February 7, 2025 • 17 mins
In this episode of the Cape CopCast 'Chief's Chat,' we're talking about the child abduction investigation and the 13-year-old arrested for armed robbery.
Hosts Lisa Greenberg and Officer Mercedes Simonds sit down with Chief Sizemore to discuss the role of social media in alerting the public of an incident, the importance of prioritizing accuracy and confirmed information while remaining timely in communicating with the public, and the collaborative efforts among law enforcement agencies.
We also shine a spotlight on the unsung heroes behind the scenes—911 Operators and Telecommunicators. From managing emergency calls to providing life-saving guidance, these men and women are integral to public safety. For those considering a career in law enforcement, we delve into the opportunities available right after high school, highlighting paths that lead from telecommunication roles to becoming a police officer. With full-time benefits, career advancement, and educational support, a rewarding journey in public safety awaits those eager to serve.
To learn more about career opportunities, go to: www.CapeCops.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to another episode of the Cape
Copcast Chiefs Chat Edition.
I'm one of your hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Lisa Greenberg and I'm Officer Mercedes Simons.
Together we make up the PublicAffairs Office and today we have
the Chief.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Oh man, what a week it's been a busy week.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We've had a few different kind of high profile
situations happen, so we figuredit'd be kind of a good day to
jump on here and talk about thatkind of have like a little
breakdown.
First things first.
We had that child abductionsituation that happened Monday.
It got a lot of attention.
Obviously, anytime we deal withanything with children it gets
a lot of attention.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
These cases.
They're scary, right.
When you hear a kidnapping of atwo-year-old child, you know
all of your imagination goes tothe worst possible situation,
quite often as a lot, of atwo-year-old child.
All of your imagination goes tothe worst possible situation
Quite often as a lot of peoplechimed in when we put the story
out oh, this is familial, thisis the dad, he's not getting
custody, and everybody jumps toconclusions, right, what helps
us solve cases today is therapid proliferation of
(01:02):
information.
Right, that's a mouthful.
A lot of stuff gets out reallyfast and a lot of people share
it and spread it.
But the truth is a little bitslower.
Sometimes the actual storyfalls behind the speed of some
of the stuff that goes out.
So there's just a high firehoseof info that gets shared in the
(01:22):
community digitally.
Most of it's digital nowadays.
That's not always true andaccurate.
So this was a case where therewas a violent act in the city of
Fort Myers where a couple thatwere dating this is all public
stuff, some I won't be able toget into, but there was a
domestic violence situation andthe male half of the the
(01:43):
relationship grabbed uh, thechild that, from what we're
being told, is not his child,but familiar to him because of
the relationship, and fled andfled into cape coral.
So gone from a within leecounty, the city of fort myers,
into the city of cape coral.
That information gets relayedto us, we jump in immediately to
(02:04):
start helping our partnersbecause the health and welfare
and safety of a child or anycrime victim is paramount.
Jurisdictions don't matter andwe don't wait until that happens
to have a plan in place.
If you're in an emergencysituation trying to plan, you
have failed.
Take a timeout, look atyourself and go.
(02:25):
I failed.
So what you do is we have amutual aid agreement that's been
in place for many, many yearsto get updated all the time the
sheriff's office, the policedepartments, regional that when
it's already laid out that wehelp each other, we have the
ability to help each other.
So we go to the area wherethey're at, we're getting
information.
One thing to understand peoplewere why isn't there an Amber
(02:46):
Alert immediately?
You have to have certaincriteria to trigger an Amber
Alert and it ultimately did.
But in the beginning all of theboxes weren't checked and it's
not up to us or up to local lawenforcement to enact it.
It's a Florida Department ofLaw Enforcement or FDLE enacted
(03:07):
action and you have to meetthese thresholds or it just
cannot happen.
And, like I said before, noteverybody in this situation was
a saint and the information thatwe were getting was not the
whole truth or the entirecomplete picture or just flat
out false.
So it was difficult to siftthrough that to get exactly what
(03:28):
happened, all while you'retrying to find this two-year-old
.
Thankfully, at the end of theday, the two-year-old was
located.
Fort Myers PD is activelyworking the case from the
original incident on De LeonStreet in Fort Myers, but just
the teamwork involved.
A matter of fact, I got aletter from Jason Fields, who's
the chief of FMPD.
I know Chief Fields very welland he took the time out of his
(03:50):
busy day to write a lengthyletter complimenting us and, in
particular, people in ourInvestigative Services Bureau
that immediately jumped in andhelped.
So it's really nice to knowthat when things are going down,
all the other stuff goes to theside, and law enforcement and
the county was here too LeeCounty Sheriff's Office, cape
Coral PD, fmpd the sheriff likesto say it all the time
(04:12):
Different badges, differentpatches, doesn't matter.
Same family, same mission.
And it was excellent.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
I was on scene and it was greathearing all the phone calls
going back and forth betweenagencies and different people on
scene.
And it was, you know, make sure, hey, whatever you need we've
got you, because we all havedifferent assets, different
resources.
You know, even just canines canbe different from agency to
agency and that's really helpfulto have people and agencies
(04:38):
that are so on board with eachother to make sure that,
regardless of any sort ofjurisdiction or lines, that
we're getting this two-year-oldtaken care of For sure, and
you're going to need helpeventually.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
They needed help, so you step up and help.
It could be today, it could beright now, during this podcast.
Out on the street, we need helpRight and when you need help,
you need it.
You're not suggesting, you'renot maybe.
No, I need help because livesare at stake and, without a
(05:09):
doubt, Absolutely Definitely.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
One of the other cases that we put out this week
was actually a juvenile we endedup arresting for armed robbery,
which is very serious.
It was a very evolvingsituation.
We had two different scenes,both of which ended up involving
this juvenile who had a firearm.
We put out something initiallyjust to let you know, hey, we
have increased presence at thispark, and then we were able to
(05:34):
kind of roll off ourinvestigation from there.
But just putting theinformation out, letting the
public know that you know we'reworking through this, we're
making sure everybody's safe,and putting out the truth first,
the facts that don't change isreally what we try to put out
and make sure that exist, andthen we can dive into further
detail later in theinvestigation.
That's really important.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, it's, it is important.
So when we're becoming a moredense and urban populated city,
right and I mean that in thesense that you see what's going
on, right, it's not not rural,you're in the middle of the city
.
There's a lot of police thatshow up on a scene and people
are like what in the world'sgoing on?
Immediately, information startsgoing out.
(06:17):
What is that?
What's going on?
And they want to know.
Some people will call, but mostpeople don't.
They just start to speculate orwonder or worry, right?
So if we're a two-wayconversation from the police
department to the community andback and forth, we feel an
obligation to put out what wecan put out as soon as we can.
So the first thing we do hey,everybody, yes, there is an
increased police presence, we'reaware of it.
(06:38):
We're working something.
Please know if we could put itout or if we can vet it and know
that it's true, it will go out.
So let's just say, for example,there's a bunch of police cars
on Santa Barbara, at the Jason'sDeli Plaza, across from Cape
Coral High School During the day.
People are going to assume thatsomething's happening, maybe at
(06:59):
the school, or it will worrypeople If we get one piece of
information that says, yeah, Isaw something happen over there
and we immediately put that outand it's not true and we got to
redact it.
Hey, sorry about that, thatwasn't true.
We got another piece and putthat out.
It becomes too much and thenall of a sudden you guys aren't
reliable.
I don't even know what you'retalking about.
Slow down and do it right.
(07:20):
In the past, before we had thetwo-way communication that we
have now, nothing would havewent out until you read the
paper the next day, or maybe yousaw it on the 11 o'clock news
that night after we talked tothe news.
So we have a very rapid,interactive way to put stuff out
.
But it's not everything all atonce.
It's got to unfold.
So on this particular incident,there's a police presence.
(07:43):
We put it out Okay, something'sgoing on.
Then we know what's going on.
There was a robbery.
Kid got robbed at gunpoint forhis electric scooter.
And if you're a parent and youhave your kid out there on a
scooter or a bike or just beingout safe, playing in their city,
and to have another juvenilecome up and take it at gunpoint,
that's a serious charge.
(08:03):
So we start getting thatinformation.
What happened.
Who was this?
And then, real quickly, we wereable to determine who it was,
based on prior actions by thatkid.
Meanwhile, there's anotherincident unfolding, not too far.
Is it related?
We don't know.
It ended up being that, but inthe instant that it was
(08:24):
happening, where this kid wastrying something else, at a
popular softball field, burtonSoftball Field there's a lot of
people there, a lot of parentsthere, and some good Samaritans
jumped into action, thankfully,and hey, get over there.
Our officers responded, startto unfold what happened here.
And then, hey, I think thismight be the same thing.
Meanwhile, there's a lot ofstuff going on online.
(08:47):
What's going on?
What's happening?
Nobody's telling us anything.
We're working it, it, we'refiguring out what happened and
then, once we know for sure whathappened, you measure twice,
cut once, right, right get theinformation correct and then put
it out.
The last thing you want to dois put something out, worry,
panic or falsely say thecircumstances, and then have to
(09:11):
go back and retract it and thenput it out.
You do more damage that way.
So I'm proud of you guys forgetting the information out.
I'm proud of the fact that wedo have that two-way
communication with the community, not two-way with everyone
individually.
You put out a post and you have400 comments.
You can't answer every singleone.
Do the best you can.
(09:32):
A lot of that is you start theconversation and people will
communicate amongst themselves.
Most of it's good, some of itis comedic and some of it is sad
, but that's what communityconversations are for and that's
why we have our comments openfor people to use the digital
town square.
Here's the topic go and if webelong to it or can contribute
(09:52):
to that conversation.
We will, but not always, andthe important thing is we get
the information out as soon aswe can, but responsibly.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Right, we're a very transparent agency.
We put out what we can, we tellyou what we can, and a lot of
transparency, you have toremember, comes from the drive
for protecting public safety.
If there is an area that is indanger, it is our job to make
sure that you know to avoid thatarea.
That's not us hiding, you know,like a dangerous crime that
(10:23):
happened in Cape Coral.
We're putting out that there'sincreased police presence.
We'll let you know what's goingon later, if we can, and that's
just kind of how we love tohandle that situation.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I'm not on the payroll for realtors to make the
community look better.
I have no incentive to hideanything that's going on.
It is what it is good, bad.
That's internal communication.
That's external.
If we do it right, we're goingto tell you.
If we make a mistake, we'regoing to tell you.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
For sure.
We already have issues with arumor mill when it comes to the
Facebook comments and peopletaking a situation and running
with it and unverified newssources coming in and saying
what they think happened.
And then we have to go and sayactually, you're completely
wrong, please redact that.
So that's another reason thatwe take that extra step to make
sure.
Say, for example, we put outthat this robbery happened, we
(11:12):
blast this kid's picture, saywe're looking for him, and then
it turns out that it's not thekid.
We want to make sure thateverything is perfect, we have
all the accurate information,before we go and put things on
blast and let the community know.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
We don't have the luxury to do what some do and
some would.
Oh, that's definitely this,that's an opinion you think that
, and then, when it unfolds,you're way off.
Well, that person's not goingto come back and say I'd like to
disclose that I made a mistaketo everybody.
We do Right.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
We're not in the I think business, we're in the I
know business Exactly and that'swhat we put out, and I know we
wanted to touch on to think ofthe police officers and all the
detectives that are handlingthese cases.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
But it all starts any call starts with dispatch, and
I know that we are looking fordispatchers to join our team as
well.
Oh, we sure are.
And you look at the calls thatwe just talked about a
kidnapping of a two-year-oldbrought in.
That's a phone call that comesin right.
They don't go directly to ourofficers on the street or our
detectives in the detectivebureau.
That comes into ourcommunication center.
So it is out of a cannon, highintensity right from the 911,
(12:23):
what is your emergency?
Or Cape Coral Public Safety?
How can I help you?
Boom, there's a two-year-old mytwo-year-old's been taken, or
my son just got robbed, oranything.
There's a two-year-old mytwo-year-old's been taken, or my
son just got robbed, oranything.
There's a car I just drove by,a car that's flipped over and
there's somebody hurt.
It doesn't matter what it is.
It's a serious situation andthey're high octane from the
(12:44):
very beginning.
To bring them down, get thenecessary information, get it
into the computer, find outwhere the officers are the
appropriate people Maybe that'san EMS call and you transfer it
over to EMS.
You listen to make sure it getspicked up and then feather out
of it, right, or you're on withthem, guiding them through CPR,
(13:05):
calming them down through theentire situation until you can
hear it on the phone.
The officer's actually cominginto the house.
It's a tremendous group of menand women that work in there.
They are the unsung heroes thatyou talk about, and we'd like
to sing for them today,absolutely.
They're awesome and we need moreof them.
Right, they need help.
So one of the things we wantedto talk about is the fact that
(13:28):
it's a job that people don'tthink about.
It's a job that people don'tthink about.
It's a great job.
You work in the policedepartment with us.
There's benefits, full-timebenefits, a retirement, a
pension and there's careeradvancement within it.
So you can get in right out ofhigh school, graduate, come in
and make really decent money andbenefits.
(13:48):
They're negotiating for evenhigher pay raise right now, so
it's only going up.
But you have the opportunity toreally make a difference from
day one and then you could gofrom a 911 operator to a
full-fledged dispatcher runningchannels and running really a
section of the city or the wholecity.
Then you can move up tosupervisory roles and make a
(14:10):
long-term career out of it.
You also have the opportunityIf you want to be a police
officer.
We need those too.
Right, got to be 21.
So if you're 18, you graduatehigh school and college isn't
for you right away, and maybethe military isn't for you right
away.
You have options.
Right, I want to be a policeofficer.
You can go to college.
Take that time from 18 to 21,.
(14:31):
Get your 60 credits, get yourassociate's degree.
Finish up your bachelor'sdegree.
You could enlist in the armedforces, serve our country, earn
the GI Bill and eat up that timeuntil you're 21,.
Come back and we'll hire you.
Or if those don't appeal to youor they don't work for you.
Some people may not have thecircumstances or the
(14:53):
availability financially to goto college or, due to home
circumstances or whateverfactors, aren't able to join the
military.
We are hiring and you can get ajob at the police department as
a telecommunicator or 911operator.
You're in the building, you'rein the culture.
You're smelling the smells,right, you're touching and
feeling and part of the culture.
You're smelling the smells,right, you're touching and
(15:14):
feeling in part of the culture.
You learn the radio system.
You learn the computer system.
You learn the culture.
You learn the unspoken thingsthat happen here.
We have education reimbursementso you can go to college.
Take your time.
Take that 18 to 21 time span.
Take your time.
(15:35):
Take that 18 to 21 time span.
Get the pension started.
Get your city seniority goingand earn a paycheck and go to
take your classes.
Have the ability to earnovertime, the ability to really
make a career out of it, and youmay find that you know what
this is my calling.
I'm going to stay here and makea career out of that, or you go
to college.
We do the reimbursement.
Next thing you know you're 21,you got your associate's degree
(15:56):
and we put you right in theacademy and your career's
already a couple of years ahead.
So anybody that's looking to bea police officer at 18, you
know what you want to do.
You got everything ready andlined up, except your age.
We got something for you and Iwould ask you to go to
capecopscom and apply.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Absolutely, and we can put the link in the episode
details on social media, on yourpodcast app and all of that
stuff on YouTube as well.
So we'll make sure thatinformation is there too.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, definitely.
I think it's a greatopportunity for anybody who
wants to advance and start hereand then really skyrocket your
career from there.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Absolutely, Absolutely All right, Chief.
Anything else for today.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Have a great weekend everybody.
We all deserve it.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, it's been a long week, so let's go ahead and
have a good weekend.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, and we will catch you
next time.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Stay safe.
Welcome back to another episode of the Cape
Copcast Chiefs Chat Edition.
I'm one of your hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Lisa Greenberg and I'm Officer Mercedes Simons.
Together we make up the PublicAffairs Office and today we have
the Chief.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Oh man, what a week it's been a busy week.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We've had a few different kind of high profile
situations happen, so we figuredit'd be kind of a good day to
jump on here and talk about thatkind of have like a little
breakdown.
First things first.
We had that child abductionsituation that happened Monday.
It got a lot of attention.
Obviously, anytime we deal withanything with children it gets
a lot of attention.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
These cases.
They're scary, right.
When you hear a kidnapping of atwo-year-old child, you know
all of your imagination goes tothe worst possible situation,
quite often as a lot, of atwo-year-old child.
All of your imagination goes tothe worst possible situation
Quite often as a lot of peoplechimed in when we put the story
out oh, this is familial, thisis the dad, he's not getting
custody, and everybody jumps toconclusions, right, what helps
us solve cases today is therapid proliferation of
(01:02):
information.
Right, that's a mouthful.
A lot of stuff gets out reallyfast and a lot of people share
it and spread it.
But the truth is a little bitslower.
Sometimes the actual storyfalls behind the speed of some
of the stuff that goes out.
So there's just a high firehoseof info that gets shared in the
(01:22):
community digitally.
Most of it's digital nowadays.
That's not always true andaccurate.
So this was a case where therewas a violent act in the city of
Fort Myers where a couple thatwere dating this is all public
stuff, some I won't be able toget into, but there was a
domestic violence situation andthe male half of the the
(01:43):
relationship grabbed uh, thechild that, from what we're
being told, is not his child,but familiar to him because of
the relationship, and fled andfled into cape coral.
So gone from a within leecounty, the city of fort myers,
into the city of cape coral.
That information gets relayedto us, we jump in immediately to
(02:04):
start helping our partnersbecause the health and welfare
and safety of a child or anycrime victim is paramount.
Jurisdictions don't matter andwe don't wait until that happens
to have a plan in place.
If you're in an emergencysituation trying to plan, you
have failed.
Take a timeout, look atyourself and go.
(02:25):
I failed.
So what you do is we have amutual aid agreement that's been
in place for many, many yearsto get updated all the time the
sheriff's office, the policedepartments, regional that when
it's already laid out that wehelp each other, we have the
ability to help each other.
So we go to the area wherethey're at, we're getting
information.
One thing to understand peoplewere why isn't there an Amber
(02:46):
Alert immediately?
You have to have certaincriteria to trigger an Amber
Alert and it ultimately did.
But in the beginning all of theboxes weren't checked and it's
not up to us or up to local lawenforcement to enact it.
It's a Florida Department ofLaw Enforcement or FDLE enacted
(03:07):
action and you have to meetthese thresholds or it just
cannot happen.
And, like I said before, noteverybody in this situation was
a saint and the information thatwe were getting was not the
whole truth or the entirecomplete picture or just flat
out false.
So it was difficult to siftthrough that to get exactly what
(03:28):
happened, all while you'retrying to find this two-year-old
.
Thankfully, at the end of theday, the two-year-old was
located.
Fort Myers PD is activelyworking the case from the
original incident on De LeonStreet in Fort Myers, but just
the teamwork involved.
A matter of fact, I got aletter from Jason Fields, who's
the chief of FMPD.
I know Chief Fields very welland he took the time out of his
(03:50):
busy day to write a lengthyletter complimenting us and, in
particular, people in ourInvestigative Services Bureau
that immediately jumped in andhelped.
So it's really nice to knowthat when things are going down,
all the other stuff goes to theside, and law enforcement and
the county was here too LeeCounty Sheriff's Office, cape
Coral PD, fmpd the sheriff likesto say it all the time
(04:12):
Different badges, differentpatches, doesn't matter.
Same family, same mission.
And it was excellent.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
I was on scene and it was greathearing all the phone calls
going back and forth betweenagencies and different people on
scene.
And it was, you know, make sure, hey, whatever you need we've
got you, because we all havedifferent assets, different
resources.
You know, even just canines canbe different from agency to
agency and that's really helpfulto have people and agencies
(04:38):
that are so on board with eachother to make sure that,
regardless of any sort ofjurisdiction or lines, that
we're getting this two-year-oldtaken care of For sure, and
you're going to need helpeventually.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
They needed help, so you step up and help.
It could be today, it could beright now, during this podcast.
Out on the street, we need helpRight and when you need help,
you need it.
You're not suggesting, you'renot maybe.
No, I need help because livesare at stake and, without a
(05:09):
doubt, Absolutely Definitely.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
One of the other cases that we put out this week
was actually a juvenile we endedup arresting for armed robbery,
which is very serious.
It was a very evolvingsituation.
We had two different scenes,both of which ended up involving
this juvenile who had a firearm.
We put out something initiallyjust to let you know, hey, we
have increased presence at thispark, and then we were able to
(05:34):
kind of roll off ourinvestigation from there.
But just putting theinformation out, letting the
public know that you know we'reworking through this, we're
making sure everybody's safe,and putting out the truth first,
the facts that don't change isreally what we try to put out
and make sure that exist, andthen we can dive into further
detail later in theinvestigation.
That's really important.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, it's, it is important.
So when we're becoming a moredense and urban populated city,
right and I mean that in thesense that you see what's going
on, right, it's not not rural,you're in the middle of the city
.
There's a lot of police thatshow up on a scene and people
are like what in the world'sgoing on?
Immediately, information startsgoing out.
(06:17):
What is that?
What's going on?
And they want to know.
Some people will call, but mostpeople don't.
They just start to speculate orwonder or worry, right?
So if we're a two-wayconversation from the police
department to the community andback and forth, we feel an
obligation to put out what wecan put out as soon as we can.
So the first thing we do hey,everybody, yes, there is an
increased police presence, we'reaware of it.
(06:38):
We're working something.
Please know if we could put itout or if we can vet it and know
that it's true, it will go out.
So let's just say, for example,there's a bunch of police cars
on Santa Barbara, at the Jason'sDeli Plaza, across from Cape
Coral High School During the day.
People are going to assume thatsomething's happening, maybe at
(06:59):
the school, or it will worrypeople If we get one piece of
information that says, yeah, Isaw something happen over there
and we immediately put that outand it's not true and we got to
redact it.
Hey, sorry about that, thatwasn't true.
We got another piece and putthat out.
It becomes too much and thenall of a sudden you guys aren't
reliable.
I don't even know what you'retalking about.
Slow down and do it right.
(07:20):
In the past, before we had thetwo-way communication that we
have now, nothing would havewent out until you read the
paper the next day, or maybe yousaw it on the 11 o'clock news
that night after we talked tothe news.
So we have a very rapid,interactive way to put stuff out
.
But it's not everything all atonce.
It's got to unfold.
So on this particular incident,there's a police presence.
(07:43):
We put it out Okay, something'sgoing on.
Then we know what's going on.
There was a robbery.
Kid got robbed at gunpoint forhis electric scooter.
And if you're a parent and youhave your kid out there on a
scooter or a bike or just beingout safe, playing in their city,
and to have another juvenilecome up and take it at gunpoint,
that's a serious charge.
(08:03):
So we start getting thatinformation.
What happened.
Who was this?
And then, real quickly, we wereable to determine who it was,
based on prior actions by thatkid.
Meanwhile, there's anotherincident unfolding, not too far.
Is it related?
We don't know.
It ended up being that, but inthe instant that it was
(08:24):
happening, where this kid wastrying something else, at a
popular softball field, burtonSoftball Field there's a lot of
people there, a lot of parentsthere, and some good Samaritans
jumped into action, thankfully,and hey, get over there.
Our officers responded, startto unfold what happened here.
And then, hey, I think thismight be the same thing.
Meanwhile, there's a lot ofstuff going on online.
(08:47):
What's going on?
What's happening?
Nobody's telling us anything.
We're working it, it, we'refiguring out what happened and
then, once we know for sure whathappened, you measure twice,
cut once, right, right get theinformation correct and then put
it out.
The last thing you want to dois put something out, worry,
panic or falsely say thecircumstances, and then have to
(09:11):
go back and retract it and thenput it out.
You do more damage that way.
So I'm proud of you guys forgetting the information out.
I'm proud of the fact that wedo have that two-way
communication with the community, not two-way with everyone
individually.
You put out a post and you have400 comments.
You can't answer every singleone.
Do the best you can.
(09:32):
A lot of that is you start theconversation and people will
communicate amongst themselves.
Most of it's good, some of itis comedic and some of it is sad
, but that's what communityconversations are for and that's
why we have our comments openfor people to use the digital
town square.
Here's the topic go and if webelong to it or can contribute
(09:52):
to that conversation.
We will, but not always, andthe important thing is we get
the information out as soon aswe can, but responsibly.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Right, we're a very transparent agency.
We put out what we can, we tellyou what we can, and a lot of
transparency, you have toremember, comes from the drive
for protecting public safety.
If there is an area that is indanger, it is our job to make
sure that you know to avoid thatarea.
That's not us hiding, you know,like a dangerous crime that
(10:23):
happened in Cape Coral.
We're putting out that there'sincreased police presence.
We'll let you know what's goingon later, if we can, and that's
just kind of how we love tohandle that situation.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I'm not on the payroll for realtors to make the
community look better.
I have no incentive to hideanything that's going on.
It is what it is good, bad.
That's internal communication.
That's external.
If we do it right, we're goingto tell you.
If we make a mistake, we'regoing to tell you.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
For sure.
We already have issues with arumor mill when it comes to the
Facebook comments and peopletaking a situation and running
with it and unverified newssources coming in and saying
what they think happened.
And then we have to go and sayactually, you're completely
wrong, please redact that.
So that's another reason thatwe take that extra step to make
sure.
Say, for example, we put outthat this robbery happened, we
(11:12):
blast this kid's picture, saywe're looking for him, and then
it turns out that it's not thekid.
We want to make sure thateverything is perfect, we have
all the accurate information,before we go and put things on
blast and let the community know.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
We don't have the luxury to do what some do and
some would.
Oh, that's definitely this,that's an opinion you think that
, and then, when it unfolds,you're way off.
Well, that person's not goingto come back and say I'd like to
disclose that I made a mistaketo everybody.
We do Right.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
We're not in the I think business, we're in the I
know business Exactly and that'swhat we put out, and I know we
wanted to touch on to think ofthe police officers and all the
detectives that are handlingthese cases.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
But it all starts any call starts with dispatch, and
I know that we are looking fordispatchers to join our team as
well.
Oh, we sure are.
And you look at the calls thatwe just talked about a
kidnapping of a two-year-oldbrought in.
That's a phone call that comesin right.
They don't go directly to ourofficers on the street or our
detectives in the detectivebureau.
That comes into ourcommunication center.
So it is out of a cannon, highintensity right from the 911,
(12:23):
what is your emergency?
Or Cape Coral Public Safety?
How can I help you?
Boom, there's a two-year-old mytwo-year-old's been taken, or
my son just got robbed, oranything.
There's a two-year-old mytwo-year-old's been taken, or my
son just got robbed, oranything.
There's a car I just drove by,a car that's flipped over and
there's somebody hurt.
It doesn't matter what it is.
It's a serious situation andthey're high octane from the
(12:44):
very beginning.
To bring them down, get thenecessary information, get it
into the computer, find outwhere the officers are the
appropriate people Maybe that'san EMS call and you transfer it
over to EMS.
You listen to make sure it getspicked up and then feather out
of it, right, or you're on withthem, guiding them through CPR,
(13:05):
calming them down through theentire situation until you can
hear it on the phone.
The officer's actually cominginto the house.
It's a tremendous group of menand women that work in there.
They are the unsung heroes thatyou talk about, and we'd like
to sing for them today,absolutely.
They're awesome and we need moreof them.
Right, they need help.
So one of the things we wantedto talk about is the fact that
(13:28):
it's a job that people don'tthink about.
It's a job that people don'tthink about.
It's a great job.
You work in the policedepartment with us.
There's benefits, full-timebenefits, a retirement, a
pension and there's careeradvancement within it.
So you can get in right out ofhigh school, graduate, come in
and make really decent money andbenefits.
(13:48):
They're negotiating for evenhigher pay raise right now, so
it's only going up.
But you have the opportunity toreally make a difference from
day one and then you could gofrom a 911 operator to a
full-fledged dispatcher runningchannels and running really a
section of the city or the wholecity.
Then you can move up tosupervisory roles and make a
(14:10):
long-term career out of it.
You also have the opportunityIf you want to be a police
officer.
We need those too.
Right, got to be 21.
So if you're 18, you graduatehigh school and college isn't
for you right away, and maybethe military isn't for you right
away.
You have options.
Right, I want to be a policeofficer.
You can go to college.
Take that time from 18 to 21,.
(14:31):
Get your 60 credits, get yourassociate's degree.
Finish up your bachelor'sdegree.
You could enlist in the armedforces, serve our country, earn
the GI Bill and eat up that timeuntil you're 21,.
Come back and we'll hire you.
Or if those don't appeal to youor they don't work for you.
Some people may not have thecircumstances or the
(14:53):
availability financially to goto college or, due to home
circumstances or whateverfactors, aren't able to join the
military.
We are hiring and you can get ajob at the police department as
a telecommunicator or 911operator.
You're in the building, you'rein the culture.
You're smelling the smells,right, you're touching and
feeling and part of the culture.
You're smelling the smells,right, you're touching and
(15:14):
feeling in part of the culture.
You learn the radio system.
You learn the computer system.
You learn the culture.
You learn the unspoken thingsthat happen here.
We have education reimbursementso you can go to college.
Take your time.
Take that 18 to 21 time span.
Take your time.
(15:35):
Take that 18 to 21 time span.
Get the pension started.
Get your city seniority goingand earn a paycheck and go to
take your classes.
Have the ability to earnovertime, the ability to really
make a career out of it, and youmay find that you know what
this is my calling.
I'm going to stay here and makea career out of that, or you go
to college.
We do the reimbursement.
Next thing you know you're 21,you got your associate's degree
(15:56):
and we put you right in theacademy and your career's
already a couple of years ahead.
So anybody that's looking to bea police officer at 18, you
know what you want to do.
You got everything ready andlined up, except your age.
We got something for you and Iwould ask you to go to
capecopscom and apply.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Absolutely, and we can put the link in the episode
details on social media, on yourpodcast app and all of that
stuff on YouTube as well.
So we'll make sure thatinformation is there too.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, definitely.
I think it's a greatopportunity for anybody who
wants to advance and start hereand then really skyrocket your
career from there.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Absolutely, Absolutely All right, Chief.
Anything else for today.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Have a great weekend everybody.
We all deserve it.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, it's been a long week, so let's go ahead and
have a good weekend.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, and we will catch you
next time.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Stay safe.
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