Latest / Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement / #137- "Politics, Paychecks and Policing the Valley" with Weslaco POA and Javier Lara

Transcript

#137- "Politics, Paychecks and Policing the Valley" with Weslaco POA and Javier Lara · Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's a great point you bring up.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I think a disparity between the South and I guess South Texas and other uh large cities like here in Dallas or it's pretty uh substantial.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_05: Uh there in the Rio Grande Valley.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_05: We have the biggest uh agencies, which is Edinburgh and McCallum.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_05: And you can see the quite the difference between the how much we get paid and how much they get paid, you know.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: Viewers, watchers, listeners, I'm your host, Tyler Owen.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm here at the 2026 Texas FOP TMPA joint conference in Dallas, Texas.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: Man, what an eventful weekend we've already had.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sitting here recording this today on Sunday, which tonight is the banquet.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Had a lot of shake-ups this year with our conference.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh last night was our casino night.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: Huge success.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, really good seeing, you know, the continued members that come to these things every single year.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh again, it's more like a family reunion.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so, again, we're on day three.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm extremely tired, as with all the TNPA staff uh putting this conference on.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a great time.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: But that said, I'm sitting with a couple of guests today.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: Weslico, is it Weslico Municipal Police Association?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: I am sitting with their president, Christian Tomez, and we also have our new field rep uh that was former Mission Police Department, Javier Lara, and we're gonna talk a little bit about uh what's going on at conference.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: The cool thing, Christian, this is y'all's first conference to come to uh as an association, and I think it's very, very, very important to the listener out there that's understanding, man, what's the value of me coming to conference?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you were here with your board, and we're gonna introduce them in a minute, but you guys got to participate in the voting procedures and understand kind of how TMPA operates, and a lot of those decisions that last all year long are decided at this conference.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's why it's very important for local associations to come to our conference, and so we're very grateful that you came with your board.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: What was your first conference like?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it was uh it was an eventful experience.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um we we had been able to show up in the past few years um as we've been aboard, and we made this year um pretty much priority to show up.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_04: So you know it it's been it's been fun.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's more of a brotherhood being here.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_04: You start to meet people and network, you meet different people from other agencies, and and it helps us bond too as our board.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_04: We get closer as well.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's the cool thing.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, for those that don't know, Wesleco's got about 80, you'll say 88 officers is what y'all are slaughtered for.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, about 88 officers.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and that's cool because you may run into somebody else that's the similar size of y'all, uh, that may be experiencing certain situations that you guys are facing with.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it may be a leadership issue, it may be a salary survey, it may be something going on that you guys can network with other local associations to figure out hey, how did y'all fix this?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: What happened, how how did y'all handle these situations?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I thought I think it's important for that to happen.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: And it sounds like that is occurring this weekend.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that that's pretty much what was going on.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we're able to network with other agencies and just get uh an idea of and you know how the process goes for certain things.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_04: For sure, for sure.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_04: Well, introduce your board.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_04: Let's let's uh let's let's hear from the other board members of Weslico uh POA.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, um to my right here I have my vice president uh Eric Rangel.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, how's it going, guys?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_04: Uh next to Eric, we have uh our Secretary Paul Vega.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: Hello.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_04: And then we have our treasurer, uh Leo Cantu.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_04: How we do it.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: And then we have our board member, uh Pete Garcia.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Now listen, on y'all's POAs, it kind of set up, uh, and there was one POA I know from East Texas that did this.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: You had one representative of patrol, you had one representative of CID.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Are y'all done like that, or is it just basically y'all's executive board to have one book and one board member?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_04: No, uh, we we'll take the nominations from the whole department.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_04: They nominate who they see fit for every position.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_04: Gotcha.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_04: And then after that, we'll hold the elections for uh those positions.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: How long have you been on the board?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh who's the longest board member here, sitting here with with this board?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: That'll be me.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: You?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Anyone else who who's who was kind of second the runner up of the longest tenure?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh been three three terms already.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: Three terms as well.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: Give us some insight on how Weslico kind of operates.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: What what what dynamics do y'all face?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um are there certain situations that are unique about Weslico other than being in the Rio Gran Valley?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Talk about the the attorneys that you guys have with TNPA.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe talk about how TMPA kind of helps you guys and impacts y'all.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, being in the border or being in the Rio Gran Valley, it's hard to understand, and I'll be honest with you, until I moved to Central Texas, I didn't get a full understanding of how different the Rio Gran Valley is.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes you guys kind of feel left out because it's so far south, right?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: You're not essentially located, you're away the hell out there, and you don't have there's if you're going to the Rio Grande Valley, you're going there for a purpose.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like you're traveling through, right?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: So you guys are kind of often forgotten about and the relationship with TMPA with field representative JP Rodriguez living down there, also now with Javier, Mike Gomez, frequently coming down there.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's a unique, it's a neak, unique perspective, but also a unique relationship you guys have as a state board.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: So give us kind of those insights from West Lacoste uh perspective.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I would say our our reps, our field reps do help us out a lot to get our voice from the south up here in the uh in the main in the main offices.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: So they do help us out a lot with that.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: The valley's kind of cut off from the rest of the state, so we kind of get everything kind of towards the end of uh like like policies and stuff like that.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: So it's good to have like the TMPA reps come up and and get everything that everybody else is doing, and we we can incorporate that with our our department at least.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and the interesting factor is this is that Weslico is not struggling to thrive, right?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Economically.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: No, but what but what I've noticed, honestly, from a statewide perspective, is that y'all's salaries, um, the benefit packages may be there, but the salaries in comparison to the state as a whole, for whatever reason, the entire Rio Grande Valley, it's not one specific town or city or anything else.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: It seems like it's not equal or as as much.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: There's a Round Rock POA, a former Round Rock POA president sitting in the room right now, and I promise you, if I compare Round Rock PD's salaries to y'all's salaries, it's significantly different.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: And that's okay in some in some aspects, but you have a thriving city.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's the difference in the Rio Grande Valley is um is the point that I'm trying to make.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: There's issues that we continue to try to fight and combat down there, and I think it's important for local POAs and local associations to have a state relationship, and I think that TMPA does a really good job of facilitating that with you guys of open open communication.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's a great point you bring up.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I think the a disparity between the Southern, I guess the South, South Texas, and other uh large cities like here in Dallas or um any any other city, it's it's it's it's pretty uh substantial, right?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_05: Uh there in the Rio Grande Valley, we have the biggest uh agencies, which is Edinburgh and McCallan.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_05: And you can see the quite the difference between the how much we get paid and how much they get paid, you know.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_05: Sometimes we when we go through that uh the CBA and um we bring up a this is a similar size city from a little bit further north.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_05: We bring in, we compare the numbers, and uh usually the commission usually says, Hey, well, that's a it's a town further north.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_05: But then again, uh the the the motto of the city is this the city on the grow, and it's been growing exponentially, man.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_05: There's so many businesses coming in, and and I guess they don't see that part where um there's more more businesses coming in, and obviously we need more officers uh to uh protect the citizens, essentially.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: And what sucks, this us, let's call it spade the spade, is that with the border crisis that just happened, and now that the border is semi-more secure, you've got a situation there in the Rio Grande Valley where you have an influx in population, so the police department and fire department have to service more people.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: But unfortunately, the undocumented workers that service Westlico and the surrounding cities are undocumented, so they're not paying taxes because they're scared to be deported, and so there's there's an off there's an offset there.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that has it contributes heavily into the infrastructure of each city down there, and it also it's really a burden to the public safety aspect because you guys have a high influx of calls dealing with illegal immigrants, uh, and it doesn't really help the tax base, which subs subsequently affects y'all's y'all's salaries.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so you're kind of in a in a really unique situation.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it takes good relationships with city councils, good relationships with other regional associations to kind of put that message out there to get y'all's benefit packages increased.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: I agree.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, I think we amongst the board here, we do talk to ourselves on a given Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday at lunchtime.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: The city double and triples in population compared to when it's six o'clock at night, everybody's at home.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, we need to grow.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: The police department and the officers need to grow just as quickly as the city's growing.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: You guys also have a huge golf tournament.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: Y'all do probably one this is probably y'all's biggest charity uh event of the year, y'all's biggest fundraiser.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: And that's coming up.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: What what are the dates of those?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Because anybody that's listening to this podcast, if they want to drive to Weslico and hang out for the for the weekend and come play the round of golf and maybe have some drinks, it's a it's a really good time.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, uh our golf tournament will be coming up on August 29th.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it'll be our sixth annual uh golf tournament.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: It is located at Tierra Santa Golf Course there in Weslico.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'll put that information in there.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna have to get the spelling from you guys because I don't roll my R's just quite as well as y'all.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm learning though.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm hanging out with Javi and JP a little bit more.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: So my R's are starting to roll just a little bit better than they did from East Texas.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's a great course, great food.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um it starts at two o'clock.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have several door prizes.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we do have an entropy, but you can uh you can decide on what you want to uh participate in.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: But it's great food there.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have uh plenty of food, plenty of door prizes, and just uh a lot of uh more networking and get to know the board, get to know officers that are gonna show up to help out and other and the representatives and people from the city as well.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because we do get a good a good turnout, but we want more.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: We want more people out there from outside the city, outside from the city, outside the city, just to show uh a different side of Wessico.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome, awesome.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we're gonna uh take a real quick break with us, and I'm gonna dive into Javi and get him.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: I know you guys were trying to get back to the conference and get back into some of the sessions.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: So appreciate you guys stopping by.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Means a lot for you guys to be here.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: I would consider y'all are a medium-sized agency in in perspective of the entire state.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: And for you guys to show up, this is y'all's first conference and be impressed with it.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: Shows us that we're doing a good job of communicating out there.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: It means a lot for you guys to be here.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: So thank y'all.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we appreciate it.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Mike again.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: All right, we just had Weslico sneak out, they're headed back into the uh conference session.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of good training this year, man.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: We've had some pretty good.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: We had a Uvaldi case study this morning, uh, and we also heard from ATT Firstnet with their theft of copper uh class.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: And again, that we continue to build and build these awesome conferences, and the training just keeps getting better and better.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: That said, again, we're at the 2026 TNPA Texas FOP conference uh right here in Dallas, Texas.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: I've got a really good friend of mine that's grown to be a good friend.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: I've known you for several conferences before, and quite honestly, the first time I've ever seen you uh, unfortunately, was at a funeral.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: And and you got up and spoke and you absolutely hit a home run, and it was for a really good friend of yours.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm talking with Javier Lara.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Javi is what we call you.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, Javi.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, all right.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the first time that I actually saw you, you were you were delivering the uh the speech at your friend's funeral, and you actually hit a home run.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: It was awesome.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: But you are a new part-time field rep for the Rio Gran Valley.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, sir.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: And you bring a very unique perspective in the sense that you've dealt with toxic leadership.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: You've been involved in your local POA.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: I know you've worked alongside with JP Rodriguez for a very for a number of years, really.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: And the best one yet, you can cook.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: So we don't have to train you like her and JP and Joey.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: But tell us about you.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: How where'd you grow up?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: Where did you start your law enforcement career?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: And we all know that you're facing some uh where some legal actions pending with uh your former boss, and and hopefully we can navigate around uh getting some people, you know, new new positions out of out of it for sure.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Correct, correct.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm born and raised in Rio Grande Valley, um, Alamo, Texas, where I was raised.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I started my law enforcement career with the Mercedes Police Department.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: I was there for a short time and then I transferred over to the Mission Police Department.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there I did a little bit under 15 years.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I've been involved with the association for a number of years in leadership for the last four.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've always been a strong advocate of um for officers' rights, you know.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't believe unions should run the PD.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've never said that.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um people always mistake that, but a lot of what I've encountered within my time in Mission and Um is people take criticism as a threat.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've always I've always been an advocate for officers.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Our membership has grown to an awesome number.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're the majority recognize in the city of Mission, and they recognize it because we we stand up for our members.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I love what TMPA stands for.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: I've been a huge advocate for them.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I was involved in a critical incident in 2016.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: I was involved in a shooting myself.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um I lost my best friend in 2019, Speedy.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and TMPA stepped up to the bag, stepped up to the bag.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So our values, my values have always aligned with TMPA.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, unfortunately, due to the recent incident that happened in Mission, um I was let go by the agency and I started, it's almost like God's timing was right.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I started with TMPA, now I do what I love and I get paid for it.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: One of the unique factors on this is that you can't, in order to be a TMPA field rep, and I think we've got an amazing staff, is that you have to have some kind of association leadership, right?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: But more importantly, we're seeing this this weekend at 2026 conference.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of association leadership that attend these things.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: However, when it comes to being a TMPA field rep or being an employee of this association, it takes a special recipe of person.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And what I mean by that is that the ones that walk the halls and have the scars to prove it, and you certainly have done that with what's going on in Mission, uh, losing your best friend in 2019, I think it brings the compassion aspect of it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: You have to be a very unique special blend in order to fill or fulfill the role of being a field rep.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: And quite honestly, I'll say it to this day, I work with some of the most amazing law enforcement professionals that I would walk, I would, I would run through a door with.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so we have kind of like a little tactical team in our little field rep division, and it's an honor for you to now join this group of uh of men and women that continue to serve Texas or Texans that are serving Texans, and it's a it's a pretty cool thing.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: But back to what you what you've dealt with, I think prepares you to understand better how you can serve the member.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I think that's the best way to kind of put it.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, correct.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: We uh as a field rep, I've always seen JP working down in the in the valley as our support role, you know, helping smaller agencies that don't have the resources, um, helping them out, whether it's to cook for their officers or an appreciation lunch, something to that effect, it goes a long way.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it goes a long way now that I'm on the on the field rep side, you know, I've had agencies call me up, hey, can we do this for us?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Can we do that for us?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, you would you guys come out here?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for of course.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And they see that huge momentum appreciation, and it goes a long way.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it goes a long way.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm we're able to, JP's on law enforcement, I've done law enforcement, of course, it means a lot more to them because they know where we're coming from, you know, and and uh for agencies in the valley and throughout the state, of course, you know, TMP is always gonna be that supporting role and um that they can come to, you know, but whether it's in a management survey or or bargaining rise, we just finished with our local and San Juan.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we we negotiated a two-year contract for them, you know, and and everything came together.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Our legal counsel with her, David Willis, and I was able to sit through it and and it came out in their favor.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and that's exactly why we're here to be that support factor.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you bring up David Willis, and I want to be clear for the listeners out there that are listening and see that, you know, David Willis was named our general counsel, and we we put out some you know some information about that.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: David Willis is still going to be a regional attorney in the Valley.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want anybody getting you know misunderstood that he's leaving the valley.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: He does such a great job down there.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: Again, we heard from Weslico earlier.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Now we're hearing from Javi, who worked at Mission Police Department.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: David Willis is still going to serve the members in South Texas, and he's done a really good job in the Rio Grande Valley and will continue to do that.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: He just now serves more of a contract role as a general counsel and will continue to do a great job.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Now he's statewide, still living in the Brownsville area.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I wanted to be, I just want to clear that up.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Man, you've been to many conferences before.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Now you're a field rep.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: What's your take on what the difference of being a member attending one of these things and now being a staffer?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Two words controlled chaos, right?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's a controlled chaos.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I see behind the scenes um how everything operates.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: As a member, we come, we have a good time, you you shake hands with people.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't seen you since last year, you network and so forth.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Behind the scenes, it's a whole different animal.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: We got to get this set up, we got to get that set up.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Who does relations?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Who does media?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Who does this?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Who does that?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a huge eye-opener and appreciation for the for the whole staff in general.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it takes an army to put something like this together.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, we have to do that.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and experience matters when it comes to it.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, if you see an event of this magnitude go without flaws, it's hands up to the people that put it together.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: We almost had 700 attendees, if you can believe that, wow, attending this event this year, by far the biggest conference, and also the number one, our largest vendor.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, shout out to the vendors, real quick, uh, for allowing us to maintain the cost down for our members can't attend this.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: And then something else that's cool is that's all the spousal events going on, which you know that my wife started the purse bingo, huge success again this year.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: Now Charity Pride and Emily Hicks have kind of added to the flavor of those spousal events, which and it's so rewarding to see some of the spouses network uh at an event this big.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: So hopefully these relationships will maintain this year.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see them back next year.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: But man, I can't thank you enough.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I'm proud to call you a colleague, but honored to call you a friend.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's it's really cool getting to know you more and more as the months have transitioned since you come on board.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, the pleasure is all mine.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'm here to grow with the organization, um, provide the support that we have, that we can provide to our local agencies, you know, not only in the valley, but throughout the state.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, for sure.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, hey, that's it.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: Again, we're here live, or excuse me, we're recording this at 2026 TMPA Texas FOP joint conference in Dallas, Texas.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: We are going to find out on Monday where the next conference is going to be held.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of a toss-up.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's really come down to a contract situation between Hyatt, Marriott, uh, and one other hotel chain.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: It looks like it may be in either College Station and or San Antonio.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: We will update you guys whenever that information is uh is pushed out.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: Again, this is Tyler Owen.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate you tuning in.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: You guys take care.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: Stay safe.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: God bless you.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: As always, but God bless Texas.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: Right.