Latest / Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement / #114- "From Fireworks to Fatalities: Inside Central Texas’ Deadliest Flood"

Transcript

#114- "From Fireworks to Fatalities: Inside Central Texas’ Deadliest Flood" · Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I was actually walking with a set representative and we went from Kerrville up to Hunt and just the sight of the river was just horrible.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, it looked like a battle zone.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Welcome back.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Viewers, watchers, listeners.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, tyler Owen.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: We've got my co co-host, clint mcnear, is in the building today.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: He is uh meeting with some uh executive staff regarding the national fop conference coming up uh later on in august and if he walks in during this recording then we will welcome him with open arms.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Hope you guys are doing safe or staying safe and doing well.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July weekend.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: I did myself down in the Hill Country, but I've got to be honest with you.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: There were some catastrophic events that took place that we're going to have somebody join us later on.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Joey Sepulveda, our San Antonio field rep, is going to join us by phone.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: He's been boots on the ground all weekend long visiting our members and all the first responders there conducting the search and rescue operations.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: But I wanted to highlight something real quick here recently, within the last several days, there's been several involving our Texas law enforcement attacks on federal institutions, whether it be an ICE detainer facility or our Border Patrol duty stations, one in McAllen and one in Alvarado involving law enforcement, and it's one of those realities that we have to face in law enforcement every single day that we and you guys continue to put on that badge and move forward and push through.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: And so I just want to tell you, guys, number one, and ladies number one, stay safe.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: But number two, handle your business and be prepared for whatever is to come.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: We don't know why this radical mindset is occurring.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, one can assume why, but it's disturbing, and especially on today's date, which this is recorded on July 7th, which we all know what that means the historic five Dallas officers that were shot and killed on July 7th 2016.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: So, you guys, stay safe out there, and we're going to continue to push out the real message and the pro-law enforcement stuff on social media and we're going to tell it like it is.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: And if that's offensive to somebody who doesn't like law enforcement, well then, so be it, unfollow our page.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: And so that's kind of what I do for TMPA on the communication side.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: So, again, stay safe, be vigilant and and, uh, keep up with the good fight, but Joey Sepulveda is with us by phone.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Joey.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Uh, good afternoon there, Uh, Tyler what's going on to hear from you again?
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah just here.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Just here, appreciate you having me uh uh on your uh on your podcast again.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: This isn't my podcast.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: This is our podcast, the TMPA's podcast.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: But, man, first and foremost, not only are you a colleague and a member of the TMPA family, you're also a close friend of mine and what I consider a brother, and so I just want to tell you on behalf of TMPA and really all Texas law enforcement, man, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you responding there on the fourth of July weekend to ensure our members are taken care of and witness the incredible heroism that first responders are doing there in Kerr County and Kerrville area and all around in Hunt and Ingram.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: So you responded there on Saturday and then followed up with them on Sunday to offer some peer support, along with Brian Flatt and John Wilkerson Joe, we kind of talk about leading up to the events and what point did you feel like you needed to respond?
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: And then, what did you witness when you were there?
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Well, to be honest with you, this all started Friday and you know, of course, everything was just chaotic, as it continues to be.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: The support efforts were just coming in and pouring in from donations to law enforcement support and the community.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I get there Saturday, tyler, and again it's a little chaotic.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: The rescue efforts from our local law enforcement state around the area, all the hill country, when I get there, I mean everybody is 100 miles an hour nonstop.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Since they got there, some of them have only rested maybe two to three hours and then they're right back.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know, I I heard some of their bosses and their leadership tell them hey, man, go get some rest.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: And they're like Nope, I'm ready to rock and roll, I'm ready to go, just give me a protein bar and, um, I'm, I'm down for the fight and I'm up there again.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: The communication out there between all agencies was excellent massive Helicopters flying 24-7, ems standing by.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Like I said, there was about, I'd say, about 15 to about 20 box EMS ready to respond at any time.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: The searches would keep going.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, there was every 30 to 45 minutes.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: You know you would hear on the radio either somebody was found, whether they were alive or deceased.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Again.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Prayers go out there to the families and to the community of Kerrville Hunt Ingram everywhere in Kerr County and the Hill Country.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and what's interesting is where I live at in Wimberley, we're not that far from Kerrville, and so I started getting some information about kind of what happened.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: And if you're not from the Hill Country, I will tell you this, me being from East Texas moving down here and East Texas sadly, and I admit this when we would receive flash flood warnings, flash flood notifications, with the exception of tornado warnings, to be honest with you, I would just kind of fluff it off.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: There were times when I was on duty and there were some catastrophic floods that occurred there in the city of Marshall and out in Harrison County, but for the most part it's just going to mean a lot of rain, right, and it's not going to affect the travel aspect, except on the major highways and you don't have completely, you know, bridges are not washed out.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: In the hill country it changed a little bit because there's nowhere for that water to be absorbed at and so if you're not paying attention and get you know some of these flash flood warnings, it could be life or death.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: And so I saw a lot of criticism and, um, you know, finger pointing at a press press conference there saturday morning and it was related to why didn't these people receive notifications?
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: And the best that I can tell is that they did receive notifications.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely precious children at the mystic ranch, uh, that people kind of wondered why in the hell did they not get out or or seek shelter?
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: And my understanding from my contacts in Wimberley that have friends that have had attended Mystic was that all the camp counselors supposedly had their phones in the main house and they were charging, that there were no you know, charging stations inside some of these cabins and so that did not give them the opportunity to hear the alerts and there wasn't really an alarm system there on site.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: And so, as, as you guys have seen or heard, that the owners and I think the pastor wasn't it joey that passed away at mystic, the older gentleman that was very instrumental in in the camp, you know, staying alive was, uh, they were there trying to evacuate all the cabins and so they didn't make it down to the last two, but but by the time that the the alerts went off and the time that they could get down to those last two cab, but by the time that the alerts went off and the time that they could get down to those last two cabins, it was just too late and so some of those children got swept down the river.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: But as far as the law enforcement response and the first responder response, what is kind of boots on the ground mentality, talk about things that you saw while you were there Saturday and Sunday, joey.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Well, tyler, I'm going to tell you, I got there, and yesterday, as a matter of fact, when myself and Brian Flatt and John Wilkerson were out there, we were actually walking with a state representative and we went from Kerrville up to Hunt and just the sight of the river was just horrible.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, it looked like a battle zone.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about clothes, cars, houses, I mean empty slabs, some of these trees that were just, that were still showing, had the bark peeled off of it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: That's how strong the water was.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: And, and to go back to what you were saying earlier about the warnings and stuff like that, nobody was expecting 23 feet of water to be raised in a short time.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: So that was very hard to do and to evacuate.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: We get there, and just the traffic also, from getting in and out of Hunt, texas was just, I mean, it was hard.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Not even, I mean, emergency vehicles had trouble getting in and out of it.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: The efforts were still going on for rescuing and searching for bodies.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Um, as a matter of fact, it's still going.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: The toll of death continue to rise.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Um, I think we're up to over 70, if I'm not mistaken, or 80, I'm sorry, uh, this morning.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Um, so again, tyler, they're.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: They're the law enforcement there have, nonstop.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: They're not stopping and they're not going to stop.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: One of their efforts out there and their statements is we're not going to stop until we find.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Everybody heard from so-and-so.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I haven't heard from a family member since this day, so they're still getting reports of missing people and missing children to this day.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: So again, this is not a okay.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, the flood is over and we're done.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Nope, it's going to continue a couple of more days.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: And again, I'm keeping my phone open.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I'm getting calls from our local POAs there and also from the leadership there.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I've been in communication with the sheriff there and every time there's something that comes up or if there's need, then I get notified.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: What's what's what's?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: It truly is an honor to work in Texas, but also just the heart of the public servants that work in Texas.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: They just want to help, they just want to do something, and oftentimes we're so used to just jumping in a squad car or any type of vehicle and responding to the scene, and I think that that's what you and I both, and a number of other field reps from our first responder community is how the hell can I help, and where do of other field reps from our first responder community is how the hell can I help and where do I go when I get there?
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: And at this point, what you're seeing and what you've been told is that they're literally turning away first responders that are willing to help.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Is that, is that correct?
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, uh, and and I I think one of the things you know, one of the reasons is because, again, uh, just the coordination right now, um is is just like I said, it's, it's chaotic.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I think what, what I think is might, might end up happening, is they're just awaiting to see where we can kind of substitute, uh, these guys that have been their boots on the ground for the past couple of days and maybe they can bring in another, another group of first responders, uh, to assist, but, um, they're, uh, the game wardens are the ones that are kind of coordinating and graphing out everything on what sections of that area to search.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Dps and the Texas Wildlife have their drones up in the air and a lot of people, like you said, the community, up in the air, um, you know, and a lot of people, like you said, the community up in the hill country.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: It's a, it's a big, huge family and they'll come out and want to help in any which way they can.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Um, I was there where people were coming in with chainsaws and ready to to to, you know, help, uh, on the rescues and the and the searches, uh, people with skidsters.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: You know this, this is personal equipment, but they're ready to go and help.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: The issue and the problem is that sometimes, like you say, we all can get in the way of these rescue efforts.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: So the Parks and Wildlife are asking for anybody that wants to just help to call their hotline and figure out how they can help in another capacity, but not in the actual search and rescue.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I saw dozens of canine out there cadaver dogs working also too.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I had a couple of contacts where they're coming in from out of state with their dogs to help search, from out of state with their dogs to help search.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: A couple of civilian drones were up in the air and they had to do a press conference just to tell civilians to stop flying their drones because it interferes with the flight of the helicopters and also with the law enforcement drone equipment that they're going.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Everything is coordinated and I hate to say it, but it's like a choreographed dance Everything is placed and it's put in place for a certain reason.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Well, for the listener or watcher or viewer out there that's viewing or watching this podcast or listening, what would you say how they can help?
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Uh, to the, to the non-law enforcement listener, how can they help and how can they, how can they get involved?
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: We just had a meeting this morning with executive staff and numerous other people within tmpa and, uh, the answer is is that you could work?
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Tmpa charities, uh, we're going to form a, a website with help, a herocom, and we're going to push that information out and we're going to attach that to this podcast and you can donate there and it will go directly to some type of public service or some type of first responder incident or response from tmpa national fop.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Our executive director, kevin lawrence, is facilitating a location to bring in national fop.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: They're responding with their some of their equipment for a large kitchen to provide some fresh-hopped meals and, just like Joey said, it seems like they're over-inundated, which typically happens in a catastrophic event like this.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: The first several days is overwhelming with response and support and then, after about the fifth day, is when that support kind of dwindles off.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: And it's not because the passion or love is not there.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: The reality is that these first responders or volunteers that respond to these areas.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: They've got other jobs, they've got other lives that they've got to lead, and about the fourth or fifth day mark is when they kind of exit, and I think that's kind of when the target time for TMPA is going to respond, because it looks like they're taken care of right now, but it's not that we're not there.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: We are there.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: We've been there two days so far and I think Joey's going to go back tomorrow.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: But that's kind of in a nutshell what's going on in Kerrville.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Joey, is there anything else that you want to kind of broadcast or speak on something that you witnessed, something that you would like the listener or watcher to know and understand about the Kerrville floods?
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, listener or watcher to to know and understand about the Kerrville floods.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, uh, just to.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I just got, I just got text as as we were talking and and apparently they're expecting a little bit more rain.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: So again, this is this is not.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: This is not the end.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Um, the uh on, uh, speaking on the on the charity part, I have gotten, uh, several of calls from local POAs, associations of mine and across the state and agencies that want to give a monetary donation.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: The only thing I ask everybody and all our viewers is be careful who you donate to.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of organizations or so-called organizations that are scamming money, organizations or so-called organizations that are scamming money.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: So, um, you know again, we I think that was one of the reasons that TMPA kind of is coordinating with other uh agencies to try to get any type of donations, if it's monetary, to one uh organization and then we can go ahead and distribute it as needs to be to the right people.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's huge and I can't stress that enough.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Just to pick off, kind of what Joey just said is that when catastrophic events or major incidents occur, for whatever reason I mean we know it's greed, but scammers out there love to take advantage of those and steal your money.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: And so we at TMPA and there's other organizations that already have fundraising going on that we, tmpa, have vetted and we're working in conjunction and collaborative with, but TMPA Charities is going to push out something as far as a fundraising event that we are going to take the money and then we are going to push it out and assist those first responders some way somehow.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: So be looking for that.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I'm going to put the information down in our blog and in our information on this podcast and we'd love for you to donate and support Joey.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir, everything you just said is perfectly correct.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: I apologize, I'm still again, I'm still getting texts.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: No, you're good brother, you've worked all weekend.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: You're tired and on top of that, our field reps.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: For those that don't know, our field reps typically cover a legal weekend.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: If you've been subject to an internal affairs or a critical incident, you've had to call our 1-800 number and you speak to a field rep.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Initially they're the ones that kind of coordinate, dispatch attorneys and other field reps across the state.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: So Joey, ironically, had legal this weekend and so dealing with the floods in Kerrville all day.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: He got woke up at night so some of our other team members stepped in to help him out.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: But it's been a busy weekend for Joey Sepulveda, surely, with the Fourth of July and then everything else that's going on.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: So, joey, is there anything else you want to leave us with?
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: No, sir, just again.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you having me on and I think one of the biggest things that we do is we let our members and our local law enforcement agencies know what's going on as we get news.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: So that's a good thing on our end and our family, but everybody, stay safe out there, man.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Is there a point of contact right now that we can leave this, our listenership, with as far as a point of contact to reach out, if their agency is willing to allow them to respond, to give them maybe a phone number or an email address?
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Would you rather them just email you or would you rather them just call the command center?
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: So I will tell you, ty, is that one of the things is that the number kind of changes on a daily basis and I think the reason that they do that is because people start getting and start finding out that number and they just are getting swamped with calls of how can they help, how can we be there?
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, literally some of the volunteer people that on the civilian side have been pushed away, and not not because you know they don't need or they don't want the help.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: It's the reason being is because we, again, when it comes to greed and catastrophe like this, there are people out there that say, hey, I'm with the search party, I'm looking for this and that, and they see them going into these homes and properties and steal, and so again, the law enforcement and that kind of gets away from the actual task at hand to go ahead and and start dealing with that which you know, again, we have enough on our hands on trying to search and find uh uh people and uh uh lives are at stake at this time and uh, time is very, very, very crucial.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: So again, um, if you could just pay attention to every day, they do have a press conference, usually at 10 and at 3 o'clock and they give out a number that you can call if you want to help and assist.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: Did they indicate how long that these search efforts are going to take?
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: You know, typically it's five to seven days, I would think Sadly before they relabel this to a search effort, to recovery?
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: And that's something no parent, no family member wants to hear and that's certainly not something law enforcement, because essentially they feel like they're giving up.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: But is there a certain time period that they've indicated during your communications with them that they're going to kind of switch this from a search and rescue to a recovery?
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: So again, I think right now, and from what I've been hearing, is that they're not going to stop because every day they're getting more and more information that people have been found and identified.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Then that's when they'll go ahead and start, you know, kind of like, okay, our efforts are done.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Again, even the people that are finding whether they're deceased, or when they're deceased, they haven't identified.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: I think there's like from the 80, there's probably like maybe 10 to 12 adults that haven't been identified and eight to 10 children that haven't yet been identified, um and uh, the community of, uh of Kerrville have lost very, very important and um people, um, you know, coaches, staff, uh, you know, coaches, staff from the camps have still not been found.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: So again, I don't think these guys are going to stop, or we're not going to stop until we kind of find and identify everybody.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Well, and I think you hit the nail on the head.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: By the way, clint jumped in with us.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: He's on air with us right now, joey, but you nailed it on the head during your meeting.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: You said that Kerrville for those that don't know, brumphills, san antonio, houston, dallas, people that traveled into the hill country for this, you know, historic holiday of 200 was it 250 years?
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Uh, america's birthday this weekend and then this, this incident, take place and sadly, again, like I hit on earlier, if you're not from the hill country or live in the hill country, you don't really understand, uh, the importance of paying attention to the some of the flood watch warnings and and it's just a, it was just a bad mix for a perfect storm so, yeah, so again.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Uh, this weekend was, uh, every every uh fourth of july in curville they have this huge celebration.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I mean I'm talking huge.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: People come from all over the state and even outside of the state to come to the celebration.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Down at the river, at the park, they had stages set up since Wednesday going into Thursday.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: People were flying in, driving in and were staying at Airbnbs, all the hotels.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: So this is a huge celebration and a huge weekend for Kerrville.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then for this to happen, and again, nobody was prepared for 23 feet within, I say, a couple of hours to have that Guadalupe River rise.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that was just incredible.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: It was 27 feet.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: I believe in Ingram, which was yeah exactly it sounds like that's come the major really impacted area.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's just a sad event.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Again, I can't thank you enough for you responding, and JW and Brian and supporting our members down there, both mentally and as far as the member services side.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: So I appreciate it, man.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: No, anytime, brother.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: That's what we're here for.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: All right brother, hey, take care, stay safe.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir, absolutely, y'all too.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: All right, bye-bye.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Again, that was Joey Sepulveda, our San Antonio field rep.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: I'm joined by the man, the myth, the legend, texas FOP president.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Field services supervisor.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Field Services Supervisor Clint.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: McNair hey, hey.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: What's up, brother?
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Not a sorry I'm late.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, you're good, you were facilitating some.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Like we were talking about the National FOP Board.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Our Executive Director, kevin Lawrence, is facilitating and trying to find a location you and Kevin where National FOP can kind of respond to Kerrville For those that don't know, talk about their response and talk about kind of what national fop does when catastrophic events like this happen yes, our, our texas members are used to seeing tmpa's emergency response team.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: We go out, we help disaster relief hurricanes, floods, tornadoes.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: National fop has a dark team disaster area response team, I think it is.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: It's a couple of semi-trailers corporate sponsors sponsored and they can go on an even larger scale feed six, seven hundred people a day.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: Multiple, multiple time, multiple meals, six or seven hundred at a time, scaled up, uh quite large.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: The last one that I saw was the north carolina last year.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Whenever that catastrophic was, I saw their trailer and I was like, oh my god, that's the first time that I've seen it.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Uh, there on social media.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah it's, it's impressive.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: I hate I missed you and Joey getting to chat.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: Joey's done a great job.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: He has One thing I would ask, and this is probably I'm not speaking on behalf of anybody other than me.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: Watching social media and the news play out and all these people are looking to blame the warnings.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: They're looking to blame warnings.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: I've seen a lot of people blaming law enforcement.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: I've seen people blaming politicians.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: I've seen them blaming the media.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: I, uh, I know that when you lose a child or when you lose a loved one I know firsthand the emotions are high.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: But ever catastrophe, every natural disaster, every horrific accident doesn't always mean it's somebody's fault.
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: I guess we can blame Mother Nature, right, but I would really passionately ask people that may hear this turn their emotion to caring about others, the people that have lost something or doing something good, or reaching out to someone they may know in the area, and turn it into something helpful or constructive rather than, well, by God, somebody's at fault.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Who can I say?
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: Who can I, you know, lay this at the feet of as somebody's blame?
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Law enforcement didn't cause this.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: The media didn't cause it.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Politicians didn't cause it.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Um, I'm, I'm very, very, very sorry for people that have lost loved ones, and I understand the passion and the emotions are extremely high, but it's it's this wasn't somebody's fault.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: And I was telling Joey, uh, my contacts and Wimberley, uh, if you look at the news and you look at the press, there was a press conference every morning where they were pointing, they were pointing blame and they were pointing fingers, and somebody has got to be the villain, right, there's always got to be the villain in the situation.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: But you know, you sit back and you look me as a dad and you as a dad you're like man, why the hell did the camp get those kids out?
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: And when I found out and I just talked about this my theory behind some of it uh, could, could potentially be linked to cloud seeding, um, you know, we just don't know.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Uh, but it's just a, it's just a horrible situation.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: But, more importantly, what I've seen on the social media side and of course in my position, I'm probably going to look at it a little bit different, in a different lens is that you're seeing Texans help Texans, and I think that the response and the amount of phone calls and text messages, not just Joey's gotten but everybody at TMPA, of how the hell can I get involved, where can I go?
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Man, that's just a text of nature and it's humbling to see that and it's important for us to continue that by not pointing the villain and not making somebody a villain, but there's a need to be.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yep, and I'm sure you guys, if you didn't cut me off, please.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Everybody's passionate to go help.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Don't self-deploy.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: If you show up, it's kind of like hurricanes.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: If you show up and become part of the problem, yeah, you're not helping.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: Um, there will be a time, there's a time and a place that that everything's going to be needed.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: But right now, don't add to the confusion of the chaos, don't self-deploy.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, love the passion, love the drive.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: People want to help law enforcement, civilians, everybody but don't go there and end up a casualty yourself or in the way.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Um, think, look, think, think, think smart as we move forward through this right well, like I said before, we're going to have this information about tmpa's help a hero fundraiser going on that's going to directly impact and assist first responders dealing with that tragedy there in curville.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: And again our hearts and prayers go out to the Kerrville community, the Llano community, the Marble Falls and up in Georgetown too, of this entire central Texas flooding event that took place over the Independence holiday weekend.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: I cannot imagine so.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Again our hearts and our thoughts and prayers are with you and their families.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: They're also with the first responders that are dealing with such a tragedy.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: But let's shift gears real quick.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: We've got some important dates coming up TNPA Conference July 25th through the 28th they're in Houston followed by National FOP Conference.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, tnpa Conference is going to be good.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: This year it is Hyatt downtown Hyatt.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: Ransom downtown Houston.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: I will fair warn you that the parking may be a problem.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: It wasn't our doing, it's just the way the hotel is laid out.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Be courteous to the hotel staff and, more importantly, be courteous to our staff if you show up and run into some problems.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Every conference is fluid and we're always trying to change and do things on the fly, and so we want to make this conference, your conference, the best that we can, and so just all we ask is just be patient.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: Yep TMPA conference ends the 27th or 8th yeah, 28th I think and the National FOP conference is in Miami.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: August 4th through 8th Be a good time.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: It's in South Beach, miami.
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: There will be 5,000 to 5,500 cops from all over the United States there this fall we will have a cop line golf tournament.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: We're working on finalizing the dates on that right now.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Looking at, I think, november 3rd, okay and the first annual cop line 5k fun run and walk will be in rockwall, january the 10th and you had said it's going to be a location that I've never heard of.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: And it's pretty, pretty cool a location that I've never heard of and it's pretty cool that you guys chose this location.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so January 9th is National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Friday July.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: That's a correction.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: Friday January 9th is National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: The next morning will be the Cop Line 5K and Fun Run.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: It will start in Rockwall and a lot of people are going to be surprised run.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: It will start in Rockwall and a lot of people are going to be surprised.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: The National Memorial for Suicide Deaths for First Responders is in Rockwall.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: They're on the shores of Lake Ray, hubbard Crazy.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: And that will be the start and end point for the 5k.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: That's cool.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: Be Cop Line's first ever 5k.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: Here in Texas they do a run for the call in New Jersey on New Year's Eve.
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: We looked at that.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: We didn't figure.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: Many folks in Texas wanted to exercise on New Year's Eve.
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: We're going to do it to coincide with National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: We're going to push information out on TexasFOPnet I believe is the website and then also their social media, with TexasFOP and TMPA in conjunction.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: We'll push all that information out as long as your weekly e-blast.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: If you are not receiving your weekly e-blast and you are an active TMPA member, or hell.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: If you just want information on TMPA, give me a call or shoot us an email at bluegrid, at tmpaorg, and we will be able to assist you.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: One more thing while we're kind of hitting on unfortunate tragedy and updating your information, I try to remember about once a year, if you have not recently updated your will, your beneficiary information, take the time right now it's kind of middle of the year do an annual checkup.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: Just because you change your beneficiary, say with TMRS or TCDRS, doesn't mean it changes it with your city or county agency.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: Doesn't mean it changes it with, maybe your 401K or on your will, ensure that your will beneficiary isn't an ex from four exes ago which has happened.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: It's an odd situation to be in.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: Mid-year checkup.
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: Having an unfortunate, horrific, horrific tragedy right now seven, seven, the anniversary of dallas um, losing the dallas five, uh, do a self-check right now.
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: Check on a buddy, but also check on yourself, yeah, and make sure all your beneficiary and all of your information is up to date, your will's up to date, uh.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: So god forbid we don't lose.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: Don't lose another.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: Yep, I agree, I agree.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: Anything else you want to touch on?
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: No thoughts on the McAllen officer.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: Talked about that earlier, man.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: You know, with this whole TMPA is obviously political right.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: We've got some political footprints and different things at the state and national level, but it's disheartening and concerning that the political agenda is now being pushed and law enforcement is being attacked because of federal enforcement.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: We saw in Alvarado this past weekend.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: An Alvarado officer was shot in the neck at an ICE detention facility and he was simply just, I guess, on a routine patrol and rolled up on the situation happening.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: And just now, I guess this morning, aAllen, the police officer, was shot, not killed, and neither was Alvarado, but he was shot and injured responding to an ambush attack against Border Patrol agents in McAllen.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: And so that's the trend we're seeing across the nation, sadly, and so you guys just need to take care of yourself and be vigilant, you know, and these ambush-style attacks brings up a great point.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: National FOP right now currently has a piece of legislation called the Protect and Serve Act.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: I'm not a big believer in overreach by the federal government.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: However, when you have activist district attorneys that would rather spend their time prosecuting the police than the criminals or, like in Tarrant County right now, we have DA Soros as far as I'm concerned they don't care about enforcing the law, the Protect and Serve Act that National FOP is pushing in those instances where law enforcement is assaulted or murdered and the local district attorney chooses not to take action on it.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: It gives the Department of Justice the opportunity to come in and prosecute on behalf of law enforcement.
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: In these instances, because unfortunately the reality is Dallas County, travis County, tarrant County law enforcement can get the ever-living snot beat out of them or murdered, and it's just not that big of a deal.
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: Protect and Serve, we really think will help with that.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: It's really getting traction at the beat out of them or murdered and it's just not that big of a deal.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, um.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: Protect and serve will, we really think will help with that.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: It's really getting traction at the capitol, um, and if it's sad that we need that, um, but my point I'm sorry when we're talking about this with legislators, it's deceiving because the number of officers shot this year right, uh, I'm sorry the number of officers killed that to die this year is actually down.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: However, the number of officers shot in, the number of officers shot by ambush, is up.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Yep, uh, not as many are dying, probably because of tourniquets and uh training better triage and training and all of those stuff, but when you see the number of murdered officers is down, it's very deceiving, right, but more are being shot and significantly more are being ambushed.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Well, that's a problem, houston, yep, that is a problem, yep.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: And when you're going out and going to murder a man or a woman for the uniform that they have on, that's a problem in our country and, uh, if the local da's don't want to address it, then uh, we'll, we'll get the department of justice to come in and prosecute well.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: And speaking of houston, my god, four years ago I would have never thought I'm saying this on on a podcast.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: Shout out to district attorney sean tier.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: That dude has changed completely the culture every time I've reached out to a local there.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying he's perfect and I'm not saying that his office didn't drop the ball.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: But I am saying this is that we this organization is not, has not and hasn't, in the last since he's taken office, received the phone calls of displeasurement with that DA's office and their performance.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: He has really ramped up and he's made the promises you know.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: And I got this.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: I got two phone calls after his podcast.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: My god, you think a district attorney that's on the Democratic ticket is going to do a good job.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: And we look back and look at Whitmire, a longtime Dem that served on our state Senate, the end of the Senate.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: Now he's the Houston mayor, significant pay increase that he gave and he helped out Houston Police Officers, union and the Houston Police Department get a significant raise, which followed by a Forrester hand for Harris County Commissioner's Court to do that.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: But back to Sean Teer.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Man, hats off to that dude for doing a great job and living up to what his word was on the campaign trail Because there was a lot of doubts about it, me included, but, man, he's proven us wrong.
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: Well, he earned my respect the day he came in and sat down on this podcast and said we're not always going to agree.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: You're going to probably be real mad at me at some point, and when we get in a fight, you call me.
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: I'll drive my ass back up here, I'll sit on this podcast and I will account for my actions.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Well, there's some people won't even drive up here and come on this podcast.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: They're too afraid to know.
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: For somebody to come up here and stand on their convictions or hours and then say, hey, when you get mad at me at some point, it's going to happen.
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: I'll drive back up here and I'll account for why you're mad at me.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: you can't be mad at that no, no, no and clint mentioned sorrels earlier the district attorney in tarrant county.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: We he and I both have been working on a situation where there were several cases that were dropped.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: Uh, very travis countylike in the sense of just not being pro-law enforcement, and historically I grew up in Irving and Tarrant County has always been somewhat of a law and order type county.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: As far as the district attorney is concerned, and what's going on?
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: There is the DA I can't a rumored that has deep pockets with a certain elected official at the federal level who is responsible for appointing US attorneys, and so it's rumored that Soros has his eye on the prize and assume that he's going to take that position.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: And essentially it's derelict in his duty as DA and allowing some people who are not like minded and are like-minded in the sense of what he promised on the campaign trail and allowing these cases that are assault on public servant, aggravated assault on public servant, those type of offenses to just fall through the cracks and handing out sentences of 90-day served on aggravated assault case against public servant.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: It's just not right.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: So we at TMPA pushed out some information about that, well-received within your office.
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: We got some feedback from individuals who work under this da that are absolutely glad that we we called it what it was and called a spade a spade, and so we're looking forward to working with him and his administration uh, on just doing better yeah, it sounds like a couple of kids.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: Daddy's gone busy and uh, so a couple of kids are running amok back at the house and that needs to be fixed.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: And just so we're clear, a female officer gets her jaw severely damaged and this young assistant district attorney said well, it was an accident, he didn't mean to do it.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: That's a part of resisting.
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: After his resisting, after his evading, he accidentally severely, permanently damaged your jaw.
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: Well, it's not an accident.
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: Once you choose to run and fight, you don't accidentally harm an officer at that point.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: So to drop everything and time serve him for resisting and time serving that and dropping everything else is not acceptable.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: It was supposed to happen.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: I think today they are, tomorrow he's out.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: Today or tomorrow he's out?
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: Is he out, he's out?
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: She wasn't notified.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: I need to make a post on that then.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: But yeah, and just to be clear, we together, collectively, have always been kind of questioned about, you know, tmpa's always firing a shot.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Well, let me just say this when we get involved in some type of political environment or some kind of political situation, it's ran by several members of law enforcement within TMPA and to include our executive staff, it's not just one lone ranger running our social media platforms, it's vetted, it's vetted information, and then we try to weigh out is the juice worth the squeeze?
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: And I think we've done a good job the last couple of years of doing that.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: But we just don't fire shots just to fire shots.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: And so if we do fire one, uh, there's intent behind it, and there's intent just just to say this do the right thing, yeah do the right thing.
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: It's all we ask you to do.
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: We got to give a voice to the voiceless.
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: That's right, um, and that's what we're here for, and it's not rhetoric.
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: It's not rhetoric, it's not rumor.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: What we do is based on facts and, unfortunately, sometimes it's repeat offenders that we're having to call out or hijacked or whatever the case may be, but it's a calculated effort to strengthen our members' voice and the agencies that we serve.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: So, anyway, you got anything else I don't think so, man, it's good seeing you.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: Man, yeah, good seeing you, man.
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, good seeing you.
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: Stay tuned.
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: There's a lot going on in the state.
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: There's a lot going on in law enforcement at the national level.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: Keep all the people in the Hill Country in your prayers.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: You know there's going to be outpouring.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: Be vigilant in who you give your money to, even when it's not a natural disaster.
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: If somebody calls and purports that they're some police group or some caregiving place.
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: Somebody told me the other story, a story the other day that their elderly mother-in-law had given a company $10,000.
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: Be vigilant in these times because, again, emotions are high.
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: Certainly understand that, but be smart when we move forward through these things.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: I agree.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: Well again, conference TNPA conference July 25th through the 28th, followed by the FOP conference August 4th through 8th.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: Check the Texas FOP website for the National FOP Conference and we very much look forward to seeing you and your entire family and colleagues at our conference there at the Houston Downtown Regency.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: So you guys, take care, stay safe.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: God bless you and, as always, may God bless Texas.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: We're out.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: As stated on this broadcast, tmpa has launched a fundraising event to assist those who serve Texas.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: To find out more information, visit tnpaorg or visit us on social media.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: The name Zafira means ''Pure'' Religion, ''major'' Religion, ''muslim'', thank you.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: The name Zafira means ''Pure'' Religion, ''major'' Religion, ''muslim''.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you.