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Episode 7: Kelli — From the Road to the Classroom
81 Plays4 months ago
Kelli’s path into law enforcement didn’t start in an academy — it started in a fifth-grade D.A.R.E. classroom.
In Episode 7 of Both Sides of the Badge, Kelli shares her journey from student to trooper, Drug Recognition Expert, and now founder of Trooper Turned Teacher.
We talk about raising kids while working nights. About mom guilt. About proving yourself in a male-dominated profession. About the pressure of testifying in court and the weight that comes with DUI enforcement — especially in a world of poly-drug use and marijuana legalization.
But more than that, this conversation is about seasons.
What happens when the work that once defined you begins to expand?
What does it look like to take what you learned on the road and carry it into a classroom instead?
Through Trooper Turned Teacher, Kelli works with schools and communities to educate students about substance misuse and impaired driving — reaching them before their worst day ever happens.
Learn More About Kelli
Website:
https://trooperturnteacher.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573167466429
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
During our conversation, Kelli referenced videos related to energy drinks and impairment:
• https://youtu.be/4Iswj4V4BpA
• https://youtu.be/oVNdR-pk3l4
These were shared as part of the broader discussion around substances, awareness, and how education continues to evolve.
Find all episodes, social links, and updates for Both Sides of the Badge here:
👉 https://beacons.ai/bothsidesofthebadge
Topics discussed:
DUI enforcement, Drug Recognition Experts (DRE), impaired driving prevention, women in law enforcement, community education, substance misuse awareness.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to both sides of the badge. Every badge has a front. What's talked about, what's photographed, what's argued over, and then there's the other side. The part that most people never see and rarely ask about.
00:00:16
Speaker
It's easier to judge it than to understand it. This podcast is about that side. The work, the judgment calls, the moments that don't make the news, but shape everyone involved.
00:00:28
Speaker
This is both sides of the badge.
Catch Up with Kelly
00:00:32
Speaker
seen, not heard. um What are you doing? You're recording? started. We're going. See,
00:00:43
Speaker
now you're all nervous. Yeah. At the beginning here, we can do some cutting if we need to. Yeah, sure. So, well, Kelly, it's been a long time. I haven't heard from you in a while. So thank you for being here and talking to us and sharing your story.
00:01:03
Speaker
um We've worked together for a long time. was your supervisor for a little while at one point, so that was fun. It was fun. Introduce yourself for everybody so they can get to know you.
00:01:14
Speaker
Those are the good old days. It's funny how you don't know the good old days until they're past, right?
Kelly's Background and Career Beginnings
00:01:19
Speaker
Yeah. So my name is Kelly. um We worked together early on in my career, but I'm 15 years in law enforcement and ah kind on the education side of things now, which will be fun to talk about.
00:01:35
Speaker
But... Really where I come from is I was born and raised in Southern California. I know that we have California connection. ah You're from Northern California, yeah?
00:01:45
Speaker
Or kind of middle? Right in the middle. The armpit of California, as they call it. Porterville, Visalia, Bakersfield, right there in Tulare County, yeah. Yeah, yeah. ah So I was and raised in Orange County um in a small town called Whittier. Whittier is most commonly known or famously known. Richard Nixon was from Whittier. And so if you're a history guru at all, always, when I tell people I'm from Whittier, they're like, oh Richard Nixon.
00:02:15
Speaker
I had no idea. No? Yeah. No. um And so I was born as a twin. i had a womb mate, um and that was a lot of fun.
00:02:29
Speaker
ah have a younger sister as well. um And my parents were always, my family as a whole, was always very supportive of me getting into law enforcement. My twin, however, was just the protective twin that, i you know, would call. Or if I called and i sounded stressed, she'd be like, what happened? Yeah.
00:02:50
Speaker
So, ah she was she's just like that motherly figure over me as well. She's the the oldest by 12 minutes, and so she hangs that over my head. And I'm definitely a middle child through and through. Yeah. i yeah twelve minutes Those second borns and middle child syndrome are true.
00:03:10
Speaker
But, ah yeah. i ah How was it growing up as a twin? You know, we, it was fun. Like we, it's funny because in elementary school, our teachers would let us trade classes or like one teacher would say, hey, go in the bathroom at like 11 and switch, right? Trade classes. um And they were always in on it in elementary school. Well, then we moved and by like six or seven, it must've been fifth or sixth grade because we were still in elementary school in sixth grade, but we moved to a different place.
00:03:42
Speaker
part of town and we switched classes and got in trouble for it. And my mom got a call and she's like, okay, like, I'm, you know, I'm not surprised. Let me share with you that the teachers kind of used to play tricks on each other when they were growing up. um But we never, by then, I think by middle school and high school, we were too afraid to switch. So people would always ask like, oh, did she go
Inspiration and Early Experiences in Law Enforcement
00:04:05
Speaker
in and take your math test for you? I'd be like, no, no, we didn't do any of that. We may have like helped each other with homework, but we certainly weren't switching classes by middle school and high school.
00:04:16
Speaker
But we're identical. Look a lot alike. Very identical. I actually forgot you were a twin. But yeah, when I learned that years ago, i remember... Yeah, you guys really do. Did you guys screw around with boyfriends and stuff too? Not really. I remember answering the door one day when her boyfriend came over, and I yelled her name very loudly and very quickly because I'm pretty sure he was coming in to give me the hug and the kiss, and I was not the girlfriend.
00:04:42
Speaker
all that would have been So I think that guys would get um us confused here and there. But ah no, we've always had pretty different tastes, and so we've never played tricks on the boys, although we could have.
00:04:55
Speaker
that's That's pretty good because that's that's pretty cheap. That's pretty cheap if you did something like that. Yeah. um And really, you know, by fifth grade, um do you remember the D.A.R.E. program?
00:05:07
Speaker
Did you have D.A.R.E. growing up? Yeah. In California we did. I don't know if it –
00:05:13
Speaker
happened here in Colorado, but there's actually, did it? yeah yeah Yeah. So you moved here when you were still in school. Yeah. um One of my good girlfriends is is actually up in Breckenridge and she at Breckenridge PD, and she a couple years ago became a DARE certified officer. So she had to go back East to get that certification, but she spent two weeks back East doing it. She's the only one I know in the state that that does it. And that, again, that was about five years ago.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, so it is, and it's pretty prevalent back east still, but, like, she really wanted to bring that program to Colorado, and so, to my knowledge, she's still doing it. um But my fifth grade year um I had a female DARE officer, and I just remember her walking in the room, and she's in full uniform, because that's how they came to teach back then, and I was just mesmerized. Like, I had always seen male officers, you know,
00:06:12
Speaker
Or, you know, I always thought I wanted to be an attorney. We would drive past a crash scene and I'd like take my seatbelt off to look. Right. Like I was so interested and nosy, I guess. But I was.
00:06:27
Speaker
always just interested in the in the field and always thought to myself, well, I can't be a cop. Like, I'm too small and too little and too scared, right? And so um i always thought that I'd, like, be an attorney and go to law school. and then come DARE, that fifth grade year, we had a female DARE officer that taught the whole year, and I just thought, wow, I want to be like her.
00:06:51
Speaker
And, um you know, as I got older, i think the fear set in a little more of, like, could I do that? Am I big enough, strong enough? And I was an athlete. My twin and I played softball for 16 years. We actually cheered as well and we um and did the tumbling. So we were flyers that got, you know, tossed in the air and all that. But um I was very much an athlete.
00:07:17
Speaker
um And so the physical side of it, i don't think, that never worried me, um as far as being able to get through academy and stuff, but but the fear of, like, being able to hold my own, right? And so...
00:07:29
Speaker
um My senior year, i actually was over-credited. I was a really good student, had too many credits, like ready to graduate. um And I already had like a gap period, so I didn't come first period, kind of slip in my senior year and came second third period. But I had to i had to fill my schedule with something. And the counselor um called me and she said, well, what are your interests? And I told her and she said, well, we have a criminal justice class.
00:07:58
Speaker
And I was like, oh, really? And so my senior year, I got to be involved or take a criminal justice class. And it just so happens my birthday's in December. And so um first semester, I get an A. And my instructor, who he was still with our local police department, um he taught in the mornings and then went to probably like a swing shift.
00:08:21
Speaker
And he said, hey, you just turned 18 over Christmas break. You want to go on a ride-along? You got an A, he'll let you go on a ride-along. And so at 18, my senior year, I went on my first ride-along and I was like...
00:08:33
Speaker
I'm doing this game on, right? Yeah. Was that down? Was that in California still? Yep. Still in, in SoCal. Um, and then my next ride along, I actually went with, um, and started riding regularly with LA County Sheriff's department.
00:08:48
Speaker
Um, and I remember doing several ride alongs with them. Um, again, like I was from SoCal, but Whittier was a smaller town, very safe. Um, um,
00:08:59
Speaker
And like anywhere, you know, it's funny later on when I moved to Colorado and got into law enforcement and then friends would ask, um you know, is Grand Junction safe or we just moved here? Look.
00:09:12
Speaker
Everywhere safe until it's not, right? Like everywhere has the bad part of town, right? And so in Whittier, it was a small town. Like we were still roaming the streets as high school seniors and and going out and being seniors, right? Toilet papering houses and all of that. I just explained that to my 16-year-old recently what toilet papering a house is.
00:09:32
Speaker
um Yeah, there's some things that are lost on on our children that just don't happen anymore. But then you get in trouble for them now. Right. Yeah. back I mean, those are the things yeah people call the cops for now. But, yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah. And so, you know, Whittier was this small, safe town, but then it had it its bad side of town, too. And so I just really started to, um once I turned 18, I got that green light. I started going ride-alongs. And inevitably, that left me going to a junior college and studying criminal justice, um getting a two-year degree in that.
00:10:06
Speaker
um But then I think life hits,
Life Experience and Transition to Law Enforcement
00:10:10
Speaker
right? And um I didn't have the confidence to go through academy at 21, 22 years old. um i went through a citizens academy with my hometown police department. And I think it just opened my eyes to like, this is the real deal. Like, do you feel like you are capable of carrying a badge and a gun and and really making those life or death decisions at 21. And for me, I wasn't. um
00:10:43
Speaker
And after the Citizens Academy, you know, the police department, the advice they gave me was go get life experience. Like go work in retail, go work in customer service, go do something and get life experience. And you'll find out if you think you're fit for the job. And then really, I just spent the next 10 years um working in restaurants. I was a waitress. I served my way through college and I bartended. Man, did I bartend in college. Wow. You know, I've lived life a little.
00:11:16
Speaker
yup Yeah. Yeah. but Before we get too too much further, explain what a ah Citizens Academy is. I think I've assisted in teaching in them before, but I've never really been to.
00:11:29
Speaker
haven't I personally haven't dove into one. So maybe you can explain for the folks that don't know what it is, the purpose, the things that they might go through. Maybe, you know, give it a shout out. Maybe they're thinking about going to their local one.
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah, so, and then when I moved to Colorado, i actually went through my hometown one here. um And really, it is for civilians, for citizens of the community to come in and do, like, either, like, a 12- or 16-week course. It's one night a week. And so you come in on, like, a Wednesday night, and maybe the SRO, yeah.
00:12:06
Speaker
has week one and they come in and they share what they do. And it's really an opportunity for the police department to connect with the citizens as well as the citizens to kind of understand the job that we do. Right. And so maybe the next week SWAT comes in and they bring the bear cat out and you get to put on the gear. um We did, um,
00:12:28
Speaker
a shooting simulator, which was really cool. So um kind of like a video game, you're going to have the gun belt on you with a gun that's going to shoot people on the big screen, and you have to make those life or death decisions. And I think a lot of citizens that are either curious about the job or um maybe had a good or bad experience with the police department. um I've been on calls where I say, look, our police department has a citizens academy. Why don't you come check out what we do? Right. Because you want them to have a very strong understanding of what we do. And that shooting a simulator is about as close as you're going to get is to an on duty shoot. Right. And so um you have to make those
00:13:18
Speaker
split second decisions. I just think the citizens Academy gives you. And so by the 12 or the 16 weeks course is completed, you get your little certificate, but you have a strong understanding of what we do. And then I think the graduation gift or Right. Is that you can go on a ride along or i mean, and people can come on ride alongs regardless if they do the Citizens Academy or not. Right. But then a lot of, you know, we get the elderly people that will come in and do Citizens Academy and then they'll want to do the volunteer patrol that we have out here in Mesa County. Right. And so they become a volunteer our volunteer that patrols the streets, you know, or or works the. um
00:14:00
Speaker
the big community events that go on. um So, yeah, it's just to have ah a better understanding of your police department and learn what all the roles are within a police department. The detectives come down and do their week um because people just don't know all that information.
00:14:17
Speaker
There is to a police department. I mean, a lot of people are surprised to learn that there's a Citizens Academy or that there's like a volunteer unit, right? Anyone can go in and get a background check and and volunteer once or twice a week. Anybody can. And you see so many people do that, I think, are the young college kids that are interested in the field or your retired guys that are looking for some sort of family or camaraderie um and have the the the time to do it in retirement.
Balancing Motherhood and Law Enforcement
00:14:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, so this academy is a great, yeah I think every police department should do one for their community. You'd have a lot more cohesive communities, I think. No, exactly. um I know you you, like I, the part I taught was obviously canine because did that forever. And I didn't have a ton to do with it, but learning the statutes and and how to process evidence and why we do things the way we do and you know all that I know was very helpful to a lot of people. In fact, um I know that it's actually got people to come join the ranks.
00:15:20
Speaker
Yeah, I remember one specifically. Yeah, so it's pretty cool. I mean, for anybody that's not involved in law enforcement and you did no idea that that was even a thing little ah or even the ride-alongs, check with your local agency.
00:15:35
Speaker
and see what they got if you want to. Yeah, go do a ride along. It's eye-opening. yeah yeah. I've had many of those. I've had some bad ones, too. there're Yeah.
00:15:47
Speaker
If you get kicked out in the first hour out of the car and told, we're done, you know, it's been fun, that we're done, then you probably messed up. but Don't try and sign up for another one. Yeah, I had, and don't know if I've shared this story yet, but I had a ah ride along, and I was usually pretty patient with, like, everybody. know, I'm a very patient person, and and it wasn't too long after my officer-involved shooting, you know, my, don't know, six months or so, so they they had this this kid riding with me, and for whatever reason, he had the nerve he to question me about my officer's safety and how I approached a car on ah on an initial traffic stop.
00:16:28
Speaker
And I, as soon as I got back to the car, he did that. And i just looked at him. I'm like, in my head, I'm like, who the fuck do you think you are? So I finished the stop and ah drove around for a few more minutes, just kind of processing that. And don't know, we'd probably been around and been together for about an hour, hour and a half. And finally I just went, oh man, you know what?
00:16:50
Speaker
I got to, i don't even remember what excuse it was, but I got way back up to the parking a lot and I'm like, yeah, we're, we're going be done. I got to go get to this stuff taken care of and kicked him out and went to the supervisor and went, yeah, no a tool. I can't do that.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah. So there's a bunch of other stuff too, but that one, that part just really stuck out. Like, who do you think you are? yeah So, and and and I only say that because I'd already been, you know, an FTO for years at that point, you know, and I got a writer with me.
00:17:21
Speaker
going to do everything the right way. That's what I'm supposed to do. Yeah. yeah but Sometimes they know more than us, but yeah. It's interesting, too, because I always got really nervous going on Rialongs, like, as an applicant.
00:17:35
Speaker
So when you're applying for places, even though I had, but you i mean, my first few, i might have been nervous at my first agency. But then moving agencies and still having to do those, you still get nervous. And I just, it's a great opportunity for you to get to know the agency and the agency get to know you. Yeah.
00:17:54
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I mean, they're fun. Looking back now, it was fun. And, and I had, I had some good guys I rode with, uh, at the agency. We worked together that those ah were, those were good rides, but yeah, it's definitely an opportunity for your agency to kind feel you out before the interview process.
00:18:13
Speaker
No. And I've done, I've done those. Um, you know, when I go, ah guess for anybody that that's you know, maybe going to be switching agencies. I always used it as an opportunity to, we know the cop work. If you've already been a cop, you already know how to arrest somebody, you know, you know, you know how to do the cop work for the most part. So I always took it and dug a little deeper into like how the agency actually works. How do the reports, you know, what system do you use and, you know, stuff like that. That's what, that's what I ended up doing. But, Yeah.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yeah. I remember with mine, rode with two different people and the second officer, good guy, you and I worked with him a bunch, but he asked me a question like, what am I looking for?
00:18:59
Speaker
and I said, to be completely honest with you, I'm looking for... supervisors to have my back. And I said, not that I come from an agency where they don't, I said, but that's something that's really important to me is like, I want to know that I'm backed and supported a thousand percent. Like I, like anyone out there, you know, your first five years, you're not a cop until you've done five years. I'm, I don't care what anyone says. Like, it it takes takes you three years to kind of feel like you know what you're doing, and by five years, you're a cop. And I just told him, I said, I just want, I'm going to make mistakes. I'm still new. I'm green, but I want to know that my supervisors and my partners back me. Not not physically, right? But have my back when... I've messed up or willing to have those hard conversations. And he later told me, he's like, that was such a good answer. Like, I hadn't really heard that before. And it was his first agency, so I don't think he ever really thought that.
00:19:58
Speaker
hey, wait, maybe there are supervisors out there that don't support you because we were lucky enough to work at a place where we were very supported. And, you know, my first two chiefs I worked for, I worked for phenomenal chiefs. Like, I i just felt backed and supported by them 100%. Yeah, and that was important to me. That was something I stressed.
00:20:20
Speaker
And I was very, very blessed to have worked for people that that had our back. Yeah. Yep. No, leadership and and mentorship and all that is very important. and And I do think that when you start off in an agency that does have, um you know, good leadership and all that stuff, you do take it for granted that it's not like that everywhere. so Right. Yeah. Yeah. yeah um Now, going backwards a little bit, you said um going through college and whatnot, you did a bunch of um odd jobs.
00:20:55
Speaker
stuff like that. So how did that prepare you? Like, what kind of things did you do and what did you learn? what it is Yeah, so you know, it's funny when I was told to, like, go get life experience. Like, if you're you think you want to do this job, but you you're unsure or maybe you want to do it down the line, go get life experience. And the best thing I did was work in restaurants.
00:21:13
Speaker
you I call them all walks of life. And I talked a lot about this when... um When I would just mentor people within law enforcement later on um or having those ride-alongs where they're potential candidates for employment, right? You have to be able to work and deal with all walks of life.
00:21:34
Speaker
All. o And in restaurants, I got that. Like, you know, I bartended in the Orange County area and made four or 500 bucks a night. Right. And sometimes you're dealing with the wealthy and sometimes you're just dealing with,
00:21:50
Speaker
um the other side of the spectrum, right? But are your people that are going to walk out on a bill and how are you going to handle that, right? Because at the end of the day, like if it becomes an issue, then management has a question, right? But are you going to completely lose your shit because, um you know, someone either walked on a bill or didn't tip, right? And so it just builds character. um i I waitressed and bartended through school and then i went into management and managed um a couple different restaurants, and one, I was the general manager. So, like, at 25, I'm the general manager of a restaurant that's doing...
00:22:30
Speaker
half a million a year, right? um It was those, that yeah, those years were crazy and a blur, you know, those when you can put in like 14, 15 hour days and not blink an eye. um But I learned so much. And when I finally made the leap from restaurant management to law enforcement, um one of the things that I think benefited me the most was the hiring and firing. Like, I had to have hard conversations with people. um Hiring was fun. I loved it. And I think that I have a good judge of character. And so I hired um some great people in my time that, you know, gave their all for me, like would come in on their day off or call come in if someone called out. um But I loved mentoring that young crowd because it wasn't but a couple years ago that I was the waitress being hired, right? But then having to fire people, like, I would then go into law enforcement where I'd have to have hard conversations with people. And i think that those years just built me and I was able to learn how to do that. um Because I always wanted to be viewed as like the nice manager or the nice person. But sometimes...
00:23:46
Speaker
Hard conversations have to happen and you can't always be the nice person, right? And in law enforcement, we play good cop, bad cop. um Yeah. So those those were good, solid years of gaining life experience that I looked back at that first Citizens Academy I went to and I'm like, I know exactly what they're talking about now.
00:24:06
Speaker
Like, I feel mentally... prepared the physical side I'll get there right like I'll be trained i will learn how to do takedowns all that stuff but I at 26 27 felt like ok I'm ready for this but then life happens and I ended up meeting my husband and having two kids and it was then it To and become very personal, you'll learn real quick with me. I won't sugarcoat it. I had awful pregnancies. Horrific.
00:24:40
Speaker
um I had an IV in my hip for 30 weeks with my second born. The first born, I wish they would have done that, but they just didn't know at the time. um And so the second go around, we actually figured out what medications worked, and I had an IV in my hip for 30 weeks until um until I went into preterm labor and then delivered. But those hard days laying in bed, um i truly believe I became a cop because I laid in bed so ill, so sick for 30 weeks, and I just had a lot of time to reflect, and Gary, you know me. I'm not one for bed rest. And yeah and I just remember those hard years, even when the boys were small, and telling myself, am I going to hit my deathbed? Am I going to lay here like this so sick in
00:25:38
Speaker
70 years and not chase my dreams. Like not you like, I'm not going to have any regrets. And I told myself in my pregnancies, when I'm done having babies, I'm going to chase my dream and become a cop. I'm, if I can get through this, I can get through anything. Um, and, and really like it was in raising my little guys that I just wanted, when you become a ah parent, it's different, right? Like I wanted them to then, um,
00:26:07
Speaker
Be proud of who I was. And I also wanted to be proud of who I was. And I wanted a career that not only I thought that I would be good at, but that I enjoyed. um I was a last key kid. My parents worked, and they worked a lot of long, hard hours for us to have the things that we did. Mm-hmm. Like I said, there were three girls in our family. and ah you know, just the other day, my kiddo texted me at school because he needs something.
00:26:32
Speaker
And when I got to the basketball game later that afternoon, I was sitting with these moms and they had already started a conversation about how entitled these kids are and how we can just drop everything we're doing to bring them what they need. Right. yeah And.
00:26:47
Speaker
I just, I've had this conversation with my oldest many a times, but they don't understand the latchkey kid side of things. Like, my mom just couldn't leave work early to come bring me my shooter shirt prior to my game, right? um Yeah, but my parents, ah the dogs are having a field day over here. Sorry. They're bones. that's all right. Yeah.
00:27:09
Speaker
My parents worked really hard and my mom got up and went to a job that for a lot of years she didn't love. She got up and went day in and day out to a job that, and it's funny, she's still in this career to this day. And I think she's been in this outside sales position for like 32 years now. And in fact, she's inside sales now. She doesn't work outside sales. She gets to work remotely. And she's earned her spot for sure. um And she's done really well as a female in a male predominant industry. She's in gas and oil.
00:27:40
Speaker
um But I remember those. You don't realize it until you're older, right? But I remember those years and I... told myself i will never get up and go to a job that I hate. um And I wouldn't say my mom hates her job now, but a lot of years she did it because that's what needed to be done, right? And she needed to support the family. And she didn't have the opportunity to stay home with her kids. She didn't. And, um, and I, in here as this 28 30 year old having babies, I was blessed enough to take that time to be home with my kiddos. But then I also knew, um that, that I wasn't going to not chase my dream. I wasn't going to not do what I thought that I was meant to do. And so after babies and they were a little bit older, I went through Academy when my youngest was one, and
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah, I ended up meeting my husband, and we went to coffee on our first date, and we both talked about having an interest in law enforcement.
Family and Career Transitions
00:28:40
Speaker
um And for him, um we met working in restaurants. And so for him, the day he basically said, i'm done, I'm doing this, was um right after Sandy Hook happened.
00:28:56
Speaker
You remember Sandy Hook Elementary? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah And I remember very clearly it was ah i it was, I want to say it was December 5th, but it was the first week in December. Well, a year later um on December 5th, he graduated academy.
00:29:12
Speaker
Like he was he meant business. he he ah He started applying. he ended up applying um out in Colorado. That's how he ended up in Colorado. He was born and raised here in Steamboat. and for anyone who knows the area, Steamboat is...
00:29:28
Speaker
ski town, small ski town. ah It would have been a little bit of culture shock for me. um But um we didn't end up moving to Steamboat and where we moved, he was um sponsored and put through the academy. So they paid his way ah not only through the academy, but then he earned a salary while he was going through the academy. um Which is a big deal, especially if you've got kids and a family going. That's a it's a hard thing to swallow.
00:29:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, he left his career and I left mine to kind of start raising babies, but um he was blessed that they saw the potential in him that they did and they sponsored him through the academy. And that's how we were able to move and me stay home that first year here in Colorado to be with the babies. And then he went through and graduated. And then the next year i went through the academy. And, you know, we look back now and that all seems so difficult. We had no family around.
00:30:25
Speaker
None. You and I were talking about that just just earlier. Yeah. that Those are hard years to get through. It's all a blur. Like after these really tough pregnancies, then i um then I'm single momming it, right? Like you're just a single mom trying to get through it while your spouse is going through academy. And we of course, ended up on graves with no seniority. um and i'd I'd start the shower in the morning when he got home because he was
00:30:56
Speaker
off to the shower and bed and then didn't wake up until a couple hours before you're back in. And, you know, now as a seasoned cop, you don't have to wake up or, you know, you can wake up maybe early and have things to do throughout the day before you go in. But when he was waking up, he was studying and going back in.
00:31:14
Speaker
Like those were the early years of like, I mean, at one of my agencies, when I was on FTO, I was given homework. I would go home. Yeah, I would go home after a shift and have homework to bring to my FTO the next day.
00:31:31
Speaker
Yeah. That wasn't the same agency we shared, was it? That was not. Okay. I didn't think so. That was the one after, if you can believe that. There there was a point where we we I think we did try that and then we learned we can't do that.
00:31:45
Speaker
You can't. Because there's other reasons we can't do that. Right. Yeah, no. so Interesting, right? Crazy how that works, labor laws and such. but ah Yeah. Yeah. Those years were good. I mean, and then I went through Academy and before you know it, we're both doing what we love and raising babies.
00:32:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's pretty cool. so So you guys met in California working in restaurants. Yep. Both decided you did coffee as your first date. Yeah.
00:32:15
Speaker
yeah And that was a time you both decided like, all right, we're going to do cop work. No, that was a Sandy Hook thing. Okay. Yeah. No. Yeah. A couple of years later, got married, had babies. And then when Sandy Hook, I mean, we had kind of always tossed the idea around. Right. But life happens. We get married, we have babies. And then we're like, at what point do you leave? In fact, he, he,
00:32:37
Speaker
He worked for a company where he was making really good money. He took a pay cut. He was making six figures when he left. um He took a pay cut to become a cop and people and we moved out of California, which was a little bit of a break in um a mortgage and such. Right. Right.
00:32:56
Speaker
But um Colorado, then i feel like we moved here just before it got like too expensive, right? Because now people moving here, are like there's no difference in Colorado and California mortgages. But um then there was, you know, 15 years ago, there was. Yeah.
00:33:11
Speaker
But yeah, we took this huge pay cut and people looked at us like we were crazy. And then to become cops, right? Like you have two young babies and you're both going to put your lives on the line. And that's where my twin comes in. You know, she, we are best friends, worst enemies, ah can agree on something and then fully disagree on another. she has got my back all the time, but she's very protective and rightfully so. Like I would say even more than My mom, right? Like my mom raised me. She knows I have good judgment. She trusts me. And she just said, you're equipped to go out and do this. But man, my twin, she just had that anxiety behind it. Like you could get
00:33:52
Speaker
She said this recently, which is funny. Just the other day we were talking about this and she said, well, you could just get hit and killed or shot and killed so easily. But then the other day, years later, we have grown because just the other day she said, well, that can happen to anyone. You can walk out and be hit by a bus.
00:34:08
Speaker
And it's true. You can walk off the curb and be hit by a bus, right? I mean, anything can happen to you at any time. But there were a lot of years that she was overly protective of my um my career choice. And, you know, we have a bond like no other.
00:34:24
Speaker
I mean, we finish each other's sentences. So if the roles were reversed, I would probably worry about her on the streets at night, too. you just made me think of the movie Frozen.
00:34:35
Speaker
They end up to each other's sandwiches. Sorry. No, that's, I can, I can understand that. My sister and I were yeah obviously not twins, but we were latchkey kids too. And our parents were really young when they had us.
00:34:52
Speaker
um I was born like four days before my dad turned 19. so Oh yeah. My mom had us at 20. Yeah. So my parents, they, they always struggled and, and, you know, they would wake us up.
00:35:07
Speaker
And then head off to work, so we had to get ourselves ready for school and out to the bus and and come home. So we were always really close, and we still are. And and she's just as protective of of me, and and she's actually probably more protective of me um than i I am of her. But, yeah, no, we do anything for each other and and drop anything for each other if if one calls.
00:35:29
Speaker
You know, I lost my mom and in 2015, and then... and then um Bree and I, we we lost Coulter 2018. And it's the only... and that's the only it I'm usually pretty, ah I can handle this because that's kind how was raised. Plus, you know, being a cop and all that stuff, like we're we're superheroes, we're supposed to be, but I kind of lost it. I called my sister and I'm like, I need you and I need you now.
00:35:55
Speaker
So she dropped everything and she drove from Nebraska to Colorado, Denver, because we were over there and yeah, hung out for two days. So was great.
00:36:08
Speaker
I get the the the the whole point of that was the relationship. I get it. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Yeah. You just, you have those few that you connect with and sometimes they're friends, but there's nothing like a sibling that just gets you. You don't have to say anything, but get here.
00:36:24
Speaker
And yours has to be quite different than most, especially because you you shared a womb. You came out of the same canal. Mm-hmm. Which is so funny because she went a totally opposite direction and um in career, except not opposite than my mother. um Exactly the same. She's in sales.
00:36:43
Speaker
And so she kind of got mom's sales side of things, which in a way, I think that's what serving is, right? Like. You know, serving people, selling people. Mm-hmm. Yep. But very personable and and has done exceptionally well in her career. And that's something I'm super proud of. A lot of times, you know, i will get the compliments or like, you know, you're doing such a good job um because we have a hard job.
00:37:09
Speaker
But, you know, our... our so In your case, your spouse, or in other people's cases, their spouse, my spouse does the same thing as I do, but um spouses or family, we forget to just tell them what a good job they're doing sometimes, right? Because ours is so honorable, if you will. um But yeah, I'm proud of my sister my twin and what she's accomplished. um And she she got two girls and I got two boys, and there our boys and girls are very close, so that's fun.
00:37:40
Speaker
I was going to actually ask you about that because it sounds like your dad um might have hated life for a while because since he probably had yeah you know three girls. yeah Three girls. And I i have the same issue. You can relate to that. I sure can. Although you did get a boy, so. I know, I get bummed because he was the first one, and he's already out of the house for the most part. I'm like, so now there's a lot of estrogen running around my house. Yeah. um But then you have two boys, so I was like, oh, that's interesting. But then your sister ended up with two girls, so I didn't know if there was going something like that. Does it run in your family, like?
00:38:14
Speaker
So twin, an identical twins skip a generation. So my kids or her kids are more likely to have twins than her and I were. Wow. I could totally have twin grandbabies, which would be so cool.
00:38:27
Speaker
If I was one of your guys' as kids and I ended up having twins, I i i would probably come home and... Drop them. and And thank you, but in like a rude way. Yes.
00:38:40
Speaker
You just drop them at the doorstep. Yeah. I couldn't imagine. There was a there was a point, like, you know the stories of Bree and I and and trying to have, like, we we're blessed with Charlie, our rainbow baby. um But we ended up, she was pregnant with twins at one point.
00:38:57
Speaker
And we already had three kids. We're like, oh, my goodness. oh How are we going to do this? And that that freaked us out for a little while. I mean, unfortunately, we ended up losing the twins, too. But I couldn't have...
00:39:10
Speaker
It was real for enough time that couldn't imagine well um I imagined it, but yet I couldn't imagine it. It's just scary. Yeah.
00:39:21
Speaker
So I guess you lucked out, and your poor kids might not be so lucky. Yeah, no. I'm thankful that I had singletons. These are a lot of work.
00:39:33
Speaker
Yeah. and We were a handful. I believe it, especially if you guys are running around you know switching classes. Yeah. So describe the the how it worked between you and your husband when he took off to go to the academy.
00:39:49
Speaker
i mean, you guys are home and you've got kids now. and Yeah, and you know, even then... have i been Yeah, we moved to Colorado and bought a house because, you know, we' we're making good money in California. And that was the goal is to come here, buy a house. And then I so started to kind of get acquainted with his agency once he got out of um the academy. he's only been at the one agency.
00:40:17
Speaker
Yeah, the whole time. Yep. Because he's going on like I think he's going on year 15 because we moved here. Yeah. About 15 years ago. But I did a citizens academy with them um because I had remembered doing one in my 20s. And um really at that point, I was just looking to volunteer. The boys were still pretty young and I didn't think I'd go through the academy as soon as I did. um Yeah, I said a minute ago that he went through and then I went through a year later, but that's not accurate because I started working for his agency a year. Well, he was on FTO and I um ended up getting a civilian job with them. And so um it was kind of a liaison between the police department and the park and recs department. I think that the park and recs department funded it and that's how they did it. But we were on bike patrol. and We had everything on our belt, but a gun and taser. They gave us pepper spray.
00:41:15
Speaker
and cool And put us through some ah defensive tactic classes. um They also put us through like a CIT and verbal... um Verbal training. And we went out and we patrolled the streets and the parks and we had municipal um ticket books and we wrote municipal code violations. And so, you know, ah people smoking in the park, which we joke about because I never wrote a dang ticket for smoking in the park, right? But
00:41:46
Speaker
Keeping the adults out of the park when the play place is next to it, right? Or we worked a ton of um the Junior College World Series, Duco Comes to Town, and that's a huge production for two weeks in our...
00:42:01
Speaker
in our city. um And so we worked like parking patrol for them and directed traffic and really kind of got my feet wet as a um soon to be patrol officer. Right. And that's what it was. I think that that was their goal was to try and get um applicants who was interested in becoming officers and seeing how ah they did in this civilian role. um And so you learn radio traffic and you learn codes and um kind of all the things that come with being um a junior officer, I guess, probably similar to like what the explorers go through. um
00:42:38
Speaker
but gosh, man, we biked 50 or 60 miles a day. i had my first year, i had a female partner and her and i treated it like exercise. I mean, who, who gets paid to drive or ride around on a bike all day and, uh, you know, tell people to please go to the sidewalk to smoke and at a city park, right? Like,
00:42:59
Speaker
um And we passed out stickers with the kids and we did the bike rodeo where they would we bring helmets for kids without, you know, that are riding around on bikes without a helmet. um There was a lot of um just PR involved in that. um so yeah, it was great. It was fun. But that solidified for me that I wanted to do the job. Like I was like, you know, I did two years of that and I'm like, give me the gun and the badge. I'm ready. Yeah.
00:43:27
Speaker
And then you soon learn that there's a lot more to it, right? Like, Academy humbles you for sure. But, ah yeah, those were good years. And i still encourage people to go work in a civilian role. You know, community service officers where the scene's secure and you go in and take the report. Or um civilians coming into the police department or citizens coming into the police department, right?
00:43:52
Speaker
to give the community service officer a report or lost dog or whatever the case may be. Those are all great roles to kind of determine whether you're cut out for this work.
00:44:05
Speaker
how How was the family dynamic um as you guys were getting into this? So our first, yeah, because I kind of forgot that our first two years here that I worked as a civilian, then I went through the academy. um I probably forgot that that's how...
00:44:23
Speaker
long I did that because it is such a blur. So husband was on nights. I was on days. And that was one of the biggest reasons that I didn't end up working for his agency because I did apply. And um several months later through the poor things, I mean, they did my background and my polygraph and everything, but I pulled my application. And what I learned is that we were never going to be able with work the same shift or work remotely the same shift. We were high-fiving in and out of the door. He was on graves. I was on days for bike patrol. And, um, we eventually, you know, we have a university here in town and we eventually hired a nanny, um, to come in part-time and work for us because we had to have care and we had no family around both all sets of grandparents were in, um,
00:45:19
Speaker
Well, in-laws were in steamboat and grandparents my on my side were out of state. um And so those years of bike patrol, we did have a nanny for like the afternoons, evenings, right? When I'm still at work and Tim's going in. um But ah it eventually became, oh i I'll never forget, I interviewed this nanny at Starbucks. And i didn't tell her what we were doing.
00:45:46
Speaker
What we did, right? i I'm waiting until the end. And she tells me she's a criminal justice major. And I talked to this. I tried to talk this girl out of becoming a criminal justice major so fast. And at the end of the ah the interview, we hired her and we loved her. And she's now about six years into her career out on the front range. She's a police officer now. Yeah, very cool. you try to talk her out of it?
00:46:12
Speaker
ah Because I was like, you're you're young, go do something else, right? Like, I'm starting to see this side of it. And I'm like, are you sure this is what you want to do? And it that's kind of the reaction we always got, right? Like, people are always like, are you sure that's what you want to do? um But the story gets better because she ended up graduating and leaving. And then we hired her friend, who is also a criminal justice major. And I'm like, okay, girls. Cool. Both who are working in law enforcement now. Really cool story. And they, the second one lived with us and she really got to see the day to day. um
00:46:46
Speaker
and the good, bad, the ugly that came with it. I mean, she was literally sleeping here because when I went through Academy and got hired, we were then both on nights and there's nothing worse than your money going towards paying someone to sleep at your home at night because you have young children. You can't leave home alone. I mean, yeah i think we worked out something about like, you know, room and board and her going to college and then paying her a certain amount. But um you're just watching your money waste away while you're at work. But we are so. Yeah, it's fair. We were so grateful and so blessed with the two that we ended up. To this day, my boys know them, love them. And um one just had a baby and one's getting married this summer. And, I mean, they were crucial. They were a part of our family in those in those times. We couldn't have done it without them. um And it just worked out that they were college students, that, you know, they were going to be paying rent somewhere. so we're like, we have an extra bedroom. um But I missed...
00:47:46
Speaker
I miss so much. I have one of my very favorite photos of my boys ever is their first time snowboarding. And our nanny took them snowboarding for the first time. Mind you, we're a ski and snowboarding family. But those early years, we weren't doing that stuff with them. We're lucky to have a day off together.
00:48:03
Speaker
Right. And ah we, my littlest, my youngest, we had, i know that I had his birthday off that year, but I did not have his birthday party off one year. And they threw a birthday party, and my my family threw a birthday party, and i wasn't there. And to feel like you're judged by moms, right?
Holidays and Challenges as a Female Officer
00:48:23
Speaker
Because our kids are in a private Christian school at this point. um Funny story how we picked out the private Christian school. So we move here.
00:48:31
Speaker
And we start looking for so preschools for our kids. We picked that school because it was the only one that had a buzz-in system. Okay, in California, everyone was a buzz-in system. you They had the camera there, like a ring camera we have now. You press the button, they looked and saw who you were, and they buzzed you in.
00:48:50
Speaker
you Everywhere in California that was the case. This was the only school. Right. Yeah. I mean, probably bars over the windows if you lived in the right area. um But we moved here and just could not believe. And that's what I mean. Like when people move here now and say, oh, is this a safe place or where's the best school? Look, no place is safe. I mean, everywhere is as safe as it gets, but there's always plenty there's always the part of town that's unsafe or This different socioeconomical status, right? But, I mean, we chose that that preschool and then ended up keeping them through elementary school in there because our children were safe or safe the safest they could be. um Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:34
Speaker
And so, but, you know, I'm at the, or I'm not at the birthday party. And then, you know, I'm told later, like, oh, so-and-so is asking about you, or so, you know, the mom's missed you. You just can't help but feel judged for being the parent that is missing stuff like that. Like, there is a guilt.
00:49:51
Speaker
There is a strong guilt that is carried with you about, ah my i worked in a different county, and for one Christmas, My husband literally brought a four-foot Christmas tree, all the Christmas presents, and our two children. And we... We... um we They went to sleep on Christmas Eve, and they woke up with mommy off shift opening presents in a hotel on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning.
00:50:22
Speaker
um That Christmas Eve was interesting because i didn't work the following two Christmas Eves. I made sure I was off. That specific Christmas Eve, a firefighter and I were inches away from being hit and killed.
00:50:36
Speaker
So I'm doing a DUI crash, and I'm and I have a deputy up the street, the the highway, the interstate is blocked off.
00:50:49
Speaker
And we have a DUI driver run through the deputy's cones and almost hit and kill firefighter on Christmas Eve. So now I have two drunk DUI females in the back of my patrol car that are sharing tears with one another.
00:51:05
Speaker
Yeah. From two separate incidents. Wow. Yeah. And then off to jail for both of them and home to sleep and wake up Christmas morning. Like if that's not the reality of police work, I don't know what is.
00:51:18
Speaker
Yeah. It's pretty cool that your husband was able to to do that for you. But I know all of us make sacrifices and we all, and we know it's it's part of it.
00:51:29
Speaker
But I think, and and please tell me because this is this is the point I'm trying to get is have women probably take it a little harder when it comes to the kids because they're supposed to be the caregivers for the family, at least.
00:51:46
Speaker
that's That's the social role we're given, right? Yeah. I'm trying to think of how to you know put that nicely without it sounding too you know misogynistic type thing. So do you did you take it more personal?
00:51:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I mean, I... Yeah, I always just felt this huge sense of guilt of like, mom is supposed to be there. um I had, ah we, you know, one of the things when you're first getting into law enforcement or um something that I hear on interviews similar to this one, like, if you could give a new cop any advice, what would it be? And cops often say, have friends that aren't cops. Do not every day off surround yourself with cops. Well, we had, and it really stemmed from this private school. um My kiddos are two years apart and they went to school with kind of this group of families that had kids our age. They were, their kids were also two years apart. um We ended up playing on a baseball team with three of these families for eight years straight. Mm-hmm.
00:52:53
Speaker
um Talk about having a village, right? But I'll never forget these moms are at this um donuts with moms or, you know, you have at like your school, the donuts with dads or muffin. And it was muffins with mom is what it was.
00:53:10
Speaker
And they have the little um little scene set up where you take the pictures, right? Like a little photo booth. And, I have my two best girlfriends with all their kids, both their, all their four kids. And then my two boys in that picture. And they sent it to me while I'm at work. Cause mommy couldn't go to mommy with muffins that day. It was devastating. And that's one of my favorite pictures, um, that I look at. And it reminds me not to be sad, but to be grateful.
00:53:42
Speaker
You really just have to be grateful because, um, similar to our dear friend, Megan, that you interviewed recently, um They rely on a village too. you know She talked a lot about that in her interview, but you have to.
00:53:55
Speaker
You have to rely on other people. And I mean, my nanny, our nannies probably have just as many fond memories of those early years as I do because i split my time is what it comes down to. But yeah, I would say that for a mom, the mom guilt was definitely there. because know I had a lot of guilt also, but it it just...
00:54:17
Speaker
it just, I think is, it just different. You know, I, I'm, that's how I was raised. Like my dad was, wasn't there a lot because he was out doing dad stuff.
00:54:31
Speaker
You know, he's, he's out there working hard, making sure that we could, you know, afford all of our sports and everything that we needed for school and stuff like that. So that's kind of what I always chalked it up to. I felt bad. I felt guilty, but not,
00:54:45
Speaker
to the point like you did. o Yeah. And I will tell you, i mean, I, I honestly felt judged by women too. That is very much a thing. i mean, I had my core group of girls, but I would go to birthday parties and whatnot. And obviously we don't tell people what we do a lot. Right. But when I felt like I got to know a couple or a family or, you know, I'm missing a big baseball tournament or I'm missing the school play, you know, and people started to learn what I did. Like, it's okay for the dad to become a cop, but when the mom is right, like you're, I, and maybe I made it all up in my head, but I definitely felt judged of like, you're willing to put, you guys are both putting your life on the line. Like you have young kids. What are you thinking?
00:55:32
Speaker
You know Yeah. No. and And I don't think you're just making it up in your head. I do think that that's actually a a thing. I mean, you look around and read posts on social media and stuff like that. It's, it's definitely a thing.
00:55:50
Speaker
yeah. yeah Yeah. um Finishing up the Academy. How was your first job?
00:55:59
Speaker
You know, I worked in a really small town and i think we joked that it was less than five square miles. Um, it was so good in so many ways. I remember, you know, this, this is the kind of agency that you walk in and, um, or you stand at chief's door and say, morning, sir, and go in and have a cup of coffee with them. Right. Like I'll always remember when I left that agency, you know, this chief gave me my start. He gave me a chance. And, um,
00:56:29
Speaker
I didn't end up working for the agency that my husband did because i didn't i didn't think we'd ever have days off together. We'd be working opposite shifts. But I also didn't down the line. I knew he would promote. He's very much um a leadership mentality kind of guy. And he has just recently promoted and um is just meant to do that.
00:56:50
Speaker
But I didn't want to get, i wanted to do different things like drug task force or or or DUI stuff. And I never wanted to get a promotion or get a special unit because I was his wife. Like, I wanted a separate career, right? Like, I didn't want to be given things because just any...
00:57:12
Speaker
Well, you just got that because you're his wife, right? And so I went probably as far away as I could go to get a job. um And I was picked up at the end of my academy. um And this chief gave me my start, right? And he told me when I left, he said, you've come a long way. He said, I remember you standing. He said he would. He would drive around town and watch our traffic stops. Like, he'd park somewhere and watch us, right? And not to, like, get us in trouble or spy on us, but he just wanted to see. There were only two sergeants and him, right? Like, we had a lieutenant. We had a a chief lieutenant and two sergeants, but um small agency, not a lot of boots on the ground. And he told me when I was leaving, he said, you've come a long way. He said, I've watched you stand at traffic stops thinking every single person is out to kill you to developing a relationship, um you know, on a traffic stop with with the citizen. And I just always remember that because you come out of the academy and you're told everyone's out to kill you. and then you go work in a small agency um where it really is this thing.
00:58:18
Speaker
community feel. I mean, they shut down Main Street on first Fridays, first Friday of the month, and they have first Friday events that go on every Friday, right? Like it's small town community. i learned a lot in that agency.
00:58:33
Speaker
I even think some, i won't say more than, but some lessons that you don't learn at bigger agencies. You really have to befriend and get people in on your side and talk people into a ticket and talk people into cuffs.
00:58:50
Speaker
Because I don't know how many times I stopped vehicles and I wrote tickets and they said, well, I'll just call Gene. Yeah. I'll just call the chief.
00:59:01
Speaker
Yep. And that's a small town for you. And they do. They've got him on on speed dial. Right? Because they've known chief for 20 years. Because that wonderful chief, the man that he is, got up and drove the school bus in the mornings, drove the kids to school.
00:59:18
Speaker
Yep. So now you have 30-year-olds that chief has driven the bus to school. And he spent 32 years at that agency. Yeah. And that's a hard line to walk as ah as a chief, too, because you have to have the back of your officer and not just immediately believe whatever little Jimmy says when he calls you complaining. you know so And you know we've all been in those situations.
00:59:47
Speaker
And there's been times where we know people um that that it didn't work out that well. um But, yeah, so hopefully he he did what he did right when that would happen.
01:00:00
Speaker
Yeah. Another thing about that chief is um huh he would have us over on Christmas Eve for ham dinner. and Thanksgiving for Turkey, if you were on shift.
01:00:14
Speaker
Here's what happened after that. Then I moved to the agency with you. If I was not working on Christmas Eve or new year or Thanksgiving, but likely my husband was, I would drive up to that area, which was not close to my home.
01:00:32
Speaker
And I would take my boys to dinner up there on ah Easter or Thanksgiving because I knew that chief was having people over yeah and anyone was so welcome. That man lived within the city we worked and his doors were open at all times.
01:00:47
Speaker
And we would have a police department Easter dinner. And that's just how it was.
DUI Enforcement and Expertise
01:00:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, those small agencies, it's family.
01:00:58
Speaker
um <unk> We've worked in small agencies and you you have to because you you spend more time with them. then you do your own family sometimes because just how it works. Yeah. I mean, I picked up so much overtime those first couple years and that's, that's all i did is work those. Cause I, you know, you're, you're trying to build a name for yourself.
01:01:25
Speaker
Um, I later ended up becoming a DRE, a drug recognition expert and, My sergeant at that first agency ah is the reason I became um a good DUI cop.
01:01:37
Speaker
So, you know, as you as you know, you have your three or four months of FTO, which is field training officer, and you've got someone in your passenger seat with you at all times until you're off training. watching your every move and critiquing and correcting you constantly. um And I just remember being so proud to be off FTO and being a real cop now, and my duty bag is going to sit in that passenger seat. Well, not until old Sarge comes one day and tells me, hey let's go. We're going to go do you do DUIs.
01:02:06
Speaker
And I'm thinking, like, he's going to get in his car, i'm going to get in mine, and we're going to um leapfrog and stop cars until we find one. And now he gets right in my passenger seat and I'm like, i don't know what the hell you think you're doing, but he did. and ah and we did DUIs until I was blue in the face. And that really built me as a DUI cop. I mean, he, he wanted to build me, um, as a DUI cop and DUIs are hard. There's a lot to them, but he also like when I asked him his reasoning or, you know, what why are we doing this besides just wanting to develop me as a DUI cop, because that was his passion.
01:02:43
Speaker
Um, he, he became a, or he was a DRE and did great things in the DRE world. um But he told me, too, he said, I'll be damned if a trooper or a deputy sheriff is going to come into our city and back you on a traffic stop.
01:03:04
Speaker
And you're a soup sandwich out there. Like, I refuse to have you not be good at DUIs. There's a lot to the SFSTs and all that goes into a DUI. You really have to make sure you know what you're doing out there and lawfully arresting this impaired person, right, on drugs or alcohol. Weed had just, so I graduated academy in 2016, and that was the same year that marijuana was legalized in the state of Colorado. So we were seeing a ton of DUIDs, people.
01:03:37
Speaker
And my very first court appearance, very first time I sat on the stand, that sergeant went with me because we did that DUI together and it was my first cannabis DUI. yeah remember very clearly. So, yeah.
01:03:50
Speaker
ah How that one turn out?
01:03:53
Speaker
I don't remember losing that one. So I think i think we did okay. um And probably the only reason we did okay is because he was there to hold my hand. You know, it's complicated, right? And when you're, I hadn't even been to A-Ride yet. So advanced roadsides, right? When you're coming out of academy, you get the bare minimum of of alcohol de detection. That's it.
01:04:15
Speaker
Um, but just another benefit of working for a small agency. And then I went on, you know, and worked in the kind of medium sized department with you and, um you were a DRE and took me under your wing and i learned a ton from you on top of you were finding drugs because of the, your canine, um, too low, right. Is your, the one you had when I was there was started.
01:04:37
Speaker
Yeah. You, you, when I started, you had too low, um, But yeah, those were just fun, good times. um But yeah I had some really
01:04:50
Speaker
great supervisors um that kind of took me under their wing and developed me. Good. um
01:05:02
Speaker
How did your career progress at your first one and and and ultimately lead you to switching agencies? Yeah, so, you know, I um ended up going through A-Ride and then switching to the agency you and I worked at together. And by the time I got to A-Ride, I knew that I was going to DRE school. um I, you know, I was getting DUIs every night because I'd go out and I'd hunt them. And There's two ways I think you get a DUI. You hunt them or it falls in your lap, right? Whether it be a crash or um or you know weaving you just can't ignore. um But again, similar to me going through academy and learning the skills I needed to protect myself and gaining that confidence. Over time, you gain confidence that you can do this because you're given the skill set required. um When I went through A-Ride, I was like, bring on DRE school. Like, I'm...
01:05:59
Speaker
I'm ready. I can do this. And then you're humbled there, too. um It for me, because we went through during covid, that was awful right before covid hit. um It took me nine months to get through school. Now, mind you, we did the two week school, but then we had to go to the Denver County jails and do, um but you know, on Thursdays. They do drug court. And if you piss hot, then you're giving us an eval that night in in county jail. Right. And so we did all of our our training um and experience through through the drug court um candidates. And it took me nine months before I got to test out. Yeah.
01:06:38
Speaker
And that's crazy. They do it totally different now. They fly you to Arizona. You get all your evals in in the jail in one week and you're through. But mine was over a period of time. um And then really that kind of built me in the next steps for becoming a trooper. I only wanted to go out and find DUIDs and get DRE evals. And for people that don't know, so when ah an officer stops a suspected drunk or high driver, um they run three tests, which are called so ah standardized field sobriety tests. And they can determine or they need to determine whether they're impaired enough for arrest. um whether it be on the drugs or alcohol. um
01:07:20
Speaker
A DRE comes in and does six tests on that driver. um so say an officer stops a vehicle and they suspect that they're impaired by more than just alcohol, they call us out. We'll do a full hour and a half eval on them. um And we aren't medical professionals by any standard, but we take their pulse, we look at their eyes, we do the blood pressure, all of these signs and symptoms that are going to be altered on an individual, and then we determine ah the level of impairment, if it's enough for arrest, and then we have to call the drug category. So we don't necessarily say that they're on meth, but we will say that they're on a essential so central nervous system stimulant, um and that if they're, you know, and impaired...
01:08:03
Speaker
um enough that they're under arrest and we go and get a blood draw and then later that blood draw kind of confirms the drug category that we called and why we're called drug recognition experts is because we testify on the standing court as an expert so you have to be right and that's a lot of pressure a lot of pressure um but you know you're good at your trade when you're you know calling DRE
01:08:32
Speaker
cases that you're accurate in. um Yeah. I mean, I had two in one night um at our agency. I had two guys that I arrested back to back. Later, talks came back.
01:08:44
Speaker
I called alcohol because it was blatantly obvious. Right. But I called a stem. And both of these guys, they must have been at the same party. They both had alcohol and cocaine in their system.
01:08:55
Speaker
Both of them. And I rested them hours apart. And then from that point on, I was able to kind of have this... um like little bit of memory of, hey, what you just saw that night was similar to alcohol, depressant, and stimulant, right? And so when, in and then the next time I came across...
01:09:21
Speaker
What happened to be cocaine on these guys? um But when I came across something like that or I'm seeing matching behaviors, I'm like, I've seen this before. And so that's how you build your training and experience. It was just interesting that the same night I got two that were the same. um And then I was able to kind of put in the back of my memory, like, yeah, that's what that looks like.
01:09:42
Speaker
Talk about that poly drug use real quick because i don't a lot of people, even cops, probably don't know that um and how important it is and how bad it is because it did it does affect things differently when you start using multiple things.
01:10:00
Speaker
Yeah, so, you know, it's interesting. My very first agency was up near the Aspen area, and we would call them Aspenites, but people would come down from the Aspen area and either retire out of Aspen, because Aspen's so expensive, or just come down and party um outside of Aspen. And i this the sergeant that really took me under his wing for DUIs, um he would get...
01:10:24
Speaker
Drugs off of people all the time. We had this little dive bar and he would just constantly get drugs, but he was trained enough to know what he was looking for and what mimicked those, those substances, the behaviors that mimic those substances. And,
01:10:40
Speaker
When I got to the point where I was finally working nights with him, i mean, it was so fun to ask the person to stand still with their hands at their side, tilt their head back, ask them to tilt their head back, and then shine an LED light up their nose and see the white stuff just light up in their nose, right? Yeah.
01:10:59
Speaker
Meth, cocaine, whatever they're snorting, it's there. um Working in a um very affluent area like that, we saw a ton of businessmen that would come down from Aspen, go out drinking for the night, and have a little dime baggie of Coke. that was That was a Friday and Saturday night in our area. That was so common. And, you know, i think, this is just my theory, but I think because...
01:11:28
Speaker
Weed was legalized when it was, the same year I graduated academy. I think that it became a well, that's not fun anymore. It's legal.
01:11:39
Speaker
What else can I use, right? There's this... um just kind of living on the edge of using something that is still illicit. So marijuana was similar to alcohol.
01:11:51
Speaker
it It was legal. It wasn't as fun. So let's go find the good stuff. Yeah. um and And that's just my personal opinion. But,
01:12:01
Speaker
Weed became like alcohol. It was either alcohol plus one or weed plus one. It's never just like alcohol is never just good enough anymore. um Of course, the most common we found is that you get you go smoke a blunt and then leave for the bars and you drink all night. um But I would say that probably just as many times as alcohol and weed were paired, um at least up in that area, you could find an alcohol and stimulant DUID, no problem.
01:12:33
Speaker
If you go out looking for it on a Friday or Saturday or Thursday night, I mean... Right? Millionaires don't mind going out on a ah business night. um Yeah, it's there. It's there to be found.
01:12:45
Speaker
um yeah And that's just the sad reality of marijuana now. I mean, we get... So, ah one year, you were kind enough to um nominate me for an award. And that year, I got 59 DUIs.
01:13:02
Speaker
Almost 60 DUIs. Worked a ton of overtime. Went out and hunted all all the time. Yeah. Nine of those were only alcohol. Nine were alcohol only. 50 DUIs that year were poly drug use.
01:13:18
Speaker
And i I, again, because I was finding it constantly. If I stopped them and they and they were impaired, they weren't driving. I wasn't that rookie anymore that was letting them drive down the road, right? Like I was getting um sometimes two and three DUIs a night.
01:13:32
Speaker
um and it's And then I would just stack myself with paper for the next week. But I loved, here's another crazy point.
01:13:43
Speaker
As a rookie cop, I became so obsessed with what happened in court. Right. Yep.
01:13:54
Speaker
you take it personal, whether you did something wrong or maybe prosecution didn't do something on time or the defense attorney is just an asshole because they are. um I took it so personal those first couple years. And then when I became a DRE, I had somebody tell me, stop worrying about what happens in court. You saved a life that night. You got them off the road that night. Did they hit and kill somebody before you stopped them?
01:14:22
Speaker
No, they did not. Now, there are instances where we show up on crashes, and that is the case. But um that was more in my trooper days. And up until that point, yeah, I had stopped them before something tragic had happened. And...
01:14:34
Speaker
To anybody who ah goes out and and hunts DUIs, you have to realize that what happens in court, that piece is totally separate than what you done that night. As long as you document well and you write a good report and you do the best you can for your DA, right? But, yeah oh those years took years off of my life and my stress and my worry and the tears of whatever happens in court.
01:15:04
Speaker
Court is a good time to learn, well, how to write a good report and a good time to just critique yourself. You can't you can't let it bother you because you you got to look at the positive side. Take something away from it, you know, because you ultimately don't have a ton of control over what's going to happen.
01:15:26
Speaker
there' There's too many, too many, it's out of your hands once you give it to the prosecution, right? once you give it to the DA's office, it's kind of out of your hands and there's always going to be stuff, stupid things that, that can affect it. Yeah. So just take what you can learn from it.
01:15:45
Speaker
how to do things different that might have been better. you know like Maybe there's times where I've sat in court and they brought in an expert to challenge my SFSTs or you know something else and it's like, okay, all right, I see. I mean, it didn't it didn't matter what he was truly saying because it didn't actually affect what I did, but it gave me The idea of how to do things just a little bit different and then how to document it a little bit different, which then ultimately made my reports and my arrests and and ah my ability to observe certain things better.
01:16:21
Speaker
That's what I always took away from court. Yeah. Yeah, as silly as it is, you asked me when ah when my sergeant i got that DUI that was weed and it was my first one. um I will forever put a dog was in the vehicle because as silly as that detail is, that dang off defense attorney on that case, he said, no, isn't it true, officer, that there was a dog in in the car that day? And I said, you're absolutely right. he said, and where's that in your report? And I thought, oh, are we going this low? Like, give me a break. Wow.
01:16:55
Speaker
Point being, details matter, right? And I learned that lesson. um And I forever will tell you if even a guinea pig is in that dang car. But, ah yeah, you there's there is so much to be learned in court. And that if you're willing to accept that constructive criticism and feedback um that they're giving you in a roundabout way, then it only makes you a better cop. You you just you can't leave mad, angry, or even hurt.
01:17:20
Speaker
You just you can't. Yeah. yeah You just got to, you know, pull up your, pull up your pants and move on to the next one. Yep. We're my big girl pants. Oh yeah. you The other thing too, though, I think, and I've had this get, I've had defense attorneys come at me for it a couple of times.
01:17:39
Speaker
but you You brought it up, like, where is this in your report? And it's like, Well, it's not but it's not in there. I know what you're looking at. It's not in there. And then they're like, wait, what? I'm like, well, that's not my full report. And then they lose their mind. And you're they're like, what do you mean this isn't your full report? i said, well, that's just the narrative.
01:17:57
Speaker
That's just my written, documented like story that I wrote for you. But there's also the evidence. There's also the audio or the video from the car or body cam.
01:18:08
Speaker
There's also the pictures. There's also... this form or that form or you know there's all this other stuff, that that right there, those four, five, six pages, that's not my full report.
01:18:19
Speaker
If you go and you look at this, there's your answer. I've done that a couple times. I didn't make defense or the prosecution happy, but I didn't like That's the reality it. I knew where it was, you wanted me to admit that it's not in my report, but that's not right. I know where it's at.
01:18:37
Speaker
So, Yeah. yeah Yeah, it's fun to get. I tell you guys that the time. I'm like, that's not your whole report. Just your narrative isn't your whole report. Yeah.
01:18:50
Speaker
Yeah. you I mean, yeah, we can't do it. all this some Body cam or tox is going to tell more sometimes than we can in our report, right? Like ah looking at a tox psychology report, extremely important for a DUI case, DUID, any of them.
01:19:06
Speaker
It tells a whole different story. And i and I'm no lab um expert either, right? Like I can ah testify to what I know and how I understand it, but that's bringing, you know, the the lab expert if you want to critique this, right? And talk about nanograms.
01:19:24
Speaker
That's not me. Yeah, yeah. So how are you feeling now? You're DRE, you know, you you you started at your first um your first agency and whatnot. how How's life going for you?
01:19:36
Speaker
I mean, life got hard and complicated going to that second agency. i was working a
Mentoring and Teaching
01:19:42
Speaker
ton. I feel like I really had to prove myself. You know, I'm at a bigger agency now, and i'm I've got this title. um And as much as, like, and maybe felt like I had to prove myself, because I'm not going to lie, we all care a little bit about um how we project.
01:20:00
Speaker
I just wanted to prove it to myself more than anything. Like, I had a really hard go, and
01:20:08
Speaker
DRE was difficult for me. that i say that People have to work hard, but I have to work harder, right? Like, I am not book smart. I am street smart. And so, DRE school was hard. And I came out with the the mentality that, like, I've got to prove to myself that I can do this. Like, this is a pretty um big title, right? Again, you have to testify in court as an expert. And I had a ton to learn still, just because you're certified. I mean, now the fun begins. You've got to find them out in the wild, right? yeah and And that's hard. And I had some really good mentors during those years, but home life became hard. Boys are getting older.
01:20:50
Speaker
um I worked so many hours in those years at the agency we shared that... um
01:20:59
Speaker
In fact, after I got that award, I told myself that I will never work. I made the most money I'd made in my career based on overtime that year, if that gives you an idea, right? And so I had worked countless overtime shifts. I would always go in for the CDOT, high visibility, high visibility.
01:21:20
Speaker
patrol shifts, which is basically just overtime. and The state is paying you overtime to go hunt DUIs only um because we're trying to be highly visible out on the streets and we're trying to show um our communities that we are making an effort to enforce impaired driving. So I would go in and night shift would be working their patrol shift. I am not responsible to take calls, but I go in and I just stop impaired drivers all night.
01:21:46
Speaker
Um, And those were just hard years, but as much as I think I was trying to prove myself to maybe others in my my new agency, i was just trying to prove to myself that I could do it. um And kind of getting that award validated it a little, right? But I think what validated it most is just when I went to my next agency and became a trooper, i'm like, this is our bread and butter. This is what we do. Yeah. um And... forty Yeah, and then just getting to um getting to mentor people, right? Like, I was the DUI expert at that point. I went to the state because I wanted, i didn't want to go to domestics anymore.
01:22:28
Speaker
i I didn't want to go to Walmart thefts anymore. Like, I was burnt out on police work, in a sense, but... knew that I was doing exactly what I was called to do. Like I had given, been given this calling and these expert tools and i just wanted to go out and and do DUIs. And i for the next couple years, went to crash after crash and DUI after DUI, being able to put my expertise um to work. and that was truly rewarding.
01:23:00
Speaker
Like that is, i can look back and say like, I achieved what I wanted to. and that's pretty awesome.
01:23:11
Speaker
Yeah, it feels good. Like, I, you know, i was really good. I honed in on a skill and was really good in it. And then I feel like I got to, um you know, when I graduated the state academy, the very next academy, which they had, they kind of overlapped them. So by the time I was graduating, that class had already started. I got to go back to that very next class and teach at the academy. um You know, and I'm walking the halls and you have instructors at the academy being like, what are you doing back? Or didn't you graduate? and I'm like, teaching, sir.
01:23:40
Speaker
I'm instructing. Did you do the lateral academy or the regular academy? a Regular. like i was a sucker for the 29 weeks. Yeah. Yeah. They've only done a couple of those lateral academies, but yeah.
01:23:54
Speaker
Yeah. But that was that was probably my favorite part is going back and teaching at academy. And I mean, even being at um the agency we were at together, I taught up at um up at the police academy, the local academy. um Yeah. Like,
01:24:10
Speaker
I think that though that is so impactful because a lot of times you get the guy who is doing the 42 code and has been there for 15 years doing it and it's dry and boring and you don't want to hear another word about crashes. Right. Um, but to get new blood in there, um A good girlfriend of mine, Steph and I went up and taught and she was just this badass dope cop and she, you know, found the drugs and, and did the fights in the alleys. I mean, she's as tough as they come. Right. And, uh, when her and I got to go up and teach, it was just, it kind of came full circle too. I'll tell you that, that like I sat as a fifth grader staring at my dare officer. And then I, at the peak of my career and teaching at academies and,
01:24:56
Speaker
Not that I pulled a female card, but females tend to gravitate to females. And there were, I mean, I don't think Steph and I ever took lunch when we taught up there because inevitably some female would always approach us and be like, you know, I'm in the academy and I'm hired or I'm in the academy right now, but I'm not hired. And it would just prompt such good conversation, you know, girl to girl. And not that we can't have those good conversations with guys, but,
01:25:22
Speaker
and We face just a different um set of circumstances sometimes, especially due to our own insecurities or how we're viewed by others, right? And so, um yeah, and that full circle moment was just really cool to be able to teach. That's what I love probably doing the most.
01:25:42
Speaker
I've really enjoyed teaching too. I mean, at a a young age and young in my career, you know, I volunteered to be an FTO and it was something that I i really enjoyed. i liked just the mentoring. I liked being patient and I liked I just really enjoyed that. So I know where you're coming from on, on that. And it's probably why, you know, I get along with so many of the people I do just being patient and just sitting down and just talking. I mean, treat even in my current position, I still get guys that just wander into the office and go, Hey, i want to talk to you.
01:26:13
Speaker
So just sit and talk. um
01:26:20
Speaker
So let's,
01:26:23
Speaker
back up just a smidge because you started talking about being a female and a male dominated career. How did that play out for you from honestly all the way back to when you started thinking about wanting to be in law enforcement and then working through all your other jobs and then your civilian bike patrol job? how How did that, how was that?
01:26:52
Speaker
You know, I'm glad you bring this up because I forget about this and I used to tell this story a lot and I have since just kind of let it go because I'm over it. But um at that agency that I worked as a civilian, um there was no joke, probably out of 100 officers, five that were female at the time.
01:27:12
Speaker
um They have since done a lot better job in opening that up and I bet they have 25
01:27:20
Speaker
Two females were about my age and were less than a year on the road and great to me. um As far as starting shifts around the same time, being in the locker room together, building conversation, um friends with both of those girls to this day, there was a female that was very hard knock life, if you will.
01:27:42
Speaker
Didn't give me the time of day in that locker room. um not very kind. And I think that that's a little bit of old school policing. Like you're not one of us until you're one of us. But I vowed when I left that agency, I vowed to never, ever be like that female.
01:28:00
Speaker
Um, I wouldn't say she was mean. She just wasn't very kind and open to accepting, you know, a a little civilian. um Fast forward to my, well, in the academy, i was i was a little bit older, right? I mean, I'm in my 30s, so I'm kind of the mama bear to the girls in my academy. And that's exactly how I acted and and treated them. You know, i support, you you need all the support you can get in the academy, right? And i was that girl, and I was proud of that. But then I got to my first agency and later learned that the female,
01:28:35
Speaker
um that I worked with, she was an officer, we were both officers, but she was brought in to sit through my interview because chief later told me, he said, if she didn't like you or didn't get along with you, I couldn't bring you on. I had to have somebody that was going to get along with females.
01:28:52
Speaker
And, um, and her and I are, she texted me the other day too. Very good friends with her. Although story goes about a year in, This female training comes up and and, they're few and far between, but they're out there. And I remember telling myself, um well, I don't need that.
01:29:12
Speaker
And then I thought we're going to go to this.
01:29:17
Speaker
Okay. And I will tell you that after we went to that, here's, here's how good it gets. We drive to the front range five hours to this training.
01:29:28
Speaker
We go out to dinner that night. I get food poisoning. I wake up and do not go to two days of female training.
01:29:39
Speaker
oh It's all about females and connecting and supporting each other and backing one another. Here's the story. And this dear friend knows it now because she came to me after the training and she said, i know why we came.
01:29:51
Speaker
She said, I know that I needed that. And I've been judging you for the last year. She she didn't have it out for me. She wanted to make it hard for me, and she wanted to know that I could make it.
01:30:04
Speaker
And she made it hard for me. But because I was confident and comfortable in who I was... I just continued to befriend her. I just continued to support her. I kind of saw the nudging, like she was hesitant, and I just loved on her.
01:30:20
Speaker
and And I did. um had I come in like that insecure, I'll show you female person, okay I imagine i wouldn't have got past my interview. I think they would have saw that. But I would have never been able to build a relationship with her that I did. And she was the only female I got to work with at that agency. But it only bettered me to come to an agency where where we had um several, really. um Because we had civilian ones in in our office that we worked Hand in hand with constantly. And we had some strong females in at our agency together. um And I was never intimidated or threatened by any of them. I just showed love.
01:31:01
Speaker
And I, to this day, have good relationships with all of them. I just I was never willing to. put a female down or um or not give them the time of day because I had experienced that.
01:31:15
Speaker
Now, I know that wasn't your question, really, because men are a whole different story. But I will tell you this. If you are confident and comfortable in who you are, but also humble enough to know your place, you will be just fine.
01:31:28
Speaker
Because my first phase FTO with you guys... He asked me some really hard questions like week one. I don't know if it was day one, but week one. And we got those out of the way and we had an understanding.
01:31:41
Speaker
You either love this man or you hate him, right? Like he he's just very strong in who he is and so am I. But we did fine together because I learned the word understood, understood, understood very quick with him.
01:31:55
Speaker
And he could teach me a lot. If I had come in with ego, we would have never worked. and great guy, good. I mean, you know, he did good things for me. I got off FTO. um I felt like he supported me and I moved on. Right. And then later we ended up being on a team together for a little while. But I think that it's hard as a female in the sense that you kind of have to, you You can't be overpowering and you can't be too insecure. You got to ride that fine line of confident and know who you are and stand your ground. But you have to be willing to learn because i do think guys are...
01:32:35
Speaker
are often like, well, I'll show her, I'll make her work for it, or she's got to prove to me, right? I mean, my first couple years, got in more fightes fights you it at that agency because I was finding drugs, right? And sometimes it was as ah enough as a tussle to the ground because they were trying to hide dope like in their pants. So not, you know, I've never been in a fight for my life. um More like resistance.
01:33:04
Speaker
But I had to call for back. Oftentimes. Oftentimes. I mean, the other canine officer with you, he came to my rescue a couple different times. And i don't think he ever thought, oh there's Kelly getting in another fight. He's like, oh, she's got something good. because Because I was finding dope and doing the police work, right? But they got to a point where he didn't come to me being strangled.
01:33:28
Speaker
He knew enough that I was smart enough And could protect myself enough, at least until someone else could get there to assist, right? And it was usually like one cuff on or, you know, got him a taser point. Like, I wasn't unsafe about it. um But there's always something to learn in that, too. You know, he came and backed me and every time had good feedback.
01:33:51
Speaker
and And you ultimately did end up answering the question. Not like, was it hard or... or you know, how were you treated or or this or that? Because, I mean, yeah, that is the the direction I was pointing the question, but you answered it by saying i was secure in myself and I knew why I was here and and that's what got you through it.
01:34:15
Speaker
who And I think a lot of that does come now being seasoned officers like we are. um you you still even Even if you're a male ah FTO, like you, you want to know if they can handle themselves, if the the shit's going to hit the fan. Right.
01:34:35
Speaker
yeah And I think women in law enforcement might get tested just a little bit more. And at least from my perspective, not like on purpose, because I don't think you can do it. But if somebody, if you're going to deal with somebody out on the street, they're going to test you.
01:34:50
Speaker
And you know, we've we've we've heard those stories of like, why didn't you, you know, fight with this guy, but then you shot this one, and and the bad guy's like, well, because he didn't let me, but he allowed me to, you know, assault him type thing, so it's, least from my perspective, it was always that, whether female or not, because I've trained and worked with a lot of females over my career, it was mostly just, I need to make sure You're confident in yourself like you said.
01:35:19
Speaker
So that way when you're tested out on the street, you don't freak out and get scared. they Game on, you're going to kick somebody's ass if you have to until somebody else gets there. And I'll add to that that you know I'll be the first to admit that I get my fair share of complaints, right? But there are some times where I am confident.
01:35:39
Speaker
There's this saying, courteous but firm. I am more firm than courteous with certain people because i my the little hairs on my neck go up and my spidey sense comes on. And I'm like, if I don't rule this traffic stop the way I think I need to, they're going to take advantage of me. And sometimes maybe I should have been more a little more courteous than firm.
01:36:02
Speaker
And I got the complaint instead, but there are times where you can turn it on and off. And I did. And I do feel like that made a difference in them taking advantage of me or not. So I'll take a complaint any day over a fight.
01:36:15
Speaker
That's just the reality of it. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, and I think ah females are probably a little more, they're going to get tested just a little bit more. You know, I mean, you see a big guy like me walk up to your car and you're going to be like, all right, I don't really want to screw with this. But you see, you know, a nice petite female officer walk up and it's like, all right, I might be able to get away with something here. What can I what can i do? So, you know, I mean, a lot of times you have to be more firm than courteous just to make sure.
01:36:46
Speaker
shit doesn't go off the rails so I get that yeah yep yeah I got a complaint um just a couple years back and they investigated it and all was good and I literally have never heard the supervisor cuss and he said kelly I don't say this often, but I think the reason that guy was treating you the way he was is because you, or he said, i think he was acting like an asshole because you were a female.
01:37:14
Speaker
And I just kind of like, because I don't pull the female card. I don't use that as an excuse. But he watched that body cam over and over and felt very strongly that had it been a male, he wouldn't have treated me that way.
01:37:26
Speaker
And I was like, man, I got this guy to cuss. Like, he felt strongly about that. So it was kind of nice to hear. that and that's what I mean by being backed and supported by a supervisor when need be, right? Because that guy put in a bogus complaint.
01:37:39
Speaker
I did nothing wrong. Nothing. I was actually kind. ah I lit him up red and blues, and he didn't stop for five miles. Like, yeah yeah Yeah, and then you're putting in a complaint, right? But, um but you know, all to say that um i was supported when I needed and felt I needed to be, and that's always a good feeling.
Transition to Larger Agency and Training
01:38:05
Speaker
So now you've decided that, you know real cop work isn't your thing anymore. So you go to the 42 code, which is Colorado's traffic code. Yeah. And yes, we I'm pretty sure it happens in every state. you know Patrol cops do fight with their state troopers.
01:38:22
Speaker
I'll have you know that troopers handle rolling domestics, okay? Yeah, but where's that that's not in the 42 code. that I mean, maybe maybe reckless st driving or careless driving. No, I'm just giving you a hard time. I think it's fun. i I get along with a lot of the troopers often, especially up in the new area where I'm at. So how...
01:38:44
Speaker
What did you take with you? what did you learn? And how was it?
01:38:52
Speaker
You know, the a lateral academy would have been nice because I was, I had to leave my children for 29 weeks and that was hard all over again. Right. Um, but it's really what I wanted to do. The problem is, is that, and this is going to get really political for a minute, but, um,
01:39:09
Speaker
Right after George Floyd hit COVID. Okay. So we have two big boulders that come against us in law enforcement. And the thing that changed after Floyd was that we could now be personally sued.
01:39:21
Speaker
So for up to $25,000, we could be sued. And then COVID. So a lot of the guys that had a decent amount of time on were like, I'm not losing my house over, let's say, for example, the the asshole that, um,
01:39:38
Speaker
You know, sends in a complaint, right? or Or something goes south on a call and now we can be sued personally. These these guys, these in guys and females, males and females, but these seasoned cops bounced. They're like, hey, I have 15, 20, 25 years on, I'm out. And so when I went to the state, it was very shorthanded.
01:40:00
Speaker
um And so I didn't just jump into a DRE and DUI role like I thought I was going to get to. um I became very good at crashes, as you should. That's what troopers do, right? But it wasn't, um I mean, when I tell you that my first winter, i worked the road solo.
01:40:21
Speaker
So three and a half counties by myself the month of January. Per policy, your crash report needs to be done in three days. Per statute, it needs to be done in five days.
01:40:34
Speaker
I was down 38 reports in the month of January. My first winter on the road. Solo car. Solo trooper in three and a half counties. It was tough.
01:40:46
Speaker
It was not what I signed up for. um And our office struggled to keep people because it's a um high cost of living. And it's a revolving door. You do your two or three years and then you transfer out. And that's how that office goes. And with that, they're always green...
01:41:02
Speaker
green troopers, right? Because they're fresh out of the academy and they're just filtering into the places that are hard to keep troopers. So it was in a good way, you know, I got to do a lot of training um and and teach people the DUIs and, um you know, do the, what we called fifth day rides on their training weeks. They had a fifth day and they would ride with different officers and maybe they'd ride with um a canine and see if they want to maybe look into canine down the road or they'd ride with a DRE and see if there was interest in that or they'd ride with a commercial motor vehicle guy. um So it was some cool things that came out of having um
01:41:41
Speaker
brand new baby troopers as we call them constantly. But it, yeah, I mean, I worked so... Just long days. You don't... You know, you don't go home on time ever, right? And I worked hard and I worked a lot. um And it just...
01:42:04
Speaker
it was It was hard. Those years were hard. It was a whole new level of hard because you are really, truly running call to call, crash to crash. And then you're down paper constantly. Those guys have a hard job out there.
01:42:16
Speaker
it's ah it's ah It's a lot of work. And mostly because, um you know, an agency that you and I come from, 30 40 sworn, er forty sworn um By the time you add detectives and all that, which I consider for our state, well, it's ah it's a small to medium-sized department, but um it's hard enough to staff an agency like that, right? And then you've got almost 1,000 troopers. We're just in this weird time right now where it is it is difficult to hire and to keep fully staffed an agency. And that's the reality of police work on the road.
01:42:56
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much anywhere. Yeah, I mean, um I got to do what I set out to do and there are no regrets.
01:43:06
Speaker
Like I, you know, I'm happy um with the work that I did for sure. um And it was just, it was very different. My first um academy wasn't paramilitary at all. Obviously the state was, it was just totally different. you They have you bought in, right? Like after 29 weeks, you better be bought in. Yeah. Yeah.
01:43:27
Speaker
Yep. Work for some great people and yeah. what What were the um the highs working over there? Because now you've gone from, and i and I personally know like a tiny agency because you guys were at what, like 10, 12, the first agency.
01:43:43
Speaker
And then your second agency was, well, I guess maybe not. The one that was down valley, your first agency, the first cop cop job. yeah And then you went to the other one that we shared. And like you said, it we were I think somewhere about 25 to 30, in total.
01:44:00
Speaker
And then you went to this big agency. what what What were the highs and what were the lows, like the the big differences and and stuff like that? Yeah, i mean, big differences is you really are just a number. um It's the sad reality of it. um But if you consider your office, like your troop, your team, um mind you, I'm not working with them, right? So I'm...
01:44:26
Speaker
I have this team and we're kind of high-fiving in and out of the office and I'm giving them the briefing of the day or of the night. Right. um But you don't get to build a lot of that camaraderie because, and again, it's, it's not that it can't be there. It's that there's not enough bodies to do it. um And that was another reason why I loved going to the academy and training because I'm like, these guys get week of DUI work a week.
01:44:54
Speaker
Like I want to,
01:44:59
Speaker
I want to educate them and excite them so much that it bleeds into when they get off FTO, they want to go DUI hunt, right? Like that I do. I wanted to instill that it's not a chore, then it's, you know, a privilege to be able to go out and find the needle in the haystack. um But
01:45:20
Speaker
are ah yeah Again, it is just it's a small office, and there's not a lot of time or energy for camaraderie. I'm not big on hanging out with people outside of work. um In fact, I rarely do unless it's females, right?
01:45:36
Speaker
um I remember at our agency, we had a team party, and that was a blast. I went, we had fun. i got to hang out and drink with the wives. like It was a good time. At the state, the same thing. um Christmas parties.
01:45:51
Speaker
that That was it. But you just don't know people as well um because you're you're a solo road dog. um But those are those are some of the
Achieving Work-Life Balance
01:46:02
Speaker
lows. I think the highs, again, are the training and just instilling, you know, um my corporal told me, know,
01:46:10
Speaker
I've never met someone with more DUI knowledge than you. um And, you know, that was a huge compliment to me. um And I just hope that I gave that to the ones ah that I trained that they could then go out and and, you know, I could be duplicated because we truly need that in our state with marijuana. Yeah.
01:46:32
Speaker
um legalized, it's just devastating the amount of crashes and um substance crashes and deaths that we have. So you just hope that you can make a little dent in your, so you know, little corner of the world.
01:46:49
Speaker
i think a lot of people, people outside law enforcement and, and even people inside miss how specialized DUI enforcement is. It's,
01:47:00
Speaker
You have to have the training and the experience just like a ah the SWAT guy almost to be good at what it is you're doing, to be able to see all the clues and and and know what they mean. even from Even just trying to pull somebody over. like I mean, there's been plenty of times where I can remember driving patrol and you see one little thing and you're like, hold on, I need to pay a little more attention to that. And then it happens again. You're like, okay, I got it.
01:47:29
Speaker
And then you you kind of know the direction of where that stop's going to go. but anybody else would have missed whatever it is you saw. So it's very particular. and And it's use it or lose it. Just like any other training, you have to put in a lot of hours, a lot of time. You're going to miss a lot of things until you you figure it out. It's very specialized. in them Yeah. And you know that because...
01:47:53
Speaker
Canine was. I mean, if there was a canine training going on that was on a day off, you go because that's that's the only time to do it. And it takes a wait for i mean it takes a toll on you for sure.
01:48:03
Speaker
um you can create burnout, but yeah I think anyone with good home life balance, you know, I became good at that. Gosh, the years that I worked with you, I was not good at that. I was on a mission to make a name and to prove to myself that I could do it. You know I'd been to a one agency. Now I'm here at the next. It's busier. It's fun. we were running and gunning. the overtime was there.
01:48:24
Speaker
i mean, it was. And i I did not have. It's only in the last couple years that I really got good at home life balance. um And also because my kids are getting older and I've realized that ah I'm going to miss everything if I don't slow down.
01:48:40
Speaker
Right. No, and and that's kind of, I did the same thing.
Trooper Turned Teacher Initiative
01:48:44
Speaker
And then after a while, i realized I couldn't keep Deary and Canine and FTO and all these other things that I was doing at the same time. So I did ultimately start um relinquishing them, certain ones. You know, I did give up Deary. I did that for six or eight years, SFST stuff. I kept on some of that just because our agencies needed it. Yeah.
01:49:08
Speaker
But I wanted to concentrate more on being a better teacher and being a better um well teacher and and leadership. That's where, you know, obviously I've been pointing my career, right? And then canine guy at that time.
01:49:21
Speaker
So, yeah, I started giving stuff up because i i needed that better work-life balance. And then now I'm in this position so that I can have that kind of like you. But I think that's a good, you know, turnover into what you're doing now.
01:49:35
Speaker
yeah got going now So now I'm kind of taking on that teacher role. um I had essentially started teaching.
01:49:49
Speaker
Accidentally, I guess if you will, I was at a ah middle school basketball game for my kiddo, and I saw this little boy walk in the gym with a cookies sweatshirt on. And I looked at admin, and I was like, what is that? And for those who don't know, it's a marijuana brand.
01:50:06
Speaker
um Within the cookies sweatshirt or socks or a stash hat are often like little tags that are stash compartments for substance, for little dime bags of weed.
01:50:18
Speaker
meth, whatever your drug of choice is. And so this kid walks in with a cookie sweatshirt, and I look at my girlfriend who's a teacher, and I said, what's he doing at a school function in that cookie sweatshirt? And she said, what? And I said, do I need to come teach a class? And I meant to administration. um And she gets the Attention of the principal who's not sitting too far from us and we have this conversation that i'm going to come and teach. Well, they meant teach the school, teach the kids. and really, i am for the last about four years have started teaching um in the middle school and high schools. My
01:50:54
Speaker
Company is a nonprofit organization that's called Trooper Turned Teacher, and it's ah SMART, which is Substance Misuse Awareness Resources and Training. So I'm a nonprofit organization um that is educating teens on substance misuse, ah similar to the D.A.R.E. program, which you and I talked about, does not exist in this state. um i have come in and and my class has continued to grow and my presentation has been requested now in the high schools. um But I really just have conversations with kids about drinking and drug driving as well as just substance use, period. Yeah.
01:51:37
Speaker
I learned this through a YouTube video and did my own research, but do you know that a sugar-free Red Bull will pop hot on a drug test? For what? No, I didn't. Yeah, I have it in my presentation. Methadone is one of them that it pops up for. So in the small research that I was able to do with a friend that works in a lab, basically what we've determined, and this is just an unprofessional opinion, if you will, whatever that addictive substance that's in methadone, we believe is also what's being put in um put in energy drinks. thing.
01:52:13
Speaker
it's just that one ingredient um I tried it in one of my classes, but I got, I was told to go buy a bunch of Dollar Tree drug tests. Well, they happen to be marijuana only.
01:52:27
Speaker
So I need to go get a real drug test. But point being, um... Kids don't know what they're putting in their bodies. And really how that YouTube video came about is they were at, these guys were at a um sober living house and they kept popping hot and they swore up and down. They kept telling the people they live with, like the the house boss, if you will, I'm not using anything. I'm not using anything. And eventually...
01:52:54
Speaker
The people, they're living together. They start to get to know them, um believe them, and they run these tests, and they do it within a drug court. It's legit. And they then went back to the home, and the house boss lady does, ah she buys a series of energy drinks, and the only one to pop hot is sugar-free Red Bull.
01:53:15
Speaker
Hmm. Yeah, i can I'll send you the YouTube link. It's super interesting. All to say that, now, if you're being stopped on the roads, we're not giving you side-of-the-road drug test, right? Right, right.
01:53:34
Speaker
Even the the oral swabs that we used when we went and tested in the jail, right? I mean, can you imagine someone being sober and popping hot on sugar-free red bull? But it hits.
01:53:46
Speaker
It hits. It's super interesting. um Yeah, it's just a substance misuse education system that... um I, you know, I believe it's a powerful tool to educate these kids on what they're putting in their bodies now, um opposed to having that first encounter on the road with a, an officer. So I have my intoxilizer that I won um when I got my award and intoxilized kids. In fact, I had a kid drinking regular Red Bull and a monster. I had a kid drinking a red a monster in, um in class when I was um teaching just in December. um At the end of the each semester, these schools do a drug unit, and so I'm coming in as a part of the end of the drug unit and giving my presentation. i have drunken high goggles that the kids get to put on. They love the acid goggles. You give kids acid goggles for a day, right it's great what they've come up with, but then i have my intoxilizer, and I'm letting them blow, not because I think they're going to blow hot at school, but because I'd rather their first encounter with
01:54:50
Speaker
With the roadsides, we do roadsides on with the goggles or their first encounter with a breath test, right? To be in the classroom in a controlled environment where I can explain, hey, maybe your bloodshot and watery eyes are your contacts or are your allergies. Maybe the cop is wrong.
01:55:06
Speaker
But the bottom line is you're required underage to participate and cooperate with those or there can be sanctions to your license, right? And so um just getting out there and educating these kids because I know it impacted me, D.A.R.E. did, when I was a kid. And I just want them to, i tell them my goal is for them to graduate high school without any police contact. Now, obviously a ticket I'm not worried about, right? Unless it's like reckless driving 90 and a 40.
01:55:33
Speaker
forty um But I just want to be that kind of middleman in between where I'm softening the blow for maybe the cop that they're going to encounter, right? Like I just want them to understand. And and why my acronym is SMART, um Substance Misuse Awareness Resources and Training, is at the end of the day, like we just, you and I just talked before,
01:55:55
Speaker
Both our kids playing college baseball, right? Like making smart choices now because what you do today really does matter for your future. And unfortunately, if you get a DUI at the age of 16, you're not getting your license to probably 21. But is it affecting your college route or, you know, the the hopes and dreams you have of law school for the future? u Yeah, I think it's a great idea because.
01:56:22
Speaker
you kind of get to teach the masses. And the the thing today, a lot of parents just don't know with the different types of drugs and the different, just everything. I mean, shoot, the Red Bull thing, I didn't know about that. But in in its own way, that still is a drug.
01:56:39
Speaker
Caffeine's a drug. Right, because it has the ability to impair your person. Totally. And, you know, parents are busy and and they don't know. So it's it's good to be able to share that information now rather than,
01:56:52
Speaker
It'd never be talked about and like you said, the first time it happens, they're 19, whatever, and then suddenly they're in trouble and and they go spiraling out of control and and You don't know where to turn. You've got nothing. yeah Yeah. You know, for parents, a quick tidbit is you as an officer arresting a teen and taking them for a blood draw, I do not have to have parent consent for that.
01:57:18
Speaker
I had a parent show up at the hospital one day angry that I took. their child's blood. As a driver in the state of Colorado, it is a privilege, not a right. And you have already consented to a chemical test of the officer's choice. So if they request a blood draw at 16, 17, 18 years old, that driver is required to give it or they lose their license. And, you know, parents...
01:57:42
Speaker
unfortunately just don't have that say anymore once you send your kid off into the real world with a license. And that mom was angry, but I was well within the law. um But these are things that people just don't know. They don't know that the best route is to to do the roadsides, to cooperate and fight it later.
01:58:00
Speaker
like if you're you're really sober, that's going to come out in a blood draw or a breath test. But while arguing on the side of the road is not the place to do it. That's for the courtroom. Right, right. And I think that's um a lot of what's missing just in society these days. Everybody wants to just argue it now when that's not the best thing that happens and it puts everybody in a bad situation. and then Yeah, and you know, we but happening being parents makes us better police officers. You know, that's a great thing that i didn't talk about is I didn't become a cop until after I was a mom, right? And you think totally different. Every person I stopped, I said, this could be my child.
01:58:38
Speaker
they They have a parent too at home worried about them, right? Whether it be a crash or a domestic or whatever. um We are just better people as parents. um and And in making split decisions, right? And so it's so important to put yourself in the shoes of...
01:58:58
Speaker
Hey, like this could be my kid. And truly my kid gets his license in two weeks. I mean, this is going to be my kid. Yeah, exactly. We just took, we bought him a car and took the illegal tent off and put legal tent on.
01:59:12
Speaker
I'm not going to have my kid driving around, you know, when being stopped and them being like, your parents are letting you drive around with the illegal tent or whatever the case may be. Right. Yeah. um So, yeah, ah kids change you for the better. And if you as a cop look at everyone as your own child and please with compassion, you'll be successful.
01:59:37
Speaker
How is smart or well, true return teacher? How is it
Nonprofit Growth and Community Impact
01:59:41
Speaker
going? How's it being taken? What's the feedback? Good. So I had a little bit of funding this year, which is great. um I'm working on prom after party, sober prom after party ah for the local one of the local high schools, one out of four. My goal is to each year add another two so that by the time you We have sober after parties, prom after parties for every high school here. Like, to me, that will be success. um But, yeah, I'm teaching a lot in the schools. I would say it's part-time, very busy, and and getting a lot of great feedback, and then also connecting with the sports teams because I want those kids to understand um
02:00:27
Speaker
Going into whether it's a D1 scholarship or going to a junior college to, you know, get a chance at a big university, like what you're doing matters and the substance. Right. So there is a confirmed case already this year of steroids in one of the high schools here. One out of four, um you know, and and he was a football player that collapsed. And next thing you know, that's what we've learned. So it's it's here. It's being used, but I want kids to understand what they're putting in their bodies and how it'll affect them. So, yeah, I'm i would i'm busy with it. um It's a good busy, but always looking for funding. TrooperTurnTeacher.com. There's a um funding link. um And then I just kind of get local donations from um businesses, which is great because...
02:01:13
Speaker
There we go. Somebody didn't keep her phone charged, so we had to wait a little while and get this going again. You drained it all out of me, Garrett. Apparently.
02:01:26
Speaker
But no, we left off talking about Trooper Turns Teacher, and you were talking about it being a nonprofit, and I think we were actually talking about how it had been kind of accepted and how it was going. Yeah, it's been well-received.
02:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's been well received and I'm enjoying the work. It's always fun to connect with teens. It's funny, some of the classes teach me more about drugs and than I teach them.
02:01:52
Speaker
um But it's a it's just a good way to connect and get involved in my community. And like I said, I have a teen driver who gets his license in two weeks and that's scary. And so I'm just in that season of life of wanting to kind of get back.
02:02:08
Speaker
And I think I can appreciate that. well I mean, you put in so much time and in in the job and you want to find other ways to still do what we do but not have to have all those bad moments that come with being in law enforcement. You want something a little more positive than, you know, putting people in jail or seeing people at their worst, you know. and i get it.
02:02:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely a different capacity for sure, but it's rewarding all the same. Yeah, certainly. Do you have plans to get bigger, add other instructors, teachers? Yeah, I mean...
02:02:48
Speaker
It's funny you say that. The two people that come to mind are my nannies. um that you know They get a couple years on the road and then um want to start having babies and get out of it. i have plans for them. They don't know it yet. but um one of them i've i've well Both of them I've shared quite a bit with, but um one of them I kind of let her in on that secret. and and i you know I have people all the time. i was working an event... um Recently, and the security guard and I started talking, and i said, how come you're not thinking about the academy? And he said, oh, I don't know. No pros and cons of law enforcement, right? And then he he asked for my card before we left. um I was out intoxilizing, actually, at a um a rodeo. It was a ton of fun to just intoxilize adults and have conversations with them. It was um it was a
02:03:42
Speaker
kind of a connection I made with Toyota and they had funded me and given me some um donations this year. And so I went out and and just did kind of a drinking and driving proactive response at a rodeo. And anyways, the security guard asked for my card and said, hey, I'd love to volunteer with you anytime you need someone. And I said, that is really cool. And I've had two or three people that have offered to do that. So I definitely have the interest there, but, um you know, I want someone ah that's going to have the education behind it and the experience of, you know, on the road. Like you said, DUIs is a ah niche, and it's important that I do it right. So, um yeah, that's all to come. I think there's a ah lot of expansion that i foresee, um and really it's just continuing to get in the schools and get – I have a a crash trailer that I want to do, so i have a really –
02:04:33
Speaker
Great family here that has lost a daughter in a drug-to-driving crash, and they're willing to put kind of her story on my crash trailer um with with a crashed car. And so, yeah, there's a lot a lot I'm looking forward to doing.
02:04:47
Speaker
Awesome. How are you putting yourself out there for people to be able to find you? Yeah, so trooperturnteacher.com, and it gives my bio and my mission and my vision. There's also a donation link there. um But a lot of it is you know, me kind of boots on the ground, hitting the the streets and talking to – I'm a part of –
02:05:11
Speaker
These business groups that I go to as well as just their networking groups and then um Chamber of Commerce in the city I live is is something else that I'm looking at um joining. But it's really just having conversations, let people know what I do, and then ultimately I'm usually asking for donations. So just trying to connect with local businesses.
02:05:33
Speaker
Are you on the socials? Facebook, yes Twitter, Instagram? Yes, Facebook, Trooper Turn Teacher. yeah no No TikTok yet. That's to come. Maybe you can show me the ropes. I haven't ventured. don't use TikTok. I know, but you're you got this going. I'm sure you could.
02:05:50
Speaker
That's next for you. Yeah, maybe, but that's, yeah. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see on that one. No, I mean, just just me. I got Facebook and Instagram, but I found some other things. It's been it's been interesting and fun, but we're cool.
02:06:04
Speaker
Kelly, i appreciate your time. I know we haven't talked in a while, um you know up until the other day when we kind of were getting this thing set up. So I like what you're doing. um DUI enforcement was big for me in my career. i did end up giving it up to concentrate on some other things, but um that that was my career for a very long time. um And I know you and I, we had a lot of fun chasing DUIs and just teaching about it because that is what's kind of missing. you know Even our parents and their parents before them,
02:06:38
Speaker
don't understand it. So I'm glad that you're out there doing that. I'm proud of you. You've come a long way. um so keep up the good work and the good fight and you know how to get ahold of me if you need anything.
02:06:49
Speaker
Awesome. Likewise, sir. Thank you. All right. You have a good rest of the day. You too. Bye. Yeah.
Reflecting on Career Transition
02:07:02
Speaker
And that was my friend, Kelly. Kelly, thanks for coming on and sharing your story. You know, Kelly did talk about a lot of things today. You know, talked about her life, what kind of got her into law enforcement, and then really what kind of drove her her career.
02:07:19
Speaker
what I do like about her story is it's about what's carrying, it's about carrying forward what she's learned in a different way. DUI enforcement, like I said, is a niche.
02:07:31
Speaker
It's technical, it's detailed, but at the end of the day, it's about people and consequences. And what Kelly's trying to do with trooper turned teacher she's trying to get ahead of those consequences.
02:07:45
Speaker
Because it's often easy for us in this line of work to only see people on their worst day. It's harder or maybe more meaningful to step into a classroom, go to a rodeo, go hang out with a community group to try to prevent those worst days from ever happening.
02:08:04
Speaker
And that's a different kind of service.
02:08:08
Speaker
If you want to learn more about Kelly and what she's building, you can find her at trooperturnteacher.com. You can find her on Facebook under Trooper Turn Teacher.
02:08:20
Speaker
you're in a school system, part of a community group, or even just someone who wants to support what she's doing, reach out to her. And as always, this is what both sides of the badge is about.
02:08:33
Speaker
The stories behind the people that do this, why they do it, what they are doing. Not just the job, not just the cases, not just the war stories, but the people, the people behind it.
02:08:47
Speaker
How they grew, how they grow, where they come from, how they shift, and how they continue to serve in ways most people don't see.
02:08:58
Speaker
If you found value in this episode today and and Kelly's story, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. um And as always, you can find both sides of the badge on Spotify and Apple podcasts, and you can follow along with us on Instagram and Facebook.
02:09:14
Speaker
Thanks for being here and we'll catch up with you guys next time.