February 16, 2025 • 50 mins
Law enforcement officers face unique challenges that impact their financial and mental well-being. Willie Bermudez, a seasoned officer, shares his journey from personal debt to advocating financial literacy for first responders, emphasizing the importance of overall wellness in policing.
• Willie's early life and entry into law enforcement
• The struggles of financial literacy among officers
• Transitioning from debt to financial stability
• The importance of work-life balance in law enforcement
• Mental health support in the police community
• Preparing for retirement and planning for the future
• The role of identity and self-worth outside of policing
• Opportunities for financial and personal growth for officers
• Resources for seeking help inside and outside the department
• The value of mentorship and peer support in law enforcement
Programs Mentioned:
- Free Financial Wellness Services for First Responders
Contact:
LinkedIn: Guillermo Bermudez
Email: WillieNicoleB@gmail.com
Let us know what you loved about this episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tyra Valeriano (00:01):
Welcome to Chapter Blue, the podcast where
we discuss the world of lawenforcement through an honest
conversation on tough orcontroversial topics, real
stories, perspectives andexperience from officers all
around the world.
Whether you're here forinsights on mental health,
self-care, work-life balance,getting into law enforcement,
getting out of law enforcement,or just trying to learn about
(00:21):
personal and professionalchallenges officers face every
day, you've come to the rightplace.
I'm your host, tyra Valeriano,and whether I'm going solo or
speaking with a guest, eachepisode will discuss different
aspects of life behind the badge.
Let's turn the page and stepinto Chapter Blue.
Welcome back to another episodeof Chapter Blue.
(00:42):
Today I'm speaking with WillieBermudez out of California.
He has 21 years of lawenforcement experience and he
comes with some valuableinformation to help first
responders now and in the future.
Thank you for joining me today,willie.
Will you give the listeners alittle more about your
background in law enforcementand what you'd like to discuss
today?
Willie Bermudez (01:01):
Good morning, tyra, of course, thank you.
First of all, thank you forhaving me, and I've heard some
of your podcast episodes andit's really amazing what you're
doing.
It's one of those areas where,as cops, we tend to trust other
cops and that's it.
But so I think it's really coolwhat you're doing, because a
lot of times we think of otherpeople as having ulterior
motives for why they do, theywant to do, they want to get get
(01:22):
paid, or so when we see anotherofficer who's gone through the
same struggles maybe that we'regoing through or maybe that
we've gone through it's huge andit tends to at least is a lot
of credibility.
So thank you for what you'redoing.
I think it's pretty awesome butyeah so, like you said, I have,
uh, 20 21 years of experience asan actual officer.
Uh, total experience is 25years now.
(01:43):
So a little bit about mybackground.
So when I was born, I'm 42years old and when I was born
both of my parents were actuallyin jail.
So mom was serving a prisonsentence and dad was in jail
getting ready to go back to do aparole violation when I was
born.
So they actually had to give mymom a ride in the ambulance to
the closest hospital to the jailto give birth and then she had
(02:06):
to go back and finish off hersentence.
So I was taken home from thehospital by my grandparents who
pretty much raised me.
They actually got custody of melater in life and raised me,
and then I have a youngerbrother as well and what was
pretty awesome about that isthey taught me how to be a good
man.
On the one side, my parentswould teach me to hate cops.
My grandparents made sure thatthey took me around cops to show
(02:30):
me that cops were good, thatcops were friends, that cops
were there to help us.
You know, on my parents' side,if we were with them, because
once they got out of jail we'dgo with them from time to time.
If we saw a cop on the street,they, if we saw a cop on the
street, they would point at thecop and they say cop kill, cop
kill.
And we'd take that home tograndparents' house and
grandparents were like no, no,no.
So they would take us aroundcops just to get comfortable and
(02:52):
to teach us hey, cops reallyhelp us.
So that was pretty awesome.
My grandpa was a church minister, so he raised me and my brother
in the church, got reallyinvolved in church at a young
age, musician and stuff.
But as I got older I had a lovefor law enforcement.
I did a ride along.
So I have an aunt my dad'ssister was a police dispatcher
(03:13):
and so she would take me to thestation with her from time to
time and I would meet some ofthe cops and they actually let
me go on a ride along when I was16.
So I went on this ride alongwhen I was 16.
So I went on this ride alongwhen I was 16 and I was hooked.
That was it.
I knew for a fact this is whatI wanted to do.
So I got into the policeexplorers at 17.
I got hired as a police cadetOnce.
I graduated from high school at18 and work at the station for
(03:35):
a couple of years, which isactually awesome because that's
where I met my wife.
We were both police cadetstogether working at the same
department, but yeah, it'spretty awesome.
Tyra Valeriano (03:45):
And then I went how long have you been married?
Willie Bermudez (03:51):
How long have you been married since you met
your wife in the academy.
So actually next month is goingto be 20 years for us.
Tyra Valeriano (03:56):
Wow, congratulations.
Willie Bermudez (03:58):
Thank you.
Thank you, yeah, it's been apretty awesome.
So I met her and we have adaughter who's in nursing school
right now.
So you know super proud papafor sure.
But yeah, so, yeah, I gotstarted, went to the academy at
20 and a half.
Six month academy, graduatedright before I turned 21.
Then hit the streets on fieldtraining at 21 and never looked
(04:22):
back.
Field training at 21 and neverlooked back.
Had a great career, worked thegang unit, worked narcotics,
auto theft.
Currently I was field trainingofficer for about 10 years TFO,
working in our air support unitas a tactical flight officer.
So it's been pretty awesome,and one of the so.
One of the other things that wedo as well, though, is my
(04:43):
grandparents awesome people, butimmigrants from Mexico.
Not that that's a bad thing, butwhat happened was they because
they don't have a lot ofexperience here in on the
finance side right, financially,they taught me hey, mijo, make
sure you pay your bills on timeand save money, which is great
advice, but they didn't reallyhave much to teach me financial
(05:03):
wise, and as a young cop 21, Igot into some pretty bad debt.
Instead of saving for a house, Ibought a $50,000 SUV Um, you
know, and so I had to learn thisstuff later in life.
You know, I didn't plan for mydaughter's college.
I didn't pay for, you know, putmoney aside for her for college
.
So now we're catching up on thebackside, paying loans off.
So, you know, several years agomy wife and I were, you know,
(05:27):
we were in debt.
It was causing a lot of stressand we took some financial
classes at our church that theyoffer for free.
And you know, we see wellnessis a major topic in law
enforcement right now, and nowwe run a financial wellness
business for first responders,where we help first responders
for free.
So I still do the cop thingfull time and still and now do
(05:49):
financial wellness as well.
Tyra Valeriano (05:51):
Wow, that is a lot.
That is a lot.
It seems like you have a lot ofexperience, and I'm actually
interested to hear what was yourfavorite part of your career,
since you worked in so manyspecialty units.
Willie Bermudez (06:04):
Man?
It's tough to say becausethere's different pieces from
each assignment.
I love working the gang unitbecause I love being out on the
streets having a partner.
My partner and I got reallyclose and so it was pretty cool,
you know, just going out andinvestigating gang crimes,
getting to know the gangsters inthe community, doing the gang
enforcement, getting a lot ofhigh-speed pursuits, um, making
(06:27):
a lot of good case, a lot ofyou're writing a lot of warrants
for guns and dope and stufflike that.
So the gangs was awesome.
Um, narcotics was pretty awesomefor us because we worked very
close with the dea task force.
So it was busy, busy, busy.
We were hustling, we wereworking six days a week, putting
in long hours, chasing dope allover from the mexico border
(06:48):
through halfway up the centralcalifornia area out to the
border of arizona.
So it was non-stop work.
A lot of fun, a lot ofdifferent experiences that you
would not really experience inin law enforcement.
You know, as a patrolman, yeah,I remember one day following a
target that we we had someinformation that he was shipping
dope using some flightattendants and he was shipping
(07:09):
dope to the central U S uh,using these flight attendants
that were working with them andI remember, you know, following
this guy from his house to LAXand through the terminals at LAX
and having to work with theairport police.
So it was pretty cool.
Just different experiences likethat were pretty awesome in
narcotics.
And then I love flying.
Flying is pretty awesomeDefinitely a different aspect
(07:32):
and seeing things in a differentlight up there, and so the
flying being the TFO is prettyawesome.
Being on patrol, that's beenthe bread and butter.
I've been on the TV show Copsquite a few times, probably four
or five times.
I've been on the TV show Copsquite a few times, probably four
or five times.
I've been on four or fivedifferent episodes on Cops.
I did some consulting withiCrime with Elizabeth Vargas.
(07:52):
I was one of their commentatorson that show last season, so
that's been pretty cool as well.
Tyra Valeriano (08:00):
Dang, you've had a really fun career.
I will have to say that you'reprobably one in a handful of
people that I've heard have thismuch action in their career,
because when you think aboutpolicing it's all the fun stuff,
but when you get in it it'slike man, it's a lot of
paperwork and it's not all thefun stuff all the time.
But I mean, it sounds prettyfun based on what you're saying
(08:21):
to me.
Willie Bermudez (08:23):
Yeah, you know the paperwork sucks, we all know
it.
But it's like man, is the juiceworth the squeeze?
So, you know, is that half anhour chase around town and
you're arresting some criminalwith a gun or a stolen car?
Is it worth the paperworkyou're going to do at the end?
And for me I'd say, yeah, Ilove the adrenaline rush.
Tyra Valeriano (08:44):
Yeah Well, it sounds like you had a lot of
opportunities for the adrenalinerush, so that's awesome.
So I know you said that yourparents were in prison when you
were born.
What is your relationship withthem now?
I mean, you've been an officerfor a long time and what was
their opinion about you joiningthe police force?
Willie Bermudez (09:04):
What was their opinion about you joining the
police force?
So, yeah, so my dad at first,obviously he probably was not
thrilled.
Even though he won't admit it,I'm sure he wasn't thrilled.
What was pretty interesting isthe agency that I worked for was
Colton PD out here inCalifornia.
That's where my dad and momkind of ran amok during their
days.
My dad and mom kind of ran amokduring their days.
So when I was a new cadet andexplorer there, some of the
(09:28):
higher ups would see my name andthey were like hey, are you
related to so-and-so?
I'm like, yeah, that's myparents.
So that was definitely a littleinteresting for sure.
But you know what?
My dad super supportive Evennow.
You know he, he, we have a goodrelationship, have a good
(09:49):
relationship.
He doesn't he.
We don't live close to eachother.
We live about 500 miles awayfrom each other now, um, but
he's very supportive andthroughout most of my career
he's been super supportive.
Um, you know, I remember he.
He told me he's like one day hecalled me.
He's like hey, mij, you know myold friends probably would hate
to hear me say this, but makesure, whatever happens, you
shoot first.
Tyra Valeriano (10:11):
That's awesome.
Willie Bermudez (10:13):
And your mom.
I'm sorry, go ahead.
Tyra Valeriano (10:15):
No, yeah, I was going to ask about your mom.
Willie Bermudez (10:18):
So mom, unfortunately mom dealt with a
lot of addiction and mom passedaway when I was 19.
Um, so she passed away before Ibecame a cop.
Um, you know, I'm sure shewould have been very supportive,
uh, but she got caught up inthat addiction and, you know,
unfortunately didn't didn't makeit this far.
But yeah, I'm sure she wouldhave been supportive though.
Tyra Valeriano (10:41):
Well, I'm sorry to hear that your grandparents.
They sound like they've been agem throughout your whole life
and you did touch on them nothaving the best financial
expertise to share with you.
But to be fair, I feel thatthat's a lot of people, even me
going through school and havingmy parents.
(11:04):
They didn't really go overfinancial aspects of anything
you know.
So I think there's a lot ofpeople out there who don't have
a lot of financial literacy.
And with officers, I mean maybethere's a lot more officers
that get paid better now, butfrom what I remember, a lot of
officers don't get paid thatmuch and they are always asking
(11:25):
for a raise and they'remiserable and they're not going
to be happy until they get moremoney and they're preparing for
their retirement, but mostagencies are not giving them a
retirement that they can liveoff of and they will eventually
have to get another job afterretiring.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe personal financing business
that you guys have and how itrelates to first responders.
Willie Bermudez (11:50):
So yeah, so wellness, as you know, is a huge
topic right now, and finance isone aspect of overall wellness,
Because think about financesactually has been labeled the
leading cause of stress for somany Americans, not just first
responders, but for everyone,but definitely in the first
responder world because, likeyou were mentioning how many
cops have second jobs?
(12:11):
Or, if they don't have a secondjob, they're trying to sign up
for any overtime spot that'savailable.
And it's because a lot of timesthe money that we make
especially with the economy andinflation, everything that's
going on, you know it's we justcan't keep up.
And so either cops areoverspending, trying to keep up
with their partner who's buyingthe new staccato or maybe buying
(12:31):
the new lifted truck, butsometimes it's just trying to
live.
Sometimes it's not even tryingto keep up, it's just trying to
run your household off finance.
Maybe you're a single incomehousehold because your wife
stays home and raises the kidswhile you're working, and so
cops are trying to keep up.
And, like you said, you knowwe're relying on our pensions to
get us through and to help usretire, but a lot of times it's
(12:54):
not going to be enough.
We'd have to put in like 40years of work to even make it.
So we teach we go to differentdepartments for free.
We do this for free for firstresponders because it's such an
important aspect of wellness.
And we teach basic financialliteracy.
So we teach what does a basicfinancial plan look like?
So you have the foundation ofyour financial plan, which is
(13:17):
your protections, which is allof your insurances auto
insurance, homeowner's insurance, if you own a home, health
insurance so you can see thedoctor if you need to.
And then life insurance.
And so many cops bypass the lifeinsurance aspect because they
all there were tough.
We're bulletproof, nothing'sgoing to happen to us, but we
(13:37):
think we don't.
We forget, you know, yeah, youcould get killed line of duty.
Your department's not going toget take care of you if you do.
It's not their responsibilityto take care of your spouse and
your kids.
If you die in the line of duty,they're not going to.
You can't rely on that.
But we can die in a caraccident, we can get sick and
die of an illness.
So it's not just getting shotand killed in the line of duty,
it's other ways as well.
(13:58):
So, cops, we got to make surethat we set up our families, our
spouse, our kids so that theycan survive financially, and a
lot of times we rely on theinsurance that they give us at
our jobs.
But when we actually go throughthose policies and we show them
, the officers, the loopholes inthose policies, that most of
the time they're not going topay you and it's not usually
(14:20):
enough.
You've got to have enough lifeinsurance to cover your mortgage
, cover your debt and cover theloss of income that your family
is now going to have to dealwith with your income being gone
.
So that's the basics, that'sthe foundation, the next level
we help them get out of debt.
We build them a plan to get outof debt as quickly as possible.
And then the next thing, weteach them how to save money,
(14:43):
put money aside for someemergencies and then put save
money for your short-term goals.
Like we tell guys hey,christmas is every December.
Would you rather save now orsave throughout the year for
your Christmas gifts, or wouldyou rather max out your Colts
credit card in December and payit back with 30% interest next
year?
And so we teach people how tosave.
(15:05):
And then the last is saving forretirement.
That's huge because you got tohave, we tell.
We teach people look, if youlook at a chair, a chair is
stable because it has four legs.
And that's what you want inretirement.
You want to be stable.
You want to have your pensionthrough your job.
Most departments offer like afour, five, seven or deferred
comp plan.
You want to put money intodeferred comp, especially if
(15:28):
your department matches you.
You definitely want to takeadvantage of if they're matching
you, because that's free moneyyou're giving away if you don't.
And then Roth IRA Start overRoth IRA because that's going to
be tax-free income Once you getto your 59 and a half.
That's tax-free income comingin that you'll never be taxed on
again.
So you wanna have multiplestreams of income coming in when
(15:48):
you retire.
One thing we do teach never dolife insurance that has savings,
like IULs and things like that.
A lot of those are so bad forpeople.
They're packed with fees.
I met with the sergeantyesterday and did a plan for him
and he had one of those andwhen he didn't realize, what his
(16:10):
agent didn't tell him was thatevery month, 17% of his payment
goes to fees and costs to theinsurance company.
And he thinks he's saving.
And I'm like bro, this is whyyou've paid 14,000 into this
thing and you only have 12,000in cash.
And he's like I didn't, bro, Ididn't, they didn't tell me that
so in cash.
And he's like I didn't, bro, Ididn't, they didn't tell me that
.
So that's the basic basicfinancial plan.
Tyra Valeriano (16:32):
We teach law enforcement throughout the
country.
I have a few questions out ofall that.
Number one is it only inCalifornia that you guys are
doing all of the insurance forlaw enforcement, or first
responders?
Willie Bermudez (16:41):
So we do multiple States.
We we have licenses in multiplestates and we also we're
building a team of professionalsin different states as well to
do the same thing that we'redoing.
We primarily we're based inCalifornia, so we do a lot of
the departments out here.
If there is a department inanother state that wanted us to
come out, we'd come out and doit for free.
(17:03):
We don't charge.
So we are licensed in multiplestates and, like I said, we're
building a team of other lawenforcement professionals that
want to help and help officerswith financial wellness.
Tyra Valeriano (17:17):
So what's crazy about all this is that I'm going
to be honest with you.
I'm this no bullshit type ofsugarcoating and the
conversation you're having withme today, back in the day, it
would be a conversation ofannoyance to me.
I'd be like I don't want tohear about this and everybody's
jumping down my throat aboutfinances.
I have finance people fromLinkedIn.
(17:38):
I have finance people coming tothe agency.
I have all these finance people.
I just don't want to deal withit because it sometimes feels
overwhelming.
But I think it's actually reallyimportant for number one that
you guys are doing it for freefor first responders, because
that shows that it is importantand they're on the top of the
list when it comes to why it'simportant.
Another reason is a lot of likeI said before, a lot of
(18:03):
officers don't know how to saveand when they realize, hey,
retirement is coming up and theyrecognize that they don't have
a lot of money to hold themthrough their retirement, they
start kind of panicking.
Oh, I better start doing thisnow.
So that leads me into my nextquestion Is there ever a moment
where it's too late to get intowhat it is that you're doing?
Willie Bermudez (18:26):
Yeah, so as far as saving and planning, is that
what you're asking?
Yes, so obviously, the youngeryou are, the better off you're
going to be, no doubt you know,because the more time you have
to save, obviously, the moretime you have to build.
But the thing is this isregardless of the age you're at,
you got to start.
(18:47):
If you don't start, you'regoing to keep, you're going to
continue down the same cycle.
I'll give you two examples.
One I have a client who's 21years old 22 years old now.
He was brand new cop at 21.
And this guy is one of the mostdisciplined financial persons
I've met so far.
21 years old, he's not married,doesn't have kids, but he maxes
(19:09):
out his deferred comp everyyear, which is $23,500.
He maxes that out every yearand he called me because he
wanted to start a Roth IRA.
So not only does he max out hisdeferred comp every year, he
maxes out a Roth IRA at $7,000 ayear.
So he's paying $583 a month tohis Roth and then he's paying
(19:30):
every month to his deferred compand his department doesn't
match.
So it's all coming out of hispocket.
So this guy is saving 30,500 ayear on top of his pension
through the department that he'salso paying 9% into.
So so you have that guy who isgood at do phenomenal we did
(19:50):
numbers and if he continuesputting that much in he'll be
able to retire.
He'll be a millionaire in hisearly 40s.
Um, so it's crazy.
But then, on the flip side, Imet with a sergeant who's 56
years old.
Uh, he worked for anotheragency nearby and wanted to meet
for finance.
He's 56 years old, didn't sethimself up, has no additional
(20:12):
retirement savings, just hispension.
And we did a meeting and hestill has a mortgage, still has
underage kids that he'sproviding for.
And I had to have a toughconversation.
He wanted me to do a retirementanalysis and I had to tell him
hey, sarge, I apologize, man,but you're not going to be able
to retire.
You can retire and startdrawing from your pension, but
you're going to have to get asecond job.
(20:34):
And that was a toughconversation to have, but we
still had the conversation.
Look, you can start settingyourself up now.
Because you set yourself up now, you're going to minimize the
amount of years you're going tohave to work that second job or
the amount of years you're goingto have to keep on working.
So, regardless of where you'reat, there's always a starting
point.
Even if you waited, it's nevertoo late.
Obviously, I said, earlier youstart the better.
(20:56):
But even if you're in your midfifties, even if you're in your
sixties, hey, let's get a plan.
Let's at least look at a planso we know what we got to do, we
have some goals, so that youcan figure out what you got to
do to make the rest of your lifeeasier.
Tyra Valeriano (21:09):
So if there's an agency or a police officer
that's interested in having youguys go to where they're at and
do a presentation or maybe givethem some information, how would
they be able to sign up forthat?
Willie Bermudez (21:22):
So you have my email.
It's Willie NicoleB-W-I-L-L-I-E-N-I-C-O-L-E.
I L L I E N I C O L E theletter.
Be like boy at gmailcom.
I'm on LinkedIn under GuillermoBermudez.
Yeah, they can send me an email.
Shoot me a message on LinkedIn,you know, and then we can swap
(21:44):
phone numbers and have a phoneconversation about it.
Okay, but yeah, that's that'dbe the easiest way.
Awesome, Okay, but yeah, that'dbe the easiest way.
Tyra Valeriano (21:51):
Awesome.
So I know that we briefly spokeabout a client that you had,
where her husband was killed inthe line of duty.
Would you tell the listeners alittle bit about that, because I
think that that's actually areally good example on why it's
so important to address thefinancial wellness aspect in
order to take the weight off ofa lot of other wellness issues.
Willie Bermudez (22:15):
Yeah.
So during doing this stuff forfirst responders, we met with
some sheriff's deputies and Iwas referred to by one of the
persons that we met with.
They said hey man, would youmind meeting with a relative of
mine?
She's, her husband was killedin the line of duty and I think
(22:35):
this financial advisor is tryingto take advantage of her.
So I said, of course.
So I gave her a call, we metand sure enough, you know,
unfortunately there was afinancial, her husband was shot
and killed in the line of dutyand this financial advisor was
trying to take advantage of thesituation.
And so we were able to meetwith her, go through her stuff
(22:56):
and what happened was number onewe saved her from being taken
advantage of from this financialadvisor.
But they had a couple of kidsand when we, when we sat with
her and took a look at herfinances, what we learned and
what we realized was her husbandwhile he was still alive.
Obviously he had no idea he wasgoing to get shot and killed,
but he knew it was a possibilityand he set his family up so
(23:20):
well financially.
He had a really good lifeinsurance policy, he started
some investments for his kids,put some money away for him and
his wife started for retirementand, obviously having no idea
that he was ever going to or hisfamily was ever going to have
to use that, he set them out sowell that, though she's grieving
(23:42):
and mourning, obviously, thetragic loss of her husband, one
area that she has zero stress inis finance, because her husband
set her and the kids up so well.
She'll never have to work a dayin her life If she can focus on
staying home and raising herkids, and she'll never have to
work another day in her life.
And one thing for me that wassuper touching when we were
(24:07):
talking about this is he has adaughter and he's not going to
be there to walk his daughterdown the aisle one day.
He's not going to be there todance with her for her father
daughter dance at her wedding.
But the one thing that hisdaughter is going to know is you
know what?
My dad took care of us.
My dad paid for my wedding,even though he's not around
(24:27):
anymore.
What he did?
He set us up financially.
My dad paid for my wedding.
And so we ask officers, we askdeputies when we're doing these
presentations.
We say, hey, look, if youpassed away?
Can your family survive?
Can they financially survive?
Are they going to have to moveout of the house?
Is your wife going to have toget a second job and not spend
(24:49):
any time with the kids now?
Who's going to watch the kids?
Who's going to help themthrough college?
Who's going to buy their firstcar?
And you can't rely on yourdepartment to do it.
They're not going to do it.
So we tell them look, that's ourresponsibility and especially,
you know, a lot of times copsare very wary when it comes to
like life insurance and stuff.
But most cops can get a reallygood life insurance policy.
(25:10):
We do.
You know Dave Ramsey.
I don't know if you're familiarwith Dave Ramsey, the financial
guru, but Dave Ramsey teacheslook, you should have 10 times
your annual salary in term lifeinsurance.
That's what we teach.
We only ever tell people to getterm life and it's the only
life insurance that's.
That's worth a thing and getterm life.
Most cops can get a milliondollars in term life insurance
(25:32):
for under a hundred bucks orright around a hundred dollars
less.
And so we say look, is ahundred dollars a month, maybe
skipping Starbucks a few timesor not going out to eat twice a
month.
Is that worth the peace of mindknowing your family is going to
be well taken care of if youdon't make it home one day and
most cops you know?
Tyra Valeriano (25:50):
yeah, it is you home one day and most cops you
know yeah, it is.
You know, what I think is veryinteresting about this is that
most officers that start veryyoung they go in with no debt.
And it's when you start makingthe money and you realize I want
to keep the money in my bank,but I can also get a really good
loan with good interest becauseI make enough money they get
(26:12):
into debt and before you know it, it's just, it becomes a
rolling ball effect and later ondown the line that's now what
they are working to pay is allof the debt that they got
themselves into.
And I can say that fromexperience and seeing it
firsthand a lot of new officersthe first thing they do is go
and buy a new car.
That that's what they buy.
That's straight up what theybuy.
(26:39):
So I think it's a really goodmessage that you have.
Now to get off a little bit ofthe finance side, I'm interested
to ask you about marriage andfamily in law enforcement.
So first rule of thumb ispeople say don't date people.
If you're a cop, don't date acop.
So obviously that was not foryou.
Willie Bermudez (26:55):
You married a cop and you guys are happily
married 20 years later and youshare a child together, so tell
us a little bit about thatjourney for you the station
doing like clerical work andstuff, um, and we were friends
for a few years and I was, I wasa cop for I think I'd been like
(27:16):
a cop for like around five orsix months.
I was still on fto when westarted dating, um, and we
started dating and then withinlike, we started dating like end
of april, early may, and wewere married by february, which
is you?
know, yeah, pretty crazy, right,but you know.
So she actually, she actuallydidn't become a cop, she became
(27:37):
a probation officer.
So she did probation for a fewyears out here in San Bernardino
County and she's a probationofficer.
But then what happened was wetalked and it was like man, she
really wanted to stay home withour daughter and raise our
daughter.
And so we looked at financesand we're like, well, it's going
(27:58):
to be a stretch, but we'rewilling to do it, because she
felt really strongly and I didtoo.
I thought it was a great idea.
So, you know, she was actuallywilling to put up her career and
stay home, to give up theincome to stay home and raise
our daughter.
And what's crazy is back then,20 years ago, the schools
weren't even as bad as they arenow.
(28:19):
You didn't have a lot of thenonsense back then.
That's going on now and I'msure now it would have even been
a faster decision.
So it, you know, we livedpaycheck to paycheck, saved what
we could.
We tried to minimize our debtand bills as much as possible.
But yeah, it was, it was awesome, it was as a cop, it was great,
(28:43):
going to work, having the peaceof mind, knowing, yeah, okay,
finances were tight, but havingthe peace of mind to know that
no one else is going to have toraise my daughter, mom's going
to be home with her.
I don't have to stress outabout working this shift or
working that shift to be able totake her to school and pick her
up and juggling that wholecrazy schedule.
Not everyone can do that.
(29:04):
And if you live in a two-incomehome and both parents have to
work or choose to work, hey youknow what I people, you do what
you gotta do.
Um, but for us it was greatfinancial type but we were able
to make it work.
It was.
It was good.
Tyra Valeriano (29:19):
I digress then.
So would you say cops don'tdate cops.
Willie Bermudez (29:24):
You know, man, that's it's a tough one, because
you know, and I'm sure you'veseen the same thing, I've seen
the ones that work, I've seenthe ones that don't work.
You know, and this is what Iwould.
What I would say is this is um,we teach, so we're super
involved in our church.
You know, without God I don'tknow where I would be.
It wouldn't be a good place.
Um, god's been like the, thefoundation of our lives and and
(29:47):
of everything we do.
And so we actually, my wife andI, we actually teach and lead a
discipleship group and we havea few cop couples in our group
and you know what, if you wantit to work, it's going to work.
You know it takes sacrifice Alot of times.
The biggest thing is humblingourselves and not letting our
pride.
You know cop for A-typepersonalities and we always want
(30:09):
to be in charge and sometimeswe just got to sit back and put
the pride aside for a second.
And you know compromise and youknow, and it's crazy because we
go to calls, we go to domesticviolence calls, right, and we
tell everybody what to do andwhat's going to make their
marriage work, and you know, butthen we don't even take our own
advice.
Tyra Valeriano (30:27):
you know, but yeah cop or not.
Willie Bermudez (30:31):
you know if we, if you want to make it work, as
much effort as you're willingto put in, it's going to work.
You know, a lot of times peoplesay well, you know it's, it's
50, 50.
No, it's not 50, 50.
It's a hundred a hundred.
I got to put it a hundredpercent into my marriage and my
wife has to put a hundredpercent in, and if we're both
putting a hundred percent in,then it's going to work.
Tyra Valeriano (30:49):
Yeah, I agree.
What do you think is thehardest part in your career that
you've faced?
So I know a lot of people.
We're looking at lawenforcement from a different
perspective now, because lawenforcement in the past five
years was not the same as it was10 years ago.
It's very, very different.
So you've experienced it withthe good times up until these
(31:10):
very weird and different times.
So what would you say was thehardest transition from five
years ago until maybe 20 yearsago when you started?
Willie Bermudez (31:21):
um, you know, um, body cameras was definitely
a big transition for us, um,because you know, we did it so
long without body cameras andnot that we were doing anything
shady, but now it's different.
It's uh, when you have a camerawith you and you're being
recorded, you know you do you dothings differently, um, so that
(31:42):
was a huge adjustment for sure.
Then, dealing with a lot ofthese laws, the laws that have
changed, and trying to adapt tothat is exactly what you said.
I feel like it's for the newofficers that are coming in now
they're being trained this wayfrom the get-go, versus us.
That started back then and nowwe're having to get rid of our
(32:04):
old way of doing things andtransition in to a very new way
of police work.
It's definitely, it'sdefinitely different, definitely
tough.
It's doable, of course, andcops are doing it every day, um,
but it's definitely tough.
And you know, I was veryresistant to body cameras at
first.
I really was.
I was like, nope, I'm gonnawait, I want to be the last one.
(32:24):
Hopefully mine breaks.
I don't want it, I wantednothing to do with it.
I was very openly vocal abouthow I didn't agree with body
cameras, complaints, lies, thatpeople call and say accusing me
(32:45):
of saying racist things orcussing at them or doing X, y
and Z, and my lieutenant's ableto watch the body camera and my
department is very supportive.
So when people call and makefrivolous complaints, our
department just doesn't writethe complaint out.
They call the person back andsay hey, by the way, we
investigated this and you're aliar, so pound sand.
So the body cams have saved mefrom frivolous complaints.
(33:09):
And not only that, though.
I feel like and we've seenvideos where it doesn't work all
the time but for most cops,knowing that I'm recording is
going to keep me from doingsomething stupid that would have
gotten gotten caught on somehidden camera, on some camera
that I didn't see, so you know.
So most cops, just knowing thatyou're being, you're recording
(33:30):
yourself most of the time isgoing to keep you from doing
something stupid that may havegotten caught on, like on a
hidden camera or a camera thatyou didn't even see hanging on
that the side of that house orwhatever you know.
Tyra Valeriano (33:42):
That's a good, I guess, perspective to have.
You would think that most copswould be okay with that.
In my experience I would saythat maybe there were cops who
forgot that they had body cameraand when the complaint came in
and I was looking at that as asupervisor and I'm like man, I
can't back you up on this one.
You know it's like it's there.
Do you forget that you have abody camera because you can't
(34:04):
really defend them at that point?
So that makes it hard.
But I agree, did you used tohave those recorders that you
would stick in your pocket, justlike those little pocket
recorders before body cam?
Willie Bermudez (34:16):
Yeah, like little audio recorders Yep.
Tyra Valeriano (34:17):
Yeah, I remember those.
Willie Bermudez (34:21):
Yeah, that's, you know it was.
We had the.
It was crazy because you knowthere the policy was different.
But yeah, you're supposed toaudio record your traffic stops
and audio record this and thatand then go download it Very
different times.
Tyra Valeriano (34:37):
Yeah, it's very different.
So you have had a really goodcareer, based on what you've
told me, and there's a lot ofofficers that are out there in
the field who are miserable, andthere are a lot of times that I
have talked about the uglytruths of law enforcement.
So, being that you've had avery good experience, what would
you say to the officers thatare not having such a great
(34:57):
experience?
How or what experience have youhad that you could give to
another officer as advice on howto change their mindset, maybe
on their career and what they'regoing through at their agency
and personally?
Willie Bermudez (35:15):
So I would say this number one you got to take
an internal, you got to do aninternal review.
Review yourself.
Am I miserable because I'mmaking myself?
Am I making choices that aremaking myself miserable?
Am I turning my stuff in late?
Am I walking around with a badattitude?
Am I cussing people out andgetting written up?
(35:35):
Am I doing anything that'scontributing to the problem?
So that's the first step yougot to do.
Be be honest with yourself andfigure out do I just have a bad
mindset or a bad attitude?
Do that part first.
Sometimes that's what it is.
Sometimes it's a combination.
Sometimes we work in adepartment that has an admin
that's not very supportive or acity that's not very supportive,
(35:58):
and you kind of feel trapped,that you can't do your job
because you feel your departmentwon't back you up or your city
won't back you up.
So if you're in that place,well, you got options, you know
go work somewhere else, go left.
And sometimes you can't.
Maybe you've gotten written up,maybe you have a jacket already
and it's going to be tough tolateral somewhere else, you know
(36:18):
.
But I would say look, if yourdepartment is causing you this
kind of stress, you'll.
Stress is bad.
It's not healthy for us.
It's bad.
It's not healthy for us.
It's bad, makes us miserable atwork at home.
So, first off, figure out ifthere's anything you're doing to
contribute to the problem.
Is there anything I need tochange?
Be honest with yourself.
Get some help.
You know most police have,whether it's peer support or
counseling or mental healthcounseling.
(36:40):
Take advantage of those thingsIf that's what you need.
If you have a church or maybeyou know, through your medical
plan you can go talk to someone.
Do that If it's your departmentand department's causing you
stress.
Well, look at your options.
Can I go work somewhere else?
Do I?
Maybe?
Maybe it's your assignment,maybe you've been on patrol for
a long time and you got to worka different assignment.
(37:00):
You know, do somethingdifferent within law enforcement
, do something new to maybefreshen up the water a little
bit.
But look at different options.
Should I lateral?
Should I stay?
Should I try a differentassignment?
And you know what?
And if you don't find theanswer there?
Well, as cops, we have so muchvaluable experience in our jobs.
We're trainers, we'recounselors, we are supervisors
(37:26):
and we have so many talents thatcan be used outside of law
enforcement.
Maybe it's time to startlooking outside of law
enforcement to find anothercareer outside of law
enforcement.
Your mental health is key.
You don't ever want to bestressed out.
You want your family to loveyou.
You don't want your family tohate when you come in the door
at the end of your shift.
So maybe, maybe you just got tofind a different career path.
(37:49):
So I would say those are.
Those are some of the tips thatI would say.
You know, if an officer isgoing through some struggles,
Well, that's some good advice.
Tyra Valeriano (38:00):
Speaking of transitioning, you are going to
be retiring soon, right?
So how is that transition foryou and how did you prepare
yourself for that?
Willie Bermudez (38:10):
So you know, this is the what I tell people,
because you know, doing thefinance stuff started off as as
a side hustle you know, quoteunquote to help our daughter
with her college Cause.
We didn't plan for it and whenwe started doing it and we
realized how many officers needour help, it made us get into it
more deeper than what weoriginally started to do.
(38:33):
And so obviously we do a lotfor first responders, but we
help anyone.
We have a lot of nursingclients, a lot of clients all
over the place, and what wasawesome was starting it while I
had a full-time job.
So I had a full-time job as acop.
My wife and I started doing thison the side so that we can
really learn how to do thisbusiness and start building the
(38:55):
business without the stress,because if you're stressed out
about income, it's going to beso hard to build a business
because you're always going tobe stressed.
So I recommend you know so yeah, we're going to be replacing
the police income with thefinancial wellness income.
But for anyone any officer whomaybe they're looking at
transitioning out, they know lawenforcement isn't for them
(39:16):
anymore.
They want to get out.
My recommendation is, unlessyou're that mentally stressed
that you have to quit if you cando it.
Figure out what it is that youwant to do, what other career
you want to do and, if you'reable to get into it, start
getting into it, maybe on apart-time basis, while you're
learning it, while you'refiguring out that business and
(39:37):
you're able to replace yourincome.
Tyra Valeriano (39:39):
With you.
That's something you've alreadydone, so are you prepared for
that transition?
I mean most of us, I can speakfor myself.
When I got out of lawenforcement it, and even till
this day I still kind ofstruggle with that identity.
You know like I loved being acop and that's who I was and
unfortunately it just becomes apart of who you are.
(39:59):
So are you ready to go throughthat?
Have you prepared yourself forthat?
Willie Bermudez (40:04):
You know what's what's.
What's pretty unique is I'm notleaving because I hate the cop
job.
You know, times have changed.
Um, I owe it to my family to besafer and be home with them.
But I'm not leaving cause Ihate my job.
Um, I'm leaving just cause Iwant to do this, I want freedom
and to own my own business andand be my own boss.
Um, but I would.
(40:25):
But I would say it's going tobe tough because I've been a
pretty active cop.
I think the more active you arein law enforcement, the harder
it is to leave behind.
I'm planning if my current chiefI have a great relationship
with my department I'm planningon, when that time comes, asking
him to stick around as areserve so I can still come in
(40:46):
and maybe work a shift here andthere, take a flight in the
helicopter here and there andstill be a part of it.
I love helping other officers.
I love being a mentor toyounger officers that are coming
up and just being anencouragement to them, not just
in finance, just overall in lawenforcement, and just helping
them out.
They're going through theirstruggles of being a young cop
(41:07):
and so I love being a mentor.
I still want to be part of thedepartment, just not full time.
Tyra Valeriano (41:16):
Understandable, and I think that it's.
It's pretty awesome that youtook this route.
You have a very good vibe andyou seem very happy with your
career and all of the thingsthat you've experienced.
So just hearing you talk aboutthat, I think that there's
probably listeners out there whoare law enforcement officers
that might be able to get somegood energy from you and maybe
change the way they think abouttheir career, because not
(41:39):
everybody leaves for that reason.
Like you said, not everybody'smiserable with their, with their
career.
So now that you are gettingclose to I guess you can call it
your retirement because youyou're technically going to be
retiring Do you have any planswith maybe law enforcement being
(42:01):
something you might lean backtowards in the future?
Or with your business thefinance business Do you want to
maybe get into the wellness sideand play a bigger part in the
mental health side for lawenforcement, considering that
finance is a big part of that?
Willie Bermudez (42:18):
Yeah, so, especially because of our church
like we're, we're big in inhelping you do counseling and
helping people through churchand stuff.
Um, I feel like I've been a bighelp to a lot of officers where
I work now and we definitelywant to continue helping law
enforcement in the financialwellness area.
Um, but, to be honest, the mainreason that I would stick
(42:40):
around as a reserve would be toalso be there just to be an
encouragement, uh, to be able tohelp them still and and and,
even even beyond that, you know,and if, if, if there's a law,
for example, if, if a lawenforcement officer reached out
to me after this podcast andsaid hey man, can you give me
some tips to to having a long,successful, happy career, then
(43:01):
by all means I love helpingpeople.
So it doesn't just have to befinance, it doesn't have to be
cop advice, any kind of advicewe can give, marriage advice
We've been married 20 years,have a daughter and any advice
we can give.
I'm more than happy to help outand give and I'm not going to
tell them at the end of the dayhey, all right, you owe me 50
(43:22):
bucks, no, we love helping.
Tyra Valeriano (43:32):
That's awesome to hear.
Okay, well, we are running outof time, but I know you gave
your email and LinkedIn on howlisteners can contact you if
they want to talk about thefinances aspect of things, and
also you mentioned any topicreally that's law enforcement
related, so that kind of opensup the floor so that anybody can
contact you.
That is maybe going throughsomething that they want to
discuss.
I do ask all.
I'm sure you already know thequestion.
I'm hoping that you don't sothat you're a little unprepared.
(43:54):
But I normally ask all of myguests what they would tell
their rookie self advice wise,based on all of the experience
that they have.
I don't know if you alreadyknew that, but I would like to
know what you would tell yourrookie self.
Willie Bermudez (44:10):
There are a few things.
Number one, most importantthing I would say, is this never
make being a police officeryour identity.
Most of the time, and we'veheard it many times, you ask a
cop hey man, tell me who you are.
I'm a cop.
No, you're not.
You are you.
You know you are tired, I'mWillie.
(44:30):
Being a cop is one of thethings that I do, um, so never
make your identity, never makepolice your identity.
Um, be who you are and let yourbeing a cop be something that
you do.
That's one of the biggestthings, because that's where so
many cops get caught up.
Another thing don't sweat thesmall stuff.
And a lot of times they saykeep your mouth shut.
(44:54):
I don't mean keep your mouthshut and don't talk to people,
but when it comes to things,pick and choose your battles.
So many cops shoot themselves inthe foot and ruin their careers
because they run their mouth.
Um, they run their mouth aboutadmin.
They tell their best friend, um, about how they don't like
their Sergeant and they don'tknow that their best friend is
(45:16):
trying to get promoted and goesand tells the Sergeant
everything they just told them.
So keep your mouth shut, don'tgo, god, don't be part of the
gossip.
Um, you know, don't.
Uh, if you have to open yourmouth because there's something
immoral, illegal, unethical, ofcourse open your mouth, but
don't be part of the the dramaat the department.
Don't shoot yourself in thefoot, because those are the
(45:38):
people that don't get thespecial assignments, they don't
get promoted and then they can'tfigure out why.
Well, keep your mouth shut,don't be gossiping.
Um, it's sad to say.
The other thing in cop with copsis hey, yo, keep pleasure away
from your job.
Don't, don't, don't hook upwith your cis.
(45:59):
Yo, I know some.
There's some stories of copsfinding love on a call and stuff
.
But I've seen so many cops inmy career guys hooking up with
domestic violence victims andthey lose their career and their
family over it.
Guys hooking up with CIs that'sjust nasty.
I mean, most CIs are tweakersthemselves.
Keep it in your pants, keepyour pants on.
(46:22):
Whatever you're going to do, doit off duty, but don't do it
with CIs or victims.
You know, yeah, you know, andthen, and make sure that you
know where to go to get help.
If you have a church and thatoffers free counseling, you know
, if you have a counselor,you'll never be afraid to ask
for help.
(46:42):
Don't let your stress get socrazy high that you don't know
what to do with it.
You get to a point where you'resuicidal or to a point where
you actually do kill yourself.
I mean, it's so tragic and it'sone of those horrible things
and it's like I just anytime Ihear about it, I just wish, like
man, I wish I could have shakenthis person.
(47:02):
I wish we would have known.
I wish we would have known.
I wish we would have known.
And that's the other thing.
Take care of your partners.
We know when our partner's notacting right and don't be afraid
to ask them.
Hey, man, I noticed you'reacting different tonight.
Hey, sis, what's going on?
I know you're acting different.
What's going on?
And hopefully you have thatrelationship and hopefully
(47:23):
they're willing to open up.
And you know what?
I know like a lot of timeswe're afraid to tell our bosses
about stuff, but there've beenseveral times where I had to go
to my boss and say hey, sarge, Iknow it's so-and-so, ain't
acting right, man, and um, Itried talking to him, but I know
there's something going on andwe got to take care of ourselves
.
We're not snitching.
(47:43):
We're not snitching, we're notratting.
You know I would feel horribleif I didn't say anything and
found out that my partner endedup killing themselves and I
could have done something tohelp him out.
You know the horrible feeling,so you know.
Tyra Valeriano (47:56):
I really appreciate you saying all of
those things and, for those thatare listening, I know that all
of my guests give their adviceto their younger self.
But these are tips to take ifyou are an officer now or you're
planning to be an officer oryou're just starting in your
career.
All of these are the uglytruths, what I call the ugly
truths of law enforcement,because there is an ugly side
(48:18):
and that is part of the uglyside the identity.
I can relate to that personally, just because I struggled a lot
with that and I talked aboutthat in my story.
But we do, we tend to lean onour job and it just becomes who
we are because instead ofdealing with our personal issues
, we'd rather go deal witheverybody else's instead of our
own, and it just becomes who weare.
(48:38):
But those are all really,really good tips and I
appreciate you saying that ifyou need help, reach out,
especially if you have someonethat you trust a church, that's
a really great one.
Your partner I had a partnerthat I worked very close with
and it was like clockwork.
If he was off, I knew it waslike, hey, what's going on?
You just you know your peopleand you got to communicate that.
(49:00):
So thank you for that and alsothank you for joining me today.
I really appreciate all of theinformation that you gave today.
Even for me, I think thatthere's a lot of useful tips
that even I can use, even out oflaw enforcement now, and I
think it's a really importantdiscussion to have.
Is there anything else that youwant to add to let the
listeners know before we end thepodcast today?
Willie Bermudez (49:22):
Yeah, you know, even I know you this.
Hey, if you'd like me to comedown to your department and help
us you know you want us to comedown and teach a class or
whatever We'd definitely be morethan happy to do that.
But if there's an individualofficer that's listening to this
and they want to meet on zoomand have me build them a strong
financial plan for free nohidden, no obligation, there's
(49:44):
nothing hidden about it I'd bemore than happy to meet with him
on Zoom to do it for free.
Just send me an email, I'lltake care of it.
Tyra Valeriano (49:50):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much, willie.
I appreciate your time todayFor the listeners that tuned in
today.
Thank you for joining me and wewill see you on the next one.
Willie Bermudez (49:59):
That's great.
Take care, Tyra.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
Tyra Valeriano (50:01):
Thank you for joining me.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining me onChapter Blue.
If you enjoyed today's episode,be sure to follow and tag me on
social media and share withyour friends and fellow officers
.
If you're interested in joiningan episode, I'd love for you to
be a part of the conversation.
Until next time, stay safe,take care of yourself and
remember you're never alone inthis journey.
Welcome to Chapter Blue, the podcast where
we discuss the world of lawenforcement through an honest
conversation on tough orcontroversial topics, real
stories, perspectives andexperience from officers all
around the world.
Whether you're here forinsights on mental health,
self-care, work-life balance,getting into law enforcement,
getting out of law enforcement,or just trying to learn about
(00:21):
personal and professionalchallenges officers face every
day, you've come to the rightplace.
I'm your host, tyra Valeriano,and whether I'm going solo or
speaking with a guest, eachepisode will discuss different
aspects of life behind the badge.
Let's turn the page and stepinto Chapter Blue.
Welcome back to another episodeof Chapter Blue.
(00:42):
Today I'm speaking with WillieBermudez out of California.
He has 21 years of lawenforcement experience and he
comes with some valuableinformation to help first
responders now and in the future.
Thank you for joining me today,willie.
Will you give the listeners alittle more about your
background in law enforcementand what you'd like to discuss
today?
Willie Bermudez (01:01):
Good morning, tyra, of course, thank you.
First of all, thank you forhaving me, and I've heard some
of your podcast episodes andit's really amazing what you're
doing.
It's one of those areas where,as cops, we tend to trust other
cops and that's it.
But so I think it's really coolwhat you're doing, because a
lot of times we think of otherpeople as having ulterior
motives for why they do, theywant to do, they want to get get
(01:22):
paid, or so when we see anotherofficer who's gone through the
same struggles maybe that we'regoing through or maybe that
we've gone through it's huge andit tends to at least is a lot
of credibility.
So thank you for what you'redoing.
I think it's pretty awesome butyeah so, like you said, I have,
uh, 20 21 years of experience asan actual officer.
Uh, total experience is 25years now.
(01:43):
So a little bit about mybackground.
So when I was born, I'm 42years old and when I was born
both of my parents were actuallyin jail.
So mom was serving a prisonsentence and dad was in jail
getting ready to go back to do aparole violation when I was
born.
So they actually had to give mymom a ride in the ambulance to
the closest hospital to the jailto give birth and then she had
(02:06):
to go back and finish off hersentence.
So I was taken home from thehospital by my grandparents who
pretty much raised me.
They actually got custody of melater in life and raised me,
and then I have a youngerbrother as well and what was
pretty awesome about that isthey taught me how to be a good
man.
On the one side, my parentswould teach me to hate cops.
My grandparents made sure thatthey took me around cops to show
(02:30):
me that cops were good, thatcops were friends, that cops
were there to help us.
You know, on my parents' side,if we were with them, because
once they got out of jail we'dgo with them from time to time.
If we saw a cop on the street,they, if we saw a cop on the
street, they would point at thecop and they say cop kill, cop
kill.
And we'd take that home tograndparents' house and
grandparents were like no, no,no.
So they would take us aroundcops just to get comfortable and
(02:52):
to teach us hey, cops reallyhelp us.
So that was pretty awesome.
My grandpa was a church minister, so he raised me and my brother
in the church, got reallyinvolved in church at a young
age, musician and stuff.
But as I got older I had a lovefor law enforcement.
I did a ride along.
So I have an aunt my dad'ssister was a police dispatcher
(03:13):
and so she would take me to thestation with her from time to
time and I would meet some ofthe cops and they actually let
me go on a ride along when I was16.
So I went on this ride alongwhen I was 16.
So I went on this ride alongwhen I was 16 and I was hooked.
That was it.
I knew for a fact this is whatI wanted to do.
So I got into the policeexplorers at 17.
I got hired as a police cadetOnce.
I graduated from high school at18 and work at the station for
(03:35):
a couple of years, which isactually awesome because that's
where I met my wife.
We were both police cadetstogether working at the same
department, but yeah, it'spretty awesome.
Tyra Valeriano (03:45):
And then I went how long have you been married?
Willie Bermudez (03:51):
How long have you been married since you met
your wife in the academy.
So actually next month is goingto be 20 years for us.
Tyra Valeriano (03:56):
Wow, congratulations.
Willie Bermudez (03:58):
Thank you.
Thank you, yeah, it's been apretty awesome.
So I met her and we have adaughter who's in nursing school
right now.
So you know super proud papafor sure.
But yeah, so, yeah, I gotstarted, went to the academy at
20 and a half.
Six month academy, graduatedright before I turned 21.
Then hit the streets on fieldtraining at 21 and never looked
(04:22):
back.
Field training at 21 and neverlooked back.
Had a great career, worked thegang unit, worked narcotics,
auto theft.
Currently I was field trainingofficer for about 10 years TFO,
working in our air support unitas a tactical flight officer.
So it's been pretty awesome,and one of the so.
One of the other things that wedo as well, though, is my
(04:43):
grandparents awesome people, butimmigrants from Mexico.
Not that that's a bad thing, butwhat happened was they because
they don't have a lot ofexperience here in on the
finance side right, financially,they taught me hey, mijo, make
sure you pay your bills on timeand save money, which is great
advice, but they didn't reallyhave much to teach me financial
(05:03):
wise, and as a young cop 21, Igot into some pretty bad debt.
Instead of saving for a house, Ibought a $50,000 SUV Um, you
know, and so I had to learn thisstuff later in life.
You know, I didn't plan for mydaughter's college.
I didn't pay for, you know, putmoney aside for her for college
.
So now we're catching up on thebackside, paying loans off.
So, you know, several years agomy wife and I were, you know,
(05:27):
we were in debt.
It was causing a lot of stressand we took some financial
classes at our church that theyoffer for free.
And you know, we see wellnessis a major topic in law
enforcement right now, and nowwe run a financial wellness
business for first responders,where we help first responders
for free.
So I still do the cop thingfull time and still and now do
(05:49):
financial wellness as well.
Tyra Valeriano (05:51):
Wow, that is a lot.
That is a lot.
It seems like you have a lot ofexperience, and I'm actually
interested to hear what was yourfavorite part of your career,
since you worked in so manyspecialty units.
Willie Bermudez (06:04):
Man?
It's tough to say becausethere's different pieces from
each assignment.
I love working the gang unitbecause I love being out on the
streets having a partner.
My partner and I got reallyclose and so it was pretty cool,
you know, just going out andinvestigating gang crimes,
getting to know the gangsters inthe community, doing the gang
enforcement, getting a lot ofhigh-speed pursuits, um, making
(06:27):
a lot of good case, a lot ofyou're writing a lot of warrants
for guns and dope and stufflike that.
So the gangs was awesome.
Um, narcotics was pretty awesomefor us because we worked very
close with the dea task force.
So it was busy, busy, busy.
We were hustling, we wereworking six days a week, putting
in long hours, chasing dope allover from the mexico border
(06:48):
through halfway up the centralcalifornia area out to the
border of arizona.
So it was non-stop work.
A lot of fun, a lot ofdifferent experiences that you
would not really experience inin law enforcement.
You know, as a patrolman, yeah,I remember one day following a
target that we we had someinformation that he was shipping
dope using some flightattendants and he was shipping
(07:09):
dope to the central U S uh,using these flight attendants
that were working with them andI remember, you know, following
this guy from his house to LAXand through the terminals at LAX
and having to work with theairport police.
So it was pretty cool.
Just different experiences likethat were pretty awesome in
narcotics.
And then I love flying.
Flying is pretty awesomeDefinitely a different aspect
(07:32):
and seeing things in a differentlight up there, and so the
flying being the TFO is prettyawesome.
Being on patrol, that's beenthe bread and butter.
I've been on the TV show Copsquite a few times, probably four
or five times.
I've been on the TV show Copsquite a few times, probably four
or five times.
I've been on four or fivedifferent episodes on Cops.
I did some consulting withiCrime with Elizabeth Vargas.
(07:52):
I was one of their commentatorson that show last season, so
that's been pretty cool as well.
Tyra Valeriano (08:00):
Dang, you've had a really fun career.
I will have to say that you'reprobably one in a handful of
people that I've heard have thismuch action in their career,
because when you think aboutpolicing it's all the fun stuff,
but when you get in it it'slike man, it's a lot of
paperwork and it's not all thefun stuff all the time.
But I mean, it sounds prettyfun based on what you're saying
(08:21):
to me.
Willie Bermudez (08:23):
Yeah, you know the paperwork sucks, we all know
it.
But it's like man, is the juiceworth the squeeze?
So, you know, is that half anhour chase around town and
you're arresting some criminalwith a gun or a stolen car?
Is it worth the paperworkyou're going to do at the end?
And for me I'd say, yeah, Ilove the adrenaline rush.
Tyra Valeriano (08:44):
Yeah Well, it sounds like you had a lot of
opportunities for the adrenalinerush, so that's awesome.
So I know you said that yourparents were in prison when you
were born.
What is your relationship withthem now?
I mean, you've been an officerfor a long time and what was
their opinion about you joiningthe police force?
Willie Bermudez (09:04):
What was their opinion about you joining the
police force?
So, yeah, so my dad at first,obviously he probably was not
thrilled.
Even though he won't admit it,I'm sure he wasn't thrilled.
What was pretty interesting isthe agency that I worked for was
Colton PD out here inCalifornia.
That's where my dad and momkind of ran amok during their
days.
My dad and mom kind of ran amokduring their days.
So when I was a new cadet andexplorer there, some of the
(09:28):
higher ups would see my name andthey were like hey, are you
related to so-and-so?
I'm like, yeah, that's myparents.
So that was definitely a littleinteresting for sure.
But you know what?
My dad super supportive Evennow.
You know he, he, we have a goodrelationship, have a good
(09:49):
relationship.
He doesn't he.
We don't live close to eachother.
We live about 500 miles awayfrom each other now, um, but
he's very supportive andthroughout most of my career
he's been super supportive.
Um, you know, I remember he.
He told me he's like one day hecalled me.
He's like hey, mij, you know myold friends probably would hate
to hear me say this, but makesure, whatever happens, you
shoot first.
Tyra Valeriano (10:11):
That's awesome.
Willie Bermudez (10:13):
And your mom.
I'm sorry, go ahead.
Tyra Valeriano (10:15):
No, yeah, I was going to ask about your mom.
Willie Bermudez (10:18):
So mom, unfortunately mom dealt with a
lot of addiction and mom passedaway when I was 19.
Um, so she passed away before Ibecame a cop.
Um, you know, I'm sure shewould have been very supportive,
uh, but she got caught up inthat addiction and, you know,
unfortunately didn't didn't makeit this far.
But yeah, I'm sure she wouldhave been supportive though.
Tyra Valeriano (10:41):
Well, I'm sorry to hear that your grandparents.
They sound like they've been agem throughout your whole life
and you did touch on them nothaving the best financial
expertise to share with you.
But to be fair, I feel thatthat's a lot of people, even me
going through school and havingmy parents.
(11:04):
They didn't really go overfinancial aspects of anything
you know.
So I think there's a lot ofpeople out there who don't have
a lot of financial literacy.
And with officers, I mean maybethere's a lot more officers
that get paid better now, butfrom what I remember, a lot of
officers don't get paid thatmuch and they are always asking
(11:25):
for a raise and they'remiserable and they're not going
to be happy until they get moremoney and they're preparing for
their retirement, but mostagencies are not giving them a
retirement that they can liveoff of and they will eventually
have to get another job afterretiring.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe personal financing business
that you guys have and how itrelates to first responders.
Willie Bermudez (11:50):
So yeah, so wellness, as you know, is a huge
topic right now, and finance isone aspect of overall wellness,
Because think about financesactually has been labeled the
leading cause of stress for somany Americans, not just first
responders, but for everyone,but definitely in the first
responder world because, likeyou were mentioning how many
cops have second jobs?
(12:11):
Or, if they don't have a secondjob, they're trying to sign up
for any overtime spot that'savailable.
And it's because a lot of timesthe money that we make
especially with the economy andinflation, everything that's
going on, you know it's we justcan't keep up.
And so either cops areoverspending, trying to keep up
with their partner who's buyingthe new staccato or maybe buying
(12:31):
the new lifted truck, butsometimes it's just trying to
live.
Sometimes it's not even tryingto keep up, it's just trying to
run your household off finance.
Maybe you're a single incomehousehold because your wife
stays home and raises the kidswhile you're working, and so
cops are trying to keep up.
And, like you said, you knowwe're relying on our pensions to
get us through and to help usretire, but a lot of times it's
(12:54):
not going to be enough.
We'd have to put in like 40years of work to even make it.
So we teach we go to differentdepartments for free.
We do this for free for firstresponders because it's such an
important aspect of wellness.
And we teach basic financialliteracy.
So we teach what does a basicfinancial plan look like?
So you have the foundation ofyour financial plan, which is
(13:17):
your protections, which is allof your insurances auto
insurance, homeowner's insurance, if you own a home, health
insurance so you can see thedoctor if you need to.
And then life insurance.
And so many cops bypass the lifeinsurance aspect because they
all there were tough.
We're bulletproof, nothing'sgoing to happen to us, but we
(13:37):
think we don't.
We forget, you know, yeah, youcould get killed line of duty.
Your department's not going toget take care of you if you do.
It's not their responsibilityto take care of your spouse and
your kids.
If you die in the line of duty,they're not going to.
You can't rely on that.
But we can die in a caraccident, we can get sick and
die of an illness.
So it's not just getting shotand killed in the line of duty,
it's other ways as well.
(13:58):
So, cops, we got to make surethat we set up our families, our
spouse, our kids so that theycan survive financially, and a
lot of times we rely on theinsurance that they give us at
our jobs.
But when we actually go throughthose policies and we show them
, the officers, the loopholes inthose policies, that most of
the time they're not going topay you and it's not usually
(14:20):
enough.
You've got to have enough lifeinsurance to cover your mortgage
, cover your debt and cover theloss of income that your family
is now going to have to dealwith with your income being gone
.
So that's the basics, that'sthe foundation, the next level
we help them get out of debt.
We build them a plan to get outof debt as quickly as possible.
And then the next thing, weteach them how to save money,
(14:43):
put money aside for someemergencies and then put save
money for your short-term goals.
Like we tell guys hey,christmas is every December.
Would you rather save now orsave throughout the year for
your Christmas gifts, or wouldyou rather max out your Colts
credit card in December and payit back with 30% interest next
year?
And so we teach people how tosave.
(15:05):
And then the last is saving forretirement.
That's huge because you got tohave, we tell.
We teach people look, if youlook at a chair, a chair is
stable because it has four legs.
And that's what you want inretirement.
You want to be stable.
You want to have your pensionthrough your job.
Most departments offer like afour, five, seven or deferred
comp plan.
You want to put money intodeferred comp, especially if
(15:28):
your department matches you.
You definitely want to takeadvantage of if they're matching
you, because that's free moneyyou're giving away if you don't.
And then Roth IRA Start overRoth IRA because that's going to
be tax-free income Once you getto your 59 and a half.
That's tax-free income comingin that you'll never be taxed on
again.
So you wanna have multiplestreams of income coming in when
(15:48):
you retire.
One thing we do teach never dolife insurance that has savings,
like IULs and things like that.
A lot of those are so bad forpeople.
They're packed with fees.
I met with the sergeantyesterday and did a plan for him
and he had one of those andwhen he didn't realize, what his
(16:10):
agent didn't tell him was thatevery month, 17% of his payment
goes to fees and costs to theinsurance company.
And he thinks he's saving.
And I'm like bro, this is whyyou've paid 14,000 into this
thing and you only have 12,000in cash.
And he's like I didn't, bro, Ididn't, they didn't tell me that
so in cash.
And he's like I didn't, bro, Ididn't, they didn't tell me that
.
So that's the basic basicfinancial plan.
Tyra Valeriano (16:32):
We teach law enforcement throughout the
country.
I have a few questions out ofall that.
Number one is it only inCalifornia that you guys are
doing all of the insurance forlaw enforcement, or first
responders?
Willie Bermudez (16:41):
So we do multiple States.
We we have licenses in multiplestates and we also we're
building a team of professionalsin different states as well to
do the same thing that we'redoing.
We primarily we're based inCalifornia, so we do a lot of
the departments out here.
If there is a department inanother state that wanted us to
come out, we'd come out and doit for free.
(17:03):
We don't charge.
So we are licensed in multiplestates and, like I said, we're
building a team of other lawenforcement professionals that
want to help and help officerswith financial wellness.
Tyra Valeriano (17:17):
So what's crazy about all this is that I'm going
to be honest with you.
I'm this no bullshit type ofsugarcoating and the
conversation you're having withme today, back in the day, it
would be a conversation ofannoyance to me.
I'd be like I don't want tohear about this and everybody's
jumping down my throat aboutfinances.
I have finance people fromLinkedIn.
(17:38):
I have finance people coming tothe agency.
I have all these finance people.
I just don't want to deal withit because it sometimes feels
overwhelming.
But I think it's actually reallyimportant for number one that
you guys are doing it for freefor first responders, because
that shows that it is importantand they're on the top of the
list when it comes to why it'simportant.
Another reason is a lot of likeI said before, a lot of
(18:03):
officers don't know how to saveand when they realize, hey,
retirement is coming up and theyrecognize that they don't have
a lot of money to hold themthrough their retirement, they
start kind of panicking.
Oh, I better start doing thisnow.
So that leads me into my nextquestion Is there ever a moment
where it's too late to get intowhat it is that you're doing?
Willie Bermudez (18:26):
Yeah, so as far as saving and planning, is that
what you're asking?
Yes, so obviously, the youngeryou are, the better off you're
going to be, no doubt you know,because the more time you have
to save, obviously, the moretime you have to build.
But the thing is this isregardless of the age you're at,
you got to start.
(18:47):
If you don't start, you'regoing to keep, you're going to
continue down the same cycle.
I'll give you two examples.
One I have a client who's 21years old 22 years old now.
He was brand new cop at 21.
And this guy is one of the mostdisciplined financial persons
I've met so far.
21 years old, he's not married,doesn't have kids, but he maxes
(19:09):
out his deferred comp everyyear, which is $23,500.
He maxes that out every yearand he called me because he
wanted to start a Roth IRA.
So not only does he max out hisdeferred comp every year, he
maxes out a Roth IRA at $7,000 ayear.
So he's paying $583 a month tohis Roth and then he's paying
(19:30):
every month to his deferred compand his department doesn't
match.
So it's all coming out of hispocket.
So this guy is saving 30,500 ayear on top of his pension
through the department that he'salso paying 9% into.
So so you have that guy who isgood at do phenomenal we did
(19:50):
numbers and if he continuesputting that much in he'll be
able to retire.
He'll be a millionaire in hisearly 40s.
Um, so it's crazy.
But then, on the flip side, Imet with a sergeant who's 56
years old.
Uh, he worked for anotheragency nearby and wanted to meet
for finance.
He's 56 years old, didn't sethimself up, has no additional
(20:12):
retirement savings, just hispension.
And we did a meeting and hestill has a mortgage, still has
underage kids that he'sproviding for.
And I had to have a toughconversation.
He wanted me to do a retirementanalysis and I had to tell him
hey, sarge, I apologize, man,but you're not going to be able
to retire.
You can retire and startdrawing from your pension, but
you're going to have to get asecond job.
(20:34):
And that was a toughconversation to have, but we
still had the conversation.
Look, you can start settingyourself up now.
Because you set yourself up now, you're going to minimize the
amount of years you're going tohave to work that second job or
the amount of years you're goingto have to keep on working.
So, regardless of where you'reat, there's always a starting
point.
Even if you waited, it's nevertoo late.
Obviously, I said, earlier youstart the better.
(20:56):
But even if you're in your midfifties, even if you're in your
sixties, hey, let's get a plan.
Let's at least look at a planso we know what we got to do, we
have some goals, so that youcan figure out what you got to
do to make the rest of your lifeeasier.
Tyra Valeriano (21:09):
So if there's an agency or a police officer
that's interested in having youguys go to where they're at and
do a presentation or maybe givethem some information, how would
they be able to sign up forthat?
Willie Bermudez (21:22):
So you have my email.
It's Willie NicoleB-W-I-L-L-I-E-N-I-C-O-L-E.
I L L I E N I C O L E theletter.
Be like boy at gmailcom.
I'm on LinkedIn under GuillermoBermudez.
Yeah, they can send me an email.
Shoot me a message on LinkedIn,you know, and then we can swap
(21:44):
phone numbers and have a phoneconversation about it.
Okay, but yeah, that's that'dbe the easiest way.
Awesome, Okay, but yeah, that'dbe the easiest way.
Tyra Valeriano (21:51):
Awesome.
So I know that we briefly spokeabout a client that you had,
where her husband was killed inthe line of duty.
Would you tell the listeners alittle bit about that, because I
think that that's actually areally good example on why it's
so important to address thefinancial wellness aspect in
order to take the weight off ofa lot of other wellness issues.
Willie Bermudez (22:15):
Yeah.
So during doing this stuff forfirst responders, we met with
some sheriff's deputies and Iwas referred to by one of the
persons that we met with.
They said hey man, would youmind meeting with a relative of
mine?
She's, her husband was killedin the line of duty and I think
(22:35):
this financial advisor is tryingto take advantage of her.
So I said, of course.
So I gave her a call, we metand sure enough, you know,
unfortunately there was afinancial, her husband was shot
and killed in the line of dutyand this financial advisor was
trying to take advantage of thesituation.
And so we were able to meetwith her, go through her stuff
(22:56):
and what happened was number onewe saved her from being taken
advantage of from this financialadvisor.
But they had a couple of kidsand when we, when we sat with
her and took a look at herfinances, what we learned and
what we realized was her husbandwhile he was still alive.
Obviously he had no idea he wasgoing to get shot and killed,
but he knew it was a possibilityand he set his family up so
(23:20):
well financially.
He had a really good lifeinsurance policy, he started
some investments for his kids,put some money away for him and
his wife started for retirementand, obviously having no idea
that he was ever going to or hisfamily was ever going to have
to use that, he set them out sowell that, though she's grieving
(23:42):
and mourning, obviously, thetragic loss of her husband, one
area that she has zero stress inis finance, because her husband
set her and the kids up so well.
She'll never have to work a dayin her life If she can focus on
staying home and raising herkids, and she'll never have to
work another day in her life.
And one thing for me that wassuper touching when we were
(24:07):
talking about this is he has adaughter and he's not going to
be there to walk his daughterdown the aisle one day.
He's not going to be there todance with her for her father
daughter dance at her wedding.
But the one thing that hisdaughter is going to know is you
know what?
My dad took care of us.
My dad paid for my wedding,even though he's not around
(24:27):
anymore.
What he did?
He set us up financially.
My dad paid for my wedding.
And so we ask officers, we askdeputies when we're doing these
presentations.
We say, hey, look, if youpassed away?
Can your family survive?
Can they financially survive?
Are they going to have to moveout of the house?
Is your wife going to have toget a second job and not spend
(24:49):
any time with the kids now?
Who's going to watch the kids?
Who's going to help themthrough college?
Who's going to buy their firstcar?
And you can't rely on yourdepartment to do it.
They're not going to do it.
So we tell them look, that's ourresponsibility and especially,
you know, a lot of times copsare very wary when it comes to
like life insurance and stuff.
But most cops can get a reallygood life insurance policy.
(25:10):
We do.
You know Dave Ramsey.
I don't know if you're familiarwith Dave Ramsey, the financial
guru, but Dave Ramsey teacheslook, you should have 10 times
your annual salary in term lifeinsurance.
That's what we teach.
We only ever tell people to getterm life and it's the only
life insurance that's.
That's worth a thing and getterm life.
Most cops can get a milliondollars in term life insurance
(25:32):
for under a hundred bucks orright around a hundred dollars
less.
And so we say look, is ahundred dollars a month, maybe
skipping Starbucks a few timesor not going out to eat twice a
month.
Is that worth the peace of mindknowing your family is going to
be well taken care of if youdon't make it home one day and
most cops you know?
Tyra Valeriano (25:50):
yeah, it is you home one day and most cops you
know yeah, it is.
You know, what I think is veryinteresting about this is that
most officers that start veryyoung they go in with no debt.
And it's when you start makingthe money and you realize I want
to keep the money in my bank,but I can also get a really good
loan with good interest becauseI make enough money they get
(26:12):
into debt and before you know it, it's just, it becomes a
rolling ball effect and later ondown the line that's now what
they are working to pay is allof the debt that they got
themselves into.
And I can say that fromexperience and seeing it
firsthand a lot of new officersthe first thing they do is go
and buy a new car.
That that's what they buy.
That's straight up what theybuy.
(26:39):
So I think it's a really goodmessage that you have.
Now to get off a little bit ofthe finance side, I'm interested
to ask you about marriage andfamily in law enforcement.
So first rule of thumb ispeople say don't date people.
If you're a cop, don't date acop.
So obviously that was not foryou.
Willie Bermudez (26:55):
You married a cop and you guys are happily
married 20 years later and youshare a child together, so tell
us a little bit about thatjourney for you the station
doing like clerical work andstuff, um, and we were friends
for a few years and I was, I wasa cop for I think I'd been like
(27:16):
a cop for like around five orsix months.
I was still on fto when westarted dating, um, and we
started dating and then withinlike, we started dating like end
of april, early may, and wewere married by february, which
is you?
know, yeah, pretty crazy, right,but you know.
So she actually, she actuallydidn't become a cop, she became
(27:37):
a probation officer.
So she did probation for a fewyears out here in San Bernardino
County and she's a probationofficer.
But then what happened was wetalked and it was like man, she
really wanted to stay home withour daughter and raise our
daughter.
And so we looked at financesand we're like, well, it's going
(27:58):
to be a stretch, but we'rewilling to do it, because she
felt really strongly and I didtoo.
I thought it was a great idea.
So, you know, she was actuallywilling to put up her career and
stay home, to give up theincome to stay home and raise
our daughter.
And what's crazy is back then,20 years ago, the schools
weren't even as bad as they arenow.
(28:19):
You didn't have a lot of thenonsense back then.
That's going on now and I'msure now it would have even been
a faster decision.
So it, you know, we livedpaycheck to paycheck, saved what
we could.
We tried to minimize our debtand bills as much as possible.
But yeah, it was, it was awesome, it was as a cop, it was great,
(28:43):
going to work, having the peaceof mind, knowing, yeah, okay,
finances were tight, but havingthe peace of mind to know that
no one else is going to have toraise my daughter, mom's going
to be home with her.
I don't have to stress outabout working this shift or
working that shift to be able totake her to school and pick her
up and juggling that wholecrazy schedule.
Not everyone can do that.
(29:04):
And if you live in a two-incomehome and both parents have to
work or choose to work, hey youknow what I people, you do what
you gotta do.
Um, but for us it was greatfinancial type but we were able
to make it work.
It was.
It was good.
Tyra Valeriano (29:19):
I digress then.
So would you say cops don'tdate cops.
Willie Bermudez (29:24):
You know, man, that's it's a tough one, because
you know, and I'm sure you'veseen the same thing, I've seen
the ones that work, I've seenthe ones that don't work.
You know, and this is what Iwould.
What I would say is this is um,we teach, so we're super
involved in our church.
You know, without God I don'tknow where I would be.
It wouldn't be a good place.
Um, god's been like the, thefoundation of our lives and and
(29:47):
of everything we do.
And so we actually, my wife andI, we actually teach and lead a
discipleship group and we havea few cop couples in our group
and you know what, if you wantit to work, it's going to work.
You know it takes sacrifice Alot of times.
The biggest thing is humblingourselves and not letting our
pride.
You know cop for A-typepersonalities and we always want
(30:09):
to be in charge and sometimeswe just got to sit back and put
the pride aside for a second.
And you know compromise and youknow, and it's crazy because we
go to calls, we go to domesticviolence calls, right, and we
tell everybody what to do andwhat's going to make their
marriage work, and you know, butthen we don't even take our own
advice.
Tyra Valeriano (30:27):
you know, but yeah cop or not.
Willie Bermudez (30:31):
you know if we, if you want to make it work, as
much effort as you're willingto put in, it's going to work.
You know, a lot of times peoplesay well, you know it's, it's
50, 50.
No, it's not 50, 50.
It's a hundred a hundred.
I got to put it a hundredpercent into my marriage and my
wife has to put a hundredpercent in, and if we're both
putting a hundred percent in,then it's going to work.
Tyra Valeriano (30:49):
Yeah, I agree.
What do you think is thehardest part in your career that
you've faced?
So I know a lot of people.
We're looking at lawenforcement from a different
perspective now, because lawenforcement in the past five
years was not the same as it was10 years ago.
It's very, very different.
So you've experienced it withthe good times up until these
(31:10):
very weird and different times.
So what would you say was thehardest transition from five
years ago until maybe 20 yearsago when you started?
Willie Bermudez (31:21):
um, you know, um, body cameras was definitely
a big transition for us, um,because you know, we did it so
long without body cameras andnot that we were doing anything
shady, but now it's different.
It's uh, when you have a camerawith you and you're being
recorded, you know you do you dothings differently, um, so that
(31:42):
was a huge adjustment for sure.
Then, dealing with a lot ofthese laws, the laws that have
changed, and trying to adapt tothat is exactly what you said.
I feel like it's for the newofficers that are coming in now
they're being trained this wayfrom the get-go, versus us.
That started back then and nowwe're having to get rid of our
(32:04):
old way of doing things andtransition in to a very new way
of police work.
It's definitely, it'sdefinitely different, definitely
tough.
It's doable, of course, andcops are doing it every day, um,
but it's definitely tough.
And you know, I was veryresistant to body cameras at
first.
I really was.
I was like, nope, I'm gonnawait, I want to be the last one.
(32:24):
Hopefully mine breaks.
I don't want it, I wantednothing to do with it.
I was very openly vocal abouthow I didn't agree with body
cameras, complaints, lies, thatpeople call and say accusing me
(32:45):
of saying racist things orcussing at them or doing X, y
and Z, and my lieutenant's ableto watch the body camera and my
department is very supportive.
So when people call and makefrivolous complaints, our
department just doesn't writethe complaint out.
They call the person back andsay hey, by the way, we
investigated this and you're aliar, so pound sand.
So the body cams have saved mefrom frivolous complaints.
(33:09):
And not only that, though.
I feel like and we've seenvideos where it doesn't work all
the time but for most cops,knowing that I'm recording is
going to keep me from doingsomething stupid that would have
gotten gotten caught on somehidden camera, on some camera
that I didn't see, so you know.
So most cops, just knowing thatyou're being, you're recording
(33:30):
yourself most of the time isgoing to keep you from doing
something stupid that may havegotten caught on, like on a
hidden camera or a camera thatyou didn't even see hanging on
that the side of that house orwhatever you know.
Tyra Valeriano (33:42):
That's a good, I guess, perspective to have.
You would think that most copswould be okay with that.
In my experience I would saythat maybe there were cops who
forgot that they had body cameraand when the complaint came in
and I was looking at that as asupervisor and I'm like man, I
can't back you up on this one.
You know it's like it's there.
Do you forget that you have abody camera because you can't
(34:04):
really defend them at that point?
So that makes it hard.
But I agree, did you used tohave those recorders that you
would stick in your pocket, justlike those little pocket
recorders before body cam?
Willie Bermudez (34:16):
Yeah, like little audio recorders Yep.
Tyra Valeriano (34:17):
Yeah, I remember those.
Willie Bermudez (34:21):
Yeah, that's, you know it was.
We had the.
It was crazy because you knowthere the policy was different.
But yeah, you're supposed toaudio record your traffic stops
and audio record this and thatand then go download it Very
different times.
Tyra Valeriano (34:37):
Yeah, it's very different.
So you have had a really goodcareer, based on what you've
told me, and there's a lot ofofficers that are out there in
the field who are miserable, andthere are a lot of times that I
have talked about the uglytruths of law enforcement.
So, being that you've had avery good experience, what would
you say to the officers thatare not having such a great
(34:57):
experience?
How or what experience have youhad that you could give to
another officer as advice on howto change their mindset, maybe
on their career and what they'regoing through at their agency
and personally?
Willie Bermudez (35:15):
So I would say this number one you got to take
an internal, you got to do aninternal review.
Review yourself.
Am I miserable because I'mmaking myself?
Am I making choices that aremaking myself miserable?
Am I turning my stuff in late?
Am I walking around with a badattitude?
Am I cussing people out andgetting written up?
(35:35):
Am I doing anything that'scontributing to the problem?
So that's the first step yougot to do.
Be be honest with yourself andfigure out do I just have a bad
mindset or a bad attitude?
Do that part first.
Sometimes that's what it is.
Sometimes it's a combination.
Sometimes we work in adepartment that has an admin
that's not very supportive or acity that's not very supportive,
(35:58):
and you kind of feel trapped,that you can't do your job
because you feel your departmentwon't back you up or your city
won't back you up.
So if you're in that place,well, you got options, you know
go work somewhere else, go left.
And sometimes you can't.
Maybe you've gotten written up,maybe you have a jacket already
and it's going to be tough tolateral somewhere else, you know
(36:18):
.
But I would say look, if yourdepartment is causing you this
kind of stress, you'll.
Stress is bad.
It's not healthy for us.
It's bad.
It's not healthy for us.
It's bad, makes us miserable atwork at home.
So, first off, figure out ifthere's anything you're doing to
contribute to the problem.
Is there anything I need tochange?
Be honest with yourself.
Get some help.
You know most police have,whether it's peer support or
counseling or mental healthcounseling.
(36:40):
Take advantage of those thingsIf that's what you need.
If you have a church or maybeyou know, through your medical
plan you can go talk to someone.
Do that If it's your departmentand department's causing you
stress.
Well, look at your options.
Can I go work somewhere else?
Do I?
Maybe?
Maybe it's your assignment,maybe you've been on patrol for
a long time and you got to worka different assignment.
(37:00):
You know, do somethingdifferent within law enforcement
, do something new to maybefreshen up the water a little
bit.
But look at different options.
Should I lateral?
Should I stay?
Should I try a differentassignment?
And you know what?
And if you don't find theanswer there?
Well, as cops, we have so muchvaluable experience in our jobs.
We're trainers, we'recounselors, we are supervisors
(37:26):
and we have so many talents thatcan be used outside of law
enforcement.
Maybe it's time to startlooking outside of law
enforcement to find anothercareer outside of law
enforcement.
Your mental health is key.
You don't ever want to bestressed out.
You want your family to loveyou.
You don't want your family tohate when you come in the door
at the end of your shift.
So maybe, maybe you just got tofind a different career path.
(37:49):
So I would say those are.
Those are some of the tips thatI would say.
You know, if an officer isgoing through some struggles,
Well, that's some good advice.
Tyra Valeriano (38:00):
Speaking of transitioning, you are going to
be retiring soon, right?
So how is that transition foryou and how did you prepare
yourself for that?
Willie Bermudez (38:10):
So you know, this is the what I tell people,
because you know, doing thefinance stuff started off as as
a side hustle you know, quoteunquote to help our daughter
with her college Cause.
We didn't plan for it and whenwe started doing it and we
realized how many officers needour help, it made us get into it
more deeper than what weoriginally started to do.
(38:33):
And so obviously we do a lotfor first responders, but we
help anyone.
We have a lot of nursingclients, a lot of clients all
over the place, and what wasawesome was starting it while I
had a full-time job.
So I had a full-time job as acop.
My wife and I started doing thison the side so that we can
really learn how to do thisbusiness and start building the
(38:55):
business without the stress,because if you're stressed out
about income, it's going to beso hard to build a business
because you're always going tobe stressed.
So I recommend you know so yeah, we're going to be replacing
the police income with thefinancial wellness income.
But for anyone any officer whomaybe they're looking at
transitioning out, they know lawenforcement isn't for them
(39:16):
anymore.
They want to get out.
My recommendation is, unlessyou're that mentally stressed
that you have to quit if you cando it.
Figure out what it is that youwant to do, what other career
you want to do and, if you'reable to get into it, start
getting into it, maybe on apart-time basis, while you're
learning it, while you'refiguring out that business and
(39:37):
you're able to replace yourincome.
Tyra Valeriano (39:39):
With you.
That's something you've alreadydone, so are you prepared for
that transition?
I mean most of us, I can speakfor myself.
When I got out of lawenforcement it, and even till
this day I still kind ofstruggle with that identity.
You know like I loved being acop and that's who I was and
unfortunately it just becomes apart of who you are.
(39:59):
So are you ready to go throughthat?
Have you prepared yourself forthat?
Willie Bermudez (40:04):
You know what's what's.
What's pretty unique is I'm notleaving because I hate the cop
job.
You know, times have changed.
Um, I owe it to my family to besafer and be home with them.
But I'm not leaving cause Ihate my job.
Um, I'm leaving just cause Iwant to do this, I want freedom
and to own my own business andand be my own boss.
Um, but I would.
(40:25):
But I would say it's going tobe tough because I've been a
pretty active cop.
I think the more active you arein law enforcement, the harder
it is to leave behind.
I'm planning if my current chiefI have a great relationship
with my department I'm planningon, when that time comes, asking
him to stick around as areserve so I can still come in
(40:46):
and maybe work a shift here andthere, take a flight in the
helicopter here and there andstill be a part of it.
I love helping other officers.
I love being a mentor toyounger officers that are coming
up and just being anencouragement to them, not just
in finance, just overall in lawenforcement, and just helping
them out.
They're going through theirstruggles of being a young cop
(41:07):
and so I love being a mentor.
I still want to be part of thedepartment, just not full time.
Tyra Valeriano (41:16):
Understandable, and I think that it's.
It's pretty awesome that youtook this route.
You have a very good vibe andyou seem very happy with your
career and all of the thingsthat you've experienced.
So just hearing you talk aboutthat, I think that there's
probably listeners out there whoare law enforcement officers
that might be able to get somegood energy from you and maybe
change the way they think abouttheir career, because not
(41:39):
everybody leaves for that reason.
Like you said, not everybody'smiserable with their, with their
career.
So now that you are gettingclose to I guess you can call it
your retirement because youyou're technically going to be
retiring Do you have any planswith maybe law enforcement being
(42:01):
something you might lean backtowards in the future?
Or with your business thefinance business Do you want to
maybe get into the wellness sideand play a bigger part in the
mental health side for lawenforcement, considering that
finance is a big part of that?
Willie Bermudez (42:18):
Yeah, so, especially because of our church
like we're, we're big in inhelping you do counseling and
helping people through churchand stuff.
Um, I feel like I've been a bighelp to a lot of officers where
I work now and we definitelywant to continue helping law
enforcement in the financialwellness area.
Um, but, to be honest, the mainreason that I would stick
(42:40):
around as a reserve would be toalso be there just to be an
encouragement, uh, to be able tohelp them still and and and,
even even beyond that, you know,and if, if, if there's a law,
for example, if, if a lawenforcement officer reached out
to me after this podcast andsaid hey man, can you give me
some tips to to having a long,successful, happy career, then
(43:01):
by all means I love helpingpeople.
So it doesn't just have to befinance, it doesn't have to be
cop advice, any kind of advicewe can give, marriage advice
We've been married 20 years,have a daughter and any advice
we can give.
I'm more than happy to help outand give and I'm not going to
tell them at the end of the dayhey, all right, you owe me 50
(43:22):
bucks, no, we love helping.
Tyra Valeriano (43:32):
That's awesome to hear.
Okay, well, we are running outof time, but I know you gave
your email and LinkedIn on howlisteners can contact you if
they want to talk about thefinances aspect of things, and
also you mentioned any topicreally that's law enforcement
related, so that kind of opensup the floor so that anybody can
contact you.
That is maybe going throughsomething that they want to
discuss.
I do ask all.
I'm sure you already know thequestion.
I'm hoping that you don't sothat you're a little unprepared.
(43:54):
But I normally ask all of myguests what they would tell
their rookie self advice wise,based on all of the experience
that they have.
I don't know if you alreadyknew that, but I would like to
know what you would tell yourrookie self.
Willie Bermudez (44:10):
There are a few things.
Number one, most importantthing I would say, is this never
make being a police officeryour identity.
Most of the time, and we'veheard it many times, you ask a
cop hey man, tell me who you are.
I'm a cop.
No, you're not.
You are you.
You know you are tired, I'mWillie.
(44:30):
Being a cop is one of thethings that I do, um, so never
make your identity, never makepolice your identity.
Um, be who you are and let yourbeing a cop be something that
you do.
That's one of the biggestthings, because that's where so
many cops get caught up.
Another thing don't sweat thesmall stuff.
And a lot of times they saykeep your mouth shut.
(44:54):
I don't mean keep your mouthshut and don't talk to people,
but when it comes to things,pick and choose your battles.
So many cops shoot themselves inthe foot and ruin their careers
because they run their mouth.
Um, they run their mouth aboutadmin.
They tell their best friend, um, about how they don't like
their Sergeant and they don'tknow that their best friend is
(45:16):
trying to get promoted and goesand tells the Sergeant
everything they just told them.
So keep your mouth shut, don'tgo, god, don't be part of the
gossip.
Um, you know, don't.
Uh, if you have to open yourmouth because there's something
immoral, illegal, unethical, ofcourse open your mouth, but
don't be part of the the dramaat the department.
Don't shoot yourself in thefoot, because those are the
(45:38):
people that don't get thespecial assignments, they don't
get promoted and then they can'tfigure out why.
Well, keep your mouth shut,don't be gossiping.
Um, it's sad to say.
The other thing in cop with copsis hey, yo, keep pleasure away
from your job.
Don't, don't, don't hook upwith your cis.
(45:59):
Yo, I know some.
There's some stories of copsfinding love on a call and stuff
.
But I've seen so many cops inmy career guys hooking up with
domestic violence victims andthey lose their career and their
family over it.
Guys hooking up with CIs that'sjust nasty.
I mean, most CIs are tweakersthemselves.
Keep it in your pants, keepyour pants on.
(46:22):
Whatever you're going to do, doit off duty, but don't do it
with CIs or victims.
You know, yeah, you know, andthen, and make sure that you
know where to go to get help.
If you have a church and thatoffers free counseling, you know
, if you have a counselor,you'll never be afraid to ask
for help.
(46:42):
Don't let your stress get socrazy high that you don't know
what to do with it.
You get to a point where you'resuicidal or to a point where
you actually do kill yourself.
I mean, it's so tragic and it'sone of those horrible things
and it's like I just anytime Ihear about it, I just wish, like
man, I wish I could have shakenthis person.
(47:02):
I wish we would have known.
I wish we would have known.
I wish we would have known.
And that's the other thing.
Take care of your partners.
We know when our partner's notacting right and don't be afraid
to ask them.
Hey, man, I noticed you'reacting different tonight.
Hey, sis, what's going on?
I know you're acting different.
What's going on?
And hopefully you have thatrelationship and hopefully
(47:23):
they're willing to open up.
And you know what?
I know like a lot of timeswe're afraid to tell our bosses
about stuff, but there've beenseveral times where I had to go
to my boss and say hey, sarge, Iknow it's so-and-so, ain't
acting right, man, and um, Itried talking to him, but I know
there's something going on andwe got to take care of ourselves
.
We're not snitching.
(47:43):
We're not snitching, we're notratting.
You know I would feel horribleif I didn't say anything and
found out that my partner endedup killing themselves and I
could have done something tohelp him out.
You know the horrible feeling,so you know.
Tyra Valeriano (47:56):
I really appreciate you saying all of
those things and, for those thatare listening, I know that all
of my guests give their adviceto their younger self.
But these are tips to take ifyou are an officer now or you're
planning to be an officer oryou're just starting in your
career.
All of these are the uglytruths, what I call the ugly
truths of law enforcement,because there is an ugly side
(48:18):
and that is part of the uglyside the identity.
I can relate to that personally, just because I struggled a lot
with that and I talked aboutthat in my story.
But we do, we tend to lean onour job and it just becomes who
we are because instead ofdealing with our personal issues
, we'd rather go deal witheverybody else's instead of our
own, and it just becomes who weare.
(48:38):
But those are all really,really good tips and I
appreciate you saying that ifyou need help, reach out,
especially if you have someonethat you trust a church, that's
a really great one.
Your partner I had a partnerthat I worked very close with
and it was like clockwork.
If he was off, I knew it waslike, hey, what's going on?
You just you know your peopleand you got to communicate that.
(49:00):
So thank you for that and alsothank you for joining me today.
I really appreciate all of theinformation that you gave today.
Even for me, I think thatthere's a lot of useful tips
that even I can use, even out oflaw enforcement now, and I
think it's a really importantdiscussion to have.
Is there anything else that youwant to add to let the
listeners know before we end thepodcast today?
Willie Bermudez (49:22):
Yeah, you know, even I know you this.
Hey, if you'd like me to comedown to your department and help
us you know you want us to comedown and teach a class or
whatever We'd definitely be morethan happy to do that.
But if there's an individualofficer that's listening to this
and they want to meet on zoomand have me build them a strong
financial plan for free nohidden, no obligation, there's
(49:44):
nothing hidden about it I'd bemore than happy to meet with him
on Zoom to do it for free.
Just send me an email, I'lltake care of it.
Tyra Valeriano (49:50):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much, willie.
I appreciate your time todayFor the listeners that tuned in
today.
Thank you for joining me and wewill see you on the next one.
Willie Bermudez (49:59):
That's great.
Take care, Tyra.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
Tyra Valeriano (50:01):
Thank you for joining me.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining me onChapter Blue.
If you enjoyed today's episode,be sure to follow and tag me on
social media and share withyour friends and fellow officers
.
If you're interested in joiningan episode, I'd love for you to
be a part of the conversation.
Until next time, stay safe,take care of yourself and
remember you're never alone inthis journey.
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