On Our Best Behavior
On Our Best Behavior is a heartwarming podcast where Mom, Kelli and 16-year-old son, Maccoy delve into the complexities of school, life's struggles, highs and lows, and various challenges. With a blend of humor and sincerity, they navigate through these topics while sharing their own experiences and insights. Their conversations are not only relatable but also enlightening, offering listeners a fresh perspective on everyday issues. Alongside their engaging discussions, they welcome intriguing guests, adding a dynamic element to each episode. Tune in to join this duo on their journey of growth, learning, and discovery.
On Our Best Behavior
Anoka County's Sheriff Brad Wise
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Hey there, Kelli here, and I'm still giggling from all the fun Maccoy and I had recording this week's On Our Best Behavior episode. We're your typical pals jesting about the woes of braces—those food traps are relentless! But hold onto your hats because we're sprinting through a kaleidoscope of topics, from the gut-busting truths about our spending quirks (we're side-eyeing you, Duncan) to the sparkling tales of wedding dress hunts. I'm even sharing the scoop on my giddy leap into the world of Anoka commissioners and that not-so-typical day at a gun show.
Ever wondered what it's like to be the Sheriff in the heart of Anoka County? Buckle up as Sheriff Brad Wise recounts his twisty trail from horseback on the farm to donning the badge. It's a ride through the countryside and into the bustling city life, where hotel management gets hijacked by a career in law enforcement. On this beat, he has locked arms with the community, maneuvered around COVID curveballs, and upheld the peace with integrity. We're not just talking about the shiny parts of the badge; we're also undressing the raw challenges our brave law enforcers face, from mental health crises to the echo of substance abuse in our neighborhoods.
Ending on a high note, we're lighting up with the vibrant camaraderie and steadfast bonds that bind Anoka County's heroes in uniform. Join us as we crack up over pop quizzes that'll take you back to your school days and ponder the hilarity of tasting dog food – because, why not? I also reveal my latest role as MC at Cate's wedding and trust me, you'll want to hear about the zany curveballs thrown my way. Tune in to this episode for a whirlwind of laughter, unexpected stories, and maybe a dash of inspiration—because that's just how we roll, On Our Best Behavior.
Hey guys, welcome back to Honor Best Behavior. You're here with Mac and Kelly. Hi, mac, how you doing?
Speaker 2Oh, that was a great intro.
Speaker 1I know right.
Speaker 2It's like you've been practicing or something.
Speaker 1No, I haven't, but I'm just like really locked in, you know.
Speaker 2True, natural. Yeah, I know right what's up. What do you know what's wrong?
Speaker 1Chocolate cookie stuck in my braces oh, cute.
Speaker 2Is that how you get a snack like oh?
Speaker 1hey, I'm hungry.
Speaker 2Let me feel my tongue around in here. Oh, there's something got it.
Speaker 1It sucks, especially when it's like warm food and you get it, and it's like cold, it's chunky, it's nasty yeah, yeah, I don't miss those days you're funny I miss those days so what's been going on in your life? Um nothing. Oh wait, remember that, hey guys.
Speaker 2Oh god hey guys, welcome back to. I'm gonna take a poop um, what's going on yeah?
Speaker 1tell me a story about your life a story about my life, yeah, um, low-key. I can't wait for summer break because, oh my gosh, school has been getting really boring.
Speaker 2And hard yeah.
Speaker 1And hard, boring and harder and more miserable. Let's just say that.
Speaker 2Miserable Not miserable.
Speaker 1Just like I don't know, I'm just getting bored of it. You're over it.
Speaker 2I need to take a break from it for like Three months. Summer break is like three months.
Speaker 1I know three months is too much, because I don't want to have no idea what to do.
Speaker 2I'm sure you have an idea what you're going to do. You can get a job. Why don't you get a job?
Speaker 1I already got the moolah down there. I said a hundred bucks. I need to turn it into like five and ten.
Speaker 2I hate that. It's just a hundred dollars. Where did you get that?
Speaker 1uh, my dad gave it to me oh nice, wanna be a baller I'm a baller. Yeah, you should have 400 in that uh money box, but use it all on duncan duncan.
Speaker 2I usually only like a hundred dollars.
Speaker 1Three hundred dollars in duncan I used a hundred dollars of it, oh, on video games and the rest has been on Duncan Damn. I spent like $150 in total on Duncan.
Speaker 2Does Logan ever buy? He bought yesterday.
Speaker 1Oh, okay.
Speaker 2That's nice, that's nice.
Speaker 1That's the only time he's bought, though I'm like don't offer to pay every time.
Speaker 2It's got to be every other.
Speaker 1No, I do because he used to buy Hans all the time. Okay, that's fair. He spent like $200 on Hans.
Speaker 2Okay, okay, don't call him out on here. I don't want him to get in trouble.
Speaker 1I'm not calling him out, I'm just saying, like I have to repay, I have to pay up.
Speaker 2Are you going to ask me what I've been up to, or did you have more?
Speaker 1I don't know. I'm thinking, okay, you just pipe in.
Speaker 2You can interrupt me. This is the one time.
Speaker 1I'll allow you to interrupt. Actually, you got that. I don't have anything else. I thought you did, I was excited, I thought I did and I didn't. You got it.
Speaker 2All right. Last weekend Justin took me to a gun show and it was sick and you missed out.
Speaker 1I know I did.
Speaker 2I loved it so much and I didn't think that I't not think I wouldn't love it. I just didn't know what it was at all and it was cool. I was gonna be mid, yeah, I really, really had fun. I was just interested in how much variation of things that they had there and they even had, like you know, stuff for girls and like shopping and crafty and that kind of stuff. So it was cool. This is a bop. I had my first City of Anoka commissioner dinner.
Speaker 1Really, how was it? That was where.
Speaker 2I have some ideas of how it could be better, but I just really didn't know what to expect and, to be honest, I just really don't know a lot of people yet. So I just kind of felt like I didn't really know.
Speaker 1Did you feel like alone in a classroom?
Speaker 2Kind of. There was a couple of people that my friend Eric, that I've done a podcast with was there so he chatted with me and then one of the guys that I really like on my commission. I sat with him and his wife, so that was fine. But I just don't know a lot of people, and I think a lot of people have been on those commissions for a long time or been involved in the city in a long time, and I'm just not there yet.
Speaker 2Yeah just not there yet. Yeah, you're, you're new, I'm still a noob, a noob. Uh, saturday went wedding wedding dress shopping with kate and she found her dress and it was yeah, I mean, it's. It's interesting. Like you know, you try on dresses and you're like oh yeah, that dress is pretty, oh yeah, I like that dress oh that dress looks good on you, but when you put on the dress it's like, oh, 100%, that's it. That is the dress.
Speaker 1That is the dress.
Speaker 2I sent you a picture. Did you like it? Yeah, it looked pretty good. Guys usually aren't supposed to be able to see the dress ahead of time, so you should consider yourself lucky. Like Jay should never see the dress until she walks down the aisle until she walks down the aisle.
Speaker 1It's just tradition.
Speaker 2I thought it was like you can't see her before the wedding? Yeah, or the dress that she's going to wear or what she's going to look like. Because it's like when you look like you're most beautiful in your life, so you have to be locked in. I'm not sure if that's what you want to call it.
Speaker 1I don't know, I'm just yapping again, just saying some random things.
Speaker 2Last Last night there was a surprise party for one of my friends at work. She is turning 40. So her and I are the old ladies at work.
Speaker 1Yeah Boy, I got you.
Speaker 2And she's still younger than me, but no one can see what you look like it's Sai's mom.
Speaker 1You know Sai yeah.
Speaker 2Okay, yeah, so that was fun. That was at Maricow I dragged Emily along with me. So that was fun. That was at Marico, I dragged Emily along with me. So that was a good time. We spent a million dollars At Costco today.
Speaker 1That was $315.
Speaker 2Do you enjoy going to Costco?
Speaker 1Yeah, it's not bad. That line sucked ass, though it was the longest.
Speaker 2I've ever seen it. I really enjoy going to.
Speaker 1Costco Because of the samples.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, what was your favorite sample today? The freaking drink. It's always my favorite, Well you got a case of those drinks. I know I did so. Now you can have that sample every day. All right, anything else that you want to talk about today. Otherwise, I'm ready to introduce our guest today.
Speaker 1Let's go to the guest right now.
Speaker 2So today, our very special guest and my new best friend, me. No, yeah, I know. You're not my new best friend, but you are one of my best friends.
Speaker 1Yeah, I know, I was just messing with you.
Speaker 2But you're the worst kind of best friend because you lie to me and you don't tell me things, because I'm also your mom and that's probably fair. So you can't say we're best friends, that's fine.
Speaker 1That's fine, that's healthy. That's healthy. We lie to everyone.
Speaker 2I don't lie to everyone. I don't lie barely at all. Actually, yeah, I feel like I make decisions that I shouldn't have to lie about. I don't have anything to hide, and who am I going to get in trouble from myself? I don't know. I'm the boss bitch. Okay, I know you run this place. That's right, don't forget it.
Speaker 1I know.
Speaker 2Alright, who runs the world Girls? And guess who's the only girl Up in this house, me.
Speaker 1You I mean Justin runs it he.
Speaker 2Police. He doesn't run it. How does he run it? Please give me one example. I'd like to hear this he runs 25%. How?
Speaker 1The garage. Okay, sure yeah, 25%, you run 75%, and guess what?
Speaker 2That's because I told him he could have the garage, and so if I said you don't get the garage anymore, which means I am 100% in charge.
Speaker 1I recall that one time you said I recall that one time you put shit in the garage and you said you can't have it in there. And then when you said I don't have any space outside and he's like you can put it in the garage, and you're like I can't have the garage and he's like okay, then I'll just move all my stuff out. That was funny.
Speaker 2I'm just too nice. That's my problem, believe it or not.
Speaker 1Yeah, we know.
Speaker 2All right, very special. It is the Anoka County Sheriff, sheriff Brad Wise. Why don't you welcome him on the show, mackie?
Speaker 1Get on the show. Let's go. Come on, it's your turn.
Speaker 2You're listening to another episode of On Our Best Behavior, and today I have a very special guest for you. He is the Sheriff of Anoka County, Sheriff Brad Wise. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 3Thanks for having me, Kelly. I appreciate the opportunity.
Path to Sheriff of Anoka County
Speaker 2So, doctor, doctor, I work in healthcare, so everyone is doctor, not sheriff. So, sheriff, doctor, doctor, I work in health care, so everyone is doctor, not sheriff. So, sheriff wise, tell us your story. You grew up here in Minnesota, you lived in Coon Rapids from a young age, and how did you end up being sheriff of Anoka County? How did you get into law enforcement? Tell us your story your story.
Speaker 3Well, I would say it's not a typical path that I talk about quite a bit. So actually I was born on a farm in western Minnesota, madison, minnesota. My parents moved to Coon Rapids when I was in seventh grade and basically, except for a couple of years in college, I've never lived anywhere other than either Coon Rapids or somewhere in Anoka County. So graduated from high school, obviously here at Coon Rapids High School. Truly, I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do, which was pretty ordinary for kids back in that era. I graduated in 1982.
Speaker 3Military was an option. College wasn't quite what it was thought of today. Some kids went, most didn't, and I didn't really have a lot of pressure from my parents one way or another and I wound up in what I would call an accidental career. I just started working for a hotel and I worked nights at a hotel. Somewhere along the way I decided I wanted to get a college degree. So I went to college, studied history of all things, not really sure what I was going to do with a history degree.
Speaker 3When I finished college I got an opportunity to be in management in a hotel, which was fine, but I would say I got burned out with the idea of doing that. Supervising teenagers at the time was probably similar to what it is today. Not a lot of commitment, at least then, and it was constant human resources stuff. And anyway, somewhere along the way in hotel management I had a chance to meet some police officers. There's no policing in my family at all, and when I met these police officers they were smart, caring, compassionate people and I thought maybe I could do that job and I went back to school and next thing you know, I'm here. I guess I want to give you a chance to speak to me too. I could keep going for 20 minutes on my path here, but I'm not sure it's all that interesting Once I decided to get into law enforcement into law enforcement.
Speaker 2So backtracking a little bit, just starting from your roots. You grew up on a farm and I love farm animals, so did you have like cows and horses and chickens and all those fun things?
Speaker 3We were a horse farm, so my mom was. She loved horses, which has translated to my daughter. My 20 year old daughter now is a horse fanatic. She has a horse that's boarded up and now then that I'm sure she would call her best friend Mickey. Her horse Mickey is best friend. But my mom used to say my mom was kind of an interesting person, she was edgy in a lot of ways and she'd say she always said that she liked horses better than people.
Speaker 3And yeah, so because they were more predictable and they always had the kind eyes. She would always talk about horses. You know the way a horse would look at you would be calming. And, frankly, my daughter, who, of course, went through the pandemic in Coon Rapids High School 2020 as a sophomore in high school they were off. It was a really trying time for kids and I know she saw us in her horse in many ways because there were no COVID restrictions hanging out with her horse, so she spent a lot of time with the horse.
Speaker 2So when you move from Southern Minnesota way up north to Coon Rapids back then, I mean, I grew up in Columbia Heights and then moved to East Bethel and that felt like the middle of nowhere when I was a kid, like it felt so far away. So what was that like for you moving that far away? And was it like you guys kind of moved to the city? Did it feel like that back then?
Speaker 3Yeah, definitely felt like I was moving to the city. The town that I grew up in I mean it was on a hobby farm outside of town. Going to town was a town of 2000 people and when my folks moved to Coon Rapids I well to backtrack, I had like 30 kids that were in my grade when I moved to Coon Rapids. I started at Coon Rapids junior high then and there were literally hundreds and I walked into this building with swarms of kids and frankly, it was terrifying to be in a group like that because I wasn't used to those kinds of numbers. But you know, more or less settled in and found my own niche along the way. But you know I love being in Coon Rapids schools and you know I was just the kind of kid that you know bummed my way through school. My grades were mediocre at the time, literally kind of directionless. But I guess at the time I thought that most of us were kind of without direction and I know a lot of us wound up in accidental careers. So my friends from back in that era who I still see today, many of them wound up in professions that they had no deliberate intention on getting to do. It's just, you got an opportunity, an entry level opportunity, and then, next thing you know, you grew into this profession, which, in my case, when I, when I got the chance to transition into law enforcement, my first police job was with the city of Robbinsdale and again in the early 1990s there were literally hundreds of applicants for every police vacancy and I know people hear that a lot, but the number is true.
Speaker 3Actually, one of the rejection letters I saved when I was job hunting was from the city of Osseo. So Osseo is a small town. They had something like four police officers. I applied for them and I received a letter that said we had received over 250 applicants. You were not selected to move forward. I couldn't even make it past the application process Versus today, virtually anybody who fills out an application is going to get an interview and realistically, if we have three applicants for a vacancy, we're pretty happy.
Speaker 3But anyway. So I started in Robbinsdale and then literally lightning struck in terms of an opportunity and Coon Rapids called. So I left Robbinsdale after less than a year and started with Coon Rapids PD in 1995. And um, which was a personal blessing for me, I love policing in my hometown and um, so then I just grew professionally within the police department. I had a lot of really great mentors, um, and you know so it was, I would say, just competitiveness. But again I'll I'm sure our conversation will wind its way back around to how this, how this all came to be where I'm sitting in this chair.
Speaker 2So one of the things when I decided I wanted to talk to you is I was kind of like wondering like what does a sheriff do?
Speaker 3does a sheriff do? Yeah, well, I guess, to provide some context for that, you have to know what police departments do too, because they're in many ways they're the same, but in a couple of key ways they're different. So I spent so I started with in Cunabas in 1995, and I grew within that organization to the point where, in 2011, I was appointed police chief. So I was the police chief for the city of Cunha from 2011 to 2022.
Speaker 3Then I the current sheriff for Noca County, jim Stewart, who's a great guy decided he was going to retire. He saw a greener pasture for himself, so it wound up to be an open seat, tire. He saw a greener pasture for himself, so it wound up to be an open seat, and it just wound up to be an opportunity I felt I couldn't pass up, just given the scope of the job, because it covers the entire county. So then it gets back to what's the difference between the jobs. So Coon Rapids is a city, a police department within Anoka County, and the Coon Rapids Police Department handles 99% of all policing for the citizens of Coon Rapids. They respond to calls for service, they provide community service officers, they do community outreach, education. They do everything the things they don't do for the citizens of Coon Rapids is they don't provide for a crime lab, meaning that CSI stuff like you see on the television.
Speaker 2Yeah, we all love that true crime stuff, yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, the CSI stuff. That stuff is very expensive and it's, I would say, generally speaking, too expensive for a police department to host on its own. Therefore the Anoka County Sheriff's Office has the crime lab as a shared resource for every police department in Anoka County. So that's a service we provide for Coon Rapids PD. Another service we provide is certain specialized investigations. So while they'll investigate 99.9% of their crimes, sexual assaults are investigated by the Sheriff's office and crimes like that involving children are investigated by the sheriff's office because of the specialized training Again, it's, but it's it literally is because of that small niche, expensive training. That that's why we provide that service for the city of Coon Rapids.
Speaker 3And then the other, probably the biggest service, actually two biggest services that the sheriff's office provides for the city of Coon Rapids. One is the jail. So Coon Rapids doesn't operate a jail at all. They can lock up people for an hour or two at a time, but if somebody needs to be held for court, for instance, they come to the Anoka County Jail. Big function that the sheriff's office provides is for civil processes like foreclosures on homes and serving of papers related to, say, domestic violence, those kinds of paper services things. So that's what we do for Coon Rapids.
Speaker 3Now, in Anoka County, though, there's a number of cities that don't have police departments.
Speaker 3So for cities that don't have police departments, police departments. So for cities that don't have police departments, they contract with the sheriff's office for traditional policing like that which is provided to the city of Coon Rapids. So cities like Andover, ham Lake, east Bethel, oak Grove, now then none of these cities have their own police department, so they contract with the sheriff. And then for those cities we provide deputies or law enforcement officers that respond to 911 calls for service, community service officer duties and other investigations, those sorts of things.
Speaker 3So the biggest difference for this job really is running in jail. The jail has two to 250 inmates at any given time, lots of liability, there's lots of staff that work there that are highly trained, and that training needs to be organized in a way through the sheriff's office. So it's I would say it's 40% of my job. Responsibility is the function of the jail, 40% is the function of providing patrol services for their contract cities and then the other 20% is a combination of civil processes throughout Anoka County and those specialized investigations, like I told you, about sex crimes and homicides.
Speaker 2So that makes me think of a question that I would love to ask you, because I feel like this gets brought up. A lot is since COVID. It feels like the jail doesn't hold as many people as long as they used to. Is that true? Or what has changed with COVID, and what? Has you know what I mean? Like what hasn't gotten back to the way it used to? Is that true? Or what has changed with COVID and what? Has you know what I mean? Like what? What hasn't gotten back to the way it used to be?
Speaker 3Yeah Well, first off, let me say that we we live in what I would call law enforcement heaven here in Anoka County. It's the right. To me it feels like the right kind of law enforcement. We have a great county attorney who's supportive of the idea that people who harm other people deserve to get locked up, and that's not the case in some other counties, and I don't need to go into the politics of all that. But if you watch the news, you see other counties that are reluctant to lock people up, and in many ways they seem to treat people who harm others as some sort of victim, and we don't operate like that here in Anoka County. So if people harm others, then they go to jail. But you're right.
Speaker 3During the COVID era, though, there was so much pressure, because it was unknown to keep people from breathing on each other, and just the close proximity that the jail required meant that the judges they're independent, but they knew of the problems in the jail and that they couldn't have people stacked on top of each other, because we really didn't know the repercussions. So the judges put a lot of effort into trying to select people that would do okay outside of being locked up, meaning they were unlikely to harm others, and I heard it was phrased a great way to me one time is that we want to make sure that we lock people. We're afraid of those people. We lock up people that we're mad at, then we're willing to accept that they can be free as long as they respond to their summonses to court. Now, that said, the nature of crime kind of has changed a little bit in the wake of COVID, and so like drug offenses now are much more covert maybe than they used to be. Fentanyl can now be bought and sold in such small amounts, and now the legalization of marijuana kind of rejiggered the way we think of drug enforcement, because people used to sell marijuana oftentimes were also involved in methamphetamine and fentanyl sales, and so there were paths, easier paths, to make arrests. So like something you might've read in the newspaper today or yesterday was prior to the legalization of marijuana, the odor of marijuana used to authorize a search of a motor vehicle, for example. So a police officer or deputy makes a traffic stop, you smell marijuana coming from the car. You then were authorized to conduct a search of the interior of the car, which often led to other, more serious drugs, which then led to people getting arrested and incarcerated. So some of those things.
Speaker 3I mean we just have to adjust to the new reality of, and respect of one driver to another. To me is sort of a canary in the coal mine that somehow we're losing something related to our social order and sense of safety Because, just like you, you stop at a red light, the light turns green. I guarantee you, you pause a lot longer than you used to because you're expecting somebody to blow a red light. Come in the other direction.
Speaker 3It didn't used to be like that. We used to have sort of this social contact agreement I agree to not run through a red light because I might kill you, and that was, and we had sort of that mutual respect for one another, and somehow that respect is gone. And so I would say, in many ways, I don't. We need to sort some of this criminality out, in that we need to arrest people, offend others. How we can get back to a place where there's more social trust one to the other, as evidenced by the way people drive. I don't, I don't know how that comes to pass. It's not just driving in and of itself. To me it's driving conduct as a sign of something and it's not good.
Speaker 2Yeah, I feel like COVID right, some people got like, oh, we should be kinder to people because everyone was missing that social interaction. But then it almost feels like once we got that social interaction back, people just started losing respect for other people and just not thinking in that bigger way. So, yeah, I've noticed that a lot as well.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2So with the drug thing, the marijuana I wanted to talk you about is something that I haven't noticed is now, you know, the smell of marijuana is just. I don't want to say it's everywhere, but it feels like it's everywhere because it used to really be nowhere. So how and this might be, this might not be something that you deal with on a regular basis because you're not doing like patrolling, but how are officers responding to complaints about their neighbors doing certain things and they have to deal with the smell of it or even with like the Anoka Social District now people being able to walk around and drink, even though you're not supposed to openly use marijuana in public places? People don't always obey those laws, so how is Anoka County handling the change in that law?
Law Enforcement Challenges and Changes
Speaker 3Well, for now, our deliberate stance is to make it an educational effort rather than trying to be heavy handed and write citations. But you're right, it feels like it's everywhere, and where I personally noticed it was at the state fair last year, and. But smoking is prohibited everywhere in the state fair except for certain designated areas. I think there's like two areas, maybe by the beer gardens or something like that. But needless to say, everywhere you were you could smell it, and then you're just like oh, that's the new world order. I guess I got to tolerate the smell because it was. It certainly was covert. You don't see people openly do it and you're going. It bugged me in the sense is it's like this new freedom that theoretically some are excited to have this new freedom, yet simultaneously don't care what the rules are and don't care that my smoke is bothersome to you. So I think for now I guess I'm looking at it as like an educational process.
Speaker 3I'm old enough to remember when cigarette smoking used to be everywhere, including on airplanes. The back half of the airplane was smoking, the front half was non-smoking, and then there just got to be a point where we're just out of simple respect. For the most part people would control where their cigarette smoke went, cigarette smoke went and if and I would say my general impression of cigarette smokers generally is if they see somebody reacting negatively to their cigarette smoke, like making a face or doing, one of these numbers is that to me most cigarette smokers will walk downwind or we'll do something to try to address it. You don't see a lot of people hanging out outside of doors of buildings, for instance, like maybe they used to some time ago. I'm not moving enough.
Speaker 2So my light, my light, I was like I think they're kicking you out.
Speaker 3No, maybe the lighting. Oh, maybe I should fix. Hang on a second, let's see if it'll come back on. Oh, there we go. All right, give me 15 more minutes here. So, but we go. All right, 15 more minutes here. So. But we want people to call. So where it's common to happen is in parks, at ballgames, those sorts of things, where people smell it. It's marijuana. Smoking is prohibited in those places and we definitely will respond and have the conversation with people to be respectful. At some point we will stop doing that and it'll be citations. But you know, for now we're, I guess we're cautiously, cautiously optimistic that an educational program will make a difference. Over time We'll see. This summer is going to be different than last summer, for sure, and once it's, these recreational markets are set up. You know next summer will be you than this, for sure, because wintertime has people doing their business in their own homes. Summertime is that sunshine, just brings everyone out, that'll be different.
Speaker 3Yeah, no question.
Speaker 2And maybe we touched on this a little bit too, but what do you feel like are the biggest challenges that law enforcement has to face right now in our county?
Speaker 3Well, I used to say recruiting and retention, and maybe I'll say that too in the aftermath of some of the social unrest in other places is that the, the esteem for the profession of law enforcement is, has lost its luster, and and I'll say that. So, when I first became a cop in 1995, when I pinned on a badge and I got to drive a squad car, I first off I couldn't believe my government allowed got to drive a squad car. I first off I couldn't believe my government allowed me to drive a car like that. But I literally felt like I was 10 feet tall, in the best possible sense, um, not like Superman imposing the will, but like Superman defending the, the good people in our society. I felt that and I felt that everywhere I went it was like a coat that you put on and, um, and it was such a good, positive energy, especially when you're living in a place like Anoka County where you feel that sense of appreciation.
Speaker 3In the aftermath of the riots in Minneapolis, um, you know other incidents that happened in other cities that, um, that it become very trendy the news media. You know other incidents that happened in other cities that that have become very trendy, the news media. For instance, if some officer deputy somewhere does something bad generally speaking it's a police in blank location did bad activity. It's never identified by the person. I guess the comparison I'd make it to is that when something bad happens in another city, the profession gets a black eye, not the individual who did it gets a black eye, which is different than, say, doctors, physicians. A physician commits medical malpractice in Florida, removes the wrong kidney or something which happens every now and again. Nobody starts looking at their own doctor crooked. People hear that story in Florida and go oh my gosh, I can't believe how dumb that doctor was. I hope that doctor loses his or her license and gets sued or whatever it is that you're encouraging to have happen. Law enforcement doesn't enjoy that Anytime. Law enforcement does something bad anywhere. Law enforcement does something bad anywhere. Cops generally feel like people look at them crooked everywhere. Here Even we feel that sense. That said, I talk about it a lot. I call it like the.
Speaker 3There's a four-legged stool related to law enforcement in order to have good cops working for you in the jurisdiction where you live. Those four things are support of the citizens, and I don't mean blind support that says you can do whatever you want. We mean support for the profession, good, ethical, honest, policing, citizen support, support of elected officials, a good culture within the office and competitive wages. If you have all four of those things, you're going to have good cops that are going to provide good service to their citizens and they're going to be happy to do it because it's rewarding those calls for service. You know you're making a difference in somebody's life, no matter what the circumstance might be, even if it's things that are tragic. It's kind of the I don't know the mental healing for the profession. You'll go to some terrible tragedy, but when you leave the essence of the profession that was talk about the positive difference that you had, no matter what the tragedy is, and it's an optimistic profession. I think in that regard it's mentally healthy for us. But that I would say that's the biggest challenge in law enforcement in Anoka County is just keeping that, keeping that sense and priorit here in Anoka County. But anybody who wears a badge is wearing a badge because you, the citizen, gave it to them and they know that and they know that you entrusted them to do that law enforcement job for them. So just maintaining that solid relationship piece I think is really important moving forward. I think is really important moving forward.
Speaker 3Otherwise, you know, as far as crime trends come and go, crime has been. Crime is so different now than it was in 1995. When I started, break-ins to cars where car stereos were stolen was common. Now I can't even tell you the last time a car stereo was pried out of a car, because you know they're built into the dash and they're so good nowadays. Or you know, somebody stole my CDs.
Speaker 3Even people are way more careful about their mail, for instance. Very few people you know when's the last time you put the mail in your outgoing mailbox that's open. Nobody does that anymore, for good reason. So the nature of a lot of those crimes has changed. The other thing that's changed a lot is we're a lot better at solving crimes too, because video is everywhere and it's not our video necessarily, but between ring cameras and surveillance cameras at parking lots of retail outlets and stuff, the solvability for crimes that are reported is much, much higher than it ever was. Very, very rare that there are true whodunits that are unsolvable. Um, which in a good way means that we're able to hold people accountable, meaning that like, let's say, let's say I view myself as a thief and I'm trying to make a living as a thief in 2024, the odds of you getting caught much faster than getting caught in 1995, um make me want to be a thief less you know, what I'm saying.
Speaker 2So if I know, everywhere you can't, like you said, like if you're, if you think you're not being watched, you're wrong Cause there's cameras, like you said, literally everywhere.
Speaker 3I can give you a great probably the easiest example is construction sites, Like construction trailers, used to be burglarized. A lot House under construction contractor leaves their trailer they have a trailer would get broken open, and thousands of tools used to be stolen. Well, now, most of the contractors will set up cameras, like trail cameras and stuff that they use for deer, and people who commit thefts know this, and so, invariably, somebody will break into a trailer, and then there's a trail cam photo. You know great quality photo, and it leads to a lot of arrests, so it's just a lot harder to get away with crime Now.
Speaker 3That said, on the flip side of this coin, though, is that some of the challenges we do face, though, is that there's a lot more person violence that you're hearing about, and that all goes back to that lack of respect for each other. You know kind of that. We sort of touched on the COVID aftermath. I mean, I'm not a sociologist, but I can make an educated guess. Like you said, it seems that humans in 2024, people care about their core group of people, but they care more about their core group but care less about everybody else, and that sort of translates, I think, into some of the violence that we're seeing, that because there's just less general concern for other people. I'm willing to be more violent with those people than maybe I used to be in the old days.
Speaker 2And then I know we're kind of getting close on time here, but another one, another question I really wanted to ask you about is I feel like I hear a lot of and cops and even EMTs tell me that most calls that they get are mental health related.
Speaker 3Yeah, that's true, and it's. You know, again, the causes for mental illness I'm not sure. What I am sure about, though, is there are less resources for people who are struggling to seek help, those. There are less resources for people who are struggling to seek help, and, again, I would point to some easy examples is that the a state, anoka, used to operate a state mental hospital here. They call it AMRTC now, but it used to be a big hospital that the people that suffered significant challenges were locked up, and I'm not saying that that's a good or a bad thing. I'm just saying that, 40 years ago, people that really were struggling were in a secure location. That isn't the case anymore. People that are really struggling are in some sort of community-based something, and they live in and amongst folks, and if you sort of extrapolate that out to people who suffer less mental illness, you can start to see that there's probably just more people that have moments where they struggle, where they're just they're trying to hang on there and be part of the general public, and so we have a lot of contact with those folks when they do, you know, reach a crisis point, and so, yeah, we're seeing more of it.
Speaker 3You know, when you can't discount the influence of drugs on people's mental health. I've seen it happen before. I mean even even marijuana that's seen as the most innocuous of of what used to be an illegal drug, has a syndrome marijuana-based psychosis which a small fraction of people use marijuana, and it somehow rearranges their brains in ways that science doesn't really understand. But it does it permanently and you know, maybe it's one in a million, I don't know what the odds are. But between that and the real scourge of our society, fentanyl actually I probably should have mentioned that before in the biggest challenges facing us is fentanyl use because it's so easy to get, it's so inexpensive and it's so dangerous, um, even people who are experienced at taking fentanyl are accidentally overdosing or um are overdosing in a way where they can't survive.
Speaker 3So I can, I can give you, for instance, as it relates to the jail, is that, um, people who are regular fentanyl users and know again, fentanyl is just a progression from you know, like you could say, a prescription, oxycontin, you know, somehow related to heroin and all these mood altering chemicals that are like that, and then fentanyl just becomes an inexpensive heroin high but somebody who's who's suffering from that kind of addiction and becomes a regular user of fentanyl. They can easily afford it, so they're getting high on a regular basis, but then say they get arrested for something and they go to jail and then they quit cold turkey. What'll happen is their tolerance to the fentanyl goes down and they don't really know that by being sober for four, six, 10 days in the jail. Then, when they get released and then go back to whatever their usual amount is of smoking fentanyl or using fentanyl, they can inadvertently give themselves a fatal dose, something they would have survived 10 days prior but now, because they had just spent the last 10 days clean, are literally risking death, and I and I don't have a good solution for the fentanyl crisis because it's not going anywhere either.
Speaker 3It's. It's very scary for parents, especially um. You got to keep your kids, um, away from the drugs and you know it's a conversation. I for sure had a lot with my kids. It's why I still believe in DARE. There are some people that don't believe in the DARE program.
Speaker 2I loved that program when I was a kid.
Speaker 3Yep, and I still think it's a great program, if only to the benefit of the parents, to remind them to have that conversation with their kids when they're at such an impressionable age. 11th, 5, fifth grade is when they have DARE and where DARE teaches, for instance, a decision-making tree, you know, to kids. So a child, you're going to be confronted with a moral dilemma. How are you prepared to address the moral dilemma, whether it's to steal something, to harm somebody else or to use drugs?
Speaker 2Peer pressure in general. Right, I mean every aspect of peer pressure.
Speaker 3Yep and it's in. Well, yes, the cop teaches the tools to the kids, but for sure the kids are having the conversation with their parent or guardian about the very same thing, which reminds the parent and guardian to go. That's right. Now's the age where I need to address this trust thing with my kid and to prepare them for the peer pressure when they get asked to do something they shouldn't do. And then what are the? What is my kid going to say when I'm not there to tell them no? And it's really important conversation for families to have.
Speaker 2Sheriff Wise, thank you so much for chatting with me on some of these topics. I really appreciate your time. Is there anything else that you'd like to share before we wrap up here?
Speaker 3Yeah, well, I don't know about wanting to share, but I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you because we want to be transparent in the profession and we want people to know what we do. Simultaneously, we have a hard time because we've got to protect other people's privacy, so it's kind of a complicated tap dance that we do. So, needless to say, there aren't many opportunities that I turn down to talk to people like you, so I appreciate the opportunity. I say yes to a lot of folks because these conversations are so important to move forward, because it's not, you know, it's I don't want to sound like a cliche. I mean, it's public safety as a service I provide for the community, but in reality, where the public safety officers are at, it's such a small percentage of how things get addressed in our society and it's just important to have these conversations.
Law Enforcement and Anoka County Blessings
Speaker 3Like I said, I, you know my, my hope is that we can, um, as our culture can, learn to, to respect people who aren't in our core group more, so that we slow down on the road, so that we respect semaphores, so that when we see something bad happening to somebody else, our instinct is to help, not to get out our cell phone and record it and see if we can post it online and have it go viral. But, like I said, I'm endlessly optimistic. We truly are in a special place. I'm so happy that I chose to make a law enforcement career in Anoka County, both Coon Rapids and here at the Sheriff's Office. So many blessings, and the people that are around me people that I work with are passionate, committed, fun people, and that the citizens that I interact with are phenomenal. So many blessings, so I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you.
Speaker 2I will say I've been an Anoka resident for at least 20 years of my life and I love the Anoka County well, yeah, the Anoka police in general. Every time I've needed to call them or chat with them or whatever, they're always just so helpful, never make me feel bad, and just there to help out. And I think it's funny because when I was younger I was always scared of the cops right, because I was probably doing something I shouldn't be doing. So when you would see a cop it'd be like, oh crap, the cops are here. But now, as an adult and as a mom, I'm like, oh good, the cops are here.
Speaker 3Well, your police chief, eric Peterson, I think very highly of. He's a great guy. I've known him for a long time, you know decades. So yes, anoka City has a great police department and I love partnering with them. You know we work collaboratively to keep folks safe here in Anoka County and, like I said, they're good friends and it makes an enormous difference when we have really strong relationships in public safety. Like I said, our county attorney also is a guy very smart. I highly respect him and he's well regarded in our circles here in law enforcement and it's all part of the team. So we're blessed in a lot of ways we're blessed. So I'm glad you're happy Anoka resident.
Speaker 2Yeah, I think that it sounds really good to like when, like you said, you have respect for people that are kind of in the circle, because it is a big circle when it's Anoka County is huge, like you said what 350,000 people. And so when you guys are all like collaborating and respecting each other and having fun and laughing and getting along, I mean that just makes any job better and easier, for sure. Yeah, all right, well, I'm going to let you go. Thank you so much, and we're best friends now, just so you know. All right, kelly. All right, well, I'm going to let you go. Thank you so much, and we're best friends now, just so you know.
Speaker 3All right, kelly, thank you.
Speaker 2Well, now you know all about the law, don't you feel?
Speaker 1educated? Yeah, I do. I feel locked in about it.
Speaker 2I feel happy to live in Anoka County and know that we have a great sheriff and know that we have a great sheriff. I think that he is a great guy, easy to talk to, happy to help, great resource and I think he stands for all the right things. So I'm very happy that he's our sheriff.
Speaker 2All right, so I have a couple of new bits for you. Are you ready? This is a surprise. You don't even know this is coming. I don't. Let's hear it. All right. So first it's going to be a pop quiz. And these are questions that, if you went through elementary school, you should know the answers to.
Speaker 1Okay, I don't know, it's been a while All right.
Speaker 2So here is your weekly pop quiz. Yeah, I've been hired, okay Ready. I'm just yapping, okay ready.
Speaker 1Green. Okay, here's your first two questions Green. Okay, no, three questions Green. Yeah, I'm ready.
Speaker 2None of the let me give you one hint Okay. None of the answers are green.
Speaker 1Yeah, I know, I'm just saying green like I'm ready, oh green.
Speaker 2Green Got it.
Speaker 1Green for go. I did not Green, let's go?
Speaker 2What body part do snakes use to smell?
Speaker 1I don't know. I've never known that their tongue.
Speaker 2Yes what? I've never known that. That's why they do this thing, because that's their sniffer. It's their sniffer, but they have to freaking they don't use their nose to smell. Maybe that helps them smell, but it's not as strong as the tongue. Okay, ready Question two what kind of tree has acorns?
Speaker 1A pine tree?
Speaker 2No pine trees have pine cones.
Speaker 1Acorns A maple tree. No, I don't remember An oak tree, oak tree, I don't know a tree name.
Speaker 2I suck ass. Well, you should. I don't know how you passed elementary and didn't know that. I don't know how you passed elementary and didn't know that.
Speaker 1No one's ever told me that either. I'll give you one chance to redeem yourself.
Speaker 2What is a honey? Crisp Honey crisp Dude?
Speaker 1I don't know.
Speaker 2I'll give you a hint it's a fruit, it's a honey crisp?
Speaker 1I don't know.
Speaker 2It's a fruit that your mom likes to eat often. I don't know.
Speaker 1We's a fruit that your mom likes to eat often. I don't know.
Speaker 2I definitely don't know we have them in the house right now. I don't know. Apples, honey, crisp apples.
Speaker 1Oh, you're talking about the brand.
Speaker 2The kind oh my gosh, I mean, do you know anything else that is a honey crisp?
Speaker 1I thought you don't know, oh dude, that sucks, you suck.
Speaker 2No, I don't. That's like such a sell. That's like a brand.
Speaker 1What it's not a brand it's a fruit freaking apple.
Speaker 2It's a variation of a fruit. Like there's granny smith, there's gala fuji honey crisp, delicious red delicious.
Speaker 1Okay, yeah, okay, okay you understand.
Speaker 2no, that's it. Three questions. My next bit is anybody listening who? And this includes you. I want to see if you have this story, but have you ever went on a super odd school field trip? No, okay, if you're listening to this and you've ever went on a super odd school field trip, send us an email at honorbestbehavior at yahoocom and we will feature you in our next episode with your story, all right? Second question Anyone listening who has eaten dog or cat food?
Speaker 1What I've eaten dog or cat food. Why I don't know what it tastes like. I'm curious. I eat dog food.
Speaker 2Okay Hard like dry dog food. Tell me about your eating dog food story so dog food it's like really weird.
Speaker 1It tastes just dry. It's like really dry and it doesn't taste like the flavor it is. It's just really weird. It's not bad. I would never eat it. Like it's just terrible. A dog treat's better, better. It literally just tastes like a dried out cookie that you had when you had a dog, it's like a dried out cracker. It tastes like a cracker with no flavor, just a bland cracker with no flavor, like really bad, so like some really cheap uh cracker.
Speaker 2It's dry as shit, it's not good did you do that on a bet or just because you were curious? Because I was curious, it was such a long time ago, though Anyone listening who has eaten dog or cat food and you want to share your story? Go on ahead and send us an email at honorbestbehavior, at yahoocom to be featured on next week's episode.
Speaker 1I'm going to walk in and do my. Would you rather now?
Speaker 2I have a driver's ed question for you. Are you ready for it? I am ready for it. How about that new Taylor Swift album?
Speaker 1I don't know what it is, I'm just freaking with you.
Speaker 2The hit song that they released is called Fortnite. I'm surprised you're not all about that. Fortnite All right. So today's driver's ed question is about motorcycles. No, okay, if you are driving near a motor, I can't. A motor, a motorcycle. If you are driving near a motorcycle, what must you do? Do you allow the motorcycle to use a complete lane? Do you drive on the shoulder beside the motorcycle? Do you allow the motorcycle to use only half of its lane, or do you pass the motorcycle using the same lane that the motorcycle is in?
Speaker 1Is it like on the edge, like in the middle? Because that's like, I don't know, I have no idea. We haven't learned that?
Speaker 2All right. Well, the test is like June 2nd, it's coming up real fast. I'm guessing you can. I have no idea. We haven't learned that. All right, well, like I could be just going to play, the test is guessing. The test is like June 2nd, it's coming up real fast.
Speaker 1I'm guessing you can just go past it.
Speaker 2In the state, in their lane or in your own lane.
Speaker 1Your own lane.
Speaker 2So do you give the motorcycle their own lane, or can you invade their lane?
Speaker 1You can invade the lane. People, uh, motorcycles drive on someone else. Well, that's illegal. Oh, that's illegal.
Speaker 2I didn't know that yeah, so everyone's supposed to stay in their own lane, you can pass so the answer is allow the motorcycle to use a complete lane yeah, so that's the same as you can pass them.
Speaker 1Yeah, but not in their. Yeah in your own lane. So in your own lane is true, and no you can let them use your own lane? Yeah, but so you can't drive on the shoulder beside them.
Speaker 2Yeah, I know you can't do that. Allow the motorcycle to use only half of the lane.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 2You can't veer into their lane. Pass the motorcycle using the same lane as the motorcycle. Oh, I thought there was one that said, you could also pass in your own lane no. Allow the motorcycle to use a complete lane. That's the right answer.
Speaker 1Okay, yeah, do you All right. Would you rather get to talk to your future self for five minutes, or would you rather talk to your past self for five minutes? Future, really, why?
Speaker 2Because I feel like Green the past is in the past, yeah, and I can't change it.
Speaker 1Yeah, you already know what happened so.
Speaker 2I can just talk to my future self and hopefully make some good decisions going forward, I guess.
Speaker 1So yeah, how about you yeah future why? Just because, yeah, exactly what you said. I know what's going to happen going forward and I don't know what I'm going to be like. I don't know.
Speaker 2I feel happen going forward and I don't know what I'm gonna be like.
Speaker 1I don't know. I feel like it's way better. The past already happened. There's literally no point. I'm glad that you're on the same page as me because I'm always right and I'm out.
Speaker 2But what do you think? I pulled the thing, mccoy. I found a really funny joke and I didn't save it. Actually, actually, I think I remember.
Speaker 1Would you rather have someone fart on your pillow?
Speaker 2or have Hershey squirts during class.
Speaker 1Oh, here I found it All right ready. Yeah.
Speaker 2What do you call a female police officer playing a guitar?
Speaker 1A girlman in, I don't know, a she-riff, a she-riff what Like a riff, guitar riff, know a she riff a she riff what like a riff guitar riff a she riff, sheriff, she riff.
Podcast Hosts Discuss Wedding Roles
Speaker 2Remember, do you remember Ricky Martin? She bangs, she bangs. It's like she riff, she riff. I don't know that. Alright, thank you for listening to another episode of On Our Best Behavior with your two favorite podcast co hosts, kelly and McCoy.
Speaker 1Oh, guess what?
Speaker 2Kate asked me if I'd be the emcee at her wedding.
Speaker 1What's emcee Like? Walk her down the aisle.
Speaker 2No, like, introduce her. Like I have the mic and I get to introduce everybody. Actually, you're going to be.
Speaker 3DJ.
Speaker 2Kelly, I get to, I get to like be introduced like everybody the dances and stuff. So if you want to hire me as your MC here I am, Rock you like a hurricane.
Speaker 1All right, hey guys, I really gotta take a poop.
Speaker 2That's right, no one's hiring you.
Speaker 1That would be me. Hey guys, really gotta take a poop.
Speaker 2No one wants to hear about your bowel movements, my bowel movements.
Speaker 1Keep your body movements and your fluid to yourself. My body fluids are good.
Speaker 2I like to move it, move it, I like to move it, move it, I like to move it, move it.
Speaker 1I love you, King Julian, I love you.
Speaker 2King Julian, I love you too. Bye-bye, bye-bye. I like them big. I like them big I like them, chunky, chunky.
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