Badge of Honor + Resiliency with Jeff Wenninger (part 1)

When a college hockey player's simple question about helping his detained friend led to his own wrongful arrest, he could have chosen anger. Instead, Jeff Wenninger found inspiration that launched a 33-year law enforcement career, primarily with the LAPD. 

Our conversation with Jeff reveals the remarkable story of how adversity sparked purpose. Rather than harboring resentment after being beaten and jailed for "resisting arrest" while doing nothing wrong, Jeff became fascinated with criminal justice—eventually working as a corrections officer in the very jail where he'd been detained! This transformative experience, combined with his unique upbringing in a multiracial adoptive family during the 1960s, equipped him with exceptional perspective on community-police relations.

Jeff shares how his sociology professor father shaped his critical thinking without ever telling him what to do, and how his struggle with dyslexia taught him that dedicated effort trumps natural talent. His commitment to excellence shone through when he graduated as honor recruit from the Sheriff's Academy despite colleagues mocking his determination to exceed minimum standards.

Most telling was Jeff's deliberate choice to work in LAPD's 77th Division—ground zero for the Rodney King riots—because it offered the greatest learning opportunity in a community that "justifiably hated" the police. His story illuminates how resilience isn't just about recovering from setbacks but transforming them into stepping stones toward greater purpose and understanding.

The Quiet Gift: A Journey of Self Worth and Resilience is now available for download as an audible.  Check it out!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:06

All of us reach a point in time where we are depleted and need to somehow find a way to reignite the fire within. But how do we spark that flame? Welcome to Reignite Resilience, where we will venture into the heart of the human spirit. Resilience where we will venture into the heart of the human spirit. We'll discuss the art of reigniting our passion and strategies to stoke our enthusiasm. And now here are your hosts, natalie Davis and Pamela Cass.

Speaker 2 0:41

Welcome back to another episode of reignite resilience Resilience. I'm your co-host, natalie Davis, and I am so excited to be back with all of you joining you this week. And, of course, you have your co-host, pam Kass. That's on today. Hello Pam, how are you?

Speaker 3 0:54

I am fabulous we have a little bit more of a clear sky today. We've had fires in the mountains close to Fort Collins and we haven't been able to see the mountains really or the sky, and we just like a red moon and a red sun during the day, so it's been a little eerie. So I'm really I can see some blue sky today, so I'm hoping.

Speaker 2 1:13

I know that there's a lot of the country that's unfortunately on fire right now, which is strange when we're in our spring season and we're getting all of the rain and people complain about it being rainy, I'm like, nope, the moisture is good, we like the moisture. Let's get the ground a little wetter than normal and then avoid these. But we almost made it through the whole summer without seeing any fires pop up Almost. Almost so close so close.

Speaker 3 1:34

It's so funny because in the spring I'm so ready for summer, In the summer I'm ready for fall, but not winter. I would never say winter, Like if we could say that.

Speaker 2 1:50

I'd be good with that Fall. I am still fully embracing summer. I'm here for it. I have just told myself that I am now in the season of life that I'm chasing summer. So wherever I can go, that it's summer. I want to be there.

Speaker 3 1:55

If I got a beach, I'd feel more inclined to stay as well. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 2:02

Oh my goodness. Well, I am excited because we have a fabulous guest that's joining us today, so why don't we just jump right in, tell our listeners who's joining us and then dive into what I think is going to be fabulous conversation? I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 2:14

I'm excited for this. So today we have Jeff Winninger Hopefully I said that right. He is a nationally recognized law enforcement expert with over 33 years of experience, primarily with the LAPD. As the founder and CEO of Law Enforcement Consultants LLC, he specializes in police use of force, incidents, crowd management, school safety and the development of police management best practices. His work aims to align police methods with societal expectations, improve public trust and enhance police training. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm looking forward to this conversation. So am I. Thank you for having me. So tell us a little bit about yourself. What got you into law enforcement? I guess in the first place, because that's yeah. I'd love to hear that story first.

Speaker 4 3:04

Well, it's not something that I could say when I was a child, that I always knew I wanted to be a police officer.

Speaker 4 3:09

If you would have told me when I was 18 that I was going to have a 33-year law enforcement career out in Los Angeles, I would have told you you were crazy.

Jeff's Path to Law Enforcement

Speaker 4 3:17

I was an elite athlete and I played Division I college ice hockey on scholarship, and while I was in college I had an incident with the police that changed the entire trajectory of my life. Prior to that incident, I was a finance major and this incident resulted in me wanting to take some criminal justice classes and I found it fascinating. So I completely changed my major and my father. He was a sociology professor and I wanted to follow him into academia and be a professor of criminal justice. So when it was time for me to start my studies on a PhD program, my father encouraged me to go get a minimum of five years of law enforcement experience, preferably at a large law enforcement agency. So I would find my studies to be much more rewarding and I'd be a much more credible professor and instructor. So that's what I ended up doing and that's how I ended up out in Los Angeles.

Speaker 3 4:10

Okay, so five years of experience. Did that lead into 33 years? Or did you take a break and get your PhD and then go back to law enforcement?

Speaker 4 4:18

No, I stayed in law enforcement consecutively for 33 years, never went back and got my PhD. Yeah, do you feel comfortable sharing the incident that happened that led you down that path?

Speaker 3 4:23

Executively for 33 years. Never went back and got my PhD. Yeah, wow, do you feel comfortable sharing the incident that happened that led you down that path?

Speaker 4 4:29

Oh, absolutely, I don't have a problem with that at all. So I was 20 years old and this was back when the drinking age was 19. So a hockey buddy of mine and myself we went out to a bar on a Friday night and it was the Friday night just before Labor Day weekend, or it was the Friday night of Labor Day weekend, and we stayed until the bar closed. And when the bar closed all the students were funneling out of the exit doors onto this sidewalk that was not designed to hold the capacity of students that were coming out of the bar. So many of us ended up out into the street and my buddy, he saw this car with some nice looking young ladies in it trying to navigate through all of the people in the crowd that was now in the street and he thought it would be cute if he just kind of propped himself up on the hood. And the girl that was driving didn't really appreciate that and when she slammed on the brakes he fell off the hood and he grabbed the antenna and I'm kind of aging myself a little bit, because this was back when he had antennas on the hood of the car and he snapped it off and, lo and behold, there was a police officer just up the way and saw the entire incident. So he came down and grabbed my friend, put him in handcuffs and put him in the backseat of the police car. So I'm like, well, you know, you have a buddy system, so to speak.

The Transformative Incident

Speaker 4 5:46

So I needed to find out where they were taking him, how long it was going to take to process him and what it was going to cost for me to get him out of jail. So I approached the police officer and he immediately was very belligerent with me and he made it very clear that if I didn't want to go to jail as well, I needed to get back up on the sidewalk. So I had been drinking, but I had my wits about me and I went back up on the sidewalk and it wasn't long before two other officers showed up and when they arrived, the original officer pointed directly at me and they came over and they asked me for my identification using an expletive and as I was reaching for my wallet they began to beat me and before I knew it I was handcuffed, I was feeling the cold of the metal handcuffs around my wrists and I was in the backseat of a police car heading to the city jail and I was booked for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and interfering in official business. And I'm like I didn't do anything wrong. And the dad insult to injury. I asked where my friend was and they said, well, we let him go. So here, my friend was the one who did something that he perceived as a prank and I just inquired about what needed to be done to assist getting him out of jail.

Speaker 4 6:54

When they were done processing him, and then I was the one that ended up going to jail and being charged. So I had worked all summer and I refused to take any of the plea deals that they offered me because I didn't do anything wrong and I spent my entire summer's earnings on an attorney and I took it all the way to a jury trial. And when I arrived for the jury trial, they presented me with an offer. They said if you sign this ticket for a $60 fine, we'll drop all charges. So I thought, okay, that's reasonable, that's how it was adjudicated. Now, that's not it. It gets crazier. So about a year and a half later the same agency that arrested me they advertised for correction officers to work in the city jail the city jail that I actually spent the night in and, kind of as a joke, I applied, got hired.

Speaker 2 7:43

Oh, wow.

Speaker 4 7:44

If that is not the ultimate exoneration of any wrongdoing, I don't know what is. So I did, I took the job and I worked there and actually one of the officers who at the time was a sergeant who had now promoted to lieutenant who was one of the individuals that beat me. He was my boss and I actually liked him. I learned to like him. He had a keen sense of humor and at one point he called me into his office and after some friendly banter he brought up the topic of the night of my arrest and he explained to me that, from a law enforcement officer's perspective, that when they identify somebody that they perceive as an individual that potentially could escalate the incident, they're going to make an example of you to try to keep control. And I accepted that. But that really proved to be kind of the first time of that. The ends justifies the means in regards to justification for excessive force by law enforcement. But it was that incident that caused me to want to go into law enforcement.

Speaker 3 8:47

Okay, and so when you had applied for that job, was it because you wanted to get in law enforcement, or was this? I just want to see if I can get in there after what just happened.

Speaker 4 8:55

Well, I had wanted to initially. As a result of the incident, I was considering going to law school and I'm dyslexic, and I struggled in school until I was in seventh grade. When I was in fifth grade, I was reading at a first grade level, but in seventh grade I had a reading teacher that suspected I had dyslexia, asked for me to come in during my lunch break and tested me, which confirmed her suspicions, and then I came in during my lunch hour every day and she taught me to read and learn as a dyslexic child. So school was always challenging to me and and learn as a dyslexic child. So school was always challenging to me and I always learned a little differently than most. I always want to sit in the front row, I always ask a lot of questions, a lot of interactions with my teachers and professors, and that's how I learn.

Speaker 4 9:43

But so my neighbor, my parents' best friends she was a judge and I inquired and sat down to get some advice from her relative to my desire to go to law school and she said let's be honest, you're not going to get into any high-end law school. You're probably going to get into what they consider a factory, where you'll be an attorney where you're going to be a dime a dozen, and she didn't encourage me to do that. Now, looking back in hindsight, that's probably bad advice, but you know, truth be told, at that point I hadn't really demonstrated that I was capable of that kind of academic performance. So then I decided well, let me pivot. And that's when I pivoted and said I want to get some experience in law enforcement and be a professor of criminal justice. So that's how I ended up going in that direction.

Speaker 2 10:31

And you're simultaneously taking these criminal justice courses while you're now serving as a corrections officer.

Speaker 4 10:38

Right, yeah, I was, I worked nights. I worked 10 at night to six in the morning and I went to school during the day.

Speaker 2 10:43

Wow, that is definitely one of those moments that changes everything that you thought was your reality, because this incident didn't impact your hockey career, you were still able to finish out playing hockey. Or did this interfere with you being able to play hockey?

Speaker 4 10:58

At that point I was done with my hockey career in college and I was working on a master's degree.

Speaker 3 11:02

Okay.

Speaker 4 11:03

Yeah, at that point when the incident occurred, I was still an undergraduate student, but by the time I had gotten hired and made this transition to wanting to earn my PhD and be a professor of criminal justice, I was working on my graduate studies.

Speaker 3 11:16

Got it. Wow, it's so interesting that you had this event happen, which could have gone either in two directions One, make you interested and want to go into that field, or two, absolutely have this feeling towards cops and have that anger and go another direction. So kudos to you for picking the direction you did, because look at where you're at today.

Family Background and Values

Speaker 4 11:38

It's about your mindset. Actually In life, it's never about what happens to you. It's how you respond to that and those things that happen to you. And I had great role models as parents and I share with you my background because it's rather unique. I was born to a teenage mother and she put me up for adoption and my parents who adopted me. They were married for 12 years and they were trying to have children. They wanted four children each a year apart, and after 12 years of trying they said let's go the adoption route, just as life often has it right. About the time they were approved for adoption, my mother became pregnant with my sister and they had my sister, but they still had the same goal of four children each a year apart. So they went ahead and they adopted me and then they adopted my brother and he's Japanese, and then I had a foster sister who's black. Oh wow.

Speaker 4 12:30

I grew up in Kent, ohio, in the Midwest, in the 60s and 70s, so I had a unique experience growing up in regards to society and race and how it plays out, and you know I was sensitive and had an appreciation for like microaggression, racism and those sorts of things. I remember going to the A&P grocery store, which is in downtown Kent, and being there with my mother and all four of us are hanging off the grocery cart and this woman comes up with a veneer of a big smile on her face and she goes your children look all so much alike and she's taking a stab at my mother, not knowing any of the history of my family and who we actually are. But my mother, just the poison, the grace that she handled herself with throughout these types of incidents. I at the time was too young to understand. But looking back, what a strong, powerful message she sent, not through her words but through her body language and her behavior, because she didn't let it affect her and we continued on with our day as we would have had. That interaction never occurred.

Speaker 4 13:37

So you know, my parents were very, very civic minded, well ahead of their time in how they perceived things. My mother was highly educated. She was a chemist with DuPont prior to giving up her career because she wanted to be a mother. That was her she felt was the most important role she'd ever play in life. But that didn't derail her from the things that motivated her. She was the president of League of Women Voters. She was a city councilwoman. My parents were the co-founders of the Kent Environmental Council, which is still in effect today. So my folks were, they were trailblazers. It's really about if my parents had allowed how society at that time perceived what they were doing to impact their decisions and their actions, then I probably wouldn't have had the experience of being raised in their family, especially the type of family that I was. So that was something that was just kind of ingrained in me, not necessarily through discussion, but by their modeling.

Speaker 3 14:34

Yeah, the example they set. It's amazing, that's beautiful.

Speaker 2 14:37

I mean because when you talk about the timeframe of the era, it was a time that you didn't have as much sensitivity and empathy. I think that at least we have today, when we're recording this, I feel that we have that We've made some progress. At least we have today when we're recording this, I feel that we have that We've made some progress Not perfect, but we're definitely making progress. And so having and seeing that like the subtleties in your upbringing that have poured into you and the character of you and your siblings, right Like that's huge.

Speaker 4 15:02

It's interesting because we all have biologically different backgrounds, right, but all a similar environment that we were raised in. And I would say that we're very strong argument for the nurture over the nature, because just how we view the world and in the things that we take on and champion, and how we're resolute about our values and what we believe in in life.

Speaker 3 15:30

Yeah, I love that, I love it. So you were in school, while you were as a correction officer, and then how long did that take you Finish and then kind of tell us that story, that journey.

Speaker 4 15:41

Joining the LAPD, Like that's I feel like that's a huge jump, yeah, huge, huge you know I'm like you know I wasn't going to go join some law enforcement agency that didn't have a reputation that preceded it. So you know the LAPD. When I was in college there's a. I don't know if you remember the movie Colors with Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. I remember just watching that and I mean, as shallow as it may be, I thought their uniforms were so cool because they don't have patches and they have this unbelievable badge. I mean it's just such a lustful badge that they have and they're known for the best. That's what I took into my law enforcement career. So I felt that the LAPD was the best of the best. And where better to go than to Los Angeles to get my policing experience?

Speaker 2 16:42

How many times did you have to apply before being accepted, or was it a one and you were in?

Speaker 4 16:48

A one and done. I applied with the LAPD and as a backup I applied for the LA County Sheriff's Department. Okay, and I went through the process and I was hired by both. And I was hired by LA County Sheriff's first. And I had this interesting interaction when I was at police headquarters prior to being hired by the LAPD, there was a sergeant that was in charge of backgrounds and I ran into him and he said to me son, I see that you have been hired by the LA County Sheriff's Department. You're a fool if you don't take that job. We used to be better, but we're no longer better. So that caused me to have a little bit of pause. So this was coupled with an experience that I had going through the process with the LA County Sheriff's Department. When I was doing the physical fitness testing with the sheriffs, I ran into an individual who was also going through the same process and he said my father is a retired sergeant from the LAPD. He would not even allow me to apply for the LAPD. I said why is that? So he says why don't you come over and have a beer with my father? I said well, who better to hear it from than the source itself. So I went over and met him and he shared some things with me and I had those two incidents that I was like perhaps the sheriff's department may be the better way to go Now.

Excellence in Police Training

Speaker 4 18:04

I ultimately chose to go with the sheriffs initially, but not for the reasons of what they had said to me. It was more of the fact that I grew up in Kent, ohio, about a population of 24, 26,000 people. I left when I was 16. I played junior hockey in Canada for a short period of time in a community of under 10,000. I played United States Hockey League in Dubuque, iowa. That's about 62,000. So the largest place I had lived was Dubuque, iowa as far as a population. So moving out to Los Angeles and you were talking about millions of people, it was going to take a while for me to acclimate to just living out there. You couldn't go to the grocery store without hearing three other languages being spoken. That was completely foreign to me. So there was a whole I had to evolve into being able to be effective in understanding the communities out there and the communities I would be responsible for policing. So I felt that perhaps the sheriff's department might be the best way to go, because your initial assignment is in a controlled environment, in custody and inside one of the jails. So that's why I chose to go with the Sheriff's Department and it proved to be a sound decision.

Speaker 4 19:14

I went into the academy it was 157 people originally in my police academy at the LA County Sheriff's Department and we graduated 107. So about a third washed out and when it was all said and done, I was recognized as the honor recruit, which is essentially the number one recruit in the class, and they take into consideration your academic score, your physical fitness score and your marksmanship, as well as your leadership skills. You're voted in by your peers as well as the drill instructor staff. So it was quite an honor to be recognized for that. Because I had finished, I had a 98.7% academic score, I led the class in physical fitness scores and I was number two in marksmanship.

Speaker 4 19:58

So that was something that I prided myself in. But it was kind of interesting there, beyond myself having pride in that, a lot of people didn't give much credence to it. A lot of people felt that I was credence to it. A lot of people felt that I was kind of ridiculous how much studying I did, because they would often say all you need is a 70 to pass, so anything that you're putting in beyond what you would need to get a 70 is wasted time it's a waste of time.

Speaker 4 20:20

Yes, that's not how I roll. My parents raised me that you do the best you possibly can at everything you attempt to achieve.

Speaker 3 20:29

So that just makes me think of the conversation with the neighbor who said oh, you're not smart enough to be an attorney. And I'm like I think effort can outdo you know, natural talent. I mean I think if you want something, bad enough you're gonna, because I have dyslexia and it was one of those things. I had to work harder than everybody else to get really good grades, but that's. I didn't know anything different. So you could have been an attorney if you wanted to, but you're pathing in a different way for a different reason.

Speaker 4 20:57

So Good, you know things happen for a reason and you know, really, it's what I always tell my son, you know. So, like he gets straight A's generally, he'll get a B every now and then. And my answer to him is Christopher, did you do the best you possibly could? And he's like yes, I'm not worried about the result, I'm worried about the effort, and if the effort was there, everything else will take care of itself. I would much rather have somebody on my team that gives 100% than somebody that has all the talent in the world that gives me 85% Exactly.

Speaker 3 21:29

Or 70%, because that's all I need to do. All right, yeah.

Speaker 2 21:32

It's passing. It's passing, yes.

Speaker 3 21:35

How long did you stay at the Sheriff's Department before you went to LAPD?

Speaker 4 21:39

Three years.

Speaker 3 21:40

Okay.

Speaker 4 21:40

There was an economic slowdown and the county was not sending deputies out to patrol divisions as quickly as they typically would. And, to be honest, working in the jail is like doing a jail sentence of your own and I just I felt at the time I still had a timeline and I felt like I spent three years here. I haven't really had the experiences that I want in law enforcement. So I lateraled over to LAPD and luckily they had a program where you lateral over. I didn't have to do the whole academy, I just did two months in a lateral class where you learn about LAPD policies and procedures and then you have to show proficiency in firearms and defensive tactics and then you go off to the division you choose to go to work. So it was a good opportunity for me.

Speaker 3 22:26

What division did you decide to go?

Choosing the Challenging Path

Speaker 4 22:28

into. Well, when I was an LA County Sheriff, this was back Rodney King beating, and then you had the Rodney King riots when I was a Deputy Sheriff. When the Rodney King riots started I was at a Tony Roma's in Glendale, california, which is a suburb just north of Los Angeles. I was there with my roommate, who is another deputy sheriff, and back then we didn't have cell phones or pagers, so we were watching the news and they basically announced that all LA County sheriffs and LAPD sworn personnel report to units of assignment. So I went in and I got deployed down to Firestone Station with the Sheriff's Department which is just east of 77th Division, which is where the riots started.

Speaker 4 23:10

That was the flashpoint Florence and Normandy, smack dab in the middle of 77th Division. So I was policing down there during that entire time of the riots and so I wanted to go down and work 77th Division. When I went over to LAPD worked the community that the flashpoint occurred in. Why? Because it's probably the most challenging community to police at that time. They generally hated the LAPD, and justifiably so.

Speaker 2 23:40

So, as you're in that space, what was your motivation or what continued to motivate and inspire you other than wanting to have the experience and be in that community and being of service? Were you driven and charged by making amends within the community, building a sense of community, continuing to raise awareness and education, kind of what drove you as you were going through? Because it wasn't easy, I mean, you probably stepped into the most challenging space possible.

Speaker 4 24:05

Well, it wasn't. I never, at any time, did I think that I had the blueprint or knew the answers to everything. This was really a period for me to learn, so I viewed it as my opportunity to go into the most robust learning environment I possibly could, and that's really what I was getting out of it, and I was learning a heck of a lot. I mean, it was unbelievable what I was learning, from the culture of law enforcement to the unique details of the various diverse communities at Yule Police and being able to understand and meet people and interact with people in the place that they are in at that moment and the importance of all of that. Now you have to remember my father was a sociology professor and he went to the University of Illinois to get his PhD and he studied law enforcement, the professionalism of law enforcement.

Speaker 4 24:56

My father has passed away but I still have his PhD dissertation and he was familiar with law enforcement. He was familiar with the challenges and when I thought I had something figured out, I would learn very quickly with having a discussion with my father that I didn't. He didn't tell me. He would never outwardly say, well, no, jeff, you got this wrong, or whatever. He would always listen and then he would very wisely and astutely say well, it seems to me that you need to consider. And then he'd say you know the things that he felt I needed to consider and allowed me to navigate that thought process. So he was developing and it wasn't just after my law enforcement career. He did this when I was growing up. He was developing my critical thinking skills.

Speaker 2 25:39

Exactly.

Speaker 4 25:39

Not me even actually realizing it. So my dad actually never did he tell me what to do. He always allowed me to navigate through his own critical thinking and his encouragement of me articulating my rationale for my conclusions, and that was something that I carried with me into my law enforcement career and as my life as a father now with a working world son.

Speaker 1 26:04

Thank you for joining us today on the Reignite Resilience podcast. We hope you had some aha moments and learned a few new real life ideas. To fuel the flames of passion, please subscribe on your favorite streaming platform, like or download your favorite episodes and, of course, share with your friends and family. We look forward to seeing you again next time on Reignite Resilience.