Captain Briggs Part 2

Service, Leadership and Moving Toward the Trouble.

Transcript

Recap And Captain’s Background

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This is the second part of a two-part episode, an interview with Captain Corey Briggs, our head of security. First, here are highlights from episode one.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

No, it's not. It's just always dapper and clean. So we appreciate his level of professionalism and what he breathe.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

He walks fast, I know that.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Thank you. Yes, I do. His presence is known. Let's say that. Let's very much say that.

Mentoring With Firm Compassion

Preparing For Real-World Threats

SPEAKER_00 0:26

I can do all things through Christ whom strengthens me. It's actually a challenge coin that I give out to my officers who are doing exceptional. Okay. I r I believe leadership. You know, it started, uh, the Marine Corps molded me to be a leader. Okay. You know, as a young corporal, I led a squad in Iraq as a young man, not really knowing what to do, kind of hit the ground running. A lot of folks, you know, as you alluded to, you know, call me the detective, the FBI agent, the, you know, hey Cap, you know, and it yeah, there's a lot of challenging days. There's a lot of days where, you know, we wear different hats. You know, I'm finding myself mentoring uh young people on the street, I'm coaching, you know, I have to be hard, you know, and strict. Hey, these are the rules and regulations. Uh, but what I think you, Doc, have inspired us to do is really come at it with uh, what can I do to help you? Maybe, you know, I see you every day and we're having the same discussions. Maybe let's change those discussions into do you know about our resources? Do you know what can help you? So we're not going toe-to-toe. It's you versus Cap, you know, every day. Cap tells me to move, I move, I come back. Uh, so I think being able to inspire my team to do the same, I think it has worked. You know, it is a process, obviously. We've made a lot of progress, but really that's just who I am. You know, I love helping people, I love inspiring people. Something new I've tried is our young adults coming into the program, 18 to 21. I'm having mentoring sessions with them. Obviously, I'm familiar with a lot of recruiters in the Army and and all around. I have personal relationships with individuals who could help these young men uh really have something to be passionate about, understand that there's a greater purpose. Just my experience, you know, over 20 years doing this in different environments, from you know, a team of two officers up to a team of fifty. What we have to remember is this society, things will continue to happen. There will continue to be active shooter events, there will continue to be uh, you know, worries for our businesses, our churches, you know, because again, evil is out there. We know this. There's a lot of good people out there, but evil is definitely out there. So we must prepare, we must train. That is why I've assembled a staff, I think, who is committed, who's dedicated, but also big part trained. You have to be trained. And for a lot of us, there really can be no overkill. I think we have the amount of staff we need to get the job done. Just my experience, you know, over 20 years doing this in different environments, from you know, a team of two officers up to a team of fifty. What we have to remember is this society, things will continue to happen. There will continue to be active shooter events, there will continue to be uh, you know, worries for our businesses, our churches, you know, because again, evil is out there. We know this. There's a lot of good people out there, but evil is definitely out there. So we must prepare, we must train. That is why I've assembled a staff, I think, uh, who is committed, who's dedicated, but also big part trained. You have to be trained. And for a lot of us, there really can be no overkill. I think we have the amount of staff we need to get the job done. Mental health, as we always talk about, is a crisis today. And I think a lot of what we deal with in many different situations is mental health based. So getting that training, which you know, we went through a uh a trauma-informed class, that's something I've never seen before. I've been in the business, as I said, 20 years. I've never seen a security team go through a trauma-based class.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

And they may have had to spend some time and time out there it'd be whatever. But what's regularly said about Union Gospel Mission of Tearing County is that they feel safe, and some of them will huddle themselves around our neighborhood and in community because they feel safer on our side of the street because of Cap and his team. So that's been very intentional, and we're grateful to you for providing that.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

I've been trying to get Dr. Wolfer to make me his personal PPO. But that is uh we're we're the highest train level. Uh, we've been through different courses from active shooter to uh how to impede, you know, uh uh crowd control or things like that. So level four is your highest uh level. It's called a personal protection officer. And again, uh you'll see me most of the time in a PPO outfit with a business suit. So that's why y'all see me with a business suit. Absolutely. I generally have my weapon concealed, uh, and obviously the training is uh a little bit higher, so different classes, uh, more training. So level four would be your highest. Well, that's fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

And um, so here on campus, your commitment to uh the agency is you've ensured that m all of the team members are trained and licensed. So let's talk about the training aspect. Are there a number of hours that you require? If someone was interested in coming and working for you and working on our team, do you have a number of training hours that you would like to have them commit to over a period of time to start with us?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Yeah, so the uh state of Texas requires every two years. So your license is valid for two years. Okay. The state requirements are very minimal. So once I have my level three arm license, I technically do not have to qualify again for two years. Oh, wow. What we are trying to implement with our Sergeant uh Madam Morris, who's uh, you know, we paid for him to get his NRA certification. He's now a uh NRA instructor, which means he can instruct uh rifle courses, uh weapons courses, all of that. Oh, really? What he still does not have, and we have to send him to school to Austin, is to be a level three instructor, right? Because you can be NRA uh instructor certified, but still you have to get that certification for security specific, right? So he's going to Austin to take that. When he comes back with that certification, he would be able to qualify our level three uh security officers on the range himself. And therefore, as of right now, we're sending them to other places to get qualified. They come back with the certificates and all those things, which great check mark. But what we want to do is make that in-house and we want to own that process uh because once we do, we can start doing things throughout the year, maybe every six months, maybe every year, uh, and things of that nature. How difficult is that test?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

So the the to do past the the so the range test, is it sixty out of a hundred? What's what's the score there?

Trauma-Informed Security And Mental Health

SPEAKER_00 7:43

It's uh it's from like a twenty uh yard, uh forty yard. Oh, yeah. And I want to say it's yeah, it's a distance and you go back. Okay. And obviously, you know, i if you're able to hit the the 20 uh yard target, most of your shots on that you'll qualify. Gotcha. It's not exceptionally hard. Uh you do have to know some type of weapon skills and know how to hold a weapon uh and aim at a target, but uh it's not exceptionally. And you get class time too, I think it's 30 hours where you're actually going through weapon safety, weapons handling, uh bodyguard uh type uh understanding and laws. The big part of it, Doc, is laws. Understanding what can I do as a security officer and what can I not do. Level three officers generally have the most understanding of that because level two is just your basic, your basic foundation. That's why they don't carry a weapon or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

You know, um up in heaven, uh, God has his own security and he's they've they've got clear boundaries. They have very clear boundaries. As a matter of fact, when God told his people uh Israel, um he let Moses know clearly, you do not invade Moab. Okay, and uh Moab tried to tried to hire a uh diviner to curse them. That turned around, God put blessings in in the mouth, and that border with Moab held for centuries. Yeah, yeah, uh, or at least decades. And um anyway, so what what we're hearing now is we're hearing humans being responsible for what's on earth. And uh may the Lord uh may he inspire us to do things that really do pay off in terms of uh security in the long run.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Absolutely. So Cap you all uh in your day-to-day activity are you run towards um the difficult situations with our neighbors that may be in a uh a cycle of their mental health or substance abuse, it can be quite dangerous. I've oftentimes seen you all having to confront a gentleman or a a a ma'am who's having a really tough day, and seen one gentleman was out, you know, wielding a knife. He was out in the on the street, and you all as well as Fort Worth PD came and helped disarm that. So what what are you all seeing as we think through, you made the comment, a lot of what you're dealing with is a lot of mental health illness. What are some of the other narratives that you're seeing on the streets? Because it's very raw, and we've seen an uptick in you know individuals who who present challenges for you. Give us a little bit of narrative there.

Texas Licensing And In-House Training

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, right. You know, uh w we're kind of in the middle of it all, right? You know, uh a lot of these individuals already have reputations and lives on these streets. You know, believe it or not, we're in the middle of their life story. Yeah. Because literally, when we go home at night, they're still out here. They're having conversations, they're having relationships uh with others. Uh some of them are intel agents. I can tell you exactly who I can go to, and they'll give me the whole feel for what happened last night. Uh and the reputation I and I and I I tell this to everybody, we're respected. And the way I know that is because people run up to tell us, hey, Cap, this is what's going on, just so you know. I mean, I feel like I I'm in the Intel department of Fort Worth Police Department half the time. Wow. Uh, and as he say, she says, you know, I I go to one and he's talking about everybody over there, and then go to the other one, it's everyone over there. But I think we're seeing a lot of just victims of violence, you know, people who've been victimized, and the reason they're irate a lot of the times and upset is just because they're tired. They're tired of being victimized. And they just look at us until they get to know us as another authority figure who's there to tell them what they already know. And if they didn't get help for uh by Fort Worth Police Department or whatever police agency, if they felt like all they've been is they get in trouble and they go to jail, then they see Cap and his team as more authority figures to tell me something I already know. Um so it's been hard breaking that barrier uh to let them understand, you know, we do care. We we're in a great role here because we're not looking to detain you or put you in jail. We actually want to try to figure this out and get you some help. Some people get that, some people do not. Uh, but again, my officers are trained, we've been through enough uh these experiences, and I think we get better each time. Absolutely. Uh every relationship we build, because let me tell you, we build more positive relationships than not. You might not always hear that, you might not always see that, but I can tell you we do. Because guess what? When I'm walking down the block, the man in the suit, they're gonna stop me and they're gonna tell me, hey, dealt with your officer so-and-so, dealt with this officer, hey Cap, just letting you know they pushed us off of that block. We really want to come to your block. It's it's beautiful in a lot of ways because I never thought coming into this position, I would build relationships like this. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

And relationships means uh you're hearing. Right. And that's that's a command. That's that's one of the commands that God gave Moses hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. That's right. And so the ability to hear with authority is a gift of God. It's uh Jesus had uh uh Jesus had all authority up in heaven and humbled himself, yeah. Uh hoping that we would hear him. Anyway, it's uh it's good.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Cap a couple of times. You uh you mentioned your uh coordination working with Fort Worth PD. Uh Eric, you may not know this, but uh uh they've been uh really helping respond be responsible. Uh there was the gentleman in the Texas Most Wanted list where our team was able to do some intel and figured out that he was in our area and was able to get him detained, and another gentleman just very recently um was on a list as well. So tell us how you go through with those levels of engagement because that can be a very dangerous situation. I know the man who was on a want-to-list, and I'll let you tell the story if you choose to do so, but you know, you're in you're in you're dealing with you know some some high-level individuals in our community.

Street Intel And Building Trust

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Right. Yeah, absolutely. First, the partnership with Fort Worth Police Department has blossomed. It's grown exponentially. You know, I I come over from the Dallas area where you know I had liaison with Dallas Police Department. Uh the chief now in Fort Worth was over in Dallas. Um so we invited him out uh to our establishment a few times, uh, and we really strive to partner. Now that was a different kind of world, corporate security, you know, uh all Class A high-rises, you know, this is a different environment. But this environment, uh, it's probably even more so important to have that liaison because of the community we have. Uh with that community comes a lot of challenges, you know, and and even now, amongst many of them, you could have wanted individuals, you could have uh folks who have violent backgrounds. We don't know the story on every individual on the street. Uh but when they do choose to use our services, when they do choose to come in uh and and utilize our our food, our chapel services, all these things which we want them to do, we need to know who they are. We need to know their backgrounds. Uh what we strive to do, and you'll see in our dining hall three times uh during the day is my officers in there giving commands, watching, you know, uh fellowshipping with individuals, because we want them to know one, we want you to feel protected, right? But two, if you're the bad guy who kind of mixed in, you know, kind of hiding under the radar, we want you to see a presence. And that is what my team of black shirts and ranks on with weapons on, we want you to know, Mr. Bad Guy, we will find you. We will eventually see who you are, and we will liaison with our police department to get you, which has happened in a couple of different situations. Uh officers have reached out saying, hey, this individual is wanted. Uh, you know, keep a lookout. I love when they do that because that gets us, you know, we catch folks uh, you know, from low-level stuff here and there. Uh but when it comes to the big stuff, we really want that. We want to go after that, but we don't always know. So a lot of times we're just processing people, you know, uh running background checks. Things don't always come afold, but uh police agency may reach out. Hey, we've known so-and-so to be in the area. He could visit your location. We'll put a flag on uh that individual. So each of our stop points with mission support and security working together, we'll find that individual. Once we do, you know, no cause for alarm. All right, I'm not going up, hey, you're wanted, you know, get out now. Nope, we play it cool, allow things to unfold, usually make a call to our police agency who are able to come out, apprehend the suspect with no issue. Uh so that's what we strive for. We don't want to make a big scene. We don't want to go throw cuffs on someone immediately. We want to get people involved and make it uh at least a calm experience for everyone.

Police Partnership And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Well, Captain Briggs, it's been a blessing. Let me just read to you our core value, protection, because certainly you have encouraged us. Psalm 91 says, He will cover you with his feathers, and under the wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and your rampart. Uh, on behalf of all of us here at Union Gospel Mission, Captain Corey Briggs, Director of Safety and Security here at Union Gospel Mission, we're grateful to you. Thank you for your service to our country and to all of our military men and women who have served our country, who make us all feel safe. We salute you, we thank you for your commitment to us and to keeping us all safe. Uh Eric, you mind signing off and giving us a last-minute thought.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Lots of good thoughts. Uh, we pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, and your will be done in earth as it is in heaven. One of the things that the Apostle Paul talked about was how his kingdom had come in every aspect, in every conversation, in every every level of society, every race, every gender. And I'm glad to see and hear about how the Most High is making the presence known and security around here. Absolutely. And may the love, joy, peace that Jesus came to share also flow through us and the oneness with him in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Gory. Thank you. While we're committed to the security in the visible world, we don't forget the invisible shield that the most high is in Psalm 91. For the benefit of our listeners, Psalm 91 and New International Version whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Surely He will save you from the fouler snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the air that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes, and see the punishment of the wicked.