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Hector Bravo UNHINGED
Nick Lopez - From LAPD Officer to Therapist: Embracing Life's Unexpected Turns
What if the path to finding your true purpose lay in embracing life's most unexpected turns? I had the privilege of speaking with Nick Lopez, a former LAPD officer turned clinical therapist, who shared his compelling journey from the bustling streets of Los Angeles to a life dedicated to mental health. Nick offers a rare glimpse into the world of law enforcement, discussing the challenges officers face daily and the personal transformations they undergo. Growing up in a law enforcement family, Nick initially pursued a career in the LAPD, a decision shaped by his experiences and the complex dynamics within the police academy.
On the shores of Venice Beach, the stark reality of homelessness and drug activity painted a different picture than those seen on postcards. Nick recounts his time as an officer dealing with these gritty issues, navigating the chaos and unpredictability that came with the territory. The chapter "Policing Homelessness and Drug Activity" highlights these difficult realities, where officers often encounter parolees with no documentation and encampments more equipped than many homes. Through Nick's eyes, we see the contrasting beauty and harsh conditions of this iconic neighborhood, providing a raw perspective on the struggles faced by law enforcement.
Nick's story also addresses the emotional toll of wearing the badge, especially during times of social unrest. His candidness about his own mental health challenges, the stigma he faced, and his eventual decision to seek help is both sobering and inspiring. He opens up about the anxiety and stress that became overwhelming in the wake of the pandemic and George Floyd's death. Now, as a therapist, Nick uses his experiences to guide others through similar challenges, emphasizing the valuable skills officers possess that can lead to fulfilling second careers. Join us in this episode for a thought-provoking conversation on resilience, purpose, and the importance of mental health support.
Hector Bravo. Unhinged chaos is now in session. Welcome back to our channels, warriors. We are still growing today's episode? We have Nick Lopez, a former LAPD officer turned clinical therapist man. What's up, uh, nick? How you doing, dude, I'm doing well. Thank you for having me, hector. Thanks for driving down, bro. Where'd you drive down from LA?
Speaker 2:I came from LA. Yeah, it was a nice little little drive. No traffic, no, surprisingly, that's why I came super early. I was just kind of hanging out before we started shooting. But yeah, no traffic. So where'd you grow up at, dude? I'm originally from Kern County. I was born and raised in Bakersfield, born and raised in Bakersfield. Born and raised in Bakersfield. Usually people refer to it as that one place they stopped off to take a piss somewhere Exactly, yeah, over the grapevine Right, so that's where I was born and raised.
Speaker 2:After that I went to college in LA and then from there I transitioned into going into law enforcement after college down in LA.
Speaker 1:So while you were in college you came up with the idea to join law enforcement.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I grew up in a law enforcement family. My dad was a retired chippy, my uncle is a retired corrections officer. Mom worked for the district attorney's office back home, so it's just something. I was, uh, I was raised around and I was pretty familiar with the lifestyle and what came with it, even while I was in college. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do afterwards, but I got my poli sci degree, I got my bachelor's and, uh, I was like you know, I decided to uh join the you know know, quote unquote family business. So I did my applications, applied with the Border Patrol, fbi, secret Service, lapd and LAPD. They gave me an academy date first and I was like all right, you know what, I'm going to go with them.
Speaker 1:It's usually whoever gets at you first is which agency you end up going with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fbi said it's probably going to be like a year and a half or so. Secret service, I think was the one that I wanted, but I wear contacts and they said you have to get LASIK. You can't have a glasses or contacts or anything.
Speaker 1:So I said that's yeah, they had a hard time seeing that sniper with Trump.
Speaker 2:Oh shit man a hard time seeing that sniper with trump. Oh shit man, um, yeah, but um, yeah so. But, like I said, uh, lapd, they gave me an academy date first. Um, they're like yeah, so I think within, yeah, just a few months around what year was this?
Speaker 1:uh 2017 2017 2017 lapd academy. Now, do they have their own academy, or is that at a college? How is that? Yeah, we have our own academy or is that at a college?
Speaker 2:How is that? Yeah, we have our own academy. They're in Echo Park, by Dodger Stadium. There's different places throughout your academy time that you do your academy training. There's one in Granada Hills, one in Echo Park near Dodger Stadium, one near I can't remember the name of it right now, but there's several different facilities that you bounce around during your time. Do you live there or is it like you come and you go? Yeah, yeah, you come and you go? Yeah, it's not like CHP, or are you guys CDCR? They live there. Oh, you guys live there. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, with us Sometimes. I believe you know everyone's going to have a couple courses on Saturday that you have to go to, but aside from that, just Monday through Friday.
Speaker 1:How was it? Was it academics? Defensive tactics, shooting range? Was it a mixture of everything?
Speaker 2:Yeah, a mixture of everything, Typical academy experience. You get your lock horses, you get your self-defense, you get your EVOC training. So pursuit training, you get your shooting training, all the standard stuff I think I did well, you try to be a it's known as, like the gray man. So in the academy you don't want to be the one Sticking out, st the gray man. So in the academy, like you know, you don't want to be the one sticking out, sticking out either for bad or for good, being a quote unquote individual. You know that the drill instructor is going to pay. You know, pay some good attention and then take it out on the rest of us. So, uh, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Now were you excited to be in the academy. I mean, were you happy? You made it through a process, got selected and now you were in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was. I was pretty happy um and again, growing up in the law enforcement family, I kind of knew what to expect. Um getting yelled at, screamed at, um. It wasn't something that was surprising to me. I know a couple of my academy mates they'd, you know, never been around that kind of environment. Someone never shot a gun before, someone never even seen a gun.
Speaker 2:Um god damn, how do you go from never seen a gun to all of a sudden being a gun toting cop yeah in la, yeah, man, I know you know different people got different goals and you know there's something that they wanted to accomplish in their lives. And yeah, I think we started with, um god, we started with about 40 or so and I think by the second day we already dropped like six, seven candidates.
Speaker 1:Really, yeah, it was was it the same for you guys like, oh, ain't nobody quit, ain't nobody getting dropped, bro? No, should see some of the people they let in. They should start dropping people. But um, yeah, dude. So prior to you getting on the job, did you have a perception of maybe, how you would be treated as a cop, maybe by the public, or did you think maybe you would be welcomed?
Speaker 2:I knew, living in LA, that being in a more liberal city, that you wouldn't. Let's just say maybe you wouldn't exactly be welcomed, maybe you wouldn't exactly be welcomed. I didn't maybe quite expect as much hate as I got that. That part came to george floyd, which you know I'm sure we'll get into um, but again, I know not everyone. We're not like firemen, we not everybody likes us when we show up, right, um. So I expected some brushback and they, you know, you know your job is to take people to jail and you're showing up on people's worst days and not everybody's gonna like you when you show up.
Speaker 1:Well, you know your job is to take people to jail and you're showing up on people's worst days and not everybody's gonna like you when you show up well, you know, I would say, maybe a cop's not job is for not to only to take people to jail but also to assist people and their worst times, you know, of their lives, right?
Speaker 2:right? No, you're, you're very right as being a cop um, you wear a lot of hats, correct? So you know if it means you got to be a brother, a father, a social worker, you got to be a judge, you got to be a friend, anything can happen on any given day. But I've been fortunate enough that you know and I think it's a lot of the vocal minority that not much they hate cops or want to hate cops, but there are a lot of good people and a lot of people who do support us who I think, don't get as much recognition just because of, I think, the day and age that we're living in right now or when everything was going on around 2020. But there was a lot of people that did support us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, our current year, right now we're 2024, but I know what you're talking about and I do think we're coming around, coming back around right. Reason for that is I think people got tired as fuck of just lawlessness. Right, they got what they asked for, right, exactly.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, because I know I was like george gascon, the da he's out, that was, that was a big one for LA. But yeah, no, you're totally right Just a lot of the lawlessness, a lot of the propositions that passed that people are getting. I lost count how many times I'd go arrest someone and they're let out the front door before I even start writing the report. And so it just became, yeah, just a circus that I think people just got sick and tired of elaborate on that right, because there's so much to dive into.
Speaker 1:And now we're like we're getting into the, the weeds of things like explain to the average viewer what that's like mentally arresting somebody and then they're getting walked out right before you're done with even writing the report.
Speaker 2:I've heard that before yeah, um, I mean a lot of it working. Uh, especially like venice beach, that's one of the areas I patrol. You're dealing with a lot of uh homeless who are then you have criminal records or they have warrants. Um, and sometimes when you're, when you do arrest them for whatever they decide, you bash someone over the head with a skateboard, which happened a lot um when you're arresting them, and a lot of times they have almost their entire life in a? Uh in their encampment and is is their property, and so not only do you take them, you have to take all the property, booking all of that. And once you're processing them and again it depends on what they're getting booked for Sometimes it's literally just a site and release, and so literally they're out the front door before I even sit down and start writing the report or running the citation.
Speaker 1:So realistically. There has been events where you can hit somebody over the head with a skateboard and still be able to leave within the few hours.
Speaker 2:Oh God, man, it's been so many. It feels like stuff gets blurred so much just from how many times we're able to just cite people out, but it just felt like it's a lot. Yeah, oh yeah, there was a lot of things that happened where we just yeah, just no second release and they're out the door from your experience, do you think that enables more criminology and criminal acts on the on these suspects?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think so. I mean it's. I mean when they see that you know what little power we have or what you know they can and can get away with more, so can get away with. Now they know it's like well, they're empowered, like they're not going to be able to do anything. Or if I do do something, I'm just going to get sight and released, and it's not like they're going to show up on their court dates and even if it becomes like another warrant, you know again and they're out the door doing it all over again now for for being a police officer?
Speaker 1:is that discouraging for you and your peers?
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely For me, at least in my perspective, and what I felt like it became less feeling like a police officer and more like an adult babysitter at times, because, I mean, it feels like you're just arresting the same people over and, over and over again, with no real repercussions, you know, unless they went out and murdered someone. But even then it just felt like a revolving door where you just you know you're picking up reoffenders and it's just a revolving door that it's.
Speaker 1:It's just non-stop lawlessness you ever deal with any parolees or failure?
Speaker 2:former felons oh yeah, yeah, um, definitely the one thing about venice beach to working venice beach was a lot of uh. It felt like everyone that we came into contact with either homeless or suspect. Almost no one was from california. Really, yeah, everyone, it felt like, sent their homeless to california to venice because it's fucking cold everywhere else dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, exactly, and it's and working. Venice beach. You got everything you got. You got drugs, you got guns, you got gangs, you got sex trafficking. You got a little bit of everything, and every once in a while, you know, you get your misdemeanor warrants here and there. But I think one time I wasn't working it, it was one of the homeless guys in the encampment popped up and turned out he was wanted for murder, I believe in Baltimore, and so it's just little things like that that wind up happening to Venice Beach. It's like, oh well, you know that's Venice. I was just going to ask, you know that's venice.
Speaker 1:I was just gonna ask you about that man. You said they're not from california, most likely from the east coast or midwest. I'm sure they don't carry um identification. So at what point do you realize who you actually have in custody? Right, that's where you really got to do your homework. You have to do your homework. Yeah, you definitely have to do your homework. What does that look like? Like making calls, fingerprints, running databases yeah, you're mostly running database.
Speaker 2:Um, you're. Sometimes they give you partial information, then you got to vet them. Oh, you're really giving me who you really are. Again, data checking. Sometimes you're checking and, hey, I got so and so hemmed up right now. What do you know about them? You got any info on them? You know you got to do like a full-blown investigation right then and there sometimes, wow, venice beach man?
Speaker 1:I mean, la is beautiful, not the traffic per se, but venice beach man, did you? Do you look, now have a whole new uh viewpoint on beaches as opposed to? I'm sure you've seen some grimy stuff working yeah, it's venice beach.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's its own world, it's its own little circus. I mean, it's, um, it's pretty commonplace to. Uh, you're finding used syringes in the sand. You know you get the homeless living out there. You know they're urinating, defecating in the sand. Sometimes they're od'ing on the beach. Then you got the encampments. Sometimes, too, it's going through. You go through these encampments. Some of these encampments had better setups than I had Full-on 50-inch flat screens, ikea furniture, new Xbox Mac laptops no way, dude. No, I'm dead serious. I am dead serious. Power supply, power supply, everything. One of them had a full-on legit barbecue set right next to his camp.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you something, dude. You're a cop, you're in Venice, bro. You see that what goes through your head, man, like what the fuck?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm jealous as shit. He's got a better setup than I do in my house, so it's like and it's just another day. That's what Venice is.
Speaker 1:It almost seems to me like you were a cop during the time frame and we're going to touch on George Floyd, but like when the whole epidemic of homelessness and maybe even fentanyl on the rise. Dude, right, you guys encounter a lot of dope out there. Oh, yeah, yeah, meth. What kind of drugs and what kind of activity was surrounded with that?
Speaker 2:oh, everything you got. You got crystal, you got meth, you got fentanyl, you got black tar, heroin it's. You got a good mix of everything and you know, unfortunately, it oh, oh dean, or you know finding people who are od'ing. You know breaking breaking out the Narcan that was pretty commonplace Sometimes. You know you got guys that are and you got to be careful too, especially when you're patting down these guys. You know a lot of these guys. They got syringes sticking out of their pockets, jackets. You got a lot of phone calls saying because there's a lot of foot traffic, you've got bars, restaurants right there on Oceanfront Walk and a lot of the times you'll get bar patrons. You get owners hey, like coming in, one of the guys from the encampments or someone he's passed out with a needle in his arm in the bathroom, wow, and they're urinating, they're defecating right there. There's thousands of people walking by and they're just right there just doing their business in the middle of the street and just that's just another day.
Speaker 2:Just no, not a care in the world how cautious were you?
Speaker 1:I know you mentioned uh needles sticking out of pockets. How cautious were you with, like blood-borne pathogens?
Speaker 2:oh, um, yeah, I mean, and that's one of the things that, uh, one of my fftos that I was working with that's one of the things that one of my FTOs that I was working with that's one of the things he always taught me. He's like where's the most dangerous place as a cop? What's one of the most dangerous places that for you as a cop working? And I was like I don't know on the street somewhere and he said no, it's the back of your car. And what he meant by that was you're going to be arresting people who they have God knows what they. You know whether it be staff MR. You're going to be dealing with um, people who are, you know, diagnosed with everything from, like I said, staff, you got hiv is any type of disease.
Speaker 1:It's probably going on in venice beach was there ever a suspect that you absolutely did not want to put in the back of your patrol car because of how gross it was?
Speaker 2:oh god, that was you know. Honestly, I got so numb to it at some point to a point, yeah, I mean there were more than sometimes. They were just stinkier than others, others, but there were some where they have. I mean, they're barefoot and it's, like you know, 40 degrees outside in the middle of the winter and they're. They have, like that, what do you call like elephantitis, like their?
Speaker 1:skin is rotting off it's rotting off.
Speaker 2:It's like swollen to the size of a basketball. They got um, the heroin sores all over the face and they're bleeding out constantly and it's like at some point you just kind of get, you almost get numb to it. No way, dude, and it's, it was just commonplace and it was just. You know, you walk into the station and sometimes you got to strip search them, and legitimately. Sometimes it would be so bad you could take them into the back to strip search them and obviously they haven't paid foured, four, five, six months. Four, five, six months Sometimes, yeah, and I could, legitimately, they will smell up the entire station. You can almost smell it coming from the outside into the station and it was just. I don't know if your senses just get dull to it or what, but it's yeah, you got used to it. I bet you don't miss that part. No, no, no, no, it's um, yeah, man, it's just wild wild what you get exposed to now.
Speaker 1:I would only imagine there's times where you got to fight these guys and wrestle on the ground with them and attempt to take them into custody.
Speaker 2:Right, fuck, that's not can be good yeah, yeah, and that that was something I always try to keep in the back of my mind too is like, okay, you know, I gotta go to the ground with this person. Or, hey, you know you got a 415 dude. He's probably high off crystal meth mixed with god knows what. You know you're trying to check him too for weapons, and all that up. At the same time, in the back of your mind, you're thinking like, okay, he's got an open sore. He's already bleeding. You got to check. For, you know, could he possibly have something? You don't know. So that's something in the back of your mind too. Making sure that you know, trying to take him into custody, making sure, okay, you're trying to protect yourself and your partner as well as you can, protecting them from blood-borne pathogens or anything like that that could possibly get into you or otherwise. You know you're gonna have to take a hospital trip. So during this time, is your mind shift?
Speaker 1:changing like hey, I was excited to be in the academy, I was have to take a hospital trip. So during this time, is your mind shift, changing Like hey, I was excited to be in the academy, I was excited to be a cop. And now I'm being exposed to all of this here in Venice Beach.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, for me, it was, I think, what really started turning the tide. And again, this is my own personal experience. You know, there's a lot of cops out there who love the job and again, this is my own personal experience there's a lot of cops out there who love the job and they love what they're doing, and that's awesome. Again, I'm only speaking from my personal experience. I think it was around that time it was around 2020, just when the world went to shit COVID happening, george Floyd, everything that happened after that I start to feel myself um change, and what I mean by that is, um, I think, just me being on the job again. I started getting angry, I started getting depressed, I started having like full-blown panic and anxiety attacks out of nowhere. There'd be times where we'd be out on patrol in Venice Beach and, you know, say, hey, you know my partner's driving. And they, hey, you know, let me, I've got to hit the head. I got to use the restroom real quick. Well, you know, not known to them because I didn't want to say anything. I'd have to rip off my whole uniform because I'm having a full-blown panic attack. You know, it feels like the walls are closing in on me, I'm in cold sweats, I'm shaking and I'm like what the hell's wrong with me. And so after a while again I just I started to get depressed. I started to. I had a hair trigger temper and it started to bleed into my personal life.
Speaker 2:That's when I really started to think like you know what, I need some help, like I. Uh, my family noticed a change in me, like I wasn't the same person. I didn't want to be around anybody because I knew I was just an angry, pissed off, depressed asshole. I just wanted to lay in bed all day covers. I don't want to see anybody talk to anybody. I was just pissed off at the world.
Speaker 2:And then you go do a job where you know you're getting motherfucked all day by the public. You come home, you know you turn on the news how. You know you see how much cops are hated. I lost a couple of friends during George Floyd because they thought you know, for whatever reason, like we're all just asshole, racist, you know pigs who like taking people's rights away and just getting exposed to that nonstop, day in, day out.
Speaker 2:I decided to. I was like you know what? I need to get some professional help. And so I reached out and I had to take leave. I was like this shit's getting way too much and so and I was scared too, because I know that there's still a lot of stigma around reaching out for help I'm not sure how it was being a correctional officer, how it was for you guys, as far as you know, if you're feeling shit or you just feel like mental health wise, I'm not in the right state of mind how it was like for you guys, like reaching out or if you guys had anything like that or like it's kind of like any male dominated, like law enforcement or military type, is you know?
Speaker 1:I think it's a machismo thing, right? Um? So you mentioned you were able to identify the change in you. Were you actually able to identify the changes or did you or did the people start telling you, hey man, you're acting different, are you okay? Or? Um, no, it was, it was me, and I say that because that's most people don't. It's hard for them to identify usually. Usually they're like fucking shit deep in right and and they lost everything, and they're like, well, what the hell happened? Right?
Speaker 2:No, like with me, I was able to identify it. I think the reason why people didn't tell me cause I was very good at hiding it, I was very good at putting on a fake face, you know, smile and wave all that shit. All that shit. Hey, I'm happy to come into work. I did that too because with LAPD we work in partners and so we work a two man car and when I was going through my own shit, I wanted I was suffering in silence, and it was my own choice because I didn't want for one second my partners to think, oh, I'm with someone who can't handle the shit or he can't hack it.
Speaker 2:I prided myself on being able to handle my shit. Or if we went hands-on, if we got to go, if we got to fucking take care of business, we take care of business. And I didn't want them to think for one second that they couldn't rely on me. And so I decided to suffer in silence for months and months and months and months. And you know there were a just suck starting my department pistol right there in the fucking parking lot and it actually crossed your mind oh yeah, at what portion of your career, middle or towards the ending?
Speaker 1:yeah, it was towards the end, towards the end.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was towards the end. It was around like end of like 2020, 2021, and I was like you know what? I just I gotta find some help because I know I've seen where this goes right and it and it's either you know cops eating their gun or you know they start doing a whole lot of stupid shit. They start, you know, getting drowning in the bottle, self-medicating, yeah, self-medicating, all that type of shit. I was like you know what. I got to stop this before it gets to that, because it was going to start getting into that and I didn't want to do that to my, my girlfriend, now my fiance and um. And so I decided, you know what, I'm gonna reach out for some professional help. And again, I was um, I was scared to at first just because, again, the machismo thing, you know the stigma that and their, their misconceptions of all.
Speaker 1:They're gonna take away my guns right.
Speaker 2:I'm going to lose my job right and there is, you know, sometimes you know that fears I get it because in rare cases, you know, sometimes it does happen and but to me it was more like oh shit, like do they think I'm gonna be like a 5150 or I can't hack it, what you know? And cops talk to like, oh, did you hear about so-and-so? Like that, like he's not only like what's going on? And again, this is my first time going through all this shit, so I'm I'm stepping into the unknown, I'm like what the fuck's gonna happen to me? And so I decided to reach out to my sergeant, um, and they can only ask so many questions about what's going on, yeah, and so I kind of told him a little bit about what was just going on in my own head. It's like I need to get some help.
Speaker 2:And fortunately and again you know, lapd is big, so there's different, there's over like 20 different divisions within our department and stuff they were incredibly supportive, um, they were like, whatever help you need, we will help get you the help that you need. Even, like, you know, one of the captains, I think, reached out through, you know, one of the sergeants said, hey, if it's like even drug related, alcohol related. We got, you know, access to, you know, the beddy ford clinic or whatever you need you you let us know. And that was a big surprise to me because I wasn't sure, because I've heard horror stories where they tell you quit being a fucking pussy and get the fuck back out there I don't really think that's prevalent these days.
Speaker 1:You know, I mean maybe in the, maybe in the 80s or 90s, it's definitely changing yeah, um, it's changing.
Speaker 2:And again it depends on the department too. Um, and again I can only speak for here, my department. It may be totally different in other places. I've heard of you know other cops saying where that's in a polite way.
Speaker 1:They're pretty much told suck it, the fuck up well, it's pretty good to hear that lepd backs their cops in that manner. Dude, that's huge, that is freaking huge, bro, because other agencies or departments won't do that yeah, and again I'm speaking from my own personal experience.
Speaker 2:Um, I was very fortunate to have that, because I know that's that's not the case a lot of the time. And yeah, I went on leave, saw the department psychologist, told him what was going on in my own head it sounds like you have PTSD just from the job shit that you're going through. And so during that time, because I went on leave for several months and I had to do a lot of reflecting, it's like okay, well, shit is just something that I want to give it another go. Do I want to keep doing this? Do I want to go on with the job? You know, are there other ventures in my life or things that you know I may want to do?
Speaker 2:And I started to think I was like you know, during this whole time that you know I was talking with the psychologist, I I like the help that I was getting and being, you know, having someone there to talk about the shit that I was going through. And I was like you know what things that I picked up to while I was on the job. I would notice that sometimes partners or other people they would come to me kind of with their problems their own personal stuff and it's not nothing. It's nothing that I was sought out. I was okay, I'm just someone they trust that they want to talk to. So I was like you know what, I wouldn't mind being able to do this for other cops or first responders. And I was like you know what? I think that could be my niche a cop who is a therapist, because not a lot of therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists were military or first responders. I was like you know what? I know how, because you know how cops are. Cops are very stubborn. It's hard to get through that wall.
Speaker 2:And so I was like you know what that could be my niche and being able to develop that report, I think would give me an edge already and being able to look someone in the eye, someone who's going through the shit. And I was like you know what. I've been there, I know what you're going through because I have been there. I was like you know what I could really see myself doing that. And so I had to, uh, I had to make a big decision and I decided to you know what, I'm going to go ahead and leave the force and I and that's, and that's what I did. And, um, so, once I got my master's degree, I'm, uh, now a clinical therapist and that's what I'm doing now that's all.
Speaker 1:Hey, guys, consider becoming a patron, where you will get first exclusive dibs on the video before it airs to the public and you'll get to ask the guest special questions that you have in mind. So that's also another way to support the channel. Thank you, guys, appreciate all of you keep pushing forward. Make sure you hit that link in description below. Awesome dude, thank you. So while you were a cop man, clearly you were enduring all this trauma. And what were some of the things that you were not in agreeance with, like especially during the george floyd the riots? I mean, I heard you say that it was like an apocalyptic scene. Yeah, yeah, it was. What were you finding that was unsettling?
Speaker 2:um, just how brazen people were with the lawlessness of just. You know people were burning down, you know cop cars, people were looting building and it was it's shit. You see on a movie, right, because it's you know being. You know being on like the riot squad we call the mobile field force, but you know just being outnumbered like a thousand to one and like just going through downtown, like going into the city, just seeing like just smoke billowing over the city skyline again, it's nothing but burning metal. You're seeing just people looting non-stop. You got helicopters coming overhead. It looked like a damn michael bay movie like it was were you in any specialized gear, or were you regular uniform?
Speaker 2:so with us with lapd, we have our uh, our right helmets and our uh, our batons, and that's it. And then we have um. Some guys will be on the mobile field force line with 40 millimeters um with sponge rounds, um, and you have the uh, because I think you guys have it too. The um have a little. It's like the little rock, rock balls that uh, maybe you guys don't, it's um, anyways, less lethal munitions, we'll just call it that um, but yeah, that's, that's all we had. I know different departments have you know different ride gear and all that. But yeah, with us it was just night, stick in a in a helmet man so it was watching these criminals and they're brazen.
Speaker 1:total disrespect for law and order. Right that way, you were like what the fuck is this man? Did you not think that humans, or Americans or citizens were capable of such anarchy?
Speaker 2:Or was that like first exposure, or I think it was more my first exposure, like in person, because I remember hearing about, like the Watts riots Right, you know, the Black Panther riots way back in the day from OG cops who would tell me and I know especially the riots after Rodney King and all that it was more concentrated within areas of LA, but this was full-blown, this was nationwide. This was just because of the actions of one cop and something that happened in Minnesota had nothing to do with us. You know, whole country went crazy.
Speaker 1:Elaborate on that man. What's it like? You just hit the nail on the head. Something happened over here with somebody I don't even know. It had nothing to do with us, but we're getting treated as the same or worse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's the one unique thing about being a cop. Like, say, you get someone you know you're working at Dunkin' Donuts, you get someone's order wrong and it's in another state. It's not like someone's like oh, all these motherfuckers working at Dunkin' Donuts, they're all like this Like with us. If someone fucks up somewhere at some department got nothing to do with us. We all get treated as if we were the ones that did that. And so just seeing that unravel and just how polarizing it was, and just seeing how you know seeing people's colors come out and seeing how they, how we were treated, you know taking bricks and bottles and you know whatever else they could fucking throw at us and shit it was. It was definitely, it was wild.
Speaker 1:What kind of feelings are invoked? Being a police officer and watching a police car on fire? I mean, in essential, that's your office, right, that's your property. I know it's a city property, but how did that feel, dude? That has to be fucking horrible.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, it's one thing to see it on TV, it's another to live it and experience it. Seeing it firsthand it's um. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:It was very surreal surreal, that's the only way that I could put it. It looked legitimately felt like being in a movie of just you know you're. You're walking through the streets of your city and all you do is smell just burning metal. You got graffiti everywhere Fuck the cops, fuck LAPD, fucking you know, fuck these pigs. You know you're walking through ransacked stores, people looting people, all that shit, just post-apocalyptic shit that, like you know, I said it already, but it legit felt like being in a movie now, what were you there when there was large, massive crowds of people?
Speaker 1:what was going through your head and you keep it real or you cannot? What was going through your head? Did you think, man, we need to smash all these dudes and shut this down asap, or do we need to pull back and kind of regroup and reorganize?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:That's a hard question to answer because, you know, I, I know there's different, you know tactics and different, different ways of looking at it.
Speaker 2:I mean, I mean, at the end of the day, I mean you're, you're outnumbered a thousand to one, but at the same time you're, you're legitimately, legitimately the nine, the line between complete and total anarchy, and you know law, so it's like at some point you can't give in to the mob, but at the same time there are, you know, sometimes you have to think about, oh shit, well, you know, if we get into like a choke point right here, then we're kind of, we're kind of fucked, and so you could really have to weigh that balance of, okay, you know, is the juice worth the squeeze here, like, is it worth, like, okay, maybe getting all these people into one concentrated area and if she goes sideways, at least it's concentrated right here or do you let the mob go for you, cause you're just, you're outnumbered, you don't have as much munitions and all this shit. But you know, that wasn't, it wasn't my call, that was the higher-ups call that was gold, bro.
Speaker 1:So you said that is the juice worth the squeeze. At some point in your career you realize as a whole entirety you remaining a police officer the juice was no longer worth the squeeze yeah was there any major events that made you realize that, or was it an accumulation of just these day to day?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think with me it was just an accumulation of, you know, just the job itself that was just wearing on me nonstop and I think you know, put it with COVID and 2020 and George Floyd was just, you know, you know, throwing gasoline on the fire of the way I was already feeling already. So, yeah, at some point, you know, you know you got to think are you willing to, is this what you want to do for the next 20, 30 years? You know, do you want to suffer mentally or do you want to do something else that you, you know you want to be passionate about, or do you want to go somewhere else? And then I think a lot of well, I won't say a lot of.
Speaker 2:I think there are a good amount of cops right now who are on the job, who do want to go venture into something else, but a lot is, it's scary, jumping into the unknown. And it comes, I think, with time on too, because with me I was at that five-year mark was like okay, it's like shit or get off the pot time, because you know you start putting in your years, you start got to think about pension, retirement. It's like you can't walk away from that, because then you start at day zero again if you decide to go somewhere else. So that five-year mark where I was at I was like you know what you know for me, you know I'm gonna do something different, and uh, so that's what I did, bro, I commend you.
Speaker 1:I commend you for leaving law enforcement because it's not easy, dude. Leaving any career is not easy. I mean, it's something that you know, that you're comfortable with. Nobody wants to leave their comfort zone. And then, like you had mentioned earlier in the episode, identifying your changed behaviors right and then seeking the help. Your changed behaviors right and then seeking the help. What advice do you have for individuals in your situation that you were in um, where they have 20 years ahead of them, 30 years ahead of them. Maybe they don't have an out or maybe they think they don't have an out. What advice do you have?
Speaker 2:I would say there is life after law enforcement. I think, too, a lot of people get tripped up on when they're on the job is that my skills won't transition to something else. But you know, like I said before, being a cop you have to wear many hats. There's a lot of skills that can translate into different, various forms of careers and employment. So don't think, just because you're a cop, that's all I know, that's all I can do. You know, again, with me, again, I wanted to.
Speaker 2:I found myself being able to establish rapport with people on a somewhat regular basis and having, I don't want to say ease, but it felt like just doing it repetitively, over and over again. I felt very comfortable with it and I got very comfortable with talking with people, with subordinates, with civilians, with my partners, about the problems. I was like you know what you know that's, that's a skill that is sought after, especially right now with mental health and, you know, across the country. I was like you know what I could put that skill to use. And again, being a cop, you know, being a correctional officer, there's a, there's different trades, there's different skills that you can utilize that can totally, you know, transcend just going into it. I was happy, I did it. So if you are thinking about it and I say this too like have a plan before, oh, yeah, dude, for sure, just don't jump off a fucking cliff without a parachute.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, have a plan before you do that. But yeah, just know that there's life after law enforcement and it's. You know, I'm happy and I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 1:I did so, while you were struggling with your mental health, were you speaking to anybody else other than your therapist or treatment? Were you letting other people know, maybe family members? Hey, I'm thinking about quitting this job. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, I was, my fiance, um, my parents, they were the ones outside of that. I really I didn't tell anybody. What was the feedback from them. My fiance was, was all for it. She, she understood Um, and she worried about my safety nonstop, just being a cop in the first place, and she saw me changing and it wasn't for the better. Um, she was happy about my decision. My parents supported me.
Speaker 2:Um, I was think I was more so afraid of letting my, my parents down, especially my dad, because you know he's chp, retired cop. Um, I didn't want to feel like I was letting them down, but at the end of the day, they wanted me to be happy and they saw me change. They saw that I, I wasn't there. The son that they knew like the job definitely changed me and it wasn't there. The son that they knew like the job definitely changed me and it wasn't for the better. But I was fortunate that I had their support. Um, cause, again, I know that's not something that everybody has outside of the job and, again, I think that's one of the reasons why I think I survived, at least emotionally, while I was struggling. While I did was especially my fiance, because before going on the job.
Speaker 2:You need someone that you're going to see a lot of sick, twisted, fucked up shit on the job and sometimes you can't keep that shit all inside you.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you need to have either a therapist, a significant other, a friend, someone that you can talk to about it, who's not going to judge you and I know a lot of times people don't have that A lot of people or they have someone, they just don't give a shit or they can't, or sometimes cops won't. They won't say what's going on because no one can relate to them. My fiance was very good about I don't care what happened, I don't care if you saw someone get killed or you had you got in a pursuit. I want you to be able to talk to me about your day and I want you to be able to talk to me about what's going on. And I really think I am here today because of her, because I don't know what would have happened if she wasn't there. So I commend her and that's why I put a ring on it, because she's definitely a ride a ride or die. But again, I'm very blessed to have that support system because I know a lot of cops sometimes don't have that.
Speaker 1:so now, you're right, dude. That's awesome. That's awesome. You were able to find somebody that you were compatible with to back you up. In that sense, um, it almost seems like being a police officer, dude. You're in two battles a battle with the public and a battle within yourself. Right, yeah, is that common?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, um, you know it's. It's a daily war that's getting waged between, like you said, you know, between the public yourself and sometimes your own department, between the public yourself and sometimes your own department, um, which I'm sure you know, you, you can attest to. Um, yeah, man, it's. And again it all comes down to is this something that you're really passionate about? Is this something that you know they're all the shit? Is this something that you really want to, you really want to do for the rest of your life? Um, some people, yeah, they love it. Some people, they may want to stay on the job, maybe just find a different department and go that route, and some people just say, you know what, fuck it, this isn't for me, and so I'm a realist, bro, I'm a realist.
Speaker 1:I think in 2024 I haven't met too many happy cops in 2024 yeah, um, and I do well. I do have buddies that work for agencies in lower san diego or south san diego yeah, um, and I do well. I do have buddies that work for agencies in lower san diego or south san diego yeah, um, and they seem to be happy. But overall, ain't nobody like getting disrespected on the clock, bro, you know what I mean. Or called out of your name right right, man, and it's.
Speaker 2:Or subjected to physical assaults right, right, right and it's, and it's. Again, I know every department's different on how they handle shit, but it's, yeah, I mean being in law enforcement in 2024, definitely for the week, it's it. And it depends too because I mean, like I think you said it earlier you know, it feels like and it sounds like, at least in california, that the pendulum is finally starting to swing. The other way Bro.
Speaker 1:the pendulum broke off into the Pacific Ocean like fucking 15 years ago, bro.
Speaker 2:Never to be seen again. Yeah, man, time will tell man. But definitely, yeah, being a cop in California, especially right here in Southern California, it's, it's it's its own venture, it's its own entity Cause I mean, like just next door in Orange County, it's very conservative and they're very pro cop, yeah, and a lot, of, a lot of cops will venture out to like Anaheim PD or Orange County sheriffs, things like that, and you know the community really does have a backing and they like working there. They're very, you know, proactive, you know again, whereas other big entities in in southern california it's, it's not. I was actually going to ask you like how, or maybe you know, you know, or at least talking to some of the cops who are like san diego pd and all that, like how, how were they viewed like with the public over here down here?
Speaker 1:oh, we love them, dude, oh, yeah, we love them. Like, yeah, bro, and I think and you, maybe you were talking about the pendulum swinging back, I don't know if you're talking about that part, but yeah, bro, they get the respect. Say hi, you know, I make sure my daughter, she's six years old, I make sure she tells him. Thank you, okay. Oh to during the whole what was it, george floyd? People were dropping off, uh, boxes of food or gift cards to the police station. So, yeah, wow, that's, that's awesome. They show support man, that's good. Yeah, but then again, they're not exactly beating the brakes off of people out here. You know what I mean. Or that not deserving. You know what I mean, right right right.
Speaker 1:Some people need to get their ass kicked, man.
Speaker 2:I'm sure the fucking public agrees with that yeah, yeah, man, but it's, it's been an adventure, but, um, but yeah, I'm happy. What I'm doing now, um, yeah, a lot of the the stress and bullshit that I was dealing with on a on a daily basis, it's, it's gone away. That's not to say I don't deal with, you know. You know other type of stress and shit in daily life. It's just not quite to the level that it was and I feel like my life's become more positive. I'm 10 times happier than I was. I'm like I think we talked about earlier like I'm in a very like Zen place.
Speaker 1:I'm at peace.
Speaker 2:You know I'm at peace with myself, I'm at peace with my life and you know, I think at the end of the day, you all just got to find, we all got to find our peace in our lives.
Speaker 1:So what would have been an ideal day on the job as a police officer, Minus getting cussed at spat on Like what would have been ideal man, Just rolling up to regular calls and maybe saving the day or being somebody's rock? What would that have looked like for you? Yeah?
Speaker 2:I mean it's any you know any given day it's you don't know what the hell you're going to get into.
Speaker 2:But you know, essentially being that person. Who's you know, proactive? You're taking guns off the street. You're taking drugs off the street. You're putting assholes away who deserve to be put away and stay there. You know if you can be, you know if you could help some. You know poor woman who's getting the shit beat out of her old man. You're helping some missing juvenile who's you know been on the run. You're helping someone you know you're helping citizens.
Speaker 2:Like what it's what you signed up to do, is what you took, the 0-4, you know, unfortunately it feels like a lot of the time it didn't feel that way, correct, and and again it's. You know you start thinking back is this, is this what I signed up for? Is it you know? Is it you know despite how up for? Is it you know? Is it you know despite how you're, you know how you're seen by the public, despite getting cussed at, spit on, told how much you ain't shit getting motherfucked every day, getting bricks and bottles thrown at you, you know, to protect the citizens of your city and it's, you know, it's, um, something that we all have to think about.
Speaker 1:If you can say something to the public. Maybe they have a misconception that all cops are bastards. Acab, all cops are pigs. What would you say to the public? Dude, yeah it's.
Speaker 2:Are you going to run into some fucking assholes who are just, you know, have no business being on the job? Of course that comes with every job, job, every, doesn't matter. Your cops, firemen, correction officer, military star. But yeah, exactly, you're gonna run into assholes, dicks, who have no business being on the job. The majority of cops first responders are good, hard-working people who want to help. Some come from who come from gang-infested neighborhoods growing up because they saw, sometimes they saw shit that cops are doing back then and they want to be part of the change. You know they want to help their community, they want to serve and protect and that is the majority of cops. That's like 99 of cops. And, of course, are you going to have bad apples.
Speaker 2:I know that's a fucking cliche saying of course it makes sense, yeah of course, and you know it gives a bad name to the majority of good, hard-working cops, but you know we're all human and you know it's the majority of cops are just, they're good, hard-working people. I can attest to the people I work with, my department, my unit. I love every single one of them to death.
Speaker 1:I'd take a bullet for all of them and they're they're good people, good cops speaking of taking a bullet man, did you always have that thought in your mind like hey, I can get shot in the line of duty at any moment?
Speaker 2:yeah, oh yeah. I think it's something you don't dwell on because you know you drive yourself crazy. But you know, when you're signing up to be a cop because I know you were you were military too. I mean you signed the dotted line, you know. You know there's always that thought in the back of your head. You know, leaving, kissing your significant other, goodbye. You know, is this the last time I'm going to see him? That thought's always in the back of your head. Again, it's. You don't know if you're going to go home. You don't know if you know you're going to take a bullet. Is this the traffic stop where it happens? Is this the radio call where shit goes sideways and I don't make it home?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's a thought we all think about. If you know someone says they don't think about it, you know you're full of shit. Because it does, it happens do you think recruitment efforts for police departments like drastically dropped because of what transpired during those time frames? Oh, yeah, yeah, um gosh, I think they're trying to find just warm bodies right now to find for recruitment numbers. At least that's what I heard. Have they lowered the standard?
Speaker 1:oh, yeah, I think.
Speaker 2:So it's yeah. Now it's just they're looking for people with a pulse, and so now it's just yeah, and I'm sure they'll start. They'll start picking back up at some point, but oh, shit, bro.
Speaker 1:Were you there when they were hiring illegal aliens for the? Uh, for hey, this is a politically incorrect channel, man. Illegal aliens for lepd officers you what?
Speaker 2:I heard about that. Did that come after you? That was after me. Holy shit. I've been hearing a little bit about that. I don't know the details about it.
Speaker 1:They have to bench their gun when they go home because clearly they're not allowed to carry it.
Speaker 2:Shit, is that what's going on? Yeah, like I try to keep in touch a little bit here and there about what's going on with, you know, with the LAPD and the departments around, but I was hearing about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, nothing will piss me off more than getting arrested by an illegal bro. Yeah, man, it's a new day and age man, especially in LA. It's yeah, I mean, as far as like recruitment goes, I mean I'm not sure because I know we got a new police chief. I know New DA, a new DA. So time will tell, time will tell and see how things go in the city of LA.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute, man, and I don't dive into politics, I don't. But you just reminded me. When you said DA chief, I think he made a comment recently about the new Trump administration coming in and him not working with the feds to remove illegals. But and of course that's not the job of a police officer, right? But yeah, it just reminded me of that chief, if it's the same one yeah, um, I know he came up from the sheriffs.
Speaker 2:I know nothing about him, right? I just know he came from the sheriff's department. Yeah, I know, uh, yeah, I know those. Those are some of the comments that he was saying regarding you know.
Speaker 1:So it was that dude, I believe so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I believe it was him regarding, like you know, we're not going to be part of like the sweeps or anything like that with ICE, homeland Security, things like that. But even then, like again, it wasn't really our job in the first place to say to cops to you know, I never saw, I never took part of like any raids or anything like that regarding illegal immigration, right, like that regarding illegal immigration, right, um, but yeah, again, I think he just because there's this public perception, I think that you know, as soon as trump comes in office, all cops are going to be out.
Speaker 2:Yeah you know, but yeah that's, that's never been us.
Speaker 1:It's wasn't what we were set out to do. So. I'm assuming you love los angeles, man, you love the city, you love the weather did part of that change, or did you lose a little bit of that as a result of your experiences in that city?
Speaker 2:I think it's gotten better the farther I've kind of gotten away from the job. I mean, I still love the city, I love where I'm at. As far as like the politics of it. It's you know, it's not the most favorable for law enforcement and it's not. Well. I'll say this. I think a silent majority do want cops. It's just this vocal minority that makes it sound like the entire city hates cops, Um, but I still love the city. I love where I'm at, Um, yeah, it's. It's still kind of hit and miss with me. There's some days where I'm like, oh, you know what, Like I said, maybe the pendulum's changing.
Speaker 2:Then other days, I see shit on TV and it's like fuck man, here we go again.
Speaker 1:I don't know why I feel like I gotta add this, but I always thought if I was a Chicago police officer I would just park in the back of a 7-eleven all night long and just respond, fucking an hour after a call went out you know, man, that's it feels like and again, I can't speak for other officers, or you know what's, what's just been going on, but I think a lot of a lot of cops.
Speaker 2:It's gotten to the point where it's like that's. That's where it's become like it's, rather than being proactive, getting guns on the street, which is what some cops do, it's become Like it's, rather than being proactive, getting guns on the street, which is what some cops do, it's this secondary fear of if I go out and even do my job, I'm going to get fucked somehow, either by the department or the DA, which now he's gone, but it's like, you know, I'm going to get prosecuted for doing my job, even though I am. It's like yeah, and it's like yeah, and it's the point where you know a lot of cops. Well, you know, I'm just going to handle the box. I mean just like, hey, a radio call comes out, all right, handle it. As soon as that's done, boom is that the terminology for it?
Speaker 1:handle the box? Handle the box? What?
Speaker 2:is that handle the box? Meaning like radio call comes out. Yeah, you're on the radio like the box, so like oh, I like that style, bro, yeah, and the box, I mean like you handle radio calls, that's it. No productivity, no traffic stops, anything like that how many calls a day?
Speaker 1:how many calls a shift? I mean, is it like where you can't get to all of them?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean it depends on any given day and it depends on what area of the city you work. Um, if you're working like west la or where I was working like pacific division, you know some days and especially it depends too on like the summertime, wintertime um, there are some days like in the winter and I'm working like venice beach, specifically within my unit there was times where you have maybe one call the entire 12-hour shift and like this is during the wintertime. You know, and I work graveyards too, so you're working like there was times where you have maybe one call the entire 12-hour shift and this is during the wintertime.
Speaker 2:And I work graveyards too, so you're working like 4 pm to 4 am and other times where in the summertime it's one of the biggest tourist attractions in the globe. You got 20, 30, if I call. You got someone's getting the shit beat out of them on the beach. You got domestic violence, you got an OD. You got a possible kidnap and you got you know a two, 11 in progress. Someone's getting stabbed, someone's getting shot, and you know the box is just going crazy and you know you try to handle. You handle. The radio call Okay, good, boom Onto the next one, and it's just nonstop throughout the entire day.
Speaker 1:Is it a computer screen? You guys a monitor?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, yeah, we have yeah, we have a monitor and you know you have like what's known as um, a beat, or where you, you patrol and so calls coming out. You know left and right, you know you know you got to take what's in your area. Sometimes you know it's known as code three calls. So lights and sirens, emergency whether it's. You know, like I said, missing juvenile big ones were like with us just because there's thousands and thousands of people on Venice Beach. So a lot of things that took place were, you know, critical missings, like missing juveniles, or maybe someone with developmental disabilities who's gone missing, wandered off. Or you got 211s, which is, you know, robbery, a lot of these tourists getting robbed at gunpoint. You got homeless people. You got the you know the homeless encampments that they're stabbing, they're shooting each other, they're od'ing in their tents.
Speaker 1:So it's, it was the circus man dude what about major holidays like fourth of july or labor day weekend. Just get fucking packed oh for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and again, that's another, another challenge that came with working a very packed place that's, you know you got thousands of tourists walking around. It's being able to navigate yourself within you know your own area without you know running over someone, because there were a couple of times you know cops, you know a homeless was taking a nap in the sand and, oh shit, that wasn't a speed bump, did it kill him, or it's kind of fucked him up a little bit no, a couple times.
Speaker 2:I think it was both yeah yeah, um, but again it was just yeah, craziness, that's one way to clean up the fucking home oh man, that's yeah. The homeless itself, that's could be its own episode.
Speaker 1:So tell us now what you're doing now, bro, and how you found your passion behind it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so eventually what I want to do is work full-time with first responders military but right now, since I'm still somewhat fresh out of grad school, it's been about a year, year and a half. Right now I'm a clinical therapist working with strictly civilians with developmental disabilities. So that can run the gamut from it could be mild intellectual disabilities to paranoid, schizophrenic, borderline personality disorders, suicidal ideations, borderline personality disorders, suicidal ideations. It's my job to find a treatment plan and treatment goals that work for them. And so again, it runs the gambit. It could be something as simple as oh, they have problems with hygiene, all the way to. They have trauma from being sex trafficked. They were molested, you know, witnessed domestic violence. They witnessed, you know they're homeless. So it's a mix of, it's a grab bag of everything that you know. Everyone is its own unique case.
Speaker 1:But you know I'm happy to be doing it. Are you trying to grow that? Are you trying to venture off and do something else? Because you got code three industries going on trying to merge the two?
Speaker 2:so right now I feel like I'm still kind of, um, I'm getting my feet wet as a professional, as a clinical therapist. So right now it's like I'm I'm trying to add as many tools to my tool bag right now. So, right now, now I'm working with developmental disabilities population and then maybe working in the prisons next and then maybe working at a private practice with just first responders. So it's good with that because you get different perspectives, you get to see, you get to grow as a professional. But, yeah, eventually I would like to, uh, like what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Code three industries is. It's my own instagram page and something that I started. It's primarily I wanted to do it, um, for first responders, similar to what you know what's going on here. I wanted to be able to to have a podcast and to have a platform for guys like you, for first responders military um supporters, advocates, psychiatrists, psychologists, different people giving their takes, with not only their own personal stories, but being able to have a platform for first responders, too, to tell their stories about what life on the job is really like struggles that they've had, ptsd, trauma, everything that they go through and so I wanted to be able to give that platform to people like me who have struggled and being able to let them tell the raw, unfiltered stories about what life is like as a first responder, yeah, it's therapeutic also to get it off your chest, man, and air it out.
Speaker 2:Oh, exactly and again you brought up a really good point. That's what I wanted to, because I know a lot of the times it feels like when you're going through shit like this, you feel very isolated, like I'm the only one going through it. You know, if it meant, if it means that you know someone can share their story and help someone out there who's going through the same shit that they are and they feel like they can reach out for help, or if I can help them reach out for help in some way. Somehow. You know that's that's exactly what I want Code 3 Industries to be about.
Speaker 1:That's awesome dude. I see the growth man. I see the potential for you to blow up massive bro.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you, man, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Where can people find you dude social media-wise?
Speaker 2:Yeah, at Code 3 Industries on Instagram. I also have a YouTube page that and, again, I'm still brand new, so I'm trying to blow it up as much as I can At Code 3 Industries on youtube as well. Um, those are my two. Right now I'm trying to um expand a little bit via social media so for future guests.
Speaker 1:You want to hit you up in the dm?
Speaker 2:shoot you a message, yeah yeah, shoot me a message um gmail, dm. Yeah, either yeah, on instagram or youtube. Um, nick lopez is my one. That's my other Instagram name. But, yeah, please feel free if I can help you in any way or, you know, feel like if you want to be a guest, or even if you just want to talk about shit that you've been through, or feel like you can, you know, try to find some help. I'd be more than happy to reach out or try to talk to as many people as I can.
Speaker 1:It's awesome, dude. You have any closing words for the audience man. Any last words you want to say, you can say anything.
Speaker 2:The floor is yours, dude. Um, oh, first, I mean thank you for having me. This has been awesome. Um, any last words. As far as you know what, um, if you're suffering, seek help. I mean that, um, life's too short to go through that much bullshit Like, don't be afraid to reach out for help. I know sometimes us in this job, whether it's the machismo, the stigma, you know we suffer in silence a lot and don't be afraid to reach out for help. You know, sometimes we just need someone either to listen to us or sometimes we just need a helping hand, so much as we don't like to admit it. You know, don't be afraid to uh, to reach out and get the help you need damn dude.
Speaker 1:Thanks for coming on the show, bro. I appreciate it. I'm excited to watch you grow man, and all the thank you, I'm happy you left that career field and and found your your purpose. Dude.
Speaker 2:Thank you, man, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Cool, thank you for having me, of course, man. Well, there you guys have it, folks. Another banger man. If you guys like what you watch, make sure you subscribe at the bottom and we're going to keep more episodes coming. Thank you, keep pushing forward. You've been listening to Hector Bravo Unhinged. Follow for more.
