(KMN) 10.3: State of Mind - Hour 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is seven o five here on a Friday morning.
You know what that means. We've got Dwight Mitchell with
us here in studio. Happy Friday, my friend.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning, Nick.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Always happy to have you here, especially when you're fresh off,
fresh off a nice little trip, so appreciate you stopping
in as always. And it is now one year on
the job for Chief Humphrey, and you have been again.
I always hate making you sound like a dinosaur, but
you've been around a long time. You've been doing this
a while and there have been many different leaders in
that position over time. So far in year one, it

(00:30):
seems as if not only are there good numbers, which
we'll get into, as far as just some specific crimes
being down, some substantially from previous years, but it seems
as if there's just good energy right now within the department.
And I guess that starts with leadership.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Right it always does.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
And you know, finally having some stability is helped within
the last I guess since two thousand and twenty, you know,
we've had five different chiefs including him, so for him
to get through a year and having some goals that
he had set and was able to reach, many of them.
But as he said, you know, there's no finish line

(01:07):
because there's never going to be any shortage of crazy makers,
of people who are going to do wrong, So we're
always going to be gainfully employed. But through that process
we have to evob and that's what we're doing. And
I'm very proud of what's taking place with LMPD and
the leadership that's currently in place.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
And when I heard no finish line, I thought that's
the best way to quickly sort of summarize. Yes, you
should balance the good that is happening, not only because
it's good information for the community to have, but I
feel like it's also good for your team at LMPD
to recognize. And I don't even know if you could

(01:46):
you can call them small victories, but it is progress
and that can only help build and and and you
can grow from that. But there's never gonna be a
scenario where everything's okay, we got the job done. We're
just gonna you know, be casual and no longer do
what we do. That's just not what what law enforcement is.
And I think the no finish line is a good
way to describe it, because you know, with with work

(02:07):
that needed to be done, and again progress is being
made that that should be acknowledged. But no matter what,
there's always going to be. As you said, you guys
are going to always be gainfully employed because of just
because of that's how things are, right.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Unfortunately, that's the way it is.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
But you know a lot of times, whenever you have
a plan, you always you know, have a finished plan
where you think you want to be. But the tragedy
in life is not reaching for the stars. It's never
having any stars to reach for. And one thing I
told my sons many years ago, and there was a
quote from doctor Benjamin Mays who was the president of

(02:41):
Morehouse College and he was the mentor to doctor Martin
Luther King, and the motto was, the men at Morehouse,
we put a crown above their heads and hope.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
They grow tall enough to wear it someday.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
And I believe those are the goals that we have
at LMPD, that we're trying to put a crown above
our office here, that they grow tallant to work someday,
to do the job, to do it in a professional way.
We're very transparent, you know, we use that term a
whole lot.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
I'm not sure exactly what all of that means.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
But we have more data that's out there than it's
ever been that anybody who wants to take the time
to find out what's going on in their community, it's
right at their fingertips to know all of that. And
our officers have been put in places where we're seeing
most of the activity are self initiated activities up among
officers too on patrol, and I think a lot of

(03:34):
that's having to do what they're feeling comfortable in terms
of they able to do their jobs and somebody's not
looking over their shoulders, because it matters a lot in
any profession.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
It's human element. It is you guys are human beings,
not robots, right.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
And when you feel like you have the freedom and
the latitude to do what you need to do, that's
provided that you do within the parameters that are set
for us.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
And that's always issue.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
You know, some people do it on one side and
some people do it on the other side, and then
there's the gray.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Area and that's we're usually where people get in trouble.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
So you you mentioned transparency and and uh that there
can be different ways people view that. Another another word
that just comes to me that that when you when
you think comfortable, it seems to be you know, relaxed,
and you know you're you're at ease, you're you're you're resting,
And I think you no matter what it is you do,
if you're comfortable doing it, you are going to more

(04:29):
loosely execute that better. And as an officer, if you're
more comfortable in the job because you're not looking over
your shoulder, that gives you the better ability to do
what you're trained to do and not overthink it. That's
always what's what I tell people not to not to
at all relate what I do compared to what law
enforcement does. But being comfortable on the air is the
biggest thing. If you're not a you can't you can't execute,

(04:49):
So that that that goes That makes a lot of
sense as far as just not having to worry about that.
It gives you a chance to execute better and what
it is you do as an officer. Now back to transparency,
I think ninety nine percent of law enforcement, I would say,
in ninety nine percent of instances, you love that you
have the transparency now to show people with bodycams and whatnot.

(05:12):
I will say my entire you know, not that I
had any preconceived and never really thought about it. But
now that there's access to bodycam footage of any real stop,
if you if if if you access it, some of
it becomes news because of the story. But you will
see firsthand that more often than not, way more often
than not, law enforcement treats people the right way. And

(05:34):
and they're they're lucky, they're they're happy that the body
cam is there so they can so they can document that, Hey,
we're just doing our jobs and we're not looking to
give you any trouble.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
More often than not, no, and and a lot of
times the reactions of office is are basically on the
actions of what the person is doing at that time.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
And nine out of ten times or maybe more.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
And so you know, the one or two times that
it does happen that we may be at fault, you know,
obviously that gets the headlines and this ship we should
be screwed.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
And and that's healthy for that to you know, I'm
sure again it's not to you would never want certain
things like that to actually occur. But now that there's transparency,
whenever it does, it can keep people accountable, which is
what you which is what you want.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yes, and we don't mind that, you know, because you know,
it's it's like I said, it's more transparent than it's
ever been.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
And that's a good thing, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
And it took officers a while, you know, when we
first got the body cam say, oh.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
My god, it's just different, different world, really it is.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
But now every officer that comes out and expects that. Sure,
so we're ebobbing just like any profession does. And I'm
on October the first couple of days ago starts my
forty first year with the police.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Forty four years. Congratulations, that's uh forty one. Oh oh
think you said forty four. I'm sorry for it, and
I'm making you older then then you already.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
And I don't mind being older because you know, I'm
at the old age of youth and the youth of
old age.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
That's where I'm okay, and I like Ryan, so forty
one years, Yes, that is amazing. I mean, there can't
be many that have had that type of tenure, right.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
You know, Back in the day, the big thing for
officers was my first came out, meant was to stay
thirty years because that was kind of like the pinnacle
of w.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Thirty years of doing anything is a heck of a run,
especially that job.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's evolved and over time, and.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
It's a very difficult job to do, but it's rewarding
and now you can leave a little sooner, and officers
do it, and many of them are so educated and
go into other professions once they do leave the police
department through retirement, so come back because of the expertise
that they've gotten in the training they've gotten over the years.
So it's a beautiful thing. You know, it's a calling

(07:45):
like it is to any profession. And you know, we're
always looking for men and women to join our ranks
as becoming up. They have recruit classes today, you know
it's coming that one why largers are soon I'm not
sure I've been off a few days, you know, of
seeing some numbers come in another large class, yes, and officers,
some retirees are coming back, you know, as as a

(08:08):
result of that.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
So well, that actually leads me to my next question,
because I'm sure if you do end up putting in
however many years it is, and you're going to either
retire or just going to something different, I'm sure a
lot of those different avenues that that officers take there's
a lot. I mean, they probably know which direction they
want to go in because of things that they learned
upon their their law enforcement career.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yes, and many of them have degrees in other fields
and just chose a law enforcement and some of them
have law enforcement degrees and take that to do other things.
But yes, you know, some of the mediums that they've
been able to be exposed to, they can take them
to other industries and the other professions, and so it's
all good.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
There's a lot of layers to it as far as
just different things that you can experience. And I'm sure
there's many people within within within law enforcement overall that
have ended up in roles they never even really knew
much about or ever thought they would be doing. But
they found their calling, they found what fits them.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Best, right right, and and that's the good time.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
I think you're probably an example of that was it is.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
I'm a living witness to the fact that that that
can happen, and it's all good.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
So again, one year is the official chief. Obviously he
was the intern in chief for quite some time for
Paul Humphrey. And again back to the transparency think another
thing that I again out of sight out of mind,
never would have thought about it, but sometimes you wish
who could be more transparent, But just because of process
of legal legality stuff correct at times, you know you can.

(09:34):
And that's I only bring that up just to say
because I think I'm probably not alone and not really
thinking about that that Hey, look, we'd love to be
able to give you more information because it would make
a little more sense. It would sort of maybe, you know,
give you a big piece to this puzzle. But you know,
doe process and everything else, like we we're not at
liberty to do that. And that would be for me
in my personality, knowing how I'm wired, that'd be really
tough for me. Whenever you know there's certain there's certain

(09:57):
opinions formed or or speculate and and and really that
could be settled. But you know, you gotta you gotta
let that do what it's gonna do, because you got
to you got a job to do. You got to
make sure that you're doing it by the book, and
certain things got to you know, they've got to come
out in a trial or whatever it may be.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Right, you know, the race does not go to the swiftest,
It goes to heath that endure to the end, and
that's kind of where we're at, you know, in certain situations.
And unfortunately, you know, we in an instantaneous society. You know,
we tell a micro wave to Harry up.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yep, never more than now man, Yeah, you said it.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
So that's where we are, all right.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
So last question, you're feeling good about this lower game tomorrow?
It's rare that we've got a ranked Virginia team come
into town, which gives them an opportunity to get a
valuable win.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
And you know, everybody was talking about Clemson at the
beginning to see and that was the game that we
were looking to because you are, you know a lot
of people a race at We're gonna lose in Miami,
you know, and that remains to be seen. Uh, but
we'll see tomorrow. I think the team is starting to
move in a direction where they know the competition gets
stiffer every week. You know, we got a great coaching

(11:01):
staff and good players.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
That second advocates Pittsburgh. Hopefully they can really build off
that because I feel like that's the kind of performance
that could that could end up if they can recreate
that bottle that up, that could lead to a pretty
pretty special season, especially when you look around the ACC
and you look at the league as being outside of Miami.
It's pretty gettable.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
It is.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
And you know, one of the problems with Clemson is
the head coach of Virginia because he was the offensive
coordinator for many years, Tony Elliott. And so you're starting
to see that with he's got to roll out.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
He's got It took him a little while, but they
look really good against the Florida State team last week
sec fools goal.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Sure, they had a great home crowd and they did
what they were supposed to do that day, but Florida
State helped.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, of no doubt, no doubt about it. So we'll see,
we'll see. Dwight is always appreciate she's stopping in and here,
my friends, we'll see yous soon. All right, let's get
to a quick time out. We've got trafficking weather updates
on the way. Again. It's coffee and Company. Filbeth Thornton's
right here on news radio eight forty w h as
if getting less than seven hours of sleep is going
to make us old, I'm in trouble. I think we're

(12:02):
all four of us here are in trouble. Yeah, I will,
is it? Does it have to be?

Speaker 3 (12:06):
Like?

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Can you break it up? Right? If I get it?
If I get an hour two hour nap in and
that gives me seven hours or more in a twenty
four hour window, does that still count? That's an important
distinction because I can't tell you the last time I
slept more than seven hours over or seven hours or
longer overnight, I mean, even the weekends, and I don't.

(12:26):
It's not like, I mean, if I go to bed
at eleven thirty on a Friday night and I'm up
at you know, I don't know, six or six thirty
the next day, it's not as if I'm I mean,
that's it's just kind of normal wake up for me.
Like I'm I'm now programmed to wake up pretty early,
regardless of how late I stay up. If I stay up,

(12:48):
you know, way past midnight, a different situation. But I
don't know. If I tried, I'm sure I could, But
I feel like seven plus hours is. I feel like
it's it's rare for me, and I'm I guess I'm
insecure here? Am I the only one? Because to me,
I don't know the last time I slept longer than

(13:08):
seven hours. It's kind of scary. How long have you
had a week's off vacation since you moved to this shift. Yes,
And I'll tell you what. We went to Destin that
was in the beginning of August, and I couldn't sleep in.
I mean, I would wake, I would wake. It was
really odd because I would wake up almost as if
I was going to do the show, and then I

(13:29):
wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. And I
don't know if it's because I was away from my home,
I was staying. We were staying in a condo, but
I just I got up and didn't think about going
back to bed because I was already awake, and I
enjoyed it. It wasn't like I was miserable. But I guess
that's just what this this shift will do to you.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
And I thought that would happen to mean. But whenever
I'm off, like I will be next week, it's I'll
easily fall.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Back into just a regular sleep period, which is also
kind of scary when you come back, right, Yeah, we'll
get to next Sunday and I'm like, all right, we
got to go back to getting up at three point
thirty in the morning. That's that's what Tony Cruz told me.
And I remember when when Paul Rodgers used to be
in doing sports for the many years he did at
news radio eight forty whas I you know, he would
tell me that it never it never gets easier, like

(14:12):
you never you get used to it, but like you know,
and I'm sure he used different wording, but he basically said,
it still sucks. But he is somebody who he never
had any issue with. Whenever he had the opportunity to
sleep in he could, but he always told me, and
Tony Cruse told me the same thing. It's the getting
back at it after you've been away from it from
a from a week or so. And I can totally

(14:33):
see that being a big, rough adjustment. It's almost like
it's it's the it's the one downside of taking time off, right, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
But I also think it makes it more rewarding to,
you know, have that regular sleep schedule again for several days.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Oh absolutely, Oh, I mean, it's it's a given take
with everything, of course, no doubt about it, no doubt
about it. And I'm sure I'm just in my head
overthinking this. But since making this move, I do think
I look different. And it's not that I've have made
any big changes. In fact, I've actually lost weight and
I don't know why, but my routines rather rather similar

(15:05):
as far as exercise diet. But I've lost a little
bit of weight. But also I have I constantly have
these bags under my eyes. I can't and and it
didn't exist before I was waking when I wasn't waking
up quite as early, it wasn't a thing. And now
I can get, you know, I can get. I can
go to bed at nine o'clock, which isn't isn't common,

(15:26):
but if I did, I would get much more sleep
than I typically do. But I think I would still,
I just can't give it of these bags. So if
anybody has any any you know, remedies, any any home
care routine that could help me, because I just I mean,
and that's what that has anyone else, absolutely, And that's
and that's what makes and that's what makes people look tired,
among other things. That is what stands out. Yeah, and

(15:48):
I'm not telling you something you don't already know. When
I say this, when somebody tells you that you look tired,
they're telling you that you look rough. Yeah, I get
told that a lot of Actually, yeah, you look tired.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Man.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Like last night, I was sitting at dinner with my wife,
looks across the table. She's got our daughter at her lap,
and Daddy's tired tonight. I'm like, well, guess I know
it look like crap. I guess I know. I guess
I know the batteries are running on end. I need
to go rest because you know, yeah, that's one thing
I can't like if I get. If I get that
at the gym and I'm energized, I notice it's not

(16:20):
as bad. But when I wake up, and really when
I leave here and get home, and that's when that's
that's crunch time for me. When I get out of
here and get home. Sometimes it's usually around noon. I
know that I need to rest, but I don't want
to because I know I'm gonna feel like I'm just
gonna lay around. So if I can get like an
hour in of resting rather be falling asleep or just
being off my feet and away from my phone, I
feel much better and I can kind of start a

(16:41):
new day like a second shift of the day, if
you will. But I go look in the mirror and
I'm like, man, these big, humongous puffy bags under my eyes.
Not a good look. But like you said, John, there's
there's give and take, right, there's there's pros and there's
cons to everything. And if there's bags under my eyes
the rest of my life, I guess I'll be okay.
Hopefully my wife doesn't mind. You know, she's the one
who's got to look at me. All right, let's get

(17:03):
to a quick time out. We've got a lot more
to get into, including a recent study that I definitely
want to talk about, and that is what Americans value
when they consider somebody a good neighbor or a bad neighbor.
We'll get to that in a lot more as we
move forward. Don't forget Mayor Greenberg set to join. It's
coming up at eight o'clock right here our news Radio
eight forty whas it's seven forty seven here at news

(17:28):
Radio eight forty WHS. Appreciate you guys hanging out with us.
As we I say, we get the weekend started. I'm
sure some of you are not even at work yet,
so you still got a work day, and I get it.
But look, Friday is a state of mind in the
weekend is here if you want it to be. If not,
you know that's your call, all right. So Mary Greenberg
set to join us, coming up here at eight o'clock.

(17:48):
But one thing I wanted to quickly hit on is
a recent survey I guess it is that tells us
what Americans essentially value in a neighbor. And I've always
had some pretty strong thoughts about this, and I don't
think anybody necessarily disagrees with me. I think what the
disconnect is is that, like, I don't need to speak

(18:10):
to you for you to be a great neighbor. I now,
if we speak and we're friends, we're cordial, that's great.
But like neighbors, to me, the good ones are the
ones who, like they stay out of my way, I
stay out of theirs. There's the occasional way, but like
we don't have to force it. I don't disrupt anything
you got going on, and vice versa. To me, that's
the perfect neighbor. But again, I also have lived in
a neighborhood now where I do see the value in

(18:30):
having neighbors that you are friendly with and whatnot. But
a new survey says nineteen percent of home buyers would
pay ten thousand dollars or more above the price of
a comparable home just to avoid bad neighbors. So I
think that nineteen percent, John, Wouldn't that make you think
that they've had bad experiences with the neighbors that has
to be at because I don't think you really know

(18:51):
until you've been there. Yeah, you don't really.

Speaker 4 (18:53):
I didn't really, I've never had bad neighbors and I
don't really think about it all that much, and not
real quick. I do want to give a shout out
to one of my neighbors. They actually I was sitting
out on the front porch the other day holding my
daughter and he was cutting the grass with his daughter
in his lap, and he.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Was cutting the part of his right there.

Speaker 4 (19:07):
He was cutting the part of his property that's connected
to my house, if that makes sense. But he decided
to keep going and he ended up cutting my whole
front yard for me.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Are like, dude, you didn't have to do that. But
I don't know what I get to deserve it. That's
good neighbors stuff right there.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
It is.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
That's good neighbors. That's awesome. So that's that, That is
the counter to my previous mindset of you know again,
if he didn't do that, he would still be a
good neighbor obviously, But like that's somebody that's a neighbor
looking out for a neighbor man. It's just because that's
what you do. So being neighborly is something I didn't
develop until we were in the neighborhood that we're in now.
But uh, and you're holding your daughter. He's got his

(19:42):
daughter on his lap. I mean that's we had a
very we had a dad moment too. That's like a
that's like a public service father commercial, right, Like just
the just the visual is he's got his he's got
his six month old five month old baby, and uh,
there's another dad out there. He's got a daughter that's
older and they wave to each other. And then as

(20:02):
the dad goes in, the dad on the mower, he
ponders and thinks, you know what, and he doesn't say anything.
The commercial's got in not saying anything. That is he
just cuts the front yard for his neighbor. And then
you find out that he did it, and you just
you have that look of appreciation, and that's like that's
we could be both. It could be being fatherly and
being neighborly. That's a pr commercial right there. That is

(20:23):
that is a really good that's a good example of
just being a good neighbor. It is that's good stuff.
So eighty two percent of Americans say having good neighbors
is just as important as price or location when buying
a home. Qualities that make a good neighbor include being trustworthy, quiet,
maintaining their home and yard, helping when asked, and keeping
to themselves. I think all of those are are important,

(20:45):
but trustworthy came in at number one. That's where I,
you know, everybody should be trustworthy, but I don't even
need our relationship to be to an extent that I'm
thinking about if you're being if you know, if you're trustworthy.
Now again, maybe it comes into like would they steal
from you? Can you trust them not to like go
in your home or something? I don't know that one.
That one, you know again, because trust there's people that

(21:07):
I that I you know, I see day to day.
I know of their existence, but like them, being trustworthy
does not impact me because we're not there in the relationship,
if that makes sense, Like it's not that deep. So,
but fifty six percent say they have had they've had
complaints about neighbors, and nearly forty nine percent have spent
money due to neighbor related issues fins is landscaping legal fees.

(21:27):
When I think of bad neighbors, you know what I
think of Judge Judy because a lot of the cases
in Judge Judy, that's that's it. It's two neighbors that
are fighting. And then there's also a show that I mean,
I'm telling you if you've because I think you and
I right now are in the same spot to where
we never really had a bad situation with a neighbor.
But there's a show called fear Thy Neighbor that has

(21:49):
eleven seasons on the Investigation Discovery Channel, Meaning there are
endless examples of stories to where a neighbor ends up
murdering somebody or you know, something awful happening. So yeah,
if you got good neighbors, you may not even realize it,
but appreciate it because having a bad neighbor, trust me,
it could ruin your life. I mean I don't mean

(22:11):
like to the extent of where they're going to harm you,
but like they could just make your life a living hell.
So maybe this is the day where you learn to
appreciate your neighbor, especially after you hear what John's neighbor
did for him cutting his yard. What a guy, good stuff,
And I hope he's listening. If not, somebody find out
who he is and tell him that we all appreciate
him being a good neighbor, good energy on a Friday.
All right, quick time out. We've got trafficking weather on

(22:32):
the way, another sports updates coming up, and then Mayor
Greenberg set to join us at eight o'clock right here
our news radio eight forty whas