Javier - From Correctional Officer to Marine: Navigating Law Enforcement and Military Transitions

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This episode explores the personal journey of a former Florida correctional officer who transitioned to the Marine Corps. He shares insights about the realities of working in corrections, including staffing shortages, ethical dilemmas, and challenges in law enforcement. 

• Discusses early influences and path to corrections 
• Details the quick hiring process for Florida corrections 
• Shares experiences from the training academy 
• Highlights the stigma surrounding certain inmate classifications 
• Explores issues of overtime and staffing shortages 
• Contrasts body camera use in Florida and California law enforcement 
• Reflects on the transition from corrections to military service 
• Emphasizes the need for genuine motivations in pursuing law enforcement careers

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hector Bravo.
Unhinged chaos is now insession welcome back to our
channels, warriors.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Another special guest today, believe it or not, man,
this guy is a former FloridaDepartment of Corrections
correctional officer, javier.
What's up, dude?
How are you LT?
What up you, dude?
How are you LT?
Good afternoon, you don't haveto call me LT, bro, hector's
cool man?
Yeah, hector, very informal.
And you're probably thinkinghow the hell is this guy a
former former when he looks 12years old?

(00:36):
Right, no disrespect.
But to be honest, you only haveto be 18 years old to apply,
dude, to apply to the FloridaDepartment of Corrections.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Minimum age is 18 years old.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Holy shit, bro.
So is that where you're from?
Florida, Orlando, florida?

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Born and raised Whole life in Central Florida.
Never got out much out of thestate until now.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Did you go to Disney World a bunch, or have you been
there?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Never been there.
I mean, yeah, like when you'relittle, I mean when you're
raised there.
Disney World, all those parks,they become like our little
hangout spots, not vacationspots, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Makes sense, dude, and at what point in your young
life?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
did you decide you wanted to work in a correctional
setting?
Not necessarily specifically acorrectional setting, just law
enforcement in general.
Due to my family backgroundformer law enforcement officers
in puerto rico, all military,you know war vets, grandfather,
great-grandfather, uncle I havea cousin who's a sheriff in
florida.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
So did your parents come from Puerto Rico, or were
they already in the States?

Speaker 1 (01:46):
No, my mother.
She came to the States she wasabout 18.
So right before she had me.
So she spent a good part of herlife in the States too.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
So and anybody in your family from the Florida
department of corrections thathad served and anybody in your
family from the FloridaDepartment of Corrections that
had served Nobody Nobody.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Everyone in my family was just a regular state police
officer in Puerto Rico or asheriff in Florida.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Did you think about going to college at all, or you
didn't want to do that.
Yeah, I feel you, bro, I feelyou Not for me, did you look at
other agencies, such as policeagencies, maybe the state
troopers?
What happened?
The age group or something?

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, I mean in Florida at that time.
Right now they've raised up theage for pretty much everything,
but at that time you could be19 years old and apply to
certain police departments andsheriff departments and the FHP.
But you know, I was 18, out ofhigh school, I didn't want to
keep working at Home Depot and Icome across an ad that says

(02:50):
that Corrections is hiring at 18.
And I was like I mean, it's anenforcement job, I guess.
So why not try?
Was not expecting anything,cause I mean, who's going to
hire someone at 18 out of highschool for that job?
But it says it.
It says it in the ad.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
It says it.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, but I was so unexpected so I just applied
without even thinking much of itand like in a short amount of
time, like a week or two later,I get a phone call to start
submitting paperwork for thehiring process and I'm like no
way that this is actuallyhappening.
Keep going with the process andI wait about a month.

(03:25):
The hiring process is prettyshort.
It's pretty short forcorrections.
It's about a month or two untilyou can get hired.
Is there a written examination?
Yes, we have the CJBAT, socriminal justice basic abilities
test.
You take that before you applyto any law enforcement job in
the state.
You cannot apply without havingCJBAT results.

(03:46):
It's just basic memorization,reading comprehension, one of
the easiest tests you'll take.
You take that, you submit italong with your other paperwork
and you're going to go fromthere.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Is there a background investigation?

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, but I mean there's not much background to
do on me, I guess.
But for another candidate willthey look at previous employment
background investigation?
Yeah, but I mean there's notmuch background to do on me, I
guess, I mean but for anothercandidate, or will they look at
previous employment, criminalrecord, drug usage stuff?
like that.
Yeah, definitely, but it's evenwith someone who might have so
much experience, a lot of jobsor up in age, the hiring process
is still pretty short.
I mean, I know in some statesit takes like six months to a

(04:25):
year to get hired anywhere.
And it sounds weird for mebecause, like even for police
departments and sheriffdepartments, process like three
to six months to get hiredDepends on you, of course, if
you submit everything correctly.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
And you know how many academies are there in Florida
for the Department ofCorrections.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
I'm not entirely sure .
I believe every region hastheir own academy.
So in Central Florida we areRegion 3.
So everyone goes to the FloridaCorrections Academy for Region
3, which is in the city ofOrlando.
And I know there's otheracademies because in South
Florida I think North Florida,central Florida and South
Florida have their own academy.
So I assume it's probably three.

(05:05):
I could be wrong.
I didn't even know there was anacademy for the department,
because in Florida there's notreally much police academies,
it's just colleges.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Right.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
So if you want to be an Orlando police officer,
there's no such thing as anOrlando police academy.
You go to the Valencia Criminalcriminal justice academy and
it's for all departments, youknow.
There's only about what I think.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Miami, and like two or three more counties in the
state, have their own departmentran academies so once you
became once you become acorrectional officer for the
state of florida, can you thentransfer to any state
penitentiary?
Yeah, you can transfer easily.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Some people were transferring in the academy.
They applied for this prisonbut they want to be in a
different prison.
You just have to submit theproper paperwork and it's not a
problem at all to transfer.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Now I know you told me earlier that sometimes
they'll hire you and thenthey'll send you to the academy
after.
Would that happen in your case?

Speaker 1 (06:05):
yes, so I was working in the prison for a month and a
half before I went to theacademy and during this time
were you working at the prisonthat you would eventually work
your career in yes uh, were, you, were you wearing a uniform.
First day was class a uniform.
Yeah, you know, like the fancyproper uniform you have to go
and buy that out, everythingyourself.

(06:27):
No, it was provided to us.
It's all hand-me-down stuff.
To be honest.
What about duty equipment, orthe belt at least?
Yeah, you gotta buy thatyourself.
I mean, some people they justwore a regular belt and just had
their chemical agents inhandcuffs.
Some people had their duty beltso they could have other stuff
on it.
That was pretty simple.
I don't really carry much of myduty belt.
All I carried was my set ofhandcuffs, chemical agents and a

(06:49):
flashlight and gloves alwayshave gloves.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
That's pretty much all I carried on my duty belt
did you see that video recentlyof the uh new york prison guards
that beat the shit out of thatguy and killed him you did yes I
did pretty crazy, huh, you guysget down like that in florida
too, or?
Uh well, just fucking around,dude.
Just putting you on the spot,bro.

(07:13):
Well, even if we do, therewouldn't be any evidence.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
You don't have body cameras like they do yeah, I
mean they're pretty wild fordoing something like that,
knowing that they have camerason them.
I mean you shouldn't be doingthat either way.
But.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
I mean he was handcuffed.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
So it's like Exactly.
I keep trying to say that youknow, it's a big thing.
You never, I would never put myhands on someone that's
handcuffed.
That's not, it's not manly, no,there's no point in that.
Not ethically Ethical?
No, it's not.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
I mean he's in handcuffs, it's like yeah,
shooting fish in a barrel is notfucking fair.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
If you want to do something that bad, if you
really have to, I mean, justtake the handcuffs off, right,
but having them on that waspretty crazy.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
So I know I kind of just threw you a curveball, bro,
just testing you out, man,getting a feel for you, and what
type of job duties were youdoing at the prison prior to you
going to?

Speaker 1 (08:10):
the academy.
Do they have you working theline?
Everything, everything,everything.
Not supposed to correct, you'renot supposed to.
You're supposed to be in thebubble observing what's the
bubble?

Speaker 2 (08:18):
like a central control.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
So what we have is.
So every prison in Florida hastwo different types of layouts.
You have the butterfly dorms,so you have like a bubble right
here, like this table would be,and this chair is one bay.
This chair is one bay, that'sone bay.
That's one bay like a butterflydorm.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Like pods, yeah, pods , and there's cells in there.
Yes, do they ever riot in thosefucking?

Speaker 1 (08:45):
Not that I've seen A lot of that stuff hasn't
happened in recent times Becausein Florida, something I, like
you, know that we prideourselves on is we have a good
amount of control on the inmates, so riots are not that common.
Because I was like everyofficer if you have email access
which I did you would alwaysget a text or email if anything

(09:06):
happened around the state in anyprison, whether it was an
assault on staff.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
That's very good bro.
That's good communication.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
So we would know if someone, like if a staff, got
assaulted in North Florida, sixhours away, we would know about
it.
And how often were you gettingthose Not that often.
Not that often, man, not thatoften.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's interesting to know, dude, because I don't have
any knowledge of the departmentof corrections for florida.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure there are staff
assaults that are probablyisolated and they don't wasn't
too serious, so doesn't get sentout there.
I don't, I don't want to sithere and say assaults don't
happen like that, right, but forthe like serious assaults where
someone got killed or seriouslyinjured, yeah, and my
experience was not common at all.
That's a good thing, dude.
Yes, it's.
Uh, I give it credit tosomething that I heard on a

(09:52):
podcast from a new york citycorrection officer a few years
ago, something called the fearof unknown.
You know, um, what would happen?
You know me as an inmate.
What's gonna happen if Iassault that officer?
You know, are they just gonnalike, like I?
What's going to happen if Iassault that officer?
You know, are they just goingto like like I've heard you say
sometimes, where a cop can getassaulted and they get a tablet
the same day?
They get a tablet within anhour bro.

(10:14):
I don't even know how that'sokay.
And like the prison just keepsrunning, like normal after an
assault.
So it's like no, that wouldnever happen.
If we have an officer assaulted, even just the use of force in
general, that prison is going onlockdown, he's getting sent to
the box, to confinement, andmost of the time when an officer
gets assaulted they gettransferred out the prison the

(10:35):
same day Because they don't wantother officers, you know.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
So it's kind of what I'm gathering from man.
Of what I'm gathering from man.
It's like the prison runssmooth and also, um, kind of
like the the street cops that Isee, or the troopers that I see
in florida.
They're wild bro.
Yeah, pit maneuvers, jumping onhoods, just crazy shit, dude.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
You know we have good , a good support system from the
governor that makes adifference, dude yeah, and our,
I mean there's some negativesabout him too.
You know there's some thingsthat could be better, Right, but
our secretary, he, you know hewas there, you know he would.
He visited the academy one time.
He likes to visit academies, helikes to, you know, every other

(11:19):
week we would have like a TVand like he would have like a
message out to the staff.
Every other week at the academyyou would have a tv, not in the,
not in the academy, but um,just in the prison itself.
If there is some time, someidle time, you know, usually at
night, the tv was there.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Where did the tv come from?
Like a spare office orsomething?

Speaker 1 (11:39):
yeah and then we would see.
Like you know, the secretarygave me on a message or
something, so he cares about hisstaff and he was a CEO for
around what?
25 years?
Pretty sure his name was RickyDixon, secretary Ricky Dixon.
He was a CEO for around 25years, so he knows 100%.
Can you guys watch movies?

Speaker 2 (11:55):
on those TVs.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
No, we have computers .
I mean, we're pretty old school.
Like, due to funding, we don'tget a lot of funding.
You know, like we don't getequipment issued to us.
All we get is the handcuffs andthe chemical agents.
You know, if you want all thatextra stuff, you're going to
have to buy it yourself.
If you want duty bills, get a,buy it yourself.
You know, like, lack of fundingis definitely something that

(12:18):
has affected the department.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
You mentioned how much were you getting paid.
Starting out was 39 000 39 000.
Now you said you worked at homedepot before.
Was that?
Were you making more when youbecame a ceo?
I was making more, of course,because of the overtime so 39
000 bro, 18 years old youngsterI mean, you're still young.
Yes, uh, the academy.
How long was that academy?

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Well, around three months, maybe a couple weeks
shorter, was it a live-inacademy?

Speaker 2 (12:48):
No, you would go home after, and it was in Orlando.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
So you lived in Orlando.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
So how far was your drive to the academy?
20 minutes 25 minutes.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Oh, that's not bad, bro.
Yeah, so it was easy.
You just go to school, you know, the academy was pretty cool, I
mean.
I mean, my academy class had alot of former law enforcement
from new york and other states,so it wasn't necessarily a class
of probably because they,everybody, retires in florida.
Florida seems to be a retirement, yeah, and they just leave.

(13:18):
They don't like where they'reat, you know they don't like how
the department's treating them.
They come here or over there,right, and you know it was cool
to have their experiences thereMade the academy run smooth too,
because I mean, everyone knewmore or less what they were
doing.
Of course I had to play catchup a little bit with everyone
else.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Why?

Speaker 1 (13:35):
because of your age difference, the age difference,
and like I didn't know anythingabout handcuffing or I mean I
learned how to handcuff beforethe academy, because when I was
working in the prison before theacademy, I've had to apply
cuffs numerous times, whichyou're not supposed to- During
that time frame when you'reworking in the prison, when
you're not supposed to beworking in the prison, are the
inmates treating you a certainway because they know you're not

(13:57):
even supposed to be there.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
They calling you rookie, or they calling you fish
or any names like that?

Speaker 1 (14:02):
I never got called any of that, actually no, never.
If they rookie, are theycalling you fish or any names
like that?
I don't know, I never gotcalled any of that actually no,
I never.
If they did, I didn't hear it.
But, um, I mean, they knowyou're not supposed to be there,
but they know how it works.
You know on paper, yeah, you'renot supposed to be there, but
they know damn well they'd bedoing that because you don't got
chemical agents on you.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
So it's like now, do you think that the inmates mess
with the cos or they try toleave the COs alone so they can
do whatever dirt they want to do?

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, I mean for the most part we got left alone.
Like I said, things ran prettysmooth.
I mean you would have yourcouple guys that like were the
problem childs or whatever theproblem children.
But for the most part I mean ifyou want to do dirt, that's
like that's your thing.
You know what I mean.
Dirt, that's like that's yourthing.
You know what I mean.
Like there's no doing it infront of me, yeah, or like while

(14:48):
I'm there, because I mean itdepends on what it is and how
far I'll go with it.
I mean, if it's like tattooingor something, I mean what do you
want me to do about that?
You know?

Speaker 2 (14:58):
Like I'm not putting you in the box for that
Tattooing against the rules in.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Florida.
Yeah, you go, you go to the boxfor that.
You can put someone in the boxfor anything.
No way, I mean, if you feeldisrespected, you can lock them
up for disrespect on an officerand put them in the box.
Did you ever see that happen?
Yes, that wasn't my style,right.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
I wasn't going to do paperwork or the captain
paperwork, because I feltdisrespected.
I can handle that myselfin-house.
We can handle it ourselves.
There's no reason for that.
Um, you get to go home for theacademy every day.
Um, are you eating at theacademy?
Do they have a cafeteria?
You get to.
They break you guys for lunch.
We get break for lunch.
So it's basically like going tocollege, going to school and
learning how to apply handcuffs,work in a prison, getting
trained by the OGs.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yes, real OGs.
I had a lot of respect for myinstructors.
They put a lot of years intothe department.
They were all Marine Corps andArmy veterans.
They would always walk aroundwith their Marine hat Army hat
25 years in the departmentmarine hat, army hat 25 years in
the department.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
I know that before we started recording you say you
didn't understand how here incalifornia you can only have two
years in and be an academyinstructor.
No like you can't.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
That doesn't make sense.
I mean it doesn't make sensecorrect?

Speaker 2 (16:20):
did you know that they actively do not want people
with experience and a lot oftimes in, because they want
somebody new that's going topush whatever agenda they want
to push out?
That's the reason for themadness.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
I don't get it, honestly, and the agenda is not
doing any.
I mean, I don't know the agendais hard for me to believe it.
Half the stuff you post, allthat California model stuff, I
don't get it.
I don't get it.
You don't get it or you don'tbelieve it.
Both.
Let's say both.
I don't because it doesn't,because I, because I was trained

(16:54):
and I was in an environmentwhere you know you, the inmate,
do your thing, I do my thing andI go home and you just keep
going on your routine andwhatever you do during the day.
But wouldn't that just becommon sense in general?
Of course it's common sense.
I mean, I don't know where, thewhole pickleball thing or the
playing basketball with the m?

Speaker 2 (17:14):
I don't know, I don't know I mean we, you I know you
commented on that young ceogetting his neck cracked.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Man, probably the worst thing I've seen in my life
so far, so far, so far, yeah, Idon't.
Probably the worst thing I'veseen in my life so far, so far,
so far, yeah, I don't probablythe worst thing you've seen,
probably the worst thing a lotof people I don't know probably
the worst thing a lot of peoplehave seen.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Bro.
It's fucking far out there,dude, it is.
Uh, that's not.
I'll tell you right now.
That's not normal, right?
But I'm not surprised in thesense of yeah, why wouldn't that
happen?
I mean, if that's what's beingpushed from the top down, uh,
ridiculousness, why wouldn'tthat happen?

Speaker 1 (17:49):
I just have a different mindset then, because
I know 100 I'm younger than thatceo, correct?
And he was a young ceo.
Yeah, like I'm younger than him, they could have pushed
whatever agenda they wanted towant me over there.
I was not gonna let an inmategrab my head and crack it like
that put a dick beater all overyour face, bro.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
I mean damn, I don't know.
So you have been observingwhat's going on in california.
You got your experience inflorida, um, so you can
definitely tell that there'sdifferences between the two
states Too much differences.

(18:28):
You know, I find that to bedisheartening, bro, when damn
near disrespectful, only becausenot against you, because we
actually used to be a legit orCDCR, used to be a legit fucking
law enforcement agency.
Oh, I'm sure, correctionalagency, bro, it was fucking
legit.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, I've seen some documentaries.
I've seen your, your storiesabout the past and I.
The way y'all used to do thingsis how we do things now.
In other words, so you can onlyimagine how florida was rolling
20 so like when you were comingup in 2006 yeah, I can't even
imagine how florida was runninglike new york.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, I mean, we're new york still barely catching
up now.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, I mean slowly and slowly.
I think the same thing is gonnahappen, though, because we're
getting more of those, you know,officers that are more I don't
want to say timid, but uh, it'sa generational thing?
I think it pretty much is.
Yeah, I was raised by mygrandparents most of the time.
So did you have an iPad growingup?

(19:27):
No, I didn't even have a phonedid your friends have iPads?

Speaker 2 (19:31):
I was the only one without it.
Oh, that's probably why you'refucking normal dude.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
That's why I hated it because it's like damn like he
got a phone and they got atablet.
Why can't I have a phone totell it?

Speaker 2 (19:41):
I didn't get a phone trust me, you're better off yeah
, I didn't get a phone.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Trust me, you're better off.
Yeah, I didn't have that untilI was 14.
Oh, you're better off, bro.
14, 15 is when I got my firstphone.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, because you don't strike me as an average
young dude, bro.
If you know what I mean.
There's a difference.
And you strike me more as anold soul.
That's probably what you are anold soul type of dude.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah because I mean, I'm pretty, I like the way
things ran, I like the old wayof running things.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
I'm not going to lie, it makes sense.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
It makes sense.
You know, like this new way isnot doing anything.
I mean it's creating havoc.
Yeah, exactly.
And like people don't knowwhat's going, I don't know that
young officer, the guy's neckcracked, I don't think he knew
what he was doing.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
Well, they said he quit and then sued the
department because apparentlythe video got out there in the
public and he won two milliondollars.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
That's what the rumor is so hey, good for him two
million dollars.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
I mean shit, yeah, but I don't know, I mean so when
, when you were working, you goto the academy, you graduate,
where did they have you first?
In a housing unit.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
My first post was Alpha Dormitory, so Alpha
Dormitory was the only one.
You know, how I said earlier,how we have these butterfly
dorms.
That was the only dorm in theprison that was open bay.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
So you said there was two kinds two kinds of open
base in the butterfly.
What are the open bays looklike?
Um, it's open base like this.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
I just imagine bunk beds all around in a circle.
There was two kinds.
Two kinds the open bays and thebutterfly.
What do the open bays look like?
Um, it's open bay.
It's like this like justimagine bunk beds all around in
a circle, like the marine corps,like a squad bay, squad bay,
just like that.
It kind of it kind of shockedme when I arrived to boot camp,
actually, because it looked justlike an open bay and like the
red light and everything atnight.
When I would see the red light,I'll be like I feel like I'm an
inmate right now, because it'sthe exact same thing.

(21:25):
It's like a squad bae, moredangerous, because when you're
doing your counts, no one issecured, they're just on their
bunk sitting up.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
Are those lower levels On the bunks On the open?
To be honest, how many levelsare there in fucking?

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Florida.
I don't want to give a wronganswer, but I believe there's
four.
So level one through four.
Yeah, I believe it's four, butthat dorm had a reputation Four.
It was known as the Chomo dorm.
So we call Chomos likepedophiles, child molesters.
Right, that was probably backin the day, but the stigma

(22:02):
carried on because there was agood amount of guys in there
that were not Chomos.
But with that stigma the dormwas not treated the best.
By who?
The officers and other inmatestoo.
I mean I don't really call itthe Chomo dorm.
I've met a lot of inmates thatweren't Chomos in there, but

(22:25):
there was a good amount, becausethe whole reason for them
having an open bay like that isfor the older inmates, the old
inmates what can barely walk.
They have that little p thing,little bag of p or whatever.
Yeah, dirty, fucking old yeahand those are.
I mean I can't put ageneralization that they're
pedophiles, but I mean the mostof them were so Right, Damn dude
.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
So when you would get the call, say hey, you're
working Alpha Dorm, your friendswould be like, oh, you're
working the Chomo Dorm.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Well, no, because we didn't really understand it like
that at the time.
What do you mean?
You know, no one knew it wasthe Chomo Dorm until I got in
the dorm and the inmates wouldtell me stories and then I would
talk to my sergeant about it,be like, yeah, this was
considered the chomo dorm backin my day, my damn okay, um,
whatever.
But it was a pretty chill postbecause it's mostly old guys, so

(23:14):
it's like there's not muchgoing on.
You know, most of my reallydoing stuff was during child
time.
You know, we get really yourelease them for child the
inmates and then you would go toyour post what was the worst
part of the prison?

Speaker 2 (23:29):
I'm where the rowdy inmates were at, like what was
that?
The rowdy, rowdy inmates likewhere were they going to be some
type of incident or some fight,a stabbing?

Speaker 1 (23:39):
I'd say charlie dorm.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Charlie dorm was fucking horrible damn bro, it
almost seemed like every charlieyard is a horrible, freaking
nightmare.
Dude, charlie dorm were fuckinghorrible.
Damn bro, it almost seems likeevery charlie yard is a horrible
freaking nightmare dude.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
charlie dorm was a nightmare and I did work.
That was my second assignmentwas charlie dorm?
Because I had a sergeant thatshe was a very tough sergeant
like she was a a tough one.
You know you can never.
You know she would getcomplaints from inmates and
officers alike.
You know she was tough, but Idid want to learn from her and

(24:10):
of course, I think she didn'tlike me in the beginning because
of my age.
All she saw was a young, youknow kid, yeah, so she didn't
like that she made it known to.
She did, yeah, like she didn'tshe.
You know she was tough.
She was tough but after acouple days of working together
she ended up working with me.

(24:31):
It was a good partnership, agood relationship.
She was tough, yes, butdefinitely someone you would
want with you.
Experience.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Experience-wise and if something were to go down,
you would want her theredefinitely.
I know you mentioned that therewas a lot of overtime.
Were you guys understaffed thewhole time you were?
Very understaffed like how muchunderstaffed hey guys, consider
becoming a patron, where youwill get first exclusive dibs on
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So that's also another way tosupport the channel.

(25:06):
Thank you, guys, appreciate allof you.
Keep pushing forward.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
Make sure you hit that link in description below
like honor staff, to the pointwhere they would call eight
names for overtime, every shiftthat's normal.
That's normal over here bro yeah, but with the art, with already
little, you know, we alreadyhave not that many officers.
Yeah, so it's like, and it hasto do with the pay.
You know it's all about dollars, right, because the environment

(25:30):
was I mean, it's prison, it's abad environment, no matter what
, but we didn't have to dealwith too much.
Most of that crisis was reallydue to dollars, hence the
overtime, and with all thatovertime drives people to quit,
which keeps the staffing low.
Everyone I know quit because ofovertime.

(25:51):
No one quit because they hatedthe job.
They quit because of the forcedovertime 16-hour shifts.
They quit because of the forcedovertime.
The majority of the department,yes, quit because of forced
overtime.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Well, that's something that doesn't happen in
California.
It didn didn't used to happen.
People didn't quit thedepartment.
Right, it seems like people noware quitting the department,
which is rare, but uh, you'retelling me that it's a normal
occurrence for people to quitthe department of corrections in
florida.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
it's so normal to the point where me, as a new
officer, with, I'd say, sixmonths into the job, I was
already being considered asenior officer no way and being
told to teach other people stuff.
You know that's howunderstaffed we were.
Is that we didn't have a choice.
You know, hey, you know you,you've been here for six months,
you know a little bit here andthere.
Teach these young kids at leastsomething, because you know

(26:40):
there's nobody.
And all the OGs that work inthe prison, that work there.
They either are working in theacademy they're white shirts,
which is a captain, lieutenantor a major or they're working in
TNR, which is transfer andreceiving when we receive
inmates from the county jail.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
What do the white shirts do for a living?
Hang out, drink coffee andbullshit or do they actually
work?

Speaker 1 (27:01):
My experience.
They worked Really.
You know it was great, I meanone of the most amazing captains
I met.
You know he was a great captain.
You know that, like you knowthat captain would be running a
child hall, he'd be patting downinmates in the yard.
You know he was out thereworking and like it was to the
point where we're like no, nocap, like take it easy, like we
got this.
You know, because he was aworker, you know our.

(27:23):
You know we had some lieutenantsthat were.
You know, yeah, you would havethe ones that were admin and
they would just be in the officeall day just smoking coffee,
doing all that.
But I'd say a good amount ofthe white shirts, they were
there on the line with us and itwas great to see it, I mean,
and they would back us up too,especially this captain I just
mentioned.
I probably hope I meet someoneelse like him, but I probably

(27:45):
won't.
He was.
He would have your back 100, nomatter what.
Like he was a great captain,really good captain.
You know a lot of my experience, of anything I learned I
credited to him definitely bro,I had no idea how great fucking
florida department ofcorrections is.
Man, yeah, I mean, really,people only hated the job

(28:06):
because of forced overtime.
And I'm not going to lie, thereis some favoritism.
There's a lot of favoritismwhich drives people to quit too
and not want to be there andhate it.
You know a lot of people.
I'm not going to sit here andlie.
I probably was favorited a lotbecause of the overtime I chose
to do.
I would always put my hand uplike, hey, you know I'll take

(28:27):
this shift.
I would always call and be like, hey, I'm coming in in the
morning, you guys need help.
You know I was that type ofofficer, so I'm not gonna sit
here and say that I probablydidn't make me get favorited,
because anytime I wantedsomething, I did get it so but
it was just my personality.
It wasn't even trying to proveanything.
You know, I, I wanted to workand be there.
I wanted to do law enforcement.

(28:47):
I wanted to be like my, mygrandfather, great grandfather,
who were, you know, working aslaw enforcement industry and
always putting in work.
That's what they taught me, youknow so.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Talk to me about that .

Speaker 1 (28:59):
that team, the specialized units that are in,
we have three, we have the CERTteam rapid response team which
is what I was a part of, theRiot Squad, another name for it.
We have the CrescentNegotiations team, and the CERT
team is amazing.
It's an amazing team, somethingthat I would have done if I
stayed in, definitely.

(29:20):
And RRT was great too.
You know, I saw they put aposter up for tryouts.
I wasn't qualified to attendthe tryouts, why you had to have
at least, I believe, two yearsin before you could.
And obviously I didn't have twoyears in, but a captain

(29:40):
encouraged me to go.
He's like just go, man, just go.
You know you're a worker,You're good, you know, just go
get it.
I went to the tryouts.
I did what did the tryoutsconsist of?
Walk me through the day of thetryouts.
So tryouts, pushups, sit-ups amile and a half run, you know,
and I believe it was 25 push-ups, around 30-something sit-ups.

(30:03):
I did around 50-somethingpush-ups.
How many other guys were there?
It was a good amount.
It was a good amount, probablylike 10, 11.
10?
Yeah, and I definitely didbetter physically than most of
them.
There was only one or two otherguys that were kind of.
Was this an all-day event?
No, it lasted pretty short.

(30:24):
It was short.
Yeah, just a couple hours.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
So, aside from physical training, did they have
any other type of examinations?
No, no, no.
They want to make sure you cando some fucking push-ups,
sit-ups and run.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
That's it, that's it, that's it.
You know, I mean something elsethat people say about the
department is that we lack a lotof training.
I'm not gonna lie, we do.
Yeah, we lack a lot of trainingthe academy.
All we do is have the book andget told how it really is so
with that riot team, what, uh?

Speaker 2 (30:56):
what are the job duties?
When are they called in?
What are they equipped with?

Speaker 1 (31:02):
so we get called in whenever there's a major
disturbance, such as a riot.
If there's like a like, let'ssay there's a strike, with
inmates that don't want to work,and the whole dorm won't come
out or they won't lock it up,they won't go in their cells,
we'll get called in.
You know more of the littlestuff called in from home or
called in from on the job, bothcan be, both always on call.

(31:23):
We were given state-issued cellphones and you know you get
that call, you know it's time togo.
We were equipped with uh, wedon't carry batons in the
department of corrections inflorida.
Only ones that carry batons arethe specialized units.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Can you buy your own baton and carry your own baton,
or is that discouraged?
You can't do that either.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
You can't buy anything Unless it's gloves or
something like that.
You can't bring anythingpersonal in the prison Like a
weapon, personal equipment,weapon, anything.
You have your chemical agents,your cuffs and that's it.
How big is the chemical agent?
Mk4?

Speaker 2 (32:04):
it's mk4 this big.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
If you work on the yard, if you're yard staff, you
would carry the mk9 right.
If you're on the specializedunits mk9 we didn't have it
issued to us but if we gotcalled in we would make a pit
stop at the control center andpick up our MK9s.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
So, aside from OC spray, what other tools did you
have?

Speaker 1 (32:25):
We just started.
It was a couple months before Ileft carrying tasers Did you
get tased?
Yes, I got tased.
How was that dude?
It hurt Not that bad.
I prefer it than the OC spray.
Did you guys have grenades?
Yes, we have all that.
You know.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Oc grenades, oc grenades or the stinger ball
grenades, oc grenades, and itwas pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
I mean all that equipment.
We would have our own likelittle locker room with all that
stuff, all our gear packed.
You know it was really nice.
We had our vest, you know, riothelmet, like all the essentials
that you would see any lawenforcement officer wear in a
riot did you guys do cellextractions or were cell
extractions?
A thing.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yes, who does?

Speaker 1 (33:10):
those, the rapid team or a regular, no, so you get
certified in that.
So like everything in Floridais certified, you can't do
anything unless you're certified.
So we have the DART team whichresponds to.
It's kind of like a team whereit's just a bunch of CEOs that
kind of sit there and they waitfor like that 911 call for help.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
That's kind of what every CEO in California does.
They sit there all day long.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah, and then we have the cell extraction team.
You know you get certified inthat.
You go to a class, a couplehour class, like a day class,
you know.
You just tell your LT hey, Iwant to be certified in cell
extraction.
All right, I'll sign you up forthe next class.
You go to the class.
We have our little ID cardsthat have whatever we're
certified in and it says you'recell extraction certified

(33:57):
Whenever we're certified in andit says you're certainly a cell
extraction certified wheneverthere has to be a cell
extraction.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
You get called in.
What are some othercertifications you can get?

Speaker 1 (34:03):
there's a lot of stuff there's so like anything,
like the taser.
You don't just get issued ataser like, you have to go to a
certification class because withthe taser comes a body camera
holy shit, bro, fuck.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
You probably opt not to get that taser.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
Huh, huh, it doesn't matter really, because with the
body camera you don't use it.
You really don't use it, likeif you're in a use of force,
using OC spray or hands-onescorting, just walking around
the housing unit.
You don't turn on the bodycamera.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
So here in California that bitch stays on 24-7, 365?
.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, nah, not over there.
Over there, the body camera.
You don't even turn it on.
If you decide to use your taser, the body camera turns on as
soon as you, uh, pull it out,pull it from the yeah, from the
holster, the body camera turnson automatically.
That's cool that's the only timethat body cameras were ever
used.
But you did have the option toturn it on if you wanted to for
any reason.

(34:55):
With that came some officersthat you know they were
dickheads and they wanted toturn on their body cameras and
all of a use of force when theydon't have to but they want to.
So yeah, you know, we just tellyou know, if we hear that beep,
we just all yell, hey, we live.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
And then we know you know on camera is um every use
of force incident a reportableincident.
You guys got to write a reportover there, or no?

Speaker 1 (35:20):
yes, yeah, you write an incident, incident report,
use of force report.
I ain't gonna lie to you, ifthe captain is cool with you or
the, so that the oic officer incharge you're gonna be a
lieutenant or captain if they'recool with you, they, they, you
know they'll help you out, liketo write it out and stuff.
You know, like fuck yeah,they'll help you write it out,

(35:41):
and it's not even that you know,you just here they make the
officers now go into separaterooms.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Don't fucking look at each other.
Don't talk to each other.
You're collaborating.
Yeah, bro, you get fuckingfired for that shit, no, and the
use of force.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
We just, captain, just come up to him and say, hey
, what happened, hey, that this,hey, this and this happened.
All right, you two just go putyour ids in the printer, print
out a copy and then just startwriting.
It's like a blast from the past, bro.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Um, do they scrutinize your guys's use of
force?

Speaker 1 (36:11):
a lot they do well, you talking about the public or
the bully?

Speaker 2 (36:15):
who's scrutinizing?
You guys?

Speaker 1 (36:17):
a lot the public and the how how would?

Speaker 2 (36:18):
who's scrutinizing you guys?
A lot of the public and the howhow would?

Speaker 1 (36:20):
they know.
You know you have the littlearticles coming here and there.
You know inmate being to deathin Florida prison, inmate being
in Florida prison.
We had two officers in adifferent institution were
caught on camera because of aninmate having an illegal cell
phone and it showed two officersslapping an inmate.
Did it kill him?

(36:40):
I think I just slapped him andthey got fired and I'd say that
scrutinization is what's gonnastart pushing the actual body
cameras.
I can see it happening soonyeah that'll come from a federal
court order.
It will because I mean, I'mstill in touch with some guys in
the prison, yeah, and they'relike, yeah, we ain't got body
cameras yet, but it's gonna comeeventually, because too much

(37:02):
happens in the city.
Like too much happens.
Yeah, you know there's there'sa lot of stuff going on
accusations.
You know we're, you know thedepartment is known for being
really aggressive and brutal.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
The the body worn cameras are really not that bad.
That bad.
I think they're a great idea,bro, as far as evidence
preservation and great trainingtools.
Dude.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
They're amazing training tools because you can
literally show hey, look at this, instantly, don't do that or do
it this way.
It's nice to see it on camera.
I just don't like when it'salways being used against you.
Oh, and it will be Like okay,we have the body camera.
That's cool, like if I fuck.
Just tell me.
Hey, here it is on camera, thisand this.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
So, as a CO in Florida man, if you fuck up, are
you getting a slap on the hand,on the wrist, or are you
getting fucking the book thrownat you?

Speaker 1 (37:51):
I'm just going to slap on the wrist Really.
Ah, that's beautiful bro,that's music to my ears.
You know like I mean.
But again, this is wherefavoritism might play right.
You know, I mean, I was notgonna.
You know, they weren't reallygonna get me in trouble for
anything like that you're thegolden boy man, it felt like
that.
Yeah, I mean, all I was tryingto do was the best I could to.

(38:13):
You know, I know the feeling,bro.
You know I just wanted to dothe job and learn because I mean
, I believe, no matter how manyyears you have in the department
, you're always learning,everyone's always learning.
I made sure to have a papercopy, a little packet, of all
the policy and procedure, ofeverything, of the whole chapter
33, which is every regulationin the prison.
I would always read it in myspare time to see, hey, what can

(38:35):
I do, not do?

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Did you ever see any laws or rules in your policy
that you thought were dumb?
Not really.
No, they all kind of made sense.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
They all made sense.
Yeah, I mean nothing.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
Weird, to be honest.
If you showed up to work inFlorida as a CO and your white
shirt said hey, we want you togo play pickleball with that
inmate over there, man, no, youjust say no.
I'll say no, like well, uh,don't you want to be a sergeant?

Speaker 1 (39:03):
there's a sergeant position coming up, man I don't
really care about the rank, tobe honest.
I mean what?

Speaker 2 (39:08):
if they're like hey, your friend billy and john are
over there playing with thatinmate they're not even my
friend at that point like Iwould not associate myself with
people that do that.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Like you know, the department is I.
I don't see if if it ever comesto that, then, like I, oh, it
came to that here, bro, we'rehere.
I just can't see it happeningover there.
And if it does happen, I knowfor a fact there's gonna be a
mass exodus, people quitting,yes, yes, definitely.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
And then you're gonna get it are there transgenders
over there?

Speaker 1 (39:43):
yes, because in the state of florida it doesn't
matter if you're transgender.
If you were born a man, in thestate of florida you go to a
men's prison, no matter whatright.
There's actually a complaintabout that in miami-dade that a
transgender with a with femalereproductive parts was put in a
men's jail because it doesn'tmatter, you were born a man.

(40:04):
So in florida you get sent to amen's prison.
They don't recognize it asanything if you're transgender.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
But I seen a lot titties up to here did you see
that in the alpha dorm overthere?
Yes, that's a weird dorm then,yes, it was crazy.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
I don't know how that exists.
You know, they messed upsomething with the implants or
whatever, I don't know.
It looked horrible.
A lot of transgenders, a lot ofthose transgenders.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Now did you see other inmates falling in love with
those?

Speaker 1 (40:31):
dudes.
Oh yeah, those transgendersdidn't even have to get out of
their bed, you.
You just go to their rack andyou see soups, snacks, food, and
you're like I never see you gooutside.
How do you have all this shit?
Because they, you know, gettingit in with other inmates.
And what were you thinking whenyou?

Speaker 2 (40:48):
were just a young co watching this.
You know I was never.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
I was never exposed to that kind of lifestyle that
like that stuff.
It was kind of a first time forme, I didn't.
I mean, it doesn't matter if Ilike it or I don't like it,
right, it's just different tosee.
Yeah, it was weird, definitelyweird, right, you know?
No, I agree, hopefully I wasn'toffending nobody, but nah,
we're not here to be offensive.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
What I'm saying is if you do not used to that and you
see it for the first time, dude, it fucking catches you off
guard.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Very much so.
Yes, but you know thedepartment's good.
I mean it's a good department,it's just it's really all about
overtime, dollars and favoritism.
That's really what are thethings the department could work
on to be a better workenvironment.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Are there many escapes in the Florida
Department of Corrections?

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Not that.
I heard of.
I never really heard of it.
No.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Do you guys ever transport inmates to a local
hospital?
Yes, I've done it twice.
Transport yes, how did you guysgo?

Speaker 1 (41:50):
In a vehicle, in a van.
You know there's a van that hasa cage in there.
Just open the slide door.
They're all chained up andshackled, put them in there.
Take them to point A, point B.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
I want to know the process of taking an inmate out
to the hospital in Florida.
You go to his cell.
Yeah, we go to his cell.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Strip them out, of course.
Yes, you take them out the cell, you put them in the shower.
Strip them out the cell, youput them in the shower, strip
them out.
All right, we're good, cuff up,we cuff them up, and then we do
our, you know routine.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Are you cuffing him behind his back always?

Speaker 1 (42:26):
shackles always behind the back.
Well, shackles, yeah, that'sdifferent.
But if you're, if you'reputting anyone in handcuffs,
always from the back, you'llnever put someone in the front
cuffs never, bro.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
I like you dude man.
I don't understand what, howyou fucking understand this and
98 of these kids over here donot understand that.
Bro.
You don't know how many timesI've seen dudes get handcuffed
in the front.
Used to drive me fucking crazy.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
No, I would go, I would crash out, I would not.
No, it's not a thing, it's afucking thing here bro and I
don't understand it.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Dude, I'm getting worked up thinking about it bro.
No, that's not a thing.
It's a fucking thing here, bro,and I don't understand it.
I'm getting worked up thinkingabout it, bro.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
No, that's not a thing.
I mean, you know, and thenafter you cuff them you know,
uncuff them, you put on therestraints.
You know the shackles, you knowlike restraints.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
What if the MMA said hey, co, these are too tight man
, it doesn't really matter to me.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
I mean why you got to be a dicks yo.
I don't even know what I wouldsay to him.
I would just tell him just shutthe fuck up and just chain up
to go to the hospital.
You want to go to the hospital,right?
I mean you want to go, don'tyou, you want to go, so fucking
do what I tell you to do, andthat's it, because then you're
not going gun uh, one of uscarries a gun, other one carries

(43:36):
a taser.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
okay, okay, okay, everything seems normal thus far
.
Um so, two cops, two, alwaystwo one with a gun, with a taser
inmate in the back, inmate inthe back.
Now, theoretically speaking,you open that back door and the
enemy just bolted, took offrunning.
What are you guys?

(44:00):
How would you guys handle thatsituation?

Speaker 1 (44:02):
You know, in the state of Florida we're actually
allowed to shoot them Right.
If they hop the gate or try toescape from our custody, we are
authorized to use deadly force.
Would that be my first reaction?
No, because I mean he's chainedup.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
I mean oh, I'm talking about no chains, bro,
like if he picked the lock orwhatever somehow managed to
defeat the mechanism it's notthat I wouldn't shoot anyone,
but I know he ain't got nothingon him.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
I mean, do you though ?
I mean, hey, anything couldhappen, you're right, but I can
easily chase after him.
I mean, would you?

Speaker 2 (44:37):
give it, would you have given a good foot pursuit
yeah, easily that that'd be donefast.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
I can run.
Did you see the video bro?
Yeah, that's weird.
That's weird because I can run.
He wouldn't, he, he would havenot gone far.
That would.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
That would have ended in like oh so you saw that
video, right, yeah, kern belly.
Uh, fucking shout out to caesarhernandez man, we see you, my
boy, you're fucking famous.
So, dude, you saw that video.
You would have caught up tothat.
Guy tackled him.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
That's a wrap.
That's a wrap.
It would even have lasted morethan five seconds.
There's not even a reason thatwould never happen to me.
Because I mean, I know thatbecause he's chained we have him
properly restrained Right Likehe can't get anywhere.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
It's complacency, bro .
It's complacency, lack ofcaring.
And you know I'm not justblaming the cops and stuff, it's
the whole machine, it's thewhole system that I See, that
was also a problem in mydepartment too was complacency
that was getting.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
It was there, it was definitely there.
There was an incident where asergeant of mine got assaulted
in the middle of the night by aninmate high for K2.
And complacency played a bigrole because he could have
gotten killed because theofficer that was there the
second one, you know a couplefeet apart didn't even call it
in.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Did not call it in.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
That officer talked on the phone and was like oh hey
, you know, sergeant Omi here isfighting with someone and the
control room is like what thefuck are you talking about?
And then they go on the radioblasting you know 1024,.
You know officer needs help whydidn't that CO do anything?

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Was he dumb?
Was he not all there?
Complacency, it has to becomplacency.
Did they give him an asschewing?
Did people talk shit to him?
Oh?

Speaker 1 (46:20):
definitely.
Yeah, you know, if you, if itgets down like that, you know
you're not going to be respectedor liked by anyone.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Yeah let's say you're getting down with the inmate or
you're fucking fighting or inan incident and you have a
partner that just freezes.
That's another shit we keepseeing these days.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
You see free you see, freezing can be a little normal
.
I've frozen my first coupletimes during use of force
incidents, but what that persondid wasn't freeze.
They willingly and knowinglysaw it and were on the phone
talking about it like it was ajoke.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Bro, you're a sharp dude man, you're fucking sharp
dude For sure.
Yeah, there's a differencebetween freezing and then
fucking willingly opting not toparticipate in assisting your
partners.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yeah, because I don't know why my memory is so vivid
about my use of force incidents.
I mean because mine were prettyquick.
I mean I think the first time Ifroze for like a second, but I
just did it, I just went, I juststraight did it and what was it
?
Pepper spray.
Yeah, all my uses of force.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
What about physical force?
Is that considered use of forceper your guys's policy?

Speaker 1 (47:17):
yes, and what can be considered physical a punch.
Yeah, like a punch throwingthem on the ground slamming them
, stuff like that is that commonphysical force?
Am I prison?
Yeah, damn.
But the state of Floridaprefers that you use OC spray
rather than putting hands on.
They prefer that.

(47:37):
Well, it's safer.
It's safer.
Yeah, they encourage us to usethe OC spray instead of putting
hands on, but then later on theystarted encouraging you to use
a taser more because of the bodycamera.
Get a documentation of the useof force.
So they were slowly and slowly,like hey, hey, I know you have
your oc spray in your hands, butyour taser certified right, you
should use it.
You know we're trying to getthis program going a little bit.

(47:58):
Yeah, I never used my taser.
I would carry it sometimes.
I never used it.
Did you have the?

Speaker 2 (48:03):
opportunity to use it and chose not to use it yes,
but I don't know why.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
No, I'm not trying to do anything wrong, but for some
reason that body camera justdoesn't.
I don't like it, like I don'tknow.
I feel like, even though I didtrust a lot of my superiors, I
just saw too much incidents oflike people just getting screwed
over Because I mean, I don'tknow for me, I forget what I'd
be doing sometimes during use offorce, like there is one use of

(48:31):
force I had For me I forgetwhat I'd be doing sometimes
during use of force, like therewas one use of force I had,
because when there's a use offorce and you call it in,
someone needs to come out with acamera, you know, to document
the aftermath.
And they did that on one of myuses of force and I already
written my report.
All that and my captain's like,hey, you need to rewrite this
stuff Because on camera.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
It shows you body slamming him.
Damn, somebody was able to goget a camera run back in time to
film you body slamming himbefore shift um, everyone is
told their special duty.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
You know assignment, you know like, hey, you, you and
you, you guys are going to bethe dart team, you and you and
you saw extraction and you,you're the cameraman if anything
happens.
So the minute a use of forcegoes on the air, your first
reaction is to get that cameraand run.
And no, my use of force was ocspray.
I bought a seven after theworst because he was resisting
and that was caught.

(49:19):
But I did not remember I didthat because I didn't put that
on my report and my captain'slike hey, like you gotta rewrite
your thing because you bodyslammed them and you didn't put
that.
I'm like I body slammed themand I looked at the camera like
oh, I don't remember that.
You know there's things youforget oh dude uh.
Tunnel vision auditory exclusion, um I get it bro, I really

(49:39):
believe that if you get into useof force, you should review
your body on camera beforewriting a report.
I agree, or at least write astatement, but it's not your
official report, because I Imean, it's happened to me twice
where something happened that Icompletely forgot, I didn't even
know happened because it was oncamera.
So at least they were cool withme.
With that, you know, it wasn'ta problem.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
So you would eventually join the Marine Corps
, bro.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
Yeah, of course I mean whole family's military and
law enforcement.
I got the law enforcement down.
I enjoyed my time.
My certification is good forfour years after I quit, so it's
still active right now.
It's going to be active once Iget out the Marine Corps.
So I was like, why not?
I'm still young.
I always wanted to be a Marine.
You know now is the time to doit.

(50:25):
No kids Wife.
But the opportunity was thereso I took it, went to the Marine
Corps.
You went to Parris Island forboot camp Parris Island, south
Carolina and I could definitelysay that being a CO helped me
out in the Marine Corps becauseI knew rank structure.

(50:46):
You know you as an LT.
I would never go to you forsomething.
I'm going to go to my sergeantfirst and if I have to go to you
then I'll go to you, but I gothrough the proper channels.
So when it came to rangestructure, you know, I got that
down.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
When you first got there, did they start yelling at
you right away?

Speaker 1 (51:03):
Yeah, you know how it is.
How did?

Speaker 2 (51:04):
you feel about that I ?

Speaker 1 (51:07):
didn't really care, because you have your experience
with it as a ceo.
I think it's just me as aperson, like I don't care, like
I was never the yeller type orthe you know.
I could have had inmateschallenge me, get into fighting
stances and I would just stareat them and be like you really
want to do that in the mostcalmest voice ever.
And what would they do?
It would catch them off guardfor sure, because they expect

(51:27):
the reaction and I'll just tellthem, calm like motherfucker no,
you don't yeah, and I'll juststare them down and then they
would be like, uh, I'll be like,yeah, exactly.
So I could say that in themarine corps it was pretty
simple for me going through bootcamp, because nothing really
bothered me.
I never really cared, it wasjust getting through it.
My mentality has always beenjust getting through it, just do

(51:49):
it.
No, they tell you what to doand how to do it in boot camp
and they're always with you thedrill instructor?

Speaker 2 (51:54):
yeah, but what about the conditioning, like
conditioning your body to roadmarch?

Speaker 1 (51:58):
far, I was always pretty physically were you.
Yeah, I mean I don't havemuscles like that.
I've always been more of acardio person.
I'm pretty, I was always skinny, always a runner, you know, I
could pull my own body weight.
So like nothing about boot campwas hard for me.
I think the only hard part wasjust really missing home and
like wondering if I did theright decision and leaving the

(52:21):
department.
Why is that?
You know, because I had it goodthere.
I mean I was.
I was getting encouraged to putin for Sergeant and like a year
or two and like, am I headingout?
I'll wait till I hit my fivemark to hit sergeant, because I
want to keep learning more,because my biggest fear is being
a leader in an environmentwhere I don't fully know

(52:41):
everything and I could getsomeone hurt.
You know, no one that is two orthree years into anything
should be that high up unless,like in the military, you get
meritoriously promoted.
Yeah, that's different.
You proving yourself 100, youcan do it, but you got to put in
your time and then pick up rankafter that if you really want
it.
You can't just be in there forthree years and be a sergeant or

(53:02):
two years.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
That's not how it works that's how it works here,
man.
It's, it's wild, it's differentdude, oh and florida works like
that too.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
You know we we called them one-year sergeants.
Yeah, because when you're inthe department you're eligible
to be a sergeant, really yes,and you know we kind of had to
do that.
Like I said, the staffingshortage was pretty bad, right,
where you had people like me infor not that long having to
teach people.
Guys in for one year had to beserge sergeants.
You know like it was anecessity in a way.

(53:30):
You know no one.
You know we needed it becausewe didn't have no one there.
You know you were learning byyourself.
Everything was being.
You know I observed as much asI could for everything, but
everything else you had tobasically teach yourself.
You know no one taught me thatyou shouldn't have an inmate too
close to you, not let an inmatedo this.
You know I already knew thatalready in my head because it's
like it's common sense exactly.
Yeah, so definitely it did mewell for the military.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
It wasn't a hard transition so then you said, you
went to 29 palms yeah, I go to29 palms for field operations.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
That's what it is for now.
I'm currently on the track ofgoing to thailand next month, in
february.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
What is that?
A deployment, a station.
What is that?
It's more of a trainingexercise.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Training exercise in Thailand.
Doing a training exercise inThailand, so it's pretty.
It sucks, you have your moments, but hey, it's something that I
wanted to do, so it's different.
It's different when youcomplain about something that
you're doing and you didn't wantto do.
I signed the paper.
I chose to join the Departmentof Corrections corrections.
I chose to be a us marine.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
So you gotta do it.
You got trump coming intooffice very shortly, I think
this month.
Um, how do you do you feel thatthat would impact the marine
corps as a whole or the unitedstates?

Speaker 1 (54:50):
military.
You know a lot of a lot of mystaff, sergeants and higher-ups
that I talk to say that, nomatter who's president, things
are the same, correct, it'salways the same.
It doesn't matter who'spresident.
You know, I feel like peopleworry too much about who's
president.
Right, I think what people needto start worrying about is your
local governments your governoryour mayor.
You know that's what I careabout most.

(55:10):
I, you know that's what I careabout most.
I care, I mean districtattorneys, yeah, da's all the
sheriffs.
You know, like I, I do lovethis country.
I do my whole family, for Ihave three generations yeah, of
us fought for this country.
But I mean I'm putting my statefirst too.
Sometimes I mean I care moreabout who's governing florida,
because's like, hey, if you guysin California, new York, when I

(55:34):
have this liberal mindset withGavin Newsom or whoever's mayor
or governor in New York, y'allcan have that.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
You guys have homeless people in Florida.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
We do, but not like that.
Have you seen that shit righthere?
That's freaking weird.
I mean I'm not going to sayit's not weird, but that's
pretty bad.
There's actually a law thatcame in effect in florida I
don't want to miss, say it justin case but they kind of banned
homelessness in a way.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
You know you can't just sleep there on the street
no, fuck, like you'll get kickedout, an alligator will eat you
yeah, that too.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
But no, you'll get arrested or you'll get kicked
out or ticketed.
You know you can't.
There's no such thing ashomeless camps.
Maybe in Miami there might besome, but in the state in
general you don't see that.
When I was back home I did notsee any of that.
You see your casual homelessguy with his sign, you know,
walking around.
You don't see this stuff.
People sleeping on the streetsSmells like piss, fentanyl,

(56:28):
slamming dope.
I almost got exposed tofentanyl one time in the prison
Really we were doing a cellsearch on this guy and white
powdery substance all over hisstuff in this medication bottle.
I'm not sure if it was fentanylfor sure.
I never heard back after, butit was getting me a little dizzy
once I got a little look at it.

(56:48):
I don't know what it was, butit's safe to say it could have
been that.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
Shit dude.
So you have a few more yearsleft on your contract as a
Marine.
What are your goals right now?
What do you envision yourfuture looking like?

Speaker 1 (57:01):
I want to stay in law enforcement.
I really do In California or in.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Florida, florida, I would never do it here.
So you don't plan on staying inCalifornia?
No, on staying in.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
California no.
Not for another second, theminute I get my DD214, I'm
getting in the car and I'mdriving back the same day to
Florida.
Seriously, yes, you know it'sweird how we live in the same
country.
You know, correct, I mean welive in the same country, but
it's very different, absolutelyA little too, different.

(57:39):
It was pretty weird.
Just everything.
You can look at anything and belike, oh, it's different back
home.
It's a good thing about thiscountry.
It can also be a little, youknow, yeah, but definitely
staying law force, I'm not surecorrections, because, despite me
not having the worst time inthe department, you know the
department is not perfect.
It has, you know, a lot ofpeople hate the department.
They hate working there.
They do, yeah, because it's thefavoritism, little money and
the forced overtime.
That's really the fact.

(57:59):
If the state of florida, whichour governor, has been helping
us out I got a signing bonus, apretty big one, when I came on.
We're getting bonuses.
The governor's trying to bringup the pay.
You know like we're gettingbonuses.
The governor's trying to bringup the pay.
You know like they're trying,but the funding there's not.
We don't.
The state of Florida ain't therichest.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Who makes the most money the state troopers or the
police officers?

Speaker 1 (58:22):
In case you didn't know, state troopers in Florida
are probably the lowest paid lawenforcement officers in the
country.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
God damn bro, there's no, they're not even getting
paid that much over there.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
No, but it's going up .
You know, little by little it'sgoing up, it's going up.
If you really want to makemoney in law enforcement in
Florida, I recommend FortLauderdale, pd or those really
bougie city police departments.
You know, because at asheriff's office you'll make
like $25 an hour Really, youknow.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
I don't know how I feel about that dude, because I
mean your life is on the linedaily.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
It's on the line daily and a lot of people like
to use the example hey, we don'tpay that much, but we'll back
you up that's a good thing.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
I mean I can see the trade-off.
Would I rather get paid lessbut have my people back me, or
get paid a shitload and fuckingroll the dice.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
I can attest to that, because I'm choosing to go back
Right Rather than stay here andmake 100K.
You know, make bank as a SanDiego sheriff or whatever
Miserable you know, I just can't.
You know the fact that herethey legalize marijuana, they
legalize drugs like drug usage.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Well, I guess you're right, bro.
I mean, I walked away from ahundred thousand dollars, you
see you know the money.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
I mean, yeah, we want to get paid, yes, I want a
pension and benefits, but I Ibelieve that real cops don't
look too far into all that stuff, right?
You know, when my family was onthe job in puerto rico, they
didn't you don't get even rightnow, you don't get paid anything
there.
And they were proud cops.
They loved that job.
So I'm one of those that I want.

(01:00:00):
You know, I believe a real copjoins because they actually want
to do something Right, whetherit's help someone out, whether
it's.
You know that's what I thinkthe job is for.
You know, for corrections,you're there to provide.
You know.
I mean, what we say in Floridais care, custody and control.
You know that's what we do Care, custody and control.

(01:00:22):
You're there to keep them there, make sure they get their three
meals a day and that they don'tkill each other.
You know that's your job here.
The motto is provide them fun,fun, leisure and activities, bro
.
I mean activities aren't theworst, right, but I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
What advice do you have for younger viewers,
because they don't listen to me,bro.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
That's actually why one of the main reasons why I
wanted to get on the podcast isfor this part.
Right here, what's that?
Maybe some advice for theyounger officers?
You know, right here, what'sthat?
Maybe some advice for theyounger officers.
You know, um, like I don't knowwhat I could really say because
it's like you said earlier.
It seems generational, the, thetimidness and the not really
wanting to work hard or fallingeasy to any little agenda that

(01:01:05):
there might be.
You know, the best thing I couldsay is like, if you want to get
into the job, get into it forthe right reasons.
You know, if you're using youin Florida people join
corrections most of the timebecause we have a program called
the crossover program, megraduating the academy I can use
that certification to go to athree month course to be a
police officer.
You know, just transferdirectly.

(01:01:26):
So a lot of people just join tobe a police officer.
So if you joining thedepartment, join for the right
reasons, if you're joining togain some experience on custody
to be a police officer, do it.
You know, if you want to make adifference in any way, do it if
it was your passion, becauseyou actually want to help others
and you know you can't helpeveryone but you can make
someone's day just a little biteasier what would you say to an

(01:01:50):
individual that is on the fenceor doesn't have it in them to be
law enforcement?

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
yet they apply anyways, and they become a
liability.

Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
Don't do it.
There's no point like we don'tneed them, we really don't.
If you don't really want to dothat job or you're just going in
there for the money, we don'tneed you.
You know we don't.
You know cops back in the daythey didn't get paid shit and
that was probably the bestgeneration of cops in the 80s
and 90s that this country hasever seen.
So if they can do it, if theywere able to bring down crime

(01:02:20):
rates really down with justcarrying handcuffs and a
revolver and a big assflashlight A big ass flashlight
with no technology, barelygetting paid, if they were able
to bring down record high crimerates, I don't know why things
are going on the way they areright now.
It doesn't make sense.
We have all this technology,all this training, all the

(01:02:40):
mistakes we've made in the past.
We're able to learn from them.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
I mean, you probably can't see it because, I mean,
you haven't been exposed to it.
But this is all by design, bro.
This is all by design.
Somebody at the top ofsomewhere is getting fucking
paid to.
This has been going on since2012, man.
This has been in the making.
That's why you keep saying Idon't understand it.
I don't understand it.
I didn't understand it eithertill you see how high the
bullshit goes, dude it's.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
I don't know why, though like what's the point of
it?

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
what do you mean?

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
you don't know why like I don't understand the
point of it, why that person onthe top wants it.
Money, money greed power.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
It's disgusting dude.
Yeah, I mean, that's what warsare made out of, you know,
overseas, middle east.
But yeah, bro, when that's a,that's a whole nother level,
that's a whole notherconversation.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
But yeah, dude, for sure that's what it drew up
evilness, and also a lot ofthese young people joining
departments.
Because I like to look atvideos and ads from time to time
.
I'm a marine now, but I like tostay in touch with my law
enforcement community.
Yeah, you know, I noticed thata lot of them, if it's not
dollars or benefits, they wantto join to be the change.
Be the change yeah it's.

(01:03:45):
It's a punisher patch.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Huh to wear the punisher patch and uh, yeah,
thank god I wasn't one ofthoseisher patch and the sleeve
tattoos.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
You have sleeve tattoos, man.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
I have nothing.
That's good, bro.
I like you already no.

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
Yeah, be the change, as in.
I don't understand what thatreally means.
Be the change.
In what sense do you mean?
Because, what has to change?
Have we made mistakes in thepast?
Yes, is my department, myformer department, known for
doing some pretty messed upthings?
Yes, but what changed exactly?
Because we just came from atime where cops could do their

(01:04:19):
job, bring down crime rates andactually like help others, to
where now you're scared to evenpull your gun out when you
really have to.
Chicago, san francisco I don'tlike looking at videos from
those cities because I justcompared to what I would do and
it's like, yeah, I would getarrested or fired right then and
there the same day because, no,I'm not trying to hurt no one
no, I'm not trying to power tripor anything, but if I mean it's

(01:04:42):
common sense, bro.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
We need to get down, we gotta get down it's life and
death situation.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
Death and you can't just do whatever you want.
You know, if you're doingsomething wrong and a cop stops
you, you know right.
You know I've been stoppedbefore.
I got stopped before because acop thought I was shoplifting
when I wasn't, was a littleupset.
Yeah, because I mean I was nothaving the best day and I wasn't
shoplifting.
I was just there.
He's in the bathroom and hestopped me.

(01:05:07):
He stopped you in the bathroomgoing outside the store and I
was like, yeah, I ain't gotnothing.
You know whatever you need, youknow cooperation goes a long
way because, hey, I mean you,because you don't know if he got
told something right oranything.
You know he's just trying to dohis thing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
Usually when you remain calm and you just have a
friendly conversation, it endswell what about when you resist
the cops and fight them andstart grabbing their gun and
shit?

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
and you see, like if you get shot or you get killed,
when you do that, I don'tbelieve you're a victim, correct
?
Like you're not a victim.
If you fight the cops or you'rea threat and you end up getting
killed or hurt, you're not avictim, you know.
So, you know that whole be thechange is like what do you mean?

(01:05:53):
Like you want things to go soft.
Basically, you know you'drather tell some guy 20 times to
get out of the car rather thangiving him.
You know you afford him theopportunity to get out the car,
you explain yourself, youidentify yourself, you tell him
everything, but you keep tellinghim 20 times to get out of the
car.
Yeah, bro, those fucking videosget me too, man.

(01:06:14):
They get me mad because it'slike dude, I mean, I always,
when I was a ceo, I had thethree the three rule ask, tell,
make what was that?

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
oh, yeah, tell make.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
Yes, yes, you know, hey, hey, inmate, like you know,
and that's what you call, youcall them inmate, you know?
You don't call them by theirname, this or that.
It's inmate.
What about?
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
of the term incarcerated persons that's not
even a thing.
The inmate none of that stuffis a thing, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
You know, inmate come here you know?

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
no, what about incarcerated persons?
Manufactured weapon?

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
seen that one the other day I've never heard of it
in my life.
Basically a sh?
Shank, oh, a shank In wokelanguage.
No, you mean, I tell you threetimes to do something and if you
want to take it that far, I cantake it that far.
You know, I don't mind doingpaperwork, I don't mind.
You know, I don't care.
Like, if you want to take itthat far, we can take it that

(01:07:08):
far, but that far we could takeit that far.
But I had a good rapport withthe inmates because I was pretty
chill.
You know.
It was more of like, hey, thisand this and this, you know,
just don't do this.
Yeah, all right, it's all good.
I can't tell you how many timesI stayed overtime, an hour or
two, trying to help an inmatefind a bed, find a mattress or a
pillow.
Yeah, whenever they needed aproblem they were housed in the
wrong housing unit, I would helpthem out.

(01:07:28):
You know it was never to belike, you know, bad to them.
Right, it was more so of hey,let's run this smooth.
But if you try something or youtest things, it's like I'm
gonna take, like, if you take itto this level, I'm taking it to
this level.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
Yeah, you kind of thing, cool, man.
Well, dude, thanks for comingon the podcast, bro, thanks for
reaching out.
I definitely want to keep intouch with you, man, and just
see how your journey progressed.
Bro, I'm stoked for you, man.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
Sky's the limit, like I told you, dude, yeah of
course I can't wait too to seehow things, where I might end up
, what agency I might end up IfI stay in the military.
Who knows, Fuck, you can becomethe only be the change there,
man which yeah so we need changethere.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
Sure I do.
Once again, thank you forcoming.
Man, there you guys have it.
Folks.
Another banger, probably theyoungest guest I'm ever gonna
have on here.
Man, any younger is gonna getweird.
But uh, with that, if you guyslike what you saw, make sure you
hit the subscribe button.
Thank you guys, love you, keeppushing forward unfold, thank
you.