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Transcript

Police Reversal: From Defund to Refund - America Backs Blue · Heroes Behind the Badge

0:08
Dennis Collins: Hey, a warm welcome back to Heroes Behind the Badge.
0:12
We tell real stories about real cops.
0:15
We expose the fake news about the police and we bring you the truth.
0:21
It's Dennis Collins.
0:23
It's Bill Erfurth, and it's Craig Floyd once again.
0:27
Bringing you the very best there is to offer in the world of law enforcement.
0:33
today we're gonna do something a little different.
0:36
A as this podcast is brought to you by Citizens Behind the Badge,
0:42
and we're gonna talk about Citizens Behind the Badge a little bit today.
0:45
Right?
0:46
Bill looks very comfortable there, very relaxed.
0:51
Craig is always chill.
0:52
He is always relaxed.
0:54
He is ready.
0:56
And today we just thought the three of us would reminisce a little bit.
1:02
we wanna go back, it's almost five years ago to the day
1:09
that a phone call.
1:10
I received a phone call.
1:12
Bill Erfurth received a phone call from Craig Floyd.
1:16
Craig, tell us about that phone call.
1:19
Tell us what the call was about and tell us why you made the call.
1:24
Craig Floyd: I retired in 2018, right at the end of the year, we had just dedicated
1:29
the National Law Enforcement Museum.
1:31
We had built the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
1:35
We became a leader in promoting officer safety and wellness.
1:39
I felt like I achieved all the goals that I had set out, and it was time to
1:43
relax, have some fun, spend more time with family, and I was doing that, enjoying it.
1:49
And then all of a sudden, May 25th, 2020, something happened in this
1:54
country that changed a lot of lives, and that was the death of George Floyd.
1:59
And as we all know, right around that time, in the aftermath of his death,
2:06
there was what was called the defund and defame, the police movement.
2:11
All of a sudden, almost overnight, people were hating police officers.
2:16
These police officers were told that, they weren't doing a good job, that
2:20
we should reimagine policing, we should abolish police in some areas.
2:24
Dennis Collins: Abolish in some areas.
2:25
Yeah.
2:27
Craig Floyd: And it, it was appalling to me.
2:29
here's a guy that spent my whole life promoting law enforcement talking
2:33
about all the, great service, the extraordinary sacrifice put 24,000
2:38
names of fallen officers on the national law enforcement officers memorial,
2:42
and now people were denigrating.
2:45
the officers and the profession they served.
2:47
Yeah.
2:48
and it upset me.
2:49
It made me angry quite honestly, and I thought to myself, who knows more about
2:54
police as a private citizen than I do?
2:56
Okay.
2:56
I've met thousands of them and I wanted to do something in response
3:01
to this defund the police movement.
3:04
And the first two people I thought of when I said, Hey, let's start an organization.
3:10
That would stop this defund the police movement that would counter all the
3:13
negativity and all the lies about law enforcement that we were hearing.
3:18
So I called my two buddies, two of the people I'd worked
3:21
with proudly over many years.
3:24
we did a radio show together called Cop Net.
3:27
I knew both of you felt the way I did, and I thought we might be
3:31
able to do some good together.
3:32
So I called Bill Erfurth.
3:34
I called Dennis Collins and I said, how about the three of us start a
3:38
new organization, ProLaw Enforcement, to stop the defund, the police
3:43
movement, and we're gonna call this thing Citizens Behind the Badge.
3:47
We wanted to mobilize millions of citizens in support of law enforcement,
3:52
and we wanted to become the leading voice of law enforcement, of the
3:56
citizenry in support of law enforcement.
3:59
And I think over these last five years, gentlemen, we've done a pretty good job.
4:04
of, meeting our goals.
4:06
certainly many of them, and, doing a lot of good, I think, for
4:09
the law enforcement profession.
4:12
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
4:14
these five years have gone fast.
4:15
We've done a lot of work, but, tell me what you all think about it.
4:20
Bill Erfurth: Here we are five years later.
4:22
It's shocking that it's been five years because it's flown
4:25
by like nobody's business.
4:28
But I, will say, we can definitely take credit for changing that narrative
4:35
that you mentioned about the defund and defame, the police movement.
4:40
There are some exceptions to that rule going on right now.
4:43
We can look at this guy that's running for Mayor of New York.
4:48
Who wants to abolish the police.
4:49
He's saying he wants to abolish the police.
4:51
And the NYPD cops are bailing out of their left, right and sideways.
4:55
And you know what?
4:55
They're coming down to Florida.
4:57
And, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has been recruiting cops
5:01
from across the United States, paying them $5,000 bonuses to come moving
5:06
expenses in the whole nine yards.
5:08
And you know what?
5:09
Florida's a safe place to be.
5:11
It's all about law and order, and that's one of the things we can talk about.
5:16
We definitely have to talk about some of the legislative
5:18
achievements that, Citizens Behind the Badge has accomplished.
5:23
and Craig, you've done a yeoman's job.
5:25
You have been all over this and, but really good stuff.
5:30
Dennis Collins: He Continued the wonderful work that he did with the law
5:34
enforcement memorial and the museum.
5:36
And now we have actually helped to make a dent in this narrative.
5:43
and if you remember 2020, do you remember how many cities.
5:48
Actually did defund the police.
5:51
Minneapolis for sure.
5:53
I think New York was one.
5:56
Who else?
5:56
There were numerous others.
5:58
Craig Floyd: Los Angeles.
5:59
I could go down the list.
6:01
Literally Dennis.
6:02
Hundreds of millions of dollars.
6:04
We've documented this.
6:05
Hundreds of millions of dollars, was defunded from law enforcement
6:10
agencies across this country.
6:12
New York probably led the, field, but Los Angeles wasn't too far behind.
6:17
As you point out, Minneapolis is where it all started with
6:20
the death of George Floyd.
6:22
They, ironically, I love this, the hypocrisy, they cut $8 million
6:27
out of their police budget within months of George Floyd's death, and
6:32
then two years later they restored.
6:34
All of that funding to, because of their dwindling police force.
6:38
So many officers had left.
6:39
So much crime had occurred that the public just, couldn't take it anymore.
6:44
And they finally said, okay, we give up.
6:46
We're gonna give more money to law enforcement and try
6:49
to fix the mess we created.
6:52
Bill Erfurth: And do you remember the whackado that was on the.
6:55
City council there for Minneapolis, and she was all about it.
6:59
She was always outspoken about defund the police.
7:02
We should have social workers respond to homes for these calls and domestics
7:06
and all this other crazy nonsense.
7:09
And then what happened?
7:11
Lo and behold, some scumbag.
7:15
Broke into her home.
7:17
I, and I don't remember the circumstances exactly, but I think was breaking
7:20
into her house or assaulted her.
7:22
And what'd she have to do?
7:24
She had to call the police.
7:26
How about that?
7:28
Craig Floyd: They came, Hey, how about.
7:31
Dennis Collins: She was lucky they were there, right?
7:33
Bill Erfurth: I don't know, who knows what the response time is, but because
7:36
do you remember, here's a good example.
7:39
So Austin, Texas, and I, remember even today, Austin, Texas has turned
7:44
into a massive crime problem there.
7:48
And the DPS, the state troopers had to go in and may still be there and
7:52
are helping to police the streets of Austin because their police
7:56
department, I think is still one third.
7:59
Understaffed, but the crime that they have had in Austin has been
8:05
completely off the hook because of that.
8:09
And We're still seeing that in some places around the country.
8:15
the, states that support their law enforcement, conservative states,
8:18
conservative cities, I think that those places have rebounded and
8:23
recovered, but some other places that are liberal bastions of lunacy.
8:28
Are still reeling from it.
8:30
Dennis Collins: I like liberal bastions of lunacy.
8:32
Did you coin that phrase?
8:34
That's, is that a Bill?
8:35
Bill Erfurth: I, did, I have that, on my wall as a, as my mantra.
8:40
Dennis Collins: we do know that staffing.
8:44
Is still well below, the pre 2020 level.
8:47
So we, that, that is something that is a fact about 10%.
8:52
That's something.
8:52
And we've talked amongst ourselves and Citizens Behind the Badge.
8:56
What can we do to help that?
8:58
I think the most important thing we can do is what we've done, and that is.
9:03
Get a, get hundreds of thousands of Americans to support this movement.
9:10
And I wanna talk today, Craig, about some of the things that you and we as
9:16
a group have done to help defeat this.
9:19
'cause there are some really important things.
9:21
We asked for contributions, we ask for decorations of
9:25
support, and we've gotten a lot.
9:29
I think our, fans are, the people that have contributed the wonderful
9:34
people who've, who, support this cause.
9:37
They need to know a little bit about what we've done to support them
9:42
and the people of law enforcement.
9:43
I.
9:44
Craig Floyd: Yeah.
9:45
And yeah, I bulleted-out a few of those, recently just to remind
9:52
myself all the things we've done to help law enforcement and to stop
9:56
this defund the police movement.
9:58
Let's start with, officers, as you point out, leaving the
10:02
profession in droves because they felt, unwanted, unappreciated.
10:06
They were literally putting their lives on the line for the public safety.
10:11
And yet, politicians were, berating them, crucifying them.
10:15
If they did anything, that looked perhaps like they used excessive
10:20
force, they'd be up on charges.
10:23
some of these officers were literally, charged with crimes
10:26
for simply doing their job.
10:28
So what we said is, let's send a message.
10:31
To the law enforcement officers of this country, some 800,000 plus,
10:36
and let 'em know that they are appreciated, that the vast majority of
10:40
Americans support them, respect them, and appreciate everything they do.
10:46
So we sent literally millions of letters to Americans around this country.
10:49
That's the only way you can reach, that many people.
10:52
And we got, an amazing response.
10:55
literally hundreds of thousands of these Americans have sent back.
11:01
declarations of support, oaths of support, letters of support, and
11:06
thank yous to police officers.
11:08
And what did we do?
11:09
We sent those, messages of support and appreciation to some 12,000 law
11:16
enforcement agencies across this country, so their officers would
11:21
know that the citizens they serve.
11:23
Have their backs, forget all the noise from the minority, if you will, the
11:28
few Americans who, who make a lot of noise, against law enforcement.
11:33
And we tried to mute their message and, give them a big thank you.
11:38
So that's one of the big things that I think helped to, now we're
11:43
seeing an uptick in retention and recruitment of officers.
11:47
And the other thing that I'm very proud of.
11:49
As we went to Congress and state legislatures and we gave them resolutions
11:55
of support for law enforcement, because the biggest problem for law
11:58
enforcement, I think, over the last several years has been the lack
12:02
of support voiced by politicians, by the local leadership, right?
12:07
And federal leadership.
12:09
So we went to the United States Senate, for example.
12:12
we worked with JD Vance for a couple of years, then he became vice president.
12:17
and this year we were able to get a resolution, approved
12:21
by the United States Senate.
12:24
introduced by, Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana that expressed support
12:29
for law enforcement in this country like you've never heard before.
12:33
We had all these, resolution clauses that said.
12:37
Law enforcement is sacrificing their lives for our safety.
12:40
Law enforcement is doing an amazing job.
12:43
There's some 24,000 names on the National Memorial and and by the
12:48
way, the United States Senate, fully supports and appreciates the
12:52
men and women in law enforcement.
12:54
And they called for full funding, and give them the resources they need to do
12:59
their job so that America can be safe.
13:02
And I couldn't be prouder of that.
13:03
In addition to lobbying for all kinds of other legislation.
13:07
At the federal and state level to enact tougher penalties against
13:10
criminals and to better protect the men and women who are out there
13:15
risking their lives for our safety.
13:17
Dennis Collins: So when you step up.
13:19
To support Citizens Behind the Badge.
13:22
You're making a pretty wise investment, aren't you?
13:24
An investment in signing a document to support police and making your
13:29
donation so that we can carry on the work as you just, told us about because
13:35
this takes one of the biggest thing.
13:38
Craig Floyd: one of the biggest things I think we've accomplished is we, launched
13:42
a national public education campaign that was directed to the American
13:47
people, but also to the legislators in this country, reminding them of
13:52
all the troubling consequences of the defund and defame, the police movement.
13:57
All the, lives that have been lost unnecessarily.
14:00
All the officers who left the profession in droves.
14:05
we, talked about, the.
14:07
Defunding hundreds of millions of dollars that, have gone elsewhere.
14:12
and public safety suffered terribly.
14:14
Okay.
14:15
We saw a major rise in crime the first year of, defund the police movement.
14:20
We saw nearly a 30% increase in homicide.
14:24
In this country, all right, there's no coincidence there.
14:26
Fewer police, slower response times, fewer homicides and violent crime
14:32
cases being closed, and cleared by police because there's fewer officers
14:38
who are out there to doing their job.
14:41
all of this was a very important part of our effort.
14:45
To turn the pendulum so it, started, swinging in the other more positive
14:51
direction because without that education, without that information
14:54
about the troubling consequences, I don't think people would've
14:58
reacted nearly as positively.
15:01
and as strongly as they did, and especially our
15:04
legislators in this country.
15:05
And we saw it in the last election, pro law enforcement, legislators,
15:10
elected, anti-police, soft on crime district attorneys replaced.
15:17
and I think we're seeing the results of, that election.
15:19
We're now seeing the pendulum swinging in the right direction.
15:23
Bill Erfurth: And don't you remember we were reading about response times?
15:27
I remember reading like New Orleans.
15:30
The response time to an emergency call sometimes in New Orleans was an hour
15:35
response times in some other cities.
15:37
I'll go back to Austin, Texas again.
15:39
It was 25 minutes or some crazy thing like that, as it should be.
15:45
It's always been one cop per 1000 people, give or take the communities,
15:51
and the response time would be within several minutes on an emergency call.
15:59
The, problem that was happening was there were so few cops, it was such
16:02
a brain drain too, also, right?
16:04
It was a brain suck of, all of the knowledge, experience, and
16:10
backgrounds that so many detectives.
16:13
Special operators, cops, everybody that was working.
16:17
And, that was all gone because those people left.
16:21
And, just the response time to get to places and whatnot,
16:26
ha has been ridiculous.
16:28
But I'll tell you what's going on right now.
16:31
We've, really come a long way since the defund thing started, and we've come a
16:37
long way as an organization in these five years because we had to prove ourselves.
16:43
First of all, it's not that easy to prove yourself with other
16:45
cops because cops are question questioning and jaded and whatnot.
16:51
And then just your average citizen.
16:53
And, for the first few years there were a lot of people, what is this organization?
16:58
Are they legit?
16:59
Who are they?
17:00
Whatever there's been.
17:02
Great strides made in that particular area, especially with you, Craig, and
17:09
your outreach to all the, you've been able to now get databases of every
17:15
law enforcement agency, every chief, every congressman, every senator.
17:21
You're in touch with all of those people.
17:24
But, a TA that we work with, they've sent out millions and millions
17:30
of mailers and flyers over these five years, and I think people are
17:36
starting to really get to know us.
17:40
What everybody's backgrounds are.
17:42
And we've done all those things now.
17:44
And now we're doing this podcast.
17:45
I guess we're about, what, six months into doing this podcast, right?
17:49
Dennis Collins: Yep.
17:49
Think too.
17:49
And we actually have two pod, we have two podcasts.
17:52
Craig.
17:52
That's right.
17:53
Tell us about not only this one, but the other one.
17:56
Craig Floyd: Yeah, heroes Live Forever, is a podcast.
18:00
I started over a year ago now, I think it was May of last year.
18:04
And, basically I, for 34 years at the National Law Enforcement Officer's
18:09
Memorial Fund, I, honored the sacrifice.
18:13
Of more than 24,000 officers who've died in the line of duty.
18:17
And one of my favorite parts of that job was telling their story, not just
18:21
how they died, but how they lived.
18:23
All right, let's get to know some of these men and women so that the
18:27
American people can appreciate their sacrifice a little bit more perhaps.
18:32
And I told those stories and speeches and articles and, anywhere I went.
18:38
And so I said, you know what?
18:39
I'd like to continue doing that.
18:41
that was a passion of mine to honor these fallen law enforcement heroes.
18:46
And every week on Tuesday morning, 9:00 AM you will receive, if you're
18:52
a supporter of Citizens Behind the Badge, you'll receive a, podcast in
18:56
your email, that tells the story of a fallen American law enforcement hero.
19:02
And I just love telling those stories yesterday.
19:04
For example, I, put one out.
19:08
I was talking about the Haymarket Riot in Chicago.
19:12
Eight law enforcement officers were killed when a bomb was thrown
19:16
by an anarchist at a pro-labor.
19:19
Rally.
19:21
and they targeted police.
19:23
there were officers there in, in droves trying to help, keep the, peace.
19:29
And, this anarchist threw the bomb.
19:31
Eight officers died.
19:32
It was the third deadliest, incident in law enforcement history, back in 1886.
19:39
how many people are, talking about.
19:42
Incidents that happened in the 18 hundreds where eight law enforcement officers died.
19:46
We are all right.
19:47
And we're gonna remember and honor those fallen heroes just as we honor,
19:53
the heroes who, we lost this year and last year and, more recently.
19:57
So that's a very important part of the job.
19:59
And then obviously, heroes behind.
20:01
The badge.
20:02
I love this, podcast because we get to bring on the true
20:06
heroes of law enforcement and introduce them to the public.
20:10
Let them get to know who our law enforcement officers are, what
20:13
they're willing to do, the heroism, the courage, the compassion that
20:18
officers in this country have.
20:20
And, I think all of that is, is really helping to generate more support, more
20:25
understanding, more appreciation for the men and women in law enforcement.
20:29
Bill Erfurth: Let me Craig, talk about the, just let's put, tell everybody
20:33
Substack and, the lo and the places where they can find this, though.
20:38
Craig Floyd: Substack is a great way to communicate.
20:41
I know it's new to a lot of people.
20:42
I've learned how to use it through my son, who was using it for his organization.
20:48
And the bottom line is Substack.
20:50
It offers anyone the opportunity to, communicate with a large number of people.
20:57
so basically we do op-eds, we do press releases, we do newsletters.
21:02
And we do our podcast on Substack, and we send that out to our thousands of
21:08
supporters, people that have said, Hey, I wanna hear more about what you're doing.
21:13
I, wanna be more involved.
21:15
and I want to hear these great stories about American law enforcement.
21:18
So you can sign up on Substack, you go to their, website, substack
21:23
dot com, and basically you look for Citizens Behind the Badge.
21:30
And when you do a search, you'll come to our substack page and
21:33
all you have to do is subscribe.
21:36
click a button that says I wanna be a subscriber.
21:39
And, and you'll be added to our list and you'll get everything that we send out.
21:43
usually I try not to overdo it.
21:46
we're talking about maybe one or two emails a week you might receive from
21:49
us, including, the Behind the Badge.
21:53
Heroes Behind the Badge Podcast, the Heroes Live Forever podcast, and any other
21:57
communication, pieces that we put out each week, in support of law enforcement.
22:03
So I'd encourage people to go there and they can always go to
22:06
our website, that's behind badge.
22:09
Or CitizensBehindtheBadge.org.
22:12
And, they can sign up for our Facebook.
22:15
they can be a follower on Facebook, a follower on LinkedIn, Twitter, or X now.
22:21
And, Substack, and YouTube, we all always put our podcast on YouTube and we're
22:27
getting a lot of viewers, going to our podcast, using our YouTube, website.
22:33
Bill Erfurth: As well as LinkedIn.
22:34
As we've got LinkedIn as well.
22:36
So go ahead Dee.
22:37
Dennis Collins: No, I wanted to pause for a moment and if you're
22:40
new to this podcast, I invite you to go and look at the archives.
22:47
Okay.
22:48
The guests that we have had.
22:51
Wow.
22:52
What a lineup of true heroes.
22:57
we've been, and Craig.
22:59
If Craig doesn't know this person in law enforcement with his background at
23:04
the, museum and at the law enforcement memorial, if ER doesn't know him
23:10
with his 26 years of service in Miami-Dade, retired as a lieutenant.
23:15
if these two guys don't know him, they're probably not knowable.
23:20
And so we've been able to attract an amazing list of guests and they tell
23:24
their stories right here for you.
23:27
To hear and some of the stories you may already know.
23:31
And some may be new, but here's the difference.
23:33
It's in their words.
23:35
It's their words.
23:37
it's not written somewhere.
23:39
It's not some reporter interviewing them.
23:41
They're talking in their, we let them talk and they tell
23:46
what they're really thinking.
23:48
I highly encourage you to go back and look at the archives.
23:51
I also wanna remind you that this podcast, Heroes Behind the Badge is
23:56
sponsored by Citizens Behind the Badge.
23:58
That is another outreach.
24:00
We do to reach out and get the message, the right message, the
24:05
right narrative about law enforcement out to the American people.
24:09
And that's the whole purpose of this.
24:12
We, tell real stories about real cops.
24:15
We expose the fake news about the police, and we bring you the real truth.
24:20
That's the commitment that we have.
24:22
So remember, CitizensBehindtheBadge.org, I call it ORG, I guess it's a org.
24:29
Bill Erfurth: Yeah, either way.
24:29
Either way.
24:31
Hey, can we talk about some current event stuff right now?
24:34
I want to throw this around.
24:36
Dennis Collins: no.
24:36
We don't wanna talk about that.
24:38
Bill Erfurth: I, I, think that this is pretty important and,
24:41
we talk about this, Dennis,
24:42
Dennis Collins: I'm gonna talk about it anyway.
24:43
Billy's,
24:43
Bill Erfurth: Dennis, you say this in your openings all the time about, we give
24:46
you the real truth, not the, Bs that the, media, the fake media is thrown out there
24:51
and the right, and, so let's talk about.
24:54
Let's talk about ice right now.
24:56
Let's talk about what's going on with them.
24:59
we talked earlier about, the defund, the de defame, the police thing is coming
25:04
back and, it's, getting better every year.
25:07
But, I just watched something the other day.
25:10
It was 700% increase in assaults.
25:15
And attacks on law, on, ice, on ice agents.
25:17
Right?
25:18
And this is being, and this is being organized.
25:20
I think it's really important for people to understand this isn't just some
25:24
organic, freak show of blue haired.
25:30
nose ring nut bags that are running around doing this, shit
25:34
Dennis Collins: Just offended half the population.
25:36
Go ahead.
25:36
Bill Erfurth: Hey, those aren't our, that's not our population, right?
25:40
Those people are being supported behind the scenes.
25:42
there was an arrest made in LA where this guy was actually distributing masks.
25:47
He had a car load of masks and other guys riding around with a carload
25:51
of bricks and passing them out and, they're being funded, right?
25:54
They're all showing up.
25:56
Same time, same place you do realize you don't see these people.
26:01
protesting at, eight in the morning or nine in the morning because they've,
26:06
they smoke so much meth and cocaine that they, they can't, get functioning
26:10
that fricking early in the day.
26:12
Dennis Collins: Wow.
26:12
We really, but anyway, these people haven't we?
26:14
Bill Erfurth: Yeah.
26:15
So let's, so besides those scumbags, how about the thing in
26:20
California at the marijuana farm, this is something that really.
26:24
Pissed me off that I want to talk about.
26:28
and it'll be funny, Dennis, because I'm, when I tell this story, and Dennis, you
26:33
used to ride with me multiple times when I was running the tactical narcotics team.
26:39
Dennis Collins: I did, yeah.
26:40
Bill Erfurth: Tactical narcotics team, we'd make 35 50 arrests.
26:43
And we didn't put up with anybody's bullshit, but anyway, you can chime in
26:47
and see how you think we would've reacted.
26:50
Oh, so they're at, I already know.
26:52
Yeah, they're at this marijuana farm.
26:54
Okay.
26:56
They arrest 300 illegals, I think it was nine or 10 children, underage children.
27:04
All kinds of craziness went on.
27:06
And I think one of the points that everybody really needs to know
27:09
is, you know every, everybody's going, oh, they're migrant workers.
27:13
They're this and that, or whatever They may be okay it, it's still
27:16
illegal to come into this country.
27:18
But more importantly, I think digging deeper and digging down, people need
27:22
to know this: those people that are in this country illegally, whether they're
27:27
working on that marijuana farm, which in fact was the case or other places,
27:33
those people are supporting the cartels.
27:36
Those people are all sending money back to the Mexican cartels, and
27:43
it's an underground organized crime ring and that's going on.
27:50
Whether you believe it or not, that's happening with all of these
27:54
people because every one of them that crossed the border had to either pay.
28:02
Or are continuing to pay the cartels that smuggled them.
28:06
So those people are directly and indirectly affecting
28:12
crime and the cartels.
28:14
So that's a good point.
28:15
I wanted to say, here's the other thing.
28:17
This is,
28:17
Dennis Collins: I've never heard that, that's a theory I've never heard.
28:21
Bill Erfurth: It's been discussed and I've seen it and read it in, in a
28:23
number of forums and it's, a problem.
28:26
So that's one way to,
28:28
Dennis Collins: Does Tom Holman agree with that?
28:30
Bill Erfurth: Yeah.
28:31
As a matter of fact, Tom Holman was discussing that just the other day.
28:34
Okay.
28:34
And Tom Holman was discussing, this is about what I'm gonna say.
28:37
And even, Trump jumped in and said, the ICE agents gotta get out and do what
28:42
they gotta do to take care of business.
28:44
They have his full 100% support to take action against, lawlessness and crime.
28:50
So those people, those ICE guys are leaving the farm.
28:54
And those sons of bitches are out there throwing boulders and
28:57
rocks and bricks at their vehicles and exploding their windows.
29:02
And the one guy was wa running right alongside one of the vans.
29:06
And, they had tried to put a human roadblock and some bicycles there
29:10
to slow 'em down and ambush them essentially with these rocks and, bricks.
29:15
And the one guy ran right, along the side of that van and threw a massive rock.
29:21
into the passenger window.
29:22
Now, in Florida, at least it's called, hurling a deadly missile into a moving
29:28
vehicle, which is a felony and people are killed easily by people doing that.
29:34
Like stupid people throwing those things off of bridges on
29:37
highways or just throwing rocks.
29:39
Can you imagine that?
29:40
Here's my thought, and I know some people are gonna be, oh my God, this is so
29:43
over the top, but I'll tell you what, if I was driving that fricking van.
29:48
Ah, and somebody just threw a big boulder into my passenger window.
29:52
I'd have jumped out and shot him right in the face.
29:55
Dennis Collins: Wow.
29:56
Bill Erfurth: And then the next ones that are throwing the, rocks and the,
30:00
bricks at the outcoming vans, they should have jumped out with a shotgun.
30:05
And blown their shit up.
30:07
You know what?
30:08
And that would've been the end of it because quite frankly, you would be
30:12
justified because that is lethal force being used against those ice agents.
30:18
And in return, a law enforcement agents agent can use lethal
30:22
force in defense of themselves.
30:24
Had they done that?
30:27
Of course the liberal lunacy media would've lost their minds, but
30:32
I'll tell you what, it would've ultimately been justified.
30:37
And what message would that have sent?
30:41
What message would that have sent, do you think?
30:42
That would've probably put an end to that because the SC
30:46
of the earth would see that.
30:48
And that would be like, I don't want that to happen.
30:51
Dennis Collins: I'm not so sure that they, care about consequences,
30:55
I can't speak for those people.
30:57
I don't think like those people, but I'm gonna guess they expect trouble and
31:03
they know they're gonna get confronted, and perhaps some of them could be.
31:07
Arrested and, killed.
31:09
Bill Erfurth: they've been empowered.
31:10
They've been empowered because there hasn't been a lot of action
31:13
taken if they were getting their asses whooped, left, and sideways.
31:16
Dennis Collins: No, I've seen a lot of arrests.
31:18
I have not been at any rally, but, just watching tv I've seen I and local
31:24
authorities make a lot of arrests.
31:27
I don't know how many, but more than one.
31:30
Bill Erfurth: when there's lethal force being used.
31:33
That's it.
31:33
That's the,
31:34
Dennis Collins: but, alright, let me ask you a question.
31:36
Let's say that you were in charge and you did what you just said.
31:40
What do you think the consequences of that would be?
31:44
Bill Erfurth: first of all, I'm not even sure that it would've gotten
31:46
that far because if I was leading the charge, I'd have been shooting
31:50
tear gas, like rain, it would tear.
31:53
They were,
31:53
Dennis Collins: you noticed those films, there's tear gas
31:55
canisters all over the floor.
31:57
All over the ground.
31:58
Bill Erfurth: Yeah.
31:58
and there were like out in the.
32:00
Farm.
32:01
But you know what?
32:01
You gotta have your recon people, you've gotta be ready.
32:04
If you've got an exit strategy and you're leaving there with people in custody
32:07
and you know that those guys are gonna be assaulting you, you gotta have your
32:10
forward advanced team and do the little bit of a recon and you gotta get out.
32:14
So those guys that were sh throwing rocks, you should have had a a, van load of guys.
32:20
And like I said, either you get out and they're throwing those rocks,
32:22
you shoot them or you just get out and you whoop their fucking ass.
32:28
Craig Floyd: Couple key points here.
32:29
One, bill, you've hit on something that, that I've always been amazed
32:34
at, quite honestly, and that is that police in those potentially deadly
32:39
situations show amazing restraint.
32:42
Dennis Collins: Absolutely.
32:43
Craig Floyd: All right.
32:43
These ice agents certainly would've been justified to use force against
32:47
the people that were throwing rocks, through their windows of their vehicles.
32:52
I saw it, on TV as well, and I was outraged and I was amazed that
32:57
the, ice agents didn't jump out.
32:59
And as you said, use.
33:01
Some kind of force, maybe lethal force, because they were trying to harm them.
33:05
There's no question about it.
33:07
But the other thing that I, think this hits on, and we saw it for
33:10
five years during the defund and defame, the police movement, and
33:14
that is the liberal voices who were more or less allowing and encourag.
33:22
Non-compliance with law enforcement, to somehow suggest that it's okay to throw
33:28
rocks at ice agents because, somehow the illegal aliens shouldn't be arrested,
33:35
and sent back home from where they came.
33:38
and these liberal voices are encouraging that type of violence.
33:43
Against police, against law and order, protest and disrespect
33:48
for the laws of this land.
33:51
And it's outrageous to me.
33:54
Bill Erfurth: And they're complicit.
33:55
They're complicit legislators.
33:56
Craig Floyd: Yeah.
33:56
political leaders, people that, supposedly, have some responsibility for
34:01
the welfare of our nation are somehow encouraging this level of violence
34:06
and these attacks on law enforcement and disrespecting the laws of America.
34:11
And this has been the problem for the last five years.
34:14
it's getting better.
34:15
But as you're pointing out very clearly, we have a long way to go
34:20
because there's still a lot of nut voices out there that are somehow
34:23
allowing for this and, seemingly saying it's okay, to attack police officers.
34:29
Bill Erfurth: Yeah.
34:29
And, you know what, and those people are totally complicit.
34:31
The media's complicit in all this, and they've encouraged this as,
34:35
have many of the politicians and some of the things they've said.
34:38
But let's say this, unless you're some meth head zombie.
34:44
most people have at least half a brain cell or some common sense to
34:48
know that if you throw something at a cop or you assault a cop or you
34:52
resist, something's gonna happen there.
34:55
When I went through the police academy and back in the day, back in the day,
34:59
when we, when, we were in the police academy, they literally taught us
35:03
if somebody puts their hands on you.
35:06
The rule is they go to the hospital and the thing of it is, and we used it, it
35:11
used to be like, there's this matrix use of force matrix kind of thing, right?
35:17
And, there was also this understanding that, if you were a cop and you let
35:22
some scumbag come up and verbally abuse you, and you tolerated that, okay,
35:28
you've just empowered that person.
35:30
So the next cop that they encounter now, they go and they spit on that cop.
35:36
if somebody spits on you, they should get their teeth knocked out and and if
35:41
you've just empowered that person that spit on you and you didn't do anything,
35:46
then now that same guy is empowered again, and now they go to the next cop.
35:50
So now what are they gonna do this time?
35:52
now they think, oh I've been able to verbally abuse, I've
35:55
been able to spin on him.
35:56
I'm gonna punch this guy in the face this time.
36:00
Each time because these people are being empowered.
36:02
It's the same with these SROs that are running around, at that
36:06
farm and the ice and whatever.
36:08
They just got to throw those rocks.
36:09
Hopefully those guys are being hunted down.
36:12
My only thought is the reason that The ICE agents didn't jump
36:16
out of the van at the time was because they didn't have sufficient
36:19
personnel in those vans to get out.
36:20
Dennis Collins: He had prisoners in those vans
36:22
Bill Erfurth: And they had the prisoners that they had to secure.
36:24
Yeah.
36:25
and they probably only had one or two guys, and then in the
36:28
back of that van is the jail.
36:29
So anyway, my, my, point is, not, only is it seeming like policing is
36:36
coming back around, but it's, it's, The empowerment now, and, thank God that
36:41
Trump got on and said, I give a hundred percent full support and authorization
36:48
to take whatever action is necessary.
36:50
And that's what you need.
36:51
You need this.
36:51
Dennis Collins: Wouldn't, wouldn't you believe though, don't you believe?
36:56
I, think anybody who knows you, knows your views and they're very
36:59
strong views and you're saying them like it is right here, right now.
37:03
But wouldn't you also agree that policing.
37:06
Has changed.
37:07
Wow.
37:08
Clearly, dramatically, clearly somebody, curses at you or
37:13
something, or if they spit at you nowadays, that's not policing it.
37:19
You may say it should be, but it isn't.
37:23
That's not policing in the modern day.
37:26
Bill Erfurth: And, unfortunately that's because of politics, politicians, and
37:30
liberal lunacy, because I still think the.
37:35
Vocal minority or the vocal minority is, or I'm sorry.
37:43
How, do we say this?
37:44
it's the vocal.
37:47
Minority that are out there that we're hearing from the silent majority are
37:52
the people that support the police.
37:55
You just don't hear from them as much.
37:57
But I, just, the people I was even with, this weekend, some people
38:03
that are ranchers and farmers, they, everybody wants the police to go
38:09
out there and take care of business.
38:12
Dennis Collins: Of course.
38:13
But taking care of business has been redefined.
38:16
You would agree with that?
38:18
and it be, and it has, it happened back in the eighties and the
38:21
nineties isn't gonna happen today, and maybe that's a good thing.
38:25
Maybe that's a good thing.
38:27
Bill Erfurth: Maybe it's a good thing.
38:28
you can argue about that, about raising your kids.
38:30
Remember, it was like, okay, you got the belt or you got spanked or whatever, and
38:34
then all of a sudden we went through this, time period of, oh, that's child abuse
38:38
and it's this and that and the other.
38:40
But you know what?
38:40
There has to be a little bit of corporal punishment, and there
38:42
has to be a little bit of fear.
38:44
we talked about this all the time.
38:47
the people that are criminals, the scum of the earth, the scumbags, they don't have.
38:52
Any respect there is zero.
38:55
Zero respect for law enforcement.
38:57
You know what?
38:57
They respect violence, and it's, the respect of fear.
39:03
And fear is the only thing that they care about or that they're going to respect.
39:07
Because if they think that they're gonna get a beaten, if they
39:11
think they're gonna get shot.
39:13
That's the only thing that's drawn the line before between
39:17
the lawful and the lawless.
39:19
Dennis Collins: That's a pretty interesting line that you just.
39:22
Craig Floyd: I wanna shift gears just for a moment.
39:23
It's somewhat related, but, recently the National Law Enforcement
39:27
Officers Memorial Fund announced the mid-year fatality report.
39:32
How many officers died in the line of duty during the first half of this year?
39:36
And the news was rather positive.
39:39
All right.
39:39
42 officers died in the line of duty.
39:41
That was the bad news.
39:43
The good news is that was 53% less than the same time last year, and
39:49
it was one of the lowest mid-year fatality figures we've seen in decades.
39:53
Yes.
39:53
All right now.
39:55
Let's talk about the reasons for that.
39:57
All right.
39:57
Obviously, better training, better equipment.
40:00
We're now putting more money back to help protect and, allow our officers
40:05
to do their job safely and effectively.
40:08
But, bill, bill Alexander, who's now the CEO at the National Law Enforcement
40:14
Officers Memorial Fund, my successor.
40:16
He, he had an interesting spin on those numbers.
40:19
I saw him in a recent interview and he's saying that there has
40:22
been a shift in the culture here in America, which we've talked about,
40:26
which I think we helped generate.
40:28
All right.
40:29
and that is that now there is more respect for law and order, to your point, bill.
40:35
Whether it's because we are getting tougher on criminals, there's
40:39
definitely tougher laws now in place.
40:42
we saw California voters, one of the most liberal states in America.
40:46
Vote for tougher penalties for those that commit drug or, theft crimes.
40:51
Yeah.
40:52
in the last election, we, people are tired, sick and tired of being
40:57
criminal victims or being preyed upon by the criminal element.
41:01
And now, this shift in attitude has, maybe discouraged, some of these lawless
41:08
figures that you're referring to.
41:10
From disobeying the laws because there's no, they know there's gonna be penalties.
41:16
there's more respect for law and order, and for the police officers
41:20
out there serving, and as a result, there's more compliance.
41:23
All right?
41:24
Because you, you know better than I that every time you, do a
41:28
traffic stop or a pedestrian stop.
41:32
there's always a chance for this, unforeseen, volatile,
41:37
potentially violent moment to occur.
41:40
But if citizens that are stopped by police for whatever reason, are compliant and
41:45
basically obey whatever instructions they're being given by the officer.
41:49
There's less likelihood of anyone getting hurt or killed.
41:54
and as a result, we're seeing fewer officer fatalities.
41:57
I hope that trend continues and I think it, it, helps to, reinforce
42:02
your point, which is if there is a fear of consequences when you commit
42:07
a crime in this country, then I think there's gonna be fewer people
42:10
that are willing to commit crimes.
42:13
And hopefully there they will be, deterred.
42:16
Dennis Collins: Yeah, let's quote exactly what Alexander said.
42:19
Bill Alexander, he said, I believe his quote or something like this,
42:23
pro-police culture is making it safer for officers, right?
42:29
The message is clear.
42:30
If you step outta line, there will be penalties and persons stop by police.
42:35
There will be penalties, sorry.
42:36
And persons stopped by the police are becoming more compliant,
42:40
preventing potentially volatile encounters from occurring less
42:43
frequently, less frequently.
42:46
I think the ice thing that Billy brought up, it's real and it's wrong.
42:51
There's no question.
42:53
Okay, but let's also remember this.
42:57
The media is taking those little slices of things that
43:01
happen and blowing it up as if.
43:04
The whole, world is attacking police when it was one incident.
43:10
In one place.
43:11
I know it's been several places, but let's not overreact to that.
43:15
Okay.
43:16
I think the bigger message is that the culture is becoming safer.
43:21
Unfortunately, the ICE thing is a very emotional issue for people.
43:25
Bill Erfurth: It's the, the ICE thing is maybe a bit of an outlier.
43:28
It doesn't affect law enforcement across the board, but I think it's you.
43:32
You still can't say it's just a couple of incidents because.
43:35
A 700% increase in assaults on federal law enforcement is pretty significant.
43:42
But, let's just dig deeper into this.
43:45
Craig, you mentioned about okay, there's more, respect
43:50
and, all those kind of things.
43:52
I think there's, you gotta look at, 10% of the population
43:58
roughly commits 90% of the crime.
44:02
It's the, recidivist and the recidivist crime.
44:06
Those people need to be hammered and put in jail and put in prison.
44:11
the no bond, these repeat offenders, you hear these stories time after
44:15
time about, people that have killed other people, rape, robbery,
44:20
whatever, and they're still out on the streets and they get their shots.
44:24
One other thing that plays into all of this, and maybe that
44:29
we're getting more respect.
44:32
Law enforcement or people are more compliant, as you say, Craig is.
44:36
There are cameras everywhere now, and the cops are wearing the
44:41
body cams, the dashboard cameras.
44:44
You can't walk down a street in a town or a city and you're not on a camera.
44:50
I think not only has that helped the police significantly solve crimes and
44:55
arrest people because of the cameras, but it's also made people a little bit more.
45:01
Compliant and aware.
45:03
And the funny thing about this is, when the cops first
45:08
started to wear the body cams.
45:12
All the liberal groups in the ACL U, they were all saying, this is gonna be great.
45:18
'cause now we're gonna be able to catch all of these cops
45:21
doing all the wrong things and unlawful unlawfully, brutalizing
45:27
people and all this other crap.
45:29
And you know what?
45:31
It didn't show that.
45:33
It showed just the opposite.
45:34
It showed how abusive, obnoxious, and outrageous that the people were to
45:41
law enforcement, and it completely flipped the script on them to the
45:46
point that now they started advocating to get rid of the fricking body cams.
45:52
what kind of hypocrisy there?
45:55
But you know what?
45:56
They work now.
45:58
It's become a fabric of law enforcement and it's made a big difference.
46:04
Dennis Collins: Okay.
46:04
Craig Floyd: I think too, one of the things I'm proudest of, with
46:07
CBB is that we have countered the media lies, and the, myths, the false
46:14
narrative, if you will, that's been put out there about law enforcement.
46:18
And I think that's one of the reasons why we're seeing more respect for
46:21
the men and women serving today.
46:23
Because, all those, accusations of, police being, brutal, racist.
46:29
we've totally debunked with the, data that's so clear that, just
46:34
the opposite that you know, of the 62 million interactions, between
46:39
police and the public, every year in this country, a force of any kind
46:43
is used less than 2% of the time.
46:45
It hardly ever happens.
46:47
All right, to Dennis's point, deescalation.
46:50
police aren't out there, using force, with any regularity.
46:55
it seldom happens.
46:56
And when it does, it's because a person that they're, that they've
47:00
stopped is not being compliant.
47:02
Okay.
47:03
the other issue of race, the defund, the police movement and Black Lives Matter.
47:09
Predicated on the idea that police are somehow racist.
47:13
systemic racism was charged by a lot of the liberals, in policing and,
47:18
the fact is that there is no evidence whatsoever that police are racist.
47:24
In fact.
47:25
When you look at the, all the data, it shows that, of all the people that are
47:29
stopped every year by police, initiated contacts with the public, they call it,
47:34
whether it's a traffic stop, a pedestrian, stop that 10% of whites, 10% of blacks.
47:40
10% of the Hispanic population are stopped.
47:44
All right.
47:44
There is no, statistical difference between the races or ethnicity.
47:51
police are blind when it comes to, whether the person I'm stopping
47:55
is black, white, or Hispanic.
47:57
it doesn't matter.
47:59
and all the studies have proven that out.
48:02
And, I think now that we've hit on that point over and over again, over these
48:06
last five years, it's made a difference.
48:09
Now people are willing more often to give police the benefit of the doubt,
48:13
in part because of what you said.
48:15
That we're seeing how they conduct themselves.
48:18
Of the 62 million people that were, that had an interaction with law enforcement,
48:23
they were surveyed by the Department of Justice, and it was determined that, 99%
48:29
of the people that interacted with police said, the interaction was conducted.
48:34
Properly, there was no misconduct at all involved.
48:39
and I think that says it all.
48:41
99% of the time police are conducting themselves professionally and honorably.
48:47
they're doing an amazing job, and we've finally been able to convince
48:50
the legislators, the public, the, even some of the liberal naysayers.
48:54
That, police are, doing a pretty darn good job for this country.
48:58
And that's why crime is starting to go down again, because we're giving
49:02
them the respect and the resources they need to keep America safe.
49:05
Dennis Collins: You'll never see, it's, you'll never see that stat in
49:08
the media, the stat, ah, never all
49:10
Craig Floyd: that's why we had to put it out there.
49:12
Dennis Collins: Yeah.
49:12
And that all is where the cops screwed up.
49:15
And Yeah.
49:16
There are some bad cops, guys, sorry to say it.
49:18
There are.
49:19
And they should be punished and they should be taken out.
49:23
They don't need to be policemen anymore.
49:25
Okay.
49:25
Bill Erfurth: But you know that's, oftentimes, and nobody really understands
49:28
this, that's policed from within.
49:30
I was surprised myself when I was working and I was told by a friend of mine that
49:35
was working in, Internal affairs, 60% of the complaints that they got per year
49:41
in internal affairs, or whether it was just that year, I'm not sure, but 60% of
49:47
the complaints received came from within because, if I'm wearing that badge.
49:53
I don't want that badge to be tarnished or discredited by somebody that's.
50:00
A criminal, those people are washed out of those, out of the, ranks.
50:05
Hopefully they whatnot.
50:06
And it's pretty well policed.
50:08
It's, much more policed than the general public realizes it is.
50:14
And I wanna go back to something that Craig just said about.
50:18
About the statistics and stuff like that and go back to the media.
50:21
'cause this was another misnomer and it was basically just a lie.
50:25
So they did these studies, during the Obama administration.
50:29
I remember that.
50:31
everyone had to fill out a form.
50:34
Every time that you did a traffic stop, whether you gave a ticket, whether it was
50:39
a verbal warning, whether it was whatever it was, you had to fill out a form.
50:43
And it was a, basically, it was a racial profiling form.
50:47
I don't know how long it lasted.
50:48
It didn't last more than maybe a year or something like that.
50:51
It was just another bunch of.
50:54
Red tape, time consuming forms that you had to fill out.
50:58
And it was all about, it was all about ethnicity and race and all
51:02
this kind of stuff like that.
51:03
And they tried to, the media and everybody else tried to skew those numbers because
51:08
let's, face it, think about this.
51:10
If you're a cop in Memphis, if you're a cop in Detroit, if you're
51:14
a cop in any inner city area, right?
51:18
And it says, oh, 90%.
51:22
The traffic stops that were made were stops against black people.
51:29
Don't, 90% of the people that live in that area aren't nine, aren't those 90% black?
51:37
same in, Miami.
51:39
Okay.
51:39
Miami, I think Miami proper is something like 65 or 60% Hispanic.
51:46
So isn't going to make sense.
51:49
Probably the vast majority of the people that you're gonna stop
51:52
within Miami are gonna be Hispanic.
51:55
So they never used that to say, okay, what are the demographics here?
51:59
So how, you know if, you're, in lily white neighborhoods, who are you stopping?
52:05
You're stopping white people.
52:07
it just, there was so many things that were misconstrued and misunderstood there.
52:12
I think.
52:13
Dennis Collins: Well guys, as always, we end up, we could talk.
52:18
On and on about this.
52:21
there's no end to, some of these topics, but there is an
52:25
end, and this is our police.
52:27
the, there is an end to the pod, this podcast, and we have come
52:32
to that point where we must end.
52:33
But guess what?
52:35
We have unearthed a bunch of topics, haven't we?
52:39
We've unearthed a bunch of topics, particularly one that's, that
52:42
I'm fond of getting into is the media narratives about police.
52:47
And we've talked about that at Citizens Behind the Badge.
52:49
What can we do to be a watchdog?
52:53
And that's part of the job that we do.
52:55
We look for the inequities.
52:57
We look for the fake news, and we expose the fake news.
53:01
So that's one of the things you can help us with by joining
53:06
us CitizensBehindtheBadge.org.
53:09
CitizensBehindtheBadge.org.
53:12
Okay.
53:12
On there you could find all, all about Bill Erfurth and his interesting career.
53:18
It's all there, all about Craig Floyd and how he, has been a, an advocate
53:24
for law enforcement for many, years.
53:27
And you can subscribe, you can like, and follow our podcast because
53:32
when you do that, you get notified.
53:35
When the new episodes come out, you're the first to know.
53:38
Okay?
53:39
So make sure you follow, subscribe.
53:42
We'd love to have you as part of the family and hit there's a donate button.
53:46
You now know a little bit more about what Citizens Behind the Badge does with the
53:51
money that's donated by the generous.
53:54
American people.
53:55
Okay.
53:56
Help us continue this mission.
53:58
It's starting to work.
54:00
We've been a part of it, but there's more to do.
54:03
We gotta keep the watch.
54:06
We gotta keep the watch.
54:07
As Craig says, we're one election away from possibly
54:13
going in the wrong direction.
54:15
We've gotta be vigilant and we will be vigilant.
54:18
So I'm going to say on behalf of Bill Erfurth and Craig
54:23
Floyd, I am Dennis Collins.
54:26
I'm going to say thank you for listening.
54:29
this was a little different show.
54:31
May, maybe we should do this again.
54:32
What do you think?
54:33
Give us some comments.
54:35
maybe, not.
54:36
I don't know.
54:36
What do y'all think?
54:37
Give us some comments and we'll, listen to your comments.
54:40
But this has been Heroes Behind the Badge, we tell real stories about real cops.
54:45
We expose the fake news about the police, and we bring you the real truth.
54:50
See you soon.