What happens when community spirit meets the dedication of law enforcement officers? Join us as we shine a light on the "Cops and Kids" initiative, a heartwarming program that brings smiles to the faces of children in Richmond. With guests Officer Tyler Saunders and Matt Smith, a former officer now working in fraud security at First Bank, we explore how this transformative program supports children in need during the holiday season. Our conversation kicks off with a personal touch, as Tyler and Matt share stories of their first jobs—the stepping stones that fueled their passion for giving back to the community.
You’ll hear firsthand what inspired our guests to serve in law enforcement, from military service to family influences and more. We open up about the challenges faced by officers and the misconceptions that often overshadow their everyday acts of kindness and commitment. Through personal stories and insights, Tyler and Matt reveal the motivations that led them to the field and how they continue to support their community, even as perceptions shift.
In the final segment, we delve into the logistics and community support that keep the "Cops and Kids" program running. Discover how this initiative, funded by generous donations and events, like a charity golf outing, brings joy to approximately 20 children each year. From holiday shopping sprees with police officers to positive interactions that reshape how children see law enforcement, this episode is a testament to the power of community and the lasting impact of kindness. Don’t miss this uplifting exploration of community connection and the spirit of giving.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
(00:24):
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help contact Manpowertoday.
Hello and welcome to the Hubpowered by Manpower of Richmond,
portland and Newcastle, and Iam your host, michael Allen, and
here on the Hub we interviewlocal businesses, community
partners and very special guests, and our mission is to share
(00:51):
and spotlight some unique anduntold stories in the community
at different companies,organizations and also people
who are making a difference inour community.
So today our guests are OfficerTyler Saunders and Matt Smith.
Tyler, you're with the RichmondPolice Department and Matt,
you're a former RPD Yep and nowhe does fraud security with
(01:12):
First Bank Correct.
I think we got that right.
So, and today we're going totalk about cops and kids and but
hey guys, uh, welcome to thehub.
Thanks for coming this morning,thanks for having us and uh, you
know we were looking for acharity, the spotlight uh
heading into the holiday seasonand I'd heard about cops and
(01:36):
kids and some of the cool stuffabout that.
I'm also involved in communityand schools, I'm a mentor and uh
and kind of helps identify, Ibelieve, some of the kids for
the program.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, they actually identify all of the kids for us.
The reason we do that is whobetter than you know the people
that deal with them every day.
They can actually choose theones that really need our help.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Absolutely.
I've been with a couple of kidsfor three years now.
I really love being part ofthat program a lot.
I really enjoy just kind ofseeing how they're doing and
just doing different activitieswith them.
So I enjoy that a lot.
You're both intimately involvedin the program and again, we're
(02:23):
just honored to have you guysboth here today.
Before we start that, though,we kind of have well, we don't
kind of have we do have atradition here on the Hub.
It's where I ask you guys aboutyour first job that you ever
had, so manpower into employment.
So, tyler, I'm going to ask you, what was your first job that
you ever had?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
My first job was actually at Joe's Pizza.
Okay, when I was in high schoolI was a dishwasher down there
where the Cordial Cork's at.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Right, I remember that Northeast Street.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
That was my first job , so what was your?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
job there.
What did you do?
I was a dishwasher Dishwasher.
You ever got elevated up tomaking pizzas or anything like
that dishwasher.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
You ever got to elevate it up to making pizzas
or anything like that.
No, I was only there.
I was only there about a year.
Um, I started when I was like15, 16.
And then my senior year, Iended up getting into a program,
uh, where I was working duringschool.
Uh, so I actually went to workfor my grandpa for a year, for
my education, for while I was inschool, all right, so I was
only there about a year, so Ididn't have a lot of room to
(03:25):
move up to management oranything like that.
There wasn't too many managerpositions either, though.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
No, but I remember Joe's Pizza.
I remember going there forlunch.
They had this buffet atlunchtime and stuff.
Yeah, it was good pizza, it wasgood.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I started right when Phil Quinn and Jason Whitney
bought it Okay.
They were the ones that Jasonwas my swim coach with Phil's
ex-wife yeah, and then that'show I got the jobs through them
Great.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Matt, how about you?
My first real job was at MCL.
All right, yeah.
So I think I was 15 and gotstarted as a as a busser and did
that for a little while.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think that was my wife's first job.
I think maybe with salads orsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I think that was a lot of people's first jobs.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people worked there
and needed a lot of hands ondeck there going down the line
and people back in the backserving food.
Yeah, it's kind of sad that along-term place like that no
longer is in town.
I think a lot of people enjoyedgoing there and they had a lot
of meetings there too, back inthe meeting rooms.
(04:32):
So, yeah, well, thanks forsharing that guys.
Let's start a little bit.
Tyler maybe.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about yourself, family
upbringing, where?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
you're from?
Well, I'm from the Wayne Countyarea.
Ok, I've been around herepretty much my whole life.
I did leave a few years in 2009to 2010.
I went to Afghanistan, ok, andthen when I came back, I moved
to Lafayette, indiana, for acouple of years and then I moved
to Rock Island, illinois, area.
(05:08):
I was part of the Quad Cities.
I actually lived in Iowa, but Iworked on the arsenal with
Wounded Warriors.
We would, if you don't know muchabout that, what would happen
is, if a soldier got injuredoverseas, they would go to a
warrior transition unit, whichwould be like Fort Knox or you
know one of the major bases, andthen, if it's somebody that's
(05:29):
going to continue through theprogram, then they would, um,
they would come to a communitybased where transition unit
where we would have them for aweek and in process and process
them, get them.
We would try to help them lineup a job for when they get back
to their home, because what theydo when they left us was they
would go back to where they werefrom, they would start getting,
you know, a job and they wouldstart going through the process
(05:50):
to go get medically dischargedand then in 2014, my uh, my job
in the military changed and theybrought me back to Indiana, so
I've been back here since then.
Okay, so how many years totaldid you serve?
I actually served 12 years andI actually was.
Um, I actually have a medicaldischarge from the military
myself, okay, all right, wow, 12years, that's a.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
That's a pretty big commitment there it was.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
It was a long time.
I definitely I had plans to.
I enjoyed it.
I wanted to.
I wanted to stick it out, butthe last few years when I was
going through my medical stuff,I became non-deployable, and
that's not what I wanted.
I wanted to be able to deployif I could.
So I finally decided to goahead and go the medical route
(06:37):
because of everything that wasgoing on.
What was the branch?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I was in the Army National Guard.
Army National Guard, great Matt, how about yourself?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Born and raised in Richmond, was here for until
about 2009 with my wife.
Then we moved out to Nevada andI got started in law
enforcement in Nevada.
I spent three years as a statetrooper with the Nevada Highway
Patrol in the Las Vegas SouthernCommand area, did that 2015,.
(07:10):
We came back, was hired withthe police department and spent
nine years with the policedepartment, as you know,
attaining a lieutenant positionor rank as lieutenant, and had
an opportunity to go back intothe private sector and took it
so your total service in lawenforcement spanned how many
(07:33):
years?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
12.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
12 years, 12 years in law enforcement, very proud of
everything that I did and allthe people that I worked with,
tyler included, and still havingthe opportunity to be part of
the FOP and helping lead the FOPwith Tyler and Scott Glover has
really been great.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
So what was the draw in the law enforcement for you
guys?
I mean it seems like there's alot of guys in the military they
go into law enforcement.
I mean it's not exclusive, butit seems like that's a good
transition for you guys.
I mean it seems like there's alot of guys in the military they
go into law enforcement.
Not, I mean it's not exclusive,but it seems like that's a good
transition for a lot.
It's a natural, naturaltransition for some.
Uh, so I don't know if that wasjust a way to kind of stay in
that similar line of work orwhat drew you into it.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I would say that you know that's.
That's a pretty accuratestatement, um, for me, I mean
the cliche answer of you know,I've always wanted to be a cop.
That's what I wanted from as akid.
Um, you know, I, I've the way I, the way that I like to explain
it is, you know, I, I served inthe military, I served the
country and I, you know, when Iwas done with that, I thought it
was time to serve my community.
(08:40):
Um, and you know, as I said, Iwanted to be, I've wanted to be
a cop for a long time.
So, like you said, naturaltransition into becoming a cop.
Um, you know, you can't find any.
Any military person you talk toum will pretty much tell you
that you can't.
It's hard to find thatbrotherhood that you had, you
(09:01):
know, overseas, or even just inthe military, if you were active
duty, things like that.
And since I've been here, youknow, I've been able to find
that brother.
I've been able to find thatbrotherhood again and it's, you
know it's not the same, but it'sstill a brotherhood.
That's right there for you,yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
How about you, Matt?
What drew you into lawenforcement?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
That's always the Miss America question right, I
mean you know you're asked thatin interviews and you know
people outside always ask thatFor me, I never thought I would
be in law enforcement.
It was never something that wasreally on my radar.
I have family that's in lawenforcement.
My brother's a captain withRichmond, so he's been doing it
for his entire lifetime, sincehe was able to.
(09:44):
My father was a police officerwith Richmond, so it never
really was on my radar to dothat.
I always wanted to do otherthings and about 2008, something
just clicked for me that whereI wanted to be more of a
contributor to the community,whether that was here or
(10:07):
somewhere else we made the moveand I saw the professionalism
that was in Nevada with thehighway patrol, did some
ride-alongs and decided that'swhere I wanted to go.
And then, knowing that we weregoing to come back to Richmond,
um, at some point, um, andknowing that not only growing up
(10:31):
here but the ability to servethe community, um, that that had
you know I'd been part ofpreviously was was very
important to me.
You know there's lots of otherplaces to be a police officer,
but there's something aboutserving your hometown that
really, really is a draw.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
All right well, I promise to get the cops and kids
in a minute, but I just find it.
I mean, I'm just reallyintrigued by it.
I mean, I've actually had twodifferent law enforcement former
law enforcement officers workfor me in my office, and so I've
had conversations with themabout their jobs.
So I'm just kind of intrigued,and one of the things that I
(11:15):
especially maybe you, tyler, andyou can probably still relate
to it, matt, probably stillrelate to it, matt is just what
I really sense from both of youthat you know a good, a good big
part of why you got into lawenforcement is just serving
others.
A question I have would be,though like what do you find
(11:38):
some of the challenges you knowtaking on that role in the
community?
You're still in it and you werein it, matt.
I mean what?
What are some of the challengesthat that you're kind of facing
each day right now?
That's a fair question.
It's kind of a loaded question.
Yeah, I know that's what thatone is.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
It can all be loaded.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Yeah, I mean you look at law enforcement as a whole,
across the nation, across theworld, and there are a lot of
times when things happen andwe're seen negatively.
That's always going to be yourbiggest hurdle that you've got
to try to get over.
A lot of people see the uniformas everybody, it's not just an
(12:25):
individual, Um, so that's,that's one of the big hurdles
that we have to try to.
Everybody across the nation hasto try to worry.
You know work through isgetting people to understand
that.
You know, yes, we do have badapples in our, you know, in our
profession, Um, and it's, it'sthat way in every profession.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Absolutely From anywhere, from somebody working
in a factory to somebody who's aclergy member, even I mean it
spans everything.
So, it's not really fair topoint to one particular
profession because there's good.
I mean it's, I think, too muchin the spiritual realm, but it's
a sinful world, so I mean it'snot exclusive to anything.
(13:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And you know I mean everything.
Everything is recorded thesedays, yeah, so it doesn't matter
if you know what you're doing,right or wrong, it's going to be
recorded.
Those are some of the bighurdles there.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah, how about you, matt?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Did you experience when you were?
Well, I think trying to be theindividualistic person you know
as a law enforcement officer isvery difficult, but you have
society in general who wants tosee the action.
They want to see the thingsthat are could potentially be
(13:45):
more difficult to watch for somepeople.
They want the sensationalism ofit and they don't see the good
things that police officers doas often as maybe what looks
better on video, right, becausedoing a good deed does not look
good on video, right, it'sboring, it doesn't get the,
(14:06):
doesn't get the clicks, doesn'tget the viewership.
You know that kind of stuff, asyou know pursuits or you know
fights, that kind of stuff,right.
So officers that do amazingwork every day, day in and day
out, every time that they thatthey go on duty, that's not
(14:27):
always seen.
So that is the hardest hurdle.
One of the hardest hurdles toget society to see is the
goodness that happens with lawenforcement.
So you know, I every, everyofficer across the nation tries
to do right by the people thatthey serve every day, but that's
(14:50):
just not seen.
Yeah, absolutely, I mean.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I've had a lot of great experiences with law
enforcement over my 30 plusyears at Manpower.
Just because we deal exclusivelywith people power, just because
we deal exclusively with peopleand I we have worked at least
during my time thousands ofdifferent people, yeah, and
sometimes we've had individualscome into the office who were
(15:15):
troublesome or creating an issueand it could be mental health
issues, it could be all kinds ofthings why their behavior was
that way.
But we've had to make some phonecalls and so they've always
(15:41):
responded immediately and beenvery helpful.
And I remember once that I forsome reason had left our offices
right in the downtown area andit was really late at night and
for some reason we found outthat the building had been
totally left open and I was alittle leery going in there just
to find out, just to lockeverything up.
(16:01):
And so I I called into thedepartment and, uh, they had a
couple of guys there right awayjust coming in, walking through
the building, make sureeverything was okay.
And I could go through allkinds of different stories over
over the years, but you know,it's kind of led me.
One thing I wanted to ask ishow can we, as citizens, help
and support law enforcementofficers better.
(16:22):
Maybe you don't get you knowways that we can support you all
in what you do.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I'll kind of go back to what Matt was saying.
You know, understand that.
You know we understand thatthere are, you know, as I said,
bad apples in our profession.
But you know, as Matt said, wedo, you know the majority of
police officers do what they canto do the right thing, day in
and day out.
(16:54):
And I think the biggest thingis just understanding, um.
You know we're human too, um,just because we're in a
profession where you know we seeyou, um, and in some of the you
know some of the worstsituations that somebody is
dealing with, um, we're stillhuman, um, and we do make
mistakes.
I think that's the biggestthing.
(17:15):
One of the biggest things Icould see is just understanding
that you know we do makemistakes because we are human,
right, right.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And the majority of decisions that are made are made
with the information that wehave at the time.
This is one of the onlyprofessions where you don't have
time to ponder and research andthink about what you can do.
You know it's, it's decisionsthat have to be made.
(17:43):
You know it's the cliche splitsecond decisions, but a lot of
times that's what it is.
You know and it's so.
It's the information that wehave in front of us.
We, we, we don't know what'shappened 40 years ago, you know,
or or everything that's leadingup to it.
We officers now deal with whatthey're handed, you know.
So, so, understanding that wehave to make those decisions, um
(18:04):
, and I still say we because youknow, just, that's just what
comes out, it's always going tobe part of your life, right?
Um, but they they're.
They're making decisions withwhat they have, right, and it
could change if the situationchanges itself.
You know, they're alwaysdynamic situations.
So just understanding thatthose decisions aren't based on
(18:28):
anything except what's in frontof them, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You know, when I think about your role in the
community, I continue to go backto the statement to protect and
to serve and uh, I, I think uhmany of us fail to remember that
you are, you're putting yourlife on the line every day and
uh it, you know, came reallyreal for our community when
sierra burton lost her life inthe line of duty about two years
(18:53):
ago.
Right, we're about, we're at thetwo-year mark.
You know, just by.
You know, standing on roadsaddressing traffic violators,
responding to a distressedvehicle, you know you're out
there on the side of the roadresponding to calls, knocking on
a door that you don't knowwhat's on the other side of that
door, inserting yourself in themiddle of a disturbance, people
(19:16):
not being cooperative, you know, and simply just by putting on
your uniform, like certainperceptions people have and just
they see the uniform assomething negative and I
obviously don't feel that way,and I think the majority of
people don't.
But it's just, there's justthis niche in the society and
(19:37):
it's been exacerbated in media,I think, to a certain point.
So I really appreciate whatyou're doing, what you've done,
and just thank you guys so muchfor serving our communities in
that way.
Thank you.
And for serving our country for12 years.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Appreciate that.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Absolutely.
So let's talk about Cops andKids now.
Let's just lighten it up just alittle bit.
So let's talk about what theprogram is.
I'm sure not everybody knows,so that's part of what we wanted
to do today is bring some lightto the program.
So tell us about Cops and Kidswhat it is, so, so tell us about
Cops and Kids what it is.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
So, cops and Kids, I mean it's been around for a long
time.
I can't give you, you know, Ihave no clue when it actually
started, but what it is is wetake less fortunate children in
(20:37):
our community that maybe not,maybe, you know, maybe their
family's going through a hardtime, um, maybe that you know
something happened right beforeChristmas, things like that.
Uh, and what we do is we bringthem to the Richmond police
department, um, and then we give, we have this, the child or the
student, whoever goes with anofficer, actually in their
vehicle and the officer willdrive them to what we we use,
meyer, okay, and we'll drivethem with our lights and sirens,
(21:00):
a big parade all the way upthere.
You know, the kids love, allkids love seeing lights and
sirens and they, like you know alot of them.
The last few years I've noticedwe're starting to get more and
more talking on the radio to ourdispatchers.
They just they love being ableto do that.
And then, once we get to Meyerwhich Meyer has been really
great with us the last couple ofyears Um, meyer actually has,
(21:22):
you know, they have, they haveSanta, they've got reindeer.
They and then they provide us.
The last couple of years we'vedone a lunch where they'll
provide the children, thechildren lunch.
Um, after lunch we will willthe officer that they rode to
Meijer with.
We'll actually take them aroundMeijer and take them shopping.
It's not just for toys, it'snot just for clothes, it's
(21:44):
whatever they need.
We do usually have the parentthere with them, that way that
they can get the things theyabsolutely need, right just a
little guidance.
Yeah, and then you know,obviously we like to get them
the toys too, though you knowit's always good for them to get
some toys around that time andhave some fun.
So the kids seem to reallyenjoy it, the ones that we've
(22:05):
dealt with the last few years.
But yeah, that's pretty much it.
What's the age group?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
that this falls into typically.
Who does it?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Typically up through fifth grade.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Yeah, I think we do.
I think the oldest that we'vehad in the last few years.
I want to say we maybe had likea 16-year-old and it was more
of a.
That was more of a family.
A family had a how do I want tosay it?
There was an incident and afamily needed some assistance
(22:41):
right before Christmas.
So we added them to our listand I think they had like a
16-year-old, but it's usually upto junior high, about sixth or
seventh grade, all the way downto kindergarten about sixth or
seventh grade, all the way downto kindergarten.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
We mentioned it at the beginning of our discussion
that community and schoolsidentifies the students for you,
the kids for you, so I don'tknow when that process starts
that process actually hasalready started.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Okay, I reach out to.
A few years ago I was actuallyreaching out to each individual
communities and schools, liaisonat all the schools in the
county.
Okay, but in the last couple ofyears I started reaching out
through the communities andschools.
I guess office, yes, and spoketo the last year.
I spoke to Katie Steven andthen this year she gave me
(23:32):
another name to reach out to andso I've already Susan Miller or
somebody else.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I honestly don't remember the name.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
But so I've already sent an email to them explaining
what we need, what we'relooking for, and then they'll
reach out to all the communitiesand schools, liaisons at the
schools.
That way they can decide.
You know, they're the ones,like I said, they're the ones
that deal with the studentsevery day.
They're the ones that see thethings that we don't see.
So that's why we go throughthem for that.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
So what's the tally?
How many kids are we talkingabout annually?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
It depends.
Like I said last year, the lastcouple years we've had some
incidents right before Christmaswhere we've added a couple
students or a family, but themajority of the time what I like
to see is that, because I liketo see multiple students.
That way we can spread thewealth, but it's usually about
(24:35):
two kids per school in theentire County.
Okay, so it's about it's usuallyit's, it's about 20 kids, um,
and then you know we that thatleaves us a little bit of room
to play, uh, to add somebody ifwe have to at the last minute.
What's the budget?
What's their shopping budget?
Uh, currently, the last fewyears, I think we've done, I
(24:56):
think it's two, 50.
Wow, Um, you know, and you knowwe, we uh, matt and Scott and I
actually talked um, as he said,scott Glover, he's our vice
president.
Uh, we actually talked recentlywhere you know we would like to
be able to provide them alittle bit more.
Um, just because you know we, weunderstand that their family,
there's families that are goingthrough hard times and if they,
(25:18):
you know if we can, whatever wecan do to help, but it's usually
about 250 dollars per per child.
And then you know you get yourofficers that just enjoy this so
much so they're going to spendtheir own personal money to get
that extra stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I'm sure that's sweet yeah, I mean $250 sounds like a
nice number, but I'm sure onceyou get it in the cart it
doesn't look like much.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah, it goes fast sometimes, oh, absolutely,
especially when all they want istoys.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
One of those big, huge Lego sets can eat it up
pretty fast yeah.
How can the public help andsupport the program?
I don't know if you get muchpublic support I know you do.
You shared with me earlierbefore today that you have a
golf outing and do all thoseproceeds go to cops and kids?
Yes, from that outing every um.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
So starting in january, I try to send it out.
In january um, I sent out aletter explaining what it is,
what the tournament's for Um,and and we raise funds through
the, through the golf tournament, and you know that money is set
aside for the shop of the copor the cops and kids event.
Um, you know we've got we getbig sponsors.
(26:30):
You know BNF, plasticastics,vfw, places like that they're
giving us.
You know they've become ourevent sponsors over the last
couple years that you know theydonate those big monies to us to
be able to do that.
But it's not just that.
We take donations year-round.
You know anything that somebodyfeels like they would love to
(26:56):
donate, so they donatemonetarily, even toys or
clothing, food, things like that.
I don't see why we wouldn'ttake that Okay.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
But quite candidly, I guess the money, just cash,
helps you, gives you a lot moreflexibility to identify exactly
what the kids need.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah, that's the big thing is.
You know, like I said, we takethem and we take them shopping.
That's what we do with them.
So you know, the monetarydonations are how we run this
program.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So I'm doing the math in my head a little bit, but
that's probably a budget of alittle over 20,000.
Oh, amen, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Talking about, talking about for the event
itself.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, no, for the your four kids would be a
thousand.
So if you've got 20, be what?
Five thousand?
It's about five thousand.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
It's between five plus.
Yeah, it's between five andusually five and six thousand is
what we spend.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
How much is your out, your outing, normally bring in?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
uh, you know you don't have no well, I mean, it
just depends on on the wholesponsors that we get each year
right.
Um, you know, we normally havea couple like bnF plastics.
They've donated every year.
Um, for I've been in charge ofthe golf tournament for I think
three years now.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
And and.
But even before I took over,I'm pretty sure that they
they've donated as an eventsponsor for that many years.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Um well, Justin Scheibman.
He used to be an officer on thefloor, so I'm sure that's close
to his his heart.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
He's one of the.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
He's one of our main donors yeah, I'm sure they do a
lot in the community.
Anything else to?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
add yeah, Um, we, we average probably 3000, um profit
roughly from the, the golftournament, um, you know, and
then and then the variousdonations throughout the year.
But, um, the more that our, ourcommunity supports this um, you
know, with the monetarydonations, certainly means that
we could offer, you know, moreassistance to more families, um,
(29:04):
throughout the holiday and andreally make this a huge program
for the community.
And that's what we, like, Iwould say, out of everything
that I've done, and I thinkTyler could probably join on
this.
Is these kids coming in.
(29:26):
They're a little shy at thebeginning, right, they're kind
of like, oh, I don't know,because we, we pair them up, you
know, call them to the front atthe city building with, you
know, and they meet the officerand we kind of talk to them and
they're not real, you knowthey're, they're, they're just
shy, right, they're, they'rekids.
But once we get them to the car, we start, you know, taking
(29:46):
them to that they can play withthe lights, all that kind of
stuff.
They start getting morecomfortable in there and seeing
the joy on these kids' faces andmaybe their initial shyness,
that just goes away whenever weget there and they, you know,
they see that, you know, we'vegot Santa, they've got food, you
know, and then and then theyget the opportunity to shop and
(30:09):
pick the things that they want.
And just seeing the joy intheir faces, that is the
absolute best thing that I'vedone in my 12-year career.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I would think also something positive that comes
out of it is you don't knowwhat's been what these kids have
been told about law enforcementor seen about law enforcement
or whatever, but when they theyget this kind of interaction
with you guys, I'm sure it'sjust a way of saying hey these.
(30:43):
it puts you in a a lightdifferent than what, what there
could be some preconceivedperceptions of what police
officers like.
So you know it's a realpositive, nurturing type of
experience and I think thatprobably helpfully pays some
dividends too.
That's not your goal, but Ithink that's probably a
byproduct.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I would say, possibly , you know, it could be that
maybe they had a bad experiencewith this.
Like I said, we do, you know itcould be that they, you know,
maybe they had a bad experiencewith us.
Like I said, we do, you know,up to junior high age maybe
they've had a bad experiencewith us.
But we do our best to bringthat joy to them and I think,
like Matt said, the longerthey're with us throughout the
day, they, you know, they startopening up and they start
(31:27):
understanding.
As I said earlier, we're humantoo.
You know we're here to helpthem and and and, and we try to
tell them, you know, if you needsomething from us, you can
always come to us.
So that's, you know.
That's one of the big things.
I, you know, I think you'reright, it might, but you know
(31:51):
the like kind of, of, like yousaid earlier talking about the
society's views on us.
Right now it's still out there,but you know if we can have
these conversations with themduring these events.
And I think you know anotherbig event that happens
throughout the year is theNational Night Out, where we,
you know, I know that DetectivePat Tudor and, I think, officer
Tyler Hobbs ran that one thisyear.
Those are the big events wherethey can see that you know we
are just like them, we're justhumans, and you know we'll hang
(32:15):
out with them, we'll talk tothem, you know we'll play sports
with them.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
I think another interaction has maybe changed.
I mean, my kids are like late20s and early 30s but they both
went to safety town and Iremember one of their big
interactions was with lawenforcement.
It may not be the same now.
I hope it is.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I think it's called Safety Village now Safety
Village, and I do know thatthere are multiple events
throughout the year where, likeI know that our SWAT team brings
the SWAT bus, they get a jumpup in the SWAT bus, you know,
there's always it's the policeand communities together.
It's the PAC division which isran by, or it's not.
(33:00):
It's a detective tutor andofficer Hobbs are big, big into
that.
That's what they do is they doa lot of events with the
children.
So they're doing more now thanwe've done in the last few years
.
I think they've probably had Imean, I know our department's
posting it all the time wherethey're out at schools and
(33:21):
visiting with them.
So you're right, it's becoming.
The safety village is stillthere, but it's not just that
now.
I mean we have the policingcommunities together, so they're
, you know, detective tutor andofficer hobbs are definitely out
there interacting with them alot more than than we used to be
.
Yeah, because these spaces.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
These are the kid.
The kids in this program are atrisk and they may have seen mom
or dad handcuffed in their homeand thinking, put in a police
car, I mean it very well couldhave happened.
So this uh helps, gives anopportunity to see uh, you guys
and and gals in a differentlight.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
So yeah, I've, definitely in the program itself
.
I've, I've, I know of familiesin that situation.
Hopefully they're young enoughthat they don't remember those
things but, like you said,hopefully they're seeing us in a
different light andunderstanding that that's not
just what we're about.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Absolutely.
We talked before we startedabout how people can contribute.
So if folks would make, it'd bebetter.
If they make a check would bebest right, check or cash Okay.
And if they do write a check,it would be to the somewhere
(34:40):
near the John Henniger FOP Lodge63.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
And we'll put that up on the screen when this goes
out.
And if they want to mailsomething in, they could go to
the lodge at PO Box 423,richmond, 47375.
Yes, that's correct.
But you can drop it by thepolice department or if you want
to bring it by manpower, we'llbring it over to you guys.
(35:05):
So if it's easier to, we have akind of drive-through at
manpower.
So if someone wants to make acontribution and drop us a
drive-through, we'll bring it toyou, we'll help out and bring
it over to you guys as well soanyway, really appreciate the
program, what you guys are doing, any other things you want to
share about the program or put aplug in while I got you here.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
I don't think so it does happen.
You know.
I don't think we talked aboutit, but it happens every
December.
Okay, it's at the beginning ofDecember.
That way, you know, they havesomething.
You know, I know it's not rightaround Christmas, but it's kind
of how we've done it in thelast few years and it just seems
to be easier to do it at thebeginning of December.
And that way, you know, I'msure these families are doing
(35:51):
things around around Christmastime.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So Well, shout out to all the companies that help
support this through the golfouting and and thank you, myers,
for your contribution to thisprogram Looks like they've
really stepped up, continue todo more and more with it, so
that's great that they'resupporting the community in this
way.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Myers has been a great um.
You know I will say we did, wedid uh, my understanding is, for
a while we started this programI think I've just found out it
was like 20, roughly 24 yearsago uh, for our lodge Um, uh for
our lodge Um, and I believe fora while they were going to
Meyer and then they left Meyerfor a little while.
(36:31):
So we were going to Walmart Um,and then we just recently,
three years ago, started goingback to Meyer Um, and you know
both places have always beenthere for us and and provided,
you know, provided those meals,and you know they they enjoy it,
the.
You know, we talk about the joyon the, on the faces of the
children, the joy on the facesof the children, the joy on the
faces of the workers that arethere that day.
They're just as happy to seethe kids in there and that's a
(36:55):
big thing is seeing that they'rethere for them too.
Well, vampire's got a check foryou guys today, so appreciate
what you're doing.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Appreciate that, after I hear what you're
spending on the kids, we mayhave to bump up a little bit
more.
Appreciate that.
Appreciate that, after I hearwhat you're spending on the kids
, we may have to bump up alittle bit more.
Appreciate that, thank you.
But uh, appreciate, uh, tylermatt, what you guys are doing
with the program and and itmeans a lot to our community and
we just need to people need toknow more about these things
going on, and so I'm glad youguys came on, agreed to do this
today and so we could spotlightthat.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
so yeah, so I mean, since we're talking about things
that we're doing with eventslike this, uh, you know we are,
we are we're you know that we'rea fraternal order of the police
, but we actually do sponsor, uh, local teams, um, and that's
something that we're we haven'tdone in a few years, um, and and
I I honestly couldn't tell youwhy we haven't Um, I haven't had
(37:47):
anybody reach out to me.
Uh, this is the first year thatwe we just actually um approved
a, a donation for a sports team, uh, last month.
Um, so you know, that'ssomething else that we're
looking at doing more assponsoring, uh you know, youth
sports teams throughout theentire year.
Um, you know, we can't promisethat we can do every team or
(38:07):
every sport, but we are wantingto start doing that as well.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Thanks for sharing that Well, thanks, guys
Appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
Thank you for talking to you.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
So whatever platform you're watching or listening to
today, please spread the word,like and share, and subscribe to
the Hub.
We'd love to have you followingus on a regular basis.
So great Thanks guys.
Thanks, mike, appreciate it.
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
(38:38):
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
(38:58):
Let us help.
Contact Manpower today.
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
(00:24):
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help contact Manpowertoday.
Hello and welcome to the Hubpowered by Manpower of Richmond,
portland and Newcastle, and Iam your host, michael Allen, and
here on the Hub we interviewlocal businesses, community
partners and very special guests, and our mission is to share
(00:51):
and spotlight some unique anduntold stories in the community
at different companies,organizations and also people
who are making a difference inour community.
So today our guests are OfficerTyler Saunders and Matt Smith.
Tyler, you're with the RichmondPolice Department and Matt,
you're a former RPD Yep and nowhe does fraud security with
(01:12):
First Bank Correct.
I think we got that right.
So, and today we're going totalk about cops and kids and but
hey guys, uh, welcome to thehub.
Thanks for coming this morning,thanks for having us and uh, you
know we were looking for acharity, the spotlight uh
heading into the holiday seasonand I'd heard about cops and
(01:36):
kids and some of the cool stuffabout that.
I'm also involved in communityand schools, I'm a mentor and uh
and kind of helps identify, Ibelieve, some of the kids for
the program.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, they actually identify all of the kids for us.
The reason we do that is whobetter than you know the people
that deal with them every day.
They can actually choose theones that really need our help.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Absolutely.
I've been with a couple of kidsfor three years now.
I really love being part ofthat program a lot.
I really enjoy just kind ofseeing how they're doing and
just doing different activitieswith them.
So I enjoy that a lot.
You're both intimately involvedin the program and again, we're
(02:23):
just honored to have you guysboth here today.
Before we start that, though,we kind of have well, we don't
kind of have we do have atradition here on the Hub.
It's where I ask you guys aboutyour first job that you ever
had, so manpower into employment.
So, tyler, I'm going to ask you, what was your first job that
you ever had?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
My first job was actually at Joe's Pizza.
Okay, when I was in high schoolI was a dishwasher down there
where the Cordial Cork's at.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Right, I remember that Northeast Street.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
That was my first job , so what was your?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
job there.
What did you do?
I was a dishwasher Dishwasher.
You ever got elevated up tomaking pizzas or anything like
that dishwasher.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
You ever got to elevate it up to making pizzas
or anything like that.
No, I was only there.
I was only there about a year.
Um, I started when I was like15, 16.
And then my senior year, Iended up getting into a program,
uh, where I was working duringschool.
Uh, so I actually went to workfor my grandpa for a year, for
my education, for while I was inschool, all right, so I was
only there about a year, so Ididn't have a lot of room to
(03:25):
move up to management oranything like that.
There wasn't too many managerpositions either, though.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
No, but I remember Joe's Pizza.
I remember going there forlunch.
They had this buffet atlunchtime and stuff.
Yeah, it was good pizza, it wasgood.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I started right when Phil Quinn and Jason Whitney
bought it Okay.
They were the ones that Jasonwas my swim coach with Phil's
ex-wife yeah, and then that'show I got the jobs through them
Great.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Matt, how about you?
My first real job was at MCL.
All right, yeah.
So I think I was 15 and gotstarted as a as a busser and did
that for a little while.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think that was my wife's first job.
I think maybe with salads orsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I think that was a lot of people's first jobs.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people worked there
and needed a lot of hands ondeck there going down the line
and people back in the backserving food.
Yeah, it's kind of sad that along-term place like that no
longer is in town.
I think a lot of people enjoyedgoing there and they had a lot
of meetings there too, back inthe meeting rooms.
(04:32):
So, yeah, well, thanks forsharing that guys.
Let's start a little bit.
Tyler maybe.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about yourself, family
upbringing, where?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
you're from?
Well, I'm from the Wayne Countyarea.
Ok, I've been around herepretty much my whole life.
I did leave a few years in 2009to 2010.
I went to Afghanistan, ok, andthen when I came back, I moved
to Lafayette, indiana, for acouple of years and then I moved
to Rock Island, illinois, area.
(05:08):
I was part of the Quad Cities.
I actually lived in Iowa, but Iworked on the arsenal with
Wounded Warriors.
We would, if you don't know muchabout that, what would happen
is, if a soldier got injuredoverseas, they would go to a
warrior transition unit, whichwould be like Fort Knox or you
know one of the major bases, andthen, if it's somebody that's
(05:29):
going to continue through theprogram, then they would, um,
they would come to a communitybased where transition unit
where we would have them for aweek and in process and process
them, get them.
We would try to help them lineup a job for when they get back
to their home, because what theydo when they left us was they
would go back to where they werefrom, they would start getting,
you know, a job and they wouldstart going through the process
(05:50):
to go get medically dischargedand then in 2014, my uh, my job
in the military changed and theybrought me back to Indiana, so
I've been back here since then.
Okay, so how many years totaldid you serve?
I actually served 12 years andI actually was.
Um, I actually have a medicaldischarge from the military
myself, okay, all right, wow, 12years, that's a.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
That's a pretty big commitment there it was.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
It was a long time.
I definitely I had plans to.
I enjoyed it.
I wanted to.
I wanted to stick it out, butthe last few years when I was
going through my medical stuff,I became non-deployable, and
that's not what I wanted.
I wanted to be able to deployif I could.
So I finally decided to goahead and go the medical route
(06:37):
because of everything that wasgoing on.
What was the branch?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I was in the Army National Guard.
Army National Guard, great Matt, how about yourself?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Born and raised in Richmond, was here for until
about 2009 with my wife.
Then we moved out to Nevada andI got started in law
enforcement in Nevada.
I spent three years as a statetrooper with the Nevada Highway
Patrol in the Las Vegas SouthernCommand area, did that 2015,.
(07:10):
We came back, was hired withthe police department and spent
nine years with the policedepartment, as you know,
attaining a lieutenant positionor rank as lieutenant, and had
an opportunity to go back intothe private sector and took it
so your total service in lawenforcement spanned how many
(07:33):
years?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
12.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
12 years, 12 years in law enforcement, very proud of
everything that I did and allthe people that I worked with,
tyler included, and still havingthe opportunity to be part of
the FOP and helping lead the FOPwith Tyler and Scott Glover has
really been great.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
So what was the draw in the law enforcement for you
guys?
I mean it seems like there's alot of guys in the military they
go into law enforcement.
I mean it's not exclusive, butit seems like that's a good
transition for you guys.
I mean it seems like there's alot of guys in the military they
go into law enforcement.
Not, I mean it's not exclusive,but it seems like that's a good
transition for a lot.
It's a natural, naturaltransition for some.
Uh, so I don't know if that wasjust a way to kind of stay in
that similar line of work orwhat drew you into it.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I would say that you know that's.
That's a pretty accuratestatement, um, for me, I mean
the cliche answer of you know,I've always wanted to be a cop.
That's what I wanted from as akid.
Um, you know, I, I've the way I, the way that I like to explain
it is, you know, I, I served inthe military, I served the
country and I, you know, when Iwas done with that, I thought it
was time to serve my community.
(08:40):
Um, and you know, as I said, Iwanted to be, I've wanted to be
a cop for a long time.
So, like you said, naturaltransition into becoming a cop.
Um, you know, you can't find any.
Any military person you talk toum will pretty much tell you
that you can't.
It's hard to find thatbrotherhood that you had, you
(09:01):
know, overseas, or even just inthe military, if you were active
duty, things like that.
And since I've been here, youknow, I've been able to find
that brother.
I've been able to find thatbrotherhood again and it's, you
know it's not the same, but it'sstill a brotherhood.
That's right there for you,yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
How about you, Matt?
What drew you into lawenforcement?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
That's always the Miss America question right, I
mean you know you're asked thatin interviews and you know
people outside always ask thatFor me, I never thought I would
be in law enforcement.
It was never something that wasreally on my radar.
I have family that's in lawenforcement.
My brother's a captain withRichmond, so he's been doing it
for his entire lifetime, sincehe was able to.
(09:44):
My father was a police officerwith Richmond, so it never
really was on my radar to dothat.
I always wanted to do otherthings and about 2008, something
just clicked for me that whereI wanted to be more of a
contributor to the community,whether that was here or
(10:07):
somewhere else we made the moveand I saw the professionalism
that was in Nevada with thehighway patrol, did some
ride-alongs and decided that'swhere I wanted to go.
And then, knowing that we weregoing to come back to Richmond,
um, at some point, um, andknowing that not only growing up
(10:31):
here but the ability to servethe community, um, that that had
you know I'd been part ofpreviously was was very
important to me.
You know there's lots of otherplaces to be a police officer,
but there's something aboutserving your hometown that
really, really is a draw.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
All right well, I promise to get the cops and kids
in a minute, but I just find it.
I mean, I'm just reallyintrigued by it.
I mean, I've actually had twodifferent law enforcement former
law enforcement officers workfor me in my office, and so I've
had conversations with themabout their jobs.
So I'm just kind of intrigued,and one of the things that I
(11:15):
especially maybe you, tyler, andyou can probably still relate
to it, matt, probably stillrelate to it, matt is just what
I really sense from both of youthat you know a good, a good big
part of why you got into lawenforcement is just serving
others.
A question I have would be,though like what do you find
(11:38):
some of the challenges you knowtaking on that role in the
community?
You're still in it and you werein it, matt.
I mean what?
What are some of the challengesthat that you're kind of facing
each day right now?
That's a fair question.
It's kind of a loaded question.
Yeah, I know that's what thatone is.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
It can all be loaded.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Yeah, I mean you look at law enforcement as a whole,
across the nation, across theworld, and there are a lot of
times when things happen andwe're seen negatively.
That's always going to be yourbiggest hurdle that you've got
to try to get over.
A lot of people see the uniformas everybody, it's not just an
(12:25):
individual, Um, so that's,that's one of the big hurdles
that we have to try to.
Everybody across the nation hasto try to worry.
You know work through isgetting people to understand
that.
You know, yes, we do have badapples in our, you know, in our
profession, Um, and it's, it'sthat way in every profession.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Absolutely From anywhere, from somebody working
in a factory to somebody who's aclergy member, even I mean it
spans everything.
So, it's not really fair topoint to one particular
profession because there's good.
I mean it's, I think, too muchin the spiritual realm, but it's
a sinful world, so I mean it'snot exclusive to anything.
(13:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And you know I mean everything.
Everything is recorded thesedays, yeah, so it doesn't matter
if you know what you're doing,right or wrong, it's going to be
recorded.
Those are some of the bighurdles there.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah, how about you, matt?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Did you experience when you were?
Well, I think trying to be theindividualistic person you know
as a law enforcement officer isvery difficult, but you have
society in general who wants tosee the action.
They want to see the thingsthat are could potentially be
(13:45):
more difficult to watch for somepeople.
They want the sensationalism ofit and they don't see the good
things that police officers doas often as maybe what looks
better on video, right, becausedoing a good deed does not look
good on video, right, it'sboring, it doesn't get the,
(14:06):
doesn't get the clicks, doesn'tget the viewership.
You know that kind of stuff, asyou know pursuits or you know
fights, that kind of stuff,right.
So officers that do amazingwork every day, day in and day
out, every time that they thatthey go on duty, that's not
(14:27):
always seen.
So that is the hardest hurdle.
One of the hardest hurdles toget society to see is the
goodness that happens with lawenforcement.
So you know, I every, everyofficer across the nation tries
to do right by the people thatthey serve every day, but that's
(14:50):
just not seen.
Yeah, absolutely, I mean.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I've had a lot of great experiences with law
enforcement over my 30 plusyears at Manpower.
Just because we deal exclusivelywith people power, just because
we deal exclusively with peopleand I we have worked at least
during my time thousands ofdifferent people, yeah, and
sometimes we've had individualscome into the office who were
(15:15):
troublesome or creating an issueand it could be mental health
issues, it could be all kinds ofthings why their behavior was
that way.
But we've had to make some phonecalls and so they've always
(15:41):
responded immediately and beenvery helpful.
And I remember once that I forsome reason had left our offices
right in the downtown area andit was really late at night and
for some reason we found outthat the building had been
totally left open and I was alittle leery going in there just
to find out, just to lockeverything up.
(16:01):
And so I I called into thedepartment and, uh, they had a
couple of guys there right awayjust coming in, walking through
the building, make sureeverything was okay.
And I could go through allkinds of different stories over
over the years, but you know,it's kind of led me.
One thing I wanted to ask ishow can we, as citizens, help
and support law enforcementofficers better.
(16:22):
Maybe you don't get you knowways that we can support you all
in what you do.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I'll kind of go back to what Matt was saying.
You know, understand that.
You know we understand thatthere are, you know, as I said,
bad apples in our profession.
But you know, as Matt said, wedo, you know the majority of
police officers do what they canto do the right thing, day in
and day out.
(16:54):
And I think the biggest thingis just understanding, um.
You know we're human too, um,just because we're in a
profession where you know we seeyou, um, and in some of the you
know some of the worstsituations that somebody is
dealing with, um, we're stillhuman, um, and we do make
mistakes.
I think that's the biggestthing.
(17:15):
One of the biggest things Icould see is just understanding
that you know we do makemistakes because we are human,
right, right.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And the majority of decisions that are made are made
with the information that wehave at the time.
This is one of the onlyprofessions where you don't have
time to ponder and research andthink about what you can do.
You know it's, it's decisionsthat have to be made.
(17:43):
You know it's the cliche splitsecond decisions, but a lot of
times that's what it is.
You know and it's so.
It's the information that wehave in front of us.
We, we, we don't know what'shappened 40 years ago, you know,
or or everything that's leadingup to it.
We officers now deal with whatthey're handed, you know.
So, so, understanding that wehave to make those decisions, um
(18:04):
, and I still say we because youknow, just, that's just what
comes out, it's always going tobe part of your life, right?
Um, but they they're.
They're making decisions withwhat they have, right, and it
could change if the situationchanges itself.
You know, they're alwaysdynamic situations.
So just understanding thatthose decisions aren't based on
(18:28):
anything except what's in frontof them, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You know, when I think about your role in the
community, I continue to go backto the statement to protect and
to serve and uh, I, I think uhmany of us fail to remember that
you are, you're putting yourlife on the line every day and
uh it, you know, came reallyreal for our community when
sierra burton lost her life inthe line of duty about two years
(18:53):
ago.
Right, we're about, we're at thetwo-year mark.
You know, just by.
You know, standing on roadsaddressing traffic violators,
responding to a distressedvehicle, you know you're out
there on the side of the roadresponding to calls, knocking on
a door that you don't knowwhat's on the other side of that
door, inserting yourself in themiddle of a disturbance, people
(19:16):
not being cooperative, you know, and simply just by putting on
your uniform, like certainperceptions people have and just
they see the uniform assomething negative and I
obviously don't feel that way,and I think the majority of
people don't.
But it's just, there's justthis niche in the society and
(19:37):
it's been exacerbated in media,I think, to a certain point.
So I really appreciate whatyou're doing, what you've done,
and just thank you guys so muchfor serving our communities in
that way.
Thank you.
And for serving our country for12 years.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Appreciate that.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Absolutely.
So let's talk about Cops andKids now.
Let's just lighten it up just alittle bit.
So let's talk about what theprogram is.
I'm sure not everybody knows,so that's part of what we wanted
to do today is bring some lightto the program.
So tell us about Cops and Kidswhat it is, so, so tell us about
Cops and Kids what it is.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
So, cops and Kids, I mean it's been around for a long
time.
I can't give you, you know, Ihave no clue when it actually
started, but what it is is wetake less fortunate children in
(20:37):
our community that maybe not,maybe, you know, maybe their
family's going through a hardtime, um, maybe that you know
something happened right beforeChristmas, things like that.
Uh, and what we do is we bringthem to the Richmond police
department, um, and then we give, we have this, the child or the
student, whoever goes with anofficer, actually in their
vehicle and the officer willdrive them to what we we use,
meyer, okay, and we'll drivethem with our lights and sirens,
(21:00):
a big parade all the way upthere.
You know, the kids love, allkids love seeing lights and
sirens and they, like you know alot of them.
The last few years I've noticedwe're starting to get more and
more talking on the radio to ourdispatchers.
They just they love being ableto do that.
And then, once we get to Meyerwhich Meyer has been really
great with us the last couple ofyears Um, meyer actually has,
(21:22):
you know, they have, they haveSanta, they've got reindeer.
They and then they provide us.
The last couple of years we'vedone a lunch where they'll
provide the children, thechildren lunch.
Um, after lunch we will willthe officer that they rode to
Meijer with.
We'll actually take them aroundMeijer and take them shopping.
It's not just for toys, it'snot just for clothes, it's
(21:44):
whatever they need.
We do usually have the parentthere with them, that way that
they can get the things theyabsolutely need, right just a
little guidance.
Yeah, and then you know,obviously we like to get them
the toys too, though you knowit's always good for them to get
some toys around that time andhave some fun.
So the kids seem to reallyenjoy it, the ones that we've
(22:05):
dealt with the last few years.
But yeah, that's pretty much it.
What's the age group?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
that this falls into typically.
Who does it?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Typically up through fifth grade.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Yeah, I think we do.
I think the oldest that we'vehad in the last few years.
I want to say we maybe had likea 16-year-old and it was more
of a.
That was more of a family.
A family had a how do I want tosay it?
There was an incident and afamily needed some assistance
(22:41):
right before Christmas.
So we added them to our listand I think they had like a
16-year-old, but it's usually upto junior high, about sixth or
seventh grade, all the way downto kindergarten about sixth or
seventh grade, all the way downto kindergarten.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
We mentioned it at the beginning of our discussion
that community and schoolsidentifies the students for you,
the kids for you, so I don'tknow when that process starts
that process actually hasalready started.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Okay, I reach out to.
A few years ago I was actuallyreaching out to each individual
communities and schools, liaisonat all the schools in the
county.
Okay, but in the last couple ofyears I started reaching out
through the communities andschools.
I guess office, yes, and spoketo the last year.
I spoke to Katie Steven andthen this year she gave me
(23:32):
another name to reach out to andso I've already Susan Miller or
somebody else.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I honestly don't remember the name.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
But so I've already sent an email to them explaining
what we need, what we'relooking for, and then they'll
reach out to all the communitiesand schools, liaisons at the
schools.
That way they can decide.
You know, they're the ones,like I said, they're the ones
that deal with the studentsevery day.
They're the ones that see thethings that we don't see.
So that's why we go throughthem for that.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
So what's the tally?
How many kids are we talkingabout annually?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
It depends.
Like I said last year, the lastcouple years we've had some
incidents right before Christmaswhere we've added a couple
students or a family, but themajority of the time what I like
to see is that, because I liketo see multiple students.
That way we can spread thewealth, but it's usually about
(24:35):
two kids per school in theentire County.
Okay, so it's about it's usuallyit's, it's about 20 kids, um,
and then you know we that thatleaves us a little bit of room
to play, uh, to add somebody ifwe have to at the last minute.
What's the budget?
What's their shopping budget?
Uh, currently, the last fewyears, I think we've done, I
(24:56):
think it's two, 50.
Wow, Um, you know, and you knowwe, we uh, matt and Scott and I
actually talked um, as he said,scott Glover, he's our vice
president.
Uh, we actually talked recentlywhere you know we would like to
be able to provide them alittle bit more.
Um, just because you know we, weunderstand that their family,
there's families that are goingthrough hard times and if they,
(25:18):
you know if we can, whatever wecan do to help, but it's usually
about 250 dollars per per child.
And then you know you get yourofficers that just enjoy this so
much so they're going to spendtheir own personal money to get
that extra stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I'm sure that's sweet yeah, I mean $250 sounds like a
nice number, but I'm sure onceyou get it in the cart it
doesn't look like much.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah, it goes fast sometimes, oh, absolutely,
especially when all they want istoys.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
One of those big, huge Lego sets can eat it up
pretty fast yeah.
How can the public help andsupport the program?
I don't know if you get muchpublic support I know you do.
You shared with me earlierbefore today that you have a
golf outing and do all thoseproceeds go to cops and kids?
Yes, from that outing every um.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
So starting in january, I try to send it out.
In january um, I sent out aletter explaining what it is,
what the tournament's for Um,and and we raise funds through
the, through the golf tournament, and you know that money is set
aside for the shop of the copor the cops and kids event.
Um, you know we've got we getbig sponsors.
(26:30):
You know BNF, plasticastics,vfw, places like that they're
giving us.
You know they've become ourevent sponsors over the last
couple years that you know theydonate those big monies to us to
be able to do that.
But it's not just that.
We take donations year-round.
You know anything that somebodyfeels like they would love to
(26:56):
donate, so they donatemonetarily, even toys or
clothing, food, things like that.
I don't see why we wouldn'ttake that Okay.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
But quite candidly, I guess the money, just cash,
helps you, gives you a lot moreflexibility to identify exactly
what the kids need.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah, that's the big thing is.
You know, like I said, we takethem and we take them shopping.
That's what we do with them.
So you know, the monetarydonations are how we run this
program.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So I'm doing the math in my head a little bit, but
that's probably a budget of alittle over 20,000.
Oh, amen, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Talking about, talking about for the event
itself.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, no, for the your four kids would be a
thousand.
So if you've got 20, be what?
Five thousand?
It's about five thousand.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
It's between five plus.
Yeah, it's between five andusually five and six thousand is
what we spend.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
How much is your out, your outing, normally bring in?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
uh, you know you don't have no well, I mean, it
just depends on on the wholesponsors that we get each year
right.
Um, you know, we normally havea couple like bnF plastics.
They've donated every year.
Um, for I've been in charge ofthe golf tournament for I think
three years now.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
And and.
But even before I took over,I'm pretty sure that they
they've donated as an eventsponsor for that many years.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Um well, Justin Scheibman.
He used to be an officer on thefloor, so I'm sure that's close
to his his heart.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
He's one of the.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
He's one of our main donors yeah, I'm sure they do a
lot in the community.
Anything else to?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
add yeah, Um, we, we average probably 3000, um profit
roughly from the, the golftournament, um, you know, and
then and then the variousdonations throughout the year.
But, um, the more that our, ourcommunity supports this um, you
know, with the monetarydonations, certainly means that
we could offer, you know, moreassistance to more families, um,
(29:04):
throughout the holiday and andreally make this a huge program
for the community.
And that's what we, like, Iwould say, out of everything
that I've done, and I thinkTyler could probably join on
this.
Is these kids coming in.
(29:26):
They're a little shy at thebeginning, right, they're kind
of like, oh, I don't know,because we, we pair them up, you
know, call them to the front atthe city building with, you
know, and they meet the officerand we kind of talk to them and
they're not real, you knowthey're, they're, they're just
shy, right, they're, they'rekids.
But once we get them to the car, we start, you know, taking
(29:46):
them to that they can play withthe lights, all that kind of
stuff.
They start getting morecomfortable in there and seeing
the joy on these kids' faces andmaybe their initial shyness,
that just goes away whenever weget there and they, you know,
they see that, you know, we'vegot Santa, they've got food, you
know, and then and then theyget the opportunity to shop and
(30:09):
pick the things that they want.
And just seeing the joy intheir faces, that is the
absolute best thing that I'vedone in my 12-year career.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I would think also something positive that comes
out of it is you don't knowwhat's been what these kids have
been told about law enforcementor seen about law enforcement
or whatever, but when they theyget this kind of interaction
with you guys, I'm sure it'sjust a way of saying hey these.
(30:43):
it puts you in a a lightdifferent than what, what there
could be some preconceivedperceptions of what police
officers like.
So you know it's a realpositive, nurturing type of
experience and I think thatprobably helpfully pays some
dividends too.
That's not your goal, but Ithink that's probably a
byproduct.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I would say, possibly , you know, it could be that
maybe they had a bad experiencewith this.
Like I said, we do, you know itcould be that they, you know,
maybe they had a bad experiencewith us.
Like I said, we do, you know,up to junior high age maybe
they've had a bad experiencewith us.
But we do our best to bringthat joy to them and I think,
like Matt said, the longerthey're with us throughout the
day, they, you know, they startopening up and they start
(31:27):
understanding.
As I said earlier, we're humantoo.
You know we're here to helpthem and and and, and we try to
tell them, you know, if you needsomething from us, you can
always come to us.
So that's, you know.
That's one of the big things.
I, you know, I think you'reright, it might, but you know
(31:51):
the like kind of, of, like yousaid earlier talking about the
society's views on us.
Right now it's still out there,but you know if we can have
these conversations with themduring these events.
And I think you know anotherbig event that happens
throughout the year is theNational Night Out, where we,
you know, I know that DetectivePat Tudor and, I think, officer
Tyler Hobbs ran that one thisyear.
Those are the big events wherethey can see that you know we
are just like them, we're justhumans, and you know we'll hang
(32:15):
out with them, we'll talk tothem, you know we'll play sports
with them.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
I think another interaction has maybe changed.
I mean, my kids are like late20s and early 30s but they both
went to safety town and Iremember one of their big
interactions was with lawenforcement.
It may not be the same now.
I hope it is.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I think it's called Safety Village now Safety
Village, and I do know thatthere are multiple events
throughout the year where, likeI know that our SWAT team brings
the SWAT bus, they get a jumpup in the SWAT bus, you know,
there's always it's the policeand communities together.
It's the PAC division which isran by, or it's not.
(33:00):
It's a detective tutor andofficer Hobbs are big, big into
that.
That's what they do is they doa lot of events with the
children.
So they're doing more now thanwe've done in the last few years
.
I think they've probably had Imean, I know our department's
posting it all the time wherethey're out at schools and
(33:21):
visiting with them.
So you're right, it's becoming.
The safety village is stillthere, but it's not just that
now.
I mean we have the policingcommunities together, so they're
, you know, detective tutor andofficer hobbs are definitely out
there interacting with them alot more than than we used to be
.
Yeah, because these spaces.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
These are the kid.
The kids in this program are atrisk and they may have seen mom
or dad handcuffed in their homeand thinking, put in a police
car, I mean it very well couldhave happened.
So this uh helps, gives anopportunity to see uh, you guys
and and gals in a differentlight.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
So yeah, I've, definitely in the program itself
.
I've, I've, I know of familiesin that situation.
Hopefully they're young enoughthat they don't remember those
things but, like you said,hopefully they're seeing us in a
different light andunderstanding that that's not
just what we're about.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Absolutely.
We talked before we startedabout how people can contribute.
So if folks would make, it'd bebetter.
If they make a check would bebest right, check or cash Okay.
And if they do write a check,it would be to the somewhere
(34:40):
near the John Henniger FOP Lodge63.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
And we'll put that up on the screen when this goes
out.
And if they want to mailsomething in, they could go to
the lodge at PO Box 423,richmond, 47375.
Yes, that's correct.
But you can drop it by thepolice department or if you want
to bring it by manpower, we'llbring it over to you guys.
(35:05):
So if it's easier to, we have akind of drive-through at
manpower.
So if someone wants to make acontribution and drop us a
drive-through, we'll bring it toyou, we'll help out and bring
it over to you guys as well soanyway, really appreciate the
program, what you guys are doing, any other things you want to
share about the program or put aplug in while I got you here.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
I don't think so it does happen.
You know.
I don't think we talked aboutit, but it happens every
December.
Okay, it's at the beginning ofDecember.
That way, you know, they havesomething.
You know, I know it's not rightaround Christmas, but it's kind
of how we've done it in thelast few years and it just seems
to be easier to do it at thebeginning of December.
And that way, you know, I'msure these families are doing
(35:51):
things around around Christmastime.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So Well, shout out to all the companies that help
support this through the golfouting and and thank you, myers,
for your contribution to thisprogram Looks like they've
really stepped up, continue todo more and more with it, so
that's great that they'resupporting the community in this
way.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Myers has been a great um.
You know I will say we did, wedid uh, my understanding is, for
a while we started this programI think I've just found out it
was like 20, roughly 24 yearsago uh, for our lodge Um, uh for
our lodge Um, and I believe fora while they were going to
Meyer and then they left Meyerfor a little while.
(36:31):
So we were going to Walmart Um,and then we just recently,
three years ago, started goingback to Meyer Um, and you know
both places have always beenthere for us and and provided,
you know, provided those meals,and you know they they enjoy it,
the.
You know, we talk about the joyon the, on the faces of the
children, the joy on the facesof the children, the joy on the
faces of the workers that arethere that day.
They're just as happy to seethe kids in there and that's a
(36:55):
big thing is seeing that they'rethere for them too.
Well, vampire's got a check foryou guys today, so appreciate
what you're doing.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Appreciate that, after I hear what you're
spending on the kids, we mayhave to bump up a little bit
more.
Appreciate that.
Appreciate that, after I hearwhat you're spending on the kids
, we may have to bump up alittle bit more.
Appreciate that, thank you.
But uh, appreciate, uh, tylermatt, what you guys are doing
with the program and and itmeans a lot to our community and
we just need to people need toknow more about these things
going on, and so I'm glad youguys came on, agreed to do this
today and so we could spotlightthat.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
so yeah, so I mean, since we're talking about things
that we're doing with eventslike this, uh, you know we are,
we are we're you know that we'rea fraternal order of the police
, but we actually do sponsor, uh, local teams, um, and that's
something that we're we haven'tdone in a few years, um, and and
I I honestly couldn't tell youwhy we haven't Um, I haven't had
(37:47):
anybody reach out to me.
Uh, this is the first year thatwe we just actually um approved
a, a donation for a sports team, uh, last month.
Um, so you know, that'ssomething else that we're
looking at doing more assponsoring, uh you know, youth
sports teams throughout theentire year.
Um, you know, we can't promisethat we can do every team or
(38:07):
every sport, but we are wantingto start doing that as well.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Thanks for sharing that Well, thanks, guys
Appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
Thank you for talking to you.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
So whatever platform you're watching or listening to
today, please spread the word,like and share, and subscribe to
the Hub.
We'd love to have you followingus on a regular basis.
So great Thanks guys.
Thanks, mike, appreciate it.
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
(38:38):
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
(38:58):
Let us help.
Contact Manpower today.
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