As we navigate the countless stories that shape our world, it's the personal tales of dedication and service that resonate deeply within our collective consciousness. None capture this spirit better than Eureka's own Police Chief Brian Stephens, who joins us to recount his transformative journey from the U.S. Army to the helm of Humboldt's law enforcement. His vivid anecdotes reveal the intricate dance between personal growth and community commitment, painting a picture of life that's as nuanced as it is inspiring.
The landscape of Humboldt County is ever-changing, and so too are the challenges its police force must grapple with. Chief Stephens guides us through the region's historical battles with illicit marijuana cultivation and how these have morphed into a supportive role for legitimate cannabis enterprises. But the green gold rush isn't the only topic on our agenda. We delve into the heart-wrenching issue of fentanyl overdoses and homelessness, highlighting both the stark realities faced by officers on the front lines and the rays of hope offered through community initiatives like those helmed by Betty Chin.
Drawing our conversation to a close, Chief Stephens sheds light on the understated charms of Humboldt life, from the tranquility of tee times to the bustling local food scene. He shares a chuckle over Hollywood's occasional flirtation with Eureka, adding a dash of stardust to our small-town narrative. And as we discuss the innovative ways the Eureka Police Department is attracting fresh faces to the force, it becomes clear that the fabric of this community is woven with equal parts grit and grace, making it an unmissable study in the art of modern policing and the enduring allure of Americana.
Find us on Facebook at 100% Humboldt.
As we navigate the countless stories that shape our world, it's the personal tales of dedication and service that resonate deeply within our collective consciousness. None capture this spirit better than Eureka's own Police Chief Brian Stephens, who joins us to recount his transformative journey from the U.S. Army to the helm of Humboldt's law enforcement. His vivid anecdotes reveal the intricate dance between personal growth and community commitment, painting a picture of life that's as nuanced as it is inspiring.
The landscape of Humboldt County is ever-changing, and so too are the challenges its police force must grapple with. Chief Stephens guides us through the region's historical battles with illicit marijuana cultivation and how these have morphed into a supportive role for legitimate cannabis enterprises. But the green gold rush isn't the only topic on our agenda. We delve into the heart-wrenching issue of fentanyl overdoses and homelessness, highlighting both the stark realities faced by officers on the front lines and the rays of hope offered through community initiatives like those helmed by Betty Chin.
Drawing our conversation to a close, Chief Stephens sheds light on the understated charms of Humboldt life, from the tranquility of tee times to the bustling local food scene. He shares a chuckle over Hollywood's occasional flirtation with Eureka, adding a dash of stardust to our small-town narrative. And as we discuss the innovative ways the Eureka Police Department is attracting fresh faces to the force, it becomes clear that the fabric of this community is woven with equal parts grit and grace, making it an unmissable study in the art of modern policing and the enduring allure of Americana.
Find us on Facebook at 100% Humboldt.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, welcome to the 100% Humboldt podcast with my new best friend, brian Stevens. Good afternoon, chief. Right, that's right, chief Brian Stevens. Hey, brian, good to have you, glad to be here. All right, eureka, california PD Chief. Let me show everybody where Eureka is, just in case there's any confusion. It's in Humboldt County, which is in California, way up in the north, and here's Eureka, right here on the bay founded in 1854. I'm making that stuff up. Anyway, welcome, thank you. How'd you get to Humboldt Tell?
Speaker 2:me about your journey. How'd I get to Humboldt? Well, I was in the military. I served five years in the United States Army. I was in basic training, medallady. Years had gone by before I got out. We got back together. I got married and when I was getting ready to get out of the military, had an agreement Whoever got a job first. That's where we're going to move. And she was from Humboldt, from the reservation down in Hoopa, and she knew a lot of people and she interviewed on a Monday or applied on a Monday, interviewed on a Tuesday, was on a plane on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1:So were you in the military together.
Speaker 2:We went to basically training together. She was from the National Guard, so she came back to California and then I did my full five-year tour.
Speaker 1:So did you guys move to Humboldt or up to Hoopa both?
Speaker 2:We moved to Hoopa first and then into McKinleyville and back down the Willow Creek.
Speaker 1:Nice, beautiful valley up there it is. Yeah, summers are nice, winters are probably less so right.
Speaker 2:It matters. Yeah, it can be beautiful and it can be treacherous at the same time. Guys have kids. We do. I have two. I have my son, andrew, who's 24. And my daughter McKenna is 21.
Speaker 1:Very nice, that's cool. Is either of them law enforcement? No, yeah, is that law enforcement? No, it's like when I was a kid, my dad was an insurance in San Diego and I said, man, that insurance, that's for chumps. My dad, how does he do that? I was so boring and at 53, I became a state farm agent, which is as you know. It's been fun, yeah. So you come out to our Humboldt Hero stuff to recognize vets because you are one.
Speaker 2:I do and I've been lucky to be a recipient of that and I think it's a great program and I appreciate recognizing the veterans in our community. I apologize for not being there recently. It's been You've been busy, just hectic, so yeah.
Speaker 1:So what's been going on that's kept you so busy? You got promoted, right.
Speaker 2:I did. I was promoted to Chief of Police on January 4th, which is the last step in my career, but it's also very humbling accomplishment and to be able to lead my people and take care of the city that I've been in now for 27, 28 years.
Speaker 1:It's amazing. So congrats, that's great, you've earned it. Thank you, yeah, I thought that would happen sooner because the other Chief was gone and was there an interim guy for a minute.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so after Chief Watson, chief Todd Jarvis was brought up from the San Diego area, he'd retired as the second in command of the San Diego Police Department to serve as an interim Chief for a period of time which was about two years, and he retired now for his second time and Wow, does that mean two retirement?
Speaker 1:Did he get to double dip I?
Speaker 2:don't think he's probably not Quite invested enough in the purve system. San Diego has their own retirement system as a city and he didn't get enough time in the purve system.
Speaker 1:So where did you serve in the Army?
Speaker 2:So I did my basic training at Fort McCullin, alabama, and then got assigned to Fort Lee, virginia, as part of the 550th MP Company and from there I deployed to Haiti and for 40 days during when we went into their country to help with their occupation issue they were having and then went to Panama for four months as a part of a normal rotation for military police to go there to protect those bases following up on Operation Just Cause.
Speaker 1:Wow, so those are two conflicts that we had that were kind of within a couple of years of each other, right?
Speaker 2:Panama was, I don't remember which was first. Yeah, Panama was first and it was prior to me going into the military, but we still had a very large military contingency in Panama protecting the canal, protecting the bases there and the communities. And then Haiti yeah, that was in late 90, 93, 94. I went to Panama in 93 to 94, and then 94 we went to Haiti. They say Haiti's pretty rough. It was definitely a third world country, but it's had some very unique places, some very beautiful places when you get up into the mountains heading toward the Dominican Republic. And there were a lot of good people there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, A lot of good people we met there, and then I transferred to Fort Knox, kentucky, for my last two years of service.
Speaker 1:So all MP duties? Yes, got you Good training for police work.
Speaker 2:It was yeah, because where I was born and raised in Kentucky, I applied at 18 for a law enforcement position. There was one opening and there were 300 and some people that showed up to take the written test for that one opening.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I realized at that point not only did I want to serve my country, but I needed to get something else under my belt to help set me apart from the rest of the applicants. Build that resume. Yeah, Recruiting is not like that nowadays.
Speaker 1:It's a little different. It's a little different, a little different world. So you started at EPD. Was EPD your first policing job?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went to the academy and, while I was in the academy, applied with the RECA police department and was hired about two months after I graduated from the academy.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:February 18th of 1999. Is this about 27 years ago? As you said, it'll be 25. I've been in Humboldt 27. Okay, there's seven.
Speaker 1:Gosh, I'd love to hear some stories. So what were the earlier days, like the 90s, early 2000s, compared to, say, now?
Speaker 2:You know, policing, police is the community and the needs of the community at the time. So the needs of the community at that time were a lot different and we had a lot different our lack of a lot of different resources that we have now. So enforcement was what we did. We didn't have the outreach teams and things that we had now. So we dealt with a lot of the issues we deal with now with our care team, c-set team, where it's all dealt with by patrol, through enforcement, those quality of life type issues, drinking in public, those kind of things, trying to control behaviors through enforcement. Sure, no-transcript it's. You know, chirica, it's been consistently busy. It's a small town with big town problems. That hasn't changed over 20 years. The problems change a little bit. You see the influx of higher gang activity during periods over the last 25 years versus periods where you don't have that. You see higher rates of car thefts, depending on. You know just whatever's going on in the criminal world at the time. Narcotics has always been an issue in.
Speaker 2:Hummel County, you know but you see the transition to from marijuana where, even when I was at the task force, you know marijuana was something we enforced heavily, and now I sit on the safety committee that goes around and helps marijuana businesses get licensed by the city and the state and make sure they're safe for their employees and their customers in our community. Things have shifted.
Speaker 1:Yeah so it's been.
Speaker 2:that's what I'm saying. You really have to police to what the community and your city needs at the time, so you have to be flexible.
Speaker 1:Kind of begs the question what's next in terms of the shift? But we'll get there to conversations. So you're back in the camp days. You weren't working on camp. The guys that came and enforced marijuana. Campaign against marijuana cultivation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I never actually worked with the camp team, but I was assigned to the Hummel County Drug Task Force for almost four and a half years and as a part of that we focused more on the indoor grows, illegal grows deep in the valleys, hidden from site diesel generators, those kind of large scale operations.
Speaker 1:So the illegal guys that came up and just destroyed the environment kind of guys and gals. Was that other sheriff Downey?
Speaker 2:Yeah he was the sheriff when I first started. Maybe he was the sheriff probably through my entire time when I was at the task force. The task force at the time was run by the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement through DOJ, so they oversaw our task force, which was still a multi-agency team from the county but it was overseen by DOJ supervisor.
Speaker 1:It really has shifted. So marijuana used to be grown I was gonna point on the map, but I just do this, still is but it was enforced in pretty heavy ways with helicopters. I mean I assume there was guns involved and more hardcore enforcement right At the source.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was a criminal enterprise. To many it was a criminal enterprise and from an enforcement standpoint, people are gonna protect their enterprises and that raises the safety issues surrounding law enforcement going in and trying to enforce laws in those areas. So the appropriate measures were taken to ensure the safety of the members of any team that was going in to do any type of enforcement. Helicopters were often used just because distance traveled be able to get into very rural areas, national forest service lands that would take hours to hike into. You can fly the operators or the agents in. They can do their job. You can fly the product back out, so just help with the efficiency of the operations to get in and out.
Speaker 1:It occurs to me and I don't have a big pulse of this, but in then the enforcement in town was had a history of some other shooting and officer related shooting at criminals. Right, I mean, does it seem like we have as much of that anymore? As where I'm going with that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the enforcement's changed. The municipal code and the city of Eurica allows for a certain amount of square footage or plants to be grown and with the legalization you just don't see people trying to grow out themselves anymore. When you look at the cost to do what you could do for 612 plants and what, that, the time and everything, what you're gonna get out of it, where you can just drive down Broadway now and stop into a dispenser, you don't have to get out of your car.
Speaker 1:Life through. Yeah, so actually they have delivery guys too right, yes, they do.
Speaker 2:Door dash, door dash marijuana, dope dash Cannabis, sorry, yeah, so it's funny cannabis, thank you.
Speaker 1:So I walk from my office down to the bay to work out and I think I must be five or six dispensaries that I go by, it's just.
Speaker 2:There's several in the old town and I was realizing, true, in Arcada.
Speaker 1:It's like I'm driving through Arcada, going small boulevard, I go, geez, I'm not even downtown yet and there's five, so I'm going. I guess big, you know can of business. So I don't wanna get stuck on that one, but it is. It's interesting. So may I. May I offer the question to say that has some of the enforcement issues of the crime that's related to Eureka, Humboldt County, been related to the marijuana industry dating back to the 70s? Is there a? I always assume the trimigrants that come through town got burned, got whatever, never left, stayed and lived on, whether on the streets or on crime or both, that there was an association. Am I drawing a fair conclusion or is that?
Speaker 2:part of it. That is a very fair conclusion. So historically in my time here in Humboldt County you do see those folks that come from all over the world for the glory of working in the marijuana fields in Humboldt County because it's well known for the marijuana business and trade and that really hasn't changed as much because we still have legal large scale operations that need workers, so there's still people coming. I don't think we see as much of not here locally in Eureka at least as much of the people who have now been abandoned as a part of this process. Either they didn't get paid or now they're stuck in Humboldt County. We don't see that as often in the city. When I lived in Willow Creek you would see that quite often.
Speaker 1:They'd abandoned up the hills.
Speaker 2:And then they come back down and they're looking for rides, they're looking for ways out, they're looking for other work and that transition of people just kept turning over. Every year you wouldn't see the same people. And there's a huge crime element to that and that there's sex abuse, sex crimes that occur. There's trafficking that occurs. People don't get paid. I'm sure there's unsolved homicides. People go missing. We see that in the news a lot and a lot of that is. The last thing they told a family member was I'm gonna go to Humboldt and work in a marijuana garden. Never saw him again and that's it, yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's not a totally uncommon story. It's not Murder Mountain the whole thing's not Murder Mountain, but that's a real deal it happens.
Speaker 2:I mean there's go missing. Yeah, there are people who are missing. I notice there's a missing guy.
Speaker 1:Right now I saw him. Who knows? I mean, it could be mentally ill, it could be a variety of people, but there's probably a higher or an unusual percentage of folks that maybe are dead or missing that came here.
Speaker 2:I think that's been. I think they've reported on that that there are quite a few open cases of missing people, that the last known location was in the Humboldt County area somewhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, it's not Disneyland.
Speaker 2:It ain't that great. Well, it is a great community and it's you know you're at higher risk of something happening to you with who you associate with and what you associate with. Sure, you know, come to Eureka, go to college, start a business, retire here. You're not gonna have the issues that if you come here and you work into a trade that potentially is you know, have some type of negative connotation behind it or illegal activity associated with it, then chances are goes up for you to be involved in some type of criminal behavior or dangerous behavior for yourself.
Speaker 1:Sure, sure. So, as chief, then, what do you see in now in terms of present challenges in Eureka and surrounding Humboldt County? What do you see? What do you wanna focus on? Cut out, what's your platform, or coming in, what are you?
Speaker 2:top three takeaways yeah, that's tough, you know, and I think it's tougher for me to come up with those type of takeaways or platforms to work off of, because, yeah, I've been a part of it for 25 years. So it's a transition of positions. It's not a transition with coming into an area with, yeah, fresh ideas, because priorities are still the same. We've been working through these ideas together as a team for, you know, years, yeah. So I think right now. So I mean there's more main issues we're having externally, obviously is the houselessness, mental health. Our care team and our C-set team are working diligently to do that. We now have clinicians, case managers, that work for the city of Eureka. That program is being expanded shortly, hopefully, so we'll have 24 seven coverage.
Speaker 1:So they got a, they go down patrol or they they're available to patrol.
Speaker 2:So if we get on to a call that Someone's in a mental health crisis or needs some assistance, then we can call and they'll respond to us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and sometimes they can take over and we eliminate the need to have an officer or officers stay on scene.
Speaker 2:A lot of our community members have resources already in place and they we don't know about that. So our Resources would be potentially to put them on some type of mental health hole, take them to the hospital, which then creates this community issue, because we have issues with the hospital, with assaults and things. We have issues with nurses getting assaulted and the lack of beds and services there, and then you or I break a leg and we're waiting in the lobby for, yeah, a long time. So we are currently diverting about 90% of all mental health Holds all our calls away from going to SV, going to st Joe's. So and I think that's because the C-set team knows what the resources are, the care team is a resource to all the patrol and once that's expanded to 24 7, I think we're gonna see even better results for sure the city, the, our community members, but also the department, and be able to free up the the short number of officers that we have to have better response times.
Speaker 1:other calls deal with other issues, yeah, so that's the exciting and looking forward to that, so she said, is La France and his team.
Speaker 2:They so it's Sergeant oh me, john, oh me now. So oversees that Commander? La France is the commander who oversees all investigations, which does include C-set. Okay, so he sees it now from a command level. Sergeant oh me as the supervisor on the ground. We have one mental health clinic, or went all the officer on the team, one park ranger and then one community service park ranger the same thing is that the mist officer.
Speaker 2:That's. That's what she's trained in. Okay, we just don't call it she's technically the mist officer, yeah, so, but they're all trained with the same level of skill sets to deal with the community that they're most likely to run across, and they work together all the time on calls. So it's it's a team effort to do what they do.
Speaker 1:So enforcement shifted, then it's, it's more, maybe a little bit more counseling, a little bit more.
Speaker 2:It's resource-based. So we do all we can to notify, advise, put the, put people into contact with things and and resources and groups that may be able to assist them to change Whatever environments that they're currently in.
Speaker 2:You know there still is a need for enforcement and we've had to work through some court rulings and stuff that that can't be the priority. There's got to be certain parameters set up around that. But with some of the more Programs we have coming with the village down on Hillfiker which is going to be a one of Betty's villages down there now I don't know there's gonna be some new Property that is gonna have some other opportunities for some housing on it.
Speaker 2:That should be done, hopefully this summer. Short-term, how they get people off the off, immediately off the street. So we're not talking long-term housing, but to get them off the streets into an area. Once we can offer resources, have resources available and know they're available, then the enforcement piece is still there for us to deal with those. It just will not accept services. So sure, over the years we found that there are your, your have-nots, your want-nots and your can-nots, and it's the want-nots that are the ones who have that criminal element behind them, who maybe historically have been. I mean, there's generations, folks that have been living in our green belts and on the streets, who have had kids who are raised on there, who now are living that lifestyle. So yeah, certain people just will not take Advantage of resources offered.
Speaker 2:And then you have to look at other avenues to change the behavior, because it has a naked effect on the community. It's a generational problem.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jeff Downey shared a lot of that. Southern Humboldt. There's, there's, you know, two, three, four generations of grow farm Criminal. I mean element. That is, it's it's problematic and it breeds stuff that isn't, it's aberrant. So enough said on that. The so what? My question is and this was always rumored that other communities would bring their their their criminal element to Eureka and drop them one one-way bus ticket, give me text or get whatever, put them in a car, send him here. Is that is that ever corroborated? Did? Did Pelican Bay prison ever bus guys down, gals down here?
Speaker 2:I can't say that Pelican Bay ever intentionally bust people with a one-way ticket to Humboldt. So when you get out of, at least back in. You know I'll call back in the day when I was on patrol. What we would see is that when people are released from Pelican Bay, they're given a bus ticket back to their City of arrest, to whatever it is. Okay, however, eureka was the first Bus stop on that route and if you've been in prison for any period of time, you want to get a chance to get off and get a big Mac or whatever.
Speaker 2:It is right. So we did see a lot of Individuals who are recently out of prison get off here in Eureka and then it doesn't take long if they don't show up to their parole office where they're supposed to report back to. Then now they're wanted and so we would have to deal with that back, you know, years ago, because the parole system, the rehabilitation system, is all changed in. Yeah, what that looks like now. So it really is. You know that's there. There's another example of how policing's changed. I mean, we had, you know, 300, some police, probably in Eureka one time and you know they had certain Restrictions, that they can't carry a knife over four inches, they can't drink alcohol, and you make you find an individual on parole violating some of those Things put in place for them and it was an automatic six months to a year. Well, back in prison. But not now, not now. No, there's just that lack of accountability and Determined right for a lot of the criminal element that is still occurring?
Speaker 1:Do we have some of the same number of parolees in the 300s?
Speaker 2:You know Scott, I don't know, I haven't and not that many people get put on parole anymore. Yeah, so there's other, you know, prcs or just local probation, local jail time. So I have not looked at the numbers recently to see what that population looks like. Gotcha.
Speaker 1:So what? So what are our issues? That homelessness and met slash mental illness. What else would you throw in there a fentanyl is huge?
Speaker 2:still still a problem. Yeah, we're having overdoses daily. Wow, I have a lost track of how many times that officers have been administering Narcan and it's just second nature. Now they just take it with. We've supplied with them. It's in their cars. They carried on their person case throughout in a green belt somewhere or on the trail. But yeah, they we could call to. You know, man down person down cause and so often they're Some type of fentanyl overdose. You know officers doing CPR into medical arrives it's just, it's almost a daily occurrence.
Speaker 1:So dark hand counters, the fentanyl experience, yes huh, as long as I mean.
Speaker 2:Fentanyl is pretty strong, so it matters how much they've taken, how long their overdoses lasted, right, yeah, usually one or two doses will start to get someone Wow back out of.
Speaker 1:Wow, the yeah, that's got to be hard. We had the number of friends lose kids. It's just, it's a really brutal. So but let's go to Betty chid for a second. So they're building a village down by the On the Bay behind Hillficker. Yeah that fire, that fire training area.
Speaker 2:It's at the very end of that, so between there and the wastewater treatment plant, Okay. Yeah, so be a temporary housing with. Yeah, they're like Assemble, like these dome plant houses that are being assembled down there. Wow with all the utilities and everything. And you know, betty runs great programs and Betty's programs are successful because they're managed right and there's there's guidelines, there's and they have Betty who's.
Speaker 1:It's a very powerful source. She's you know to meet her and is I had known her, and you hear about somebody, then you meet him and you go. Well, you're pretty humble and pretty amazing and she's just one another award at the chamber dinner the other night and you were there. Yeah, so community resource Agency of the year, whatever nonprofit community on profit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's I guess it's a gal like her that could attract enough resources to Build the village.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, absolutely, and the support behind it and Because of the way she manages everything and the success she's had in her programs. A community can get behind, yeah, and the city can get behind programs she wants to institute because they've seen the positive outcome. It comes from all of her. You know pathway to paydays, all her Activity she does there at her center just up from our police department. Yeah, her kids program it's just amazing.
Speaker 1:So what the guys see with her. She requires accountability. Yes and that's a pretty big thing. The eight, the a word out there, it's like huh that's oh work. We're all accountable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she'll go to the ends of the earth to help you until you yeah, you cross her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and then you're dead, yeah. Oh that, that's accountability. Yeah, yeah, cool. So let's talk about you when you're off duty. What? What's your? What's your preferred humble day? What would you go do?
Speaker 2:I've really gotten to golfing lately. Oh really, yeah cool I find it. You know it's frustrating some days, for sure. But a little white ball around. But there's so many times, like you know, get off work and can go and put my earphones in and Almost in. You know, nureka, almost be by yourself some evenings on the golf course and it's just nice to be out catching some fresh air and play the beanie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mostly play the beanie in years. I heard it's. It's nicer. It is right now. It's pretty wet. I bet it's very, because that thing floods like crazy.
Speaker 2:It's a. They did a lot of mitigation for that, so it's not as bad as it used to be, but you still can't get six inches of rain over two weeks, oh no like that creek just floods out.
Speaker 1:I'm sure, yeah, no, what it's? My dad called it a suckers game because you get one good shot at golf.
Speaker 2:You're going and you're in for the next one.
Speaker 1:I'm going pro man, I'm gonna be, I'm going on the senior tour, I swear yeah. And then it's like and then it happens again and you're not that great member, ending ending at bow prey on the 18th and you know, firing like a 20 30-foot putt and going. This is the best game ever, suck you back in for the next time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a sucker. Yeah, you're gonna come back for the next one. Yeah, I like that idea of like headphones through. You know, just maybe I you know your pods with, just listen to some tunes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. It's relaxing you whether you're walking or in a cart. I started walking more this year just because you can take your time and, yeah, play later. You don't have to get back by time and turn the card in, so you get a little bit more of the evening. Do you get to play Baywood? Yet I have a certificate to play with Baywood one of my friends and I'm looking forward to That'll be the first time. It'll be great.
Speaker 1:You love my dad. So there's no course like that and on the earth, wow, you know the redwoods and the rowdies and it's in blue when you go, where am I? And it's, yeah, baywood's pretty cool. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah you're making me want to golf because I have a golf. I took a season off and didn't play that much anyway, but I got a new hybrid Four, so you know you gotta try that. One club, right? Yeah, the old guy club that you can't miss. So till you miss a lot, so a day of golf, what else would you? Where would you go to eat if you could eat anywhere?
Speaker 2:Eat anywhere. I mean, I love, like the Seagrill Lairpens. There's a lot of good restaurants in Eureka. I deal with a lot of people who come to town and some of our contractors come to town and they're just always talking about and they're from bigger cities. You guys have some top of the line restaurants here, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:So we have a friend that either from Boise, where my daughter lives, and he came down here and stayed to try to detonate at Lairpens and he goes, I'm telling you, man, the top restaurants in California. Right there, you guys, you got it. We ate there and it was amazing and there's good small restaurant.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, I love Sammies and Paul's Life. From New York, I go there often to get different meals and, yeah, just a lot of good opportunities here, a lot of great restaurants, great restaurant owners that just take good care of you?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, now there's a lot of good food in Eureka, so Leonardo DiCaprio's in town and all the guys and I realized that's not, that was Arcada and that was cutting, but did you get to? Are you guys ever involved in any Hollywood shoots that come to town?
Speaker 2:We were involved in, like the permitting process, meeting with the site producers that were here prepping for a lot of the activities they were doing, making sure we could handle anything they needed. We did supply some officers this last week, like Friday, saturday, sunday because they were doing the big shoots at the Eureka High School gym and the high school area out in Sequoia Park and that area. So they needed some help with that and you know we went to community to know that, yeah, most people know what's a movie set, but there were a lot of activities they were doing that could create calls for service if somebody didn't recognize what was going on. It was happening, yeah, so having a uniform presence there is always helps me.
Speaker 1:You get to be Leo or anybody.
Speaker 2:You know what? I stayed away from? Sean Penn Stayed away from the sets. I signed people to go do that and it sounded like they had a good time, but I don't know how much they actually had.
Speaker 1:So any interactions with them? Somebody said Leo was spotted up at the carriage house and arcaded and then Sean Penn was out at the shooting range. So whatever, I guess every different actor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's great that they take advantage of the community. And yeah, I saw Leonardo has spent some money and Old Town was going around with the businesses taking pictures of people and buying some local goods. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, that's good for the community.
Speaker 1:And then Rick Taylor, adam Dick said they were pretty sure he came in with an entourage. He's smart enough, he wears a mask, so you can't really. I mean, who did you know behind the mask? No one, leo. But he came in and bought some chocolate and he had a couple of big guys with him and whatever, and hung out. So you can tell we're from small town America where this doesn't happen often.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was one of their concerns is that we were happy to be here. We want to bring great things and economy boost to the area, but we're the next big shining thing that's going on in Hummel County right now, so you know it's going to draw some attention. So it's not LA where this is happening on every street corner and stuff Right, it's every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's funny, we got bigger issues and bigger fish to fry. So at the crack of around 9.15 this morning I'm coming southbound on 101 around the bay and here comes an entourage of CHP and other official vehicles. Any idea what that could have been? Literally about 12, 15 cars that were.
Speaker 2:Were there black SUVs in there? Yes sir, that was the movie people.
Speaker 1:Oh, do they get escorted?
Speaker 2:No, well, yeah, so if they were still doing a shoot today, yeah, there was at least that many cars in their scene. So they have some black and white cars that look like patrol cars they were using. They had three or four like all black Shepitahos. Yeah, that's what those were. Yeah, and CHP is escorting them. They were probably doing a driving scene so they could move the cars away from the front and back of them so they can do what they need to do.
Speaker 1:Oh, is that right? Okay, I wondered what that was. I really had never seen anything like that. Yeah, and that's looks like a video. It's just 40 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw a video on one of the local sites that they were coming down off an on ramp and it was like CHP cars and it was like all the movie cop cars and all the black SUVs and CHP cars in the back.
Speaker 1:So those guys create the officers, create a space, a safety space for them, so these guys can do whatever up close.
Speaker 2:They don't want other cars necessarily. In the shoot you got a camera car and you don't want things around there that you can't control. Paparazzi Leo, what are you doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's yeah, because I never. It was literally probably 15 rigs. Yeah, that sounds about right from what I saw, you guys coordinate a lot with other police departments as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have a very good working relationship with the Sheriff's Department, CHP All of them really. They don't call us at any given time. We know that with any agency up here and the same they know with us. If you need assistance with something, just pick up the phone.
Speaker 1:So you guys are all dialed into one another as needed basis we have monthly meetings with law enforcement chiefs of Humboldt County.
Speaker 2:So once a month the Sheriff, all the chiefs for service, all the parks Del Norte gets together and have a meeting and talk about issues we're having.
Speaker 1:So rangers people that would have, yeah, law enforcement roles.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then we have a Coast Guard. So just to continually build that relationship of first responders and share ideas, share issues, we're having SWAT team, of course. Prep plant yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So if you were to break down your responsibilities in terms of the department, how does that work? How does that work? So you've got officers, you've got your admin people and dispatchers. Sure, what kind of programs are within that?
Speaker 2:Sure. So in our agency we have a chief, we have two commanders. One commander oversees all the patrol operations. So that's all the black and white cars, that's all of our cops on the street. Who's that, by the way? Commander Wayne Rabin.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then Commander Linda LaFrance is in charge of investigations and special teams, so he oversees C-SET, our criminal investigations unit, our drug task force agent. So that's how the enforcement side of the house is broken down. We have a records manager. It oversees our records division. I have a communications manager who oversees our communications center and all the dispatchers upstairs.
Speaker 1:We have Shout out to those guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're amazing To all of them actually, but the dispatch people are pretty key, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they got to remain very calm.
Speaker 2:We call them our guardian angels. That's good, yeah. It's a calming voice in your ear when you're having your worst time, whether it's you're calling in something or you're working on the street. Either way, yeah.
Speaker 1:So this is the adrenaline hit andso two commanding officers or commanders, and then you got yourso what's under those guys?
Speaker 2:So we have sergeants that oversee the patrol operations or special teams, and then we have field training officers on the patrol side. So they train all our new hires, but they're also can stand in for the position of a watch commander or a sergeant if they're absent. Yeah, so that's the patrol division. Animal control community service officers. Our evidence tech falls under our criminal investigations unit. How about Larry Henderson? What does he do? Larry is a part-time property technician up in our property room.
Speaker 2:So we have a property coordinator, one full-time property tech and then Larry who helps out up there on a part-time basis, good friend of ours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hadn't seen him in months. He came by the office yesterday. Yeah, he's been a godsend, he's just a great guy.
Speaker 2:He's a neat guy. He's done a lot of great work for us.
Speaker 1:He's a good man, so how many people are you over then?
Speaker 2:I think we're allocated for about 78.
Speaker 1:Somehow.
Speaker 2:We're nowhere near that, but we're probably somewhere in the mid 60s. So you're hiring right now Constantly. Yeah, so we just did a recruitment for our police recruit position. We have 26 applications for that, so we're starting through the oral board process and then we'll move people in the backgrounds, hoping to get five into the next police academy in July, nice. We're getting ready to open up our communications dispatcher position again. So all levels for either recruit or lateral or entry level. We have a couple openings probably coming up by the summer in there, so we want to be able to get an eligibility list for that. We have some openings in community service officers. Have a budget analyst that will be flying very soon, which is a pretty important role in the department, reports to the chief but is responsible for a lot of our bill, paying grants, budgetary issues, anything like that. Money's pretty important, it is it is. So we're looking for a high qualified person for that position.
Speaker 1:How do you guys primarily hire? So shout out if you guys anybody out there wants to apply. There's a lot of stuff. How do you obviously online?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so our human resources department will do the announcement. They'll share the announcement through sites that they have and then we create often flyers for each position as they relate personally to us in our department and we use social media a lot to advertise those Police agencies, police academies. We'll send them flyers. We have a couple of their officers. Our commander in officer is going to be going on a recruitment trip, so they'll be going to Sisq on the fifth and they're going down to Santa Rosa, Sacramento, primarily looking for dispatchers and new officers that are already in the academy that we get hired upon graduation in June. And then we'll be doing a Cal Poly's having a job fair. I want to say the 15th of February.
Speaker 2:So, we'll be up there looking for some of our professional staff position our budget analyst, our record specialist that we have so up there advertising those positions and actually any position, but we believe in some high quality people coming out of Cal Poly that we would really be interested in taking a look at.
Speaker 1:You guys have a lot of local staff right. They're local, like Omi and different ones that are from born and raised yeah, a lot of people are humble, born and raised, for sure, 100% humble, you might say. That's a great way to put it, which is right over in this area. So no, I like that and I have a. So what's the age that you can go to police academy?
Speaker 2:So I believe the academy you can go to the academy on your own at the age of 18, because most academies, most academies, have gone to a college curriculum. However, you can't be hired in the state of California as a peace officer until you're 21. That'd be 21. So you know, we would prefer that candidates looking to come into the profession would either knock out a couple of years of college, which is important, and then look at going to the academy when they get closer to 21, or looking at other positions within the department at 18. That then we can bring you in, train you on those positions, integrate you into the department, give you a great foundation. So when you do decide to make the switch to peace officer and you get ready to go to the academy, you're coming in with a wealth of information and confidence that a lot of people don't have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we know what's going on so we can help set you up for success. We're hoping that we're building loyalty and dedication to that apartment because we're investing in you and your career goals and aspirations. So yeah, so there's a couple of different avenues to go.
Speaker 1:So I have a 20-year-old who could bench 435 and say that he had a propensity toward law enforcement and all went well. Do you guys underwrite him at CER at College of the Redwoods for the?
Speaker 2:academy yeah. So as part of the recruit position, the applicants we know don't have experience. They need to go to the academy and we hire them and send them to the academy. So upon successful completion of the background process, you're hired as a police recruit and that way you're getting a wage. We understand a lot of people who have jobs and families but they want to make a career change and they can't just walk away from a salary for six months. So this allows them to have some funds coming in during the time while they're in the academy. We pay for all their uniforms, supplies, books, everything like that. And then, upon successful completion and hiring, they're swearing in. Then you're elevated to a first level police officer at step one. So that was an important tool to the city allowed us to have, because there's so many local people that we've been able to pull in who just couldn't walk away from a paycheck. But they're dedicated, loyal Humboldt County residents who want to be a part of their community and we've got some great employees that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. I think that makes it transition easier. So you guys are out in the community a lot, so is it community based police? It has a name right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, community policing is kind of like the way policing is going right now. You got to really be involved. You got to understand the community, your police and you got to be a part of the community, because otherwise you don't know what's going on. You can build walls between the police department and the community, and that's not what we want. We want to build avenues of communication. So I love the opportunity to be out at special events. The officers enjoy that over time and assignments because they get a chance to interact with people who it's Saturday, it's Arts Alive.
Speaker 1:man, we're going to do this Arts Alive. It's probably a preferred duty. I would think it'd be fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, most of the time, unless it's winter and it's raining sideways on a Saturday night and you're on off-o-potrol.
Speaker 1:You're drinking coffee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but in the summer Sierra Nureka have been great lately, with the Thursday night concerts, friday night markets Sure. Then you have Saturday night Arts Alives and some of the other special events that draw people from around the world to Humboldt, eureka, and it's just great to be out there. People enjoy seeing us. They enjoy the safe atmosphere that the presence feels, without feeling like there's a presence because it's just we're there. We're there, stay on the corner, have a conversation and you're available and approachable because you're just open at that point.
Speaker 1:It seems like it checks a lot of boxes, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:It does, it does. It helps me, from a leadership standpoint, get a feel for the community. People talk about stats all the time and stats can be manipulated. It may look like on whoever did them that crimes up, crimes down, but stats never really engulf. How does your community feel? That's where the conversations come in. There's the momentum right now in the community. I like to hear how people feel about if they're safe, how they feel about the events. When you have people, thank you for just being there because they feel better. That's important. It's important knowledge to bring back to share with other officers. We make adjustments that way too. If we're not meeting the needs and people are bringing that up, it gives me the opportunity to make adjustments to how we're approaching events.
Speaker 1:I saw a guy at I think it was the Friday night market. It's one of the last ones in October. It was a taco wagon or burritos or something. Anyway, the guy a customer grabbed the tip jar and he hightailed it down the alley and this guy got him I thought they were going to rain blows at his head. He didn't, he was restraining. He took his money back and screamed at him a few times and he might have shoved him, which was probably got off easy, but there was some self-policing going on there. Here's the poor guy working for nothing and you're stealing his tip jar.
Speaker 2:Come on man. Yeah, we had that a couple of times this summer down at the Live in the Dream Ice Cream. We got their tip jar stolen a couple of times. They were probably able to catch the guy. But yeah, it's unfortunate. You want it from a police thing, you want to get the veneers. Just, it's one of the. It just gets under your skin. People like especially, like you say, people at the Friday night markets who are not making a ton of money at those events they're already broke. Yeah, they're out there every weekend working, or the kids working at the ice cream shop or coffee shop trying to make extra money and the tip money helps them out and so many comes and takes it. These are just hardworking people trying to get by and we understand they're people down in their luck, but stealing's not the way to go.
Speaker 1:No, it's an extra special crime, not sure what's fit. I remember we were in El Dorado Hills and some kids had spun out and made a bunch of gravel and dust on the highway. It was obvious that we drove by and this CHP had them with their jackets, sweeping the crap back on the gravel, back off the road and they go. That was instant justice. I like that.
Speaker 2:They'll remember that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's get that corrected right now. Yeah, more than a ticket. Yeah, no, I love the fact that you guys are out there, so the evening events, you guys are probably pretty prominent, and I want to say Starbucks. That's probably not necessarily true, but you guys hang out, walk businesses in Old Town and all right, yeah, during the events. For sure Is there an old town officer still there in that, that outpost?
Speaker 2:There isn't right now, just due to staffing. That's one of the positions we pull back. Fortunately for us, our CISO team does a lot of work in the old town area, so they're able to address some of the concerns and have the flexibility because they're a proactive unit that we can ask them to do certain things to help out when issues arise. But yeah, that's not been there for a couple of years now as staffing increases. Obviously there are plans for how do we go back to addressing some of the needs of our community and appropriately utilizing our personnel to get the most bang for the buck.
Speaker 1:Do you guys walk them all at all at Bayshore Mall?
Speaker 2:Officers will go out on foot there target. They go out on foot quite a bit of target. We spend a lot of time A lot of shoplifting there. A lot of shoplifting, a lot of merchandise. I heard that at Walmart as well, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then again we're right back to changes in the law. Lack of accountability, right.
Speaker 1:Well, we've got a guy that works for us, that works at Safeway and Arcada, and they have shoplifters and they're not allowed to confront them. Yeah, they can just walk out the door with a stake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the liability is high for some of these businesses that they're worried about that and it affects you and I because they have to make up that loss somehow and that's that they raise prices.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have law enforcement, so I could only envision the lawlessness that would ensue if there was less or none, yeah, and that would be a revolution in chaos. And so thanks for what you guys do, thank you, thanks for keeping the chaos at bay and the anarchy too.
Speaker 2:Managing the chaos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so let's say I'm a new guy and I'm coming to town and hey, brian, and in or out of uniform, what are some of the hidden gems that you really like in right in this area, in Eureka, if you were, whether it's food or sites, or hey, I'm a local, I'm just taking a staycation what are some of the stuff, things that you've seen outdoor, indoor, that are maybe the hidden gems, that the secret spots? I mean the Muni, golf course. Hey, it's a Muni man, but it's a nice one it is. It really is what else comes to your mind?
Speaker 2:I've had the opportunity to do some hiking on some of the like the waterfront trail, like I'm portions I've not, you know, I've you know, I've you know, I've you know patrolled and back before the trail is even there, everything behind the mall and the green belts and that kind of area. So it's really interesting to walk it now or drive it with our gators when we're out just patrolling to see how far it came.
Speaker 1:It was a village at one time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you go back and look at that video online of the last 300 camps that we had and what that looked like compared to when you walk it now and nature and the environment regaining control of that area in a lot of ways it's just amazing that transformation. But I walked the new part of the trail from the foot of pound road down to the next exit there at Humble Hill. Is that King Salmon or what that's, humble Hill? Yeah, toobie Ranch, the Toobie Ranch parking lot down there.
Speaker 1:Is it?
Speaker 2:down by the PG&E. It's just before that, so you would get off at Humble Hill.
Speaker 1:It's the new stretch. It's south in a town.
Speaker 2:And all that restoration work that the city done and that area out there. It's interesting, it's calming and the people you meet out there walking, it's just nice to have those interactions. And there's some refuges just south of Eureka where you're walking out right on the bay and the wildlife. You're like it may be hooked in road out that way, yeah out that way.
Speaker 2:So there's just some beautiful areas like that, that our lives in society is so chaotic anymore that to find time to get away just to catch your breath and take in the environment that we live in we're very fortunate. I mean it's just, you know what People ask you all the time. I've traveled a lot. You know what's the most beautiful state park or national park you've been to, you know, and Yosemite, for me, is probably one of the most intriguing, just awe inspiring places. But it's like the Grand Canyon is pretty cool too, but if you live near the Grand Canyon it's just a hole in the ground and a bunch of rocks. And you live in Humble County, you know, and it's like, yeah, we have the ocean, we have redwood trees we take it for granted every now and then.
Speaker 1:It's true.
Speaker 2:But you see these cruise ships coming in and talk to the people who are visiting Humble for the first time their eyes are that big, they're traveling from all over the world to come see a redwood tree.
Speaker 2:And so, you know, stepping back and not taking for granted the beauty and the awe that we have here, and it's just because someday, you know, may not be here no more, I mean everybody here, no more. We may move, you know. And just so I don't forget it, you know, so you take the opportunities to make those memories.
Speaker 1:I like that. That trail system is really nice. I like that. I think of the skywalk at the, you know, at Sequoia Park. They had that live the other night was really amazing yeah the zoo, the fact we have a zoo in our city that you know and we see so many of our.
Speaker 2:you know the city was gave, has given a benefit to city employees for free zoo memberships and I see online all the time of family members from our department just take the day and go through with their kids.
Speaker 1:It's like a thing they do, you know.
Speaker 2:And have them run off their energy and stuff. But it's just, and you see the enjoyment they get out of it, it's just a great benefit. But it's just a great opportunity for this community to have that. You know, Redding doesn't have a zoo.
Speaker 1:No, it's like you know there's a lot of. I don't think Chico has a zoo. Sack has a zoo. It'd be interesting to see how many. I'll Google that real quick. How many zoos are in cities in California? But I bet it's under a hundred easy, probably under 50. I would say so. Yeah, Thank you, Mr Arkley. By the way, just for the record.
Speaker 2:And the zoo foundation and all the hard work it goes on to maintain Jeff Lamarie and yeah.
Speaker 1:And Mike from Wells Fargo. I mean just Michael Deard, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not easy to keep it accredited, you know, and keep it up and running. So they do great work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the animals require a lot of work, yeah, yeah. So the zoo, the trail, what are their hidden gems? The top secret takeover? I'm all about bagels, I think last. I mean they're in four places, but the bagel store is great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the coffee, especially coffee and chocolate. I mean that's just. You know, you can always stop by those places. They're just when people come to town and yeah, and then you know what I mean. If you're someone who enjoys beverages, I mean you have the places like the Carter House. That has just an amazing bar and Mark does a great job with the hospitality and the people he hires there. There's a great bartender there. He was just a wealth of information and lively and I go there just to hang out with him sometimes and have conversations.
Speaker 1:He's a really interesting guy. We become good friends. So Funny you'd say that that's you know. I don't like to admit that I'd ever had a martini, but that's where Joni and I like to go it. Occasionally Mark will be there, general Carl Adams or any number of locals, but it's kind of the undiscovered gem.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1:If you called one out of the foods delicious. The vibe is really nice, never overly crowded.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the accommodations there. If you want a staycation, like you said, and you want a nice place to go and stay and have dinner or a drink and not have to worry about anything, it's just you walk on the bay. Yeah, it's just a beautiful spot.
Speaker 1:Go get a $3 taco at Ambertos or whatever that one is next door. So, yeah, I think there's a lot of really neat, neat things that you know, if you I think just the neighborhoods, but like behind where, the behind the Eureka Inn, all the way back 10 blocks and just walking, those neighborhoods are remarkable architecture.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know that's, and that's interesting because we live in such a fast moving society. You often miss the little things and I always notice it when we do, like the roadie parade in April. You know we walk seventh and we take off and go up H street.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But we're walking and the parade, parade walk. Right you go and you stop for five minutes, go to somebody's car, you look around, yeah, whatever. Hey, look you get a chance to like look at these homes and some of the detail and the effort people put into the yard.
Speaker 1:Gosh.
Speaker 2:It just you miss that when you're just commuting You're driving to and from you have purpose.
Speaker 1:You gotta get to and out burger.
Speaker 2:I gotta go.
Speaker 1:I gotta go. I think you hit on some of them. That is the therapy walk Get out, put your shoes on, get out from behind the computer and go get some fresh air. Man, 10, 15 minutes, not gonna kill you, it does great for your mind. And Such a reset man and I think we're so like buried in the screen. It's like we just do ourselves a disservice. We think we're being productive and it's nothing like that. Yeah, yeah, you're right, I really liked that.
Speaker 1:And Don Brown, who was a state farm agent for Tuna before he died. I got to hang out with him and I came down and real quick story, I've told this before but I got to his office, I got my sport coat on I'm looking good man and he goes, get in the car, we're going kayaking. I got some shorts and some sand, get going. And I suited up and we went out to Hooked and Slough and he said whatever you do, don't miss out in Humboldt County Because you live in God's country. You got to go out and experience it and we did it on the water, which is even more fun to see Eureka from here's one, madicat.
Speaker 1:Oh, the Madicats, the Madicat man the oldest running boat in California right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the smallest operating bar too.
Speaker 1:That's right, it's got a bar that and the Carter hey Barq. Yeah, no, that's a great way to see Eureka and it ain't that expensive. It's probably under 20 bucks. Right, get a little history lesson along the way.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, yeah, it's a different view too. You're always looking out at the water. Look back at the city. You know we often would drive over to Willie Island first thing in the morning working graveyard to watch the sun come up. But look back to Eureka.
Speaker 1:That's kind of neat. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2:You forget where you are. You know After working all night and everything you've seen and to watch the city come alive as the sun comes up and people start moving around.
Speaker 1:It's yeah, it's kind of nice. Yeah, you get there that early and you see the early birds coming out and the actual literal early birds. Yeah, I like that. It's because you could see right the mountains behind it and Nealon and all. I like that. Well, I'd like to ask you about your legacy. What would you like to leave behind here in Eureka Humboldt? What would you like to be known for? What does it say in your gravestone?
Speaker 2:I've often told people that, whether it's my retirement or my funeral, that if one person stands up and says he did it right, then all the injuries, all the scars, all the demons Will be made right. It will have been worth it. Yeah, so you know. And how do you get there? You know you do. My goal is to take care of my people and they're taking care of the city, so the better I can take care of the employees that I have their families.
Speaker 2:I love it, I love the art of taking care of our community and so, yeah, they're my priority. They really are.
Speaker 1:I can call that serving the servants. It's a special blessing to be able to help people that are busy on the front lines. Helping people Cause that's I don't know if it's foot washing, that would be a Bible reference but it works, that you know, to help those guys and gals who come back, probably banged up a little bit from time to time, always. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a lot actually. And you know what? We've started a new wellness program about two and a half years ago now. We just signed a three year contract, but it's one that is robust. It's got a culturally competent wellness manager and clinician. It actually has expanded to almost the entire county now has contracts with the service and they've actually opened an office up here.
Speaker 2:And so and I've seen the benefits to our employees immediately whether we have a critical incident and we're able to debrief it sooner because we have the resources up here, or just the services that our contract provides them to have access to clinicians and the stereotype and law enforcement about mental health and if I need help, then they're gonna think I'm weak or they're gonna take my gun away or that's gone in our department and across the board and the Humboldt County pretty much it's.
Speaker 2:We want you to be healthy and it's not just about the job, it's about your future and I don't want to have to retire people out because of things they've seen. And if, unfortunately, we do have someone who suffers from so much trauma that they can't work anymore, I wanna make sure they're healthy enough to be a good father, be a good husband. You know a wife, you know. So it's that surrounding and with the care they need to do the great work that they do day in and day out. So Sounds like family to me. Team, that's what we're working for. Yeah, it's a constant strive, you know. It's a constant goal to try to reach and get that feeling.
Speaker 1:But there's one of the top three take away. Yeah, it's 100%. You know it's all about that. I love that a lot and you know that. Self care and being able to care for other people. So last question what do what a Nick and I do to help BPD? What does it look like for the average citizen? What's a couple of things that we could do to support y'all. Be a blessing, be a part of the team, be you know, making this place a better place.
Speaker 2:Education is key and knowledge is key. So if you have issues and concerns, please let me know. I can't fix what I don't know. I can't help mold or change what needs to be changed if I don't know what direction it needs to be going in, because I'm not getting the feedback. So if you have, you know, if you have an incident and you think it could have been handled better or you think that they did a great job, that communication back to the department is key. So I can, I can answer for that and I can share that for the employees.
Speaker 2:If you get a chance and you see them out in a non kind of enforcement way, so you know it's not like they just pulled you over and like that, I get that. But if you get the opportunity to say thank you, that goes so far, that's cool, that goes so far. And they may be having the worst day of their you know of their week, but if you know, if a community member who really does appreciate what they do day in and out all of a sudden just says, hey, sorry to bother you, I just want to say thanks for what you do, we appreciate you. That can reset somebody's mission on why they do what they do and why they sacrifice what they sacrifice, so that positive feedback for them is truly crucial to you see that with humble heroes and veterans, you know, no one said thanks for a while.
Speaker 1:You know just they didn't forget they. Just you know there was the opportunity. Yeah, yeah, so the thank you. I love it. I can do that, that's doable. My dad used to say it doesn't cost anything to be kind. You know it's free, you just got to be intentional with it. Well, hey, what a pleasure. Brian Appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 1:It's been an enjoyable conversation, thank you Any parting shots, any shout outs? So if we want to get ahold of you, could do that via the landline. Yeah, and you can take. They take messages. You respond to your-.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my assistant can get information to me if that. My email address email me issues.
Speaker 1:it's all online and yeah, so there's a way to interface with the chief. Absolutely Nice.
Speaker 2:I think that's everything and I will be as responsive as I can. But understand that just sometimes there's a little bit of delay is just depending on what it is and what's going on at the time. So it's all about that, yeah.
Speaker 1:What's the demand of the day?
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's the firearm currently working on?
Speaker 1:I appreciate it. Thanks for coming in. Appreciate you. Yeah, thank you, sir, appreciate it 100%, humble Thanks.