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Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement
2024: Ranked #1 Law Podcast
Host: Tyler Owen and Clint McNear discussing topics, issues, and stories within the law enforcement community. TMPA is the voice of Texas Law Enforcement, focused on protecting those who serve. Since 1950, we have been defending the rights and interests of Texas Peace Officers by providing the best legal assistance in the country, effective lobbying at state and local levels, affordable training, and exemplary member support. As the largest law enforcement association in Texas, TMPA is proud to represent 33,000 local, county and state law enforcement officers.
Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement
#089- "Stilettos & Shields" with Laurie Burks
Ever wondered how one transitions from the corporate world to the heart-pounding beat of police work? Laurie Burks from Rockwall PD joins us to share her inspiring journey from corporate shakeups to finding her true calling in law enforcement.
In this episode, Laurie reveals how a pair of high heels became a symbol of resilience and confidence in a male-dominated field. Her journey, including roles like family violence investigation, shows the power of continuous learning and determination.
Tune in for a lively exploration of law enforcement, where each story adds a new layer to the badge.
email us at- bluegrit@tmpa.org
I mean you do have to tabletop it and think, worst case, like what's this going to happen, what's this going to go like, and know who has the capability and what capabilities everybody on your ship have One of our containment team guys. He's a young, vibrant, excited. He's always looking to do stuff and that's one of the things he does on patrol with his guys.
Speaker 2:Welcome back. Viewers watch. It's been a it's been an eventful morning so far. We've been here since 5 am and it's noon now our time. We have been able to piece together uh the uh computer issues we've had this morning with this podcast room had a storm, may have been some election interference. What's going on?
Speaker 2:people don't want to hear our voice and tifa got a hold of our shit and so, um, you know, it's just a lovely day at tmpa. It's just uh, we life throws your dodgeballs and and uh, curveballs, you gotta, you gotta roll with it. So we are, uh, we are here. How was the drive down?
Speaker 3:it was good man. I like that saying. When was it?
Speaker 2:life gives you lemons, portitos in it and make lemonade, uh yeah that sounds like a hill country, uh saying yeah, being there drive was good good drive was okay for me, traffic sucked, but uh, you know it's the day after elections, everybody's kind of. There's some people that are excited in austin, some people that ain't still in bed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, some people ain't yeah there. There you go. We had three hours of traffic and you had a drive-in seeing a 200-plus inch deer. Yeah, yeah, Typical Wimberley.
Speaker 2:Typical Wimberley White tail going at it. They were getting after it. At least this time they weren't going after me. I was almost sexually assaulted in Wimberley last year by by a deer. By a deer. It was during the rut, and so apparently I smell very doughy and so you know shit happens, but anyway.
Speaker 1:Did you report?
Speaker 2:it, I did, I did. I had a touch on a piece of paper where the deer touched me.
Speaker 1:You had to draw a diagram.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had to draw a diagram and everything. So anyway, I thought it was a doe. What is? Give us an update on Texas FLP. What's going on with Texas FLP? And you just got back from El Paso and other stuff going on, so what you got going.
Speaker 3:We have a spring board meeting in Wichita Falls coming up. April 11th through 13th, I think, are the dates. Went to El Paso two weeks ago to visit with our lodges out there and visited with the folks Protecting our southern border and local lodges. There's a federal lodge out there Composed of a bunch of folks and good, good, freaking people out there. Good food Came home about 10 pounds heavier, it happens, but all's good. Man. Fop's moving forward and plugging along and we're making a bid to host the 2029 national fop conference in texas. What city? Houston that'd be. That's good. After much discussion, you couldn't sell san marcos, couldn't send some marcus. I tried wimberly but they were saying the convention center, we are game. We are game Like that would be legit. We were working on Wimberley if they could hold 5,500 people or not, that's questionable.
Speaker 2:We had a whitetail banquet the other day. They held about 1,000, and it was at capacity A whole city. Yeah, you couldn't flush anything because we're on a water restriction right now, so by the end of the night it had an odor amongst the city. So, yeah, all right. Well, yeah, it's a nice gala when you've got to go outside to pee. It's a nice gala when you've got to go outside to pee. That's rural Texas, right there.
Speaker 3:So who we got on? We have on a friend, a co-worker, lori Burks from Rockwall PD, new fielder up. Lori Burks from Rockwall PD, new filter up, not new now, she's been here about a year, she's been on since May. That's a Texas year.
Speaker 2:Lori Burks, you have been involved. Clint's been talking about you For some time now. You've been in local association leadership In a good way, in a really good way. Uh, you've been, you've been involved with rockwall poa leadership for such a long time, uh, and so it just makes it. We had this conversation last year. The best field reps we have are those that have been involved with local associations, and so the opportunity came up, uh, you know, to bring you on as a part-time field rep, kind of get the feel of things, and so we're excited to have you uh, I know you've you've already been, you know, involved since may uh, but you're starting to kind of see you know the different dynamics and you've got an interesting uh career with rockwall uh, and we're going to dive off into some of that. So, man, welcome aboard laurie, and uh with an-E, correct.
Speaker 1:Yes, l-a-u-r-i-e. My mother says Laurie, laurie.
Speaker 2:I knew a few Lauries Laurie with a Massachusetts accent.
Speaker 1:Yes, very strong. Thank you, I said Laurie.
Speaker 2:But you know we like to kind of start the podcast off with how you got in law enforcement where you grew up, at just who the hell is Lori, and we'll go from there.
Speaker 1:Take it from there. Who is Lori? Who am I? Somebody asked me that yesterday at the range I was shooting really well and he goes who are you?
Speaker 2:And I was like I don't know. Wonder woman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was born in Massachusetts, so I am a Yankee. I lived in Florida, lived in Maine A Yankee. I lived in Florida, lived in Maine, lived in Texas a couple of times. First time we came here I lived in Oak Cliff Probably early 80s, wasn't so bad. Moved to Maine, came back. We lived in Pleasant Grove when I first moved here the Grove.
Speaker 2:We lived in Pleasant Grove. That's a big difference in Maine and the Grove.
Speaker 1:It was Like we were just throwing it out there. My dad came down here to go to seminary school and that's where we ended.
Speaker 2:Fall colors. You go from beautiful autumn fall colors to red, and blue, bloods and crips.
Speaker 1:Lights police lights.
Speaker 3:You still have colors.
Speaker 2:You still have colors, but not exactly what you're used to, not quite the same. What prompted the move and not really jumping? I don't want to say the word jumping around, so you couldn't. You couldn't control that, but what was going on? Uh, for the moves um, it was.
Speaker 1:So I'm older. I'm older than I look. Uh, I'm 49. So it was late 70s to early to mid 80s, and a lot of it was the economy okay um, my dad, uh, was going to school. He came down here to go to seminary school. He went to christ for the nations, which is, I think, in oak Cliff area, and so that made sense.
Speaker 3:Um, and then it became were you?
Speaker 2:No, no, no. Right Got a scholarship flunked out first semester, became a cop and they were like you need Jesus more than we can give you I need Jesus. There is no doubt there. I was going to play ball there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they didn't have football Anyway.
Speaker 1:So that's why we ended up in Dallas where we did. I went to private school when we lived in Dallas and then we ended up building a house out close to Greenville area, okay, so I went to public school out there.
Speaker 2:And that whole area has changed. I mean Greenville itself, right. I mean it's probably blown up plus 10,000 the last 10 years, five years, you think.
Speaker 3:What's crazy too now is the traffic. Once you went east to Rockwell, there's no traffic, yeah, and now the traffic between Rockwell and Greenville is….
Speaker 2:Steady.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's getting….
Speaker 2:You know, I didn't realize how close Greenville was to McKinney. Really, I mean truthfully, like through Farmersville and all that. Yes, I mean, it's not that far. I mean it's probably closer than when I drove Wimberley to Austin and that whole area is exploding.
Speaker 3:Princeton, all of that area is exploding Yep yep.
Speaker 1:So I didn't live in Greenville we lived in Cache. It was in between.
Speaker 2:Greenville and Quinlan. Quinlan, that's a metropolis there it's an interesting place.
Speaker 1:That was the public school that I went to my options were Bowles, which is a very small it was Bowles Home is what it was called but it had a public school if you lived in a very tiny circumference of it. So I was supposed to go to Bowles and I elected to go to Quinlan.
Speaker 2:What is the area near Quinlan? I'm going to say say this and it's probably gonna be taken the wrong way. I know this is shocking, but if bud and sissy off urban cowboy had a fucking place to live at, it would be in quinlan, because it's like this little. It's an area that's got 200 000 our homes mixed in with rvs and single wide trailers but it's its own city west tuakini. I think it is well. It's close to there, I think, but it's this own cove hawk cove.
Speaker 1:That's it, uh-huh that's. That is that where you were close to there no, I'm sure back then it was closer to greenville. Okay, oh, but I know I got the sense that's not where you want to live.
Speaker 3:It's not where you want to retire we got a legal call from hawk cove and somebody called and said hey, can you handle it at your area? I was like, not my area. They're like no Hawk Cove near Lake Tawaka and I'm like I grew up around East Texas, I know this area. They were insistent so I was like sure. So I was going to look it up to prove them wrong. So I Googled Hawk Cove.
Speaker 1:I'm like well, son of there, yeah, yeah it's an interesting area.
Speaker 3:I had to go for a follow-up for cid one time and I went alone. Scary, yeah, yeah. So anyway, sorry. Typical area though it is, it is typical. It is typical anyway in bowls home. Wasn't that an orphanage?
Speaker 1:why they call it home. That's why it was an orphanage very similar to the one over on Dowdy Ferry over here in Dallas.
Speaker 3:Yep, yes, buckner, buckner.
Speaker 1:Children's.
Speaker 2:Home, yes.
Speaker 1:So I think they were affiliated way back when, but now it's a small 2A school. I mean it's a great school Bowles actually is.
Speaker 3:It's a great ISD, but the became the school and then became the school district.
Speaker 1:The Bulls home. So the orphanage area is all still there and they have houses there and everything. And then it was a private school for the orphanage and then it opened up to an actual school district.
Speaker 3:And it's a really good small town, but it's a really good ISD.
Speaker 1:Very good.
Speaker 3:I can relate. It's weird. It's like Martin's Mill south of Canton Tiny, tiny place, but literally people from out of state moved there for their school district. It's weird, that's cool yeah.
Speaker 2:So you graduated high school, go to college. Let's let's dive off into how you got your career started with a Rockwall PD.
Speaker 1:So I don't have this great story. Everybody has this story about how I wanted to help people. I have a business degree. I was in the business world. I worked at a cable assembly corporation and I was a purchasing manager. Okay, at a cable assembly corporation and I was a purchasing manager.
Speaker 3:You go to college. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:Well, they ended up paying for my school. That was part of when I went to work there. Oh wow, that was something I negotiated.
Speaker 2:What company?
Speaker 1:It was called Precision Cable Manufacturing. Okay.
Speaker 2:There's General Cable out in East Texas. I didn't know it was the same thing.
Speaker 1:We got bought by Amphenol.
Speaker 2:Okay, we got bought by Amphenol.
Speaker 1:We got bought by Nortel in 2000. We were sold by our original founding president. He sold to Nortel and then after 2000,. The market crashed, went into bankruptcy, got bought out of bankruptcy by a company called Amphenol. Very stressful, very stressful.
Speaker 2:And not the law enforcement. Yeah Different.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's so different.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is.
Speaker 3:It is. I think it's cool. You took advantage of their offer. And probably a point to all of our members If your department offers you the opportunity to get classes, get school, get reimbursement, take advantage of it, cause, like I'm about to be 53, I think, or 52, 53. I really wish I'd taken advantage of that younger. I appreciate that you took advantage of the opportunity to go get a degree. Might as well take advantage of any benefit the company's offering you. In a lot of cities a lot of agencies will offer. They don't offer you the ability to go. They'll offer like reimbursement if you'll go right, and I think more people ought to take advantage of that yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:gi be on Freaking, take advantage of it Yep.
Speaker 1:So, so I'm working there, going through bankruptcy. I remember it was an ice storm had come through my son was two at the time and had shut down, like all the schools and daycares, and I couldn't go to work and they were very cutthroat. They were very good to me, let me say that Like they offered me a lot of opportunities, very good to me. Let me say that Like they offered me a lot of opportunities, very good to me. But my vice president was like you need to come to work. And I didn't miss work and I was like I can't because Tyson, you know, he's home, I can't do anything, and he's. I had just bought a new Land Rover, right A discovery. And that thing could to work. And I told my husband, uh, at the time, and he did not appreciate that Um, and he was mad, rightfully so, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Um, like, the safety of my kid was way more important than one day at work, but not to them. They were. They were hardcore. And um, we're talking. And I said, well, you get off all the time. And he did. I was like you get off all the time, what are you going to do? Could be a cop? And he laughed at me and said you couldn't do this. And that's what happened.
Speaker 3:So somebody told you no somebody.
Speaker 1:Somebody said I couldn't do something. That's my story. Um, so I I actually contacted the city of Rockwall. It was way before much internet, it was in the early 2000s. I called the HR manager. She said it was like a Friday. She said, well, we just closed, it was Monday. She had just closed an opening for police applications. She faxed me an application that I filled out and faxed back to her and I tested on that Saturday probably a hundred people in that test easily. And, um, that was in February, that was January, it was in January and they hired three of us in August out of that test. Wow, the Academy in September.
Speaker 2:And what year was that?
Speaker 1:September of 2003. Okay, early 2003.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 21 years ago, almost 22 years ago, yeah damn.
Speaker 2:And you're right now you're in cid. I mean, obviously you've got a long, lengthy career with rockwall pd. At what point did you get interested in the tactical side of things? Uh, obviously, you know, you start off with patrol, have an fto and then at some point I think you know we in law enforcement rockwall being probably not the size it was then, it's grown significantly since you started it has. But you had an interest in SWAT and you've had an interesting career. So kind of walk us through. You know those aspects as well.
Speaker 1:So I work patrol right. You have to learn how to do that. You have to learn how to be a cop.
Speaker 2:You have to learn to crawl and walk.
Speaker 3:You have to learn right. You have to learn how to do that. You have to learn how to be a cop. You have to learn right. They hire you to Rockwell. They don't have their own academy. They send you to.
Speaker 1:Cog or something Right. I went to Cog in.
Speaker 2:Arlington. That's a pretty good clip from Rockwell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a drive and I lived in Forney. Like it was a drive. Yeah, what? Four and a half months back? Then it wasn't as bad. It really wasn't. It was a drive, but the traffic wasn't as horrendous as it is today. Traffic's terrible today. So, like I worked the majority of my career evening shift, which was at that time 4 PM to 2 AM. You know, become an officer trying to figure out what you're good at, what you like, what you like to do, and I always said I remember back in my very first interviews they were like you're just a girl, what are you going to?
Speaker 1:do Literally and I was like I can probably out talk you Like my, I'll use my brain. I don't have to fight everybody. I promise you I won't fight everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so you know learning how to be a cop. What are you good at what? How to be a cop what are you good at? What do you like to do? I liked investigative stuff. I worked crime scene. I was a field training officer. I did all of that for the first 10 years and then I went into CID, which I've been in there in 11 years now.
Speaker 1:Once I got into CID, I worked regular property crime everything we didn't have assigned detectives. One year in, we ended up getting a grant for a family violence detective. My chief came to me and asked me if I would be willing to take it, so I did. It was the best thing for me. I didn't enjoy CID property crime. Walmart had something stolen Like. I hate to say that I didn't care, but I didn't care.
Speaker 1:I liked working crimes against persons and feeling like I got somebody bad off off the street. So I really enjoyed that, really enjoyed that. I specialize in family violence and sex crimes now. So probably what was really 2016? We had an officer involved shooting and I remember you showed up at that scene. That was a family violence underlying case Larry's, larry's, yes. So I ended up going to the hospital interviewing a victim working through all of that and you know, over the next couple of days, as a detective, you're watching body cameras, you're watching all of these things that are going on and trying to put the scene back together and the officers that were on the scene.
Speaker 2:The investigation, yeah.
Speaker 1:The officers that were on the scene the Rangers were too, but you know we were watching body cameras. We pulled phones, all of these things, watching their body cameras. You know there were probably five officers on that scene and what was going on is the, the suspect. There was a squad car behind the suspect uh car. He was parked and he gets into the car and he starts ramming squad car pulling up back and forth, back and forth. Um, you're watching the scene and watching all these officers that are there and there was a very, a very young officer there and he was. He was in the back of a truck and I remember him going so-and-so do this, giving everybody commands and direction on what to do next to try to stop this guy from continuing this. Before the shooting occurred and I was like God, colin Hartman's a little badass. What is going on? He is telling 20-year cops what to do. And he was, and after watching that I was like back it up, let's watch it again. And literally he was dictating to everybody what to do next.
Speaker 3:Handling business.
Speaker 1:He was handling business and I was like why he is awesome. And I sat there thinking and I told the other detective that was looking at it and watching it with me I go, I know why. I was like he's in SWAT, he trains for this all the time. And he was like, yeah, that's probably it. And I was like I'm going to do that. And he looked at me and he was like you ain't doing that. You're a girl, you ain't doing that. So when the next opportunity?
Speaker 3:Somebody told Lori no, there we go again. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I mean no, like the training and the opportunities that they get and clearly you know it worked, it stuck with them and he was awesome and he is he's a great team leader.
Speaker 2:And for those that don't know SWAT, majority of Texas I would say 95% of Texas, maybe even more than that are considered part-time teams. Right, and so TTP away. What's the national um NTOA? They put out, you know, recommendations of what they recommend for tactical teams to practice, train. Uh, part-time teams typically do eight hours a month.
Speaker 2:Um, some go more, some go less, but it's an opportunity for, I don't want to say, your average patrolman, but it's an opportunity for any cop out there that has an interest in getting on a team to have eight hours of essentially every department out there, like the Chiefs Association. It's mandatory. You have to follow TTPOA or NTOA, and so it's a great. Back to your point, it's a good opportunity for you to go through training that the department's providing and hone your skills and not become a badass, but but get the experience within the training, because what's sad is is that not? I mean you train and train and train for the unknown Right, and so it gave you the opportunity to do that by going into SWAT and improving your skills of what you saw on the body cam footage.
Speaker 1:Right, well, I mean it. It makes you better. It gives you an opportunity to hone in skills. A lot of times, officers don't get to shoot their weapons unless they're going on duty once a year, um, or they're doing it on their own. And ammo's a lot of money, you know. So to learn, all right, I'm not doing this. Watch me right. You're a range commander and you have that expertise. Help me figure out how I can be better. And they do that.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that every opportunity you get given to improve or better yourself in the profession, whether it's at work for the wire company and going to college or I don't want to be a property crimes detective, I want to go learn some additional skills. Then SWAT I want to learn additional skills. I think it's something to highlight is somebody doesn't rest on their laurels, and I think that's part of what sets really really good cops apart from people that just want to kind of just be in neutral through their whole career is take advantage of the opportunities you're given yeah, yeah, and make no mistake about it.
Speaker 2:I think every department and this may be also misunderstood as well, but every, every department has situations or officers. Where we had one at marsh God rest her soul. Her name's Bessie Sellers. She was a female and all she wanted to be was just a patrolman, like her entire career. She wanted to be just a patrolman because she liked being out there on the streets, and that's perfectly okay. Every department needs those kinds of people, right, yeah? But then also departments good ones.
Speaker 2:It's good to have different avenues of. You may not want to promote, but you may want to go on the SWAT. You may want, you may not want to promote, but you may want to go to CID, and so having those options available, number one, it keeps you engaged with your department, but it also gives you the experience to be a better cop and to you know, hone in and and and give you more experience, uh, as far as the different facets and fields within the law enforcement community. So, yeah, I that that's badass that you continue to get told no and you're like well, hold my beer and watch this, you, son of a bitch, I'm fixing to put it on and do it right, and then for you also.
Speaker 3:It's like a try.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. And then for you to do it in the tactical aspect. There's not a whole. We just had this conversation. Maybe 30 females in Texas, I would think, that are on tactical teams roughly and if we're wrong, prove it to us.
Speaker 1:I don't know a number, but I haven't seen a whole lot.
Speaker 3:Somebody correct us in the comments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's cool and you may not see this now, but you are setting the standard of what female officers could be right. There's not a whole lot of females that have an interest in this profession and so thank you for sparking that interest up, because you don't know my I've got a daughter right and she's turns 12 tomorrow and she sees somebody like you of of getting told no in a male dominant profession and you're like no, hold my beer, I'm fixing to go show you why, why I can, and so thank you for doing that. It's, it's. It's pretty cool to see and now to see as a field rep, you can expand that and show different female officers across the state really how to do it and how to do it right. So, thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 3:So let me ask you I can't relate to being a petite female Was it ever getting into law enforcement at first, from the get go, early on? Did it ever cross your mind Like oh shit, or this is intimidating, or cause it doesn't strike you? Don't strike me as a type that it intimidated you. And then taking it a step further to get onto squat? Were you like uh, uh, what, what did I really get myself into? Or was it like let's, let's, let's saddle up and do this and see what we got?
Speaker 1:I probably didn't know what I was getting into. Uh, from the get, I remember sitting on, I remember going to my first oral board and I had no, my, my ex-husband didn't help like, preface me like hey, this is fixing to happen, probably selfishly. Right, he probably. Maybe selfishly, but maybe he thought you're going to earn this. If you're going to get it, then you're going to get it on your own. I'm not. I'm not helping.
Speaker 2:It's shitty not to do it, though it's okay.
Speaker 1:It's okay, I know I did it.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But I remember going to that first oral board and it being a panel, I had no idea what I was walking into. And it's a panel of five people and they were big monstrosity. Men like Clint, like big guys no tall probably 6'3". I'm 5'7", which I'm pretty tall for a female, but I was thin and I remember walking out of that board and going all right, I'm not going to be short again and I wear heels. The next several different interviews that I went into I wore four-inch heels.
Speaker 3:That's what I do.
Speaker 1:I'm not actually very tall, one of the guys that ended up into the academy with me. He came out of dispatch and he remembered talking to me multiple times as I had come into the police station and I remember on day one of the academy he goes you were like close to six foot tall and I was like no, I wasn't. I'm five seven. I've always been five seven, but I was not going to let anybody intimidate me. Just the feeling of you're so much bigger. I'm not looking up at you again.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, I don't know. We, uh, one of the dispatch supervisors and a new IT girl had come in earlier this week and she was talking about heels and how, during her first interview she was like I'm not letting them intimidate me, and it reminded me of that because I remember it being a sparking in my head like all right, I've got to even this playing field. How am I going?
Speaker 3:to do this. I respect that. It's rise up, let's figure out a way to get through this, rather than oh well, maybe I can't do this, that let's rise up, let's figure out a way to get through this rather than oh well maybe I can't do this?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and their conversations were you know, how are you going to do this, what are you going to do? And so you know that's what it's meant to be is to you know, make me realize and scare me, maybe intimidate me, see, am I? Am I really certain this is what I want to do?
Speaker 3:But yeah, Did you, did you walk out of your board confident your first board, 100%? Did you really? Yes, I did not, I did, I did not.
Speaker 1:It's like well, I screwed that and the guy walked out and goes you did great.
Speaker 3:I was like what I think he may have. Just left.
Speaker 1:That's funny. No, I did. I walked out confident.
Speaker 3:That's good. So the next step was what Did you? So the next step was what did you apply? And then like what did?
Speaker 1:I just, or did you feel like, yeah, I can do this, I'll, I'll fight, get through this? I, I did. I'm pretty physical. Um, I, I even teach. So I went to cooper school. Also, I'm a cooper fitness instructor for the department. Um, I, I teach physical fitness classes to uh gyms in the morning. Um, so the physical fitness aspect didn't even that didn't even cross my mind Like that one might be an issue. It is very physical. Certainly. That first test was most of those guys I've known. You know I'm I am the second most senior person on the SWAT team, so you know there's some respect also there for me. They don't pick on me and they never, ever did. They are certainly there as 100% my brother to help me and work with me. They're not there to intimidate me and I certainly do appreciate that about them.
Speaker 3:Do you all put on your own SWAT school or do you go through one?
Speaker 1:I went through Dallas M4 Operator School and then I went through it out uh. I went through dba or dallas uh m4 operator school and then I went through a swat school.
Speaker 3:Uh, I think mckinney and irving, yeah, kind of it was.
Speaker 1:Those are good teams too. Yeah, yeah, mckinney and irving basically ran that team, but it was in mckinney yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2:The school was probably at irving's range it was in between mckinney.
Speaker 1:We did mckinney's range, we did some stuff in range, we did some stuff in Irving, we did some stuff out in Salina.
Speaker 2:So we traveled each day different places. Yeah yeah, it was a good experience. So at what point did you so you've, you've, you've been told no, you've completed it. You became a cop, then CID, now SWAT. At what point did you get involved with the local association there at Rockwall?
Speaker 1:Very early on got on um, I was uh. Back then it was a secretary treasurer, probably in 05 or 06 oh, wow, okay pretty, pretty quickly on um. I've come off the board a couple of years and then back on um, depending on what was going on. Yeah, um, especially in my home I had another child uh, she's 17 now, so there was a point that I had to step back and then I've been on it consecutively probably for the last seven years. Okay, I haven't come off.
Speaker 3:Okay, have you ever been the president? Yes, I have. Or do you always just run it?
Speaker 1:No, I've been the president.
Speaker 3:I didn't know if she'd ever been the president, because she's always ran the association and she's never been the chief, but it seems she runs the police department.
Speaker 2:She's never been the police chief.
Speaker 3:That's funny. What's funny? You mentioned the eight-hour SWAT day. Their SWAT day is Tuesday.
Speaker 1:Mondays.
Speaker 3:Mondays. So on her Mondays will you teach at the gym four mornings a week? Uh-huh, yeah, so her Monday she teaches at the gym. Monday morning, Then she goes and works CID all day, then she goes to her eight-hour SWAT day in one day.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, you got to carry on a full caseload with SWAT.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because it's a part-time team.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is a part-time team and let me clarify there's two different divisions of SWAT. There's an entry team and a containment team. I'm on containment and I'm 100% happy with where I'm at on SWAT.
Speaker 2:Right, how many officers are on your SWAT team?
Speaker 1:Eight team.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, okay, yeah, that's a hell of a team, and we're.
Speaker 1:We're a part-time team. I'm the only detective, but some of them are narcotics. The majority are coming out of patrol. A couple of traffic guys.
Speaker 3:Yeah For our non-LE listeners. I would imagine the only full-time teams in Texas are Dallas Houston.
Speaker 2:Austin San.
Speaker 3:Antonio.
Speaker 1:Arlington has a full-time team.
Speaker 3:Oh, do they really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, that's right.
Speaker 3:Dallas Cowboys. Well, they're're full-time swat and all they do for their normal assignment is make cover. What cover units? Oh, for traffic stuff and, yeah, patrol. Yeah, all they do is roll around with their kits with them in the car and just make backups or that's what they did for years my uncle worked there for a long time and they roll around and make backups. They don't take primary, they don't. So basically, they're supervisors sorry, they don't take primary.
Speaker 1:Sorry about that I only know they're a full-time team because in that operator school. There was an arlington guy there and I was like y'all have a full-time team, and he talked to me quite a bit about it and I was, I was dumb.
Speaker 3:That may have changed now, but back in the day all they did was roll around. They had all their gear with them so if there was a call, they had people out on the streets ready to meet up, but they'd just make cover. We had a DWI one night and a dude rolled up and was like Jesus, who's that? And he goes. Hey, swat, they make covers.
Speaker 1:Interesting. That's a good cover. It is a good cover. It would be a nice intimidating cover.
Speaker 2:And just in my experience in East Texas, it seemed like a lot of the regional teams that are combined with PDs and SOs. If you can set aside the egos because, god knows, sheriffs in Texas love to get egos and there's one specifically one out there in East Texas that has a huge ego but when it comes down to PDs, andds and sos, it seems like some of those regional teams. Uh, when you get the different aspects of all the different agencies and all the intertwined, it seems like they they've run a little bit better, and I was. I was on a city swat team for for a number of years, but it's always fasted me is that when you were two no, well, I was a tfo at the time, but could you say tfo?
Speaker 3:he likes to hear that oh, you like that tfo.
Speaker 1:I no, well, I was a TFO at the time. Could you say TFO? He likes to hear those.
Speaker 2:Oh you like that TFO. I love TFOs. It's cool because you have different, just like us, if us three are together. You worked at Rockwall Garland, I have East Texas, and so you have these three different mindsets.
Speaker 1:Right, three different backgrounds.
Speaker 2:Three different backgrounds, but it seems like some of the cities they get, I don't want to say caught up, but there's benefits to both, I think. And I think that when they get to regional teams like that, there's just a different approach and there's more of a dynamic, a different dynamic than just a city team.
Speaker 1:As long as they're training together. Well, I agree, you know, but that's just as long as they're training together. Well, I agree, like, yeah, you know, if you've got, uh, if you got a, you're even on a patrol call and you've got some people that are, you know, brand new on, and then you've got some with some SWAT experience.
Speaker 2:Like you need to know how everybody's going to maneuver and what their tactics are, how they're going to move, touch on that please, because I think that the the average patrolman right now just thinks well, I'm not on SWAT or I'm not going to have any kind of tactical, it doesn't make a shit. Nine times out of ten they're going to be the ones responding and be the first one on scene anyway. And so if you're not training with your shift mates on what am I doing? I was constantly going, driving down the road, going shit. What if a car blew up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. Talk about that being an active law enforcement right now and talk about the importance of that of training with your shift mates on patrol right now, even in CID.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you do have to tabletop it and think, worst case, like what's this going to happen, what's this going to go like, and know who has the capability and what capabilities. Everybody on your shift have One of our containment team guys. He's a young, vibrant, excited. He's always looking to do stuff and that's one of the things he does on patrol with his guys all the time, and so he's taking the initiative. And there are guys that are like I don't need that, I'm not on SWAT. Well, he's not trying to teach you SWAT, he's trying to teach you tactics and to know. Because you are as a patrol officer, you're going to be the first one there.
Speaker 3:You valid it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even in SRO, a lot of our you know several of our guys on SWAT are in the school, and that's fantastic. Those are the people that are going to be the first on scene. They need to have the best tactics, the most fresh and the most amount of training.
Speaker 3:Yep, I agree. Training, yep, I agree. And I I think the de-policing, the ferguson effect, the culture and the anti-police rhetoric has harmed our culture internally so bad?
Speaker 3:yeah, and a lot of people in our like do my go to the house, do my 12 go to the house? And my days in patrol we worked so close together that you know if you showed up, I knew what you would do, and if you did this, then I knew I was going to do that or I I would know how you were going to handle a call, because we work collaboratively together.
Speaker 2:right, and I feel like to some degree now with the culture being, I don't trust my co-workers and de-policing I think you're right, but I also think it has everything to do with the society, in the sense that our cell phones right Nine times out of ten, 95% of the patrolmen out there, because they're not scared, but they just know the risk. You say it all the time Is the juice worth the fucking squeeze? And so I'm not going to go out there and run traffic, stop a traffic stop if a traffic stop, uh, and then run the risk of getting complained on and in majority of departments now, because you have to fall in line with texas police chief association when you're under an ia offer. A simple complaint that shuts you down. And so now, now, cops they. They literally are in a bubble by themselves. They sit in their patrol car and they're what they're strolling social media staying, just answering, being not proactive but reactive on different patrol calls especially dallas, county travis yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I yeah to your point. I think, I think, yes, it's caused that, but I think society in general, with smartphones and, and you know, technology, has also kind of reverted back a little bit from the community policing that we, we once were, yep society in general.
Speaker 1:Um a lot of their you know four or five year on cops came on during covid and if you think about what were they allowed to do during covid, nothing well, it's true they had to sit in cars, like a lot of them. A lot of agencies were just taking phone calls. They were not allowing officers to be out. I didn't miss a single day of work for COVID, like we didn't have that option, but a lot of our patrol ones, you know. They were encouraged.
Speaker 3:I forgot my mask. I was going to wear my mask. Oh shit, yeah.
Speaker 1:During, you know, under different like before your shift we, we did, but during covid I don't think they could or they had to like separate yeah so stupid and they shut it out and then they never reverted back.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you some of the most probably I'm saying some of those inappropriate but funny, hysterical and brotherhood, sisterhood, camaraderie moments have been in to be together people.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, yes, they're not, because of whatever it is that's going on, then. Then it's going to change the society and how they move forward.
Speaker 3:The scenes from End of Watch, the movie End of Watch, the camaraderie and the cutting up, and you've got to be a family to do the job well.
Speaker 2:This is no shit. It was a guy on my shift. It was day shift, I was a motor cop and so he was going through a bad divorce. You know, you can't. We're ruthless and we eat our own. And this guy had been up all night fighting with his wife and so he falls asleep in briefing and I was like hell and my sergeant's like fire that bitch up and bring it in here. And so I was like, well, if I fire it up, because we would back, then we would drill for you motor cops out there, we would take a hole saw and we would drill out the baffles on our motorcycles on a brand new harley davidson. One time the chief caught me, it was a big, it was a big deal anyway. So I roll this bike into briefing and we jack it up on a jack stand and we fire the bike off.
Speaker 2:Well he's while he's he has knocked out full uniform. Oh my, we used to have the best time one time another. I'll tell you this is a funny story Donut shops in East Texas. We'd stop by and get donuts for day shift. We were a really tight-knit family and right before we would go there, there's this crazy sergeant. I worked for Jamie McConnell and anyway, we went to a possum call. This possum had given birth and had all these possum babies. So possum had given birth and had all these possum babies. So we went and got these.
Speaker 2:Better than camel babies, Better than camel babies, and so we literally put all the possum babies in the donut box and left them for day shift and didn't say shit and stood outside waiting for the first person to grab one. But those are the moments, right, that you look back at your career and you're like God, I missed, oh, my God. Yeah, Seeing a baby possum run up your friend's uniform shirt and have him shit on himself in briefings. There's no feeling like it. But anyway, that's East Texas for you.
Speaker 3:Now we don't have that anymore. It's just the firemen that get to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just the firemen get to play PlayStation and work out all the time, but anyway, well, so right now with your local association, you are what You've with your local association, you are what. Let's talk about the purse bingo. Let's talk about the success at Rockwall for the purse bingo and how that got started and kind of what benefit that is.
Speaker 3:And Tyler wants to dance next year.
Speaker 1:No, I need some models. I'm always looking for models. Yeah, I'm good, no, no. So the purse bingo that we participate with benefits the Children's Advocacy Center of Rockwell County.
Speaker 2:Okay, it is massive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, clint was my model when he was, he was. He brought in so much money. He was great.
Speaker 3:I bet, I bet, drunk blind.
Speaker 1:I remember him walking off stage. He goes Lori, there's hundreds in my pockets and I don't know where they're all at when we first started.
Speaker 2:So we do a purse bingo at TMP, as you're well aware. And when we first started this, my wife had said, hey, we need to do something for the ladies. And so, thank God, the board executives to have Clint, they were all, they were receptive to it. They were like, hey, let's do it. But when I tried to explain, like, okay, this is how you do it, the look on their face, it was priceless Because one no guy is going to get it.
Speaker 1:I was a model at one in East Texas, so I kind of knew how it worked. You're my next model Bullshit, no.
Speaker 2:But when you explain it, the fun the ladies have when they go to these things, it's remarkable. But there's so much money to be made, so much money to be made.
Speaker 3:It's insane, it's insane, it's crazy. How many women were there this year 700. Yeah, yeah, 700.
Speaker 1:Talk about intimidation and I get it right. Like y'all are getting on a stage and walking in front of or dancing a lot of them are dancing in front of 700 different women.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would rather go fight five suspects by myself than to have walked. That was. You have never come back I don't know it was.
Speaker 1:I swear to you it is. Yeah, I got joe king on one year too.
Speaker 3:Was he on the same year as you? But he, he would know he did so good. He started with he took his shirt off, didn't he? He did, he started. I'm not a model I'll come volunteer.
Speaker 1:and then the next thing was I was mad at a fireman because he bailed on me Thursday before the Saturday and I was probably MFing some. He was like okay, I'll model, but I'm just walking. And I was like what? And we're friends? He's a good friend. He graduated from the same high school with me, so I've known him 25 years.
Speaker 3:I didn't know that, joe.
Speaker 1:King did.
Speaker 2:Yes, he did. Okay, Did not know that. Yeah, so we we was talking about. He grew up near Terrell.
Speaker 1:That's right. Oh, he said Terrell, nobody wants to say Quinlan.
Speaker 2:No, no, he did not want to say Quinlan, he's also from Pleasant Grove, I think, or Oak Cliff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like he went to school out there too, which was funny, but so it went from. All, right, I'll just model. And so day of he gets there, and right before he gets on stage he goes. Hey, can I take off my shirt?
Speaker 2:Well, hell yeah.
Speaker 1:Sergio, take your shirt off. And he was a hit. It was great. That's awesome, but he didn't come back either.
Speaker 3:I don't know about this. I'm not going to do this. Can I take my shirt?
Speaker 1:off. I don't know how we went. He wouldn't' day yeah, yeah, yeah For the conference.
Speaker 2:Okay, Well, more than welcome to take it over the purse bingo for TMPA's conference, because it's been a huge success.
Speaker 1:Does it make a lot of money.
Speaker 2:No, and so that's one thing we're looking at exploring it to go to TMPA Charities, is that? But it began because just give them something to do, right. And so janet was like, hey, let's, you know, start this idea. It's, it's been, it's been a good success, but I think we're at the point now, uh, where we should start making some money on it. It's just a, it's a catch-22 of kind of we want the ladies to enjoy themselves, we want people to bring guests and be a part of the tmpa culture and tmpa family, but we'll have to explore that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, anyway, ours this year made over two hundred thousand dollars yeah, I don't doubt it, yeah, it's a big event.
Speaker 1:What? What's cool is that I was able to get models from all over. So I had dpd, I had uh some dallas fire department, um roy city, my son uh rockwall Fate Heath, all over. And I remember one of the DPD guys. He had just done Dallas' Bags for Badgers. It was in July and ours was in September. And at the very end of the night it was right before he was going to get back on stage he was just talking and he's like God, this is so cool, this is different than Dallas' and I said I was like it is different, I go like put it into words, how would they explain what's so different about it? And he kind of looked and he was like Dallas is an event. He goes, this is a party.
Speaker 3:And I was like I'll take it, thank you, yeah, yeah, I appreciate that it's party, right, I don't dance and but, like, some of the guys are going out and getting in the crowd dancing and the women are all up dancing and everybody's dancing it's, but the cops have an unfair advantage. Um, firemen are used to dancing with other men in their underwear. Yes, and it was awkward for me.
Speaker 1:I don't I've never danced with another man, yes, underwear. So it was we're at a disadvantage on that, right we are. That's all well y Well man.
Speaker 2:What else did we need to cover for Lori?
Speaker 3:How's it been being a filter? What's your thoughts?
Speaker 1:Well, when you first approached me about it and we talked about it like I didn't know, I didn't know what I was getting into and I didn't want to say I would do something that I couldn't fully commit to.
Speaker 3:I respect that she spent what two months. Yeah, a little while Like marinating on it. Let me think on this. I don't want to obligate something that I'm not committed to. I like that because I don't want a half-assed person here. Yeah, I didn't want to half-ass it.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to say I could do something and just be overloaded and be like meh, you know, in a couple of months. So it's been very interesting Field calls. Just reading them, those are interesting.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I have had fun.
Speaker 3:Good, I've had fun, good, it's funny. And I told Tyler this when he came on board and I learned it myself and we talked about it. I learned it myself and we talked about it in your bubble. You only know what you know. Yeah, and you feel like, cause he was tenured when he came on, your tenured, I thought I knew a lot about association, business and labor. I'm like man, this, I know this. And then when you come on you realize I was looking at things through a lens about that big, and now I'm at 40,000 feet. Holy crap, there's a lot goes on.
Speaker 3:And the cultures, the police cultures, from how Panhandle does things to how the Valley does things, to how East Texas does things, to Waco to El Paso, police work is so different. I mean it's similar, it's all police work, but the style, yeah, the culture is so different. I mean it's similar, it's all police work, but the style, the culture is so different. The issues one agency we have this problem and it's all pay. In another department it's all manpower and in other departments we had our chief and it's all these issues and everybody has issues. It's just different issues but every one of them it seems like it's always got something to.
Speaker 2:Everybody has issues, it's just different issues, but every one of them, it seems like it's always got something to do with the computer program, with the database, shift work and the uniforms. Those are the top three.
Speaker 1:I used to say that we couldn't get people to show up at meetings unless it had to do with money or shifts. Yeah, money or shifts, that's when you can get people to show up. Otherwise they're like eh, I'll do whatever.
Speaker 2:But the common bitch on patrol right now across.
Speaker 1:Texas Uniforms.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is uniforms, but it's the computer programs, like the databases, like I don't get it.
Speaker 1:Like flock cameras.
Speaker 2:Well, no, like the computer database, it's not like the inputs, the RMS.
Speaker 1:The reporting systems.
Speaker 2:There's so many repetitive steps, Cops are like there's no way that this has to be this complex. We can simplify this shit down. If you listen to the line hey communication, If they listen to the line level employees but yeah, that's the number one bitch that I hear on the street is that. But it's interesting.
Speaker 3:When she brings a good background. Well, like you did, you had a ton of local experience, poa experience. She's been through the good times at her department. She's been through the really rocky times at her department.
Speaker 2:I think it gives a good foundation.
Speaker 3:I mean, you had some of that too and it gives such a good foundation for this role. And I'll tell you why Because we've had the good days for this role.
Speaker 2:And I'll tell you why Because we've had the good days, we've served to the bad and I think that every time that somebody within TMPA the 34,000 members that this organization represents you don't know what each call represents. It could be at that member's high or it could be at that member's low. And I think that when people like you and I, who have served in leadership capacities at a local level at such different face you know phases within our associations we can understand and relate and that each call does matter and that when you call us, you're not just a number, you're a part of this family and that call is going to be served, uh, with honor and respect. That it should be right, and I think that's what that's. The key difference, I think, between us and any other organization in texas is that our field reps and our staff here are all former or active law enforcement and have always served in some type of capacity within a local association. So we get it and we understand.
Speaker 3:But like the two things, the, the something that sticks out in common between you two during the good times, y'all been involved in it, but during the bad times, y'all didn't shy from it or just say screw it. I'm going to be disgruntled. When y'all been both y'all Cause I've dealt with you during it, during the really dark days at your agency, y'all worked to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem, or not just to shut down and complain. Both, both, both of you exactly.
Speaker 3:We're like dude, this is fricking horrible. What can we do? I'm trying to work on this, or you know I'm. I'm working this angle right now. Right now, what can I do? Well, that's what we need is people with a fixer mindset or problem solver mindset. That's ideal, probably because what we do is a filter up. Every day, we're trying to solve somebody's problem, because it's the cause. All day is somebody's got a problem or a crisis and I got to be involved with both of y'all being problem solvers at your agencies, rather than going screw this place and or I'm just going to burn it down and not be a pro. You know part of it.
Speaker 1:Both of y'all were problem solvers, trying to be a part of it rather than yeah I remember my motto during my our rough time was I was here when he started and I'll be here when he's gone yeah, and will I last you?
Speaker 3:people would call with their hair on fire oh, this is happening, the world's coming. I call her and she's like well, that's not exactly what's going on. We do have a major problem. Here's where we're at. We are kind of working on it because you get all spectrum of folks. When it's your department, yeah, but that's something that stands out distinctly. But with both of y'all is y'all went through the fire at your agencies as problem solvers. Not screw this place, I'll just burn it down, or well, I think.
Speaker 2:I think the one thing that you and I share is that when we're, when we, when you and I are fully committed to something, we're committed, and shelf life Commitment is not having an expiration date. Uh, even though right now I live in Hays County and I'm I'm away from Marshall, texas, I'm still attached and still heavily involved and would be, if they needed me right, even after the long years after me being involved, because I helped build it, just like people did before me, and the people will after, and so it. I think that's what matters. I think that's probably what we share is that you know when you, when you, when you, when you build a house, you built the foundation and you start laying those bricks. I think it's awesome this organization does the same thing. Is that I laid a brick, I walked away and I'm a part of that structure now and so, but again, commitment is not having expiration date. That's beautiful, thank, that's beautiful, thank you. You like that. I've been attending poetry in Wimberley. You should patent that.
Speaker 3:We have to snap our fingers every time we do it. You should patent that. What is it? Commitment doesn't have a shelf life.
Speaker 2:Expiration Expiration. Put that on a t-shirt. You should patent that. Speaking of t-shirts, I got a text today. Long-time listener, loyal listener and T TNPA past president James Babb, sent me a text and he said I said something to the effect we were talking to Galloway, fort Worth detective, and you had said something along the lines of oh, you were stationed in Abilene and I said something to the effect Well, abilene ain't no damn Japan and Babs is going to make that first. Put it on a t-shirt.
Speaker 1:Abilene's no Japan.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and now they've nicknamed it within TMPA as a Tylerism. So that's, and Tyler Pride sends me shit all the time. I cannot believe. You said X. So, anyway, I like it. Save those for conference. Save those for conference. Well we like to end each episode. I, I could save those for conference. Save those for conference.
Speaker 3:Well, we like to end each episode. I hope you didn't study Hang on. I've got to back up.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:What is your very, very best day on the job and what is your very worst day that you've had on the job?
Speaker 1:My worst day was a day that I worked a three-year-old murder. That was long, long days, really tough days. How long?
Speaker 3:ago was that 2013.
Speaker 1:And then, man, my best day on the job has been a SWAT day, On a day we hit a house and we won we walked away. That's good. That's been a SWAT day Been a day we hit a house and we won we walked away. Yeah, that's good. That's probably been my best day.
Speaker 3:What would 39-year-old Lori tell 16-year-old Lori?
Speaker 1:49.
Speaker 2:I was giving you 10.
Speaker 1:So one of the things I remember my dad saying to me when I was young he was like uh, you always you can do anything you're set your mind to. Um, and he also was big about I was the only girl. Um, you're going to be a pretty pretty woman. Be smart, cause pretty will wear out and you need to be smart.
Speaker 2:Oh point.
Speaker 1:A lot of wisdom. A lot of wisdom to some of the things that he said and stuck with me. I'm going to tell my daughter that today she's like yeah, I remember You're going to be a beautiful woman, but you need to remember. Do you need to be smart? Is it more important to be smart or pretty?
Speaker 2:That's a great point. That needs to be on a shirt Some of us don't get either.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:Shit no, no, he was my daddy, so he thought I was cute, you know, whatever yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, all right, I like all that. Sorry I interrupted, you Can.
Speaker 2:I proceed, give her the quiz. All right, three rapid fire questions.
Speaker 1:I'm not a drinker.
Speaker 2:You ruined it. You have studied. She didn't give it away. Come on CID. All right. What's your favorite drink or choice?
Speaker 1:So I don't even know if this is a cop movie, but every time you say this I'm like how about Tombstone?
Speaker 2:That's a police movie Tombstone is a 100% cop movie.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, okay, and Wyatt Earp's line of I'm your huckleberry.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:I had that on a tactical patch. Oh really, yes, I need to find that for you, my favorite. I will send you that. Yes, just don't get in. I'm not even going to say it, we'll leave it at that. Okay, okay, I just know what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, my favorite car is a Tahoe. When I first started, we had Crown Vicks and those things coming of the lake. There's a big lake that surrounds our city. They were like a boat. They floated over 100 miles an hour.
Speaker 2:They do have Tennessee.
Speaker 1:Yes, they floated, so I like the Tahoe.
Speaker 2:That's fair.
Speaker 1:I'm not a drinker. I'll drink my wine. Not a drinker.
Speaker 3:Cab, or just wine, Just you know sangria, sangria is good.
Speaker 2:I like some sangria. Sangria is good, cold sangria. What late, late medical? Uh, oh shit, it was, it was some kind of berry? Uh, I thought he was gonna say late was, but no, no late. Made a comment about meth berry, but it wasn't. I found out what kind of wine he was talking about. It was uh, uh. Anyway, I'll think of it some east te Texas wine.
Speaker 1:It's some East Texas wine, oh nice.
Speaker 2:There's a kind of berry that grows on vines out there, yeah.
Speaker 3:There's no telling. He said muscadine.
Speaker 2:There you go. Muscadine wine. I've never had muscadine, it's sweet. I'm game, I just want to drink it.
Speaker 1:I just want to try it. Go ahead and try it. Tell them to bring you a bottle.
Speaker 2:Layton said it was methberry. I said no, Layton, it's not methberry, it was muscadines.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I just thought about that.
Speaker 2:You've got to say it, like Layton probably said it Muscadine, muscadine, yeah, muscadine, or methberry, no Tucks.
Speaker 3:Fop spring board meeting Wichita Falls, april I think April 11th through 13th Don't hold me to that. I will get dates out on that. That's all I got. Keep our brothers and sisters in Austin PD. Yes, just got a new contract. They got Dallas former chief Eddie Garcia rolling into town as assistant city manager. Michael Bullock is trying to lead and help those folks. They finally got a contract signed which is a long time overdue. Yep Keeper brothers and sisters there.
Speaker 2:I'm pulling up the peace officer memorial dates April 29th.
Speaker 3:Yes Name Sunday April 29th, 27th, 27th, last Sunday of.
Speaker 2:April. Save the date. Texas Peace Officer Memorial is April 27th, 27th, 27th yeah, Last Sunday of April. Save the date Texas Peace Office Memorial is April 27th. Be here at the Capitol Grounds and then the official date save the date. By the time this podcast comes out, we're going to probably start pushing some information out about the TMPA conference. Yes, Coming up in Houston. That's going to be July 25th through the 28th.
Speaker 3:Yes, correct, houston Hyatt Regency, houston downtown yeah.
Speaker 2:Parking is going to be fun. Parking is going to be fun.
Speaker 3:It'll be a good conversation. We're going to change some things up a little bit. We'll do some It'll be good.
Speaker 2:Can we dive into that?
Speaker 3:No Surprise, all right.
Speaker 2:I don't have authority. Alright, this wraps it up for us. You guys take care, stay safe, lori. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for being a part of the team and setting the standard For women in law enforcement. Don't tell Lori, no, you guys take care, stay safe. God bless you and, as always, may God bless Texas. We're out. Thank you, thank you.
