February 20, 2026 • 7 mins
When last we heard from Chris, this was a big part of the conversation in our country -- and it still applies today (both from indoctrination in schools and the perception of law enforcement -- like ICE -- today). So, from April of 2021, here's a great segment featuring Chris on KFAB talking with the now-former police union president, Tony Conner.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Vista Papillion schools. This is the kind of swill
they're pouring into kids' heads.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
In another house, Josh asked his mother. Can police go
to jail? Yes, said his mother. Why do you ask
that white policeman who shot the black man? Said Josh.
Will he go to jail? What he did was wrong?
(00:26):
Said his mother. But he won't go to jail, said
his father. Why not, asked Josh. Cops stick up for
each other, said Josh's brother Malcolm, And they don't like
black men.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Wow, Chris Pigger Radio show. That is from a video
presentation from the book Something Happened in Our Town, which
was apparently read to young children in Papillion La Vista Schools.
Joining us right now is Tony Connor ahead of the
(01:02):
Omaha Police Officers Association. Good afternoon, Tony Connor.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Well, I appreciate you jumping on with us here, Tony.
And you know, once again we have more anti police rhetoric.
This I think is abominable because I think that this
can get young kids killed because you're telling them to
resist the police. As the representative of the police officers union,
(01:32):
how much harder does it make an officer's job. With
this kind of propaganda out there.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
It really adds to the difficultness of our job. Our
job is already difficult enough, but if people have a
preconceived notion that police officers are races or are doing
things based on a person's race, it's only going to
make it that much more of a challenge, you know, Chris,
I'm such a strong voice and the advocate for law enforcement.
It's because of the white officers that I've met in
this job. My best friend is a white We have
(02:01):
different upbringing, different different values and how we grew up,
but we're best friends. I met them in the academy.
But you know what, not just a person I met
in academy, when I met these other police officers that
I work with and is served with over my twenty
one year career, I see men and women of every
background that treat everyone with respect across every corner of
the city. And I see the same thing in international
(02:22):
when I go to national conferences and meet police officers
from across the country. Police officers are the thought of
the some of the best people you ever find, and
to always try to try to make every situation to
a racial situation, and then it teaches this to kids,
it's only going to make our job more difficult and
more challenging. And it's also scary what we should be
teaching our kids, and not especially at this such a
(02:44):
young age. The reality is the only thing a kid
at that age is reading a book like that should
be taught is police officers are there to help you.
That's it to go to a police officer. You find
yourself lost, if you need help, you call nine one one,
You call a police officer. The police officers there to
help you. It's all a child should be taught. You
talk about like teenagers and older children, that's when they
should be taught how to act when they have contact
(03:05):
with the police, how to put your hands on a
steering wheel, how to act when you're stopped by the cops,
and how to cooperate in order to survive those encounters.
That's what should be taught to older children. But some
of these things that are being taught, I don't know
what the mindset is behind this, other than they're trying
to indoctrinize these kids into a into a thought process
that makes every police officers team as if they're races
(03:25):
when that's just not the facts don't support those that narrative.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Tony Connor with the Omaha Police Officers Association on the
Chris Picker radio program, Tony, you do a lot of conferences,
you talk to officers and union officials around the country.
Are are are officers starting to see this as an epidemic?
Because this isn't the first book like this I've seen,
but I'm starting to be very, very concerned that this
(03:54):
is a consistent narrative being taught in our schools around
the country. Are you hearing this?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I am actually hearing exactly that, And that's certainly we
got to remember about five years ago when the Michael
brown in is in happened to Ferguson, Missouri, is when a
lot of this mindset kind of came out and started
kind of coming to the surface. And now you're seeing
even more of that into it. It's unfortunately now penetrating
our schools, this mindset and penetrating young kids. Now, I'm
(04:20):
a father with three kids, uh, and I'm sure a
lot of your listeners are our parents too, that their
kids are going to school in these schools that are
that are that are very diverse, and they're meeting friends
from all different collegors. My kids that never thought, never
talked to me once about race. I got a ten
year old that's never talked once about the race of
her best friend, who happened to be a white girl
in our school. So it's just this idea that race
(04:42):
is is such a factor as it's a narrative that
they want to continue to push. They're trying to indoctrinate
these kids at a young age, so as they get older,
they start believing everything is a racial issue. What will
happen is it's the boy that cried wolf. You're gonna
have those situations where there is true racism, someone has
said or done something as racist, and no one's want
to care because they're sick of hearing it all the time.
(05:05):
Every situation is not a racial situation. And I'm really
like sick of it, and the police officers all across
the country as sick of it.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, and you should be, because, like I said, it
makes your job more difficult, and it's going to get
these kids hurt. It's going to get some kids killed
because some activists placed their chip on their shoulder. And
I'm just curious, but obviously, you know your Omaha Police Department,
But has Papilion La Vista schools or do schools around
(05:34):
this area do they invite officers to come in and
give presentations to kids to show kids that there's a
different way to do things at all.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Well, our School Resource Office here in Omaha have They
will actually present classes to the students. As a matter
of fact, I sat through one of the classes one
of our SRO that Vince and high well he was
I'm not sure if he's still there, but as Rodney Henderson,
he was talking to kids in the men's program about
how to act when you're when you're when you have
contact with the police, exactly what your what your their
(06:06):
responsibility is at citizens when they have contact with the
police and what they also responsibilities are. And it was
a very productive conversation with these young men in this
in this class. So our SROs in Omaha they will
do some of those presentations. I will say this there
there has to be. In my opinion, it's kind of
one us as Police Association leaders to start stepping up
(06:27):
and start fighting pushing back a little bit against some
of this, and we should be pushing for legislation to
force the schools to start teaching the kids the right
things and how to act when they when they have
constant with the police. And also it's one of us
to start teaching our communities too, because the reality is,
I think the more people that understand how to how
to act when they're stopped by the cops, how do
(06:47):
what the what the cops expectations or thought process is
when they're dealing with someone that that's either suspicious or
they're got a radio call for for a suspicious person,
whatever the situation may be. Uh, the more they understand
what we're thinking, how we act, and why we act
a certain way, I think it's gonna be better and
make things safer for everybody in the community. And that's
something that should be taught in schools, especially when you
talk about middle school and high schools when kids are
(07:09):
gonna first are having their interaction with police that may
not be that positive interaction of a police giving them
a basketball or handing them a sticker.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, well, Tony, I appreciate your time today. I agree
with you one hundred percent. The community we have to
get more active and pushing back on this narrative, and
I really appreciate your time today and I will talk
to you soon, sir. Thank you so much. Chris Baker
on news radio eleven ten kfab
The Vista Papillion schools. This is the kind of swill
they're pouring into kids' heads.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
In another house, Josh asked his mother. Can police go
to jail? Yes, said his mother. Why do you ask
that white policeman who shot the black man? Said Josh.
Will he go to jail? What he did was wrong?
(00:26):
Said his mother. But he won't go to jail, said
his father. Why not, asked Josh. Cops stick up for
each other, said Josh's brother Malcolm, And they don't like
black men.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Wow, Chris Pigger Radio show. That is from a video
presentation from the book Something Happened in Our Town, which
was apparently read to young children in Papillion La Vista Schools.
Joining us right now is Tony Connor ahead of the
(01:02):
Omaha Police Officers Association. Good afternoon, Tony Connor.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Well, I appreciate you jumping on with us here, Tony.
And you know, once again we have more anti police rhetoric.
This I think is abominable because I think that this
can get young kids killed because you're telling them to
resist the police. As the representative of the police officers union,
(01:32):
how much harder does it make an officer's job. With
this kind of propaganda out there.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
It really adds to the difficultness of our job. Our
job is already difficult enough, but if people have a
preconceived notion that police officers are races or are doing
things based on a person's race, it's only going to
make it that much more of a challenge, you know, Chris,
I'm such a strong voice and the advocate for law enforcement.
It's because of the white officers that I've met in
this job. My best friend is a white We have
(02:01):
different upbringing, different different values and how we grew up,
but we're best friends. I met them in the academy.
But you know what, not just a person I met
in academy, when I met these other police officers that
I work with and is served with over my twenty
one year career, I see men and women of every
background that treat everyone with respect across every corner of
the city. And I see the same thing in international
(02:22):
when I go to national conferences and meet police officers
from across the country. Police officers are the thought of
the some of the best people you ever find, and
to always try to try to make every situation to
a racial situation, and then it teaches this to kids,
it's only going to make our job more difficult and
more challenging. And it's also scary what we should be
teaching our kids, and not especially at this such a
(02:44):
young age. The reality is the only thing a kid
at that age is reading a book like that should
be taught is police officers are there to help you.
That's it to go to a police officer. You find
yourself lost, if you need help, you call nine one one,
You call a police officer. The police officers there to
help you. It's all a child should be taught. You
talk about like teenagers and older children, that's when they
should be taught how to act when they have contact
(03:05):
with the police, how to put your hands on a
steering wheel, how to act when you're stopped by the cops,
and how to cooperate in order to survive those encounters.
That's what should be taught to older children. But some
of these things that are being taught, I don't know
what the mindset is behind this, other than they're trying
to indoctrinize these kids into a into a thought process
that makes every police officers team as if they're races
(03:25):
when that's just not the facts don't support those that narrative.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Tony Connor with the Omaha Police Officers Association on the
Chris Picker radio program, Tony, you do a lot of conferences,
you talk to officers and union officials around the country.
Are are are officers starting to see this as an epidemic?
Because this isn't the first book like this I've seen,
but I'm starting to be very, very concerned that this
(03:54):
is a consistent narrative being taught in our schools around
the country. Are you hearing this?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I am actually hearing exactly that, And that's certainly we
got to remember about five years ago when the Michael
brown in is in happened to Ferguson, Missouri, is when a
lot of this mindset kind of came out and started
kind of coming to the surface. And now you're seeing
even more of that into it. It's unfortunately now penetrating
our schools, this mindset and penetrating young kids. Now, I'm
(04:20):
a father with three kids, uh, and I'm sure a
lot of your listeners are our parents too, that their
kids are going to school in these schools that are
that are that are very diverse, and they're meeting friends
from all different collegors. My kids that never thought, never
talked to me once about race. I got a ten
year old that's never talked once about the race of
her best friend, who happened to be a white girl
in our school. So it's just this idea that race
(04:42):
is is such a factor as it's a narrative that
they want to continue to push. They're trying to indoctrinate
these kids at a young age, so as they get older,
they start believing everything is a racial issue. What will
happen is it's the boy that cried wolf. You're gonna
have those situations where there is true racism, someone has
said or done something as racist, and no one's want
to care because they're sick of hearing it all the time.
(05:05):
Every situation is not a racial situation. And I'm really
like sick of it, and the police officers all across
the country as sick of it.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, and you should be, because, like I said, it
makes your job more difficult, and it's going to get
these kids hurt. It's going to get some kids killed
because some activists placed their chip on their shoulder. And
I'm just curious, but obviously, you know your Omaha Police Department,
But has Papilion La Vista schools or do schools around
(05:34):
this area do they invite officers to come in and
give presentations to kids to show kids that there's a
different way to do things at all.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Well, our School Resource Office here in Omaha have They
will actually present classes to the students. As a matter
of fact, I sat through one of the classes one
of our SRO that Vince and high well he was
I'm not sure if he's still there, but as Rodney Henderson,
he was talking to kids in the men's program about
how to act when you're when you're when you have
contact with the police, exactly what your what your their
(06:06):
responsibility is at citizens when they have contact with the
police and what they also responsibilities are. And it was
a very productive conversation with these young men in this
in this class. So our SROs in Omaha they will
do some of those presentations. I will say this there
there has to be. In my opinion, it's kind of
one us as Police Association leaders to start stepping up
(06:27):
and start fighting pushing back a little bit against some
of this, and we should be pushing for legislation to
force the schools to start teaching the kids the right
things and how to act when they when they have
constant with the police. And also it's one of us
to start teaching our communities too, because the reality is,
I think the more people that understand how to how
to act when they're stopped by the cops, how do
(06:47):
what the what the cops expectations or thought process is
when they're dealing with someone that that's either suspicious or
they're got a radio call for for a suspicious person,
whatever the situation may be. Uh, the more they understand
what we're thinking, how we act, and why we act
a certain way, I think it's gonna be better and
make things safer for everybody in the community. And that's
something that should be taught in schools, especially when you
talk about middle school and high schools when kids are
(07:09):
gonna first are having their interaction with police that may
not be that positive interaction of a police giving them
a basketball or handing them a sticker.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, well, Tony, I appreciate your time today. I agree
with you one hundred percent. The community we have to
get more active and pushing back on this narrative, and
I really appreciate your time today and I will talk
to you soon, sir. Thank you so much. Chris Baker
on news radio eleven ten kfab
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