Latest / APD Pod Squad / Season 2, Episode 11; Matt & Amy Stapanowich, Jonathan & Miranda Derrick, and Sgt. Jesse Ramirez

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Season 2, Episode 11; Matt & Amy Stapanowich, Jonathan & Miranda Derrick, and Sgt. Jesse Ramirez · APD Pod Squad

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is the APD Pod Squad.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Rick Rice.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for tuning in.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: As my minister on Sunday says, if this is your first time joining us, you are especially welcome.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: And hey, don't forget to click subscribe or like or remind me or however your service provider does that, depending on where you get this podcast.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Could be Apple or Spotify or iTunes or any of those.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that way you're reminded and you don't miss a single minute.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to all the married people that are listening.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm one of you married 25 years this September.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Did you know National Marriage Week is February 7th to 14th, described as an opportunity to focus on building a culture of life and love that begins with supporting and promoting marriage and the family.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: We've got several folks here who are married to fellow members of APD, and in this episode, I'm joined by some of them, Matt and Amy Stepanovich and Jonathan and Miranda Derrick.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: From Community Engagement, Sergeant Jesse Bermirez has a big announcement about the new Immersion Academy, something we teased in the last episode.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's all coming up on year two, episode 11 of the APD Pod Squad.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Joining me now, Detective Amy Stepanovich and Senior Police Officer Matt Stepanovich.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: No coincidence on the last names.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: They are married.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining me, guys.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_04: Happy to be here.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Just jump right in there, Matt.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to But this is what I kind of expect from a married couple.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like someone we know who defers to the other.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: We've already established that.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Amy is obviously the talkative one, right?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_08: Yes.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen you down in the gym.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_08: Yes.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't met Matt before, so uh good to meet you.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm around, but I'm not usually in this building.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I figure you are.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: As a member of the Asheville Police Department, out of the streets, member of the patrol division.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got a detective and a senior police officer, and we celebrate National Marriage Day, which is February 8th, National Marriage Week, February 7th to 14th.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think I counted eight married couples as part of the Asheville Police Department.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell That sounds about right.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_03: There's quite a few of them.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Some of which have met on the job, like here, like afterwards, and some have met you know before and then joined together.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So what's the Stepanowich story?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh which one wants you to take that one?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: She's laughing.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we got hired at the same time and we were friends for quite a while.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you knew each other before APD?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, we did not.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_03: We we got hired at the same time.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, just hired each other.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: And then we were Yeah, we were friends throughout the academy.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_04: We went through B L E T together.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: No, see, I didn't know that.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So same class.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Same class.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Same class, I think.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Which one?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: What year was that?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_04: 2017.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: 2017.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: What is this depend on which story?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: You guys obviously met there.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: There was a spark, as they say.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, one thing led to another, you started dating?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_04: Eventually, yes.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_04: We were we were really in the same friend group.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_04: There were four or five of us that were all hanging out together, just the group of us.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_04: And then it was Girl Scout cookies for me.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: So we were out in downtown Asheville, a group of us, and we saw some Girl Scout cookies being sold, and they only took cash.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_04: And we were all like, oh man, we don't have any cash on us.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_04: So we couldn't get any Girl Scout cookies.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_04: And then Matt says, Oh, I've got I've got some cash on me.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_04: I'll buy you guys Girl Scout cookies.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_04: And then he went over and got us all Girl Scout cookies.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, That's a nice guy.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what a that's just so kind-hearted.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_04: And so I I figured I was like, I want to be this guy's friend.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_04: And then that grew after that.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Who uh asked whom on a date?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Where did it you know you guys were friends, but where did it, you know, kind of take the next step?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Matt, did you ask her out or vice versa?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think any of us did.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_04: I think it happened pretty naturally.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: I definitely like group date type stuff, like I was friends, bunch of you?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_04: We we hung out in group settings a lot, and then I caught feelings before he caught feelings for sure.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: But there I don't I don't remember any time where it was like, you know, specifically asking to go out on a date.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we like we would go hang out, but I don't I don't know if you consider that a date or not.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: We've I guess you probably would have.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: At some point you were alone.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, right, yeah.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_04: I think the first time that we were actually alone out somewhere intentionally, just the two of us, was my birthday.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_04: I had invited a couple of friends uh for my birthday dinner and they all flaked.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_04: But Matt was the only one who showed up.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um so the almost kind of an accidental date of story.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I guess it's yes.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_04: We had already realized at that time that we were developing feelings, and the f that night, I think, was the first time we were out at a nice place, dressed up, and then it ended up being the two of us.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you couldn't even be mad at your friends for bailing because it ended up well, right?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: It like it worked out.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: It worked out in the end.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: But your friends bailed on you on your birthday?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_04: Well, name some of them that's not.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, you if you want to call them out, you can.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's that that's just something you don't do.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: But like you said, it was a happy ending.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it worked out.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Here's something a little more definitive than who asked whom on the date, who asked who to marry them?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was me.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: It was me.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Rhone Mountain, Tennessee.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Rhone Mountain.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Out in the out in the wilderness type thing, like out of Ghostburg.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_04: So I remember that much.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for the first time, I'm I'm the planner of the two of us.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_04: I love to plan trips, vacations, anything.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_04: And for the first time, Matt said that uh around Valentine's Day, February time, he planned a weekend away.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: So And she found the ring before.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_04: No, there were clues.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Were you digging in?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_04: Originally, when we had talked about getting married, Matt told me, I want it to be a total surprise for you.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: Like we had discussed the ring, things that I wanted or liked.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_08: I get it.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_04: Pretty simple.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_04: But he was like, it's gonna be a complete surprise.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna have no idea.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_04: And so I was excited for that.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_08: Oh sure.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_04: And then around uh winter time in 2019, he said that he had a trip planned in February.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_04: And then he said that he had Was it around Valentine's Day, dude?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_04: Early at the beginning of February.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: No, I it wasn't it wasn't for Valentine's.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: I was trying to think.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think it was.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember exactly why that time.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: I guess it I don't know.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe we just had time off or something.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: When you could get the time off together, working the job, that type of stuff.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: I guess so.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_04: Like where we were going.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe where you're rented, maybe something like that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I interrupted, keep going.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_04: He he circled a date on the calendar and said, I have another gift for you, but you can't have it for Christmas.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_04: But it's not gonna come in until this day.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: And he circles it on the calendar.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_04: Like, okay, what's up with that?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_04: And he wouldn't tell me what it was, but then he plans this trip, and so I'm thinking, putting two and two together.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_04: And he was just so excited about it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_04: And so I went back and forth with my friends, like, I think it's gonna happen.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_04: But he had said he wanted it to be a surprise, so why would he be circling dates on the calendar?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: Gotta get you excited for it.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_04: For when this was gonna happen or the purchase and like when it was getting delivered, because he ordered it from a jeweler and they were having it shipped.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_04: And so I was so confused.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_04: But then, okay, so we go to this cabin, we know we're going on a hike, and I just I couldn't stand it.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_04: And so he was in the shower, and I needed to figure out for this hike we were going on if I needed to do my hair and makeup because it was snowing.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Might be a photographer, jump out from behind a tree.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: No one knows.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_04: And so I figured, okay, let me make sure that I'm not crazy.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_04: And so I looked in his bag and I saw the box.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_04: I did not open the box.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: That's all I needed to know was that it's not like it was a big surprise, anyway.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_04: So he knew that I knew, I think.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_04: But I did not open the box.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_04: I knew right then he deserved to see my face when I when I saw for the first time.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_04: So I giggled and ran to the bathroom and curled my hair and did full hair and makeup for a hike, which never happened.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_04: So he knew that I knew.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: We both knew that I knew.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: He knew that you knew that he knew you knew.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: So much for the element of surprise.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, I mean it's it's I was excited, so you know, I wasn't trying to keep it a super secret.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's a big deal, and you don't want to screw it up, right?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: You do you have a little speech plan and everything?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: I know I I know I did when I did it.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're just gonna wing it?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think so.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think I just winged it.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_04: Do you remember anything?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: You I asked you after, and you said that you had a speech planned, but as soon as you started, it went out the window.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and you just said what sounds about right.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like she said yes.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's a good question.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well that's it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's way better than what happened when I proposed, okay, which was at Max Patch, which is up there near Hot Spring.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that was in um I guess that was uh 2000.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Was it 2000?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was 2000.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: I had a speech prepared.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I delivered it, I nailed it on the knee, the whole thing.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually, you know how crowded it is there now?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was not 20 years ago.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: It was, you know, it just wasn't.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: People didn't really discover it until a little bit later.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I do the whole thing, I I think I nail it, and she just stares at me.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I but now I've stood up, of course, and I'm just kind of I said, dude, I'm just waiting.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then of course she hugs me, but that's still not an answer.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's not a good sound.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And and then and and I'm like, I don't know if I said, well, or something.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever it was, eventually I got her to say yes, but it was a little bit of having to pull that out, so it wasn't quite you know, you want that the hallmark moment where they not just the because the hug can mean um many things, you know.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_04: I think I giggled.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but but it was in a good way.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like I knew right away what what it was gonna be.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_04: I think I jumped up and down a little bit.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: It was a hallmark moment.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Was it awesome?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and what year what year did you get married then?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: So how many years are we married now?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: That same year.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I propose February, we got married November 2020.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: So pretty quick.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't want to wait.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, whirlwind, I guess you would see.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: So coming up on six years married currently?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Currently, what year is it?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_04: 2026.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_04: That's why it's great, because we got married on that even year.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_04: So good.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's years.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it makes the math this November will be six years.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I can remember my wedding date because it was 11 days after 9-11, like like literal 9-11.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like that's 22nd of September now, and it's I can remember the year, obviously, 2001.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I know without that though, I would be an absolute mess.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you this.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: What is it like both being a member of the same department, both on the job, so to speak?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that's uh good for the relationship?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: You guys can swap stories, you can relate to each other type thing, or is it sometimes this is all we talk about?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: No, I think it's good.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um we have two very different jobs.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: She's in uh a detective at the Family Justice Center.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm on the new traffic team, so our paths don't cross, but we still know the same people.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_03: We know the same job.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_03: She was on patrol for five years, so she knows all that.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't have any experience as a detective, but it's nice getting some insider knowledge from her about that job because whenever I'm out on the road teaching the new officers, I can kind of maybe give them a little bit of pointers or tips, especially if they want to be a detective in the future, um, or just having a little bit more knowledge of what goes on behind those doors.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_03: But other than that, you know, it's not like we see each other a whole lot, you know.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Amy, I know you mentioned five years patrol and now a detective.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: So did you go directly from patrol to general detective or to uh directly to family justice center where you are now?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_04: I went straight to the family justice center.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_04: That was ultimately my goal, and I couldn't believe that they put me straight over there for a long time.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_04: They mentioned that it would probably be general assignment for a time to get the ropes.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_04: But they sent me straight to the family justice center, and I love it over there.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_04: I love the team that I work with now.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_04: Everybody wants to be over there and is really passionate about that type of work, which makes all the difference.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_04: And we had, I was just talking about it with Doug Sheehan, retired detective Doug Sheehan today, the numbers that we had last year.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_04: We had record-breaking numbers over at the FJC last year.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: You guys doing fantastic work over there.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you've got that going on there, and then Matt, with the return of the traffic safety unit, that's this is a brand new well, new now.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: We had it, and then because of staffing issues, we had to disband it.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And now this is exciting, though, because we've heard from the community.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's areas around town where they've asked for us to be there to increase traffic safety with enforcement.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so now that it's been about a month, I guess?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's been about a month.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: So what are we seeing?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of results are you seeing for the now that it's back, you're doing what you're doing?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: You've seen some positive results from it?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: We've heard a lot of feedback from the community that they've been happy, they've been seeing us out more before community engagement.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: They had a ton of responsibilities, but they also handled the uh responsibility of traffic complaints from the community, and they're happy to pass those along to us where we can focus on that because before they would try to address it best they can, but of course they're doing a thousand other things.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: So now we can spend more time out there.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, a big focus for us is school zones.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so we're working on there's only three of us.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um our sergeant will start next week, but it's three great people.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm very happy to be on the team, and I don't know how best to say it's good, it's good for the team to be back, and then we handle the um fatal and serious injury crashes as well instead of officers that don't have quite as much training.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, nobody likes getting pulled over, right?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody likes getting a speeding ticket.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I think most people also recognize that people need to reduce their speed for safety purposes, too, especially in school zones.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: It really is a quality of life issue and and for the entire community.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I know areas like Claxton, we've had a lot of community concerns from there.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's been a big one that we've been trying to work with.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: I mean try to be up there as much as possible.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: I I meet people fly they fly through there.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, because it's a it's a major corridor.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a dirty little secret that traffic wasn't really being enforced.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: There wasn't much of an enforcement arm for a few years.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think people they kind of got faster and faster and more and more reckless.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we've seen the fatalities go up, the pedestrian fatalities go up, and probably a cause and effect, I would imagine, right?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's definitely contributing circumstances.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: Speed is usually a big one, as well as, of course, alcohol use, drug use.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: But I wouldn't say most, but a lot of our fatalities and serious injury crashes are caused by speed.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we've got excessive speeds, I should say.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: We've got senior police officer Matt Stepanovich with us and Detective Amy Stepanovich, and we're going to play the newlywed game.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: You are no longer newlyweds, of course.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: However, I would think you'd have a number.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Here we are.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_04: In the span of hopefully how long the marriage is.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_04: We are still newlyweds.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you've certainly had enough time to uh get to know each other to answer these questions.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I provided both with some questions.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: They're different than the other, and I have the answers in front of me, and we're going to see how well you know each other.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so Amy's answered some questions.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Matt has answered some questions, so we're gonna go back and forth one at a time.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: I will present the question.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: I know the answer.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see if you know the answer.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll start with Amy.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_04: And I have to guess first.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, yep.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's got the he said the answer.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: You've got so you've got to see if these answers match up.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_04: I guess the pressure's on you, then not me.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: So what is Amy's least favorite food?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Amy, what is your least favorite food?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Garlic.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: You are correct.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I should say he is correct.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Black olives or garlic.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: You also do?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I uh he loves both of those things.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_04: And he loves to cook with lots of garlic.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_04: And so being the wonderful kind husband that he is will decrease the amount of garlic if I'm also partaking in the meal.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think the fact that you uh that you like those and she hates those, they'll come into play in what you order on a pizza, which is another question later on.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: So the question for Amy who is Matthew's celebrity crush?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Who is your celebrity crush?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't have one.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: That is correct.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: I was really trying to think like who is she picking up.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the the no answer is the answer.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I guess so.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Amy says he doesn't have one.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: How about that?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_04: I have tried multiple times to ask without you know, we've had group conversations with coworkers, you know, where it just, you know, the celebrity hall pass, you know, it's just a silly game.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_04: And every time we we talk, he just he can't he doesn't come up with one.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't it's it's not that every guy has one.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really have one.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now I had one growing up, like when I was like a teenager, it was Kathy Ireland from you might have seen the old Budweiser or St.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Patrick's Day poster.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm way old.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm way old for you.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, it was Kathy Ireland for me.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: But that was like 40 years ago.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: I get it.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys are nailing it so far.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: So we asked your least favorite food.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: What is your favorite food, Amy?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_04: This is almost a little embarrassing because I promise I'm an adult and not a child.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_04: But it's pizza lunchables.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Pizza Lunchables is correct.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Cotton candy was also an answer.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Man, big fan of the cotton candy.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a huge cotton candy fan.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_04: I had a cotton candy quest as one of my yearly resolutions uh a couple years ago and tried every flavor of cotton candy I could find, or people would send me really strange ones.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_04: Uh ranch flavored cotton candy was the absolute worst.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_08: Oh my god.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_04: But I tr I tried some really delicious ones and found some cool cotton candy places that made like cotton candy burritos.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_04: So I have a problem.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Go to the Mountain State Fair, do you get the cotton candy?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_04: All kinds.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_04: Like I have I have three flavors that are that are at home right now for when I need a little reward.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_04: Well, good.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's very okay.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're two for two.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: And Matt, you're doing fantastic.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: When you order pizza, Matt, what are the toppings?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Usually just sausage, cheese sausage, maybe pepperoni.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: She says pepperoni and sausage.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's it.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because obviously she is not allowing the black olives or the garlic extra on the pizza.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you were to get one by yourself, would you put the pepperoni, the sausage, the black olives, and the garlic all on there?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: I do, actually.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: Like when I go to Blaze Pizza, that's pretty much it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_08: If it's an individual one, yes, like the personal ones.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Damn, you guys are crushing it so far.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: I wish we had prizes.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: We don't.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: But if we did, you might have won them.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: So what are the names of Amy's two best friends?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Amy, your two best friends, first names are I'm assuming these aren't the ones that bailed on your birthday, but maybe.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Who are your two best friends?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: This is all.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Rattle off the three.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see if you get two of the three.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_04: Michelle, Rebecca, and Des.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: You've got two of the three on there.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Michelle, you didn't make the cut, according to Matt at least.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_04: She's probably my she's my longest friend.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_04: I don't get to see her as often.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's why.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: So Rebecca and Desiree.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: So there we go.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: So to be fair, I would have put Michelle if there was three, but I had it go down to two.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys are doing great.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Fantastic.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so this one's for Matt.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Who texts back quicker?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, her.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: 100%.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Ding ding ding.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: So she also said just me.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: So there we go.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: We are six for six and flying right along here.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: So the final question: Amy's most prized possession.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Amy, your most prized possession.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: No, I will say that Matt answered twice, and I'm thinking the first one is a joke, but it might not be.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_04: Oh no.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_04: Does he count as my prize possession?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_04: You know what?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: He actually answered that.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: That was one of the two answers was her husband.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_04: I think my second most prized possession would be my dog Gunner.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, well, okay, Velvet.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: My horse.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Your horse velvet.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_04: Oh man, you can't pit velvet and gunner against each other.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's tough.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_04: But I didn't want to put a whole list of it.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: You can't have so many favorites, but clearly Matt was at the top of the list.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_08: He was.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And Matt, whose family, yours or hers, is more chaotic?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, hers.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_04: Sorry, Mom.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_04: I love you.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_04: No, it's not amazing.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_04: Sorry, Dad.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, not a thing at all.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: You guys nailed every single there was nothing there I could even mess with.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: To be fair, when we go on our vacations and we watch the Newlywed show on the cruises, you know, it pays off now, doesn't it?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_04: Because I I when we go through, I'm like, what would you answer?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_04: What would you answer?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_04: And he's like, ugh.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_04: And then I will bug him until he answers.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, you never know when this is going to happen, and it's going to be us.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_04: So here we are.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Before we started this conversation, you had mentioned you're going on a cruise and you've always wanted to play the newlywed game.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have Matthew have a little more confidence now that you could excel at the cruise version of the newlywed game?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now that you have just flown through this with flying colors.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah, I would do it.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not totally against doing that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Sounded like you were.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I've said no a couple of times, but you know.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_04: To be fair, the questions they ask in the cruise ones are meant to bait.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_04: They are answered.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: However, these questions were taken from a list from like the newlywed show game.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like these are some of the questions, and and some of the ones were kind of weird, and I was leaving them, you know, I'd left those aside.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I picked these on purpose, thinking we we could get these.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: But this look at this eight for eight?
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, you could take home the whatever the price is at the the cruise.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: So where are you Cruising?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: The Caribbean.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_04: So the Dominican Republic, St.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_04: Thomas, British Virgin Islands.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Mom and Dad went down to the uh the Virgin Islands several times.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: St.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Croix, St.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thomas uh loved it down there.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I'm sure you guys will enjoy it as well.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And what when is the cruise?
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh we leave Sunday.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, like this week?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: This week.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so by the time this actually is published, you'll be out there somewhere in the deep blue ocean.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_04: Matt will have cocktail in hand and I'll be pulling him to the to the newlywed show.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Fantastic.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: So you you answer what is his favorite cocktail?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_04: He loves tequila, but sometimes he will go for a whiskey.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_04: Sometimes is that true?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's true.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was introduced to the higher end tequila a few years ago.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't even aware, because you know, growing up, I thought tequila eat the worm, throw it back.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, whatever.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: But but lately uh I've learned there is such a thing as sipping tequila.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like there is sipping bourbon.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it and it's the higher end stuff's actually really good.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can just sit there and sip it and not, you know, like I was when I was a teenager.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm sorry, I didn't say teenager.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: I meant when I heard 21.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_04: I guess I could have said moonshine, but he they don't have that on cruises.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_04: But he did a whole presentation for his instructor school on moonshine and distilling.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: I have about this much left, about an inch left of a mason jar of what is allegedly a popcorn Sutton batch.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I've had it for years and years and years.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: But then I think just about everybody says they they have that connection, right?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Around here, it's like everybody knows somebody that like has some popcorn Sutton moonshine.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they say.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: It's like a storage shed with hundreds of jars or something at one point.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well he learned on the show.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: He had a whole bunch.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Somehow it got out there.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: So guys, thank you so much for joining me on this.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you had a little bit of fun doing it.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And now you got a little something to talk about on the cruise.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_04: All the comments we'll come back to.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Enjoyed having you guys.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Matt Stepanovich, Amy Stepanovich with the Asheville Police Department celebrating National Marriage Week.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Joined now by Master Police Officer Jonathan Derrick and Business Services Specialist Miranda Derrick.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Did I get that one right, Miranda?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_06: You did.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't quite sure, but I see you next door to my office all the time.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I I don't remember ever seeing a specific like nameplate.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_06: They don't give me that.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_06: I just you just know I'm there.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Good enough.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we are celebrating Marriage Day, which is February 8th, National Marriage Week, February 7th to 14th.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure what came first, Valentine's Day or Marriage Week, because it ends conveniently on Valentine's Day, the February 14th.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a reminder for dudes to do something, because you know we're pretty forgetful about that stuff.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: So thanks for joining me for this.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's tell the Derek story.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, first of all.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: How long have you guys known each other?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_06: Probably since I started working here.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, we kind of knew of each other, but I don't know that we actually met until a little after I'd started working here.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_06: So that's been five years ago.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Five years?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: How did that happen?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: You just showed up in the office one day and he was on the traffic safety unit.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_06: I was the admin in patrol, which I still do that role.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_06: Mm-hmm.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_06: And of course, me ordering equipment, all the things for patrol for TSU.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_06: We had to talk at some point about like these are things you need.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_06: This is what I need from you.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it all started off very technical.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_05: I thought she was very cute.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_05: I thought she was very cute.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_05: I liked her in her glasses, and I kind of shot my shot and it worked.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, then you couldn't have had a beard either, right?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because of the grooming standards.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you would have been a clean shaven, Jonathan Derrick.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_05: She fell in love with me without my beard.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_05: So the beard is even better.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: So Miranda, clean beard?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Which one do you prefer?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_06: Um I like the beard.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_06: I don't mind the clean shaving.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: The beard does, as I'm told by my wife, create a bit of a rash if there is some uh smooching going on.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've heard that.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Is the right around the facial area.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing there?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_05: I I trim it down right here a good bit.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: Keep it down?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: Mm-hmm.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: Uh it bothers me too when it's too when it's too gnarly.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: So mine's actually in that middle stage right now.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: I grow it out in the winter, but it doesn't grow fast.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I want it to be just a little bit longer so it's not sticking out even though I'm using stuff.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I got about a week left before, and then by then it'll start to get warm again and I'll trim it off for the summer.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's just this whole thing.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_06: It really worked out that they changed the policy on beards for the wedding because we were like, if we're gonna get married and we're gonna have to wait until it's cold again.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_06: And they changed policy, and I was like, score, we can have a warm wedding with a beard.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_05: I was able to have the beard for the wedding last year.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: So did you did you have your beard prior to being with the APD?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like you always had it and you had to shave it for this, or it's just something you tried to do one time and let a rock?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_05: I star I started here when I was 23, and it's always been you've always had to be clean-shaven the entire time.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_05: Um, until until the past couple of years you can have a beard in the winter time.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I think a lot of our officers are enjoying that freedom of having a beard as long as it's you know kept trim and stuff like that.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I I know I enjoy having one.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh although I I look older in the winter when it gets all mine's gray.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_05: I've got I've got some in mind, definitely.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know you have uh a child as well.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_06: We do Bennett.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_06: Bennett.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_06: He is our wild child.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_06: We have two older boys um from his first marriage.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_06: So all house full of boys.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_06: It's never a dull moment.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: So how old is Bennett now?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_06: Bennett will be three in August.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_06: So he's two and a half.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_06: And we have Coleman, who's thirteen, and Jacob, who will be sixteen in March.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: I remember seeing Bennett when I just started, but he was just a you know, little little fellow at the time, just an infant.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been here two years.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'll get to see him kind of you get to see him grow up.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_06: It's nice.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_06: Like, you know, I got pregnant working here, and the chief step was the patrol captain at the time.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_06: So she was my direct supervisor, and immediately like it was all about Bennett before we even had him.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_06: We had him early.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_06: He came at 30 weeks.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_06: Chief Step's like, you're bringing him to work with you.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_06: He's not going to daycare yet.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_06: And I'm like, all right, well, he came to work with us for like a year.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: About a year.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_06: And then we finally got him in daycare.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: So my office wasn't really an office, it was more like a part of like a that big area in the third floor.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was like I had the I was like the re in the receptionist desk.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so to speak.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember you bringing him in, and I if it wasn't that the day he started to crawl, it was right around then and he started crawling towards Jackie.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is her peanut.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, that's what I remember is peanut.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: She called kept calling him peanut.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_06: Yep.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_06: And then of course, you know, when Chief Lamb was here, he helped he would be in the floor with him and like trying to help him learn how to crawl.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_06: So he's learned everything from either at home with us or something from someone here at the department.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it really is a family atmosphere here.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we're kind of celebrating marriage uh with you guys and the Stepanowitches.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: We've got about, I think we figured actually Miranda, you and I were trying to figure it out, like eight or nine married couples here.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_08: We do have a lot.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: As you start to add them up, you're like, oh, and there's then there's the Bengals and then there's the Sextons, and then it's it just keeps adding up.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, oh, we got like eight or nine married couples here.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: I guess that's and especially for ones like yourself.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: You met here.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're here a lot.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: People are here a lot.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so that makes sense.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is almost like your life.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_06: Well, for the longest time, it's like that was the only time we got to see each other was at work because he works all the time, and my schedule's a Monday through Friday, usually and then every other weekend, you know.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_06: So it's like this is this is our time together.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_06: I'll see you at lunch.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_05: We we try to make it a point to see each other for lunch at least when we're both working.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_05: So even though we're we're at work, we can see each other for lunch and enjoy a little bit of time together.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, where are both of you from originally?
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Where'd you grow up?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_05: I was born in Louisiana.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm my dad was in law enforcement down there and retired, and we moved up here.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: So Miranda?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_06: I'm born and raised in this area.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so I left for a little while, but it came back.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: So you're a mountain girl.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_06: I am.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: And you're a Gulf Coaster, which is way different than the mountains.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: So what what's the area you would prefer in just you could plop down anywhere, you know, do anything.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Would it be there or would it be here?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Neither.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: You could take your whole family somewhere, neither one, huh?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_05: No, Louisiana is really hot, bad, bad storms and gigantic mosquitoes.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_05: It's very muggy down there.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: I got a taste of that living in Charleston.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of a similar swampiness to it, so I kind of get that.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: But there's some beauty to it down there.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_05: There is some beauty, absolutely.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then here, you know, we've got winter storms that they don't get there, which we're experiencing these last couple of weeks.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_05: Very unpredictable weather here, too, for sure.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Where did you leave and then come back to?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_06: So I went to Statesville for uh like a year and a half, two years, and then I came back.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_06: I didn't go far.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: No, not far at all.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: You're just down the mountain.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: So what was the first date?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: First date you guys had.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_06: He did take me to coffee.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know if that counts as a date, though.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a good one.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_06: It was like a 10-minute interaction of like, oh crap, I have to go get the boys from school.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_06: Let's do another date.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: But that's a good introductory date.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_06: It was.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_06: It was really good.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a good way to just kind of be there without work or anything else and just kind of have the coffee and do the thing.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so if that wasn't the first official official date, what was that one?
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have dinner somewhere?
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_06: We had lunch at a Japanese place on Tunnel Road.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_05: I forget the name of it, but I'm I met her for lunch on Tunnel Road one day for Japanese or hibachi there.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_05: So that was I'd say that's our our first official date.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then who proposed to whom?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_05: I proposed to her.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_05: It took me a long time.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_05: I just wasn't in a big hurry.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_05: And I knew she was the one and we'd be together, and I was very happy, but I just I wasn't in a big rush to do it.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: Where did that take place?
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_05: Uh in Las Vegas.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_05: The Golden Steer Steakhouse is where I proposed.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's a different one.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Not judging.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a different one.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_06: It was I love that place.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_05: It's a very historic steakhouse.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_05: Elvis, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, they would they would all eat there.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very going to the Golden Corral, then.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like that.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_06: No, it's a very looking at the outside of it, you're like, where am I eating at?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_06: It's in it looks like a rundown shopping center.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_06: But then you go in and it's very upscale, like has a dress code.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_05: A steak will be about$200.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: I so I've been to a place in Indianapolis that was like that.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And they've got some great steakhouses there.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, yeah, like you almost got to wear a suit and tie.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Ruth's Chris here is very similar to that in a way.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's an upscale steakhouse.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you're going to drop 150, 200 bucks.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it's probably something most of us can't do too often, but boy, that's some good meat, isn't it?
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well worth it.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well worth it.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: So when did you decide you wanted to be a police officer, Jonathan?
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_05: Um pretty much from an early age.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_05: My my dad was uh law enforcement when I grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_05: Um my grandfather was a deputy down in in upstate Louisiana as well.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_05: And I came up here.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_05: Um I went to college at UNC Charlotte for criminal justice and came back here and I got hired at at the age of twenty-three.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_05: So right out of college, I got hired here.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_05: So it's pretty much my whole life.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Miranda, what were you doing when you joined APD?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_06: So prior to I was a dispatcher in Iredale County for Iredale County Sheriff's Office and Troutman PD.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_06: And COVID hit, so moved back and ended up able to get a job here.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_06: I thought about law enforcement for a long time.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_06: But then after getting pregnant, I was like, nope, not having two parents.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: So you're like me, you're considered professional staff and you know, not non-sworn employee, but you've been around it as you know, as a dispatcher, and you know, you know the lingo and and all of those things.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, obviously.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_06: You know the crazy schedule that that comes with a patrol officer.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_06: So it's nothing new if it's hey, I'm gonna be late, or you know, she's understanding of working weekends and holidays.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_05: It it works out well.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_05: She understands the the toll that that our job and our schedule can take.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_05: She's very understanding of that.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: How long have you guys been married now?
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_06: It'll be a year in April.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: I knew it wasn't that long.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought it was I thought it was about that.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's coming up.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess playing the newlywed game is actually perfect.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_05: It is actually for you guys.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_05: Pretty much, yeah.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you both got four questions.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've got these answers.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got to, you know, see how close you can get to the answers of the other.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: So uh who wants to start?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_05: I'll go first.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I read her answers.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: What is your pet nickname for Miranda?
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_05: I'd probably say babe most often.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_05: Correct! Okay.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Babe is the answer.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we are one for one.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: Miranda, what is your favorite leisure activity?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Some say leisure.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: What do you do to decompress?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Just to kind of chill.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: What's one of your favorite things to do?
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_06: One of my favorite.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_06: I like to read.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Reading books?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're off to a great start.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: All right, you guys know each other well.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, so this is the one where we were discussing prior.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't quite know, but I get the impression she knew.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: Your favorite band or musical artist is.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_05: See, it's hard.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's it's more of a genre.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_05: I like particular genres in music.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_05: I like old country a lot.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_05: See, that's what I was going to do.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I don't really have a particular band.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_05: Favorite band.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: Her answer was country.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_05: It's Eric Church.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_05: Eric Church is by far one of my favorite country artists.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_06: And I'm like, my initial thought was literally 90s country.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_06: But then I was like, all right, band.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_06: This is gonna be like one of those punk rock bands that he listens to at the gym, and I can't remember the name of it because I don't ever really listen to it.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_06: That was my next thing.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_06: And then every time it comes on, you're like, you know this song.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_06: I'm like, no, I don't.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_06: Like, but I know you like them, and I don't ever remember I don't remember the name of the gym.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: So who are those bands?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: Who are those ones that you're getting jacked up to in the gym, though?
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_05: Good, good gym music.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's a whole different thing.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: See, music in the gym is a different thing.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_05: I I Prevail is a great gym band.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_05: Um Bring Me the Ryzen, but like modern rock, not like heavy, heavy um, just modern rock music, surely.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I see I do uh in the gym, I do the iHeart iHeartRadio app, and they have some channels that are commercial free, and one of them is called Rock Top 20.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just the top new rock songs that just keep rotating commercial free.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so it kind of changes once in a while, and it's kind of like you describe.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit up.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't just listen to that while chilling on the porch.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, different type of thing.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so Miranda, what clothing item can you not do without?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: What clothing item can you not do without?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_06: That I cannot do without.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: Might even be based on his answer, more like a clothing style, a section of clothing, a type of clothing.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_06: Usually leggings.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Leggings is the answer.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: There it is.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so good.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: High fives all around.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: Jonathan, the last thing you do before you go to bed?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_05: The last thing I do.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_05: Well, the very last thing I do is I put on chapstick and I take a sip a sip of water.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_05: That's the very last thing I do.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're of the same breed.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: I do the exact same thing.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_06: You were gonna say I was like, that doesn't really count for that.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my my my wife knows my routine as well.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: I I pour my water in the ice thing and I take it upstairs and it sets next to the nightstand with my chapstick right there.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, in my case, Carmex.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_06: I don't have to do that.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_06: He gets my ice water for me.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: So you got so you got that.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah okay, but of the non-kind of that type of thing.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Just gotta do this before you go to bed.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I've found it easier.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_05: I don't I I set up my stuff the night before that I need for work or the gym the day the day before.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_05: So I get my gym bag ready, I get my lunch ready, make sure the dishes are clean in the sink and things are straightened up in the house.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_05: And that way when I wake up in the morning, my stuff's all ready, I can grab my gym bag, put my uniform on, and go.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: That is very close to mine.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: Check game scores.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, okay, that's like the last thing.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_06: Check the scores to make sure you're it's always he gets in bed, he's like, All right, I gotta check the scores real fast.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_06: And I'm like, all right, cool.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_06: I mean I'm just gonna That's right.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_05: I gotta yeah, because I can't stay up for a lot of the late games, the basketball and stuff that's like football at 8 a p.m.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_05: I can't as much as I want.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_05: I'd love to stay up and watch it.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but like when your team's like kicking off at like 8 30 or later.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's no.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: When the Dodgers play the Doggets, I don't even see the first pitch.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: They don't start until 10 o'clock.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, we're not saying it's this late.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_06: We have the two-year-old.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: They gotta be on the East Coast.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so Miranda, if you guys won the lottery, what's the first thing you would buy?
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: First major purchase you would buy.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_06: It doesn't count like paying off things, right?
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: Nope.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is just kind of your almost a dream, I guess, thing.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: More like uh now that I have the money.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_06: We're probably gonna get like a farm with horses.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: Boom.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_05: That's exactly what I said.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: Farm and horses.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: See?
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Birds of a feather flocking together here.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: So last question for Jonathan.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: Who is your oldest friend?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_05: I work a lot, so I really associate with work people a lot uh for the most part.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_05: Um a good buddy of mine is Pete.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_05: He worked here um for a long time and he works in Greenville now.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_05: So we have a winner.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_05: You're welcome.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_06: I almost put Scott.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_06: And then I was like, I could do both.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_05: Scott was another one that came to mind.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Pete is what she answered.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right, there we go.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: Final question for Miranda.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Who is the better driver?
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_06: Um, probably him.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: Jonathan was the answer.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_06: I'm gonna say him for sure.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_06: Well, he's had a fish.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: He's had training.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: I drive all day every day.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is literally what you do.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_06: Like in weather, I'm like you're driving.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm usually the one that draws when we're out.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I just enjoy it.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there we go.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: So clearly the newlyweds know each other.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_06: We really can't.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: You could go on an actual version of this and do quite well.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: You should.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_06: Someone should sign us up.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_06: We just need a babysitter.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we can't bring Bennett in here.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: That would be a disaster.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, that would liven things up, wouldn't it?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: It would be, absolutely.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Guys, thank you so much for joining me for this.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: I told you to be relatively harmless, right?
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not bad.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: Painless, all those things?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: And you did great at the newlywed game.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, Officer Jonathan Derrick and Business Services Specialist, Miranda Derrick, Mr.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: and Mrs.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: Derrick, thank you for joining me.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: Joining me now, Sergeant Jesse Ramirez.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining me again in the studio.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Remember last time we talked was I guess that was it was summer, like August maybe?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was in uh November-ish, actually.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Was that when it was?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because it was right after my daughter won Little Miss Jerry.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I knew that, and I knew it was still warm-ish.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because you had just or were just about to uh play that annual the stick ball.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well actually it would have been October then.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what it was.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was the week after we played in October, and I came in all banged up.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what happened.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what it was.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: And at the time, you were a detective.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at the time, yes.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so now your role has changed.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that's pretty cool.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about that.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: How's the transition been?
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's been good.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, got a good group of people, still learning a lot, but um am enjoying myself.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: And how about your daughter?
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned her, she won Little Miss Cherokee.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she is actually lucky her and my wife, they're in Florida right now.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, good call.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: They flew out yesterday.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're in uh Seminole, Florida.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're having a uh ceremony in powwow down there for the Seminoles to crown their Cherokee royalty or their their royalty.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Cherokee flew out their royalty.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: So my daughter and my wife are down there while we're stuck up here having to deal with snow.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: I just got a picture this morning of them at the beach, and I'm like, cool.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: My mom is now officially a snowbird.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: She goes from Buffalo to Florida now for two months every year.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so she's in Fort Myers.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: Super smart.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I've told everyone, hey, listen, if you can afford to not be in Buffalo or places like that in the winter, just don't.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: Just if you can go somewhere else, or even like this weekend with your family, just man, jealous.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: Get out.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just just go somewhere.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Just go somewhere and enjoy it and come on back, and this stuff will be gone soon enough.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh deal with it.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: As we talk now, this particular episode, this latest snowstorm will have uh come and gone.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll just have to wait and see how bad the effects were.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: We had back to back, though.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: We had the ice, uh, and then now the snow.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so then hopefully the sun and the warmth soon.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, I think everybody's ready for to see green and see the sun.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's where we're at now.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Seems like we've had a little more this year.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit more.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it just feels that way, still on the heels of Helene.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Just like anything seems like more.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: That anxiety.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just a little bit of that.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's talk about your uh role with the community engagement division and everything you're doing and what the community engagement unit is doing right now.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: What do you guys got going on?
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to, you know, meeting with communities and hearing them out, uh, we got a lot of programs coming up.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: JPA, which we've ran a couple years now, which is focused towards uh we'll say teenagers.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the junior police.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the junior police academy.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're 13, 14 to uh rising seniors.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's coming up in the summer months, and that will be advertised soon.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have CPA starting soon as well.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Citizens Police Academy.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is something Lieutenant Hogan kind of teased on our last episode.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: And this sounds exciting.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is a we're almost now covering all the bases.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: We've got the Citizens Police Academy, which is pretty much adults of any you know age.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: You've got the junior police academy, which is kind of the younger teens and things along those lines.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: And and now we've got the immersion academy.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: So who are we targeting with this?
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the immersion academy is going to be directed towards graduated seniors to about twenty-two years old.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: College students and other professionals in that age bracket that are highly interested in the career law enforcement, both civilian and non-civilian.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or I'm sorry, civilian and sworn.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if they're interested in law enforcement from an officer perspective.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: But we also have very important people that work here, so forensics, evidence, unmanned air, our drones.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: Drones, yeah.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, intelligence, all that sort of stuff that we're going to completely immerge immerse this the applicants and the people that are going through the academy.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to completely just dive right into everything that they want it, like that interesting stuff.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's really like a test drive for people that are considering maybe going into a career in law enforcement.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.: 100%.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it that's what it's directed towards.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, we're we're going to show you, we're going to really take you behind the curtain and show you, hey, this is what you can expect, this is what we're doing and give them a lot of hands-on experience.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not just talk about it.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to be classroom, very classroom-oriented.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, we're going to have that.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: But we're going to have a lot of hands-on stuff.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: Give these guys a a real good look at what we do.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: I can't think of too many careers where you can just kind of try it on for size before committing.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: Think of the value of that.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because a career in law enforcement, man, that is a commitment.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's not just, ah, I'll do that for a little while and try to do something else.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: Most people that do it, they stick with it.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think from an early age too, I think from with the population that we're going to be targeting, um, they already know.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're already, I this is what I want to do, you know, and they're interested, but they don't really know.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: They see it on TV.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: They see it on like live PD and they see it on cops or whatever, you know, movies they watch.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then now here's an opportunity before they really dive into it.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: I can really look at it and put hands on it and experience it from a different perspective rather than just looking at it on a screen.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: Sergeant Jesse Ramirez is joining me.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about the Immersion Academy, which is coming this summer.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, early summer.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're looking at May.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're still hammering some stuff out as far as scheduling.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, we're looking at May.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's gonna be really fun.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a really fun experience, not just for them, but for us to be able to showcase what we do.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh quite honestly, I it you know, I think it could be a good recruitment tool for people who are looking to come into the career, but as well as see Ashwell's got it going on.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we got a lot going on from patrol, detectives, real time, intelligence center, drones, uh forensics.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: You have so many opportunities here.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna showcase that.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: There really is a little something for everyone.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: As you mentioned, Kate, so you're a sworn officer, right?
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: I am a non-sworn professional staff employee.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so that would be it's not just for cops, basically.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is the type of thing where you could learn the other departments that we have and the other the other possibilities.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're not meant to wear a badge and be on the street.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're meant to be in the office and doing different things.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe your skills lend itself to that.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's a chance to learn about the entire department and everything that we have to offer.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, 100%.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so many important facets in people that work, I guess, maybe behind the scenes that people don't really see, and that's that's the point.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they know about forensics.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: All of that is is vital in what we do, and it's just gonna, again, showcase all of that and show that there's more than just going out on the streets.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: If that's not for you, maybe this other avenue is.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and they're gonna be able to see all of that and put hands on all of it.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we know with Citizens Police Academy how that kind of schedules.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: It is a few hours once a week for ten weeks.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: So what is this gonna line up like?
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: What is the schedule?
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: The plan is is gonna be a week long from eight to five-ish.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a little turned up a notch.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't say it's gonna be a boot camp, but it's gonna give them a real taste of you know, we'll have PT in the morning, you know, we'll have firearms, we'll mess around with forensics again.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: I know I keep on going back to them.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: And just giving them an idea of what's going on.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it's gonna be I wouldn't say more regimented, but it's gonna be more of a idea of what even a an academy would look like.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you want to go through the academy, this is gonna be a little taste.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna be like a scared straight or anything like that.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, people need to know what to expect.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's gonna be, you know, a bit of realism of what you can expect as an officer or something else, then it has to be pretty much that.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and on top of all of that, we're gonna uh incorporate, you know, hiring process.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like w what what to expect, you know, what what to to prepare for that.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um whether it be hopefully Asheville that they want to apply to, sure.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: But anywhere, you know, in the career.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: And what, you know, the timeline, the interview portions, you know, how to prepare for a panel interview, all of that.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: So really give them a taste, but then how to prepare if this is something what you want to do, what to expect as you go through the process of becoming a law enforcement or getting involved in a department.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: And in one more way to possibly continue to grow our ranks, we're seeing some good movement in that direction.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we're about to have a class of twenty graduate.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we've got another class of ten right now that is going through pre-B L E T.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Start on Monday.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: So they're doing that now.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then on the heels of that, I happen to know the numbers are very strong for the next testing session uh for the class after that.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got some strength in our numbers that is growing, and this is just one more way to do it.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, quite frankly, we're still low.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: And the more officers that we can get in the community, the safer the community will be.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's all positive.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a way it's another way to skin the cat.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: So what else do we have going on besides that?
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's exciting.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll have more coming up on that.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: But the community engagement unit is always out and about doing things.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know that you said as soon as you're done here, you got to go out to the schools and do some stuff with them.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's so and your unit is uh I think seven?
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think you have s uh We have five right now.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, five currently.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_01: And and they're always busy.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes I'll go down there to find somebody and no one's in the room because they're out and about in the community.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: They're doing things.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: So what do we have coming up that the community can get involved in?
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: So uh you mentioned the schools.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh a career day with Ira Jones coming up in March.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be out there.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh Battle of the Badges coming up uh at the end of February, I believe.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: Which is a blood drive.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, blood drive.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then we are currently working with Coffee with the Cop.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh it's I think it's a good event for everybody to come out, really socialize, but we're gonna kind of revamp it a little bit.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: Try to make it a little more intimate and just like see what the community wants as far as like to get more community involvement, like have more people come out to these events.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: And make it more, I guess, appealing and attractive for more people to come out and talk to us.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's a great event.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: I enjoy it in talking with people, and everyone that attends from the community has always told me how much they like it.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: And some people are there for the first time, some have done multiple, but it does usually occur during the week, like prior to a work day, like from you know in the morning, like eight until nine or ten coffee.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: But some people just can't.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: They can't do that.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_01: They've got to get to work at a certain time.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to get to work at seven or eight, and you you can't just can't do that.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it'd be a good to have a little more of expansion of that, more opportunity for people to join us.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: That'll be great.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we always move that around town, too.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: We try and get it in different locations.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's very important.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes difficult conversations.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's the point of it.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: We have like, you know, difficult conversations with people and we can talk about it.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that that that's the point of it.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: I know the last several we've been in, well, Central, just near Biltmore Village.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: We were just there.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh West Asheville, prior to that on Haywood Road.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: We were down in South Asheville.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we're moving it all around and hopefully coming to your neighborhood soon.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sergeant Jesse Ramirez, thank you so much for joining us and hopefully you farewell in this storm, and you'll be seeing your family again soon.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, hopefully.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_01: That does it for another episode of the APD Pod Squad.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you to my guests, Senior Police Officer Matt Stepanovich and Detective Amy Stepanovich, Master Police Officer Jonathan Derrick, and Business Services Specialist Miranda Derrick, and Sergeant Jesse Ramirez.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you for listening.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: If you've got a question or suggestion, I want to hear from you.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: Call 828-250-8800 and leave a voicemail.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: You don't even have to talk to me in person.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can just leave a voicemail.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's 828-250-8800.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: Or you can email APD Podcastfeedback at AshevilleNC.gov.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: Listen and subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts and don't miss a single episode.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Rick Rice, and this is the APD Pod Squad.