It Starts with Integrity

In this episode, we present Jeff Cole, a military veteran and captain in the City of Warren Police Department. Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Captain Cole shares his inspiring journey from life in Youngstown to law enforcement and everything in between. Throughout this episode, you will hear a common theme of dedication, structure, and integrity—values we all can appreciate.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• Captain Cole’s life journey from Youngstown to becoming a captain 
• Importance of mentorship
• Challenges faced in law enforcement
• Building trust and transparency in the community 
• Reflections on the evolution of policing
• Attending the FBI National Academy for Leadership Development 
• Advice for aspiring police officers
• Captain Cole's “One Word”

So press play and be moved by Captain Cole's inspiring story. Ladies and gentlemen, Sound United Presents... Captain Jeff Cole! 

Be sure to subscribe wherever you vibe with podcasts or visit our website. www.soundunitedpresents.com

Sound United Presents is a community-focused podcast powered by Sound United Podcast Studio. Produced by Kimberly Gonzales and D. Lee Scott

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello, ladies and gents, welcome to Sound United
Presents, a diverse andinclusive podcast focused on
local entrepreneurs,professionals and unsung
community heroes.
Within each episode, our guestswill candidly share their
stories filled with triumph,failures, humor, lessons learned
, insight and some nuggets ofwisdom.
I'm very excited about this andI hope you are too.

(00:34):
Let's get started.
Hey folks, thank you forhitting the play button.
Welcome to another episode ofSound United Presents, done here
in the friendly confines ofSound United Podcast Studio.
I'm your host, d Lee Scott, butI will say Deshaun Scott too,
because my mother don't likethat first version, so I'm also
Deshaun Scott, for those whodon't like that.

(00:54):
And welcome my guest today.
I would have to say that weprobably spoke, spoke more over
the last probably year or so,and collaborative type
atmosphere for some things thatwe'll be able to talk about
later, but I've known of him,fortunately.
I've known of him and didn'thave to deal with him, so that's

(01:16):
a good thing there too.
So, but when I think of him andwhat he does, you know,
sometimes I like to have thesewords, you know these
descriptors, adjectives and I'dsay gentlemen, dedicated, humble
leadership, and I do have tosay humor, because we joked
about a few things too.

(01:37):
So I have to add that in, andyou'll feel the same way and
more, as I present to you,ladies and gentlemen, captain
Jeff Cole, welcome to thepodcast, sir.
Hey, man, it's a pleasure beinghere, and you got that radio
voice.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
This is going to be good.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
This is going to be good here.
Let's get it All right.
Well, you know, I like to getthe guests just a second to kind
of bring the audience a littlesnapshot of, and that because
we're going to dive into a lotof stuff.
So tell us about yourself alittle bit.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Okay, yeah, again, jeff Cole.
I'm a captain with the WarrenCity Police Department.
Been here in my 31st year, gothired in February of 94,
originally from Youngstown, Ohio, so I didn't grow up here in
Warren.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
I didn't know that you didn't.
No, I thought you was born andraised, born, in Ohio.
You ain't going to kick me offthe show, are you Folks?
Thank you for tuning in.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
No, no, no, absolutely not, yeah, bro,
absolutely not.
Born and bred in Youngstown manSouth side of Youngstown.
Graduated in 1981 from SouthHigh School, pr 81 from South
High School, proud warrior.
Immediately after high school Ienlisted in the Army.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
National Guard and then the United States Air.
Force.
So yeah, whoa, yeah, yeah, yeahOkay.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Big military interest very, very young, and I know
we're going to get into that alittle bit later.
But yeah, I went to themilitary, ended up in the Air
Force, did 10 years, traveledaround the world overseas three
times, so it was a good 10 years, wow, yeah, yeah.
So right after the Gulf War,you know, I had to make a

(03:16):
decision whether I was going tostay and do 20, you know, for
full retirement, or get on withmy life and get into something
civilian.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
So you served in the Gulf War too?
Yeah, man.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Wow, yeah, yeah, yeah .

Speaker 1 (03:32):
See folks, I learned stuff new here too yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
So that was a rough time in life but you know, a lot
of people experienced the samethings I did and I'm grateful
for you know from where I amtoday, you know.
After going through that, soyeah, 10 years in, I decided,
you know what, it's time to stepout back into the civilian
world.
And I brought it back home.
Wow, you know I was going tomake my life in Texas but you

(03:59):
know I said, ah, time to go home.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
You know it's the third time Texas done came up
today for me Wow, I don't knowif it's something calling me to
Texas or whatever.
One of our previous guests,garrett Matlock we was Pastor
Matlock, we were talking aboutsome stuff off mic.
He was leaving Texas came up,and Dallas in particular, and

(04:22):
then I got a call from a friendearly this morning which was
weird, but he was like you wereon my mind and you ever thought
about relocating.
And I'm like it's six o'clockin the morning like, and you on
the west coast, what was that?
What you doing, you know?
And he was like, nah, man, Ijust think you know, da, da, da,
da da.
Texas, wow, yeah.
And then you, I don't know man,I'm calling your name.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
I don't know what that is.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I wear cowboy hats, but I don't you know so what did
you do in the Air Force?

Speaker 2 (04:46):
I let you take a guess.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
So brought pilot.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Come on, man, Law enforcement.
I was like well, you know.
Yeah, I was a law enforcementspecialist in the Air Force,
Okay, and now you know that waspolicing.
Just, military police, that's acommon name for it, Military
police.
Okay, and now you know that waspolicing just military police.
That's a common name for itMilitary police.
Okay, but you know, Air Force,we special, so we call it the
law enforcement specialists.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, because y'all like to talk?
Oh yeah, you know people.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
We aim high.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
You know we aim high.
Well, and then I thought youknow that's why I said like okay
, wait a minute, pilot, orsomething like that.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Nah Wow, I used to tell people I was a pilot
because they think everybody inthe Air Force is a pilot, but
nah.
I was just an old cop man Nah,nah yeah just regular law
enforcement Patrol.
You know we did have sentryduties.
You know the gates, you knowentry into the gate.
But yeah, for 10 years, man, Iwas an Air Force cop.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Okay, yeah, despite my question, because, listen, I
tell people when I mess up, so I, you know.
I was like how was life inWarren, ohio?
But you're Youngstown, yeah, sohow was life in?

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Youngstown.
Well, I grew up in a, and I'mnot trying to throw shade at it
now, but it was before it turnedinto the big crime area.
So growing up in Youngstown wasgreat.
I grew up in Adore Park I don'tknow if you're familiar with

(06:18):
that.
Oh yeah, the amusement parkyeah, spend every day in Mill
Creek Park.
Didn't have to be home beforethe streetlights was on because
it was OK to be out, so justgrowing up was great man.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, my stepdad.
Well, he was my dad.
I call him that, his, hisfather.
They stayed on Idora.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
OK.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
And we used to go there it seemed like every other
Sunday or something like that.
So you know that was myexperience, like going to
youngstown, but I adore a park.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
I still say the best fries was at outdoor park
everybody I know put vinegar ontheir fries because of I'll put
them in the spray bottle.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
And that little silver ridethat I forgot, the rocket or
something scrambler.
It went around and the onlything I didn't like was the
roller coasters.
I did the jackrabbit one time,that's's all it took.
The people who got on thatWildcat because that water was
back there.
Just put me in the hauntedhouse, the teacups and the
spider.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Don't forget about the Lost River too.
Great times growing up inYoungstown.
We had still the great thingsthe Vaughn E Rogers Football
League.
I was a part of that.
I played for the LittlePenguins.
Barney Rogers Football Leagueyou know, I was a part of that.
I played for the LittlePenguins and the Boys.
Youngstown Boys Club, boys andGirls Club grew up there.
So you know hey back in the day, Youngstown.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
I'm not saying it's not now.
Yeah, I mean, it was adifferent time though.
Even here for me growing up,you know it was just a different
time.
You know what I mean.
Where did you go to?
So in Youngstown?
Where did you go to elementaryschool?

Speaker 2 (07:45):
I went to Cleveland Elementary School that was
located on Princeton.
Then for junior high I went toPrinceton Junior High School,
which was located on Princeton,and then on to South High School
.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Okay, so all of your places you went to school are no
more, are they?

Speaker 2 (08:01):
That is correct.
Okay, I never even thought ofthat.
But there's some new energygoing on right now at South High
School.
Yep, they're doing somephenomenal things and I think
they got a community thing goingon on August 10th.
Okay, it's going to be real bigout here.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Do you stay engaged with what goes on there?
I mean, was it the warrior yousaid?

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, okay with, with what goes on there.
I mean, was it?
The warrior was you said yeah,okay, not you know through
social media.
Okay, you know, I that's howI'm following it.
I'm not active in any, anyother activities, but okay, yeah
, I just know through socialmedia so how was, uh, you know,
like going through high schoolwas you in trouble a lot.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
I feel like you might have had a little bit of
trouble.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
No, I was a good kid man, what I was a?
Well, there were at least twoyears of high school.
Okay, I was a bookworm.
Okay, right, good grades andall that.
You know.
A senior year kind of cut loosea little bit, got a little wild
, but for the most part, notrouble.
You know no trouble at all.

(09:02):
Matter of fact, fact, ourassistant principal was from
young warren.
From warren, miss carol hooks,and she got something to deal
with my.
You didn't get out of line withmiss hooks, and those people
that know her know exactly whatI'm talking about, know exactly
what I'm talking about so didyou?

Speaker 1 (09:19):
what type of activities did you?
Did you any activities in highschool sports?

Speaker 2 (09:22):
sports, no sports in high school.
I did that in junior high, but,like I say, high school I was
pretty academic, you know.
And then like leadership clubs,you know senior clubs and
things like that, cool clubsOkay.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Those are the key clubs.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Come on, it's club man Okay.
I'm telling on myself here.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
no, but you you make parents proud.
Sure, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,okay, you wasn't skipping class,
like like me, or finding ways.
Well, you know, I mean, wasthere certain classes you know,
outside of the ones youmentioned?
Did, did, um, you know, wereyou in any, any favorite classes
, like home, ec, anything likethat?

(10:05):
Was you?

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Not home ec.
I'd have to say my favoriteclass in school was typing, and
I know that sounds crazy.
It does, but go ahead.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Well, first of all, we had a pretty teacher.
That's all it takes.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
And I can really really type, you know, and it
helps me on my day-to-day jobright now.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
So I just have to say type it.
So can you type without looking?
Oh yeah, oh man, I remember Iwas in middle, I was going to
Trumbull Business College and wehad this instructor and we was
learning them Smith Coronas.
You know the typewriter and Ihad to use Mavis Beacon because

(10:47):
I was one of the ones that wouldjust like.
She was like you're gonna getgood at it, you won't even have
to look, and I'm like I don'tknow what you're talking about,
like it just wouldn't work.
She's like you need to go getmavis beacon it was this type of
program.
I know what it is yeah, I gotthis typing program.
I mean I was like, okay, youknow, and I followed it and and
now you know, every now and thenI mess up, but now I can type
without looking, without lookingall fingers, all these fingers

(11:08):
I have like certain fingers Iuse.
Okay, right that that you know.
I mean that some of them Istill can't but um, but for
someone to say typing was theirfavorite class, I'm very, that's
honorable, yeah.
Yeah, I thought she's gonna saylike wood shop, metal shop,
something like that no, well, ifI was a carpenter, maybe.
But like I say, man, my jobconsists of reports and all that
.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
And that's what I do all day.
So if I had to look back andsay what did I learn back then?
That serves me best.
Now I would say typing.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Did you have a dream career?
Growing up as a young person,did you aspire to be a certain
career, profession?

Speaker 2 (11:46):
I'd say military.
When I was in the eighth grade,my brother enlisted in the Army
.
He was graduating boot campfrom Fort Knox, Kentucky.
I went down there to visit himand watch the graduation.
It took me about 15 minutes totell my mom hey, this is that,
this is what I'm going to do.
Wow, I said I'm ready to dropout of school.
Oh, you was ready to do it.

(12:07):
Then I was ready, man, eighthgrade.
I'll never forget this, yeah,yeah.
I was just really intrigued bythe structure.
You know, it was a bunch ofguys standing around, a bunch of
soldiers standing around.
Drill sergeant say, hey,soldier, come here.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
About started to say hey, soldier, come here.
About 20 dudes took off running.
I said that's gonna be, that'sall gonna be that dude, you know
well, just early age.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
And that's why, like when I enlisted in the army
national guard, I was still in.
I was still in school when therecruiter came to the school and
it sounded good to me.
It was the first military offer.
So I jumped on it.
Uh, but yeah, went in there anddidn't realize it's part-time
and I, you know, I wanted thatfull-time experience.
So I had to aim high, go to theair force so what?

Speaker 1 (12:52):
okay, army, navy, air force, marines.
Why?
Why air force?
I mean, I'm sure the, I'm surethe, the education, you know,
the was, was a plus.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Ironically, you know I wanted to go full-time army
but then they was going tochange my job.
It made me an infantry man.
I said no, I'm doing that andthe air force guy was across the
hall saying come here, I guessI got a better offer for you.
Oh wow, you know, I know that'swhat they do.
Yeah, you know, and he made mean offer I couldn't refuse did
you consider the navy?

Speaker 1 (13:21):
no, no, okay, the Navy.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
No, no, okay, I like the water, but not that much.
You know, Air Force was thepretty, probably the best thing.
One of the best things I didfor my life was to enlist in the
Air Force.
Like I said, good structure,discipline, education and craft.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Did you have any?
You know you made up your mindit was the eighth grade or so.
This is what you want to do,but did you have any other
experiences or mentors thathelped you, influenced you more?
That that was the path, becauseyou talk in eighth grade and I
mean a lot could happen Likeokay, that was eighth grade, but
now maybe in 11th grade orsomething you detour, but is
there any?

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Well, I'd say, first of all, you know, as far as
mentor I say my brother, youknow his older brother.
I always looked up to him.
I still, to this day, I stilldo what's his name Dave Cole.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Ok, dave Cole, shout out to you.
Yeah, all right.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
So you know he would come home and he'd always have
something Army-ish.
You know, give me this.
You know, bring it.
You know, show me he wasoverseas, show me his
reel-to-reel.
You know, just, it was just theway, the great way of life for
the military.
But then, like I say, when therecruiter came to the school and
met him, and then you know hestayed in touch with me through

(14:43):
my senior year becauseimmediately after graduation,
you know, off I went.
So just that, and you know mydesire, just my desire to go,
you know it's a blessing whenyou land in something that you
know.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
you know what you want to do at a certain age and
throughout your life you'redoing something close to that
and you land in something thatyou're doing what you thought of
doing and wanted to do, youwere doing that.
It's like I always wanted torun my own business.
I just didn't know.
You know high school or middleschool and cinnamon sticks,

(15:23):
flavor cinnamon sticks, or theboys life, you know, trying to
sell christmas stuff in july forboys life magazine on the back.
You know we'd be the only blackfamily so I'd hire the, I'd
hire they.
I used to call them bow and luke, uh duke, because uh, bobby
moldovan had brown hair and thisdude named john had blue hair.
We were the only black family.
But what I did and we thinkmaybe every now and then we

(15:44):
might have clashed with racismor something, but it was minimal
but I would give them a nickelto go sell these door to door so
I could get these prizes offthe back.
Because I knew at that time,like man, everybody smiles when
they see them, not that I wastreated different, but you know,
you got blue eyes and blondehair.
I'm going to give you a and forevery one you sell, and then you

(16:05):
can go to inksters and buy yousome candy and just just sell
this stuff.
You know like that.
And so I sell christmas cardsand all that.
You know, here I am.
So I look at it like man,that's a blessing, yeah, to be
what you.
You know what you're doing now.
So you, you serve.
You decide that you ain't doingthe 20, you're going to come to
civilian life.
Yeah, what happened before youbecame law enforcement for the

(16:29):
city of Warren?
How did that happen that timeframe there?

Speaker 2 (16:32):
Okay, yeah.
So you know, the Air Force came, or the military itself came,
to a time where, right after thewar, they got downsized.
Because you know enlistment isalways up during war, because
you know a lot of people want toserve the country honorably, so
they offered a voluntaryseparation incentive which is,
you know, really just trying toget people to get out.

(16:54):
So, ironically, the Ohio StateHighway Patrol was having a
minority recruitment hiringprocess.
So I was in Albuquerque, NewMexico.
I jump on a plane, come home, Itake the tests, I'll go through
the batteries of you knowphysical, the testing, the
psychological.
They say I passed everything youknow, say I was ready to go.

(17:16):
I told them, okay, I got tomake a decision to get out of
the Air Force and I was coolwith it.
I said, okay, I'm gonna makethe the move, so I get out.
Come on, take my polygraph thatwas down in Marietta, ohio, and
I flunked it.
They say I flunked it.
That's like subjective though,right.
Well, I don't know, I'm not apolygrapher so I can't say

(17:37):
whether it's subjective or not.
Professionally, right, right.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
So I, right, right, so I know what I called it at
the book, what I did at the time.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
I won't say that we can bleep stuff out nothing
about well, you know.
nevertheless, I flunked it.
Yeah, I had a conversation withwith the polygrapher we had.
We had a disagreement at thetime I was giving it, so I
understood that when I got theletter to say I was dismissed or
disqualified, at that point,you know, they offered me the
opportunity to come to Columbusand review it.

(18:12):
You know I wasn't going throughall that.
So now I'm upset with mydecision, you know, getting out,
because that influenced me toget out, because you know coming
home to a job is something Iwanted to do.
So now I'm scrambling,disappointed, getting my car.
So first, police department.
I see I'm signing up.
This is the oddest truth.

(18:34):
So I get in the car, I drivedown the street and I'd never
seen this sign before and itsays Mill Creek Police
Department.
Never heard of that.
But it's Mill Creek.
I live up the street.
I go inside, say hey, I want ajob.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
You know they say you want a job.
I say, yeah, I want a job.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
I talk to the chief Chief, comes out, meet him, say
hey, you know I'm here to applyfor a job.
He said well, you got to godown to Park Recreations for
that job.
I said, wait a minute I said Iwant to be the police, right,
right.
And he's like oh, and I didn'tsay this, you know, I was like
180 pounds, you know.

(19:19):
So I guess I didn't look policematerial at that.
I was kind of slim, you know,park Recreation down there yeah.
So we laughed about that.
We sat out and talked ChiefNate Pinkert and, to this day,
our mentor that's my policementor.
I know we talked aboutmentorship.
Yeah, those guys pretty muchhas influenced my career the

(19:44):
whole time through, because, youknow, he offered me employment
the day I graduated the policeacademy.
Words out of his mouth, wordsout of his mouth.
You get your test results.
Come see me the next day, shirtand tie, and he hired me on the
spot.
Wow, it was a part-time job,you know, and as soon as I got

(20:04):
started I'd already applied forWARN because I had a friend of
mine who was working here,officer Gary Riggins.
Sergeant, retired Sergeant GaryRiggins.
He had duped me into fillingout an application because I
really didn't want to do citypolice you know I was taking

(20:25):
baby steps in this.
First it was military, then I goon the freeway, too much
happening.
But he had conned me intofilling out this application and
so it turned out to be the bestthing to happen.
But yeah, so I spent a littletime with Chief Pinkert at Mill
Creek and you know, once I gothired at time with Chief Pinkert
at Mill Creek and you know,once I got hired at Warren, you

(20:47):
know he blessed that and we keptin touch.
He retired, he became theYoungstown City Councilman and I
think he's you know, retiredthrough that.
Yeah, yeah, but that was myplace.
When I had a problem here inWarren, I'd drive right back to
Mill Creek.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
Talk to your mentor.
Yeah, I can appreciate that.
Yeah, I can appreciate that.
So you get hired at Warren.
You come in, as I don't knowthe position, just a patrolman,
okay so patrolman?

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Yeah, a probationary patrolman, which means you know
you got to perform well for ayear.
They can let you go within thatyear for just cause or no cause
.
Okay, you know.
So the first year is really thetough year.
You have a field trainingofficer, Somebody's training you
and basically telling you whatto do.

(21:35):
You know that's anywhere fromfour to nine months training.
Then you do like three monthson your own and that's pretty
much the toughest part of it isproving you can do the job.
The beginning, yeah, kind oflike boot camp definitely
definitely a boot camp, yeah,and that wasn't so.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
That was in february of 94, right, right, because we
talked off mic.
I was like, oh, I remember 94.
That's my daughter, that's howI remember, because she was
january.
Right, it's close.
Right.
So you started as a patrolmanand you're a captain now, right.
So I don't want to blur nothing.
How was it going from thepatrolman to the captain?
Tell us about that a little bit, your experience with that?

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Well, I think my situation is way different,
especially for African-Americans.
When I got to the policedepartment, there were no
African-American supervisors.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
None.
You know there was only oneAfrican-American, not within the
patrol division, just withinthe specialty, and that was
Morris Hill.
He was still in the policedepartment and I was probably
his replacement Because I gothurt in February.
He retired in May, so it wasjust different.
I was in patrol and then I'msorry Officer Riggins worked a

(22:53):
narcotics investigation when Ifirst got hurt and because he
got injured on duty after I hada year on, I took his spot in
narcotics investigation and didthat Still a patrolman.
Immediately after that I gotswitched to the detective
division.

(23:14):
You know I was investigatinghomicides, financial crimes you
know, and that was very rare foralmost for anybody, you know,
just to come in that quick, getassigned to the investigative
unit.
So you know, being in themilitary, when promotions come
up, you just gear up for that.
So I think it was 2000, 2001.

(23:38):
I think that's when I gotpromoted to sergeant.
Yeah, the study and that's just.
You know what you do.
When it's promotion time, youknow you go for it.
Yeah, so I did that and I wasmade sergeant.
I was then assigned as theinternal affairs officer, so
that was a test of my career.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Now, because I got to , so you're kind of like the bad
guys.
Depends on who you're askingMovie watching.
I'm only going by movies so Idon't know, but I always
remember movies like EternalAffairs.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
You know they're like oh, you know that type of thing
.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
But y'all you know it's hard to be liked.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
That's the cliche.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
That's the cliche Instead of internal affairs.
You know, like you said, itgoes back to movies.
You know you snitch.
You know it's like snitching,but probably one of the better
assignments I had.
I had three simple rules.
Number one I didn't file acomplaint on you.
Number two, I never caused youto do what it did, what you did

(24:43):
to have you come see me.
And number three don't shootthe messenger.
And I lived by.
That Sounds fair to me.
You know, hey, whatever broughtyou to my office you did.
It Wasn't my fault.
But no, you know, we're a small, medium sized police department
and you know I'm fair andimpartial.
I've never lost a friend, never.

(25:05):
You know, never heard too manybad words, but you know,
probably didn't say it to myface, but I'm sure I may have
ruffled a feather or two, but itwas all just based on me doing
my job correctly and I wasstrict about that.
I was strict about that.
I was strict about that.
And one of the biggest rules isin internal affairs, you never

(25:27):
give credit to the policeofficer because he's a police
officer.
You got to look at it 50-50.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Okay, yeah, so you know I stuck to that.
And so internal affairs.
And then he wasn't a captain,then I was a sergeant.
Okay, he wasn't a captain then.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
I was a sergeant.
Okay, yeah, I was a sergeant.
I think I made lieutenantwithin that time as well.
Okay, when I made lieutenant,then they moved me back to the
criminal investigative divisionwhere I was the officer in
charge of that.
So it's almost like I hadworked there and now I'm
supervising it.
Okay, which was great.

(26:07):
Department of Justice is here.
I have to go back to InternalAffairs to help with that
process, because InternalAffairs plays a big role in that
process, and that was a heftyassignment right there, getting
it in compliance with thesettlement agreement.
Immediately after that it waslike, oh, just, you know,

(26:30):
pressure counted mounting on me,you know, like fed up with it.
So the chief said do you wantto sit down for a while?
Didn't know quite what thatmeant.
I want to sit down for a while.
Like we were about to get meant.
I was about to get suspended.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah, that sounds kind of broad to me.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
I'll say what you got in mind.
And he says we need a schoolresource officer supervisor.
And I say school resourceofficer, wait a minute you put
me in the schools, I was like,so I had to be told no, or I had

(27:07):
to be told what to do.
So I said, well, sure, I'lltake that assignment.
And, sean, I tell you, you know, and I'm being totally honest
with you, I had no reason tomake this up.
I wish I had done that 15 yearsprior.
Taking that assignment, beingable to work in the schools, one
of the best assignments I everhad Wow, you know, working with
the kids, getting to know thekids, you know, not only do you

(27:31):
learn the kids, well, once youknow the kids, you know the
parents, you know.
Yeah, so I met more people as aschool resource officer for two
years than I probably did for10 working, investigations and
things like that.
So well, it was a greatassignment, man, and, you know,
made some great relationshipwith these kids, the younger

(27:54):
people, because I was working inhigh school and it was just,
overall, great experience.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
I remember when I was in high school and I showed up
for class.
Who was it?
I'm trying to remember?
I remember officer.
I think it was Bansky andCallahan.
They were the two, Okay.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
And they had an office right by the hallway, by
the stadium at the time.
I haven't been to Hardin yearsbut I know you went down this
hall, I would pass the wood shopand you'd have to go down this
hallway to get outside to theparking lot.
Okay, man, I'd be trying.
I would pass the wood shop andyou'd have to go down this
hallway to get outside to theparking lot.
Ok, man, I'd be trying toescape, to skip class.
They'd be right there all thetime.
You know I'm just going to mycar to get something real quick.
You know I'm out of there, butyou know that was my time frame

(28:34):
with them.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
OK.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Seeing that there.
Yeah, what lessons did youlearn as you progressed up the
ladder to captain?
You got any lessons that justreally stuck with you.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
I would say just what I said about the school
resource officer getting to knowpeople.
This is a tough job to doanyway, because it's policing,
and policing in modern-daysociety is hard.
So the lessons I learned isthat the more you get to know
people, the more people trustyou as a police officer, police
sergeant, lieutenant, captain,the easier it is for you to do

(29:06):
your job.
You know and then you trustthem.
Come on, I grew up on the SouthSide.
I know how you know life can befor some.
You know I kind of grew up withthat attitude.
You know anti-policing, so youknow I can relate from both
sides.
So when I say you know, get toknow people, let them get to

(29:28):
know you, not only on you knowthe police side.
But hey, see me at the festivalnot working it.
Get to know the real me.
See me at the mall.
I shop at the mall.
I go to Giant Eagle.
You know I don't run from thiscommunity because I place it?

Speaker 1 (29:50):
you know, yeah, I live here and I, you know, this
is where, this is where I hangout, yeah, yeah, is there a
rewarding experience, likesomething that just really
stands out now?
These promotions are rewardingand and you know you having a
good heart, I mean I thinkaudience can hear that um, so,
those are rewarding experiences.
But is there something thatjust you know proud, that you're
super proud of?

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, yeah, I'd have to say this In 2014, 2014, I got
accepted to attend theprestigious Federal Bureau of
Investigations National Academyin Quantico Virginia, in
Quantico Virginia.
Now why is that so prestigious?
You know only 10% of policeofficers in this entire world

(30:28):
I'm talking Japan, africa,everywhere.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, because you just said world, you didn't say
United States, you said world.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
France, wow, germany.
I met law enforcementexecutives from across the world
, session 257.
I'm proud of that.
If you come to the office or ifyou ever see me on a Zoom call
and you see that brick that says257.
Oh, okay, yeah that's what thatis's a 10-week uh executive law

(30:58):
enforcement course.
It's grueling, you know.
You got a six and a half milerun in obstacle course.
It's networking.
You know, just two weeks ago Ihad had two friends up from out
of town on a golf golf trip, orfrom that that I met during that
, okay.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
I was going to ask if you.
Oh yeah, we keep in touch.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
We just had a national conference in Missouri.
I didn't have the opportunityto attend it but yeah, that was
probably the proudest moment,you know accomplishment getting
accepted there In the world Inthe world.
Yeah, you know, accomplishmentand getting accepted there in
the world in the world.
Yeah, and I and I and I I gottagive a shout out to a couple
other officers in our departmentto chief chief merkel, he has

(31:42):
it, and lieutenant brian holmes,he has it as well.
Uh, so there's only threeactive in our department that
had it wow, it's great, it's agreat experience.
Yeah, how long was it it's?

Speaker 1 (31:54):
10 weeks.
What hit me was that six milerun.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
Oh yeah, well, it's not only the run, it's the.
They call it like the toughmutter.
You got to offer horses inbetween.
And you know I did it at 52years old, so the average age
down there is like 30, you know,oh yeah, You're showing them up
.
I did it as an old man.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
I made it, though.
You know throughout your, soyou have some you know, you have
some longevity in this career,and so you've seen a lot, and
just in your experience, I canonly imagine what are some of
the biggest challenges facinglaw enforcement today.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Okay, yeah, that's a great question.
Well, I'd say interdepartmental.
You know it's recruitment andretention.
Ohio, warren, the country, ishaving a problem getting people
interested in the lawenforcement career field and, if
you do, keeping them or fail.
And if you do keeping them, alot of police officers are

(32:57):
department shopping anddepartments are in the market
for it.
They're offering incentives,signing bonuses and we're just
almost swapping police officers.
I'd say within the past yearwe've probably hired seven
lateral officers who've comefrom different departments.
So recruitment and retention isbig.

(33:18):
It's really a big thing rightnow, I'd say, for law
enforcement in society.
Unfortunately, you know, itseems to be the same narrative,
you know, with the recent policeshooting of Sonia Massey in
Illinois.
Yeah, yeah.
Those are the things that youknow set us back, you know, 50

(33:39):
years.
Yep, you know.
So that that remains thechallenge how do we stop that?
How do we, you know, trainpeople better?
How do we screen better?

Speaker 1 (33:50):
so do you like with the retention and recruitment?
Because I do.
You think it's something thatchanged that as a generation?
I mean because, like I said,when I grew up I wanted to be.
You know I didn't wind upobviously being, but you know it
used to be a time when you know, firemen police officer I think
doctor was in there but as faras the force go, firemen police

(34:11):
officer usually police officerand firemen.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
No disrespect to my fireman, but it was kind of in
that order police officer,fireman.
Yeah, they tried, they tried tochange the script here, but
they're trying to move, yeah,the position up.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yeah, yeah but you know, is it?
I mean, I don't know, is itjust the?
You think it's just a lack ofinterest?
Do you think media plays a part?

Speaker 2 (34:32):
I mean, yeah, well, it's a lot of things, like the
incident with Miss Massey.
We had George Floyd Yep.
You know a lot of policeshootings, you know.
I don't want to name anyspecific movement yeah,
absolutely.
Come on, within the past 10years there's been an
anti-police movement, absolutely.
You know we've had protests inthe city of Warren during the

(34:53):
George Floyd incident, protestsin the city of.
Warren during the George Floydincident, youngstown had the
same thing.
It's hard to be the police.
It's hard to be the policethese days and just that
negative attention that we'vedrawn to ourselves through media
, social media.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Especially social media, especially going through
that, you know.
I wanted to ask a question too,because I was interested in
this.
How did it so, when you toldfamily now I'm just talking
about us black folks keeping thebill, like I'm going to be a
police officer, like I mean, wasit, you know, like yes, I'm
sure maybe the close family likeyes, or was it like man, why

(35:35):
you want to be no?

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Like how was that?
Well, you know, my mom wasproud of me, no matter what I do
.
My dad wasn't having it.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
He was like man.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
I'll get you a job at General Motors tomorrow,
because you know he spent 30plus years out at GM.
He's like I'll get you outthere tomorrow.
You know, I said no man.
That's what I want to do withmy brother, you know, because he
got out of the Army.
He's back here in Youngstown.
He's like man.
No, he's like what are youdoing, right?

Speaker 1 (36:11):
You know, we grew up playing cops and robbers.
I was always the robber.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
I was trying to always the the rock yeah, so
yeah um, but listen, I got it.
You know my um, you know I hadchildren and, uh, you know
something I could be proud of,they can be proud of?
Yes, you know me for um, soimmediately, you know it kind of
grew on them.
It grew on them, you know, yeah, so okay, I was.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
I was curious about that.
I was like, why didn't I askthat question earlier?
But I was very curious aboutthat.
Yeah, bridge, bridger or bridgewas another word that I didn't
that I forgot to use because, as, as we've sat in, you know
certain things committeemeetings, something like that.
You, you have this ability andyou kind of spoken it of.
You know you can see thingsfrom from both sides sides.
It's like a bridge.

(36:56):
That's the way I look at it.
How do you maintain so?
When we talk about trust, howdo you, how do you work to build
and maintain trust between thepolice department and the
community for you?

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Transparency.
That's the biggest thing I canthink of.
We have to be.
The police department has to betransparent, okay, you and you
think of.
We have to be the policedepartment has to be transparent
, okay, and you have to knowthis community.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
You can't police a community that you don't know.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Right, you know it isn't the military.
You know it's not that mission,that's not our mission.
We're here to serve thecommunity.
So you can't serve thecommunity if you don't know them
.
And that's what I say.
I try to get out and knowpeople.
You know, people seem to knowme and just being transparent,

(37:47):
providing the community whatthey ask of you, instead of just
trying to go out, write parkingtickets, speeding tickets and
on.
So, you know, looking for drugs, that's, that's part of the job
, but that's not the main partof the job.
Yeah, the main part of the job,and I'm a firm believer in
serving people.
Yeah, you know, and, and Ibelieve, once you do that, once

(38:11):
you bridge that gap, you know,become personable.
You know, yeah, see me at themall.
See, you know, see me a gianteagle you know conversation
right things going.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
I remember, um, growing up and uh, you know,
every now and then throw afootball.
You know, just, it wasn't, itwas throwing a football.
Or you know butter hands,remember?
I can't remember his name.
He was born a police officer.
He just called me because Icouldn't catch it and I'd be
like, well, he threw it rightbecause he threw ducks, yeah,
and he'd like call me butterhands or something you know.
But I'll never forget that wejust talked Throw the football.

(38:45):
You know it was nothing major.
And then when he they ride byand you know they'd be like it's
getting late, you know thatkind of thing.
So it wasn't nothing.
You know, like F, you don'ttell me what to do.
We had a relationship.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Sure, sure Like.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
I'm just out here hanging out you know, what I
mean Like mm-hmm, you know andthat, and so it was a different
time.
I don't know if that happensnow.
It probably does working orsomething like that, but I do
think some type of communityconnection right, Some type of
just engagement, you know, makesthings a lot easier.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah, and I say this, you know, and maybe it's
because I am getting older, youknow, it seems like our younger
police officers are moresusceptible to have these good
relationships because they don't, they're not aware of bad
policing and I say this all thetime publicly is that you know?
Yeah, we went through thisDepartment of Justice consent

(39:43):
degree or settlement agreement,but the issues that caused that
they weren't even born or theywere too young to know what it
is.
So when we went through this,these problems, that through
these problems that we had inthe police department, they
don't know anything about it.
They don't know anything aboutit.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
They're a different generation and it's a I'll say
and it's my opinion, it's abetter generation for policing.
I think race relations arebetter than they were back then.
And again, that's just mypersonal opinion.
Yeah, I think race relationsare better than they were back
then.
You know, and you know againthat's just my personal opinion?
Yeah, but it's a differentbreed of police out here the

(40:23):
younger, more friendlier, moreapt to relate better.
You know, I grew up.
You know blacks were on thisside and whites were on this
side.
Yeah, you know that's come onman, those days seem to be
ending.
It's a new era, it is.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
It is when I think, captain, leadership you've
spoken about leadership in yourroles, as in, you know, with the
military, law enforcement andyou know, with captain I'm sure
you have people that are underyou.
You know that type of thingwhat strategies have you found
most effective in leading yourteam and maintaining morale?
Because I think sometimes youknow obviously not a police
officer, never been anything,but I think morale you can get

(41:05):
beat up, you know being labeledand thrown into a boat of that.
How do you keep the leadershipand the morale up in your
department with you?

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Well, first of all, you have to have situational
leadership.
You know, transformationalleadership.
Yeah, I'm the boss, but youhave to believe your people can
do the job and you, you have togive them the opportunity to
fulfill their job.
So as far as, like my, my lowerlevel supervisors, I give them
full authority to act and dowhat they need to do, which thus

(41:38):
increases their morale Okay,I'm, I'm high on respect respect
and adults, and this issomething.
These are some of the problemsI went through when I was a
young officer.
Nobody respected you.
I got hurt.
I was 30 years old.
You know they tell me sit inthe car and don't touch that.
I'm a grown man.

(41:59):
You know I'm a grown man 30,telling you yeah.
You know they take the keys outof the cars Two degrees outside.
You're telling me to sit in thecar.
What it was, the hazing portionof it?
Well, I'm too old for that,dude Rookie.
We ain't doing that, you know,and those days are long gone.

(42:19):
And morale for our youngerofficers comes because they get
the respect of just being apolice officer, being an adult.
You know, like I say, that wasold school thinking and we just
don't do that anymore.
But yeah, as far as leadership,hey, transformational, I hold

(42:40):
you accountable to do your job.
I give you full authority to doit, but I'm going to hold you
accountable.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
Yeah, yeah, and it works, it works very well.
How important is representationand diversity in the police
force in your opinion?
Oh, in my opinion it's huge.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
You know, I teach community diversity and
procedural justice at the policeacademy, and so studies say
that your department should makeup the community.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
And that's tough.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
That's tough because you've got different aspects of
the community as far as race,religion and things of that
nature.
Since I've been on the WarrenPolice Department, getting it to
look diverse is a little tough.
It has been.
You know there's been someinitiatives throughout those
years.
You know the city put them onand I compared a lot to

(43:37):
Youngstown Police Departmentbecause their department looks
way different than ours, youknow, in terms of race, gender.
You know they seem to attract amore diverse crew and I don't
understand it because you know Iteach the police academy, they
all know me.
I'll tell them to come toWarren, right, you know?

(43:58):
But then you know I find out,hey, they went to Youngstown
Police Department and that couldbe too, because you know we're
not saying that YPD isn't, butwe're very by the book and
that's due to the Department ofJustice settlement agreement.
So we do things a littledifferent.
But yeah, getting back to thequestion, yeah, diversity is

(44:19):
tough, but I believe you knowand I work hard to do that
Diversity is tough, but Ibelieve you know and I work hard
to do that we kicked off aninitiative with Kent State
Trumbull Police Academy for somerecruitment, minority
recruitment issues, someincentives that we could put in

(44:44):
and, as a matter of fact, theacademy starts here next month
and I believe we do have oneyoung African-American male
we're looking to bring into ourranks as soon as he completes it
.
We do things like we'll pay foryour police academy upon
completion.
So that's just an initiative,because it's hard to come up
with the money to pay for policeacademy.
So in turn we'll pay for it,help you with those costs and

(45:08):
get you on.
So that's a good incentive.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know how much it costs, but I'm
sure it's worth gettingreimbursed for Trust me, trust
me.
Do you have an example of acommunity initiative or program
that you yourself are proud of?

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Well, that that with Kent State I'm sorry that with
Kent State, trumbo, and alsothere's an initiative that's
headed up by the mayor of thecity I don't want to put too
much out because I know he hashis own launch program with that
but it's Police Community TrustInitiative and you know, like I

(45:44):
say, uh, you're part of it, soyou, you know what's coming out.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Yep, I just don't want to uh take the steam out of
it, but yeah, very proud to beproud of, very proud to be very
proud to serve on that okay, 31years, 30 plus years in the
force a lot of stuff, a lot ofdemands with that.
I'm sitting staring at theceiling imagining this whole
thing.
How do you balance personallife with your roles like law

(46:10):
enforcement, police captain,like that whole thing?
How do you?

Speaker 2 (46:15):
how do you balance life out?
Well, just being myself.
You know, I just have to bemyself.
This is this is my job.
Be honest, Law abiding citizen.
I just try to live a good,clean life.

(46:36):
You know sometimes you're outand about and you know,
obviously I got to live my life,you know.
But like I said, I'm big onaccountability.
So being a police captain, Iknow that brings about certain
character, a way I have to carrymyself.
So I just do when it comes to aphone ringing in the middle of
the night.
That's what I signed up for.

(46:56):
I don't make big mention of it,but my wife is a police officer
as well.
She's a sergeant in YoungstownPolice Department.
So that's our life Right.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Police.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
it is our life, you know no big surprises when the
phone rings Right, Other thanwhose is it and who got it?

Speaker 1 (47:14):
I was going to say like whose call?

Speaker 2 (47:16):
is this at this time of night?
Well, we got different ring.
Okay, cool, cool, cool.
Yeah, she's the internalaffairs officer at Youngstown
Police Department, so her phonerings more than mine.
Okay, pretty much mine ringsfor notification, hers rings for
hey, get out.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
So what do you do for fun?
I know you like to golf.
That's my thing, man, golfing.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
I'm a golfer, I love to golf.
Spend time with my family.
I have four golfer.
I love to golf, you know.
Spend time with my family.
I have four grandkids.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Three children.
So you know family is big.
But yeah, just recreational.
You know I'm going to pick up afishing pole here in a minute,
in a couple months, you know.
You got it planned out, oh yeahman you know that's called
retirement planning One of thesedays when we get back into
fishing- I thought you was goingto do another 10 plus years.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Put 10 more years in here, okay, I don't know where
you hear that from.
That's misinformation.
No, I made that up y'all.
I'm just letting y'all know.
I made that up, just humor.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
No but yeah, you know , I like, like I said, I like
golf, you know fellowship andgot a lot of good friends and
that's it.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
Yeah, everybody I've met that know you speak highly
of you, you know.
And then when we first met, Iwas like man, you know, I
remember us talking inside ofthe podcast studio and just, and
the one day we were down in theconference room I was having a
horrible day.
That day, man.
I was having grief moment, I wasthis and that, and we're
sitting around the table talking, and you know me and you had a
conversation and walked up hereand I just showed you.

(48:52):
Right, yeah, that was veryhelpful.
We wasn't talking about, ohlife is this?
Because you had no idea.
Right, yeah, but internally,you, you know, I'm keeping the
composure in this meeting and da, da, da, da, we started to tell
us how we talked about golf,right, yeah, and just life in
general, and so you know I mean.

(49:13):
So here you go, just let youknow.
You asked me what I do this.
Hey, I'm all in yeah, I told youyeah, so, uh, what negative
wisdom would you give the 18year old?
Negative wisdom?

Speaker 2 (49:23):
no no, no, what nugget of wisdom.
Oh nugget of wisdom.
Would you give the 18-year-oldNegative?

Speaker 1 (49:26):
wisdom no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
What nugget?

Speaker 1 (49:28):
of wisdom.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
Oh, nugget of wisdom.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Yeah, say something bad.
What negative wisdom would yougive?

Speaker 2 (49:32):
No, no, no, nothing negative.
I tell 18-year-old Jeff Cotethat life is rough.
You know.
Stay on your path.
Just stay on your path.
Trust in it gets you through it.
You know, because you don'tknow life, you don't know what

(49:53):
lies ahead for you.
You know, you know there'sstruggles.
You know marriage, divorce,life, death.
You know well, as you know,stay on your path.
Don't be discouraged, don't.
You know?
Don't let bad things discourageyou.

(50:14):
Just keep forging through.
Stay true to the game.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
All right.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Whatever that game is for you, stay true to it.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
All right, yeah, so this is one of I got a lot of
favorite parts when I do theseinterviews.
This one is the one word.
We spoke about that, and that'syou know word that has meaning
to you or defines you orpartially defines you.
What is your one word and tellus why.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Integrity.
That's the one thing I givemyself.
I can't, no one take from me.
You cannot take integrity.
When I got to Warren, that wasthe only thing I brought with me
A Nissan Got rid of the Nissan,but I still have my integrity.
When I leave, I'm going to takeit with me.
I told a young man that todaywe just heard on Monday.

(50:59):
It's ironic, it's very ironic.
And I told him that, no matterwhat happens to you down here,
never lose sight of yourintegrity, because once you lose
it, you'll never get it back.
If you, if you give that up,you'll never get it back,
especially in this, in this lineof work.
So I live by that.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
No, you got it.
Your word.
Integrity, yep, all right.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
You ready for this random?

Speaker 1 (51:25):
question round.
Come on, you cool with it too.
Come on.
It's just a few questions Ilike to ask, just for
conversation.
So let's start off with.
Every man should own a tie.
You got a nice tie on too, bythe way.
If you could only wear onecolor for the day, what color

(51:46):
would that be?
Gray?
If you had a superpower but youcould only use it on Friday,
what superpower would that be?

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Oh, that's a tough one.
Superpower.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
I don't know what the superpowers are, it could be
whatever you want, the power tofly be invisible, whatever you
want it to be, mind, read, read.
I wouldn't do that on a friday.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
no, no, no fridays, I can't read my own after the
week.
Oh no, I'd have to say.
If I just had to pick one, I'dsay I'd say strength.
I just say just say super power, super strength.
Just one day a week, bestronger than everybody.
Back to normal.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
I'm going to move this mountain.
There you go.
If you could instantly changesomething in the world, what
would it be?

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Homelessness.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
If you could go to a vacation spot 21 days everything
is paid for, plane ticket, allthat stuff.
You ain't got nothing to showup Anywhere in the world.
Where would it be?

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Well, I've done some traveling, you know.
I've been to the islands andcruises, oh man 21 days of just
bliss.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
You got to pay for nothing.
Nothing Good to go.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
It could be an unrealistic answer.
It could be wherever you wantit to be Heaven.
I like to see my people.
I like that.
I like to see my mom and dadand the rest of my family.
I like that.
Yeah, I like that.
I'd like to see my mom and dadand the rest of my family.
I like that.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Yeah, if you would be reincarnated, or if you could
be reincarnated to an animal,what animal would you want to
come back?
As A bird?
What kind of bird?
You got to be careful with thatone, because you know an eagle
or a sparrow.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
Well, a peaceful bird .
Just fly around and look at theworld from up there, you know,
just to soar.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Oh yeah, maybe an eagle.
Yeah, not too many people messwith them and you can soar.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Okay, all right.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
Yeah, see me, I'd be like a blue jay or something,
because you know I'm mean alittle territorial, you know but
I got pretty colors Okay.
Okay, and I'm a name of a teamyou know, Toronto Blue Jackets.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
Until somebody get mad about it.
Right, don't change it.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
What advice and this is an important question I want
to close out with, but whatadvice would you give someone
looking to pursue a career inlaw enforcement?

Speaker 2 (54:22):
What advice?
Hmm?
Well, first of all, I'd saylisten, this is a great career
field and, despite what's reallyyou know, seems obvious or
seems always in the news.
You know the misdeeds of policeofficers.
That's less than 1% of what lawenforcement is.

(54:44):
That's less than 1%.
You know, and far too many, butstill less than 1% of what law
enforcement is.
That's less than 1%.
You know, far too many, butstill less than 1%.
It's a great opportunity foradvancement, promotion, great
benefits.
And if you don't like the waypolicing is, and I've always
said this and I had a greatmilitary guy tell me this you

(55:04):
can't beat the system.
You got to get in the systemand change it.
So I've always tried to do thatthroughout my career.
You know, when I didn't likesomething, I say, well, I can't
work for that guy, I got to getpromoted.
Or you know, I don't like theway this policy read.
Hey, put in a suggestion andhave a policy change, so I say,
get in and change it, all righthave a policy change so I say

(55:26):
get in and change it.
Law enforcement will be aroundforever.
So instead of complaining aboutit, come on in and help me fix
this before I get up out of here.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Which is about a few ten years from now, About two
years from now.
I'll never get out of it.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
I'll never get out.
I'll never get out.
Just how long I can sit in thechair, you know.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
It's a pleasure having you on here.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Hey man, I appreciate it.
I'm more than pleased to comeover here and do this.
We got it done.
Yeah, we said we was going todo it.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
We did it.
We got it done Well, folks, Iwant to thank you for hitting
the play button and I hope yougot a lot from this interview
with Captain Cole.
Captain Jeff Cole, right, and Iwill tell you remember those
words I said in the beginningand I'm pretty sure and this is
not knowing him well, justthrough conversation and stuff,
so you can tell right, he exudesthis because those words that I

(56:09):
talked about you hit on inevery last one of them.
So thank you for hitting theplay button.
Stay tuned for the next episodesoon.
Signing out.
This episode was produced by theSound United Podcast Studio,
led by Kimberly Gonzalez.
Photography and video contentproduced by the D5 Group, and be

(56:34):
sure to visit our website,soundunitedpresentscom, where
you can catch up on all theepisodes and get some behind the
scenes content.
I'm Deshaun Scott Thank you forlistening.
Ready to launch a podcast orcreate standout audio content?

(56:58):
Sound United Podcast Studio haseverything you need Studio
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(57:23):
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