Latest / APD Pod Squad / Season 2, Episode 7; Interim Chief Jackie Stepp, Lt. Tyler Radford, SPO Justin Lewis, and the History Minute with Hannah Silberman

Transcript

Season 2, Episode 7; Interim Chief Jackie Stepp, Lt. Tyler Radford, SPO Justin Lewis, and the History Minute with Hannah Silberman · APD Pod Squad

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: This is the APD pod squad.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: Coming up in this episode, following the retirement of Chief Lamb, Deputy Chief Jackie Steff was appointed interim chief of police.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: She'll join us to talk about that and her priorities in the new role.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: Getting to know Lieutenant Tyler Radford, who it turns out is related to a baseball legend.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: Find out who.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: From community engagement, senior police officer Justin Lewis with all their holiday happenings.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: And in the History Minute with Hannah Silberman, we look back at the line of duty death of Chief Harold Enlo in 1951.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's all coming up on this episode of the APD Pod Squad.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm joined by Interim Chief of Police Jackie Steppen.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going to put you on the spot right out of the gate with this question in relation to your new job title.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: Are you going to use the closer parking spot to the side door of Building 81?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's questionable.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: I liked my previous spot that had a little bit of shade in it, but I'm not complaining.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I am a little bit closer.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like three or four steps closer.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: So congratulations.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: This is relatively new.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: With Chief Lamb's retirement and you being named interim chief of police, heavy is the head that wears the crown.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Are you feeling it yet?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, I'm fortunate to be surrounded by such a great leadership team.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: We've got an executive team that really is just phenomenal, works very well together.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, in terms of uh responsibility, I think it comes with the role.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm here and I'm I'm ready.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think some people look from the outside as like there's the chief, right, and they make all the decisions.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: But that's not true.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we have a whole executive staff that you mentioned that you're leading a team, essentially.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Absolutely.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think there are decisions that have to be made independently, but I think overall, the majority of the decisions are are made in a room with really intelligent people uh who bring different perspectives to the table.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.: 20 years in the job that got you to this place, but let's go way back to let's say let's say teenage Jackie Step, right?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: You're in you're in high school, you're playing sports, you're just you're being a teenager.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: At what point did the idea of being a law enforcement officer come into your head?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: Was it earlier than that?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: Was it later than that?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta say, it's earlier than that.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I lived in Henderson County, and I was fortunate to live beside a neighbor of mine who worked for the police department at the time.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And while I didn't know him very well because I was much younger, I always just loved seeing his car pull in and out of the driveway.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I really I think from about the time I was roughly two years old, my dad remembers me just always kind of lighting up when I saw a police officer or the car go by and you know, playing cops and robbers, you know, uh all those things.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it for me was much earlier.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: Can I assume you played the cop, not the robber, right?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I had a twin sister, so uh we we we shifted roles, we took turns.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so there you are, you're starting to think about it, and then you go to college locally.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Did went to Western Carolina and and uh played basketball there, studied criminal justice, uh had a great experience there, and then uh while there started really researching, you know, kind of what agency I wanted to be a part of.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: And did I want to go work in my hometown?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Did I want to go somewhere else?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And really had my eyes set on Asheville.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I had a great mentor and professor at Western who encouraged me if that's where I wanted to be, that that's where I should apply and and and go.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'm fortunate that I'm here and uh I will spend my career here.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: So this is all you wanted to do, and this is the department where you wanted to work.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_03: So it's almost like a dream job.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: It is a dream job, and I've worked my whole career to be where I am today, and I'm just so grateful for the mentors and the support, the people who have supported me throughout my journey, you know, my family, my friends, uh, a lot of my coworkers.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just a really, really great opportunity.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about the elephant in the room because this is Asheville, and you I'm sure you've seen some of the online comments, and you're probably aware of this.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: You're a woman.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so you're gonna get the obvious criticisms that people say that you're not qualified for the job.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: But I happen to have a copy of your unofficial resume in front of me because people screamed, they screamed.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: You're they're gonna do that here, right?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: They're gonna say, Oh, she's not qualified for this job, but they don't even know maybe that you were just the deputy chief.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: And before that, all the other ranks that came with it, earning your way, started in 2005 with the patrol department, as everyone did.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: And then I guess sergeant in the downtown bike unit, right?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: So something in common with Chief Lamb.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: You guys both did the bike unit.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And and probably one of my favorite assignments.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he loved it too, as well.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: And so I guess then at some point promoted to lieutenant, uh, that was over the West Asheville district, and then recruitment and career commands, and then professional standards.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: So you've been in almost every department that we've had, then captain over the APD's finance and support division in 2019.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: And that's kind of become your specialty, that area, the the organizational area, the nuts and bolts, the financing, the the technology.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: Has that become kind of your you really comfort zone?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's what most people see, but I I have to be honest in saying I still have a deep passion for operations and I miss the operations side of the house.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I think sure, I I enjoy what I do.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I enjoy uh the administrative side of the house, but I also just as much enjoy operations.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think my favorite, if I had to name a favorite time, I was asked this question just yesterday.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: What was your favorite assignment that you've had thus far?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was serving as a patrol captain.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell You know, a lot of the people that come up through the ranks and then they become an officer, you know, lieutenant, captain, deputy chief, they they kind of miss the days of being like a beat cop.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: Do you kind of miss being out on the streets and then you know with the members of the community like one-on-one?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh for me, community is where I get my energy.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: I get out and walk around downtown still today.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm such so involved in our Citizens Police Academy or Junior Police Academy, because it's really where I get my energy.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, being stuck behind a desk all day is you're doing what needs to be done, but where I thrive is is in the community and building those relationships and just working together.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell But I know you attend a lot of community meetings, you talk with members of the community, usually in larger groups than just one-on-one, but you're doing that all the time, and I know you're really comfortable and you're excited about that.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: We've got the uh shiloh Christmas party coming up uh that I attend every year.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh absolutely I just, you know, again, I just enjoy community so much.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: I will get out as much as possible and continue to do what I love to do.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: In addition to just the things you've done here with the Asheville Police Department, I've got a list of some other things as well.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: Law enforcement program graduations from the Police Executive Research Forum's Senior Management Institute, the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association Trilogy Program, the Internal Association of Chiefs of Police Women's Leadership Institute, the WNC Law Enforcement Leadership Academy.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'm probably leaving some out, I would guess, right?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of exterior qualifications as well.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: The training is nonstop.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Luckily, we work for an agency who pushes training and education and wants officers at every level to continue to learn and grow.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's not a day that goes by that I don't learn something I didn't know.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we really strive to continue our education both in law enforcement and traditional school education.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm grateful to work for a department that allows that and and really encourages that.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: Interim chief of police Jackie Stepp joins me.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: So what will your focus be while that label is attached, right?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: The interim label, which could be for it could be for a month, it could be for two months.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: We really don't know because that's based on the city manager's office and the position that they'll be filling.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_03: So while that is the case, what's the focus?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think for me, uh like you said, the interim role is just so unknown.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: My priority is to provide stability, provide continuity through focus, teamwork, trust, and really pride in who we are as a police department.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, the focus will be that uh our mission, uh our commitment to each other and to the community doesn't change during this transition.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think leadership transitions can bring uncertainty.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I just want to remind everybody that now's not a big time for significant changes or big overhauls.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to get us through this transition.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: I want to ensure that the officers have the tools that they need to continue to do the amazing work that they do.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, this is uh a good time of the year for this transition to be happening, really, because as you get into the holiday season, people start looking at a new year as kind of a new opportunity to do things, right?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: So regardless of your role in 2026, what are you looking forward to next year?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Well, I think for me, you know, bringing back the in-house academy, seeing the size of the classes that are coming and continue to come, the restaffing uh really excites me.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're bringing back the traffic safety unit in 2026, and my hope is that we're able to continue to backfill, you know, our criminal investigations division and really bring back some of the necessary uh specialty assignments that unfortunately we had to do do away with our downtown unit, our housing unit, and then eventually, you know, bring back our district uh that we had to collapse.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we got fifteen that are field training right now, soon to be solo officers.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's probably gonna happen, I would guess, sometime in the next month or two.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then we've got the ones currently in the in-house academy, twenty-one of those, and then we're hoping for a what about fifteen in the next class?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: So those numbers are growing, and that's nothing but good news.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell, Jr.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I hope we continue to grow those numbers, and I hope that the officers see and feel good about where we are.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're doing a good job in uh recruitment.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our best recruiters are the police officers that are on the street, and they're doing such a good job of letting everybody in the area know what a good police department this is to work for.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, it is the holiday season, so it's time for the pod squad holiday pop quiz.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Are you ready?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: Here we go.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's, which is your favorite?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Christmas.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think most people are going to answer that, but I always say Thanksgiving, and then I have to explain the whole family connection.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: So with everyone, it's a little bit different, but I know with your kids and your family, I can see why Christmas.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: Is there one thing about Christmas, a certain thing?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: For me, I think Christmas is just a season uh versus a day.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I just uh we've already started at our house, and uh for me, all about just being grateful for what you have and and giving to others, and and that's what I love the most about it.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell You got some things you're got planned for your family, things you're gonna be doing, like get gingerbread houses or anything like that?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh I've you nailed it.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh gingerbread house is definitely something we have uh on our bucket list to do this year.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: They've not been yet.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: I have been, but the kids have not been yet, so we look forward to that.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Okay.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Do you call it turkey stuffing or dressing?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell I'd have to say stuffing.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Stuffing.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: See, some people say it's based on whether it's stuffed in the bird or not, but is that the case, you think?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think it is, yeah.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I prefer the moisture stuffing that goes in the bird, whereas my wife, she likes it more as the casserole made on the outside with the crunchy stuff.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_03: So it can't go wrong either way, can you really?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell Okay.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_03: What's for dessert?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: Pumpkin pie, apple pie, or other?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'd have to say pumpkin.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: Pumpkin's your favorite, huh?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Pumpkin's the favorite.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: Eggnog, yes or no?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: Not a fan, huh?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: Not a fan.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's a texture thing, isn't it?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I've tried over and over again because I want to be like yay, eggnog, but I just I can't do it.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's kind of thick, isn't it?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we do one on Christmas Eve and then we do the rest on Christmas morning.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell A little bit of a tease and then something to look forward to the next morning.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: What is the perfect amount of snow?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: Ooh, that's a good question.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: I still want to be able to get out, but I want to be able to enjoy it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd have to say probably three inches.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: That's a good number.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: Because you can still drive around if you need to get somewhere, but the kids can go sliding and stuff with you.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly right.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: Probably make a snowman things along those lines.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: What is your favorite holiday movie?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: And you can pick from any of the holidays, including Halloween if you want.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, the whole season.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: Favorite Christmas or favorite holiday movie?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'd have to say Home Alone.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: Home Alone.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: See, that's a no jumped right on that, right?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, awesome.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: How about this?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: From Christmas Vacation, what does the W stand for in Clark W.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: Griswold?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_03: I think I'm going to stump most people with this one.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: Clark.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: Griswold.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm drawing a blank.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: Wilhelm.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Clark Wilhelm Griswold.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't come up at like once, I think.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: So is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it is, absolutely.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's another one that's like 50-50 for people.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: And really, people are pretty stubborn in their camps, too.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's like they'll go to fighting on it.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's just you're saying it is.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Final question.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: On New Year's Eve, house party out in the town or in bed before midnight?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty boring.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to say in bed before midnight.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: When's the last time you made it to the end?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: The last New Year's?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember, but don't take that and think the kids don't enjoy it.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: We generally set back all the clocks in the house.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we uh we do a previous ball drop on TV, so they don't know the difference.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Don't let this get out and let them hear the podcast.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: You do it without them knowing it?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: We do it without them knowing.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but they've got like phones.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, they don't.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: So they don't you change all the clocks.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: You change everything.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: The complete deception.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: We wear them out that day so they are extra tired and they just don't grasp time yet.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: I have never heard of someone going to those lengths to So you get to enjoy the whole ball drop, the celebration, the noisemakers, and all of that without having to stay up late.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: And enjoy sleep at the same time.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Ross Powell I might have to steal that if that's okay.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: Interim chief of police, Jackie Stepp.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: Congratulations.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for joining us and uh happy holidays.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Rick.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: You too, and uh happy holidays to everybody listening.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Getting to know Lieutenant Tyler Radford, thanks for sitting down with me.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: You uh tried to elude capture for the longest time.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: I finally got you in the room.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: You say you're a kind of an in-the-shadows guy.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: You like to do your job on the QT, but uh thanks for joining me.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: You can blame Captain Coward for uh sending you this way.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: He says, Tell him I said he has to do it.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: It sounded like a threat, so I I think it should be taken that way.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but they thanks for joining me finally, right?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: We've talked a few times, but we haven't really had a chance to talk too much.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: Just kind of before we started this, I already know that your fridge was on the fritz.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: You're still working on that right at the holiday time, of course.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: Even last night as we're speaking, it's like I yeah, I'm sorry, moving stuff from here to there and and all of that.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: Let's start off like we do with everyone that's a first time in this studio with where were you born?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_03: Born and raised here.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: A local.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_04: They're becoming more and more rare these days.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: So what was your high school?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_04: We grew up in Henderson County, ended up going to TC Robertson.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: Moved to Bunkham in uh I think my seventh grade year.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_03: So you're tall, you're kind of like me.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm guessing you played some sports.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_03: I did.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: I played baseball there.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: But not basketball.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Not basketball.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: Not basketball.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: Now that they got a great baseball program there.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: Is that why you chose that school to go there to play baseball?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: It was.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_04: I've got two older brothers, and uh all of us played baseball growing up.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I was in uh Asheville High School uh just the other day, a TV station from Greenville, WSPA was down there.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: They do a thing called First Responder Fridays, right?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: And so, of course, you know Officer Joe Jones, and a favorite among the SROs and of the students there and whatever.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_03: And so one of the kids that came up to him was Cameron Mabin's son.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of people know who Cameron Mabin is.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: He ended up being a professional baseball player and he went to TC, uh, had a heck of a career there, and of course, in the majors as well.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: And you know you're getting old when so I I told his son, I said, I knew your dad when he was a bat boy for the Asheville Tourists.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: So wet back in my very first year doing the public address for them uh would have been like 2000 or whatever.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: And so again Cameron was a bad boy back then.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: And then graduated, went on, played in the pros, and now his son, I guess, is going to Texas, I think.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: Full scholarship to Texas.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: So obviously, Apple not falling too far from the tree there.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: So how far'd you get?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_04: I played um in high school, and I mean that was that was basically it.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: Is that it?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, pretty much.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was me too.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: I loved it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: And then I'm like, yeah, this isn't taking me anywhere, but uh it was fun while it lasted.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: So what's the one thing, another question that we asked that most people don't know about you?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_04: I guess the one thing that some people probably know, but probably not a lot of people, is I'm related to Ty Cobb.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_04: Talk about baseball.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_04: Holy cow.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_04: Where where does that connect?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_04: How does that uh it was on my dad's side.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_04: Uh his grandmother was a cob, and uh that's that's just how it is.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: So was it uh like a distant cousin or how does that work?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: How many gener that's probably at least two or three generations, obviously.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: And I've not done the you know, Ancestry or or 23andMe, anything like that to to tell, you know, exactly where it was.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_04: But um that was a story for us growing up was you know you're related to Ty Cobb.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: Have you been down to the uh the Schulas Joe Museum in Greenville?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: I've not.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because they did not get along, apparently, back in the day.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh although, you know, from the stories of Ty Cobb, the way that he played the game, almost nobody liked him.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_03: There's even like a reference in Field of Dreams, and nobody liked the son of a gun while he was alive either.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: So he wanted to play, but we didn't let him out.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: The whole thing.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: So but I owe I can appreciate a guy that plays hard nose like that.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like the Pete Rose type.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: I mean he's gonna wrankle some feathers, but boy, that guy played with some intensity that some people say maybe the greatest baseball player of all time, but the he's not talked about that way because he wasn't liked.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_04: That type of thing.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_04: Left it all out there rather, didn't leave anything behind.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they sure did, didn't they?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_03: So let's talk a little bit about uh something that tis the season, right?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh a lot of people ask me, like, what is some of the most prevalent things that are happening in the Asheville Police Department?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: Just kind of like, you know, talking with friends or whatever, and I I think they expect to hear a lot of the higher profile things, you know, uh the assaults and things of that nature.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: And what I tell them, I say, listen, the two things that I am seeing just about every single day is motor vehicles being stolen and larcenies.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think people quite realize the rate of larceny that is taking place in the big box stores, and we don't want to name anybody in particular, but but the home improvement stores and the big box stores.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: And you see that all the time.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: So uh tell us just a little bit about what you're seeing and and how prevalent is it?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we're uh seeing quite a bit of it, you know.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously, as the holiday season approaches, uh it seems to increase as well.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_04: Shoplifting, larcenies, things like that.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_04: But I s I think a lot of it still is being under-reported.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_04: We're still trying to kind of work our way out of the P2C reporting as a department.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think had the capacity really to handle P2C reports the way that they should have been handled.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_04: So I I still think that we're getting a lot of under-reporting by a lot of the big box stores.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_04: But uh myself and Lieutenant Mindel, when he was another district commander, uh were meeting with some of the regional managers, general managers of some of the big box stores around here.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_04: And the one theme that was constantly being relayed to us was that the stores here in Asheville were their worst stores, uh, that they were losing the most money out of these stores.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_04: So it it's certainly something that has been going on for a while.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um and you know, typically, like I said, around the holiday season, you'll see an uptick in it.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: No, so you think it's with the under-reporting management to some of these stores are just like it's more hassle than it's worth?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Is that kind of maybe depending on uh the amount, like was this worth type thing, it's like eh, the all they stole was this.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not even gonna bother with it.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_04: Aaron Powell To be honest with you, the the conversations that we had were that these stores had been reporting these things to us and just nothing was getting done, so they just got tired of doing it.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe at a time when we were even lower in staffing than we are now, we're finally getting back, and I know there's been a big outreach to a lot of these stores, and some of them have been very helpful, and they're we've actually made an impact in some cases.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_04: And and I've really appreciated that.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_04: There's been a lot of really good communication uh between some of these folks and us.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um and you know that's what it takes is good communication between their folks and our folks, trying to find a way forward that works for both of us.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_04: You know, obviously a lot of stuff changed uh post-2020, and you know, we're all kind of trying to figure out what this what this looks like moving forward.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_04: So I've really appreciated the fact that you know they've been so understanding, uh, but you know, they're willing to have those hard conversations about hey, what can we do to help you guys out?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and and us too, right?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_04: Like looking internally at some of the things that we have been doing and some of the things that we would like to do moving forward to try to help them.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: Because I sincerely feel like that is an underserved population.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_04: There is enough organized uh theft here that I mean we could legitimately use you know, an organized retail crime task force.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_04: But we don't have the staffing for that right now.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_04: But that's certainly something that I think would be beneficial for for everybody.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: So one thing I noticed, uh, because I go to home improvement stores all the time, Lowe's in particular, has started to lock up the more expensive items, especially the things toward the front.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: Which can be a little frustrating for customers, but you totally understand what they're doing.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's like people are walking out with circular saws, you gotta do something about it, right?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_04: And I know it's frustrating for them because you know, obviously each each company has their own policy uh that dictates what their loss prevention folks can do.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_04: So you know, I know that's frustrating for them, and certainly for the consumer as well.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_04: So things like that are are things that we're hoping, you know, increased enforcement, uh, better response times, things like that can kind of help call it.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we're nowhere near what you saw in some of these big cities where like the pharmacies and the like CVS and Walgreens and everything was locked up.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's enough, at least for me personally.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: For me, not to even go into that store.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's like I'm not gonna ask a teller for a tube of toothpaste or can can you get me my deodorant or so it's just you know what I mean?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: It's I it's so at least we're not there yet.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: Are we finding that it's a lot of repeat offenders?
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: Are we seeing that?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_04: Certainly.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, certainly are.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, again, one of the really good things that uh I've I've certainly appreciated is Deputy Chief Artima has been pretty instrumental in this as well.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_04: We're starting to to try to reach back out to the district attorney's office and again start trying to streamline this process of charging habitual misdemeanor charges.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously, certain parameters that they have to be within.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_04: But if we have these repeat offenders that are continually committing these misdemeanor larcenies, they can qualify for a habitual larceny charge, which bumps it up to a felony charge, which obviously, you know, for us and for the DA's office makes it a little easier to actually put this person away for a little bit.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_04: We've been working with them to try to streamline that process.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, again, I think we're we're still relatively early in that process, but our crime analysts have been instrumental in in that.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's Jordan Tinder has been doing a phenomenal job of doing a lot of the legwork, a lot of the back work that helps make our job a ton easier.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, you get these face sheets, people to look out for, and he's been putting these out like once a week and whatever, and it's gotta be really helpful to you guys in the street, I would think, right?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_04: It absolutely is.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and and again, the sometimes even these repeat offenders are going in and and hitting these big box stores, and they'll reach out to us and they'll go, Hey, I I don't know who this is.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_04: You know, do y'all know who this is?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_04: And years ago, we actually started, I I want to say maybe it was uh Lieutenant Griffin, started a like a loss prevention email group.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_04: So all of the folks that are on this email group can communicate back and forth.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_04: And again, like the person that's committing these offenses at let's say, I mean we didn't want to name names, but let's say Lowe's, right?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_04: Like they're committing the same offenses at Home Depots or Lowe's in other parts of the city or Walmarts.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_04: So a lot of times if they're able to communicate with each other and share that information, if we haven't identified them, odds are someone at one of the other stores has.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_04: So they're able to communicate, share that information, which hopefully helps long term with prosecution.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_04: So what's the strangest thing you've seen stolen, seen shoplifted?
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_04: You know, uh oddly enough, when I was uh I think it was when I was a sergeant, when I was a baker two years ago, uh I was coming in around 5 45, 6 in the morning, and I got a call at the Walmart on Airport Road that there was a guy that was shoplifting and that he was eating or uh like walking around eating a T-bone steak.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_04: So I walked in, and sure enough, this guy had gone to the meat section and was eating a T-bone steak raw.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_04: Raw.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_04: Raw.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's I I guess it wouldn't kill you.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's not it's not poultry, but uh that is wild.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: It was something.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: Drugs are bad.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: Let's just say that.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's a fair statement.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_03: If if if you're looking for something to eat on the go, raw meat would probably not be my choice.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: Not at the top of my list either.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: Think there's an actual aisle that has some pre-prepared foods maybe you could go with in the future.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_03: All right, Lieutenant Tyler Radford joins me right now since it is the season, right?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_03: The pod squad holiday pop quiz.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_03: It is time for that.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: By the way, did anyone ever tell you you should have been on the radio?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: Because I get it all the time.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: But uh No.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: You you you have they have the voice, the sultry voice, you know that.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate that.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: But it don't do that, by the way.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: Don't go into radio.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, not not very lucrative, I can personal experience that it's not going to get you where you want to go.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: All right, the pod squad holiday pop quiz.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_03: Question number one.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's, which is your favorite?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: No, Christmas is my favorite.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_04: Do you call it turkey stuffing or dressing?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I call it the stuff I don't like.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't know.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, you don't like it at all?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_04: No, I'm not I don't I'm not a huge fan of it.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_04: It's moist, it's wet, it's I don't know.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's just I the taste of it's just not a fan.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: Don't suit me.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's the first person that said no to all of it.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: How about this for dessert?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: Pumpkin pie, apple pie, or other.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_04: I am a sucker for a good pumpkin pie.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this time of the year too, right?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: This was maybe July, maybe you'd say apple pie, but the pumpkin, right?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_03: Anything else pumpkin you like, or is that just a pie thing?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: Some people are to like gaga about the pumpkin stuff.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, really just the pie.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: How about this?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: Eggnog.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yes or no?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_04: No, not really.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's very thick.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's I I'm a fan.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_03: I really am, but I can't drink the full eggnog.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: I usually get the eggnog light only, and not because the calories, just because it's not quite as goofy.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then I might thin it out with some rum.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just saying maybe.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe just put a splash in there.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: What is the perfect amount of snow?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_04: The perfect amount of snow, I would say, is enough that you can make snowballs and go sledding.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: So we're talking I forget who it was that answered three inches, but three inches seems to be if you think about that, right?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: You can still get where you need to go, but maybe do some sledding.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: Make a snowman, that type thing.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: What is your favorite holiday movie?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: And you can choose from all the holidays, too, since it's you know Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, all that.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_03: Favorite holiday movie?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a Christmas story kind of guy.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: Me too.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, don't get me started.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: We could sit here all day long with you know with the quotes from a Christmas story.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: My wife hates it though.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: Well, maybe because I'll just turn it on with the marathon that they do.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, same here.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll just keep watching it over.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_03: And she'll walk through the room and she goes, Is that still on?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, well, it's a different you know version of it.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's the same movie, but it's right.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_03: They're running it on a loop.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: And then I'm with you on that.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_03: I do the same thing.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_03: Love that movie.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: Speaking of movies, from Christmas Vacation, you've seen that, right?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: What does the W stand for?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: And Clark W Griswold.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: That is a tough one.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: I had to look it up.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: Wilhelm.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: I wouldn't have thought that.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: Never would have guessed that.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: No, Wilhelm.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: I think they only mentioned it once, if they mentioned it at all.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's a good movie, I'll tell you that.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_03: So you're not taking a stance.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: You don't want to dig into that controversy.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: So now Bruce Willis, who isn't doing well, you know, with his health, years ago had said it's not, but his wife recently came out and said it is.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_03: So even they can't agree in their own in their own home.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: Final question.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: On New Year's Eve, house party out in the town or in bed before midnight?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm in bed before midnight.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: It seems to be a growing trend.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_03: I think as you get a little bit older, out of your twenties, you're just like, you know what?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: I I can't remember really the last one specifically I stayed up for.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's just maybe by accident, but it's just all of a sudden.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: But it used to be such a big deal.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: Have you ever gone anywhere like to celebrate like a big place, like a ball drop somewhere or anything like that?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: Or just kind of No.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I've I've been here for 17 years, so um I started when I was 21 or 22.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: And they don't do anything in Asheville.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_04: No, I've been working.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_04: Where do they drop that possum?
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: Where is that?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_04: It's in uh that that was in Clay County in the western part of the state.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's so I forget where that possum drop is located.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: They had to stop that for a couple years because people did.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sure.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's at Clay's Corner, is where it was at the time.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: But I think they're doing it again, aren't they?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not sure.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: But I mean, it's not like they're holding the possum by his tail.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_03: He's in a box.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: He's fine.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_03: He's a possum.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, come on, for the love of Pete.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: All right, Tyler Radford, Lieutenant, thank you for joining us and a Merry Christmas to you and your family.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_04: Merry Christmas to you too.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_03: Senior police officer Justin Lewis from the Community Engagement Division joining us again.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_03: How are you?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'm doing well.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me again.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think this is number three.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: Is this the third time?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's the third time.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, well, then you're old hat at this, right?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: The holiday season is here, so I know that means you're busy.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: We we have been very tasked with a lot of different events, and uh it's just awesome.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know one of the big things, of course, coming up is uh what is it called specifically?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: Is it shop?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's not shop with a cop.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: What do you guys call it?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we call it helper and heroes.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_03: Helper and heroes.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: I love this.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_03: So this is where you get the needy kids from the community, and they literally spend a time shopping in a local retail establishment for Christmas.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that was one of the ones that's bringing up.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh actually on the ninth, uh, we're partnering with Target.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna be sitting there going out with kids from ages to four to sixteen, and each kid will have an officer with them.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then we're gonna go through and shop with these kids throughout Target.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: And we've got a bunch of donations.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: Target fills in some of the blanks in that, and these kids get to experience a part of Christmas they may not normally be able to, because you know, families, people are still suffering from Helene and things like that.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like so, this gives them, you know, that opportunity and brings that joy to them, and more or less it brings more joy to us.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know you guys just love it too.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: And there's a couple of cool things about this, which I really enjoy.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: Now, there's a lot of great programs in this town with a lot of great organizations that provide Christmas presents to children, but this one is kind of unique in that the child gets to pick out what they want.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_03: So they get to like look for Christmas.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, oh, this is what I want.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: And they get it.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: Instead of just sure you open something that's great, there's the surprising Christmas morning, it may or may not be something that the kid wants.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, but in this case, they're they're shopping for that item and they're doing it with you guys.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: So they get to develop that relationship maybe at a young age, their first contact or maybe early contact with a law enforcement officer that's a positive one.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell Yes, and you wouldn't believe how often these kids will sit there and be like, you know what, instead of for me, I want to get it for like my mom or my dad or my sibling who's not able to get it.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: It really touches you.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a humbling experience, absolutely.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell It's a cliche in a way, but it really is what Christmas is all about.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's the spirit of giving.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: So you guys are giving your time and giving these presents, and then these children might in turn even just give it away to somebody else.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: So that's awesome.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: It really brings that spirit back.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you have the ability to donate to any of these events or assist, volunteer, whatever it is, like do it.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you to Target.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, Target is a huge huge.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: And you can find something for Christmas in Target.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know you can.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I know I'm looking forward to hearing the stories after the fact of that.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_03: So that is coming up on December 9th.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_03: What else you got coming up?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: So we also on December 4th, which today and through the 6th, Ingalls is on Smokey Park Highway, is hosting a toy drive, partnering with Eblin Charities for their St.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: Nicholas project.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they're taking donations.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: This event helps in providing toys, clothing, and other items during the holiday season.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: We're going to be out and about, I believe, that uh later on today.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: We're taking shifts.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I got to figure out where I lie in that shift and come out.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: You got something to donate.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great cause.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: If you need more information about maybe volunteering next year or how you can get more of these items throughout the year, you just go to Eblincharities.org.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: They have their annual events right at front at the top, and then click on St.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: Nicholas Project.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: They also have them all throughout the year.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's with my former employer from back in the day, iHeartRadio.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_03: And they'll be looking.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's the uh the Ingles right near my house, Smoky Park Highway.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: If you're wondering which one that is, that is the one close to exit 44.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: And they set up right in between the Planet Fitness and the Ingles, that big open area right there.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're hungry, you can swing by the Chick-fil-A, which is you know, it's a one-stop shopping, quite frankly.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: So uh that is taking place starting today as we load up this podcast.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_03: But of course, the dates are important because if you're listening to this in a week, it wouldn't be occurring.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: So it is uh what the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh?
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: Is that what it is?
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh fourth through sixth.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: Fourth through sixth.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: So four through sixth, uh, three days of that.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: So what else?
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh another one we have is we're partnering with Hearts with Hands for the seventh annual Hope for the Holidays.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna be out at their facility.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: This event helps provide food boxes, winter essentials, and Christmas gifts to families across our community.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_02: Come out, join us, uh, bring hope and support to the neighbors who need it most.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, whether you volunteer, donate, or help spread the word, your involvement makes a real difference.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you can find more details at that heartswithhands.org/slash holidays.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: All right, it is the season.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of good stuff going on.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: Lots and lots.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like our we're definitely gonna be busy.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: We got a coffee with the cop coming up, too, don't we?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: We do have a coffee with the cop.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: We're we're sitting there trying to get the date down.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and the location, so it is coming.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'd look for it within the next week or two.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, keep your eye on Facebook for that.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: We always post those, right?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: Come out, see us, enjoy a cup of coffee, or wasail, as the case may be.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: A cup of wasail.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: Wasail.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: Wait, what is wasail?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's some kind of holiday drink early to the show.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: I I mean eggnog, sure, but was I've never heard of it.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's like an old English thing.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: I I just know that I've heard it before, like a wasail.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's some sort of concoction that I'm sure is warm and toasty and probably not available wherever we do have the coffee with a cop.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, I don't know.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't think if we could whip up some wasale, we will do that for you.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: Take some convincing to try that for me.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_03: Senior police officer Justin Lewis joins me, and we're not letting him go without the Pod Squad holiday pop quiz.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: Oh boy.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_03: Because we've been talking about Christmas and all that.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_03: It is the season, so we will do this with all of our guests in uh this episode and the next one.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so here we go.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_03: Ten questions, and away we go.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's, which one is your favorite?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: Christmas, absolutely.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's going to be the answer for most people, but not for everyone, because I would honestly say Thanksgiving is mine.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh tradition with the family.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's the sometimes with all the moving I have done in my life, oftentimes it has been the only time in the year I will see my parents.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: Even though my father is no longer with us.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: My mom, uh, she came down for Thanksgiving.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_03: So traditionally they would travel to where I was, or me and my wife, of course, and we would host the dinner.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so this was by Thanksgiving, it's always kind of my favorite.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I I love the family get together and stuff.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: I I guess more Christmas for me is uh more faith-based.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I just we enjoy getting to share that time with each other and celebrate.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I enjoy that as well.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's absolutely fantastic.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why it kind of stands out more to me.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: I I could care less about gifts.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: I love giving gifts and watching my family open them.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of get that guilt if I have to open a gift.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, all right, is somebody feeling a little jealous, like a family member or something?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I'd rather go without.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'd rather just watch them open gifts and just share.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: And you see, along those lines of uh your angle why you enjoyed Christmas, Christmas Eve service is like my one of my favorite things in this year.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_03: Singing the carols and lighting the candle at the end and the whole silent night and all that's kind of my favorite thing about Christmas is Christmas Eve service.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell I love being a partake in.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't sing though because nobody wants to hear that.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, come on, man.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: I like I said, I I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but I can go low and stay low.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: That's like all I can do.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I certain songs I can nail.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'll tell you what, uh you know, our church orchestrates or not orchestrates, but the uh they sit there and say, make a joyful noise.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: So exactly.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: I can make a joyful noise, it just may not be as joyful to you.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm pretty sure God's not up there judging us.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: Not like you know, absolutely not.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_03: Not like she's got talent or nothing like that type.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_03: The TV show.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's talk about food, because food are a big part of all the holidays, right?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_03: Do you call it turkey stuffing or dressing?
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: Dressing.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: Dressing.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_03: Now I know there's an actual reason for each people tend to claim, oh, the stuffing goes inside, and the I really think it's just a word.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's like some people have used that word or the other word.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_03: I've always used dressing, but it's in the bird, so technically it's the stuffing.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_03: But we always say dressing as well.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: So what's for dessert?
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_03: Pumpkin pie, apple pie, or other?
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be pumpkin pie all.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: Pumpkin pie.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm pumpkin all day long.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like pumpkin seasons.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: This is my season.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'll wear my hand solo outfit.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the Ug boots, the vest.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to give it to me, I'll wear it.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll I don't do the fake pumpkin stuff like Starbucks.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_02: I I grew up on a farm, so it's got to be a real pumpkin.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_03: See, my mom made an apple and a pumpkin for Thanksgiving, and I happen to have a personal affinity for the apple because that was my grandmother's apple pie recipe, and mom's pretty much got it down and nailed.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean, uh really, honestly, that don't you just have a slice of each?
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_03: You just kind of the small slice and you put them together on the same plate.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_02: I usually take the slice of pumpkin pie out, leave that on a plate, and take the rest of the dish with me.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: Along those same lines of food.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: Eggnog, yes or no?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a yes guy, too.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I'm a fan of it.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, some people think it's disgusting.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_03: I I personally really enjoy it.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_03: I might put a nip of bourbon in there.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_03: I might.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_03: I might.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_03: I might.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: I've yet to try alcoholic eggnog.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you got to do it yourself.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: You can't buy the stuff that's already pre-mixed, because that's just disgusting.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_03: But you put a splash of like a nice bourbon in there, a little bit of rum, I understand, as well as opening presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Ross Powell Our family, since uh we have divided family, we do both.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell Okay.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I let the kids open uh for our Christmas, I let them open up one on Christmas Eve.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: We started this new tradition that I just wanted to like get them excited for it.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh kind of lay it back, they got a gift, help them sleep a little bit, and then Christmas morning, go bananas.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_03: I mean it's the best of both worlds, isn't it?
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_03: So what is the perfect amount of snow?
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I used to push snow before this.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: I worked for the DOT and in Madison I pushed it on the Wolf Laurel line, which is always I have to get it.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I began hating snow, even though it's my favorite season.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: Any snow.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the wet, like the wet, heavy snow that busts trees.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: I want it to be powdery and coming feet.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm good.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm good with coming in feet because I had to miss out on all those uh snow days because I was out in a truck pushing snow for 12, 14 hours a day.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: So you don't so more the merrier.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_03: But it's got to be the white fluffy.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: White fluffy, perfect for snow angels, snowmen, snowballs.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: So what's your favorite holiday movie?
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: Number one.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: It could be all the holidays, too.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_03: You can talk Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, the whole holiday season.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_02: Favorite holiday movie.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: I never gave this one any thought ever.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_03: This is why it is the Pod Squad holiday pop quiz.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: We don't give you these questions in advance.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: Goodness gracious.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_03: Just one?
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: One movie doesn't stand out for you.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's coming on you.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely gotta be.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a big comedy guy.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: Jingle all the way, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_03: You like that one.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_02: That is one of my favorite holiday movies.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: I will watch it every holiday.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: I did not expect that answer.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: Come on, Simbad, Arnold Schwarzenegger going on.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_03: I just I didn't see that one coming.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: Turbo Man?
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_03: I just wasn't an answer that I saw coming from anybody, quite frankly.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, that's why there's a whole lot of these things.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, from Christmas Vacation, you've seen it, right?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_03: What does the W stand for with Clark W.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_03: Griswold?
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: Little bonus question.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: Clark W.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_03: Griswold.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: What's that?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think I should know that?
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_02: Winston?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: Wilhelm.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: Wilhelm.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: Clark Wilhelm Griswald.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I felt that one.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think anyone is going to get that one.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_03: I just don't.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_03: You got to be deep to get that one.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_03: Here's one controversial.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_03: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_02: I I really truly think it does.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like I think you have to fall within a certain parameters.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: I was wanting to sit there and argue Lethal Weapon was also a Christmas movie.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, lethal weapons, absolutely.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: I have to back down from that one.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's not.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: But you're but you're gonna die on that hill with diehard, huh?
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: See, people will fight you over this one.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: I I you know, I don't even watch it that much.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think I've last time I watched it was like five years ago.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: You've got a member of your department that has not seen this movie.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: The audacity.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: Isaiah Sanyak.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: We're calling him out right now.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: We're having this conversation just the other day in your little office area, and we're just having the general Is Die Hard a Christmas.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of lot of contributions there, a lot of input.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: The room was about evenly divided, and out of nowhere, Sanyak, like, yeah, I never seen it.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: We're like, oh, that's where we all joined together and said, that's not that's not tolerated.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_02: He's got to watch it.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: We we all we were disagreeing, and then all of a sudden we're all in agreement.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: That he needs to watch that movie.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Whether it's a Christmas movie or not, it's an excellent movie all around.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: Can I disagree with that, right?
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yippie Kaye.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_03: On New Year's Eve, okay?
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_03: House party, out in the town, or in bed before midnight.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_02: In bed before midnight.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_03: I used to be one or the other of the two.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_03: I would be like, ah, either one's fine with me.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_03: And now it's like, are we going to make it to midnight?
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:27
  unknown: No.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think I've made it to midnight in some time.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_03: I did it accidentally a few years ago, and all of a sudden it became midnight.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_03: We looked up and it was midnight.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_03: And we didn't do a countdown.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: We didn't do anything.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: We just all of a sudden are like, oh, I guess we kiss or something.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, I try to do the traditional like wait till then, but like I'm not watching countdown or anything.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh kids aren't really interested in it.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, why are we doing this?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: And the shows that they the ones that air, like the network shows, I don't know who any of those artists are anymore.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just like I I just have no interest in that.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know a lot of artists that's on TVs anyways.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'll tell you what.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: So how about this one?
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: We'll just throw this in as a little bit of a bonus.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_03: So uh Times Square, yes or no for New Year's Eve.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, I'm not about that.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Shoulder to shoulder, you see, I'm a bigger guy.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_03: I cannot imagine there's a the place that I would least rather be on New Year's Eve than packed like sardines in Times Square where there's no bathrooms.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_03: There's you're supposed to be there like hours and hours and hours in advance, and you can't even go anywhere.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_03: Are you kidding me?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I could do like a friends and family party, and that's the least or that's the most I'll go.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: If we were gonna go around, that would be the thing we would do is gather with some friends and just kind of wrap up the year that way.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_03: As we wrap up another episode of the uh Pod Squad with Senior Police Officer Justin Lewis, thank you for joining us.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having me.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, Merry Christmas.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_03: If I don't see you before then, and I know I will.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_03: Time for another edition of the History Minute with Hannah Silberman as we wind down the 150th anniversary year of the Asheville Police Department.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_03: What do you
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Another line of duty death, unfortunately.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_03: We've talked about uh several of these.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_03: I've tried to cover them all this year.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_03: We got just about all of them.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_03: There was seven total.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_03: So which one is this?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is Chief Harold Enlo.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: On November twenty-third, nineteen fifty-one, there was a detective who was driving across the Smoky Park Bridge in his personal car when another 1950 Ford coop just blows his doors off.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he decides that he's gonna chase this car.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: So he starts pursuing this car into downtown Asheville, where he's promptly loses it, and then he circles back to the municipal building to report it.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so when he gets there, he encounters a car that has Chief Enlo, Assistant Chief Pitts Looter, and Captain Eric Hall, and they were getting ready to start a patrol around town.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: So as he's talking to them, guess what?
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: That same car blows right past them in front of the place.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like on purpose, you think?
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: Probably.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: Just taunting them.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: It almost runs over a foot patrol officer in Peck Square, and then patrol cars start chasing this car.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very long chase that goes very, very fast.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like 85 miles per hour.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: Mostly within the city, or did it leave the city?
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: So they go down Biltmore Avenue, they go into the South French broad area, back into like the south slope.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: So they just kind of go all around the kind of just south of downtown area, about 65 miles an hour the whole time.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then while it's going south on McDowell Street, the patrol cars start to lose it, and Chief Enlo picks up the chase in his car.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: So they go into Biltmore, Biltmore Village, where a state highway patrol and a sheriff's department car join the pursuit.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then they all turn down Swantanoa River Road.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: So this is November.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's dark and it's raining.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: 930 at night.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_03: Horrible conditions for this type of thing.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: They start going 75 to 85 miles per hour on Swannanoa River Road, which is terrifying today in a modern car.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine what it would be like in the 1950s.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the vehicles then not that great with handling and the tires and all that.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: So Captain Hall, who later testified, said that they were just absolutely skidding at every single turn.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: So they blast through the intersection at Tunnel Road at about 60 miles per hour, and as they're making a the very big turn on Swannon River Road going towards what is now the Walmart Bridge.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: The sales bleachery bridge.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: Chief Enlo's car loses control.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: It goes into the ditch.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it skidd on the road, it hit the shoulder and flipped onto its side, and then slid along the road on its side for a while, and then launched into the air and then landed again on four wheels.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Enlo and Sluter were both totally ejected from the vehicle.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Hall was partially ejected.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um Enlo suffered from severe skull fractures and died at the scene.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_03: So how about the driver?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_03: Did they get the guy that they were chasing?
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: They did.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: They eventually identified them and arrested him.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: But through some issues that happened with the police court, I think he got very little time served.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean he was speeding.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_03: Did they ever figure out if there was more to it than just somebody just being reckless?
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like just it was just joy riding, yeah.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_03: I I I just can't fathom that.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_03: It just seems like a little, you know, like so extreme for you know that.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess well that at the time they were on a a pretty significant crusade in public safety against people who were driving fast cars.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: So in the 1950s, suddenly cars had the ability to go fast.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't so much had before, and so it was this massive safety issue.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so the speeders were a real public safety campaign that the chief had spearheaded, and so trying to track them down.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, now we have this idea that pursuits are very dangerous.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: Back then it was that was like they just pursued.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: They went after you and you were speeding.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: So what year, I wonder, did Thunder Road come out with Robert Mitchum?
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 1958.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so that was out later, so it couldn't have been the inspiration for this.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_03: But it it was kind of close to that era where you're right, cars had starting to get more horsepower.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: Was so was it a young person?
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was, yeah.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_03: So just kind of dumb and fast car and ends tragically.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's horrible.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um so Captain Hall and Sluter eventually made full recoveries, and then uh Sluter eventually became the assistant chief, and then a little bit about Chief Enlo.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_03: What do we know what do we know about him?
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: So he first joined the police department in 1937, but yeah, he left three months after Pearl Harbor in 1941 and oversaw a military police company in Charleston during the war.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: So he returned to the department in 1946, so he took a break during World War II.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: But he quickly climbed through the ranks from detective to captain to chief from 1946 to 1950 when he became the chief of police.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Ross Powell So a veteran of World War II and a chief of police and dies tragically chasing some punk in a fast car.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_03: So we have now covered, I believe, six of the seven line of duty deaths at the Asheville Police Department.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_03: And one of them occurred, I guess, the one we haven't covered in the middle, I guess summer, you said July?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, well, there's something we'll do in 2026.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh because we're not going to stop doing this uh entirely.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_03: We've enjoyed having you in every episode, and we've still got one episode left in 2025.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_03: Do you got a Christmas story maybe for us?
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'll have to let something find something with a holiday twist.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so we've got one more opportunity to hear about uh the History Minute, this 2025 year of the 150th anniversary of the Asheville Police Department.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_03: So now as we get closer, can I ask you about the book one one last time?
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_03: Because we've talked about it a lot.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_03: Is it ready?
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: Any day now.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: Hannah Silberman with the History Minute.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for listening to the APD Pod Squad.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you to my guests, Interim Chief Jackie Stepp, Lieutenant Tyler Radford, Senior Police Officer Justin Lewis, and Hannah Silberman with the History Minute.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_03: Don't forget, if there's a topic you'd like us to discuss, or if you've got a question or even a guest suggestion, call 828-250-8800 and leave a voicemail.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_03: That number again is 828-250-8800.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_03: Or you can email APD Podcastfeedback at AshevilleNC.gov.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_03: Listen and subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts and don't miss a single episode.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_03: Tell a friend, a coworker, or even a drunk uncle at a Christmas party and help spread the word.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Rick Rice, and this is the APD Pod Squad.