Latest / APD Pod Squad / Episode 21; Sgt. Craig Loveland, Sgt. Josh Veridal, CRO Carrie Lee, and the History Minute with Hannah Silberman

Transcript

Episode 21; Sgt. Craig Loveland, Sgt. Josh Veridal, CRO Carrie Lee, and the History Minute with Hannah Silberman · APD Pod Squad

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_06: This is the APD Pod Squad.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_06: Coming up in this episode is June is Student Safety Month.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_06: I'm joined by Sergeant Craig Loveland, who leads our SROs, our student resource officers.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_06: Officer Carrie Lee with Community Engagement joins us with the latest on that division and her feet.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_06: Listeners of previous episodes will understand that reference.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_06: As we celebrate the birthday of the U.S.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_06: Army and Flag Day on the same day, June 14th, Sergeant Josh Veridal joins us.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_06: He is part of the Asheville Police Department Honor Guard and also part of the Drone Unit.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_06: We'll talk about all of that.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_06: And another History Minute with Hannah Silberman as we continue to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the APD.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_06: All that and so much more on this episode of the APD Pod Squad.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_06: Getting to know Sergeant Craig Loveland right now.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for sitting down with me, Craig.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_05: Man, what a blessing.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_05: I appreciate the opportunity.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, man.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_06: This is great because I I did some math, crunched some numbers, and I can't verify it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_06: Of all the members of the Asheville Police Department, I think I have known you the longest.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I believe so.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, lots of time on the softball field.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, so we definitely have that, man.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_05: That uh that's good stuff.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_06: The other competitors would be Captain Jonathan Brown, who worked at McCormick Field when I was the announcer there, and at the time he was Sergeant Brown, and also Curtis Jones, who at the time I think was also a sergeant.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_06: He advanced to lieutenant, and now he's retired, but back working with us.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_06: So somewhere in that early 2000s, where all three of you were some of the first that I got to know.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, you were you were there at the ball field for a long time.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, I was.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_06: The voice of the tourists.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, man.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_06: I I still fill in once in a while, just to kind of they're like, like once or twice a year, uh, when the current announcer, who was my replacement after I retired from there, has something he needs to do and stuff, they'll call me back and I'll just kind of sneak into there.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_06: And you'll see a few people down in the stands look up like, wait a minute, is that no?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_06: What would he be doing back here?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_06: I remember that voice.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_06: There you go.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_06: So did you know, and you probably do, that June is student safety month.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_05: I did, yeah.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_05: Big, big month for us.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, an opportunity for for us to really be able to share some some great information for not only students, but you know, certainly adults and keeping you safe and you know, that's gun violence to to really everything.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, what an opportunity.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_06: In your primary uh role with the Asheville Police Department as a student resource officer, and you're mostly at the Asheville High School, correct?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_05: Well, uh so I supervise the SROs, okay, and uh that gives me the opportunity to be around all the schools, but I did uh take the opportunity when asked to uh have a school.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm actually at um William Randolph, which is the alternative program.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_05: So got an office over there, love those kiddos and have a great opportunity to spend time with them.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_05: I thought I saw some cougar paw prints on your your vehicle.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, yeah.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_05: We did that uh for the s all of our SROs kind of a cool way to show some love Asheville City Schools, but it also gave us an opportunity because ultimately every kid that or young person that goes through the Asheville City Schools eventually becomes a cougar.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_05: So uh we we did it that way.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_05: So all of them are looking towards uh towards that Asheville High and that and that cougar paw.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_05: My wife Stacy has that cougar pride.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, nice, very good, yeah.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_06: I forget what class she was, but she just turned 50.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_06: She was born in 75.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_06: So I guess she would have graduated maybe 83, maybe.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I mean, did you get permission to tell her your age?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_06: Um she just celebrated a big birthday all over the internet.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, everybody's okay.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_06: Everybody knows.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's a big one.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_06: I I'll kick to my coverage.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_06: There's no way you could look at her and say she's 50.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_06: Oh well.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, haven't we all?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_06: Haven't we all?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_06: So you're old enough, as if we're mentioning ages here to remember when schools were different from a safety perspective.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so I graduated uh as a class of 86 guy from high school.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_06: Not only did we not have police officers in the schools, we didn't even have security in the schools.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, there was teachers that were assigned when they weren't literally teaching, and that would go period by period.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_06: It's like, okay, you're the one assigned to just kind of wander the halls a little bit for lack of a better term, and just now, mind you, we we didn't have any issues either.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_06: So I'm not sure the need was there in the 80s.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_06: I'm sure with some schools, I'm sure it would have been.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_06: Others different.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_06: I suburbia, you know.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_06: I grew up in suburbia, uh, that type thing.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_06: But things have changed, right?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_06: You've got genuine issues.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, and and I think that what's really important to to recognize is that although the there is a a law enforcement official in the school, that isn't truly for the folks in the school.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_05: It's for the for folks that want to do ill will coming from the outside in.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_05: You know, those officers, especially those that uh that work for the actual police department and our SROs are mentors first.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's certainly not a charge first mentality.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_05: And so really gives us an opportunity to pick and select which we have amazing officers that uh that truly love being there, that be that love mentoring the kids.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_05: And so, yeah, I mean, yes, there is an officer there, certainly not as much for the inside of the school and the workings of the school as it is uh, you know, keeping those kiddos safe uh from the outside.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_06: Uh you know, I would think that for the kids that are attending school, most of their fears are the same ones that we had growing up with the you know, is that girl gonna like me?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_06: And is that there's there's the bullying issues, and there's all those school things that have been taking place for millennia.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_06: You guys are there to, as you mentioned, to keep them safe so they can worry about those type of things.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and what an opportunity for you know, someone to be able to come to an SRO more than just as a police officer, but as a friend, as a mentor, as a father figure.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_05: Right now, all of our officers, SROs are men, great men, and you know, an opportunity to come in and kind of share with them as well.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_05: So great things.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_06: Is it any coincidence that some of the men, including yourself, are large men?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_06: It just it just so happens.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know what that is.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_06: That kind of a you know intentionally so, because I know so you got some big guys out there.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, that yeah, the we have we definitely have an offensive line.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_05: Uh uh, but I think that you know, I don't I don't know why that kind of worked out that way, but I know that most of those guys, at least three of them, are pretty big.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_05: We look for big hearts, and I guess sometimes that that comes along with a big body.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_06: The students look up to you figuratively and literally.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yeah, especially uh uh the Joneses.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um Joe Jones is a large man.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, uh Joe and Travis.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_05: I think Joe's six eight, Joe Jones, and then Travis six seven, so big guys.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_06: I'm I'm a decent sized lad myself, and I was working out in the gym.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_06: Joe Jones wandered in one time, and he's just a gregarious dude as well.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_06: And it's just like, wow, that's a big son of a gun right there.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_05: And the biggest heart, too.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, what a what a just a quality man that just, you know, every day he puts on the uniform and goes out and does great things.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_06: Sergeant Craig Loveland joins us right now.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_06: We're talking about June student safety month as he works with our student resource officers, getting to know him a little bit.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_06: I always ask two questions, and you answered those, and we'll share those right now of the people that sit down with me for the first time.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_06: The one is where are you from?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_06: Where were you born?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_06: A small area in New Jersey.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I guess the easiest way, you know, Hunterdon County, uh, that's how small it is.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I was born in a county, uh, not even a large city.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_05: So uh Milford, uh French town area of New Jersey, Middle West, kind of right there on the Delaware.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_06: New Jersey's an interesting state because it's best known, people try and identify themselves as an area, is what's the major city they're closest to?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_06: I've got a friend that was born in New Jersey, but he'll tell you he was a Philadelphia guy.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_06: And I have somebody else that was born in New Jersey, and they will tell you they're a New Yorker because it was up near East Rutherford.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_06: So it's just it's there's the major cities that are up there, New York, Philadelphia being the two biggest.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_06: So which one were you closer to and which one do you align with sports wise?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_05: I'd say I'd say neither.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_05: Sports wise, I was a Met guy, uh for sure.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_05: But you know, as far as like the closest city, we'd have to go, and it's not even huge, but East and PA.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_05: But so there you go.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, uh a uh the baseball bats, the hockey sticks, all that.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_05: So um I'd say that's probably the the largest city, but you know, yeah, definitely a Mets guy, and um, I guess that would probably be the ones I follow the most.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_05: Your Mets currently playing my Dodgers in a three-game series.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_06: I moved, so I'm a Braves guy now.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_06: I know you've been down to the stadium multiple times.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_06: I know your wife, who's also with the police department, Lieutenant Diana Loveland.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_06: She did that for your big birthday present last year.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, what what a great thing.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_05: I've had so yeah, she takes care of me, Rick, for sure.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_06: So I've got a friend who lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_05: How close was that to you?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_05: Oh man, yeah.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_05: So left when I was 11.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_05: So I really don't know how close that is.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you worked for Bristol Myers Squib up there.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, okay.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_06: But I I've been to New Jersey uh several times.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_06: It's it's a state where boy, it's kind of it's got a little bit of everything.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_06: You know, you're you're near some cities, you're also near the Poconos, you're also near the beach on the other side.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_06: I the it's the garden state, but yet it has this reputation as something that's like less than ideal.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, I I had a I had a flashing red light, you know, a uh a five and dime and a pizza joint.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_05: So uh in the closest town, which I could walk to with no problem.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_05: It does not sound like a bad child.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_06: No, it sounds almost idyllic.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was perfect.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, the other question we ask is something that most people don't know about you.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_06: And I knew this, but you're right.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_06: I bet I bet most people don't know this.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_05: So I was uh I was a nightclub DJ before uh kind of jumping into the law enforcement field, and then because of some folks that knew that working here, I where I got into uh mobile DJing or or a wedding DJ.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, last 12 years just been uh been doing that too, which is which is awesome.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_05: My emotional survival, as they say.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_06: Any of the clubs around here like back in the day?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: Place called Thunder Ridge in Maggie Valley.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_06: Thunder Ridge.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yes.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_06: Never really did anything here in Asheville.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_06: Now I know your uh your wedding business is going really well.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_06: Every once in a while I'll talk, hey, what you doing this weekend?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I've got some weddings to do.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_05: I uh I don't I really can't do more than 20 weddings a year because of the full-time job, but uh I do get those and been truly blessed with uh with word of mouth, and um I guess I'm okay at it, Rick.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, it's been good.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_05: It's been good.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_05: Do you have a Macarena policy?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_05: Oh boy, yeah.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_05: It it takes a lot to get the Macarena uh played.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_06: A tip jar better fill up if you want that.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, uh most of the time that's on the do-not playlist.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, for sure.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_06: Is there any any song that is an absolute no-no?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_06: Like, you know, in that scene with uh Mike Myers and No Freebird, you know, that type thing, no, no stairway to heaven, no.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, without getting too deep, you know, I meeting with the with the clients, you know, we go through those do not playlists, but I try to stay away from all line dancing altogether.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_05: So unless they specifically ask for it, it does not make the playlist unless it's asked.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_06: You got some go-to's?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_06: What gets the crowd going?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_05: Oh man.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_06: Um Does it change for time or are these the classics?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_06: Are these the ones that you just can't go wrong with?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, definitely classics.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_05: For the last 12 years, the top song um is I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_05: Can't go wrong with that.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_06: Who doesn't want to dance with somebody when you hear I want to dance with somebody?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and we paid, you know, I tend to play generationally because you, you know, you go to a wedding, it's the largest age group from any party you'd ever throw.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_05: So you really have to do all of it, you know, and you gotta get through through them.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_06: Everything from kids to you know, yeah, people in their 80s and 90s, and you want to get them all out there.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, try to stay away from baby shark, the chicken dance, none of those things are gonna make it.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you for that.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_06: 70s funk, you can't seem to go wrong with.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_06: Love it.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_06: You know, that's just kind of a beer to buck a party.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_06: It's just you cannot everybody gets the beat there, don't they?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, cool town.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_06: Cool gang.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_05: All those guys are it's when music was made, so to speak, instead of uh digitally produced.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_05: You know what I mean?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_05: Any celebrity weddings here?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_05: Anyone uh very much show up and crash?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_05: Man, uh you know, I I did not know it, but I did a shh, and I and you know, though the name has lost me, and she probably doesn't want me to mention it anyway, which is good.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_05: But actress uh just had a big role at Netflix.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_05: The head stunt man from Grey Man.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know if you're familiar with that movie.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_05: Familiar.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: The head stunt man, they got married.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_05: So obviously they got hooked up uh in the business.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_05: So did not know that till I got there.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_05: So uh that was wild.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_05: And then uh really, really successful linebacker for the Panthers and the Baltimore Ravens uh lived here low.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_06: Nakamura.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_06: So Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_06: We've had some celebrities not only live here, but a lot of the celebrity sightings.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_06: Uh in in the world of sports, the Pagula family who owns the Buffalo Bills.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, okay.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_06: Buffalo Sabres, their daughter, Jessica, is a really good tennis player, like ranked top ten in the world in one hope.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_06: She got married at Biltmore Estate.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_06: You didn't get that gig, did you?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_06: I did not.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_06: Missed out on that.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, well, that's fine, because if you'd gotten it and you didn't invite me, we would have had words.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, my apologies.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_06: Well, you don't need to work on it.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_06: You didn't you didn't need to.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_06: It's it's all right.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_06: We you weren't there.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_06: Not that it affects you, but my guy Josh Allen got married this weekend.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_06: So that would have been I saw that.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_06: That would have been a good one to do.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_06: Haley Steinfeld and Josh Allen, that would have been what a blast that would have been.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_06: I know you were working this weekend, otherwise you would have been considered.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_06: You know, I I I'm not gonna say they didn't call me.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_06: No, they absolutely didn't.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_06: Awesome.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_06: I love your primary job.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_06: I love your secondary job.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_06: I just love hanging out and talking with you.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_06: And Sergeant Craig Loveland, thank you so much for sitting down and talking with me today.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_06: And my blue story, Rick.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_05: I really appreciate it, buddy.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_06: See you on campus.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_06: Officer Kerry Lee from our community engagement division joins me now.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you again for joining me.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_06: You are welcome.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_06: Second time coming back.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_06: I've always meant to tell you this.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_06: Has anyone ever said that your name belongs on a country singer from the 1950s?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_06: It's just Carrie Lee.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: No, but I did one time get told in high school that I looked like the female version of John Denver.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_06: Huh.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: I don't see it personally, but you know, as a compliment?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't really know.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_06: Maybe if you put on the big glasses.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: Guess so.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_06: So what I was thinking with Carrie Lee was I guess Brenda Lee.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_06: She was a child star country singer, also did Rocket Around the Christmas tree.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a two-namer in the police department for sure.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody said the name Carrie the other day, and they're like, Who?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: And the guy was like Carrie Lee, and they're like, Oh yeah, I know who that is.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_06: A lot of people are just last names.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_06: And very few are first names, but you are a full.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: Also the only Carrie, so it's kind of confusing when you say Carrie, because I'm the only one.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it doesn't need to be.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: It just it when when I introduce myself to people, I say Carrie Lee with APD.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: It rhymes, you won't forget it.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_06: That's awesome.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's very helpful with our line of work for sure.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so when you guys run into Carrie Lee from APD, uh you can give her a big old high five and have a moment.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_06: And when will that moment be?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_06: You guys are gonna be out and about.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_06: I know you got some block parties going on, you got some blood drives.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_06: Tell us all about it.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: So we will be at the Grant Center block party on June 13th from about 6 to 9 p.m.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: So if you live out in that neighborhood, come on out.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna have a lot of fun activities going on out there.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: So we'd love to see you there.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_06: Ice cream truck with the ice cream truck.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't know who all is gonna be out.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_06: It's summertime.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, there's gonna be some delicious cold drinks and uh desserts out there.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we also have another blood drive coming up through the blood connection on June 18th from 10 a.m.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: to 3 p.m.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: They'll be bringing their van out this time.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll be at the downtown police station right there next to Pax Tavern.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: If you are able to, we would really encourage you to come out and donate some blood.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: You can check online at their website to see if there's any appointments available, and they will also be taking walk-ins.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: And there's usually some sort of uh incentive, shall we say, some sort of Yeah, you usually are able to get a gift card, free t-shirt, those types of things, which are a nice perk as well.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_06: And there's always a big need for blood.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_06: Like back in the day, uh, like my dad at the factory he worked at, they had those guys rolling in like every three months they were given.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_06: And I think that was I think that was that generation, too.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, they were constantly given blood.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_06: It had probably been kind of drilled into them, you know, post-world wars and all that stuff.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_06: And people have just kind of gotten out of the habit because it's a little bit of a time suck, you know, a little bit of inconvenience.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_06: You've got to, you know, schedule around it, but the need is definite.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: Also very important because blood only lasts so long in a blood bank, which is why they're always pushing for more.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you can't just like give it now and okay, we're good for the next 10 years.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_06: Exactly.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, they got to keep replenishing that.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_06: So please, if you can, donate.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're also very excited, our junior police academy, we have doubled our number of participants, so we are excited to have that role in the week of June 16th.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: So you may see us out and about with a gaggle of uh young teenagers from all around Asheville and surrounding areas doing some fun activities and learning about the police department.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_06: And we're coming off a very successful Citizens Police Academy.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_06: That was a great group we had for that.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we had a fantastic group.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and now we bring in kind of the young ones.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_06: And I know, like you say, this is growing.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_06: There was even talk that maybe next year having two editions.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: To wait and see.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um if if the interest continues to double like it did from last year, we might have to try to check out doing two academies.
• 17:17
  unknown: Right.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_06: Do we got any coffees coming up?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_06: Because I love coffee.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_06: It's a personal thing for me.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing this month.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, Rick.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: We try to run run them about once a quarter.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: So keep your eye out on our social media and the podcast to find out when the next one will be.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_06: All right, so where else are you guys gonna be?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: We also are doing a couple events this month, some which will have passed.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it is Gun Violence Awareness Month, the month of June is.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: So we have partnered with NC Safe to hand out some gun locks, some literature about gun safety.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: You can always get a free gun lock at our front desk at the downtown police station.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_06: That's big to note.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_06: You know, because someone's like, Yeah, I would do it.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_06: I just got the extra money right now.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_06: I don't want to go to the sporting goods store.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_06: You can always get one, but just by coming by here and asking for it.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: You can just ask right at the front desk and they will give you a free gun lock.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_06: Fantastic.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_06: So something I didn't even know that.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's awesome.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: That uh the partner with local organizations, and we've got some free gun locks.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: And if you need some more information about gun safety, you can go to ncsafe.org.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_06: I know Craig Loveland did a great video.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_06: We posted that on our Facebook page.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_06: Some extra information there if you want to check that out.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_06: And anything else.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: Just wanted to give a shout out.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: We had a bike safety event on May 31st at the Target over on River Hills Road.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_06: How did that go?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: It was awesome.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: We had a lot of young kids, especially, elementary age toddler come out.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: We had a couple courses set up.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: They really loved doing the ramps.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: My three and a half year old was even out there riding on the ramps.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: So it was great.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: And we wanted to give a big shout out to all of our local partners who donated helmets for the event, including the Walmart down in Arden, Dick's Sporting Goods, Play It Again Sports, Hearns Cycling, Motion Makers, Gravilo Workshop, and Target.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: So big thank you to all those donated helmets from all those local businesses.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, we appreciate all the support.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_06: I'm guessing the ramps that you used were way safer than the ones that I when I was growing up.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_06: Because you'd what you do, you go into you go back into the lumber pile, right?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_06: In the shed, wherever you got that.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_06: And then you find like what is it, a cinder block generally.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: So piece of plywood on there, you're good to go.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_06: Here's what you learn early on.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_06: You got to make sure the piece of wood is long enough so the entire bike can get on the boat.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_06: Because if it's too short, you know what happens.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_06: You get the first tire on there.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_06: It just the thing kicks back up and then it's a mess, and then you're you're falling, you're scraping, you're doing all that stuff.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thankfully, we had some awesome ramps that we were able to borrow from Asheville Parks and Rec.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: So grateful for them partnering with us as well to provide some cool ramps and flags and some other elements that we utilized.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_06: Fantastic.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_06: And thank you to all those sponsors for coming through for us.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_06: That was great.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_06: Good stuff.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_06: Can't let you leave without asking about your appendages.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_06: Anyone that listens to the podcast knows that last episode, Carrie Lee discussed how she only has nine toes.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_06: And so I kind of brought that up in the last Citizens Police Academy when I was presenting, not realizing you were right over there in the corner.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_06: So I can't imagine there's anything new.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_06: But if there is, what do you got?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: I hurt my toe doing a dunk tank.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_06: Which one?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_06: Which toe?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: The other foot.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_06: Well, now if you lost one on the other foot, at least that would even it out.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was the same exact toe.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_06: So it would have been perfect.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: I heard it in the dunk tank at um Stevens.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_06: Good God.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_06: Well, let's hope it doesn't go numb and go gangrene and something nasty.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_06: Need that one removed.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_06: It would even it out though, however, because then it would just they they perhaps even make shoes for somebody like you.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, some flo flops words.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: One toe over, one toe over.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: I need it between the middle toe and the fourth toe.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_06: A thicker thong, the one thing that's in there.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_06: Jerry Lee from APD.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_06: It's got a great ring to it.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: It does.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for joining me.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_06: Getting to know Sergeant Josh Veridal.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for joining me.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, how are you?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_06: I'm doing well.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for asking.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_06: Sergeant Veridal, I know you're a part of our drone unit, but with flag day landing in the middle of June, I also heard a rumor you are part of the APD Honor Guard.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_06: Is that true?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_06: That's correct.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_06: So we're off and running.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_06: In our getting to know segment, there are two questions that we ask.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_06: And the rest is just free form.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_06: I know you're gonna have difficulty because you're not much of a talker.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_06: Sarcasm noted.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_06: First question though, where were you born?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_04: I was born in Nashville, Tennessee.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_06: I guess another Nashville to Asheville.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_06: So when did you leave Nashville?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_04: Uh in my early teen years, we moved over to uh eastern Tennessee.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um that's where I went to high school primarily and spent the majority of my youth after that.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um and then around, I guess, 2013, I moved over here.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_04: Met a beautiful lady, but still beautiful as ever as and the rest, as they say, is history.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_04: That's correct.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_04: Two little boys, eight and ten and They're awesome.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_06: Nashville has gotten huge.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_06: I mean it's just blown up.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_06: I'm guessing when you lived there, there was there's probably the Tennessee Titans, right?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_04: They had just moved in towards yeah, I believe it was around the early 90s when they were.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_06: But they didn't have the breads at that point.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_06: They didn't have a hockey team, I would guess, right?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_06: No, no, no.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_06: Did not have a hockey team.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_04: I believe they did, no.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_06: And the music scene there obviously legendary, huge.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_04: Oh.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_06: And the uh bachelorette party scene also.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_04: Music row was definitely a thing.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_04: And I was uh I got to experience the uh Opera Land before they uh tore it down and became everything else it is now.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_04: The large mall, I believe, is what it is now.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_06: But uh they moved everything to the Ryman, I guess, right?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Ryman Auditorium.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_04: I've been in there a couple of times for some pretty good concerts.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_04: It was pretty pretty neat to see that.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so you moved to eastern Tennessee.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_06: Where in eastern Tennessee?
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Newport, little bitty town right there at the uh the edge of nothing.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_06: Closest to what?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_04: Uh very close to Pigeon Forge, Severeville.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: About about 15, 20 minutes away from uh Dollywood.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_04: So I've had my sharefare of that.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_06: Access to all the miniature golf.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, definitely.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_04: Definitely.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_04: Lots of rod runs as well.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_04: There's lots of big hot rock shows everywhere.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I accidentally stumbled into one of those traffic jams for a rod run one time arriving into town, and there we sat for a half hour.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_04: Something called the Spur that runs between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_04: We sat there one night for over four hours, stuck in the tunnel.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_06: It's not fun.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_06: And so now part of the Asheville Police Department for how many years?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_04: I've been here for well since 2013, so about 12 years now.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_06: And was here for the job?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, for the lady.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, here for the lady.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_06: Lady.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_06: And the job came after that?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_04: Well, it was pretty much simultaneous.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, I had I was already a law enforcement officer in in Newport, and I loved every day of it, and it was very hard for me to leave.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_04: That's a big change for me, going from a small town law enforcement to a much larger city for me.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_04: I went from about 30 officers in our department to about 300 officers here, so at the time.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_04: So it was it was definitely a big drastic change, but she was well worth it.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_06: So I hope she's listening to this because you are scoring a lot of points.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_06: A lot of points.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_04: I bet her.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, make sure you forward this.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_06: So when you do this, honey, did you hear what I said about you?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_06: Speaking of lots of change, our drone unit, which is relatively new, you know, just a few years old, really.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, from its inception to now, has made just leaps and bounds into the future with all the things you guys are doing.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_06: So you're a big part of that, with Captain Brandon Moore being the uh tip of the spear, so to speak.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_04: And then you're kind of I'm the drone unit supervisor.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_04: He's the team commander basically.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but you know, given his role as a patrol captain, he definitely stays very, very busy.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, once that unit started to grow into so much, that's when they've developed this position for me to be in, and and I've loved it ever since.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_04: It's definitely been a uh trial by fire for sure, considering that the uh first day on duty was the same day as the hurricane.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_06: So the thing had barely formed as a unit.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_06: We had a few drones and then Helene, and then everyone found out really quickly how important these things were.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_06: The work that they did during Helene, especially, was truly life-saving.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_04: It was.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_04: And a lot of people do not realize the staffing dependencies that we have, uh, that it was able to remedy throughout that entire process.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_04: The the amount of overwatch and reconnaissance that we could do in order to find uh other individuals that were struggling, search and rescue operations, recovery operations.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_04: City's infrastructure was destroyed, of course, as many people know.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, alongside the crime analyst division with uh Douglas Ozer and those folks over there, they did a tremendous job in all the mapping that they did.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: But people don't realize uh, you know, FEMA, they didn't really, they really didn't m know much about, they didn't really have their feet in that fire yet as far as drone capabilities.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that's one thing that was a huge accomplishment for our units.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_04: We were able to work with them and and soon after just a couple of days, they were like, wow, this is a lot faster, you know, response um as far as the mapping and the in in you know the individual teams that they would set out with the New Jersey Task Force that came and helped us.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_06: Well, in the New Jersey Task Force, I'm talking with Captain Moore, even they said, Hey, hey, listen, we don't really need the drones, we've got our own way of doing things.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_06: And then like 24, 48 hours later, we're like, these things are indispensable.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_04: They are.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_04: And and the the amount of labor-intensive searching that these FEMA teams have to do is insurmountable.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's insane the way that they have to go in and methodically grid search all of these different zones and to be able to fly just an inanimate object over top for, you know, 15 to 20 minutes at a time and take pictures or just look for any type of movement or thermal imaging is priceless in this day and age with with the with the you know combined staffing levels that we tend to struggle with in this industry, as it is.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's this is our profession, this is what what we deal with.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, with that plus this this hurricane hitting us the way it did, it was not something that we were prepared for at all, in a way, except for the about the amount of things that we were able to do with those drones is just we were not prepared for what it could accomplish for us.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_06: Total force multiplier.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it is.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_06: It is a force multiplier without the ground that literally it covers in such a short period of time.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_06: It can can do the work of 50 men in a way and and give you an angle that isn't available in any other way.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_06: Even helicopters cannot get as close as those drones can get.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_06: They can get listen, I've heard them flying inside this building in like the office next to mine.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_06: These things can fly inside places, into rooms, into and we've d we've used that here with the police force.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_06: We've had actually had to fly into areas where we didn't know if it was safe to go in, an apartment where you don't know somebody is are they armed or they're not armed.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_06: And we can go in there.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_04: The uh the amount of officer safety liability that it has relieved us of is just tremendous.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's there's so many different opportunities that we have that we can now use them uh from a legal standpoint in order to assist us with officer safety issues or, you know, just as you described a barricaded subject or something like that.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_04: But that's just that's just the beginning of it.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_04: The majority of what we've done is just responding to critical calls in the moment with our DFR program.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_04: And that is something where we can respond within, you know, 30 to 60 seconds, and the average officer on scene time may be two to five minutes, uh, depending on the situation and the staffing levels for that day or or you know how far out they may be to the call for service.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_04: So being able to respond quicker like that, we and that's not just law enforcement, that's for fire, that's for medical issues.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_04: We hear all that through our uh 911 abilities.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_04: We can we can listen into those calls and be first to respond before the call's even put out over the radio.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, and a smaller thing to consider too is some younger people that are coming up that are used to playing these video games and things of that nature that may not have seen themselves as a law enforcement officer.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_06: There's some possible recruitment opportunities here for people that maybe have a career in the police that maybe didn't think they did before, but hey, what you guys are doing with these drones is super cool, man.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_06: I'm kind of doing this already.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_06: I'd love to learn more.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_04: We try our best not to shy away from this technology.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_04: We have moved forward in a very rapid pace, and that's something that's definitely to credit to Captain Moore.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um, he is, you know, partnered with all these different companies that have come in here to give us the ability to do this, um, which is a tremendous help for us.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_04: We wouldn't have half of the supplies that we have now if it wasn't for that.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_04: And it was it was a combination of the hard work that he had put into it, of course, prior to me being here, combined with the you know, the devastation of the hurricane and all these other resources that flooded our department that uh to this day I'm I I couldn't thank them enough uh for how many times uh they came in here day in, day out, staying in hotels um that had no running water, and they just stayed with it and stayed right there with us.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_04: So all right.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_06: Let's ask the second question I always ask of my guests, which is what's one thing that most people don't know about you?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the last name, Veridal, is very unique.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_04: It is unique, isn't it?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it is, yes.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_04: I'm still a Southern Appalachian boy at heart, but uh that name is definitely unique.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_04: My father was a foster child in his early years, and when he was probably around eight or nine, I believe, his foster parents took him in and through court documents and through contact with the biological mother, what little contact he did have, they they did determine that the last name would be Varidal.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_04: But that was hard to prove.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, back in the 60s, 70s, during that time, court documents were not as thorough as they are nowadays.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_04: So it's it's very hard to pinpoint that.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_04: But in recent years, due to uh things such as ancestry DNA and things of that nature, I've been able to gift some things to my father and and and go through some uh DNA records along with some family heritage stuff, and we actually found there's quite a bit of truth to the last name Verital.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and we are of a primarily uh Portuguese descent.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_04: Uh from in Portugal is where our our name originates from.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_06: Not have guessed looking at you.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_06: You had any kind of Portuguese influence.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_04: So um, but even in Portugal, there are no recorded last name spellings of our name.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_04: So we are one unique name that uh we're the only ones in the world that I've been able to track down with.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_04: Hold on a second.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_06: Hold on.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_06: So how many actual Veradals are there?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_06: People with the last name Veridal?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_04: My father, me, and my brother.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_06: And that's it?
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_04: And my mother.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_06: So there's four people currently in the world.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_04: And and my sister, not only figure, I don't know.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, do you don't leave her out?
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: Don't leave her.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_06: So half dozen.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_06: Solid half dozen Veradol.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_06: You guys better get busy making a bunch of babies and naming them Veradol if you want that.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I've want that line to continue.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_04: And that's what uh that circles back to the wife.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_04: And uh we've got two little boys now, eight and ten.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, good, so they're boys.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_04: So the name will continue.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_04: It's definitely something significant, you know, with the type of lifestyle that my father grew up in, it was pretty rough at times.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_04: And and just to know that his family lineage will move on, it's it's uh it's a huge thing for him.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_06: So you're you truly are one of a kind, or yeah, almost literally one of a kind.
• 32:21
  unknown: Yeah.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_06: That is something.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_06: I I don't think I've ever known anybody was that was the only of that name in the world.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: There are some similar spellings that are close to it.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_06: Like that are changing A with an E type stuff.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_04: But there is no one that we have found that it's actually spelled the exact way it is.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_04: And and uh so whether it be through those court records that were mismanaged or whether it be through just word of mouth changing through the years, everybody's name changes a little bit throughout the way.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_04: But just um, you know, the hist knowing the history of that, knowing that there's a lot of truth to the way that came about, it's definitely a special thing for us.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_06: I'm just the opposite of that.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_06: My last name is super common in Western North Carolina, especially rice.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_06: It's one of the names you will see all over the place because it's of uh English and Scots-Irish ancestry.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_06: That's where the name comes from, and that's who settled the mountains.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_06: So while I'm not kin to any of them, I get the question all the time.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_06: It's like, oh, are are you kin to the rices in Yancey County or the rices in Haywood County or the rices down the street, or the I'm like I we literally have a rice two houses from us.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_06: So we have Mike and Liz Rice that are caddy corner from our house, but none of the rices here are anything to me, but there's a ton of us.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_06: I'm also not related to any of the famous ones like Jerry Rice or any of those.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_06: So hidden money that you're I I looked, I like you looked, I looked for a different reason.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_06: And so neither neither of us found anything.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_06: Something else that is interesting and significant, you are also a part of our honor guard.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, we wanted to have you in here to talk about that.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_06: Before we get into Flag Day, let's see how much you know about Flag Day.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, okay.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_06: So the first proclamation designating June 14th as Flag Day occurred in 1916.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_06: Who was the president that issued that?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_06: Your clue being 1916.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_06: Think about that perhaps.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_06: World War I.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_06: If that helps, I'll give you a hint.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_06: First and last name start with the same letter.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_06: You'll sometimes see this last name on a football.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_06: No, nothing.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_06: Woodrow Wilson.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, let's give you another one.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, there was actually a law officially recognizing Flag Day that occurred in 1949.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_06: Think about that.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_06: What president signed that?
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_06: Probably not with an auto pen.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, uh, 1949.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_06: I'll say this.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_06: He dropped uh he dropped some bombs.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_06: And when I say that, I don't mean like he was known to swear on occasionally.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_06: When I say he dropped some bombs, it wasn't Eisenhower.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_06: It was not.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: It was uh 1949.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_03: Oh goodness, I'm at a loss.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_06: Harry Truman.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: Truman.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: Harry S.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_06: Truman signed the law officially recognizing Flag Day in 1949.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_06: The very first time we approved the design of our national flag was 1777 by the Continental Congress.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_06: Of course, that's one of the acts of defiance that kind of kicked off the Revolutionary War.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_06: And now here we are in 2025.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_06: You as a member of our honor guard.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_06: So let me ask you this.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_06: There are certain times in my life, I've done a whole lot of announcing type things in front of large crowds, in front of whatever, but there's certain things that I do that make me feel more proud than others.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_06: Like, for example, the times where I have done things in my church, be it the Christmas cantata or just maybe maybe it's uh you know reading some lines at a my brother's wedding.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_06: You know, you read the the certain the Psalms or whatever you do.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_06: You feel a little more proud doing certain things.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_06: How do you feel when you're participating with the honor guard and holding the flag?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_06: What does that make you feel?
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_04: Gosh, uh it's not really something that's easily explainable.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_04: There's a certain level of pride with that, um, with everything that we do.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_04: And considering that the unit is, you know, it's it's a voluntary position, there is no extra pay for that.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_04: So what we do there is is something that we we just have a strong feeling for the the honor and commitment of the agency and what we stand for here and and the work that we do in and out every day.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_04: It's something that is uh it's just it's really hard to explain.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um I I tell you one thing that will definitely clench you though, is the first time that you do have to assist with, you know, laying another officer to rest.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_04: If there's ever a wonder of why we do what we do, that's it stops there.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_04: There's there is no wonder anymore.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_04: That's one of the most difficult things that we could ever do is to help, you know, assist with laying another officer to rest.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_04: And it's something I've had to do more times than I want to in my career.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_06: I've had a hard I'd have a hard time keeping it together during that.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_06: I would.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_06: I just know I would.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's something where you definitely have to compartmentalize a lot of emotions.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, that's it's not an easy task.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but it's something that, you know, when you fall back on the pride and the reason for what we do, um, it means quite a bit to us.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_04: And it's just not something that we take lightly.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_06: If you go back further into American history, uh, for example, to the soldiers that carried the flag in war, even though they knew, let's say the Civil War, for example, even though they knew either be it the departmental flag or the U.S.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_06: flag or uh the Confederate flag, as the case may be, depending on the sides, even though they knew they would be the first target because it you would create disorder by killing the person holding the flag.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_06: That's how that's how troops were directed, was by looking for that flag.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_06: Even though you knew you were going to get shot, you knew it.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_06: It was guaranteed practically.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_06: That flag goes down, next man grabs that flag and goes forward.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_06: And and you you've heard stories of that over and over and over.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_06: I imagine it's kind of a similar pride there as you have when you do it with us.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_04: And just the the overall background of the flag itself, it it seems like it's just a simple, very symbolic thing that we all have around us at all times.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_04: But when you really sit there and think about it, it is something that means uh so much more than that.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_04: For me personally, it's in an odd way, it's the structure of it, honestly.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_04: I know that sounds odd, but I it's just kind of weird to explain it that way.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_04: But I didn't have anything in my life necessarily that was just full of str I mean, I had a a good home, you know, a mother, father, two siblings, a brother and sister.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: I was the eldest.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, there comes a time in every man's life where you gotta get out on your own and do your own thing.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_04: And you're gonna learn either to be a rebel or or to be structured.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_06: Toe the line.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and you gotta tow that line at some point.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_04: You have responsibilities in this world.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_06: Decide what the rules are and follow them or not.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, that's right.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_04: And that's where the good book came in for me.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_04: And that's my first guidance, is the Bible, of course.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_04: But to have that structure in my life, it's something that meant a lot to me once I got into law enforcement.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_04: And there's other countries in this world that don't have that kind of structure, and they don't have the ability to provide that for someone individually.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_04: But I had the choice to do this.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that uh I think just overall with that structure, it was something that it just it it just clicked for me.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_04: Something clicked for me when it when it came to when it came to doing that.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's just so hard to explain.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_04: But that's where I just got my footing as a human being in this world, is knowing I had a purpose to do something.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_04: Really that's what democracy to me is the ability to make that choice and to do that.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_04: I want to help other people.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_04: That's what I've always wanted to do.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's in my family heritage in a way.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_04: You know, both my parents come from uh different servant roles.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_04: My father owned a custodial business for you know 10, 15 years on his own, built it from the ground up.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean, this is a man that was a foster child.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_04: He had nothing to guide him in life.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_06: But the American dream came his way because that's exactly hard work.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_04: And that's that's what it really falls down to is the American dream.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_04: You hit it right there.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's what it is for me.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_06: Which is an opportunity and nothing more.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_06: You got an opportunity to make something to yourself.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_06: And then you within the structure of the system, you just go and do it.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_04: You do.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_04: And it's uh, you know, following that American dream for my father was a big deal.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_04: You know, my mother, once we moved down to East Tennessee, she also got into public servant work uh as well, um, working for the local chamber of commerce and being over tourism and and those things.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_04: And and uh then my father later on became a com he's currently an active commissioner with uh Cock County down there.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, it's just something the public service is something that's just kind of fell into our lap in a way um over the years.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_04: And it's something to follow and lead us in a positive way, um, even when it seems like your whole life has not had structure to it because of the way things come about throughout your life.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_04: And even for those people that are out there that don't have structure in their life, you can find it if you're just looking in the right places.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_04: And everybody needs something to follow, because you can't be a good leader without following something.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_06: True story.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_04: So that's that's what's important to me.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_06: So with all of that in your background and how you feel about public service, and then of course the flag, it all ties together with why you would be a part of our honor guard.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think if it wasn't for the some symbolic use of of that American flag that we have now, it it just means so much to me of how this country has been put together throughout the uh decades that we have been here since 1776.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_04: So it's so much to take in, it's so much that you know we've we've got our declaration of independence that we stand by, and it doesn't matter if you were military, paramilitary, law enforcement, you know, any type of public service, that's something that a lot of my whole family has been in, public service in some form or another.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_06: So what does it make you feel like when you see somebody desecrating the flag?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_06: You see somebody burning the flag, stepping on the flag, just in my opinion, mistreating the flag.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_04: Uh in in a weird way, it goes back to you know that that compartmentalizing of emotions that I talked about earlier.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um I think it's important that we all compartmentalize those emotions.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_04: We know it's wrong, we know it's not the best thing to see, and we also know that if it wasn't for what that flag stood for, that person couldn't do what they were doing.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_04: So for that very reason, it's important that do what you want.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's your choice, it's your freedom.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_04: That's why it's there in the first place.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lot of hypocrisy there.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_04: And I I think a lot of people have a misunderstanding of what that flag means sometimes, but it's not for me to judge them.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's for a higher power.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_04: It's not for me to judge them.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I mean, they're allowed to disrespect the flag.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_04: That's exactly right.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_06: I'm but I'm just allowed to not like it.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_04: That's exactly right.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_04: And that's where it goes back to compartmentalizing those emotions.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_04: Am I cussing them six ways a Sunday in my head?
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I am.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_04: But I'm gonna leave it alone because that's not what I want my children to see.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_04: That's not what I want other people to see.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_04: Because I'm here to lead by an example.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_06: And you do that every day, and we thank you for being part of our honor guard and of course the drone unit and part of the APD for uh over a dozen dozen years now, going strong.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_06: Sergeant Josh Veradal, thanks for joining us.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_04: I appreciate it.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_06: Time for another History Minute with Hannah Silberman.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_06: Personally, I've been really enjoying these, and I'm hearing great feedback.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_06: A lot of other folks are enjoying it as well, as we look back at the history of the APD as we celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the department.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_06: Trying to tie in things that occurred at approximately the same time of the year historically as we are now, which is the month of June.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_06: So, what do you have for us today?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_06: First of all, that is a great way to start anything.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_06: A committee of ladies.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Committee of ladies appeared before the board.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_06: I love that.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_06: That's just that should be a name of a rock band.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_06: An all-female rock band.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_06: I could see myself doing the introduction already.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_06: Put your hands together.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_06: Sorry, interrupted your vibe.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_06: Go ahead.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: They approached the board with a petition signed by over a hundred people, and they had demands related to the city jail.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: So some of them included that the manner and trial of our woman be improved.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted to make sure that people weren't present in the courtroom when women were being tried for immorality, because I guess that was quite a spectacle.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that would have been a reasonable demand.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted the appointment of a policewoman to be present during the trial of a woman, which of course we didn't get until the nineteen seventies.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_06: So what year was this that this was occurring?
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_06: The Committee of Ladies?
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: 1922.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_06: 1922.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_06: So just a little over a hundred years ago.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted complete separation of sexes within the city jail and the prison, and they also demanded that we rehire a police matron.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: So the police matron comes from something that started in 1894, which was the Reformatory for Unfortunate Women.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_06: I'm gonna stop you.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_06: Because that's one of the greatest things I've ever heard in my life.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_06: The Reformatory for Unfortunate Women.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, the RFUW.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_06: Of course, we need t-shirts done for this, I would think, right?
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_06: I have to ask the unfortunate part.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_06: What about the women was unfortunate that would put them in the reformatory?
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I imagine it was women who were unfortunate enough to be convicted of crimes of morality.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: So at at the time Crimes of Morality?
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you'd be your prostitutes, you're you're just um women of ill repute.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_06: Because women back then didn't commit actual crimes, right?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_06: Or so was thought.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_06: You know, it's kind of like the only things they would do with things like this.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Well, the the issues for the city at the time were crimes of drunkenness, so men fighting with weapons, but also what they called houses of ill repute.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Ah, yes.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_06: I'm familiar.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_06: Not personally.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_06: I just I've heard the term.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell So what the idea was that at the time if you were arrested for a crime, you were taken before a city judge and usually you were issued a fine.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think the way we put it is if they didn't have money, friends, or a good excuse, they would have to earn or pay back their fines by working.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like on the usually a chain gang to build the city streets and they got fifty cents a day.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_06: Gotcha.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: So ten dollar fine, you had to work for twenty days in the prison.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Powell All right, that makes sense.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_06: It's and that certainly wouldn't be unique to Asheville.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_06: A lot of places did that.
• 46:49
  unknown: Yeah.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: Not not the best system.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_06: But it's what we had.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: So they came up with an idea because they didn't have a system like that for women, that they created the reformatory, which was a space in the city hall with sewing machines, and they hired a police matron to give women lessons on how to sew.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: They got moral lectures to hopefully change their ways.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: And also they made the uniforms that the male prisoners used when they were working.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_06: So at least they were doing something, I guess, productive?
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it was the the first female employee was our police matron, and she worked to oversee the women prisoners.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: She cooked the meals, she kept the prison clean.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: So overall, that was probably a big improvement over what they did before.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_06: Do today's modern women have any idea this was the basic behavior and the attitudes of things about a hundred years ago?
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_06: I get the impression they don't really grasp, I don't want to say how good things are right now, but if we look back, I mean that that's almost it's almost comical if you look at it from no historical perspective.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_06: Like you would just be some kind of time machine launched into that without any kind of you know lead up.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_06: You're like, what?
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_06: Doesn't it seem crazy, or am I the only one in the room?
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_06: Help me out, your hand.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: Seems pretty crazy.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, as as somebody that is an employee at a police department, not teaching sewing.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_00: The positive was in 1922, I I can't confirm most of their demands.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know we didn't hire a policewoman, but they did rehire a police matron to oversee female prisoners.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: She was the widow of a former chief and she worked for several decades, I believe.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Powell Did the women prisoners get locked up the same way men prisoners did, or was it just kind of like more like a like a college dorm situation, do you know?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they did.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I I recall reading the petition from 1922.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I think it had started very well, and then over the decades had kind of become more meshed.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so they were asking for separate facilities for the women and to have better oversight and to kind of protect them and give them more.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um this also extended to the county jail.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Powell Okay.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_06: I have a strange feeling if this uh if this term gets out, the reformatory for unfortunate women, that could be another one of those Asheville terms if it catches on with like a certain group in town.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_06: You know, like some of the phrases that were kind of unofficial slogans, stay weird and uh say the cesspool of sin.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_06: This could really catch on.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_06: I expect to see t-shirts all over town, the reformatory for unfortunate women.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_06: I could describe a lot of women here that I've met.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_06: Sorry.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_06: You're not helping me out at all over here.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_06: You're just letting me go.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, geez, come on.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_06: I thought we, I thought we developed this a yin and the yang.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_06: No?
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_06: You're not helping me out at all, are you?
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, fair enough.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_06: Here we are, about halfway through 2025, so plenty more stories to come celebrating the history of the Asheville Police Department in year 150.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_06: Coming your way in the next episode, a story about is it our first chief?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: Our first chief, yeah.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_06: Our very first chief and his unique position in town prior to being the police chief.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_06: In the business, they call that a tease.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_06: Something to have you on the edge of your seat in anticipation of the next episode of the APD Pod Squad and the History Minute with Hannah Silverman.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_06: That does it for episode 21 of the APD Pod Squad.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for listening.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_06: And thanks to you and people like you, we've had over 3,000 downloads of the show since we began in August of 2024.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_06: So let's keep it growing.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_06: Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbors.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks also to my guests for joining me.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_06: Sergeant Craig Loveland, Officer Kerry Lee, Sergeant Josh Veridal, and Hannah Silberman for the History Minute.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_06: Got a question?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_06: Ask the chief.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_06: Just call 828-250-8800 and leave a voicemail.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_06: Or you can email apdpodcastfeedback at ashevillenc.gov.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_06: Again, you can call 828-250-8800 and leave a voicemail, or email APD Podcastfeedback at AshevilleNC.gov.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_06: Coming up in the next episode as we celebrate Father's Day in the month of June, we'll be talking to some of the newest fathers at the Asheville Police Department.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks again for listening.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_06: I'm Rick Rice, and this is the APD Pod Squad.