LWPD with Chief Velasquez - #007

Lake Wales' Police Chief, Chris Velasquez, stops by to talk about our fantastic men & women in blue. Lake Wales has a fantastic police force and we spend time talking about everything from public presence and patrolling to expansion in the future. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hello, Lake Wales. Welcome to episode number seven of the Mayor and the Manager. This is a weekly podcast that's produced by Providence Voice, which is the media ministry of High Point Church. And we do this as a service to the citizens of Lake Wales. We do it because we want to help you keep and keep you informed about events and decisions and the governance of your city. And another thing we want to do is introduce you to the people that you have elected and the people that you pay to serve you. I'm Jack Killigas. I'm the current mayor of the City of Lake Wales. And this is episode number seven, and it's a special episode. Our city manager, James, is out of town this week. So I took the opportunity to invite our chief of police, Chief Chris Velasquez, to be our guest. Chief, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for taking the time to join me for this podcast this morning. We really do appreciate having you here. I know the people will look forward to hearing from you. So let's get started this way. Chief, if you would tell us kind of your law enforcement story. Um, how long have you been doing this? How did you get involved in it? And then how you wound up in Lake Wales?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Sounds great. Again, thanks for having me this morning. So, growing up, my father was a police officer. He had been in the military, uh, Marine Corps, and all I knew growing up was law enforcement. I was able to interact with those folks. I saw my dad every day. Of course, we all look up to our fathers. Yeah. Um, I was able to to to to gain that that interest in law enforcement. I just, I always wanted to be a police officer, always wanted to be like dad. Um, as as time went on, going through school, um, I my my interest changed, but you know, back and forth from time to time, but I always had that desire still to be to be a police officer. Um finished high school, did a little bit of community college, and then I went into the police academy. I went to the police academy at South Florida Community College.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

It's now did you grow up in Florida?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I did. Okay. I did. Okay. Born and born and raised here. Um Highlands County has been my been my home. Okay. And where I where I grew up at. Um kind of a hop, skip, and a jump away from where we're at now. But I started and and did the police academy there at um South Florida Community College. It's now South Florida State College. Uh graduated from the the police academy. Well, while I was in the academy, I was working full-time. Um, and and just it was a it's a totally different world now compared to what it is today. Uh, today we hire folks, we sub sponsor them, we send them to school, everything's taken care of. I did this on my own, yeah, like so many before me. Right. Um applied with with a number of different agencies. Lake Wales contacted me. Um, it was not far from where I was at. Um, the pay was better. And again, the pay was not very good at all when I when I think back um compared to what it is now. It's so much better.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

There's still nobody getting rich being a police agency.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

They're not, they're not, they're not, but it was it was better. And I I looked at it and I said, I'm I'm gonna, they're they're giving me a shot. And and I actually started as a reserve officer. So I started as a volunteer. Okay. Again, virtually unheard of in today's day and day and time. Right. Um, so I started and volunteered and went through the field training program. I did everything just like a full-time police officer, but I wasn't getting paid. During that time, I was working a full-time job. Um I was was hired in 1993. Okay. So it's it's been a been a few minutes since I since I started. Um, have spent my entire career here. Uh shortly right after um I was hired, um, married my wife Kimberly. And um just just an amazing woman, and she's she's my my my soulmate, and I just I love her to death. She's um she's amazing. I started my career. I started on patrol, like everybody. Yeah um yeah. Now we we hear people walk in the door and they they want to find out what it takes to be the chief. Well, you know, it takes a lot of time and effort and and uh working your way up and through the ranks. Um I did that. So I started as a patrol officer, um, did bike, you know, the bike unit, I did canine. I was actually the agency's first canine officer. That was a uh an honor. Um lot of work, a lot of work, but very rewarding also. So I was the first canine officer. I I worked in narcotics, ended up becoming a detective in the narcotics um division, which was called special investigations back then. Um worked a little while there, did a lot of work all over Central Florida, um, mostly Polk Islands and Hardy County. Okay. Uh it was a great job, had a lot of fun. We did a lot of work, and we really helped a lot of people as well. And we took a lot of bad guys off the street. Shortly after that, I was promoted to sergeant. So that was the first level supervisor. Okay. Um, I I supervised the special investigations division, and again, we continued that work, uh, advanced more and was placed over the uh criminal investigations and the special investigations division, supervised them, uh was promoted to lieutenant, uh did the same thing, managing those two two units, um was promoted to captain, deputy chief, and in 2011 I was appointed as the police chief, and I've been been the chief ever since. Okay, so 15 years about as the chief of police.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

But your whole law enforcement career, 32 years, 33 years in the same city. Now in ministry, when I tell people I've been at the same church for almost 30 years, that's crazy. That doesn't happen very often. Is that unusual in the law enforcement field as well?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Well, we see in today's age, we see people move around a lot more. Okay. Um it is unique for a executive, a department head in law enforcement, a police chief, to to be here as long as I have been. Okay. Um there are others within the county. There there's at least one more that that has been, you know, in his position the same length of time, even longer. But typically you see about a three to five year tenure for for a lot of the the top level management throughout a city or county government. Okay. It a lot of times they just don't last very long. Yeah. I think one of the the greatest benefits um I've had is that I started my career here. And when somebody starts and works their way up, they know the people, they have the relationships, um, they're they're familiar with the operations and and and that helps them them have a longer, longer career typically. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Okay. So then you're in a you're in a very um a position of real authority then to answer this question. I I've written down, I want you to tell us um a little bit more about the police department itself. Um, from what I understand, it's kind of unique for a city the size of Lake Wales to have the size and the quality of a police department that is that is its own. And you've been with the the police department here for over three decades now. So talk to me about that. How has it, how have you seen it evolve and kind of help people understand how important it is and unique it is for us to have the kind of law enforcement uh units that we have here in our city. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

I can tell you 100% that I have some of the very best people that anybody could have. I'm I'm I couldn't be more honored to work with the men and women that I have. People ask me a lot of times, they'll say, Send me your best person or who's your best person. And and I mean this, it's so nice to be able to say, just take your pick.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

I feel so confident with who we have and and and what they're doing. Um, a lot of that has to do with philosophy and leadership. Uh, not not just myself, but the men and women that I have that are helping lead the organization. We've grown over the years. When I started, I think we had around 20 officers. I think there were around 20. And I don't remember exactly when the mall was was built, but I know that when the mall was built and the annexation happened, the city virtually doubled in size overnight. That's been at least 30 years ago, yeah. And wow. And and the department has worked to change with that and to grow with that. Um we we have have continued to grow and we've continued to to build the relationships with the community and and really do our best to be in front of the challenges, in front of the growth that's happening. Now, granted, you can't hire you know 25, 30 police officers because you know that you're gonna be growing. Right. Um, so it's it's really a matter of of finger on the pulse every day management, of knowing what's happening and where we're going, what the city's doing, um, anticipate problems, anticipate challenges, and and partner with other folks to to address those things. Okay. The agency has grown though. The the facility actually hasn't grown as much. However, we just recently purchased a new building and we might talk about that a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

We will, but well, let's just go ahead real quickly. So the agency, when you came on board, and put a pin on that coordinating, keeping your finger on the pulse thing, because we're gonna come back to it. But when you came on board about 20 police officers, what's the size of the force now?

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Today we're we're budgeted for 54. Okay. We're at 47. We've actually held a couple of positions right now just for um for budgetary purposes, trying to because it's so difficult to attract and retain the workforce. Uh so we have people that'll retire, that'll, that'll leave. Some of them get out of the job altogether, um, move away. Um, so it's and it takes so much time and effort to get an individual through the police academy to get them through the vetting process first, and then to get them through the academy, and then to get them out into the field. Once they hit the street in a uniform, they're still looking at 14 to 18 weeks of intense uh on-the-job training, field training before they're cut loose. So if if we're trying to fill a position today and we're looking at a brand new person who's never been to the police academy, has no experience, we're looking at a easy year before they're out and and being able to help us.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

And you had mentioned it while you you um know you can anticipate that you're gonna need more, you can only hire what you have the resources for now.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Which is by the way, that's a problem in every level of city government. Uh you can't you can't hire or build a head. You have to kind of deal with it as it comes. Right. And so you always feel like you're playing catch up on that stuff. So you mentioned, though, that we are getting ready now. We just purchased a building and we're getting ready to open the new police annex, I think the groundbreakings this month, later this month. So tell me how that's going to help. Um, tell me what that brings to you that you've been waiting for.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Well, it's gonna help give us a little breathing room because as the agency has grown in size, um, so have our equipment, so have all of our support needs. Um, our support staff have has grown. And we really were getting to where we were, we were starting to bust at the seams, especially when we had an event where we had more folks in the department or inside the building than than typically. Um again, I always tell people, look, you're not gonna solve any crime or catch any any bad guys hanging around here in the police department. You need to be out. So our field or our office is the field. But when we have folks inside the building, um, it we we really can feel the the pressure. So the new building that we bought, we're gonna offload our investigations division, um, have those folks over there, some of our support staff, our traffic unit, um, special operations, those kind of folks are gonna work out of out of the building across the street. And it's just gonna give us more breathing room. Yeah. We're really excited about what we're doing there, but we're we're also gonna have a a large area where we can uh bring in vehicles if we need to to process them for crime scenes, um, be able to store our some of our specialized equipment and keep it out of the weather and just really take care of the things that the public has given us because they they've trusted in us and and we do everything we can to take take extra special care of of the the assets that we have.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah, I've I've been in the um the current police offices and it's pretty cramped in there. It is.

unknown 13:02

It is.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Well, so so that leads into where you started to go just a couple of minutes ago. That um um, you know, with the new annex, you've mentioned equipment and all of the things that you do to keep your finger on the pulse. You know, so often when you know most people think about police work, it's it's the guy in the car, it's the the arrest that's taken place. But there are a lot of things you have to do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, um strategically to make sure that um, you know, it's not just reactionary, but it's proactive law enforcement. How does that happen? And then so talk to me about what you do as a what's your daily, weekly work uh process, and then how do you cooperate with other agencies, you know, county agencies, state agencies, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

So great, great question. And it really helps when people understand what really goes on behind the scenes. So just to start out with a daily routine, every morning we have a briefing. In fact, I I was at the briefing this morning, and during that briefing, the daytime supervisor fills us in and goes over highlights all of the activity that happened the the night and the afternoon or the the night and the day shift prior. So that information comes from the actual patrol officers that are out doing their job. Correct. So the supervisors, those sergeants, the first line supervisors, at the end of the day, at the end of their shift, they're compiling a detailed activity list for us so we can brief and understand. We want to know everything that happened, anything of significance, any kind of crime, um, special activity, anything that that might be of significance, we want to know about that. So they're talking about it. They've already written it and they've they've pushed it out to us. We'll brief on that. And then anything that we know of from uh from our level that needs to be done. In fact, so for instance, today, uh some of the topics were what do we have going on this weekend? Well, we have an event going on downtown. We need to make sure we have officers there. We have a gentleman, uh, military vet who's celebrating his 101st birthday. Yeah. And um, I told them I wanted to make sure that they made a made an appearance of that. It's it's about recognizing that and honoring that. So uh they're they're gonna take care of that. It's just making sure it's it's you know, we inspect what we expect. And we have to do that constantly. We do it every single day and throughout the day.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

I'm gonna just interrupt you real quickly. That's you that's interesting, and I don't think that many people understand that policing again is much more than just, you know, busting a bad guy uh when he's doing something wrong, but it's about building good community relationship. You talked about making sure that somebody shows up for that veteran's birthday, but I've also a large number of your officers show up at like the legacy uh ribbon cuttings for the the houses. In fact, a lot of work is done by your officers. Um, so what are some other so in that daily briefing, you talk about those sort of issues. Can you take a minute and talk about other things you do to try and build that relation, those relationships? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

There's nothing that we won't do if we can can manage to do it. Um I tell people that all the time. When when the community calls us and asks us for help, they don't know who else to call, number one. Right. So we always instill that in our in our men and women that you know, treat everybody like they're your family member. Do everything you possibly can to help them, even if you don't really know how to help them or it's not really a law enforcement matter. Try to give them some direction and help them. Um, I tell people all the time, I said, if you look around, we're everywhere. You'll see us everywhere at just about any and every event that's happening. And we're not there necessarily because we're expecting a problem, or we're there for security, or so on and so forth. We're there because we care and we're there because it's an opportunity and we look for opportunities every single day. There's an opportunity in every interaction we have with someone to help make their life a little bit better, to to maybe protect them or to help uh educate them to protect themselves a little bit better. It's being able to go home at the end of the day and feel like we really accomplished something and we helped somebody with their life and and to make their life a little bit better. That's mission accomplished for us. So we're we're always looking for those opportunities. And that's that's why we're there. That's why we do what we do.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

I mean, I've stood next to Lake Wales police officers on the red carpet at the night to shine events, um, and they're just there because it's a big deal for those kids to see a police officer standing there. That's right. Still something impressive about a police uniform, and especially when you're a younger person. So those are important, that's an important aspect. I would say, uh again, I know I kind of interrupted you. We'll come back to the daily briefing, but it makes me think about if you're talking to a young person who is considering a career in law enforcement, that's a part of the job they need to think more about. So you you if you give me a two-minute stump speech of what you would say to a young person who's thinking about being a police officer.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

So I would tell them that there's so much more than what they see and they think the job is. It's about doing things that nobody else would want to do. It's about helping people when they need help the very, you know, as as the the most. Um it's looking beyond you know, I I don't want to avoid your question here, but when I when I talk to my folks, um I I tell them, look, there was a point in our career where we really got it. And that is our goal. When we realize there's so much more to this job than us, it's not about us. It's about the public. We work for the public. That's the only reason we exist. And they want us, they need us, they love us, they they want that protection. They'd rather not have to think about having law enforcement because that means they feel safe. Right. But we have to to constantly look at what we can do to make this community better. And it it is about putting holding people accountable and putting bad guys or gals. I always like to make sure I include the gals too, but putting them in jail or holding them accountable. Um, it also goes into getting them help when they need help. Right. It's looking at something from a very, very well-rounded um tool set. When we go into a situation, not everybody needs to be arrested. Not everybody needs a ticket. Sometimes they need somebody to talk to them. It's it's it's I guess it's some of the same stuff that we we teach our children. Right. We want them to understand that there's just much more to this than just them. It's not about them at all. It's about our community.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

It's really a a good police officer is a community servant. They are right. Okay, so you got to love the police. Okay, so I'm gonna bring us back to where we started, daily briefing. Sure. It's about what all happened last night that we need to be aware of, what's coming up that we want to be a part of. What else do you talk about?

SPEAKER_01 20:17

So on on top of that, we talk about trends that are happening throughout the county. It's it's there is again, there are so many things happening behind the scenes and in our minds throughout the day, other than just what you see when you see the police car drive by with the emergency lights on. We're we're looking at those trends, we're looking at what's happening uh because when we're looking at the criminal element, they're not restricted to one jurisdiction. They cross jurisdictional lines with no problem. They they do that, they go all over the county, they go all over the state. So it's us being aware, being educated, looking out for you know those activities or those suspects, and also us sharing that information. So from the investigation and analytical side of the house, there's a continuous um push to get this information out and to share it with other agencies. But we're receiving it and we're distributing it, you know, throughout the city. And these things can happen um live. I mean, they're happening constantly throughout the day. So getting that information out and making sure that we're we're on alert and that that we're the the tip of the spear when it comes to to to crime and crime trends. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Every day. Every single day, um, day and night. And you're communicating across uh jurisdictions and agencies all the time.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

We are, and that's that's a a topic that I'd like to to really touch on is how much we work with other agencies. Number one, I have to tell you, and I I mean this from the bottom of my heart we are friends with the other agencies, and that's what's to some people they would think, well, of course you should be. Well. it's not like that everywhere. It's not like that even in throughout the state. We work with and and are friends with the other agencies to the point that it's just seamless. There is nothing that they wouldn't do for us and nothing we wouldn't do for them. We work hand in hand with all of our all of the the other police departments and the sheriff's office, the the state and the federal um agencies because it's about winning and it's about keeping the community safe. It's not about one of us outshining the other. It's it's really getting out there and and getting the job done. And the the public really doesn't even notice that what they don't know if it's Lake Wales or Sheriff or Lakeland. They just they see us as law enforcement and and servants to help them. Right. And that's exactly what we do. So the the teamwork that's that's one of the things that I like the most about it is that I can pick the phone up anytime and the department heads, the sheriff, all of these different folks they're going to answer and likewise and we're going to help them no matter what it is. If they're calling then they need help. Yeah. So my my position and and my philosophy is if they're calling then let's send it whatever that might be because they're going to do that for us as well when we need it.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Right. And I will tell you that at least from a um you know just a personal perspective in the time that I've been involved in city government I've seen that I've seen the you know the cooperation the camaraderie that exists and of the church that I pastor is actually in the county. So I get to interact with both our county sheriff and our local police department and there is a high level of respect and camaraderie there. And you of course you've been here a long time so you've built a lot of relationships. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Very very much so but it it truly is it it's just it's enjoyable to come to work and and to know that we have so much support and for the public the citizen to realize and understand just how safe they are in this community and how well protected they really are well prepared the law enforcement agencies are. We train together we work as one that that's the only way to get the job done and to be successful is to truly work as one and uh and help each other.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

It's uh it is probably if not I would say probably the number one issue when it comes to quality of life is do I do I feel safe and secure? And again most people don't think about it but it they do think about it, they're just not aware of how often it's kind of one of those deals where if you're really doing your job well people don't notice.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Right. That that's exactly right. I've heard people say I haven't seen a police officer in my neighborhood in in weeks or in months. And although I'm going to make a note and I'm going to make sure that we drive a you know get a car through there as much as we can, I also congratulate them and I let them know that's a good thing. Yeah it is because when you see law enforcement and with what we do and with that constant finger on the pulse response that we have and and and way of doing things, we're looking at where the problems are and we're constantly moving our resources and focusing our our efforts on the areas that need the attention where we're having those crime trends at and we're doing everything we can to identify them on the backside with intelligence, with sharing the information. So when you don't see law enforcement in your in your area that's really a a pretty positive thing. And all somebody has to do is call us as well and say hey could you guys do give some extra patrol um whether they have a problem or not sometimes we'll say there's been some suspicious cars in our neighborhood you know we want to know that we're going to dig deeper than that. Tell us about the car tell us what's going on what's suspicious about it because there's a chance by listening to the public there's a very good chance that they're right. Right. They're up to something and the the person is up to something. So yeah um it it's just it it never stops. On top of that we go into this is back to our our routine we monthly we'll meet and our supervisors will have all of our supervisors and all of our commanders and myself um our records personnel our property evidence folks um our analyst everybody's in that room and we talk about every single case that has been reported that prior month. Yeah. The supervisors that had that call happen on their shift, they brief us and then as soon as they brief us it goes to the investigations division folks and they pick it up and they talk and tell us everything that's happened on that case since they've received it. Then it hands over to the property evidence person. They talk about what they've done with the evidence in the case and it it's just a it's a well-oiled machine and it but it's constant and you cannot fall asleep at the wheel. Yeah you can't not if you want to keep your your community safe.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

And I would imagine then what also is helpful about that is you that's where you begin to spot trends that are concerning that you need to pay attention to we absolutely do.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

And just having all of our people in one room and together looking at each other we're able to piece the dots together connect the dots there have been a number of times where once a case is discussed and there's more um more information that's provided because they're actually talking about it versus writing it out or or sharing it that way somebody will raise their hand and say wait a minute I remember running into somebody that that had this this description or they're riding this bicycle or driving this vehicle and and we've solved cases that way too. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Okay so let's let's keep going in that vein then Lake Wales like all of Polk County is has experienced significant growth in the last five or six years ever since COVID really is where it picked up big steam. So um talk to me about the biggest challenges the the changes and the challenges that you've seen from the law enforcement perspective with that growth.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

So there's always traffic yeah traffic is is is a number one complaint nationwide when you ask folks what they they have to complain about or what their concern is uh traffic and infrastructure and and everything from reckless careless um distracted speeders um it's there it's always traffic so that is a is a priority for us as well um we have traffic folks that that ride motorcycles and do traffic enforcement there they have unmarked vehicles the the point is is that at the end of the day we're not going to be able to ticket our way out of the challenges that we're dealing with as an as a nation we're gonna have to continue to educate we're gonna have to include enforcement as well but we need to to try to connect with people build the infrastructure appropriately and and encourage them and instill in them the the the priority of traffic safety because it it's we we we have a lot of uh of activity pertaining to traffic a lot of calls a lot of crashes yeah um it's it's a nonstop nonstop um challenge that we deal with but on top of that what's really challenging is the the types and the complexity of of crimes that we're dealing with today versus when I started a lot of it deals with and revolves around theft ultimately people taking things or stealing um things that aren't theirs when we look at the and compare and contrast to the types of theft that happened when I began it was a maybe shoplifting or robbery or burglary breaking into somebody's vehicle or their home to steal something those kind of things can still happen but as time has has gone on and and technology's enhanced the number and the complexity of crimes related to fraud to scams um financial crimes that are that are handled electronically they're just much more challenging to investigate. Now I've got some of the very very best men and women that are just they they they're rock stars and they're extremely well trained. We we trained over 5,000 hours last year this last year alone. Yeah and they have the connections and they have the equipment they have the technology and the resources to investigate these cases but some of them are so difficult to to pursue you know to investigate and actually bring to a conclusion because they'll go overseas you know once we once we get to that point a lot of times we'll hit a brick wall and it it's very difficult to get closure for that. You know when I think of the changes and challenges that have happened we talked about that this morning how much things have changed and I'm obviously not a hundred years old but thinking of a hundred years ago to today and where we're at today and the types of things that we're dealing with now. And I I even posed this and I posed it this morning I said imagine what it's going to be like in 20 30 50 years a hundred years from from today what kind of challenges you know those folks are going to deal with but it's it's really being ahead and staying again at the tip of the sword on these cases and also doing everything we possibly can with every case. We don't want to just write something off and say you know contact the the uh FTC or you know report it to the FBI and and hope that your bank takes care of you. We want to do everything we can to try to identify these people and and hold them accountable. But we also want to educate and that's it's a struggle yeah because as much as we talk about the the scams I tell people all the time when I meet with them and I it I know it upset some of them it's got to but I tell them look you are not going to win the publisher's clearing house you're not you're just not yeah and if you do please don't hold it against forget this conversation share share some of that with me but you know until they show up at your door with a big big check and balloons and a cake just and you'll never have to give them any money in advance but the number of people that we talk to and and and try to educate yet they still fall for it. It really boils down to to ultimately to greed. It sounds bad but it it boils down to greed and and people are thinking hey this is too good to be true.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Yeah and and it usually is sure now you said something though that I want to come back to you'd mentioned that we try to do everything that we can even with this kind of crime on a local level which brings up again how big a thing it is that the city of Lake Wales has the local law enforcement presence. We say it all the time in the city commission local, local local you're going to get your best service you're gonna get your you know your best bang for the buck when you invest locally which I one of the things I emphasize as the mayor is to try to get the people of Lake Wales to understand how um how big a deal it is that we have the kind of police force that we have local municipalities struggle to maintain high quality law enforcement and it's not just that we have a law enforcement uh a police department but it's a good one. Um you a couple of years ago it was certification is that the right word that you went through accreditation.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Accreditation so talk to us about how big a deal and accomplishment that was here in it accreditation is a is is a one of the highest honors that that a law enforcement agency can have um very few when you look nationwide at the end of the day are are accredited and that shows that they've been they've opened themselves up to have uh assessors come in and and evaluate every single thing we do uh I believe it's two nearly 250 different uh criteria that that they assess and and we have to to show that we're doing that along with the very very best practices that are that are available today. We have done that we're actually coming up on our our reaccreditation and I feel 100% confident that we're going to to be re-accredited we know what we're doing we we have our uh we had a what's called a mock uh just recently within the last two months we had a mock assessment where folks came in and they just did a kind of like a dry run to look and make sure that we're we're lined up and and and ready for our assessment our final assessment uh it's never final but for our next official assessment and it made me so proud to hear them talk about how welcome they felt how impressed they were with the men and women everyone they talked to were just so willing to help they knew their jobs they were they were on top of of um what they did. Right um that made me feel really good and I told them I said I did tell you in the very beginning just pick somebody that's how confident I am I just I said just pick somebody and they're all going to be a rock star. And if they're struggling or they need help they know who to go ask right and they know where to look for the answers and the information. They were extremely impressed with our crime suppression meetings which we have the that monthly meeting with everyone there and and even talked about taking that concept that model back to their respective agencies to share. Okay. So it it's a tremendous uh honor to be accredited um but it's not just achieve the award or achieve the recognition and then let go of the steering wheel. Right. We have to stay on top of it each and every day and we have to show proof along the way that we're doing this the things that we say we're gonna do, we have to have proofs that we're doing it. Right. And you know we we will we'll always be accredited as far as I'm concerned. We'll always maintain that. And those who follow me, I'll do everything I can to make sure that that they do the same and have the same philosophy.

SPEAKER_00 36:22

Well and it's a it's a very small percentage like you said of police departments nationwide that earn that level of uh recognition for the the work they do. So again one of the things I want to impress upon the citizens of Lake Wales is how well served they are and how important it is, how unique it is and how um a a well-managed city um a city that's you know taking advantage of the of the opportunities that growth brings in a in a good way continues to make that possible um because if we ever lose the services of an excellent local police department it will never be as good as it is now um it just won't be will it no no it it's that's a very true statement and we know that law enforcement public service public safety is expensive and we emphasize this every day it goes back to the philosophy and the values the the beliefs what we instill in our folks they have to realize that public safety is expensive and there's a reason for that because it's worth it.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

Yeah and we have to be worth every single penny every single day and that's why when somebody calls and and you think this doesn't really apply to us this isn't really our quote problem it is our problem and we need to show that we're willing to do that. And it might take us a little bit more time to get to a call like that if it's not a a high priority um type of of a of a call but we're gonna do everything we can to help and and follow up and it builds that support it it just it's a so difficult to to put it into words short of saying it's an honor to to be able to serve these the the people in our community um and it's also an honor to be able to serve this agency with with people who will risk their life in the blink of an eye for any one of us. They don't even know who you are but they'll risk their life for you and they'll do anything they possibly can to help you. So it's it's really just instilling the importance of of the position. Again you touched on that uniform and just because of the uniform we wear solely because of that we have the ability to impact someone's life for an eternity for the rest of their life simply because the uniform we wear we can take advantage of the opportunity and help create a bond and a relationship and a respect or we could damage it all in the blink of an eye.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Yeah. Yeah. Well Chief it I really appreciate you taking the time to come in and and be a part of the podcast. If you don't mind we'll talk about uh next time we'll get in here with the room with James but we'd love to have you come back on a pretty regular basis maybe even to answer questions or give folks in the in the city an update of what is what's happening in our police department. I'd be happy to well thank you sir I uh folks uh we just always want to remind you that the Mayor and the manager is a podcast that we create solely specifically for those of you who call Lake Wales home and we want to hear your questions. So um uh don't hesitate to email them at the uh address that's provided in the tag on the podcast and if you have questions specific to law enforcement go ahead and send those along and we will bring um Chief Alasquez back in in future episodes and set aside time for him to address those as well as to bring us up to date on what's happening um in um law enforcement in our city. Chief thank you again uh folks in Lake Wales we hope you have a great day and thank you for listening thanks for listening to this episode of the Mayor and the manager. The goal of this podcast is to keep you up to date on all that is happening in the great city of Lake Wales. To that end we would love to take questions from you and take the time to answer them. So if you have any questions just click on submit a question in the description above this podcast