Sound United Presents
Sound United Presents is a community-centered podcast that highlights the authentic stories of entrepreneurs, professionals, and everyday heroes. Each episode features guests who discuss their victories, challenges, lessons, expertise, insights, wisdom, and "One-Word." Our goal is to Empower with Sound.
Sound United Presents
It Starts with Integrity
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In this episode, we present Jeff Cole, a military veteran and captain in the City of Warren Police Department. Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Captain Cole shares his inspiring journey from life in Youngstown to law enforcement and everything in between. Throughout this episode, you will hear a common theme of dedication, structure, and integrity—values we all can appreciate.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
- Captain Cole’s life journey from Youngstown to becoming a captain
- Importance of mentorship
- Challenges faced in law enforcement
- Building trust and transparency in the community
- Reflections on the evolution of policing
- Attending the FBI National Academy for Leadership Development
- Advice for aspiring police officers
- Captain Cole's “One Word”
So press play and be moved by Captain Cole's inspiring story. Ladies and gentlemen, Sound United Presents... Captain Jeff Cole!
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Sound United Presents is a community focused podcast powered by Sound United Podcast Studio and Sound United Media LLC.
- Executive Producer and Producer: DeShawn Scott
- Audio Producer: Kimberly Gonzales
Local Heroes and Law Enforcement Stories
Speaker 1Hello , ladies and gents , welcome to Sound United Presents , a diverse and inclusive podcast focused on local entrepreneurs , professionals and unsung community heroes . Within each episode , our guests will candidly share their stories filled with triumph , failures , humor , lessons learned , insight and some nuggets of wisdom . I'm very excited about this and I hope you are too . Let's get started . Hey folks , thank you for hitting the play button . Welcome to another episode of Sound United Presents , done here in the friendly confines of Sound United Podcast Studio . I'm your host , d Lee Scott , but I will say Deshaun Scott too , because my mother don't like that first version , so I'm also Deshaun Scott , for those who don't like that . And welcome my guest today .
Speaker 1I would have to say that we probably spoke , spoke more over the last probably year or so , and collaborative type atmosphere for some things that we'll be able to talk about later , but I've known of him , fortunately . I've known of him and didn't have to deal with him , so that's a good thing there too . So , but when I think of him and what he does , you know , sometimes I like to have these words , you know these descriptors , adjectives and I'd say gentlemen , dedicated , humble leadership , and I do have to say humor , because we joked about a few things too . So I have to add that in , and you'll feel the same way and more , as I present to you , ladies and gentlemen , captain Jeff Cole , welcome to the podcast , sir . Hey , man , it's a pleasure being here , and you got that radio voice .
Speaker 2This is going to be good .
Speaker 1This is going to be good here . Let's get it All right . Well , you know , I like to get the guests just a second to kind of bring the audience a little snapshot of , and that because we're going to dive into a lot of stuff . So tell us about yourself a little bit .
Speaker 2Okay , yeah , again , jeff Cole . I'm a captain with the Warren City Police Department . Been here in my 31st year , got hired in February of 94 , originally from Youngstown , Ohio , so I didn't grow up here in Warren .
Speaker 1I didn't know that you didn't . No , I thought you was born and raised , born , in Ohio . You ain't going to kick me off the show , are you Folks ? Thank you for tuning in .
Speaker 2No , no , no , absolutely not , yeah , bro , absolutely not . Born and bred in Youngstown man South side of Youngstown . Graduated in 1981 from South High School , pr 81 from South High School , proud warrior . Immediately after high school I enlisted in the Army .
Speaker 1National Guard and then the United States Air . Force . So yeah , whoa , yeah , yeah , yeah Okay .
Speaker 2Big military interest very , very young , and I know we're going to get into that a little bit later . But yeah , I went to the military , ended up in the Air Force , did 10 years , traveled around the world overseas three times , so it was a good 10 years , wow , yeah , yeah . So right after the Gulf War , you know , I had to make a decision whether I was going to stay and do 20 , you know , for full retirement , or get on with my life and get into something civilian .
Speaker 1So you served in the Gulf War too ? Yeah , man .
Speaker 2Wow , yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1See folks , I learned stuff new here too yeah .
Speaker 2So that was a rough time in life but you know , a lot of people experienced the same things I did and I'm grateful for you know from where I am today , you know . After going through that , so yeah , 10 years in , I decided , you know what , it's time to step out back into the civilian world . And I brought it back home . Wow , you know I was going to make my life in Texas but you know I said , ah , time to go home .
Speaker 1You know it's the third time Texas done came up today for me Wow , I don't know if it's something calling me to Texas or whatever . One of our previous guests , garrett Matlock we was Pastor Matlock , we were talking about some stuff off mic . He was leaving Texas came up , and Dallas in particular , and then I got a call from a friend early this morning which was weird , but he was like you were on my mind and you ever thought about relocating . And I'm like it's six o'clock in the morning like , and you on the west coast , what was that ? What you doing , you know ? And he was like , nah , man , I just think you know , da , da , da , da da . Texas , wow , yeah . And then you , I don't know man , I'm calling your name .
Speaker 2I don't know what that is .
Speaker 1I wear cowboy hats , but I don't you know so what did you do in the Air Force ?
Speaker 2I let you take a guess .
Speaker 1So brought pilot .
Speaker 2Come on , man , Law enforcement . I was like well , you know . Yeah , I was a law enforcement specialist in the Air Force , Okay , and now you know that was policing . Just , military police , that's a common name for it , Military police . Okay , and now you know that was policing just military police . That's a common name for it Military police . Okay , but you know , Air Force , we special , so we call it the law enforcement specialists .
Speaker 1Yeah , because y'all like to talk ? Oh yeah , you know people .
Speaker 2We aim high .
Speaker 1You know we aim high . Well , and then I thought you know that's why I said like okay , wait a minute , pilot , or something like that .
Speaker 2Nah Wow , I used to tell people I was a pilot because they think everybody in the Air Force is a pilot , but nah . I was just an old cop man Nah , nah yeah just regular law enforcement Patrol . You know we did have sentry duties . You know the gates , you know entry into the gate . But yeah , for 10 years , man , I was an Air Force cop .
Speaker 1Okay , yeah , despite my question , because , listen , I tell people when I mess up , so I , you know . I was like how was life in Warren , ohio ? But you're Youngstown , yeah , so how was life in ?
Speaker 2Youngstown . Well , I grew up in a , and I'm not trying to throw shade at it now , but it was before it turned into the big crime area . So growing up in Youngstown was great . I grew up in Adore Park I don't know if you're familiar with that . Oh yeah , the amusement park yeah , spend every day in Mill Creek Park . Didn't have to be home before the streetlights was on because it was OK to be out , so just growing up was great man .
Speaker 1Yeah , my stepdad . Well , he was my dad . I call him that , his , his father . They stayed on Idora .
Speaker 2OK .
Speaker 1And we used to go there it seemed like every other Sunday or something like that . So you know that was my experience , like going to youngstown , but I adore a park .
Speaker 2I still say the best fries was at outdoor park everybody I know put vinegar on their fries because of I'll put them in the spray bottle .
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely . And that little silver ride that I forgot , the rocket or something scrambler . It went around and the only thing I didn't like was the roller coasters . I did the jackrabbit one time , that's's all it took . The people who got on that Wildcat because that water was back there . Just put me in the haunted house , the teacups and the spider .
Speaker 2Don't forget about the Lost River too . Great times growing up in Youngstown . We had still the great things the Vaughn E Rogers Football League . I was a part of that . I played for the Little Penguins . Barney Rogers Football League you know , I was a part of that . I played for the Little Penguins and the Boys . Youngstown Boys Club , boys and Girls Club grew up there . So you know hey back in the day , Youngstown .
Speaker 1I'm not saying it's not now . Yeah , I mean , it was a different time though . Even here for me growing up , you know it was just a different time . You know what I mean . Where did you go to ? So in Youngstown ? Where did you go to elementary school ?
Speaker 2I went to Cleveland Elementary School that was located on Princeton . Then for junior high I went to Princeton Junior High School , which was located on Princeton , and then on to South High School .
Speaker 1Okay , so all of your places you went to school are no more , are they ?
Speaker 2That is correct . Okay , I never even thought of that . But there's some new energy going on right now at South High School . Yep , they're doing some phenomenal things and I think they got a community thing going on on August 10th . Okay , it's going to be real big out here .
Speaker 1Do you stay engaged with what goes on there ? I mean , was it the warrior you said ?
Speaker 2Yeah , okay with , with what goes on there . I mean , was it ? The warrior was you said yeah , okay , not you know through social media . Okay , you know , I that's how I'm following it . I'm not active in any , any other activities , but okay , yeah , I just know through social media so how was , uh , you know , like going through high school was you in trouble a lot .
Speaker 1I feel like you might have had a little bit of trouble .
Speaker 2No , I was a good kid man , what I was a ? Well , there were at least two years of high school . Okay , I was a bookworm . Okay , right , good grades and all that . You know . A senior year kind of cut loose a little bit , got a little wild , but for the most part , no trouble . You know no trouble at all . Matter of fact , fact , our assistant principal was from young warren . From warren , miss carol hooks , and she got something to deal with my . You didn't get out of line with miss hooks , and those people that know her know exactly what I'm talking about , know exactly what I'm talking about so did you ?
Speaker 1what type of activities did you ? Did you any activities in high school sports ?
Speaker 2sports , no sports in high school . I did that in junior high , but , like I say , high school I was pretty academic , you know . And then like leadership clubs , you know senior clubs and things like that , cool clubs Okay .
Speaker 1Those are the key clubs .
Speaker 2Come on , it's club man Okay . I'm telling on myself here .
Speaker 1no , but you you make parents proud . Sure , oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , okay , you wasn't skipping class , like like me , or finding ways . Well , you know , I mean , was there certain classes you know , outside of the ones you mentioned ? Did , did , um , you know , were you in any , any favorite classes , like home , ec , anything like that ? Was you ?
Speaker 2Not home ec . I'd have to say my favorite class in school was typing , and I know that sounds crazy . It does , but go ahead .
Speaker 1Well , first of all , we had a pretty teacher . That's all it takes .
Speaker 2And I can really really type , you know , and it helps me on my day-to-day job right now .
Speaker 1So I just have to say type it . So can you type without looking ? Oh yeah , oh man , I remember I was in middle , I was going to Trumbull Business College and we had this instructor and we was learning them Smith Coronas . You know the typewriter and I had to use Mavis Beacon because I was one of the ones that would just like . She was like you're gonna get good at it , you won't even have to look , and I'm like I don't know what you're talking about , like it just wouldn't work . She's like you need to go get mavis beacon it was this type of program .
Speaker 1I know what it is yeah , I got this typing program . I mean I was like , okay , you know , and I followed it and and now you know , every now and then I mess up , but now I can type without looking , without looking all fingers , all these fingers I have like certain fingers I use .
Speaker 1Okay , right that that you know . I mean that some of them I still can't but um , but for someone to say typing was their favorite class , I'm very , that's honorable , yeah . Yeah , I thought she's gonna say like wood shop , metal shop , something like that no , well , if I was a carpenter , maybe . But like I say , man , my job consists of reports and all that .
Speaker 2And that's what I do all day . So if I had to look back and say what did I learn back then ? That serves me best . Now I would say typing .
Speaker 1Did you have a dream career ? Growing up as a young person , did you aspire to be a certain career , profession ?
Speaker 2I'd say military . When I was in the eighth grade , my brother enlisted in the Army . He was graduating boot camp from Fort Knox , Kentucky . I went down there to visit him and watch the graduation . It took me about 15 minutes to tell my mom hey , this is that , this is what I'm going to do . Wow , I said I'm ready to drop out of school .
Speaker 2Oh , you was ready to do it . Then I was ready , man , eighth grade . I'll never forget this , yeah , yeah . I was just really intrigued by the structure . You know , it was a bunch of guys standing around , a bunch of soldiers standing around . Drill sergeant say , hey , soldier , come here .
Speaker 1About started to say hey , soldier , come here . About 20 dudes took off running . I said that's gonna be , that's all gonna be that dude , you know well , just early age .
Speaker 2And that's why , like when I enlisted in the army national guard , I was still in . I was still in school when the recruiter came to the school and it sounded good to me . It was the first military offer . So I jumped on it . Uh , but yeah , went in there and didn't realize it's part-time and I , you know , I wanted that full-time experience . So I had to aim high , go to the air force so what ?
Speaker 1okay , army , navy , air force , marines . Why ? Why air force ? I mean , I'm sure the , I'm sure the , the education , you know , the was , was a plus .
Speaker 2Ironically , you know I wanted to go full-time army but then they was going to change my job . It made me an infantry man . I said no , I'm doing that and the air force guy was across the hall saying come here , I guess I got a better offer for you . Oh wow , you know , I know that's what they do . Yeah , you know , and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse did you consider the navy ?
Speaker 1no , no , okay , the Navy .
Speaker 2No , no , okay , I like the water , but not that much . You know , Air Force was the pretty , probably the best thing . One of the best things I did for my life was to enlist in the Air Force .
Military to Law Enforcement Career Path
Speaker 2Like I said , good structure , discipline , education and craft .
Speaker 1Did you have any ? You know you made up your mind it was the eighth grade or so . This is what you want to do , but did you have any other experiences or mentors that helped you , influenced you more ? That that was the path , because you talk in eighth grade and I mean a lot could happen Like okay , that was eighth grade , but now maybe in 11th grade or something you detour , but is there any ?
Speaker 2Well , I'd say , first of all , you know , as far as mentor I say my brother , you know his older brother . I always looked up to him . I still , to this day , I still do what's his name Dave Cole .
Speaker 1Ok , dave Cole , shout out to you . Yeah , all right .
Speaker 2So you know he would come home and he'd always have something Army-ish . You know , give me this . You know , bring it . You know , show me he was overseas , show me his reel-to-reel . You know , just , it was just the way , the great way of life for the military . But then , like I say , when the recruiter came to the school and met him , and then you know he stayed in touch with me through my senior year because immediately after graduation , you know , off I went . So just that , and you know my desire , just my desire to go , you know it's a blessing when you land in something that you know .
Speaker 1you know what you want to do at a certain age and throughout your life you're doing something close to that and you land in something that you're doing what you thought of doing and wanted to do , you were doing that . It's like I always wanted to run my own business . I just didn't know . You know high school or middle school and cinnamon sticks , flavor cinnamon sticks , or the boys life , you know , trying to sell christmas stuff in july for boys life magazine on the back . You know we'd be the only black family so I'd hire the , I'd hire they .
Speaker 1I used to call them bow and luke , uh duke , because uh , bobby moldovan had brown hair and this dude named john had blue hair . We were the only black family . But what I did and we think maybe every now and then we might have clashed with racism or something , but it was minimal but I would give them a nickel to go sell these door to door so I could get these prizes off the back . Because I knew at that time , like man , everybody smiles when they see them , not that I was treated different , but you know , you got blue eyes and blonde hair .
Speaker 1I'm going to give you a and for every one you sell , and then you can go to inksters and buy you some candy and just just sell this stuff . You know like that . And so I sell christmas cards and all that . You know , here I am . So I look at it like man , that's a blessing , yeah , to be what you . You know what you're doing now . So you , you serve . You decide that you ain't doing the 20 , you're going to come to civilian life . Yeah , what happened before you became law enforcement for the city of Warren ? How did that happen that time frame there ?
Speaker 2Okay , yeah . So you know , the Air Force came , or the military itself came , to a time where , right after the war , they got downsized . Because you know enlistment is always up during war , because you know a lot of people want to serve the country honorably , so they offered a voluntary separation incentive which is , you know , really just trying to get people to get out . So , ironically , the Ohio State Highway Patrol was having a minority recruitment hiring process . So I was in Albuquerque , New Mexico . I jump on a plane , come home , I take the tests , I'll go through the batteries of you know physical , the testing , the psychological .
Speaker 2They say I passed everything you know , say I was ready to go . I told them , okay , I got to make a decision to get out of the Air Force and I was cool with it . I said , okay , I'm gonna make the the move , so I get out . Come on , take my polygraph that was down in Marietta , ohio , and I flunked it . They say I flunked it . That's like subjective though , right . Well , I don't know , I'm not a polygrapher so I can't say whether it's subjective or not . Professionally , right , right .
Speaker 1So I , right , right , so I know what I called it at the book , what I did at the time .
Speaker 2I won't say that we can bleep stuff out nothing about well , you know .
Speaker 2nevertheless , I flunked it . Yeah , I had a conversation with with the polygrapher we had . We had a disagreement at the time I was giving it , so I understood that when I got the letter to say I was dismissed or disqualified , at that point , you know , they offered me the opportunity to come to Columbus and review it . You know I wasn't going through all that . So now I'm upset with my decision , you know , getting out , because that influenced me to get out , because you know coming home to a job is something I wanted to do . So now I'm scrambling , disappointed , getting my car . So first , police department . I see I'm signing up . This is the oddest truth . So I get in the car , I drive down the street and I'd never seen this sign before and it says Mill Creek Police Department . Never heard of that . But it's Mill Creek . I live up the street . I go inside , say hey , I want a job .
Speaker 1You know they say you want a job . I say , yeah , I want a job .
Speaker 2I talk to the chief Chief , comes out , meet him , say hey , you know I'm here to apply for a job . He said well , you got to go down to Park Recreations for that job . I said , wait a minute I said I want to be the police , right , right . And he's like oh , and I didn't say this , you know , I was like 180 pounds , you know . So I guess I didn't look police material at that . I was kind of slim , you know , park Recreation down there yeah .
Speaker 2So we laughed about that . We sat out and talked Chief Nate Pinkert and , to this day , our mentor that's my police mentor . I know we talked about mentorship . Yeah , those guys pretty much has influenced my career the whole time through , because , you know , he offered me employment the day I graduated the police academy . Words out of his mouth , words out of his mouth . You get your test results . Come see me the next day , shirt and tie , and he hired me on the spot . Wow , it was a part-time job , you know , and as soon as I got started I'd already applied for WARN because I had a friend of mine who was working here , officer Gary Riggins . Sergeant , retired Sergeant Gary Riggins . He had duped me into filling out an application because I really didn't want to do city police you know I was taking baby steps in this .
Speaker 2First it was military , then I go on the freeway , too much happening . But he had conned me into filling out this application and so it turned out to be the best thing to happen . But yeah , so I spent a little time with Chief Pinkert at Mill Creek and you know , once I got hired at time with Chief Pinkert at Mill Creek and you know , once I got hired at Warren , you know he blessed that and we kept in touch . He retired , he became the Youngstown City Councilman and I think he's you know , retired through that .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , but that was my place . When I had a problem here in Warren , I'd drive right back to Mill Creek .
Speaker 1Talk to your mentor . Yeah , I can appreciate that . Yeah , I can appreciate that . So you get hired at Warren . You come in , as I don't know the position , just a patrolman , okay so patrolman ?
Speaker 2Yeah , a probationary patrolman , which means you know you got to perform well for a year . They can let you go within that year for just cause or no cause . Okay , you know . So the first year is really the tough year . You have a field training officer , Somebody's training you and basically telling you what to do . You know that's anywhere from four to nine months training . Then you do like three months on your own and that's pretty much the toughest part of it is proving you can do the job . The beginning , yeah , kind of like boot camp definitely definitely a boot camp , yeah , and that wasn't so .
Speaker 1That was in february of 94 , right , right , because we talked off mic . I was like , oh , I remember 94 . That's my daughter , that's how I remember , because she was january . Right , it's close . Right . So you started as a patrolman and you're a captain now , right . So I don't want to blur nothing . How was it going from the patrolman to the captain ? Tell us about that a little bit , your experience with that ?
Speaker 2Well , I think my situation is way different , especially for African-Americans . When I got to the police department , there were no African-American supervisors .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 2None . You know there was only one African-American , not within the patrol division , just within the specialty , and that was Morris Hill . He was still in the police department and I was probably his replacement Because I got hurt in February . He retired in May , so it was just different
Career Progression and Achievements
Speaker 2. I was in patrol and then I'm sorry Officer Riggins worked a narcotics investigation when I first got hurt and because he got injured on duty after I had a year on , I took his spot in narcotics investigation and did that Still a patrolman . Immediately after that I got switched to the detective division .
Speaker 2You know I was investigating homicides , financial crimes you know , and that was very rare for almost for anybody , you know , just to come in that quick , get assigned to the investigative unit . So you know , being in the military , when promotions come up , you just gear up for that . So I think it was 2000 , 2001 . I think that's when I got promoted to sergeant . Yeah , the study and that's just . You know what you do . When it's promotion time , you know you go for it . Yeah , so I did that and I was made sergeant . I was then assigned as the internal affairs officer , so that was a test of my career .
Speaker 1Now , because I got to , so you're kind of like the bad guys . Depends on who you're asking Movie watching . I'm only going by movies so I don't know , but I always remember movies like Eternal Affairs .
Speaker 2You know they're like oh , you know that type of thing .
Speaker 1But y'all you know it's hard to be liked .
Speaker 2That's the cliche .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2That's the cliche Instead of internal affairs . You know , like you said , it goes back to movies . You know you snitch . You know it's like snitching , but probably one of the better assignments I had .
Speaker 2I had three simple rules . Number one I didn't file a complaint on you . Number two , I never caused you to do what it did , what you did to have you come see me . And number three don't shoot the messenger . And I lived by . That Sounds fair to me . You know , hey , whatever brought you to my office you did . It Wasn't my fault . But no , you know , we're a small , medium sized police department and you know I'm fair and impartial . I've never lost a friend , never . You know , never heard too many bad words , but you know , probably didn't say it to my face , but I'm sure I may have ruffled a feather or two , but it was all just based on me doing my job correctly and I was strict about that . I was strict about that . I was strict about that . And one of the biggest rules is in internal affairs , you never give credit to the police officer because he's a police officer . You got to look at it 50-50 .
Speaker 1Okay , yeah , so you know I stuck to that . And so internal affairs . And then he wasn't a captain , then I was a sergeant . Okay , he wasn't a captain then .
Speaker 2I was a sergeant . Okay , yeah , I was a sergeant . I think I made lieutenant within that time as well . Okay , when I made lieutenant , then they moved me back to the criminal investigative division where I was the officer in charge of that . So it's almost like I had worked there and now I'm supervising it . Okay , which was great . Department of Justice is here . I have to go back to Internal Affairs to help with that process , because Internal Affairs plays a big role in that process , and that was a hefty assignment right there , getting it in compliance with the settlement agreement . Immediately after that it was like , oh , just , you know , pressure counted mounting on me , you know , like fed up with it . So the chief said do you want to sit down for a while ? Didn't know quite what that meant . I want to sit down for a while . Like we were about to get meant . I was about to get suspended .
Speaker 1Yeah , that sounds kind of broad to me .
Speaker 2I'll say what you got in mind . And he says we need a school resource officer supervisor .
Speaker 2And I say school resource officer , wait a minute you put me in the schools , I was like , so I had to be told no , or I had to be told what to do . So I said , well , sure , I'll take that assignment . And , sean , I tell you , you know , and I'm being totally honest with you , I had no reason to make this up . I wish I had done that 15 years prior . Taking that assignment , being able to work in the schools , one of the best assignments I ever had Wow , you know , working with the kids , getting to know the kids , you know , not only do you learn the kids , well , once you know the kids , you know the parents , you know . Yeah , so I met more people as a school resource officer for two years than I probably did for 10 working , investigations and things like that . So well , it was a great assignment , man , and , you know , made some great relationship with these kids , the younger people , because I was working in high school and it was just , overall , great experience .
Speaker 1I remember when I was in high school and I showed up for class . Who was it ? I'm trying to remember ? I remember officer . I think it was Bansky and Callahan . They were the two , Okay .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1And they had an office right by the hallway , by the stadium at the time . I haven't been to Hardin years but I know you went down this hall , I would pass the wood shop and you'd have to go down this hallway to get outside to the parking lot . Okay , man , I'd be trying . I would pass the wood shop and you'd have to go down this hallway to get outside to the parking lot . Ok , man , I'd be trying to escape , to skip class . They'd be right there all the time . You know I'm just going to my car to get something real quick . You know I'm out of there , but you know that was my time frame with them .
Speaker 2OK .
Speaker 1Seeing that there . Yeah , what lessons did you learn as you progressed up the ladder to captain ? You got any lessons that just really stuck with you .
Speaker 2I would say just what I said about the school resource officer getting to know people . This is a tough job to do anyway , because it's policing , and policing in modern-day society is hard . So the lessons I learned is that the more you get to know people , the more people trust you as a police officer , police sergeant , lieutenant , captain , the easier it is for you to do your job . You know and then you trust them . Come on , I grew up on the South Side . I know how you know life can be for some . You know I kind of grew up with that attitude . You know anti-policing , so you know I can relate from both sides . So when I say you know , get to know people , let them get to know you , not only on you know the police side . But hey , see me at the festival not working it . Get to know the real me . See me at the mall . I shop at the mall . I go to Giant Eagle . You know I don't run from this community because I place it ?
Speaker 1you know , yeah , I live here and I , you know , this is where , this is where I hang out , yeah , yeah , is there a rewarding experience , like something that just really stands out now ? These promotions are rewarding and and you know you having a good heart , I mean I think audience can hear that um , so , those are rewarding experiences . But is there something that just you know proud , that you're super proud of ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , I'd have to say this In 2014 , 2014 , I got accepted to attend the prestigious Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy in Quantico Virginia , in Quantico Virginia . Now why is that so prestigious ? You know only 10% of police officers in this entire world I'm talking Japan , africa , everywhere .
Speaker 1Yeah , because you just said world , you didn't say United States , you said world .
Speaker 2France , wow , germany . I met law enforcement executives from across the world , session 257 . I'm proud of that . If you come to the office or if you ever see me on a Zoom call and you see that brick that says 257 .
Speaker 2Oh , okay , yeah that's what that is's a 10-week uh executive law enforcement course . It's grueling , you know . You got a six and a half mile run in obstacle course . It's networking . You know , just two weeks ago I had had two friends up from out of town on a golf golf trip , or from that that I met during that , okay .
Speaker 1I was going to ask if you . Oh yeah , we keep in touch .
Speaker 2We just had a national conference in Missouri . I didn't have the opportunity to attend it but yeah , that was probably the proudest moment , you know accomplishment getting accepted there In the world In the world .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know , accomplishment and getting accepted there in the world in the world . Yeah , and I and I and I I gotta give a shout out to a couple other officers in our department to chief chief merkel , he has it , and lieutenant brian holmes , he has it as well . Uh , so there's only three active in our department that had it wow , it's great , it's a great experience . Yeah , how long was it it's ?
Speaker 110 weeks . What hit me was that six mile run .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , well , it's not only the run , it's the . They call it like the tough mutter . You got to offer horses in between . And you know I did it at 52 years old , so the average age down there is like 30 , you know , oh yeah , You're showing them up . I did it as an old man .
Speaker 1I made it , though . You know throughout your , so you have some you know , you have some longevity in this career , and so you've seen a lot , and just in your experience , I can only imagine what are some of the biggest challenges facing law enforcement today .
Speaker 2Okay , yeah , that's a great question . Well , I'd say interdepartmental . You know it's recruitment and retention . Ohio , warren , the country , is having a problem getting people interested in the law enforcement career field and , if you do , keeping them or fail . And if you do keeping them , a lot of police officers are department shopping and departments are in the market for it . They're offering incentives , signing bonuses and we're just almost swapping police officers . I'd say within the past year we've probably hired seven lateral officers who've come from different departments . So recruitment and retention is big . It's really a big thing right now , I'd say , for law enforcement in society . Unfortunately , you know , it seems to be the same narrative , you know , with the recent police shooting of Sonia Massey in Illinois . Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2Those are the things that you know set us back , you know , 50 years . Yep , you know . So that that remains the challenge how do we stop that ? How do we , you know , train people better ? How do we screen better ?
Speaker 1so do you like with the retention and recruitment ? Because I do . You think it's something that changed that as a generation ? I mean because , like I said , when I grew up I wanted to be . You know I didn't wind up obviously being , but you know it used to be a time when you know , firemen police officer I think doctor was in there but as far as the force go , firemen police officer usually police officer and firemen .
Speaker 2No disrespect to my fireman , but it was kind of in that order police officer , fireman . Yeah , they tried , they tried to change the script here , but they're trying to move , yeah , the position up .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah but you know , is it ? I mean , I don't know , is it just the ? You think it's just a lack of interest ? Do you think media plays a part ?
Speaker 2I mean , yeah , well , it's a lot of things , like the incident with Miss Massey . We had George Floyd Yep . You know a lot of police shootings , you know . I don't want to name any specific movement yeah , absolutely . Come on , within the past 10 years there's been an anti-police movement , absolutely . You know we've had protests in the city of Warren during the George Floyd incident , protests in the city of .
Speaker 2Warren during the George Floyd incident , youngstown had the same thing . It's hard to be the police . It's hard to be the police these days and just that negative attention that we've drawn to ourselves through media , social media .
Speaker 1Especially social media , especially going through that , you know . I wanted to ask a question too , because I was interested in this . How did it so , when you told family now I'm just talking about us black folks keeping the bill , like I'm going to be a police officer , like I mean , was it , you know , like yes , I'm sure maybe the close family like yes , or was it like man , why you want to be no ?
Speaker 2Like how was that ? Well , you know , my mom was proud of me , no matter what I do . My dad wasn't having it .
Speaker 1He was like man .
Speaker 2I'll get you a job at General Motors tomorrow , because you know he spent 30 plus years out at GM . He's like I'll get you out there tomorrow . You know , I said no man . That's what I want to do with my brother , you know , because he got out of the Army . He's back here in Youngstown . He's like man . No , he's like what are you doing , right ?
Community Policing and Diversity Initiatives
Speaker 1You know , we grew up playing cops and robbers . I was always the robber .
Speaker 2I was trying to always the the rock yeah , so yeah um , but listen , I got it . You know my um , you know I had children and , uh , you know something I could be proud of , they can be proud of ? Yes , you know me for um , so immediately , you know it kind of grew on them . It grew on them , you know , yeah , so okay , I was .
Speaker 1I was curious about that . I was like , why didn't I ask that question earlier ? But I was very curious about that . Yeah , bridge , bridger or bridge was another word that I didn't that I forgot to use because , as , as we've sat in , you know certain things committee meetings , something like that . You , you have this ability and you kind of spoken it of . You know you can see things from from both sides sides . It's like a bridge . That's the way I look at it . How do you maintain so ? When we talk about trust , how do you , how do you work to build and maintain trust between the police department and the community for you ?
Speaker 2Transparency . That's the biggest thing I can think of . We have to be . The police department has to be transparent , okay , you and you think of . We have to be the police department has to be transparent , okay , and you have to know this community .
Speaker 1You can't police a community that you don't know .
Speaker 2Right , you know it isn't the military . You know it's not that mission , that's not our mission . We're here to serve the community . So you can't serve the community if you don't know them . And that's what I say . I try to get out and know people . You know , people seem to know me and just being transparent , providing the community what they ask of you , instead of just trying to go out , write parking tickets , speeding tickets and on . So , you know , looking for drugs , that's , that's part of the job , but that's not the main part of the job . Yeah , the main part of the job , and I'm a firm believer in serving people . Yeah , you know , and , and I believe , once you do that , once you bridge that gap , you know , become personable . You know , yeah , see me at the mall . See , you know , see me a giant eagle you know conversation right things going .
Speaker 1I remember , um , growing up and uh , you know , every now and then throw a football . You know , just , it wasn't , it was throwing a football . Or you know butter hands , remember ? I can't remember his name . He was born a police officer . He just called me because I couldn't catch it and I'd be like , well , he threw it right because he threw ducks , yeah , and he'd like call me butter hands or something you know . But I'll never forget that we just talked Throw the football . You know it was nothing major . And then when he they ride by and you know they'd be like it's getting late , you know that kind of thing . So it wasn't nothing . You know , like F , you don't tell me what to do . We had a relationship .
Speaker 2Sure , sure Like .
Speaker 1I'm just out here hanging out you know , what I mean Like mm-hmm , you know and that , and so it was a different time . I don't know if that happens now . It probably does working or something like that , but I do think some type of community connection right , Some type of just engagement , you know , makes things a lot easier .
Speaker 2Yeah , and I say this , you know , and maybe it's because I am getting older , you know , it seems like our younger police officers are more susceptible to have these good relationships because they don't , they're not aware of bad policing and I say this all the time publicly is that you know ? Yeah , we went through this Department of Justice consent degree or settlement agreement , but the issues that caused that they weren't even born or they were too young to know what it is . So when we went through this , these problems , that through these problems that we had in the police department , they don't know anything about it . They don't know anything about it .
Speaker 1Sure .
Speaker 2They're a different generation and it's a I'll say and it's my opinion , it's a better generation for policing . I think race relations are better than they were back then . And again , that's just my personal opinion . Yeah , I think race relations are better than they were back then . You know , and you know again that's just my personal opinion ? Yeah , but it's a different breed of police out here the younger , more friendlier , more apt to relate better . You know , I grew up . You know blacks were on this side and whites were on this side .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know that's come on man , those days seem to be ending . It's a new era , it is .
Speaker 1It is when I think , captain , leadership you've spoken about leadership in your roles , as in , you know , with the military , law enforcement and you know , with captain I'm sure you have people that are under you . You know that type of thing what strategies have you found most effective in leading your team and maintaining morale ? Because I think sometimes you know obviously not a police officer , never been anything , but I think morale you can get beat up , you know being labeled and thrown into a boat of that . How do you keep the leadership and the morale up in your department with you ?
Speaker 2Well , first of all , you have to have situational leadership . You know , transformational leadership . Yeah , I'm the boss , but you have to believe your people can do the job and you , you have to give them the opportunity to fulfill their job . So as far as , like my , my lower level supervisors , I give them full authority to act and do what they need to do , which thus increases their morale Okay , I'm , I'm high on respect respect and adults , and this is something . These are some of the problems I went through when I was a young officer . Nobody respected you . I got hurt . I was 30 years old . You know they tell me sit in the car and don't touch that . I'm a grown man . You know I'm a grown man 30 , telling you yeah .
Speaker 2You know they take the keys out of the cars Two degrees outside . You're telling me to sit in the car . What it was , the hazing portion of it ? Well , I'm too old for that , dude Rookie . We ain't doing that , you know , and those days are long gone . And morale for our younger officers comes because they get the respect of just being a police officer , being an adult . You know , like I say , that was old school thinking and we just don't do that anymore . But yeah , as far as leadership , hey , transformational , I hold you accountable to do your job . I give you full authority to do it , but I'm going to hold you accountable .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , and it works , it works very well . How important is representation and diversity in the police force in your opinion ? Oh , in my opinion it's huge .
Speaker 2You know , I teach community diversity and procedural justice at the police academy , and so studies say that your department should make up the community .
Speaker 1And that's tough .
Speaker 2That's tough because you've got different aspects of the community as far as race , religion and things of that nature . Since I've been on the Warren Police Department , getting it to look diverse is a little tough . It has been . You know there's been some initiatives throughout those years . You know the city put them on and I compared a lot to Youngstown Police Department because their department looks way different than ours , you know , in terms of race , gender . You know they seem to attract a more diverse crew and I don't understand it because you know I teach the police academy , they all know me . I'll tell them to come to Warren , right , you know ? But then you know I find out , hey , they went to Youngstown Police Department and that could be too , because you know we're not saying that YPD isn't , but we're very by the book and that's due to the Department of Justice settlement agreement . So we do things a little different .
Speaker 2But yeah , getting back to the question , yeah , diversity is tough , but I believe you know and I work hard to do that Diversity is tough , but I believe you know and I work hard to do that we kicked off an initiative with Kent State Trumbull Police Academy for some recruitment , minority recruitment issues , some incentives that we could put in and , as a matter of fact , the academy starts here next month and I believe we do have one young African-American male we're looking to bring into our ranks as soon as he completes it . We do things like we'll pay for your police academy upon completion . So that's just an initiative , because it's hard to come up with the money to pay for police academy . So in turn we'll pay for it , help you with those costs and get you on . So that's a good incentive .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , I don't know how much it costs , but I'm sure it's worth getting reimbursed for Trust me , trust me . Do you have an example of a community initiative or program that you yourself are proud of ?
Speaker 2Well , that that with Kent State I'm sorry that with Kent State , trumbo , and also there's an initiative that's headed up by the mayor of the city I don't want to put too much out because I know he has his own launch program with that but it's Police Community Trust Initiative and you know , like I say , uh , you're part of it , so you , you know what's coming out .
Speaker 1Yep , I just don't want to uh take the steam out of it , but yeah , very proud to be proud of , very proud to be very proud to serve on that okay , 31 years , 30 plus years in the force a lot of stuff , a lot of demands with that . I'm sitting staring at the ceiling imagining this whole thing . How do you balance personal life with your roles like law enforcement , police captain , like that whole thing ? How do you ?
Speaker 2how do you balance life out ? Well , just being myself . You know , I just have to be myself . This is this is my job . Be honest , Law abiding citizen . I just try to live a good , clean life .
Speaker 2You know sometimes you're out and about and you know , obviously I got to live my life , you know . But like I said , I'm big on accountability . So being a police captain , I know that brings about certain character , a way I have to carry myself . So I just do when it comes to a phone ringing in the middle of the night . That's what I signed up for . I don't make big mention of it , but my wife is a police officer as well . She's a sergeant in Youngstown Police Department . So that's our life Right .
Speaker 1Police .
Speaker 2it is our life , you know no big surprises when the phone rings Right , Other than whose is it and who got it ?
Speaker 1I was going to say like whose call ?
Speaker 2is this at this time of night ? Well , we got different ring . Okay , cool , cool , cool . Yeah , she's the internal affairs officer at Youngstown Police Department , so her phone rings more than mine . Okay , pretty much mine rings for notification , hers rings for hey , get out .
Speaker 1So what do you do for fun ? I know you like to golf . That's my thing , man , golfing .
Speaker 2I'm a golfer , I love to golf . Spend time with my family . I have four golfer . I love to golf , you know . Spend time with my family . I have four grandkids .
Speaker 1Oh , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2Three children . So you know family is big . But yeah , just recreational . You know I'm going to pick up a fishing pole here in a minute , in a couple months , you know . You got it planned out , oh yeah man you know that's called retirement planning One of these days when we get back into fishing- I thought you was going to do another 10 plus years .
Speaker 1Put 10 more years in here , okay , I don't know where you hear that from . That's misinformation . No , I made that up y'all . I'm just letting y'all know . I made that up , just humor .
Speaker 2No but yeah , you know , I like , like I said , I like golf , you know fellowship and got a lot of good friends and that's it .
Speaker 1Yeah , everybody I've met that know you speak highly of you , you know . And then when we first met , I was like man , you know , I remember us talking inside of the podcast studio and just , and the one day we were down in the conference room I was having a horrible day . That day , man .
Speaker 1I was having grief moment , I was this and that , and we're sitting around the table talking , and you know me and you had a conversation and walked up here and I just showed you . Right , yeah , that was very helpful . We wasn't talking about , oh life is this ? Because you had no idea . Right , yeah , but internally , you , you know , I'm keeping the composure in this meeting and da , da , da , da , we started to tell us how we talked about golf , right , yeah , and just life in general , and so you know I mean . So here you go , just let
Life Lessons and Career Advice
Speaker 1you know . You asked me what I do this .
Speaker 1Hey , I'm all in yeah , I told you yeah , so , uh , what negative wisdom would you give the 18 year old ? Negative wisdom ?
Speaker 2no no , no , what nugget of wisdom . Oh nugget of wisdom . Would you give the 18-year-old Negative ?
Speaker 1wisdom no , no , no .
Speaker 2What nugget ?
Speaker 1of wisdom .
Speaker 2Oh , nugget of wisdom .
Speaker 1Yeah , say something bad . What negative wisdom would you give ?
Speaker 2No , no , no , nothing negative . I tell 18-year-old Jeff Cote that life is rough . You know . Stay on your path . Just stay on your path . Trust in it gets you through it . You know , because you don't know life , you don't know what lies ahead for you . You know , you know there's struggles . You know marriage , divorce , life , death . You know well , as you know , stay on your path . Don't be discouraged , don't . You know ? Don't let bad things discourage you . Just keep forging through . Stay true to the game .
Speaker 1All right .
Speaker 2Whatever that game is for you , stay true to it .
Speaker 1All right , yeah , so this is one of I got a lot of favorite parts when I do these interviews . This one is the one word . We spoke about that , and that's you know word that has meaning to you or defines you or partially defines you . What is your one word and tell us why .
Speaker 2Integrity . That's the one thing I give myself . I can't , no one take from me . You cannot take integrity . When I got to Warren , that was the only thing I brought with me A Nissan Got rid of the Nissan , but I still have my integrity . When I leave , I'm going to take it with me . I told a young man that today we just heard on Monday . It's ironic , it's very ironic . And I told him that , no matter what happens to you down here , never lose sight of your integrity , because once you lose it , you'll never get it back . If you , if you give that up , you'll never get it back , especially in this , in this line of work . So I live by that .
Speaker 1No , you got it . Your word . Integrity , yep , all right .
Speaker 2You ready for this random ?
Speaker 1question round . Come on , you cool with it too . Come on . It's just a few questions I like to ask , just for conversation . So let's start off with . Every man should own a tie . You got a nice tie on too , by the way . If you could only wear one color for the day , what color would that be ? Gray ? If you had a superpower but you could only use it on Friday , what superpower would that be ?
Speaker 2Oh , that's a tough one . Superpower .
Speaker 1I don't know what the superpowers are , it could be whatever you want , the power to fly be invisible , whatever you want it to be , mind , read , read . I wouldn't do that on a friday .
Speaker 2no , no , no fridays , I can't read my own after the week . Oh no , I'd have to say . If I just had to pick one , I'd say I'd say strength . I just say just say super power , super strength . Just one day a week , be stronger than everybody . Back to normal .
Speaker 1I'm going to move this mountain . There you go . If you could instantly change something in the world , what would it be ?
Speaker 2Homelessness .
Speaker 1If you could go to a vacation spot 21 days everything is paid for , plane ticket , all that stuff . You ain't got nothing to show up Anywhere in the world . Where would it be ?
Speaker 2Well , I've done some traveling , you know . I've been to the islands and cruises , oh man 21 days of just bliss .
Speaker 1You got to pay for nothing . Nothing Good to go .
Speaker 2It could be an unrealistic answer . It could be wherever you want it to be Heaven . I like to see my people . I like that . I like to see my mom and dad and the rest of my family . I like that . Yeah , I like that . I'd like to see my mom and dad and the rest of my family . I like that .
Speaker 1Yeah , if you would be reincarnated , or if you could be reincarnated to an animal , what animal would you want to come back ? As A bird ? What kind of bird ? You got to be careful with that one , because you know an eagle or a sparrow .
Speaker 2Well , a peaceful bird . Just fly around and look at the world from up there , you know , just to soar .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , maybe an eagle . Yeah , not too many people mess with them and you can soar .
Speaker 2Okay , all right .
Speaker 1Yeah , see me , I'd be like a blue jay or something , because you know I'm mean a little territorial , you know but I got pretty colors Okay . Okay , and I'm a name of a team you know , Toronto Blue Jackets .
Speaker 2Until somebody get mad about it . Right , don't change it .
Speaker 1What advice and this is an important question I want to close out with , but what advice would you give someone looking to pursue a career in law enforcement ?
Speaker 2What advice ? Hmm ? Well , first of all , I'd say listen , this is a great career field and , despite what's really you know , seems obvious or seems always in the news . You know the misdeeds of police officers . That's less than 1% of what law enforcement is . That's less than 1% . You know , and far too many , but still less than 1% of what law enforcement is . That's less than 1% . You know , far too many , but still less than 1% . It's a great opportunity for advancement , promotion , great benefits .
Speaker 2And if you don't like the way policing is , and I've always said this and I had a great military guy tell me this you can't beat the system . You got to get in the system and change it . So I've always tried to do that throughout my career . You know , when I didn't like something , I say , well , I can't work for that guy , I got to get promoted .
Speaker 2Or you know , I don't like the way this policy read . Hey , put in a suggestion and have a policy change , so I say , get in and change it , all right have a policy change so I say get in and change it . Law enforcement will be around forever . So instead of complaining about it , come on in and help me fix this before I get up out of here .
Speaker 1Which is about a few ten years from now , About two years from now . I'll never get out of it .
Speaker 2I'll never get out . I'll never get out . Just how long I can sit in the chair , you know .
Speaker 1It's a pleasure having you on here .
Speaker 2Hey man , I appreciate it . I'm more than pleased to come over here and do this . We got it done . Yeah , we said we was going to do it .
Speaker 1We did it . We got it done Well , folks , I want to thank you for hitting the play button and I hope you got a lot from this interview with Captain Cole . Captain Jeff Cole , right , and I will tell you remember those words I said in the beginning and I'm pretty sure and this is not knowing him well , just through conversation and stuff , so you can tell right , he exudes this because those words that I talked about you hit on in every last one of them . So thank you for hitting the play button . Stay tuned for the next episode soon . Signing out .
Podcast Production and Studio Services
Speaker 1This episode was produced by the Sound United Podcast Studio , led by Kimberly Gonzalez . Photography and video content produced by the D5 Group , and be sure to visit our website , soundunitedpresentscom , where you can catch up on all the episodes and get some behind the scenes content . I'm Deshaun Scott Thank you for listening . Ready to launch a podcast or create standout audio content ? Sound United Podcast Studio has everything you need Studio rental , consulting , content development , marketing support , and we even offer remote editing services . And we can help you whether you're local or nationwide . So book your discovery . Call at wwwthesounducom that is wwwthesounducom or do it the old fashioned way and call 330-238-7157 . That is 330-238-7157 . It's time for you to empower with sound .
