Interview- North of Bakersfield with Ed Soares

Discover the compelling story of Ed and Jocelyn Soares, blending law enforcement, martial arts, and entrepreneurship. In this episode, they share personal experiences, insights on police work, their journey into Jiu-Jitsu, and how they built a family-centered academy supporting officers and the community.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

The 148 project exists to give a voice to law enforcement from the officers' perspective, from their exposure in the communities they serve, while honoring the experience of the victims they contact. Through honest conversation, lived experience, and the discipline of jujitsu, we explore resilience, accountability, healing, and the shared humanity that exists on all sides of the badge. Our mission is to foster understanding, strength, and growth on and off the mat.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Well done. Thanks. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Well, today we are interviewing Ed Sores.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

It's a pleasure. All yours.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

State your name for the record.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Edward John Sorres.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

And where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_02 1:01

I plead the fifth.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Stop it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

I grew up in Gilroy, California. The garlic capital of the world.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yes. And then where did you move after Gilroy?

SPEAKER_03 1:13

I moved to Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Then where did you graduate high school?

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Bakersfield. So kind of in the middle between LA and Northern California. Right in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Like Central?

SPEAKER_03 1:25

BHS. Bakersfield High School.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

And what sports did you play in high school?

SPEAKER_03 1:30

I wrestled.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

And what else did you do?

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Got in trouble. That was my sport and I was I varsity didn't.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

And what else did you do in high school?

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Well, I did a lot of things. Can you be more suspicious?

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Rodeo.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Can you explain to the listening audience what that means?

SPEAKER_02 1:56

I rode bulls.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_02 2:03

What do you want to know? You're the interviewer. You're getting real difficult.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Shocking.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Expand on your bull riding experience.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Well, I didn't start bull riding until my junior year because I wrestled my freshman and sophomore year, and then I got when I moved to Bickersfield, I started bull riding um my junior senior year, and then it continued afterwards. Um I'd uh write and pasarobos at uh Gary Fuse ranch. And uh I was a really good, but I didn't die.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

And you enjoyed bull riding?

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

And why don't you continue?

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Aaron Ross Powell Because of my size. Most bull riders are small men and don't weigh a lot. And I was by the time I had graduated high school, I was over 6'2 and over well over 220, and that's way too big to be a bull rider.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Aaron Ross Powell Then after high school, where did you go?

SPEAKER_03 3:02

I went to Phoenix, Arizona for uh autodiesel technology at Universal Technical Institute, UTI. Not that UTI. Okay. Stop it.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Aaron Ross Powell And then where did you move after you graduated?

SPEAKER_03 3:17

After I graduated, I moved back to Gilroy.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Aaron Ross Powell And what was your when you moved back to Gilroy, what was your job when you moved back to Gilroy? Who did you work for?

SPEAKER_03 3:25

Aaron Ross Powell My first job I got was a small water company in Salinas, where it was just me and another mechanic and we worked on all the equipment. Was there maybe about less than a year, and then I got uh a job at uh Bob Lynch Ford and was uh automechanic for the Ford dealership, and then was lucky enough to get a job after that. Was there maybe two or three years, and got a job with John Deere Tractor and became a tractor mechanic.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Trevor Burrus And what else happened while you were working for John Deere?

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Aaron Powell That's a pretty broad question. Lots of things happened.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Who was born while you were working for John Deere?

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Aaron Ross Powell Young William John Sorres was born 1998.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Aaron Ross Powell Tell me about having a son that young. How old were you when you had Will?

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Twenty-three.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

And how old is Will now?

SPEAKER_03 4:11

Twenty-eight.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yes. Tell me about having a son that young.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

Aaron Powell It makes you grow up really fast. At twenty-three, you're still a young man learning to navigate life. And when you bring a young child into it, then it's no longer about going out and riding bulls and being partying and staying up all night. Now you gotta provide for a a a young soul and and uh you grew up really fast.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Aaron Ross Powell Would you do anything different?

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Would I do anything different? I'd probably beat him more as a young child. More discipline.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Aaron Ross Powell You don't think he had enough discipline? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

I don't know. It depends on who you ask.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

I think he's perfectly disciplined. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

It's because I beat him just enough.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Stop it. What was your job after you left John Deere?

SPEAKER_03 4:54

I became a cop.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

And who did you work for?

SPEAKER_03 4:57

My first job. Well, if you want to know how I got into law enforcement was with Since I lived in Gilroy, I became friends with the some of the Gilroy PD cops and one of the the sergeants, um, Greg, um, did a lot of ride-alongs. And he worked night shift, and he was a very uh tough dude, go-getter, and took no not took no shit from people. And and uh just riding with him and and getting in some incidences with him on the street kind of piqued my interest, and I actually got my foot in the door with Gilroy with um they did like a volunteer in policing thing where you went to like a little mini Citizens Academy. So I went through that and and was like, man, it's I kind of like this. And um started applying different places. I applied with uh San Benito County um and then uh ended up uh finally going with East Palo Alto.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

And what year did you start with East Palo Alto?

SPEAKER_03 5:57

2001.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Tell me about your first day at East Palo Alto.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

Well, you're talking 25 years ago, they were able to treat you differently back then. I remember I showed up my first day in a suit and tie, and the the sergeant uh we'll just call him Bob. They make fun of you for being in a suit and tie because it's it's a different area. And uh he's like, uh well, I got nothing for you to do, so uh let me find something for you to do. And he grabbed a bucket of paint and a paintbrush, and he made me go outside and paint the lines in the parking lot for the PD. That was my first real job as a as a police officer was to go paint the lines in the parking lot.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Aaron Ross Powell And did you carry a said binder with you?

SPEAKER_03 6:41

How do you know this story?

SPEAKER_01 6:44

It's a good story.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

I had a backpack with me.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

And I had set it down on the back briefing table while I was painting.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Unattended?

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Unattended. I was painting the lines in the parking lot, and the said sergeant and other officers without a warrant, without probable cause, went into my said backpack, into my folder, and there was um a folder of a recent bodybuilding show that I had competed in, and there was photographs of me, and they found them and and uh utilized them as a as a joke for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

And then how long did it take for you to be in a car with someone after you painted the sidewalk the first day?

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Probably like a week. And then I first got uh my first FTO.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

I had three of them. Three or four? Three or four of them.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Who was your favorite?

SPEAKER_03 7:54

My favorite had to be Officer John Nordan. It was my second phase.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Well, what was your first day like with with uh Officer Norton?

SPEAKER_03 8:07

He was the um to put it this way, he was the hatchet man of East Palo Alto. He in h on his locker, they had he had a battle axe because he was known to be a hard ass FTO and and not pass you. So he was he was referred to as the hatchet man. I got along with John very quickly because I was I just kept my mouth shut and did the did the work and and uh loved to go out and and wreck stuff. He was he was a a dope guy. He was on the the dope team in the 90s and uh with uh Lieutenant uh Tom LePew. And uh dope was his thing. He was a former canon officer. Um so he loved dope. I became in love with dope and we would work night shift and just work dope all night long and back when crack was a felony and we would just make a crack arrest every time we went out. And then I remember he we kind of got behind on my rookbook because I had so many arrests and useless forces, and he was behind on his rookbook on filling out my my paperwork and and getting up to date on it. And I remember one time he we were at the shell station on on university and he's like, back into the shell station, we're gonna do nothing, say nothing, I'm just gonna fill out your rookbook for like 10 minutes, and then all of a sudden we both look up, and there's a hand-to-hand drug transaction not 25 feet from us, my the cell phone or cell phone, the payphone. And I looked at him, he looks at me, and I'm like a dog waiting for a bone. I'm like, oh, I'm rocking back and forth. He's like, get him. So I jumped out, all of a sudden, foot pursuit down the street, and I end up tackling the dude, and dude's shoes full off fell off. My radio went in between him and the ground, and I'm fighting the dude now, and I said some choice words, and all my radio transmission went out countywide because uh the mic was hot. Got another arrest, and we didn't get the workbook done. But he would threaten to shoot me all the time. He would statue limitations is up, John, so I'm thinking trouble. Plus he retired.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

And what cologne did John wear?

SPEAKER_03 10:14

He wore Carla Herrera for men.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

And what cologne did you wear when we met?

SPEAKER_03 10:20

The same thing. Because I remember he always smelled good. I'm like, man, how do I ask this guy what kind of cologne he wears and not come across as weird? So I told him, I don't want to sound, you know, that way. But you smell good, what are you wearing? And John spoke spoke with a very low, deep bass voice. Carla Herrera for men. Like, okay. I went my days off and I bought that and I wore that exclusively until you bought me a second bottle of cologne like a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Mm-hmm. So it was like over 20 years.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

That was my scent.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yes. So shout out to John. It's been discontinued since I can't find any more of it. I've tried.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

I probably was the last person buying it, so once I stopped buying it, they discontinued it.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Tell me about your first day by yourself as a police officer in East Palo Alto.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

Trevor Burrus, Jr. You know, to be completely honest, I do not even recall my first day and what I did. I just know that my first two years was just nonstop running and gunning and just call to call. And at the time we were sh very understaffed for most of the time we were working two and a sergeant for the whole city. And then we would run 140, 150 calls per day in a 12-hour shift with two officers. And just you'd make all these proactive arrests and then you gotta handle the calls that come in. It's just the I just remember having as a young man having so much fun knowing that they're paying me $16 an hour to do this where I would do it for free. I mean, there's times where we wouldn't go home for, you know, we'd get off at 7, 7.30, and sit around the PD three, four hours just writing reports or BS and just not wanting to go home. Back then there were shootings all the time. You were there were times where we would leave a shooting to go to another shooting, you know, to where we're two cops on a shooting and I'd have to leave the s the the that shooting to go to another shooting and run it by myself. It was just the amount of calls and experience that I got within the first five years, most people don't go their whole career without doing that.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Aaron Ross Powell And how many homicides a year do they have at that time?

SPEAKER_03 12:38

Aaron Powell At that time, having more than 10, 10, 15, 20, something like that. Well, we would have a lot more homicides if Stanford wouldn't save them all. We had shootings daily, but we were very close to Stanford if Stanford would save a lot of these knuckleheads.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Is these Palo Alto the reason Stanford has very strict restrictions now on when you bring people into the emergency room, they lock down the emergency room?

SPEAKER_03 13:03

Mm-hmm. So you would get people dumped. We'd have a shooting, their their homies would would load them in the car and just drive to Stanford to dump them right in front of the ER and take off.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

And then were you ever an FTO?

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Shortly. I was at FTO for a short period of time. I was not very good at it, and it was the worst job I ever had in law enforcement. I had three trainees and none of them passed.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

How long how long were they with you before they didn't pass? Did you not pass them or did they just voluntarily quit?

SPEAKER_03 13:37

The first two I forced out just because they were just inept and they were horrible. And the last guy, I had them for Kennedy's second phase. And three, four hours into the shift, I was driving, and he turns to me and he's like, Sir, can we we need to go talk to the lieutenant? I'm like, why? I do we just need to talk to the lieutenant. And he wouldn't tell me what. So we drove back to the the PD. We walked into Elipio's office, sat down, and the dude literally started crying in front of us. And Elipio looked at me and he mouths, What the fuck did you do? I didn't do anything. I had him for two hours. And the kid started crying and says it's too much for him and his girlfriend didn't like the job. Back then, we really didn't if you didn't if you couldn't cut the job, we didn't want you there. So Olipio's like, All right, give me a gun and your badge, take off. And that was it. That was my that was my last time as an FTO. They said I couldn't train API anymore.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Aaron Ross Powell And how long were you on patrol before you moved to Detectives? Or did you go to street team first? Did you travel street team?

SPEAKER_03 14:41

Aaron Powell I went to I was patrol and then after Rich got shot, I got uh taken off patrol and and uh paired up with the FBI to run there to be a task force agent to uh work the gang.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Aaron Ross Powell And then you went to detectives?

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Mm-hmm. I was basically conceited off the streets, it was it was basically a detective position.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

And then how long were you a detective for?

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Four years. Yeah, I got in 06, and then when I left in 2009, I was still a detective when I left to go to Midmo.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Aaron Ross Powell And then you left and you went to your you went to your second department.

SPEAKER_03 15:19

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

And what made you decide to leave?

SPEAKER_03 15:20

Aaron Ross Powell In well, if you guys listen to the podcast with uh Sergeant Cowens, I after I got down with the takedown in in the with the previous gang with the task force, I got hooked up with uh Eric and uh the FBI for a second case. And I was working as a partner with Eric. I was still in East Pia Palo Alto as a detective and was working him, working with him for um Operation Crackdown. Saw that it was a great department. They paid extremely well. They had the good areas and the bad areas, so I basically after the end of the takedown, I put in my application and it was a fast track, it was like two months. I was working over.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

And then you started, did you did you have FTO when you started there?

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

How long was your FTO?

SPEAKER_03 16:07

Not very long. Not very long.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Aaron Ross Powell Weeks, months, minimum?

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Minimum.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

And then how long were you on patrol as an officer?

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Less than a year, I think.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

And then where did you go?

SPEAKER_03 16:19

I went to detectives.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

And how long were you to detective?

SPEAKER_03 16:23

General detective? Well, they put me in general detectives because there wasn't, I don't think, a slot open in DOPE yet. And I was in detectives not very long. They never assigned me any general cases because I would always be working with Eric and the dope on the net team. The narcotic enforcement team team. And eventually I just got incorporated into the the net team.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

And then how long were you with them before you became a sergeant?

SPEAKER_03 16:49

Aaron Ross Powell Well, I got promoted in 2011.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

So I was three years.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

So you went from starting to sergeant in three years with them?

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Mm-hmm.

unknown 16:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

And then you became a sergeant. Did you go back to patrol?

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

And what shift did you work?

SPEAKER_03 17:05

I worked night shift.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

And how was your team on night shift?

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Well, coming from the dope arena, I didn't want to be one a desk sergeant, and I wanted to be out to do work and I wanted to teach the young cops how to be dope cops, so I basically made my patrol team a little mini dope team. And we just went out and wrecked the city. And on the first week as a sergeant, we got in several pursuits, several uses of forces. And then uh we made national I we made national news. The commander at the time, Dave Bertini, was on I think it was Good Morning America, because I mean my team arrested a professor and his wife for 42 counts of child endangerment and booked them in the CJ.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Aaron Powell Child endangerment charges regarding Underage drinking.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

They had a party at their house and knew about it, were provided alcohol, and we got there, they took off running and ended up finding all the kids and the arresting the parents and made national news.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Aaron Ross Powell So you found 42 kids and charged the and charged the parents with 42 counts.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

I think the bail, because back then you could stack the bail was like $2.5 million bail.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Aaron Ross Powell And how happy was with uh was Chief Bertini with you?

SPEAKER_03 18:20

He was commander at the time. Oh he loved it because he got to be on national news. He said he didn't like it, but you know, he liked it.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Aaron Ross Powell And how did you get along with Commander Bertini?

SPEAKER_03 18:30

Aaron Powell We got along swimmingly. We had uh we would have our arguments, but he was always you know I had my views, he had his, but he was always fair.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Aaron Ross Powell And then after patrol sergeant you went to detective sergeant, how long were you How long did it take to go from patrol sergeant to detective sergeant?

SPEAKER_03 18:46

Aaron Powell Year and a half, two years, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Aaron Ross Powell And then as a detective sergeant, do you remember one of your first cases as detective sergeant?

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Aaron Ross Powell We had a lot of cases. I mean we had uh the most memorable one was when uh we had a almost like a home invasion kind of thing and the dude uh cut the lady's head off with a saw.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Aaron Ross Powell I made a lot of different documentaries. One of your detectives is actually in one of the documentaries being interviewed about it. And then you what did you do as a detective sergeant? Then you got Duke. And how long into being a detective sergeant did you get Duke?

SPEAKER_03 19:16

I went into when you say detective there, we have two detective sergeants. We have detective sergeant for investigations and we have detective sergeant for narcotics. I went into narcotics and then got Duke 2015.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

And can you tell everyone Duke's story of how you Duke?

SPEAKER_03 19:32

Sure. So Will had gone off to college to play uh football for University of Redlands, who's an O-Alignon, and basically had empty house syndrome and went out to had researched different kinds of dogs, and I thought I found the Doberman and kind of aligned myself with that type of dog and found a place in San Jose West Coast Dobermans that uh bred and raised Dobermans. I went and called uh Tony one one day and uh he invited me out to his ranch and started looking at his dogs, and we talked for hours and just fell in love with the dogs, but he didn't have any puppies available at the time, so I got on a waiting list and got a call, maybe it was a couple months' waiting list, but I got a call like three or four weeks later um at the gym, and Tony said, Hey, I got I got a couple dogs that were not picked up. You want to come look at 'em? Sure. So I went over there and uh came in onto the ranch and he had a litter of puppies, I think it was like eight or nine on the ground, and just basically sat down, Indian style, and and uh one dog in particular came up and uh sat on my lap and started playing with my string for my sweatshirt and was playing and I was playing tug and for like quite some time, and then he just fell asleep on my lap and I said, I guess I'll take this one.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

And that was Duke.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

That was Duke.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

And how long was he at Tony's before you got to take him home?

SPEAKER_03 20:58

I took him home that day.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

But I had to bring him back the next day to get his ears done. And then uh Tony got his ears done, and then I picked him up the next day.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Aaron Ross Powell And how long were you posting Duke's ears for?

SPEAKER_03 21:10

He took a long time. It was like four or five months.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Aaron Powell Yeah. And then Duke ended up becoming your canine. Can you tell that story?

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Aaron Powell Yeah. So I had um Duke with me everywhere and uh I did a lot of training with him at home and I found a great place, Bay Area canine out of Santa Clara, um owned by Steve, and called him and asked um if I could start training there. And Duke, I don't think he was six months, and he's like, oh, wait till he's six months. So I did a little bit of training at home, just basic obedience, and then got with Steve and started working with him. And uh, you know, Doberman's are extremely smart, so he excelled in everything that Steve had him do. We did obstacle courses, obedience, a little bit of scent work, um, and just excelled. And uh it's been, you know, a great ride with with Steve. He's He's a he's an awesome dude. We we're still friends and um he does great work with dogs.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

And then what happened after? How did you actually become a canine?

SPEAKER_03 22:09

Around eight, nine months old, I had a meeting at the P. D sergeus meeting, and I came in and the chief at the time, uh Chief Bob Johnson, huge dog lover, he had heard that I had got a dog, the Doberman, and he asked where it was. I'm like, Well, he's in the truck. He's like, No, bring him in. I'll puppy sit. Like, are you sure? He's kind of rambunctious. He's like, Bring him in. So I handed him off to Chief Johnson and went to my uh meeting. It what way too long for a meeting, hour and a half. I came back to the chief's office and I peeked through the door, and the chief's at his desk typing on his his computer, and I looked, and Duke is between his feet, asleep with his head on his shoe. And I and I walk in, and that's when I see all this shredded cardboard on the carpet and these little spet stains on the carpet. I'm like, oh fuck, he peed on his carpet. So I came in, I'm like, hey chief, uh, here to pick up Duke. I'm like, uh, sorry about the mess, and he laughed. He's like, I give him a box, and he he played with it and chewed it, and then he peed a little bit. And I was kind of nervous, I'm like, oh man, just wrecked the chief's office. And I made a joke, purely joke. I'm like, hey, wouldn't it be funny if he became a police dog one day? We have a funny story. And the chief deade looked me at me and he's like, I wouldn't be opposed to that. And I was like, oh, okay. So from that time on, at the time, Minlo did not have a dope dog and working for dope team, I envisioned him becoming um not only my partner, but then a working dog for the for the PD. So that's when we kind of buckled down with Steve and uh working with more scent work and and getting him kind of in tune with that and um ended up writing the MOU and new policy because um unlike regular canines, he's my personal dog, and um we had to go through a contract and the city and the city attorney and all that to ratify the MOU and the policy because he was my personal dog, so I ended up getting that ratified and I think it was June of 2016, where it was ratified, and uh they ended up uh renting him for one dollar a year for me, which they never paid. I never got I think it's like six dollars six bucks. They never paid me. So yeah, he was my dog, but he was rented to the department. And uh once that was ratified, we got sent to dope school with uh Trident Canine with uh Marty Maehan and uh Britt Elmore. And we went through the two-week school and he took to it like a duck through water and had one of the best alerts I've ever seen. Uh loved the work. Um loved doing the work. And uh after that got certified through POST and then through CNCA. We got double certified through the state, and uh he got put on our team.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Aaron Ross Powell And then you made an IG account, Instagram account for Duke. And what inspired you to make him his own Instagram account?

SPEAKER_03 25:27

Just for exposure, at the time um when the MOU and the police here was ratified, Chief Johnson had had uh few asked of me that uh he said that I had to do kind of put me on like a probationary period with Duke. Um he says I'm taking a huge risk putting Sergeant Sores together with a Doberman, who both the Doberman and Sergeant Sores have quite the reputation. And for him to put that out to the citizens, some people may have a uh adverse reaction to seeing me with a uh quote unquote vicious Doberman. So he told me that for the first six months I had to go to all the elementary schools within our district and do like a little meet and greet and class with these kids. And uh I remember after him saying that, I'm like, man, maybe I don't want this job. Because I at the time I did not like public speaking, I did not like talking to people, I did not like my picture being taken, and did not like to be in the public view.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

And what happened after that?

SPEAKER_03 26:41

I went to the first, it was pre-K with Duke, and mind you, I had wore all my tactical gear, and I got tattoos and long beard, and I got a Doberman, and I walk into this class with all these kids, and they're running around, and they're you know, I did a little five, ten minute spiel of who I was and who Duke was and what he did, and then I opened the floor up for some questioning, and they just blew me away by the range of questioning that they had and the the innocence that they were they were uh exuding. And I think that first five, ten minutes turned into like I was there an hour, and the teacher finally had to kick us out, and I left him like, man, this ain't too bad. I I kind of like this. And it just snowballed from there.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

And what did you used to tell the kids that Duke could smell?

SPEAKER_03 27:34

Aaron Ross Powell That he was able to alert on brownies and cookies.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

And and what was their reaction to that? Aaron Ross Powell They'd laugh.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

And then I would ask him if anybody had any cookies on their breath or in their pockets. Then I would run Duke around the the class and and Duke would kind of search their pockets and they'd laugh, and a couple kids would fess up. I ate a cookie for breakfast.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

And who did you meet through Duke's Instagram account that's still in your life today? That's sitting across from you. Yeah, I met so staring at you.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

I met so many people it's harder. Um Who did I meet?

SPEAKER_03 28:14

I met Chad Panther once. Who? Chad Panther?

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Who's that?

SPEAKER_03 28:18

The Republican dude with the hat?

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Republican dude with the hat.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

Um who else did I meet?

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Well, let's pose this a different way. How did having Duke's Instagram account change your life?

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Well, I went from living alone, having sparse furniture in a cool bean bag in my living room to now I have things all around my house.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Because you made a lot of connections through his Instagram. You got to fly all over, he got many awards, he was on a TV show. He was sponsored by Eucanuba and Mars Corporation. You got to go to SHOT Show.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

Mm-hmm. You got to become I mean, we were ambassadors for many people, especially like Canine Tactical, um, with the Forbes family. Um still in touch with them, but they they provided us with all the basic equipment that we needed for a canine team. The the collars, the the harnesses, the leashes. They actually made a specific lease uh to our specifications for dope, called it the Duke Lead. Um I said we were with Eucanuba, um, a whole bunch of different other companies. And he got he was able to get me kind of out of the shell and flew us all around the United States for for different people were flying him out to do parades. Um Georgia, I think it was, we'd be in Florida for the dog show and and other meet and greets that people would want us. It was just amazing that all these people were wanting his attention around the United States. I mean, it in the highlight of his career, there's a we would go places in different areas of California and different areas of the United States, and most of the time he'd be recognized as Duke the Dog. And uh it was the weirdest feeling to be to have a semi-famous dog and who's a movie star. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

And we actually got interrupted, I think, in Modesto for Mother's Day one year. Some someone came up to you and recogn and recognized Duke in Mother's Day brunch. It's pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

And if you guys want to see Duke in action, go to YouTube, Walking Point the Movie. Um R.J. Nevins wrote the book. Um and then I remember being in my office and getting a a text over Instagram from this dude uh asking me if I if Duke wanted to be in a movie. And I was like, weirdo, what does he want? So I kind of ignored him, and then finally he kept texting and called him and and uh said that he had he had wrote a book about a Doberman in World War II. Um back in World War II, the the dogs of defense, they were the the military would take pets or people's dogs, or you could donate your your pup to the war fund and it would be trained by the military um and become a war dog. And he wrote a book about a dog, uh Doberman, that was given up by a family, the Markles, and uh paired with the United States Marine Private and went to Guam. And just so happened, even before he even knew about us, the the name of the dog in the book was Duke. And I finally uh said yes to do it. It was a great experience. We went to Florida and filmed, and then we fully filmed in uh Texas, Frederick Burg, Texas, at the Pacific War Memorial or Museum, and uh filmed there for several days and like I said in Florida. And uh it was a great experience. Got to meet a lot of great people and see how movies are made, and it was finally only like a it's a short movie, 28 minutes long, free on YouTube. And uh we were able to go to the premiere in Texas and uh the two commanders at the time that that really helped ratify the the the doc or the MOUs flew out. Um Commander Tony Dixon and Commander Bertini came out and that was cool. They represented us the PD and we we were able to watch the premiere at a huge uh movie theater. That was cool. You were there.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yes, I was there for a little while. I think I actually flew in late. But I was there. And then you went back to patrol as a sergeant. And how did you model your team going back to patrol as a sergeant?

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Well, after Duke was forced to retire by the uh incoming person that will remain nameless for the time being, um retired him early for basically said Duke was a distraction that uh as a I was timed out for detectives as a detective sergeant and had to go back to patrol, and I was hoping to bring Duke along with me because he was still young, still active, and still bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in asset forfeiture, finding dope basically every time he went out. But this guy said uh Duke would be a distraction to me as a sergeant on patrol and made him retire. So then uh I had to retire Duke and go to uh patrol, and I picked day shift and uh Duke stayed home with you for a while.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

A couple years. Duke was gold certified. Can you explain how Duke is gold certified? And actually Salt was there as well, but she was in the car.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Yeah. Um we uh Duke would be tasked by other departments, federal, state, local, um, when they needed a dope dog. And at the time, uh San Jose PD reached out and they had a huge takedown that they were doing um with the uh Asian crime family that was uh operating in San Jose with multiple houses and and gaming uh businesses and human trafficking. So they needed uh a dog to hit a couple houses. Um we showed up with Duke, my team, and SALT at the time, and uh we hit this one house, um SWAT hit it, cleared it, came in and the dude, it was the main dude's house, and he had half the house uh set up like a Buddhist temple. And so I ran Duke and he ran around and he alerted in this back bedroom on this humongous safe and um you know paid him, ran the rest of the house, he hit behind this huge Buddha. And uh so once we cleared the house and Duke was done, uh team came back in, I showed him where Duke alerted on the safe and different areas in the house, and they opened up the safe and the dude had hundreds and hundreds of uh gold bars. And I I think at the last tally was ended up being like 1.2 million in the safe. Um and the dude had like, I want to say like a half ounce of meth in there. So Duke had hit on the meth, but we were able to seize the the million dollars in in gold bars. So I always made the joke that Duke was gold certified.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Aaron Ross Powell You've had a lot of big cases in your career. What was the most enjoyable one that you had worked on?

SPEAKER_03 35:41

Aaron Ross Powell The most enjoyable one had it well, had it been the first. Well, hard to put like a one, two, three, but it was all the the three cases that I worked with the feds. Uh the the first takedown or the first case I worked was with with the Sack Street gang um after Rich's uh murder. And then when that was taken down, working the two Operation uh Crackdown and Fallen Gardens. I mean, that was the amount of experience, the exposure to different things uh at the federal level and being able to work with different people and working undercover and and doing different things and and uh with Eric and just having fun. It was just the the those things uh will always be a uh a wonderful memories in uh being able to actually do good in placework and see a massive result at the end and know that even to this day that the the cities of East Palo Alto, Millapark, Palo Alto, Redwood City are that much safer because the men and women that worked on those those cases uh eradicated a lot of bad people. So I mean there's there's a lot of stuff we did in my career, but I think with being able to do that big scope of of investigation, being able to actually make a dent in these gangs that that prey upon uh the good people of the community and uh actually instill fear in them and uh put them away for a very long time.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

And how was it going back to patrol? How was your patrol team when you went back?

SPEAKER_03 37:22

I had a group of very hard, young hard chargers that um took direction well and and went out and you know they knew of me and they knew what I expected of them, and I let them know what I expected, and I also let them inspect let them know that I would actually be out there doing it with them, so I wouldn't be asking them to do anything that I wasn't willing to do or haven't done. And uh once again I just made this basically like a little street team. We went out and just eradicated a lot of a lot of bad stuff and ended up getting a lot of good junk off the street.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

And how many guns did you guys get within that year?

SPEAKER_03 38:01

I think the first year, I think James did the tally. He said it at my my retirement, I want to say it was fifty-seven, fifty-seven guns in one year. Yeah. For just R.T. below.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

And then in between you being a detective sergeant with Duke and going back to patrol, you found jujitsu.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

And how did you find jujitsu?

SPEAKER_03 38:22

Through Duke. Um at the time, uh the gym was called, or the academy is called uh Panessa Self-Defense, and it was owned by uh Eric Acha, who was a retired uh law enforcement official, Redwood City. I don't remember if Eric had called me or I called Eric about bringing Duke to do a little meet and greet for the kids class. And uh it was either a Monday or a Wednesday. I came in, it was looking back, I want to say it was like the level one class, and you know, there's 15, 20 kids on the mat, and I brought Duke in and uh just did our normal meet and greet with the kids and let them know about Duke and let them hang on Duke and stuff. And just looking around, I'm like, man, this is a pretty cool place, and seeing all the the parents in the stands and the and the kids rolling around and talking to some of the coaches. And Eric had been trying for, you know, I'd known Eric for 20 years, many years trying to get me to start jujitsu, and I always pushed back, I always thought jujitsu was for me not needed. I was perfectly fine in physical altercations without it, never needed anything other than my fist, and uh always told him no. But for some reason, I called Eric after and and set up a uh private lesson with him the next day. And uh, just try it out. I don't know what made me do it. I just like, all right, try it. And came in the next day, he he threw me a gi, or actually I think I bought my first key, and gave me a white belt. And at the time I was a lot bigger than I am now. Um and Eric, I want to say maybe 170, 175, maybe. We got to talking, he talked about Jitsu, what it's about, the history, and all this stuff. He's like, all right, well, let's we're gonna start, and you're gonna lay down, and I'm gonna get you what's in called side control. And he got in side control, crossface under hook, and then proceeded to absolutely smash me to the point where I tapped. I tapped to his side pressure. And I remember thinking, what the fuck did this little man do to me right now? And why did it hurt so much? He literally felt like there was a 400-pound guy on me. And I'm like, what the fuck did you just do to me right now? And he's like, It's pressure. It's about pressure, it's about making the other person feel uncomfortable. And I remember thinking at the time, the little light bulb went off my head. I'm like, man, if this little ass man could do this to me, 265, you know, not a slouch, then there's other people out there that can do that to me. And I don't want to meet that person on the street at work. So I like I need to learn this stuff. And it was just from that day forward, um I would come every day, twice a day, if if I was able to, and just immersed myself in it tremendously, and and just it found it, you know. Eric used to say the best time to start jujitsu is ten years ago and right now. And unfortunately, I didn't do it ten years ago or at the time, I did it that day. So I just immersed myself in it and I love the physical aspect of it and the the way that you can handle somebody with with ease after you get to know what you're actually doing in jiu-jitsu after a while. But I I just love the physical aspect of it and the um the camaraderie and and the the atmosphere of of a jiu-jitsu gym.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

And then you retired two years ago?

SPEAKER_03 42:07

November of twenty-four.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah. And then after after your retirement, we purchased the operating portion of the academy. And then this just past year, we changed it over to one the 148 Jiu Jitsu Academy. So what how has that change been going from law enforcement working 12 hours a day to now you're a business owner and you work 24-7?

SPEAKER_03 42:36

It's luckily I've you know found something uh post-retirement to immerse myself in and have a mission. I think um I don't think there's ever any coincidences in life. Things happen for a reason, whether if you want to look at it as religious or just the cosmic energy coming together, or you know, some other force uh drives you into a direction that you need to be. And I think I jujitsu came into my life at a specific time to where I was able to learn it, immerse myself in it, try and get good at it, and then having jiu-jitsu there upon retirement to fall onto. I don't want to say fall onto, but to to lean against to uh ease myself into retirement and have a mission uh after retirement. I mean, the I've seen so many cops retire and not have a clue of what they want to do, and they they get lazy, they get fat, they don't know what to do. You know, that's why most cops don't unfortunately don't make it past five years of retirement. They end up just dying. And uh I didn't want to be that statistic. And so I wanted something that I could do and continue to it. improve myself, but then help other people um improve themselves and become better people like you did to help me to come. It's it's a whole different stress level running an academy and and it, you know, um as just somebody who is a member to go to a owner operator, you you see a lot behind the curtains and how this hostage is made um of what actually goes on behind the closed doors of Jitsu Academy, what it takes to actually run it and keep it running and keep people happy. And then you got to realize about the drama that comes in with Jiu Jitsu and all that. The the drama that comes with you know owning an academy and and people and and it's there's nothing that I would change. I would do everything the same. It's just you you just got to keep the focus on helping people and the other stuff is just white noise.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Aaron Ross Powell You mean like people talking shit about us, the taco truck guy? Something like that?

SPEAKER_03 45:02

Unfortunately, you know not everybody is going to like what I or you do or how we do things or what we say. You know, that's that's their problem, not my problem or your problem. They're just you know some people you can tell yes, yes, yes all the time to, and the minute you tell them no, you're the bad guy. You know, and and you know you you either like me or don't. I'm not going to change who I am. You know, I have a certain set of rules that I abide by and and my moral compass and and if you don't align with that then you either get on the ship or you stay on the on the shore and I'm I'm out. But you know what's funny about you know and it's the same thing with law enforcement or working a dog or owning a Juitsu Academy or being a coach. People are going to talk smack. But you know what I've never had any of the people that I've heard talk smack or either online or it's got back to me that would ever say that if I'm in the room. You know, those those are the the the people you know to me I think it's cowardice if you're not willing to if you're willing to talk shit about somebody, fine. But you should be able to tell it to their face. And if you can't be man or woman enough to tell that person what you think of them to their face, then maybe you shouldn't say it at all. But uh you know I'm thriving, the Academy's thriving, you're thriving, we're having a great time if you don't, you know if you're not if you're not like I said in in placework, if you're not getting complaints, then you're not doing your job. So I wish all these people good luck in in their endeavors and and I wish them well.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

And then we went through a time where you were I think you were still a detective sergeant and there was a Instagram video, music video made and the police officer in the video had a blue police officer uniform on and the name on the tag, the nameplate was Sores S-O-R-E-Z.

SPEAKER_03 47:12

Mm-hmm What about it?

SPEAKER_01 47:14

So tell me about in in the they killed the officer in the video.

SPEAKER_03 47:18

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

And they put a gun to his head. I mean so that's I would take that as a direct threat and if you were a civilian, that person would have probably had charges filed against them. But it was kind of blown over. So can you tell me how I mean how it feels to have that happen and not be supported?

SPEAKER_03 47:36

That was not the first time I've had death threats or been told that I'm on a hit list or anything that's that was par for the course I I would deal with each incident separately. But this last one was was uh was a disruptive group that uh was very anti-police, anti-Facebook, you know, anti-law uh run by a f criminal that I had arrested many times um as a gang member with a gun and all that stuff. And he ended up starting this anti-cop online thing and ended up putting up videos and photographs of, you know, for some reason he he focused on me and uh um made these videos and and pictures and and posts and and would use pictures of me and Duke and you know people would jump on the rope bandwagon, you know, fuck him, hope he dies, all this stuff. Nothing ever happened um but I brought up all this uh all the evidence that I had against this dude and and his movement to uh the chief at the time um for Menlo Park and it was basically um brushed aside. I mean he uh I want to say what what did he say? He's like oh that's that's disturbing or that's shocking or s something and basically nothing happened. There was no uh extra protection, there was no cease and desist there was no charges filed basically just whatever.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

This this is the I mean this dude was was was a piece of shit.

SPEAKER_03 49:27

The dude that owned the the anti-police thing and then the then the boss that I had that he he did not support me in that that endeavor and basically he took the other guy's side and um there's a lot of things that he did that uh I don't really want to get into but he he was you know was not a very good leader and uh he he dropped the ball on that. But you know the funny thing is that the same dude that was posting pictures and videos of me then g went after the the the mayor. He he had said some disparaging things and about the mayor and wow as soon as that went out man the the my the chief was putting cars out in front of the dude's house and was doing all the special stuff, you know, because it was the mayor but didn't didn't didn't want to give a shit about his his sergeant, you know, with 20 plus years experience getting threatened by by a by a pretty dangerous group. But it is what it is. Nothing ever bad came of it and in uh like I said unfortunately these these dudes that that have the largest largest bite that barks, you know, the they're to me they're just that little dog that barks a lot and never gonna bite. You know, I I I've had like I said I've had many uh uh people supposedly put me on a hit list or death threats and you know uh I've actually sought them out and uh confronted them and they back down. So most of the time it's just them woofing and uh trying to puff up their own chest. But when you when you just like any other bully, when you confront them and they and you take away their power, they're they're cowards. You know, and and you know at the end of the day I'm the one standing still and and they're just you know ex-felons.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Aaron Ross Powell and so now you are out of law enforcement and you own a jiu-jitsu academy that is 148 Jiu Jitsu and it's law it's geared to make a comfortable and safe environment for officers to train. We've made it that way for the last couple years. Aaron Ross Powell And we are a John Jacques affiliate yes um and we are now seeing an uptick in officers that we are training. We have a couple of new officers that are training with us. How do you train those officers versus um our other members that are in our program?

SPEAKER_03 51:51

Aaron Ross Powell well I give everybody the same amount of attention but I I offer myself up a little bit more to the law enforcement side of it because I know what they go through and how jiu jitsu has improved and enriched my life and I want to give that to them and I know the and like we had the two brand new uh cops that just signed up the other day, young kids, um early 20s. You know, one's got one year on one's got six months on and uh they brought them uh another cop that works for the same agency brought them in because he he'd been jiu-jitsu for a while and knew that they would benefit from it. So they came in on Wednesday and did my fundamental class. They stayed for adult class after that and uh I just sat and you know I don't want us to be the the the old school typical martial arts place where it's so rigid and so rigid that, you know, these guys are feeling odd to come on the mat. I want them to know that I'm human. I'm just a coach I'm just the owner and I'm here to make you better and whatever I can do to make you guys better and safer on the street. And I use my and I tell all the new officers that come in. I give them my story on how I was anti-jitsu and how prior to jujitsu, you know, I unfortunately had a lot of trips to the hospital with my suspects because you know when you get into a fight and you use striking whether it be hands, elbows, knees, headbuts, whatever have you it's going to leave a mark. It's gonna break bones, it's gonna open up skin, it's gonna knock teeth out, you know, it it even though you're within policy and procedure by doing these things and using the correct amount of force, it still doesn't really look good from the outside person looking in when you're bringing in this piece of hamburger meat to the to Stanford and he and he's bleeding from every orifice and you know they look at you like what do you do this guy? You know, well I did my job he fought me. And then I'm telling these cops this is this was me. I was that guy and then you know and then what happens? You get complaints you get lawsuits you get federally sued and and that's you know and and you get that reputation of you know that guy and then I let him know after you get sued their uh my use of the forces didn't go down. I was still fighting people I was still in the mix but nobody went to the hospital. Nobody got a broken nose nobody got their teeth knocked out nobody got a broken arm. You know I was able to secure them safely get um you know get them into custody without me hurting them and me getting hurt. And and when you tell somebody you're not just preaching to them jujitsu's the best you need it but you actually give them a story that they can relate to and somebody who's actually been there and saw how pre-jitsu and post-jitsu matches up and post-ji jitsu is so much better and easier and you find things you when you start looking through the lens of jiu jitsu you see a lot of things differently. A lot of things you know uh you're you're not as aggressive anymore. You I mean especially if you're coming every day and you're you're here an hour, two hours, you're you're spending a lot of energy on the mat and you're fighting and you're you're being put in uncomfortable situations, having to work yourself out of uncomfortable situations, getting choked out, getting hurt, getting smashed, you know, for days and weeks and years you know so you do that enough in a controlled environment when it happens out on the street it doesn't really phase you. And I always tell these cops that are coming in, give me six months. Just give me six months and then at the end of that six months I want you to look back at the person that walked in that door and then look at the person you are now and tell me that you're not a better person and that you wouldn't be able to absolutely demolish the guy that you used to be you know with minimal effort. And I always tell these guys when you are trained uh properly in jiu-jitsu and you grapple with a person that is untrained it's literally like playing with a child you can do anything you want to them safely so um I just try and use my personal experiences and biases um that I had of jujitsu that you know I I'm not just you know telling to drink the Kool-Aid that this is the best art and it's going to keep you you know healthy, wealthy and wise but no I I I went through that gauntlet of you know not being trained and being humbled by a a little man in the academy and then wanting to learn this magical art. And it is I tell you know these I tell the guys it's and I even tell the little kids that we train jiu-jitsu is a superpower.

SPEAKER_01 57:06

You know jujitsu is a superpower so talk a little bit about our kids program. We have a head kids coach but you like to train the kids talk about training our little samurais and our junior program.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

Aaron Ross Powell So we have Little Samurai which is it used to be three to five but I kind of lowered it now it's two to five and level one is you know six to ten or eleven and then level two three goes up from there and all the way up to sixteen but I know when we we bought into PSD uh little samurai was the smallest class there was times there's only three or four little kids in there and I think um we've grown the our kids program so much that there it's not uncommon for them to be 25 little samurais on the mat uh you know on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday. And um it's usually you know half hour long and we have you know Coach Chris who's our head kids instructor and we have a ton of volunteer coaches uh Coach Cruz, Coach John, Coach Mika, Coach Albert, um coach Sergio, or Professor Sergio now. So we have a lot of coaches on the map, especially for these little kids and it's and you know I joke about it, but it's it's literally like hurting cats. You know it's it's my favorite class to teach because they're they're the innocence of these kids is through the roof but yet they are like sponges when it comes to jitsu. It's amazing to see and we do have kids that are two years old, two, two and a half in our in our program, to see them mount another kid and armbar them or cross color stroke them at two and a half years old. You know, and and I look I'm like man they're two, three years old what are they going to be like if they stick with it when they're 18? You know, and that journey and it's like I'm gonna have a little part of that journey in helping them. You know, it's it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 59:07

And what is it like owning a business with your wife?

SPEAKER_03 59:10

It's the best in the world. I wouldn't do anything different. I love my wife business partner. It's tr it's trying because we both have different views of how things are doing, you know, it's all about compromise and you you know you do all the behind the scenes stuff that uh you know the the nitty-gritty portion of running a business that you know 99% of our members don't even know how much you do where it comes to payroll or insurance or or you know paying the bills. You know, just there's so much to do on your part. And unfortunately you take the brunt of that and and you know I I do the fun stuff about teaching and do all that stuff and you know and you know it's hard when when you know you're you're married with somebody and it's also your business partner. You you know you you do fight and you talk, you know, but you just have to compromise and and uh at the end of the day I got to do what you tell me to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

You're such a liar. I'll do anything I tell you to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:26

So what is the next phase of your life look like I'm gonna continue to grow the academy and and I want, you know, my like the 140 project and the us being a law enforcement friendly, owned and operated academy I want when I do many years from now hang out the hat, I want to be able to look back and say I I made a difference in in some cops' lives and made it better and and you know hopefully one day my goal is to maybe open up another school in uh closer to the home to where we can start it again down there and have two schools and be, you know, just be double the trouble, I guess, and and just continue the uh helping support law enforcement because you know after doing so many years in the in the job, you know, there's not many people that don't know is what entails officer's mind and job that goes through the calls and and stuff. And jujitsu will really, really help you process a lot of stuff and get you through some of the bad times and I just want to continue to grow the Academy and the one thing that I am not about is you know as long as we make enough money to pay the bills I'm happy. You know it's more about helping others um you know there there's a sign on our wall that John Jock one of his quotes in uh Mike Morocco from Rally Graffitz put it up on our wall but it reads it's great to train and become a champion but it's greater to be a good human being and that's huge for us and I have it you know on a third of our wall and you know if for the people that aren't listening you know the reason why that we are a Jean-Jacques Machado affiliate and continue to be an affiliate is because I try and emulate him and his teaching and the way he treats people. I always tell people a Master Jean-Jacques there could be 30 people in the room and you walk in the room and when he's talking to you it's like nobody else matters. He always treats everybody like they're the king or queen. And you know that's how I try and live my life day to day you know and I and it's a struggle sometimes because I used to be that guy that wasn't very nice. And um so you you you try and pass on to other people your life experiences and and how you know you can change. If you're if you're not the nicest person you can change and and try and become better and and I just want to continue to teach and you know make people better and and try and be a better person, a better business owner, better coach, better husband, better father and just keep going and and hopefully die a happy man.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:30

And on the flip side of that, own owning a Jujut Jiu Jitsu Academy, you know, most of our business does come from our kids program and we are very protective over our kids. We have very high standards that the parents need to meet, the kids need to meet and we protect them while they're here. And I think that's the most important thing you know that we do is all of our volunteer coaches are subject to background check. You know, we know all of them personally they're not only white belts that have been with us you know for a very short amount of time. They have to be vetted through to law enforcement officers to even step on the mat with the kids. You know, and we don't we don't allow observers for our kids' class unless we know you or a parent knows you. You cannot walk in and observe our kids' class and it's for the safety of the kids. And I think that's something that we both pride ourselves on is keeping our kids safe and giving them the best education that they can get and having fun while they're here. You know, it's the most important thing is when they're done with class to want to come back and, you know, have fun while they're in while they're in class.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:35

Aaron Ross Powell And we've and I've seen it multiple times over the years um that parents will bring their kids to jujitsu to train and then within a month or two, mom or dad are on the bats training. And that's if I was to give anybody any parent out there that wants to put their kid in jiu jitsu or currently has their kids in jiu jitsu is get off the sidelines, buy a ghee, get a white belt, and start training. I'm a big proponent of if you're going to ask your child to do something that's extremely hard and difficult and frustrating, where they're going to be uncomfortable, they're gonna be smashed, they're gonna be choked, they're gonna be armbarred. If you're asking your child to do that, you should be an example and be doing it too. You know it's great to see the kids on the mat that their parents also train the kids I see these the kids that their parents train, I see them excelling far more than if their kid their parents don't train because they have a common bond now and they can look at mom or dad and be like well if mom or dad is out there sweating and and going through the ringer and the gauntlet then I can do it too. And then it also brings the family together because Because they have a common bond now, a common struggle. Um you know, we we have many volunteer coaches that are blue belts that started their kids and didn't train and then got in the mats, and they will attest to how much better their lives have become because they're all due jujitsu. We have many families that have dad training, mom training, sons and daughters training, and you know, we have Coach Mika and Coach Albert with their two kids, Sonny and Amaya, that train, and it's great to see them progress. You know, Sonny's a little phenom and mom and and dad train, and Albert competes. I think he's every competition he's done, he's got gold. Um, you know, and John with Laura and the twins. It it you see these these families become tighter and they see that the our academy as their home. So when the mom and dad are training, the kids are on in the corner on the other side of the gym in my little little gorilla corner with the toys and the books, and they're playing and they're just self-sufficient. And, you know, uh case in point, uh one of our volunteer coaches, Bluebelt Scott John, was telling me today about his his daughter Laura, who's five, who just went to our uh level one class to where her confidence level is through the roof, that he brought her to a rock climbing place down the street, and he's like, I look, and her confidence is her just walking around. She said, he says like the confidence of an adult and was climbing up a wall, a rock wall. You know, and he says her confidence at school and the way she interacts with people since she joined jujitsu has been leaps and bounds. I mean, she when she started here and we did sparring or positional sparring, you know, she'd get a little bit of pain and she'd cry and wouldn't want to do it anymore. Now we put her up against boys her size and she's fighting. Sometimes she wins, sometimes she loses. But when she loses, the first thing she says is, Can I go again? You know, and you can't put a price on that kind of confidence for a young girl at that age. You know, that's gonna ripple way into her the future. You know, she's only gonna have confidence in herself to do other things and be safe, you know, and and the her little brothers, um, Jack and Evan, that are two and a half twins, they're they're here constantly because dad's here constantly. But you know, the the confidence level of these kids is just through the roof. And and if I was to say, give anybody my opinion or what I think they should do, if your kids are in jiu-jitsu, get on the mat. Show them that you're willing to do it too. And trust me, after a few months, you're gonna you'll thank me for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:00

Aaron Powell And Laura's very coachable and she helps us with a little samurai class too. Coach little samurais. But when I go to teach her something, it takes one or two times and she's already she already has it down and she's already practicing it. So at, you know, at five years old to already already be coachable is just I think that just it it's just incredible. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:18

So every Saturday she comes for a Saturday class and she usually brings me a drawing or something. So my office, like a third of one wall, is completely covered with Laura's uh coloring and drawings and stuff. It's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:32

And let's talk about the most important child in our life, your child, Will. So he followed in your footsteps and he is now in law enforcement. So when you found out he wanted to be in law enforcement, how did you feel?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:48

I never pressured Will into becoming a cop. Um he would do ride-alongs with me and he saw some of the job and and and and things like that, but I never, to my knowledge, tried to push the job onto him. Uh but when I found out that he wanted to become a cop, he ended up telling you first. Because he didn't want to tell me.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:12

I remember exactly where we were. He we went out to dinner one night when I was just the two of us, when I was in town visiting, and he told me over dinner that he wanted to become a police officer. And I think he told me because he wanted to tell you, but he didn't know how to tell you. So I think he expected me to tell you and break the ice.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:34

Have that conversation that way, which I did.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:39

Yeah, but he he did very well in the academy. Um getting picked up with an agency and and uh before the academy. Before the academy. And uh once the academy did very, very well. Um his first day. Oh his first day getting him ready because he had moved after he graduated college, he moved back in with us to get ready. And was, you know, I'm making him shine his boots and getting his uniform already. And then I think it was the day before, I'm like, all right, let me see your name tag. And he looks at me, he's like, oh, he didn't have a name tag.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:21

And we were so scared he was gonna get so jammed up.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:25

And uh we were trying to see about getting, you know, a name tag overnighted with Amazon and all this stuff, and finally we just couldn't. I'm like, oh, you're gonna have to just suck it up and and take the beating and uh with it. And uh lo and behold, he didn't even check for name tags. I don't think the first day he didn't get in trouble. He did get jammed up, I think his first or second day, I had given him a uh thin blue line patch, Velcro patch, and he had put it, he had a charger at the time in the middle. Console was was Velcro, so he had put the flag inside the car, and I guess the the training officers went in the parking lot and looking around and and saw that he had a a cop sticker or a cop patch inside his car, and he got jammed up. He had to do a memo for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:09

Yes, he got in he got introduced to Mentlos. And then he also got introduced to he's always been on a team athletically, but he's always led a team. He leads teams great, just like his dad does. But he's now he felt I think responsibility for people not performing their jobs like the first week, and he had memos he had to write because other people didn't do what they were supposed to do, and he wasn't very happy about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:34

Yeah, well sometimes you're gonna do what you gotta do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:37

But he's always been a great leader and he's still he's still uh people look up to him on his department.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:42

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:43

And he's in a spot now that uh he's uh doing very well. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:49

And you are you very proud of him?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:51

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:52

He's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:53

He's uh He's okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:54

He's okay. He's alright.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:56

Well, thank you for sitting down with us today.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:58

Welcome. It was a pleasure to come in.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:00

Welcome to your interview.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:01

Yes. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:02

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:03

All right, peace out. What's your favorite thing about me?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:06

You already already had this conversation.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:09

Oh. What's your least favorite thing about me?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:11

You make lots of noises all the time. This is not gonna be in your interview.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:16

Yeah, well.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:17

No well.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:17

Why not?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:19

And then when what did you do after John Deere?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:22

I did a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:23

Are you gonna seriously be a pain in the ass this whole interview?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:27

You have to be an interviewer and pull it out of me.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:29

Uh no. Don't be a bad interviewee.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:34

A what? Interviewee?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:36

Whatever. Anyways, what was your job after you left John Deere?