
talked about you know we hadsome of the tragedies going on
as well, but you talked aboutsome of the things that you've
been doing.
You know what are some of thethings that you've done
specifically in the departmentsince then to try to ensure the
things that you just spoke about.
Chief Rafael Padilla (07:24):
There's been so many things.
I'm worried you're not going tohave enough time on this
podcast, but let me touch onsome of the highlights.
First, we really took a long,hard look at our operations, our
policies, the way we conductedbusiness, from top to bottom,
and overlaid that with animportant focus on were we doing
(07:48):
things equitably and withoutdiscrimination?
Were we serving in a fair andimpartial way or were we
allowing our personal biases topermeate how we did things and
how we served, and so that was avery long process.
I stood up a new position.
We have a diversity, equity andinclusion officer.
(08:10):
Currently that's Officer EricDoherty.
He's got college degreesrelated to this field.
He's an exceptional ambassadorand I elevated him to the office
of the chief, so he worksdirectly for me.
And so he has gone through allof our policies, our hiring
procedures our training and hasreally brought that lens and
(08:33):
input from the communitydirectly, along with our
longstanding network ofcommunity groups that advise us
and tell us what we should knowand how we should do things.
So I would say that we startedwith our policy and operations.
Grantley Martelly (08:47):
The second part was we really looked at our
hiring.
Chief Rafael Padilla (08:51):
We were like all law enforcement
agencies probably in the countrywhere the demographic hire
every year was over 70% whitemale and there's nothing on
white males great policeofficers.
But we weren't really living upto the goal of representing our
community to the best of ourability.
Let's face it, not everybodywants to be a cop, right?
(09:14):
So it's easy to say, oh, youshould look more like your
community.
Well, a lot of our communitywon't have anything to do with
police work or so um, so we haveto break through that.
But we put huge investments inour recruiting and hiring.
We got strong support from themayor and the council in terms
of our salary and benefitspackage is the best in the state
(09:34):
, which makes us one of the bestin the country money where our
mouth is and went out there andI'm very proud to look back and
see that for 2022 and 2023.
Grantley Martelly (09:51):
Over 50 percent of the people we hired
were from underrepresentedcommunities wow, that's good.
Chief Rafael Padilla (09:55):
And and historic highs in terms of
hiring women, um, and they'rereally exceptional people.
So that's one um, and the lastthing I'll hit on is that we
really elevated our capturingand analysis of data to
(10:15):
understand we really knew whatwas going on through our
body-worn camera programsthrough our drone programs,
through our fixed camerasprograms to our drone programs
to our fixed cameras, reallyelevating how intensely we
examined and reviewed what ourpeople were doing to ensure they
were meeting up to ourstandards.
(10:36):
That has opened a lot of things,including, you know, working
with the union in terms ofprocess and discipline, but also
it's opened our eyes to we dosome incredible work out there
too and we need to be able totell that story.
Grantley Martelly (10:50):
That's the power of data, right?
You see the good and you seethe not so good and you see the
things you need to change if youlook at it objectively and let
the data tell the story.
But that is powerful.
One of the things that haschanged also since then and, by
the way, to our listeners, itwas episode 11 on our podcast,
(11:13):
where we interviewed ChiefPadilla first back in 2020.
But since then, at least forsome people of color.
The thing that has reallyhappened significantly is that
we've had three police officersin this country convicted of
(11:33):
crimes from murder to assaultbecause of their work, and
actually one here recently, justin the city south of us, yes,
which to many people are sayingthat is unheard of.
I heard some people say Ididn't think I would live to see
that in my lifetime.
Has that impacted how you doyour job or how your officers
(11:57):
see themselves, or even impactrecruiting?
You seem to have a pretty greatrecruiting record as far as
diversity is concerned.
Chief Rafael Padilla (12:05):
Yes, so you're referring to Officer Jeff
Nelson's conviction for murderRight?
Just down here in ourneighboring city of Auburn.
You know, the good news, Ithink, for us is that we as a
department did not sit back andeither try to dig our feet in to
(12:27):
defend how we were doing things.
We didn't push back on what wasbeing demanded of us.
We took the tack of trying toembrace it and looking for how
we could really change thethings we needed to change.
Grantley Martelly (12:43):
You mentioned in your statement that many
people felt like they'd neversee that in their lifetime.
Chief Rafael Padilla (12:49):
Well, I will assure you, many officers
felt the same way, but for adifferent reason, because if you
ask our women and men that workhere, they truly believe,
because they're doing it, thatthat could never happen, right
that an officer to murdersomeone would never happen.
And so it has happened, andyou're seeing the accountability
(13:10):
level go up.
And what's changed is therehave been some modifications to
the law that changed thethreshold for being able to
convict an officer.
So, prior to 2021, the standardof proof that the government
had to prove to convict anofficer was that they had
malicious intent.
(13:31):
So this is an extremely hardmental state to prove.
You have to prove that theofficer went into it absolutely
just wanting to kill somebody.
Grantley Martelly (13:40):
That's basically how it was Specific
legal definition.
Chief Rafael Padilla (13:43):
And so that got modified to what is now
the reasonable officer standard, where the officer has to act
in good faith, and what we sawrecently is that there is a
process where the things thatlead up to the lethal use of
(14:05):
force matter.
So, how the officer responded.
Did they de-escalate thesituation?
Did they look for alternativesother than using force to remedy
the situation?
You know, was the threatimmediate?
So that it is concrete that,yes, everything leading up to
(14:25):
that shows that the officer wasor was not justified, and so
that has changed the way we lookat things.
Grantley Martelly (14:33):
If you can imagine if you're in this law
enforcement profession and oneof your colleagues from another
agency gets convicted of murder.
That gets everybody's attention.
Chief Rafael Padilla (14:44):
So we and I want to say this too we
respect the decision of thecourt and the rule of law Right.
How we feel about the outcomeof that, you know, I happen to
know some of the family membersfrom former Officer Nelson and I
feel bad for a family as Iwould feel bad for a family
(15:04):
whose father was convicted ofmurder, that I didn't know it
affects more than the office itdoes.
It's yes, the family's there,the department's left.
So I want to say we respect thedecision of the court and the
rule of law, but I also knowthat we're studying that, so
we've pulled the records, we aredoing a very deep dive on how
(15:25):
they, what the prosecutor had tosay, what the defense was, what
the jury felt and what theircomments were, and we are in the
process currently of developinglessons learned for leadership
lessons learned for protocolsand procedures, because the one
thing I want to make sure interms of making answering the
(15:47):
question for the officers whichis, could that be me Is, well,
here's the, here's what you needto know.
Grantley Martelly (15:53):
right, arm them with the tools and the
information and they'll do verywell.
So the challenge we face I wasthinking about this the other
day the challenge we face andhow to say, is you know, we
about this the other day?
The challenge we face and howto say is you know we?
Nobody in society argues thatwe don't need law enforcement.
Right, we need the rule of law,and in order to do that, we
(16:19):
need police officers, we needpeople who are specialists and
experts that help us throughthat process.
Then there are times whenthings happen when people say,
well, you know, this shouldn'thave happened.
We started in this conundrum.
We need them, we need officers,we need law enforcement and we
need to learn to work together.
And so you see things like thatand it causes everybody to
pause and say, wow, you know,this can happen.
(16:40):
And we also think about thefamily of the people right who
passed away, who died as well.
Chief Rafael Padilla (16:44):
Absolutely .
Grantley Martelly (16:51):
But one of the things that you're doing is
in this vein of trying to changethe community perception, and
working with the community is,first of all, just for our
listeners as well, and ourviewers.
At a time we talked back in2020, kent with the ninth most
diverse city in the UnitedStates, and I looked last week
and I think it was like up tosix or something like that.
Chief Rafael Padilla (17:09):
Yes, the statistic I saw is five, five.
Grantley Martelly (17:13):
Okay, five In the entire country, In the
entire country.
So you have a city that isextremely diverse, and that
means you have a lot of peoplethere who and we talked about
this in the first episode youhave a lot of refugees.
You have people, asylees,people who come from countries
where the police are not seen asfriends, as neighborhoods, and
(17:36):
you're trying to create aneighborhood-friendly police
department that represents them,which I commend you for.
So one of the things that youstarted since we talked was
Coffee with the Chief.
Yes, and that's one of yourattempts of showing the more
humane face of law enforcementand trying to bridge some of
those gaps.
(17:56):
So how is Coffee with the Chiefgoing and are you satisfied?
You're making progress.
Chief Rafael Padilla (18:03):
So Coffee with the Chief is still going
very well.
We still have a greatattendance.
We just had an event up northin our city last week and it was
really well attended.
But I want to be really up front.
That event draws some of ourunderrepresented communities,
(18:24):
but not many.
It's pretty people that havebeen you know what I'll say just
more mainstream in terms ofcommunication and establishment
in the city, attend those events.
But there is a program that Ithink is really making an impact
in our community.
So when we talked last, Ibelieve we were just starting
(18:46):
the Community Immersion LawEnforcement Program.
Grantley Martelly (18:48):
Oh yeah.
Chief Rafael Padilla (18:49):
And it has grown.
It took a long while.
That trust issue made a lot oforganizations hesitate getting
in partnership with us.
Grantley Martelly (19:00):
Right.
Chief Rafael Padilla (19:00):
But we've been able to break through that.
So we started with World Relief.
You mentioned asylees andrefugees, and our officers were
assigned for people that are notaware of the program.
When you get hired as a newpolice officer in Kent, you get
assigned to work with one ofthese community-based
organizations and you just goand serve, you're assigned to
(19:22):
them.
They mentor you.
You get an indoctrination inworking with multiple cultures
and ethnicities.
Are they in uniform or not?
No, they're not in uniform andit's before they get any
training whatsoever.
Their role is to start servingBecause, you know me, one of my
biggest things when I hiresomeone is they have to have a
heart to serve, and so they'reliving up to that.
(19:51):
So World Relief was first.
They got on.
They've been awesome.
If you remember when the um,when the the crisis in
afghanistan, we had our officerswere showing up at the airport,
picking them up, taking them tomedical appointments, taking
them to their housing, um, andthen so that's grown.
It took a while, but then vinemaple Place came on board right
Helping more so with our diversecommunity there and
volunteering.
And most recently, we now placeour officers with the YMCA and
(20:15):
they spend over 400 hours justserving their community before
they ever put this uniform on,that is making a tremendous
difference.
Grantley Martelly (20:25):
Lots of basketball and baseball and
background.
Yes.
Chief Rafael Padilla (20:31):
And going to get food, runs and clothing,
shelter, and it's beenincredible.
And so we, our partners, like Isaid, were very hesitant to
start.
And now you know, their onlycomplaint is we're not able to
provide them as many officers.
(20:52):
Oh, Because we've gotten caught.
The other good thing is we'vegotten caught up in our.
We've stabilized our hiring.
We're one of the fewdepartments anywhere that has
all their positions filled.
Grantley Martelly (21:02):
Oh, you have a okay that's great.
Chief Rafael Padilla (21:04):
But, the other side of that and I want to
be clear we're still wayunderstaffed.
I need another 35 officers.
Okay, yes, for sure.
Grantley Martelly (21:12):
Yeah, well, that is a great program.
I heard about that and youtalked about it and my wife
talked about it when she workedat World Relief to help launch
that program and I was wonderinghow it was going.
Relief to help launch thatprogram and I was wondering how
it was going.
How is the officers find itafter they go through it?
I assume some of them go intoit pretty hesitant.
Chief Rafael Padilla (21:30):
But yeah, I think there's.
I think most of our youngpeople are very excited.
You know, when we werelaunching the program and
developing it, one of theconcerns we had was how would it
impact our recruitment?
Because, let's be honest, mostpeople don't get in law
enforcement to go volunteer atby mabel place right um, but
that it really is a component,like I said, that the the to now
(21:54):
live the values and not justsay we have them um, it has
turned into being a powerfulrecruiting tool
wow any of our young people saythis was a deciding factor for
me to come to Kent that you dothis because it shows who you
are, so that's been excellent.
University of Washington hasconducted two rounds of studies
on this.
The second one is beingcompleted now.
(22:16):
The initial study showed thatthe officers both felt like it
enhanced their competency in theDEI space and it also was a
fulfilling enrichment, thingthat they personally enjoyed to
do, wow.
Grantley Martelly (22:31):
I expect that this second survey will
reinforce what the first surveysaid.
You know and I'm here thinkingalso, you know, from the
civilian standpoint it alsoestablishes relationships with
community members before theyeven put the uniform on.
That they may encounter thenwhen they're our officers and
(22:54):
like we talked about in thefirst episode, we did, you know,
the need to have thatpre-existing relationship before
a crisis happens, especially inthose diverse communities where
there's that fear of theuniform, especially in those
diverse communities wherethere's that fear of the uniform
.
Now it seems to me like this ishelping in terms of some people
have actually met this personwho they're now going to see in
(23:15):
a uniform.
It's like, oh, I know you, youplayed with my kids at the YMCA
or you picked me up at theairport when I first came here.
Now they're seeing the personrather than the uniform because
of that pre-establishedrelationship, right?
Chief Rafael Padilla (23:31):
yeah, that's powerful.
That is at the core of whywe're doing it.
Yeah, um, that officer that'splaying soccer at the ymca this
week, um 10 years from now, whenthat that kid?
Who was six is now 16 andthey're in the community.
That connection is there.
Grantley Martelly (23:49):
They're going to remember.
Yeah, see, that's a powerfulthing.
I'm going to look forward tothat University of Washington
study and see how it comes out.
Some exciting news We've addedtwo new features to the podcast.
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If you like what you're hearing, just go to the show notes and
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Forward slash above the noiseand thanks for your support.
So let's change a little bit andsay you know, we are in a
different world right now.
We've talked, we started onthat premise and we have a whole
bunch of new challenges now.
And we're not saying that, youknow, the racial issue has been
(24:55):
completely solved or thepandemic issue.
We think it's been solved, butnow they say there's a new
strain and a new vaccine.
You know, I don't think that'llever be gone, but we're facing
some new challenges right now inthe community.
What are some of those currentchallenges that you're seeing
right now that are occupying awhole bunch of your time?
Chief Rafael Padilla (25:17):
so, um the main thing that um is front and
center right now is theexplosion of violent crime with
youth offenders and youthvictims okay, that is right now
at the top and the center of myfocus?
Um, we, there's a lot that goesbehind it, and I think we're in
(25:40):
the process of of recenteringsome of our systems to address
the need.
We did a really deep pushtowards the restorative measures
of the offender, interdictionand prevention, which I think
are good, and I want to continueto see us work in those efforts
, and I think there's room forimprovement there in terms of
(26:05):
data collection and reallymaking sure we're hitting the
mark on helping our youth.
So that's there.
But at the same time we reallymoved away from the
accountability piece and none ofus, as a father of four, want
to see any of our youthincarcerated.
But I have to tell you, youknow, just last week we had
(26:27):
three youths that we have nowthat three of them in custody
that
Grantley Martelly (26:31):
that for no reason whatsoever shot and
killed a 13 year old.
Chief Rafael Padilla (26:36):
Wow, you know, in the last month in this
this region, there's been, Ithink, six teens murdered by
other teens.
Wow, and the numbers are prettystaggering.
So while we're starting to seea more, leveling out with our
(26:58):
adult offenders.
Grantley Martelly (26:58):
the youth crime is going through the roof,
and so that's a really bigchallenge right now.
Chief Rafael Padilla (27:02):
To address it, we're in partnerships both
with the.
Regional Gun Violence ReductionTeam.
We are launching a pilot withthe King County Prosecutors
Office, specific for Kent.
We're with CommunityPassageways for the outreach
work that needs to be done forthe intervention.
So we're doing all of that andat the same time we're investing
(27:24):
in the resources toinvestigative tools and
resources to get out there.
So we minimize the time fromtragedy to identifying and
arresting people and it soundshorrible and it is horrible.
A teen is more likely to be shotthan they are to die in a car
(27:44):
accident.
That can't.
We can't stay this way.
So we really have to examinewhy it is that we're here and
how to address it.
And I agree, if it is a healthissue, then let's follow what
the doctors do.
The doctors don't allow cancerto grow.
The doctors they quarantinesomeone who has an infectious
(28:05):
disease and doctors work toprevent with early testing and
intervention.
And so, if it is really amedical crisis and I agree, we
need to look at it that way andmake sure we're applying the
strategies that doctors use.
Grantley Martelly (28:23):
Yeah, I mean, that is a tragedy.
We hear about it every day.
Is there any research going onwith your department or the
university about trying toidentify what are some of the
reasons that we see in thisspike?
Chief Rafael Padilla (28:35):
So our systems don't capture the social
components of why this is right, yeah.
So that that work I hope I knowis being done by others.
We we can.
You know, an easy thing topoint to is the socioeconomic
situations of our city, butanecdotally, what we're seeing
(28:57):
is that there is there's a trendamongst our youth that they
feel like they have to have agun.
So where you and I grew up, youknow we have a district
screaming at school.
We go to the playground, wesettle it.
A fight's going to remain afight.
Right In today's youth culture,that fight very seldom, very
(29:22):
rarely, remains a fight.
That fight quickly becomes ashooting.
And where even even youth thatare not involved in crime rarely
remains a fight, that fightquickly becomes a shooting.
And even youth that are notinvolved in crime their school
surveys are showing they feel asthough they have to be armed
because if they're not and theyrun into a problem, they're
going to be the only one withouta gun.
So we have to address that.
(29:45):
We really have to address that,and I don't have the solution
for that.
Grantley Martelly (29:48):
Another question, though, another
challenge we are seeing rightnow also is the fentanyl crisis.
How is that impacting your city?
Chief Rafael Padilla (29:58):
So it has been a devastating impact
regionally, and we're noexception to that.
The mortality or the lethalityrate of fentanyl is unlike
anything I've ever seen.
So back in the 90s, when I couldgrow hair um I um, I was an
undercover narcotics officer andthen the tail end of the crack
(30:23):
epidemic was was coming and theemergence of methamphetamines
were coming out.
Crystal methamphetamine wasreally starting to emerge in
Hawaii and as I went out and didmy job and arrested dealers and
traffickers and saw thedevastation, even in my own
family, that drug ofmethamphetamine affected my
(30:44):
family huge in Hawaii.
I thought I'd never see anythingworse than that.
I thought there's nothing thatcould be a bigger affliction to
people than this, and I waswrong.
Fentanyl is far different andfar worse.
I have seen people recover frommeth from heroin from crack
(31:07):
from cocaine, many substances.
I am not seeing very manypeople and I've not met any
person who has recovered fromfentanyl.
It is something that alters theway the brain chemistry works
and pain receptors chemistryworks and pain receptors.
(31:30):
It's dangerous to try and quitcold turkey from fentanyl
because there's healthimplications that come with that
, and so it is a very scary andreal thing In 2022,.
According to the DEA, 110,000plus people died from fentanyl
overdose, wow, 110,000.
(31:50):
And I look at that and it and mylaw enforcement hat goes on and
says well, what would we do toan organization like a terrorist
organization that killed110,000 Americans?
What would we expect ourgovernment to do?
I think we all would agree, wewould expect our government to
(32:12):
go remove that problem, get ridof it.
And so that's a question for me, because the fentanyl is coming
clearly from two cartelsJalisco and Sinaloa cartels in
Mexico.
The Jalisco and Sinaloa cartelsin Mexico and the chemicals
that are used to make the drug,the precursor drugs, come from
(32:33):
China.
We know where it is, we knowwhere it's at and yet there
seems to be this really bigreluctance to go in.
And take care of the problem andI don't understand.
And so there's that.
So until that gets worked out,you know we're pouring as much
resources as we can intotreatment and when we arrest
(32:54):
someone, so remember that wecould not arrest anyone for for
openly using drugs, includingfentanyl, for about two and a
half three years.
The laws have changed now whereit's a misdemeanor, and so when
we arrest someone, theyimmediately get diverted to
treatment, and if they completetreatment, their arrest record
(33:18):
or conviction record getsexpunged.
And we're starting to see peoplemake a good faith effort to try
and complete treatment.
Grantley Martelly (33:26):
It's small, but it's an improvement over
three years ago, for sure.
Okay, I also heard that part ofthe challenge is that there's
not enough treatment beds andstuff when we try to get people
into treatment.
Chief Rafael Padilla (33:41):
Yeah, that is absolutely true.
There is not enough treatmentbeds for people who don't have
the means to pay for it.
So it's the same issue.
You know, if there's a money,there's a way, but so many of
the people that we incarceratedon't have the means for that
medical treatment, and sogovernment is trying to
(34:05):
facilitate that, and we arewoefully woefully behind.
There's been improvement,there's been money put into
budgets to elevate that and it'sgetting better, but what
compounds things is that manytimes, substance use disorder
and mental health areoverlapping issues for people
(34:26):
and mental health areoverlapping issues for people,
and so one of the challenges isthat if you have someone who has
both substance use disorder andmental health, there are very
few facilities that areavailable are set up to handle
both of those situationssimultaneously.
Grantley Martelly (34:43):
Okay, yeah, that may be a part of the issue.
It's a challenge as we continuewith how things have changed.
Another item that seems to havechanged is the country seems to
be really polarized, you know,politically and socially.
Now it seems like, you know,the middle ground is getting
(35:04):
smaller and smaller, or that'sthe way it seems.
Yes, has that affected yourdepartment, or has some of this
political polarization andcultural classes affected the
way you have had to do your work?
Chief Rafael Padilla (35:19):
I would say that, like any segment of
the population, officers areright in there, right.
In terms of those polarizingissues, what we really strive
for here and what we had to do abetter job of doing is getting
back to neutrality, in that,when you wear this uniform and
you have the authority that'sgranted law enforcement our role
(35:43):
is to stay neutral right andstay consistent with laws and
the Constitution and how we doour job and not allow our
personal biases or politicalbiases to get in there.
But they have impacted.
I think we're leveling out ofthat may have.
May have focused more on onsome of the political decisions
(36:09):
being driven that become law andmoved away from really just
saying our job is to to make thelaw work, not to really be
upset about we didn't like thatlaw right, and so I think we've
matured that way quite a bit so.
So we try to keep our officersand our messaging free of
political rhetoric, free ofpolitical bias, and just say
(36:34):
here's how you do your job theright way.
Grantley Martelly (36:38):
Okay.
So another issue is immigrationand asylum issues.
Our election year and that'sfront and center, and we've had
over the last four years, lotsof debates about immigration and
everybody expected that therewould have been a bill to revive
(36:59):
the immigration policies of thecountry.
And there was a bill and thenit didn't get support so it died
and now we're all back to whereit is.
But people keep coming and wehave these groups that has been
busing people around and youknow so many things going on.
I mean, we again pre-covid, wenever heard about you know,
shipping bus loads of people tocities and stuff.
(37:20):
So that has also changed.
And, as um and I'm sure that kKent's not immune from some of
those issues of you know, peoplecoming in, people showing up
and trying to figure out how to.
Eventually some of it's goingto spill onto your plate because
people are going to call andsay, hey, chief, what are you
doing about this?
(37:40):
And these people here and thosepeople there.
Have you seen some of thoseissues that are also creeping up
on your door?
Chief Rafael Padilla (37:47):
Absolutely , and this is going to fall into
that category.
We could take a whole episodeto discuss this, so I'll try to
keep it specific.
So we have a robust asylumseeker camp on the north side of
our city.
They're off of Central Avenue.
Grantley Martelly (38:02):
It's been there for a little over a month.
Chief Rafael Padilla (38:04):
The property there is controlled by
King County.
The asylum seekers came fromthe church in Tukwila Riverton.
For a little over a month theproperty there is controlled by
King County.
The asylum seekers came fromthe church in Tukwila Riverton
and they moved here and theyreally thought that if they came
here we would open the hotelfor them and they could move in
there.
And that property is controlledby King County.
(38:25):
It's privately owned,controlled by King County.
Both King County and Kent agreethat that is not a great
location.
There's issues with the hotel,but just the location itself and
the suitability of that right.
And, mind you, there was nopre-budget for any of this.
Grantley Martelly (38:42):
There never is Right.
This is unexpected, yeah.
Chief Rafael Padilla (38:47):
And so what I do want to report is that
, you know, over 169 people nowhave been placed in housing.
We're trying to continue that,and but I also want to be clear
that that camp is unlawful undercity code and is against our
use, our city use laws as well.
But we're doing thecompassionate thing.
(39:07):
Our officers are in that campevery day doing walkthroughs,
ensuring people are safe we callthem welfare checks, checking
on the welfare people there andso we've been doing that.
This really comes down to afederal issue.
Cities, states, counties arenot equipped to do this.
It's questionable whether ornot the nation is equipped to do
this.
Questionably, uh, it'squestionable whether or not the
(39:27):
nation is, is, is equipped to dothis right, so, and I don't, so
I won't.
This is not a politicalstatement, but I think it's your
, your um audience wouldappreciate some of the
perspective I had.
so a few months back I went withum, members of the federal law
enforcement community and someof the local chiefs here I'm the
(39:51):
chair of the HIDA board.
It's high-intensity drugtrafficking areas and the
purpose of the board is tofacilitate operations and task
forces to go after the cartelsand the drug traffickers
nationwide.
So I'm on this board.
We're doing a meeting down inSan Diego really to go down
(40:14):
there to learn about how SanDiego is dealing with the influx
of fentanyl and.
I found out I was going to learna lot about the human element
of people coming across theborder.
On my visit there we sat at theSan Ysidro border crossing and
met and got to go and see and Iwas amazed to hear that it's
(40:38):
tens of thousands of people justat that one border crossing are
coming into the country andthat, yes, fentanyl is coming in
.
But I sat and literally sat andI watched Chinese people come
in, Venezuelans we watched Ibelieve they were from Georgia,
(41:01):
the Republic of Georgia, come in, and I had lived in San Diego
for part of my life and so Iexpected we were going to see
Mexicans coming across theMexican border.
There was still that, but itwas a lot of international
people coming through the borderwhich makes you scratch your
head.
Grantley Martelly (41:19):
Oh, so there was a lot more diverse people on
the border now than you wereliving there and so you know.
Chief Rafael Padilla (41:26):
so we talked about it and there was a
policy shift to where the agentsthat work at the border, if
they cannot adequately processsomeone seeking asylum, they let
them in.
So there's criteria based oninternational law of how you
(41:46):
qualify for asylum, what itmeans, and that has kind of been
overrun because there's notsystems to adequately screen
people, and so the default is ifyou can't screen them, let them
(42:25):
in.
And even if every one of a daycoming into our country, I think
a legitimate and objectivequestion is how do we sustain
that?
How do we pay for it?
Even if we could get on boardthat we all wanted to do the
same thing, which we're not,obviously we're polarized.
Just the sheer volume makes mego.
How do we we, how do we evenafford?
Grantley Martelly (42:46):
to do it.
So they're saying this is abouta hundred thousand people a day
.
Chief Rafael Padilla (42:53):
Well, at the border at times at times at
times.
So at the border crossing wewere at it's in the tens of
thousands that.
So the way the director put itto us was about 50,000 people
cross in for work and otherthings and about 20,000 go back
or 30,000 go back Um, they'reseeing um anywhere from um uh,
(43:17):
1,200 to 5,000 people come inand seek asylum on certain days
and they have the capacity toprocess 300.
Wow, and so you see where thisis going.
There is a significant humansmuggling process.
This is, you know, we got tosee the tunnels.
(43:37):
I was in the tunnels.
We got to see them come on landand again, our nation was built
on immigration.
I am here because somewhere,and my great-great-grandfather
came and joined the US, calvaryand that's how our family got
here.
We immigrated here, like somany of our families immigrated
(44:05):
here like so many of ourfamilies.
So it is not a departure fromum, from the value of
immigration and the awesomecomponents of that.
For me, it comes down to nowjust a practical how do we, how
do we pay for it, how do wesustain it?
how do we, you know?
Because that kind of growth isnot something that our economy
is even prepared to keep up with.
Grantley Martelly (44:23):
Most of us civilian people.
We hear about immigration andwe have our perspective on it,
but I'm not sure we trulyunderstand the full magnitude of
the issue at the borders andwhat's going on at the borders
and what's going on and I wouldassume it's probably a little
(44:44):
bit different in Arizona fromSan Diego and the Canadian
border To get a true picture ofwhat's really happening.
It's really really difficult toknow, the news tried to do it in
30-second sound bites and it'snot a 30-second sound bite thing
and it's probably not a15-minute 2020 thing.
It's probably a biggerdiscussion that needs to take
(45:07):
place in trying to beresponsible and, at the same
time, trying to be compassionateand trying to do things.
The challenge for a city likeyours, for people like me as a
minister, when people appear atyour door, you've got a
situation, you've got a dealwith it, right.
(45:28):
So you have all the stuff atthe border going on that we
don't understand.
You get a glimpse of it hereand there, but then you wake up
one morning and there's it couldbe five, it could be 50, it
could be 100 people that says weneed help, and then you've got
this situation saying what do wedo about this group that's in
front of me right now, which Ithink is where most people get
(45:52):
their touch to it, right,dealing with that microcosm in
front of them at the time.
Chief Rafael Padilla (45:58):
Right, well, and what we have learned
in our own experience here thislast month and a half.
Grantley Martelly (46:08):
Is that the scope of the issue is such that
when you do help people morepeople go.
Chief Rafael Padilla (46:15):
That's where I'm going to go.
Yeah, the word gets out, thewords get out.
They go here and these peopleare compassionate, they'll help
you.
And Kent doesn't have.
I'll be really clear Kentdoesn't have the budget for any
of this.
None of this exists and we'retalking millions of dollars now.
You've got a house fee, clothes, medical.
It's a huge deal.
Grantley Martelly (46:34):
You've got children.
Chief Rafael Padilla (46:37):
And I didn't touch on this because it
is, but it is a thing I want ourcommunity to know.
At the same time, you know,there's the humanitarian issue
and the sustainability of that,but as the chief of police, I
also have to be really cognizantof not every person coming here
is going to be good.
There are bad actors that willcome here, and what is that?
(47:01):
How do we guard against thatwhen we don't know who they are?
Right there's, we don't knowwho they are, and so that makes
us vulnerable, and I thinkthere's room for us to be
compassionate and do our part inthe world and, by the way, I
think other countries should dotheir part too but also be wise
(47:23):
in ensuring that we're notinviting people that want to do
us harm.
Grantley Martelly (47:29):
Yeah, so that's one of the polarizing
issues now that has changed usand we are seeing these issues
going on in our community.
We talked about the gunviolence.
We talked about the fentanylissues.
How's your faith holding upthese days?
It's good.
Chief Rafael Padilla (47:47):
You know it's interesting that for me
during the pandemic and most ofthat, I got the opportunity to
reconnect with my faith and bemore regularly attending my
church, because I slipped back alittle bit.
I wasn't going all the time butI got back in there and it's
(48:09):
good.
I think attending church is abig component to staying
connected, staying growing andhearing the word and being part
of the community.
I'm a Christian, so Christiancommunity I mean.
It's easy to kind of detachfrom that.
My belief and my faith in Godand Jesus is never wavered.
(48:32):
My discipline in following whatI'm supposed to be doing is
something I'm always working on.
Grantley Martelly (48:41):
Well, that's great.
I'm glad to hear you're holdingup, because you face lots of
different things in your job andhaving that community around
you that's not necessarilypeople in your profession is
important.
Chief Rafael Padilla (48:56):
I always welcome prayers so that's great.
Grantley Martelly (49:02):
So what recommendations or tools would
you have to give to people whomay be listening to this and
saying you know, there's so muchthings going on around us, I
don't know what to do.
You know, we came through thepandemic, thought we'd have a
lull.
Now we're back up with all ofthese other things.
And how, how am I dealing?
How can I find peace andreconciliation and not just
(49:25):
always feel like the worldaround them is about to explode?
Chief Rafael Padilla (49:30):
You know, I don't know that I'm an expert
in this, but what has worked forme is to really try to make
time to focus on the things thatare going well, really focus on
the positive things in yourfamily and life, the things that
(49:53):
you're working on, the thingsthat you have some control over
as well, and be mindful to setaside time to do that, whether
it be prayer and meditation andreflection or even just
connectivity with friends andfamily or a mentor and focus
there.
It is easy and almost humannature to look at the negative
(50:17):
of everything and you can reallyget focused on that.
Um, particularly I have found,if you're, if you're spending
way too much time on media,whether traditional media or
social media, um, and so, for me, I have to look at social media
because it's I'm the policechief and I have to pay
(50:37):
attention to what's going on.
But I gotta tell, to tell you,when I don't have to to mess
with social media, I don't.
Um, I think people get upset.
They wish me happy birthday andmy birthday's in March and
sometime around October I mightsee it because I don't pay
attention to it.
Uh, my personal stuff it's justwork related, but and then also
I, you know, I would ask peopleto to always ask why and
(51:01):
question if they are seeingsomething and if it's related to
our department, you know, sendme an email, call me.
The good part of social mediais that we do put a lot of our
communication information out onsocial media.
So I don't know if that helps,but I think that we are a city
(51:24):
that benefits greatly from itsfaith-based community, and so as
long as we have that we haveawesome faith-based community
here, I think we're going to beokay.
Grantley Martelly (51:38):
Thank you, remind the audience just for how
they can get in touch with you.
You have that website or youhave that email that people can
get in touch with you or thecity.
Chief Rafael Padilla (51:49):
Yes, so if you go into your search engine
and just put City of Kent Police, Washington will come right up
For my email.
It's rhadia.
My last name, P-A-D-I-L-L-A.
Washington will come right upfor my email.
It's our idea.
My last name P A D I L L a atKent w agov.
And you can also call our mainline, which is two, five, three,
(52:13):
eight, five, six, five, eight,zero, zero, and ask for me.
I get a lot of emails, I get alot of phone calls.
I so give me some time to getback, but I always make it a
point to get back or to get youto the person that you should be
speaking to.
Grantley Martelly (52:29):
Yeah, well, thank you for that.
I've always been impressed howopen you are to speak to people,
to talk to people, to respondto emails Some police chiefs are
really hard to get a hold of,but, as busy as you are, and the
things that you've got going on, I've always been impressed
about how you take the time toshow up in places to respond to
(52:53):
emails or phone calls or, likeyou said, to even make sure
people get referred to the rightplace.
And from the time we met you,we've always been impressed with
your openness to conversation,have conversation with people.
Thank you Well, thank you again, Chief.
I really appreciate it and wewill get this out there and
(53:17):
hopefully, you know, people willlearn from what was shared and
see that there is hope, that weare, we are improving.
Uh, the world may be changing,but constantly focus on, like
you said, the things we havecontrol of, what is positive.
Even the bible reminds us ofthat right.
What is just, what is what ispositive?
(53:37):
What is um know, think on thesethings and help, and we can all
be a help in helping change ourcommunity.
And it's not always up to lawenforcement or the government or
the federal government, butpart of the issue is what can I
do as a regular citizen to helpme and my community better?
(53:59):
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