Valor Tactical Podcast Ep.10 Guest: Chief Ramon Gonzalez La Joya PD-Documentary The Border Crossed Us

🔥 NEW EPISODE – VALOR TACTICAL PODCAST 🔥

🎙️ Episode 10 Featuring Chief Ramon Gonzalez
Chief of Police – La Joya Police Department

Chief Gonzalez and the La Joya Police Department were featured in the powerful documentary “The Border Crossed Us” now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

In this episode, Chief Gonzalez discusses:

• The real challenges faced by small border communities
• The impact of illegal immigration and human smuggling on local law enforcement
• How a small police department in South Texas managed overwhelming operational demands
• The importance of community partnerships and leadership during crisis

This conversation provides first-hand insight from the front lines of border enforcement and the realities many agencies face along the southern border.

Check out several books written by Chief Ramon Gonzalez. You can find them at Amazon. 

🎧 Listen to Episode 10 of the Valor Tactical Podcast

📺 Watch the documentary “The Border Crossed Us” on Amazon Prime Video.

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 #BorderSecurity
 #LawEnforcementLeadership
 #LaJoyaTexas
 #HumanSmuggling
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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Good afternoon. I want to welcome everybody to my Battery Tactical Podcast. I appreciate everybody continue to watch on uh on my Facebook, on my TikTok, on my YouTube channel, and of course on my fa on my um Instagram. So appreciate the continued following. And like I said, I was gonna bring in some real stories, real heroes, some real trainers out here. Not only that, today on today's topic, we have uh Chief Raymond Gonzalez with the La Jolla Police Department, and I'll have the gentleman and uh young lady here introduce themselves also here, representing La Jolla. So we're gonna talk about some of the books that uh Chief Gonzalez uh has written out there for law enforcement. You know, uh we're gonna cover that also. Um obviously, you know, here in the Rio Grande Valley, we have some uh good authors. Uh appreciate you know uh the Chief Gonzalez being here as well. And uh we're gonna talk about that, but also we're gonna talk about a uh documentary that uh La Jolla P was involved in. That's correct. Called uh Border Crusters. You can watch it on uh Prime Video and a great documentary to talk about you know the uh struggles and issues that local PD down here at the border have. Not only that, La Jolla is featured there, you know, throughout this documentary talks about everything that has to do with smuggling. You know, not only you know, stopping the smuggling, but also on the local side, even though local law enforcement doesn't enforce immigration laws down here, but we assist, you know, local uh border patrol and customs, border protection, and so forth. So, Chief, I want to welcome you. Hey, thank you, Chief, for having us. Appreciate it. Lieutenant, I want to welcome you. Yes, sir. I want to welcome you, sir. So quick introduction, Chief, to my viewers out there. Obviously, we got people from all over Texas. We got four countries watching us. We got people from many different parts of the country, law enforcement, non-law enforcement. So, you know, showcasing, you know, uh Texas law enforcement. A lot of people always think about the fact that what's happened down at the border. And uh this podcast sole purpose is to let people know across the country that South Texas has great law enforcement. Yes, sir. So I appreciate you guys being here, representing La Jolla and the city of La Jolla. But a quick introduction to Waviruchi.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Sure, my name is uh Ramon Gonzalez. Uh born and bred you know in the Valley. Um been over 20 years in law enforcement. Uh did serve our country in the United States Marine Corps. Uh I was there with the 17. Um after that, you know, continued education. Uh, did my bachelor's degree at the University of Texas Pan American when it was when it was uh Pan Am. After that, I still had that that drive, that adrenaline drive, and and I went on one ride along, and that's all it took, and that's what got me into law enforcement. Uh after that, I continued my education and uh have a master's degree out of the University of Sam Houston, you know, in leadership and management of on the criminal justice side.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Great.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Welcome, Chief. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

I did not know you were Marine. Yes, sir. Wow. Yeah you know uh there's some things that law enforcement sometimes, you know, uh, you know, uh we work so much together, but I didn't know you were Marine. So uh thank you for the service, Chief. Thank you, thank you. I know you brought on the lieutenant and sergeant Lieutenant I'm Lieutenant Manuel Casas.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

I've been in law enforcement for over 25 years. Um mainly what my focus in law enforcement has been is investigations. Okay. Uh during my uh time that I worked for uh the Mission Police Department, I moved up to work for major crimes with homicides, home invasions. Pretty much everything that was out there uh we worked at. And that's what I I love to do. Besides being just a patrolman, which I can be, investigation is awesome.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Appreciate it. Thank you for being here. Sorry, Speaker, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yes, quick introduction to the Myra Hassa. Um I started my law enforcement career back in 2016, but I started as a victim advocate. Um during that time I wanted to do more for the victims. I was there in until the aftermath, and I wanted to do something different. I wanted to be there since since the first call to give them that assurance that we're here to help you. Um I joined law enforcement, I went to the police academy. I've been an officer for the past five years. Um mainly the past three years, I've done investigations uh together with Lieutenant Casas and that's it.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

Well, welcome. Appreciate it. Welcome everybody. So I mean uh so people down uh in East Texas, North Texas, or up in the United States, where is La Jolla, Texas located at? Sure, we can know.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah, we're about a mile off of the border, so we're we're just uh I guess the biggest city that they're gonna recognize is McCallan, Texas, we've got an international airport, you know. So we're approximately about 20 miles just west west of there. Yeah. Uh population size, we're about 5,000 there, but we are close to the border, like I said, you know, within that one mile on there. And then we have that main corridor, you know, expressway three that goes through there. How many officers does La Jolla employee, Chief? Uh, right now we're currently 11. We we should be at 16. You know, but you do the work of a hundred couple. Oh, yes. You know, I mean everybody, yeah. You know, you know, and and when I first joined there, you know, everybody said everybody joked around, you know, you work here two years, it's like 15 years worth of experience because you get to do from everything from patrol investigations to all of that. True.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

So, how long have you been the chief police chief there, Chief?

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Uh, this time around, I've been five, six years already.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Yeah, yeah. Uh so uh La Jolla, Texas uh became a uh spotlight for a documentary called The Border Cross Does. How did that come about? How did that how did that documentary come about?

SPEAKER_01 5:42

And uh I guess if we can backtrack a little bit when we had that that influx of immigration, you know, coming through through our city. Uh I think that did spotlight the you know nationwide. We were I mean we're on the news almost every day. We were getting what would you guys say about 300 plus, you know, just daily. You know, we were in, you know, graveyard shift was saying, hey, another hundred, and there's another hundred coming uh coming over. So that happened along we had to deal with the whole COVID pandemic at the at the at the same time. So this documentary crew was already doing some work in the Sullivan area during during this time frame. Um they stopped the production there and they started reaching out to other local local local agencies. So sometime around uh 2022, uh I received an email. And I received those emails plenty of times. I said we were documentary crew, we wanna we wanna write out like that. I I kind of ignored it the first time, then the second time, I guess they reached out to the city manager. City manager calls me, hey, you might want to look into this and stuff like that. So I meant the we met the the the initial uh contact between the film cross and the Netherlands, you know. So we set up a whole uh what was it? Uh it was through Skype or or a Zoom. It was through Zoom and at five in the morning because that was their, I guess their afternoon over there. So uh she wanted to get together and get to know you know the crew, and we kind of all introduced and introduced ourselves. At the time you said, hey, you guys go and take it. I don't be in the background. You're not immediately in the background, you guys, you guys go ahead and and and take care of it. And then uh she finally came in uh a couple months later, and she sat down with us and she goes, Chief, I really want you on there. I want the lieutenant, I want, you know, uh uh Myra and you know a couple other guys, and and that's how basically we got started. And and at first we were thinking it was okay, you know, like like I like I had mentioned, yeah. I've already worked with you know a couple film crews and and stuff. But man, once I saw that final product, uh you know, the editing, the the hard work, I mean it was it was top-notch of the city. Yes, y'all should be very proud.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

I mean, I saw it uh, you know, when you talk about it, I went home and I saw it, and uh you all should be very proud of yourselves. I mean, I think that you represented the Rio Grande Valley very well. Thank you. You represented uh local law enforcement very well, small police department very well. The unique part about La Jolla is that you guys are at the outskirts of the western part of the Hidalo County towards that. So you all, you know, uh have seen more immigration issues than we have on this side. You know, when I was in San Juan, we didn't see as much as you guys. And and of course, there's more open terrain area. Oh, yes. I mean, and in one mile from the border, you know. So uh, and uh, you know, I I I I like the way that it it was it portrayed, you know, uh local law enforcement. I like the way that, you know, each character that the all of you three that came out there, the way that the whole community came out and and your efforts, you know, uh to try to help all these people coming in here, you know, uh illegally, right? But you still were helping them out with all the resources. I mean, you you became human, you know. Uh people sometimes, you know, uh criticize cops saying that we don't have we don't have any type of you know uh empathy towards others. You clearly showed how cops should be, you know, the way that you came across all those individuals. So I mean, I saw it not only that, I mean, then I saw the fact that you were also up for a an award on that, right? For uh that is correct. What is it, Cannes Finfo?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

What was it the uh uh if if uh it's an international film festival, yeah. And when I talked to the production uh company, it was similar to I guess the Oscars here in the United States, uh up uh up on there. Unfortunately, we didn't make it, but we did make the cut. I mean, we we were we were we were showcased uh uh up there. And then after that, we did the film festival here out of Edinburgh also. We were showcased also on there. Uh again, we didn't make the we made the cut to to be uh debuted and to then and they they showed the the film there. Uh but a reference to awards, well yeah no.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

So what what was the main thing here that you as a uh as an agency, what did you grasp from that documentary? What was the main thing here, Lieutenant? What was the main thing that you guys grasped from that?

SPEAKER_02 10:15

They wanted uh the way uh I saw it and we we perceive it is that they wanted to humanize the badge and police officers. Yeah. Uh they wanted the the people from around the world, because we knew this was gonna go around the world.

SPEAKER_03 10:31

Yeah, it did go around the world.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

To to humanize the men and women behind the badge. Although we do we deal with death because uh we would go out there sometimes and find people that were deceased because of the elements or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

And and and even though we were taking down uh smugglers and everything else, because we were actively doing that, there's a human side to that. We're humans, we're not robots. Yes. And and you know, we we have empathy and and we have feelings too. And I think that documentary wanted to portray that more than anything. True. The human side of the badge.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Yeah. What helped uh what I liked about the fact in your part of Tennessee is that you also come from a you know a religion side of it, that you also added your own perspective to it. So I mean, I I saw you many a times praying for these individuals and talking to them about the, you know, what the the greater good of a human being. So I mean, how did that uh affect you as well? I mean, because you came across, you know, a lot of uh stories and incidents that they were real things that all these people coming from all these types of parts of the country or the world coming to the United States and they go through horrific things that happen. They get trafficked, they get sexually assaulted, they get ra, you know, they get, you know, uh uh beaten up. I mean, you know, how did when you would come across them? I mean, that I'm pretty sure impacted you, you know, uh all the stories that you were hearing.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

I I think one of the things that's always been in my heart since I was a young man is that you you treat them like you want to be treated. The Bible tells us that, right? And even though they they had come into this country legally, that I didn't see that part. I knew I still had to do my job because I said that's what I'm there for, right? I swore to do that. But I also had the humane side. And when they were sick and they would ask me to pray for them, I would pray for them. And and and if something was wrong with them, you know, like they were having issues because they lost someone along the way, it was the same thing. I would tell them this is what the word of God says. Yeah so I I I input it that part, but that came from my heart. Yeah, it wasn't something that it was for filming, yeah, but it naturally it came out, and and that's the human side that they were looking for.

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Yeah. And not only that, people that know you know that you were very you know uh uh involved in that. So I mean I known you for a long time when I was a part of PD, you know. So that's what I liked about the film, the documentary that you you know it portrayed each and every one of you guys differently, like you know, your case are I mean, uh, you know, they also uh talked about you know uh your family and stuff like that. How did that feel? I mean, doing that documentary, I know that you know you kind of shy there, you know, in that film, but I mean uh one if I'm if you know me, because they do.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Yeah, I'm a person that I do not like media, I do not like talking in front of people. I do the work, but I'm on the back side, and that's just me. Um but the reason that I decided to do it was to bring that humane part of us that people don't see. But there was some areas that it it caught me because it was involving my my children, yeah. And it helped me realize how important it is to to be prepared and trained out here to go back to to your family and so that people can see that because they they usually don't I mean they know were husbands, wives, uh mothers, fathers, but that's all they see. I mean they don't see it you know in a closure site.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

And the good thing also is that they portrayed female law enforcement, you know, like sometimes always only male law enforcement. And the majority of these documentaries and shows, I mean, you know, I think that you know, here in the Rio Grande Valley, we have a lot more higher percentage of female law enforcement now than we had before. Yeah, I think they're gonna continue going up. Yeah, I mean, we see more, we see more uh female law enforcement, you know, uh enjoying the ranks of law, you know, of police work. Um when you guys were doing the documentary, you said that the numbers were like 300, you know, uh uh 400. I mean, you know, uh and and most of them were coming from where? I mean, uh, what parts of the world were they coming from?

SPEAKER_01 14:55

So we experienced uh from you know, Guatemala, Honduras, you know, Mexico, Chinese. Chinese also, they were they're basically from from from anywhere. There was not just one said country where they were where they were coming from. You know, the thing that I liked about the you know the documentary that we were seeing, that's us. We weren't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were not acting enough.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

What I liked about that too also is that it was not a different name, a different name. It was your real names, your real faces. I mean, and uh most documentary that I've seen is like, hey, don't show my name, don't show my face. Well, I mean, and it's not the real you then. I mean, of course, and and I and we understand that this line of work sometimes you're gonna get threats and stuff like that. But I mean, it's it's just the professional way, and we we accept that the minute that we take the oath of office, that we accept that, you know, this is gonna happen. You're gonna get threatened, you're gonna get, you know, uh criticized, you're gonna, you know, all this is gonna come to us. So we just gotta know how to manage it. And and when I was looking at the film, I mean uh, you know, I was like, uh, I was pretty interested in the way that you all were, you know, uh are portraying law enforcement. And I applaud you because I saw you and it's like, this is your this is genuine. This is not something that's being made up for film. You know, this is genuine feelings that you're feeling, you know, uh conversations you have with that uh the reporters and and even the chief out there. I mean, I think there's very few times I see him with a helmet on, you know. I mean some of the raids, you know, yeah, I mean, and right? And very few times I've seen him with a whole gear, like is that the chief? And I was like, I had to uh rewind it, is that the chief or not the chief? You know, I mean, but yeah, it's good to see that. So, how did the community accept that? Because the community knew that they would be in film, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:45

So I mean they they they they accepted it pretty well. We had a lot of people calling in the hey, why is there like a film crew? Yeah. Uh a lot of people saying, Hey, what new station? They thought it was a local uh TV crew following us, so they wanted to know uh what was going on. And uh we explained to them, you know, it was a process because it would they it was not filmed months or weeks, you know, even though it was filmed within a week, but we're talking about two years worth of worth of film. Yeah, you know. Two years, wow.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

About two years that so they rolled along for two years, wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

You know, off and on. Often, off and off. Like I did mention, you know, they're from the Netherlands, so they have to just schedule their stuff and and and and come down here. And I think even at one at one point, all three of us had had COVID and they and and and they were here and they had to fly back, you know.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

And Lieutenant uh Casas and Sergeant Garcia with uh talking about uh the border cross stuff. So uh we're talking about Lieutenant, but uh how other law enforcement officers also perceived uh documentary, but I mean obviously there was always great partnerships there. You know, uh y'all didn't have any issues there, but you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

No, we did not. They they assisted us on on many occasions on uh serving uh warrants, felony warrants, high profile warrants. Uh one of the things they did ask was that we blur their faces off because of what they do. Yeah, uh but that they wanted to work with us, they never said no. Yeah, they always did. That was never an issue. Yeah, but the filming sometimes says pushes them away a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

True, true.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Because they're doing their work, they're experts.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, so all those people that want to see the border cross stuff, where can they see it at? You know, uh, prime video?

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yeah, right now it's just currently on the Amazon Prime Video video. Yeah, that's the best way to see it.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Yeah, so uh what do you what do you uh want the community to learn about this documentary? I mean, uh especially the community of La Jolla, surrounding areas, Sullivan areas, not only that, people are watching up us in North Texas, East Texas, West Texas, all over the nation here. What would you what do you want people to know about La Jolla, you know, uh Texas and uh the border area?

SPEAKER_01 18:59

I mean, we're a great community. We work along with every agency. Um this is just a different task that we've been tasked, you know, immigration. We still do, you know, our our enforcement action on traffic, you know, on criminal actions like that. Um this is an additional portion that we do. You know, uh many agencies across the nation, further up north, maybe they haven't seen it or or haven't gone through it, but we live it and we see it, you know, on a on a daily basis. Um and we've also seen the you know the shift, you know, back when I first started with narcotics, you know, the the marijuana and all like that. Now we've seen the whole influx, now it's more into the into the human smuggling. Yes, you know, and and we discussed this in in you know in the film, and and it, you know, it makes sense if you if you think about it, is that back then we seized the the narcotics. We seize your order, destroy it, that's it. The cartels, they stopped, you know, that that was it. That was the end game. Human, human life, grab them, send them back, that's more commodity. There's there's more of it. It's a revolving door. It keeps on, you know, it keeps on going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

I know I know that through your investigation, you all talked about the how the cartels exploit all these people that have been smuggled, you know. And uh I think that a lot of people out there watching don't don't really understand how they exploit them. You know, I mean, I'll talk about a little bit about how the cartels exploit all this, you know, uh human smuggling coming down this border.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Yeah, well, of course we know that a lot 90% or more starts in in Mexico. Yeah. Because we're right close to the Mexican border. And because of that, they they have their people working in the United States and preparing people. And they go after they go after uh women, uh, they go after families. They they they don't they don't have any uh issues with get getting a young man to do the dirty work.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Uh and and and that's what's happening. And that's what's been happening. Now that now that we're even in 2026, they're using different tactics, but they're still exploiting the people. And uh I think in this documentary that we did, if it when you look at it, you'll see that we dealt with females, with males, and how they were being used. And and uh these people had children. They weren't just uh woman off the street. No, this these were families that were being used by the cartel and they were getting paid. And and it was just like nothing to them. And to the day they got caught and they felt the reality of the full force of of the law on them. And and it broke them, but but I tell I I would tell them straight to their face, I said you think that the people over there care about you? They don't care that you're you're gonna do maybe ten, twenty years in prison? They don't care about that. True. That's the reality of all. This.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

And and a lot of people don't understand that sometimes they think that people that doing this type of uh you know crime are are criminals with a with a with a criminal portfolio, not knowing that there's just regular citizens, like you said, people that they're exploiting out there that might be in need, or they're exploiting their needs, you know, uh financial needs, and that's how they get involved. I mean, and I I saw some of the, you know, uh when they were talking about some of your cases, you were talking about, and Sergeant also talking about some of the cases that were involved, you guys were involved in it. Like, it looked like they had no criminal background, these young ladies, you know, and and families that were involved. But I mean, this they sometimes uh the opportunity to make quick money there, you know, uh have lot have uh long and lasting consequences, Chief.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

That's correct. I think one of the individuals that we had uh apprehended there was a husband and wife, and and he had a good paying job. I mean he he he worked up up north and he was getting paid good money. Uh the only thing is that right now he was during the the transition period of him finding another job and it it was it was easy to mention that it was easy, easy money for for them.

SPEAKER_03 23:07

I mean that you know that's that's why people don't understand that something that you know uh when we talk about easy money, we're talking about not hundreds of dollars, we're talking about thousands of dollars. You know, uh all these people get paid thousands of dollars because they, you know, in the average, I mean, they probably charge one human being getting across what what's uh you know, cartels charging what a couple thousand dollars per depending depending on. Depending on where they're from, correct.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

I mean, we've we've seen anywhere from you know fifty thousand to twenty thousand, and then you know, depending on here's you know it's a fifty thousand per person to smuggle somebody? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Wow, some Chinese that uh wow that they said it took them over three months to get to Mexico. Wow. And they were caught right there in La Jolla.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

And when when three months, the journey was three months to get to Mexico, Mexico, and then here in La Jolla, Texas, they get caught, and that's it. That's over for them. Fifty thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Wow. It sounds insane.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

It sounds insane.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

But they have family that may live here in the United States and in big big states, uh, you know, in cities like New York. And they're the ones who let that money go to bring their family.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Because they have businesses here, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:23

You know, and uh I know that we talk about that local law enforcement doesn't enforce immigration, but we don't enforce immigration. You guys don't, but you come across, you cannot just look the other way. Because I saw that uh some of them were looking for cops because when they were crossing the river and they were looking for you all instead of hiding, they were looking for law enforcement because their journey had been so ugly and so bad, and they were in dire straits that they were actually looking for uniform officers.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

And and that is correct, Chief. Uh once a lot of times we come to them and they're asking for help. Yeah. So you we talk about the the the whole enforcement side that well no, sometimes we have to do you know the humanistic side and and offer them help. Um what we go after are the smugglers, the one making the money. We understand that these individuals are are are trying to better off themselves and you know come to the country too.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

So uh we know that we talked about uh the immigration stuff, and I think that you know uh it was a great documentary, you know, that uh allowed people from uh other parts of Texas and other parts of the country to understand how important it is that uh the smuggling issue, immigration issue, not that you are enforcing immigration and so forth, but it lands in your hands because people are crossing in need of help. And we're talking about that they were coming towards looking for law enforcement instead of getting away from law enforcement, which is it's your typical, you know, uh people coming across don't do that very common. You know, they only do it when they're in need, Chief.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

You know, you know, and and that is correct. You know, and and I mean we have to we have to help these individuals, you know. We don't we don't see you know race, color, or creed. It's just a human individual. We we have to we have to you know render assistance and and and help them, you know. But we in La Jolla, we focus on the smugglers, the ones that are making the money, the ones that are going after, you know, exploitating this in this individual. You know, and I want to thank thank these two, you know, Lieutenant Casas and Maira Garza, because they they put great and awesome investigations on forth. And we kind of started this a couple years ago where we started seeing patterns and we started, you know, we took it a step further, you know, before Border Patrol came in came in and and and and took the you know the immigrants, these two started investigating and talking to this individual, trying to find out how they were crossing, were you know, gathering gathering intelligence. And they started finding out that it was the same people running the the same operation. Yeah, you know. So after two, three times at the same individual, you know, we wind up having you know pursuits with with with with drivers interviewing you know the suspects, and and we all started leading up to the same individual, same individuals. So we didn't stop there. We kept on going up the totem pole until we got the main individuals involved.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

Which is uh uh more uh very important because you know uh you want to stop them from um you know uh smuggling people you know in your city because then creates pursuits, put other people in danger. Like there was a pursuit or two that you guys were involved. I mean, uh they might lead to other potential crimes that they're exploiting young men and you know women to you know smuggle. And plus it affects also some of the some of the economy there in you know in La Jolla as well, right? And I think uh that's important. So now it is a great documentary for you guys that want to see it. Prime video, I mean it's a great documentary. So thank you, Chief. I uh I applaud you guys. I mean, I think uh people need to know you know the efforts that local law enforcement does here in the River Valley. So the other thing I want to talk about, Chief, is that obviously uh you have inspired me also to write my own book. You know, I saw that you wrote a couple books here, so uh McAveilin Leader, Chief. You know, I know that you, you know, uh you've been doing this and in the background very quietly, you know. I didn't know that you have written over almost four books already, you know, uh Bridging the Badge, another another excellent book that Chief wrote out there for uh local law enforcement. You know, um stepping into the badge, obviously, throughout the years that you have known you so you were just a regular cop in La Hoya.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

That's correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Regular cop in La Hoya, that's how long I known the chief, right? So now you're leading an agency, you know, which is great. And now is the uh talk to me about this one right here.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

I mean, ganas is you know, ganas is a is a word that I grew up with, you know. My grandparents, you know, echele ganas, mijo, and do that, you know, and and and and that that is a non-law enforcement book, that's just something just for anybody, anybody can read uh on that one. And it it deals with, you know, how as we grow up, we lose those the ganas, the effort, yeah. The effort of trying to do something. But it it all goes back to our experiences, you know, from failures, and and our we ourselves our own enemies, and and we don't want to try no more. We say, oh, that's not for me, or I'm too old, or I can't do that no more. You know, so so that that book talks a lot about that, and how to how to get that that gun is because no matter what, there's just a little little fire in us that that still wants to go. True, you know. What inspired you to write? It's it's a hobby that I've always kind of always done. I I've kind of you know fiddled around with words. Uh my grandfather was uh was a composer of music, so I kind of grew up with you know you know with that. Okay. And just writing it and documenting, and I guess anybody who who comes to me and and and asks me, just write your thoughts down, and eventually you'll you'll you'll get something, you know, something something there uh on there. So I know that uh you wrote a book for uh young officers. Young officer, that's correct, that's correct. This is just something to the badge. Something that I kind of wish that as a young officer, somebody would tell me and explain to me what to look for, what not to do, what the expectations of the badge.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Yeah, I mean, I uh I just went and spoke to a local academy uh about to graduate, and uh I was looking at them and I was looking at myself. I said I was there in 1980, 88. Uh-huh. I mean, we all start somewhere, right? And I always say this, you gotta stay humble in this profession. It's gonna be a lot of successes, but more failures than successes. And and I think that uh when I first uh found out that you were writing books and you had written some, you know, and and you and and uh it addresses you know um the leader in an agency, you know, or leaders in the agency, lieutenants and sergeants and any or anybody that you know uh leads other people, right? So talk about the Macchiavili leadership.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

You know, on that book, you know, I I go back and I remember, you know, well, who's gonna teach me to lead? Who's gonna teach me how how to how to go to the street? Yeah, we learned by trials and errors from others, right? That's correct, you know, and and a lot of times we we not only do we learn from good leaders, but there's value in learning from bad leaders also, because it gets you you get to see that's not what I what I want to do, right? So Mac Evailing came came into effect where I remember you know as a young sergeant, you know, trying to look for books, trying to look for knowledge, because there's not a lot. Everything I found was you know, scholarly books, a thousand pages, you know, the thick textbooks and stuff. You know, so I tried to bring some of that knowledge that I use, you know, while you know, through my education and try to make it as simple as I could for somebody who's trying to learn some tactics and trying to be a you know a good leader. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

So uh your inspiration to write the machiavelian leader or you know, you know, you know, came from from uh from a book called The You know, the Prince.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

You know, uh and it was Machiavellian, you know, trying to teach a young prince on how to lead a nation on there. So he told he told him the do's and don'ts. So he had different principles. So some of those principles I use and I've just changed it to where it's gonna apply to apply to law enforcement. That's you know, that's correct.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

You know, on there. Yeah, I saw some of your officers uh had some of these books out here. I mean, obviously you're impacting them because they're they're reading this, and obviously, you know, we always say that knowledge is power, right? So I mean, wherever you get the knowledge from, especially coming from experienced leaders, I think that that's I'm always I've been an avid book reader all my life. You know, I like I try to read a book every couple of months, you know. I mean, uh uh I enjoy reading, you know, because I wanna I wanna see what I can learn from others, right? And I think that the only way that we're gonna get better, sergeants, lieutenants, chiefs, by learning what others have done and you know, done the failures and successes from others, you know. And and I think that that's that's great, Chief, that uh, you know, uh you set out to do this. I mean, I think that you know uh me and you have talked to many a times, you know, and uh about and I know that you are working on another book.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Yes, you know, yes, yes, yeah. I got about two uh two in line right now.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

Uh just just finding the time on the so where do uh where can people find your books, Chief?

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Again on Amazon? On Amazon.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Amazon, they can find it on Amazon, and that's uh it's awesome. I mean, I think uh, you know, uh they all they all showcase something about your law enforcement, you know, and I think that uh you know more, I see more law enforcement writing books, right? Especially down here in the Rio Grande Victoria.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Which was rare, rare, you know, back then you would try to find something and you couldn't you couldn't find it. So one thing that I've kind of installed in the department exam is that, hey, we're we're getting older guys. Yeah. What good is it to us to hold all that knowledge and all these individuals that are below us, they're not gonna learn, you know. So these are some of the books of of where that comes from, trying to teach them. Uh hopefully they don't have those hiccups and getting there. But as we all know, you know, in law enforcement, it is some-the-job training. Yeah, and you gotta make mistakes to learn.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

If you don't, what are some of the good lessons that have you uh that you when you're writing these books? I mean, uh, what were some of the good things that came out of it? Like you say, you know what, man, I'm I like this about this book and this about this book.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

I mean, I think going back to and you touched the topic, you know, never forget where you come from. Be humble, be humble. I mean, you can be, and and and we've run it, you know, we we run into sergeants and and lieutenants and even chiefs, you know, and they forget what it is to be down at the bottom, you know. And and and I think the guys appreciate that if you go back to your roots and go back to how how you felt, you know, as a young young officer, um, it changes the mindset of it.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

Yeah, I mean, it's uh in law enforcement, the only thing you're gonna have is relationships. I think we've known each other almost 20 plus years ago. I mean, yeah. When you would do a young patrolman up in La Jolla, you know, uh, and uh and look at what you're at now, Chief. You know, I mean, uh, doing this for quite a while, for quite some time already, Chief of Police, leading young men and women, you know, in law enforcement. And uh I think that that's great. I mean, I've always told people be prideful of who you represent. You know, uh just because you don't work in a big agency doesn't mean that you're not noticed.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

You know, and and Manny here comes from a bigger agency.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

Yeah, for how many how many years were you in Mission PD, man? I was over there for over 70 years. Wow. Wow. It's like my brother at the man. I mean, I see next mission PD and now the county and myself, people say, you know what, when are you getting back on track? I'm done. I I am uh I am very satisfied, the career that I've lived, you know, uh the work that I'm doing. I think that I'm impacting more people now than ever. And I think that this is great to you because you're gonna you are you're gonna be impacting the next generation of cops. Where do they get? How do they be better on the streets? I mean, the knowledge is right here.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:24

You know, um, a couple years from now, we're no longer gonna be cops. You know, meaning that retirement, I retired a couple years ago. And that's what inspired me also, is that I kept hearing from people, hey, you know, uh, you're gonna leave uh where's your all this knowledge that you have? How come you don't put it somewhere somebody else can grasp it and learn from it? So that's why I wrote my book as well. So thank you for the inspiration. It's a good idea. Thanks for helping me out. And I think that you inspire me to you inspire me to finish my book. I've also been on you. What's your next one? Yeah, I know, yeah. So the Chief here, I've been working on my book for about two years or something, and then uh the last class I did is like, yeah, yeah. So he gave me the last final push. Hey, you need to do it. So I did it, Chief. Appreciate it, man. Hey, no, thank you. I appreciate it. So um a few last words from my audience out there, Valor Tactical Podcast here from the chief of police from uh La Jolla, Texas, Chief.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

Hey, I just you know, I just thank this man by the bottom of my heart, chingles, chingles, chingles. You know, my heart goes out to him for for doing what he does and and continue doing and and and his tactics and and then it just goes to show the type of man he he is. And also check out his book. It's a good book. It's a good book.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

So Lieutenant, last few words from my audience here. Everybody's watching out there.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

Well, what I will say is I re I read his book already. It's it's a tremendous book. I recommend it to anybody, from if you're starting or if you're a senior officer. It'll refresh your mind, and it's just something that's there, and maybe you're just not paying attention to. So I was telling my chief, I said, is this man wrote a quite an incredible book and it brought a lot of stuff back to me that I knew already.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

But it seems like it goes dormant because you don't use it. But in that book, it came to life.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

Appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. Sarge, a few words about uh what the uh white people should see why the border crossed us.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

It's a good documentary out there, but I'm not gonna focus on that. He we gave you the invitation, go ahead and see it. Uh main um I haven't gotten the book, I'm gonna get it, I'm sure it's good. I haven't known she at a close level, but I've heard great things about him. Uh follow his page, he brings real people to his podcast. Listen to it. Mainly if your new officers coming in, you'll get good things coming out from here.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

Appreciate it, sir. So for everybody out there watching the Valor Tactical Podcast, thank Chief Gonzalez, Lieutenant, and uh Sergeant Garça here for coming on this episode. Like I keep um uh promising you all, I'm bringing some real heroes here, real training, people that actually have been on the road for long periods of time. And if you're young, old, or about to retire, or already retired, and listen to my podcast. I mean, uh, we're gonna come up with some more guests here, and uh we're gonna continue doing this, showcasing Texas law enforcement, especially border law enforcement, so everybody can see out there that uh South Texas has great law enforcement leaders, great law enforcement officers, and we continue to um you know maintain uh you know uh the fort down here in South Texas and making sure that all our counterparts all over the state, you know, all over the country here, um know where what uh South Texas is at and uh what law enforcement is doing out here. So appreciate everybody. So check out my podcast on uh Spotify, Apple, YouTube, uh, TikTok, uh Instagram, and of course my Facebook. See you on the next one.