PODCAST: On The Blue Line Podcast | MORNING ROLL CALL | The “scariest” thing in Law Enforcement | Episode 086
On The Blue Line Podcast | MORNING ROLL CALL | The “scariest” thing in Law Enforcement | Episode 086
LISTEN
WATCH
If you would like to say “Thank You” for the content Wayne is creating click here to buy him a coffee.
Show Notes from This Episode
The On The Blue Line Podcast and Community has the mission of Empowering Cops in their personal lives and educating the public on the realities of law enforcement. This law enforcement podcast is focused on providing concepts, ideas, and actionable steps that can make a difference in your life. The morning roll call is a weekly monologue show with Wayne Mulder. The Interview Room podcast is an interview style format hosted by Wayne Mulder.
WATCH VIDEO OF THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: OnTheBlueLine
Go Deeper:
Step 1: Subscribe to the Podcast wherever you are streaming it.
YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeart Radio
___________________
Step 2: Follow us on social media, so you never miss an update.
Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok
___________________
Step 3: Join the On The Blue Line Community on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/onthebluelinecommunity
In this episode:
No news stories for a couple weeks, as we update our format going into the holidays. Be sure to let us know what you think?
One take away for the week:
I discuss how uncertainty and the unknown can be the “scariest” thing in law enforcement. I then provide three ways that we can deal with uncertainty. These ideas are based in part by an article in the Greater Good Magazine.
I read your Rating and Reviews:
- Be sure to leave us a Rating and Review on Apple Podcasts and I will read it in an upcoming episode. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-blue-line-podcast/id1456545904
- EMAIL me your feedback: Feedback@OnTheBlueLine.com
LINKS:
- Get the eBook, “How the law enforcement makes you cynical and what you can do about it” by Wayne Mulder.
Articles Discussed:
- Seven Ways to Cope with Uncertainty. What should we do when everything feels so out of control? Greater Good Magazine: Science- Based Insights For A Meaningful Life. Christine Carter July 27, 2020. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/seven_ways_to_cope_with_uncertainty
After the episode:
SUBSCRIBE TO our YouTube Channel.
LEAVE US AN iTUNES rating and review!
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR Website.
On The Blue Line was founded and is operated by active-duty law enforcement to fulfill the mission of providing guidance, resources and community for law enforcement officers, first responders, and military personal in their off-duty lives.
HONOR | EMPOWER | EDUCATE | DEFEND
Listen and subscribe wherever you prefer to Stream your Podcasts!
Get every Podcast and Blog delivered to your inbox.
TRANSCRIPTION OF EPISODE. Please note this is a new service we are offering and there will be spelling, grammar and accuracy issues. This transcription is offered as a convenience to our listeners, but at this time it is not guaranteed to be accurate.
00:00:00:01 - 00:00:26:19
Wayne Mulder
Welcome to Morning Call this week. The scariest thing in law enforcement. Morning Roll call starts now. Welcome, everybody. This is the 131st episode of the podcast. This one that you are listening to is called Morning Roll Call. In here, it's just you and I. It can be anywhere from ten, 15 minutes up to about 30 minutes. It's a monologue show, so you just get to listen to me drone on for a little bit.
00:00:27:00 - 00:00:45:10
Wayne Mulder
However, our other show you definitely want to check out comes out on Thursday mornings at zero 500, and that's called the interview room. In the interview room, I sit down with people from all walks of life, typically law enforcement, and we just really hear some great things about what they are doing. If you missed last Thursday's episode, it was with Scott Medlin.
00:00:46:06 - 00:01:08:09
Wayne Mulder
He's doing really great work, retired from law enforcement, written some excellent books that will help out law enforcement officers. So if you're in this career, if you're thinking of entering this career, if you've retired from this career, you definitely want to follow the things that Scott is doing. He's also going to be the keynote speaker at the COPS conference, the National Cops Conference, which I believe is this upcoming weekend in Dallas, Texas.
00:01:08:09 - 00:01:26:13
Wayne Mulder
So be sure to go back and listen to that episode if you haven't had an opportunity yet. And then this coming Thursday, I get to sit down with Keith Melinek. I'm very excited about that one. I've love following him and what he's doing there at The Blaze, but he is the producer of Pat Gray Unleashed, which is comes out in the morning on the Blaze Network.
00:01:26:13 - 00:01:48:26
Wayne Mulder
So you definitely want to listen to that one. It's a little bit different. We don't get deep into law enforcement. We actually talk about all sorts of other subjects and we get a little bit into politics because that's obviously what his show is all about. So it's really good stuff. And he also has his own podcast at the mic with Keith, so definitely you'll learn more about that when you listen to this Thursday's episode.
00:01:49:10 - 00:02:10:00
Wayne Mulder
So this week, a little bit different. Normally, I start out with some news stories. I start out with something crazy to tell you about, and then we get into something to think about for the week ahead this week and actually for a few weeks here due to some scheduling issues and stuff here, these are going to be a little bit shorter and we're essentially just going to get to something to think about.
00:02:10:01 - 00:02:39:01
Wayne Mulder
So today is, of course, Halloween. And so I thought, what is better than go over something scary? I mean, I could put some pictures of some politicians up here. I guess that'd be a little scary, but I decided to not go that direction. Instead, I I've had the privilege lately of being on some other podcast. It's something that I've really been trying to push forward and I've been trying to get my get what we're doing here and thank you with this is nothing if you the listener doesn't come along.
00:02:39:14 - 00:03:11:25
Wayne Mulder
And so I've had the opportunity to be on some other podcast and one of those was hear Some Evil with Emerson and I'll have a link below and then you'll hear more about it coming up. Just so you know, every show that I go on as a guest, I then link up on the on the blue line. And if you go to or on the blue line dot com and look at guest appearances, you will see the different podcasts that I've been on and the advantage to that is you get to hear my story and you get to hear why I came to the on the blue line and why we're doing what we're doing.
00:03:11:25 - 00:03:36:24
Wayne Mulder
So hopefully you will find those enjoyable. During my conversation with Emerson. He wanted to know he's not in law enforcement, and he had a great conversation and some great questions surrounding this idea of, you know, what it was like policing during certain events, right? So he would talk about specifically 2020. Obviously, that is something that still is affecting law enforcement today.
00:03:37:08 - 00:04:00:19
Wayne Mulder
And he want to know, hey, what was it like, you know, in those early days of COVID? And we talked about that and sides getting into, you know, what it became and so forth in the moment. There was a lot of uncertainty right in those early days of March of 2020, and especially for law enforcement, because and and also like nurses and so forth, as we all know, we've heard we've heard it.
00:04:01:05 - 00:04:25:21
Wayne Mulder
But depending on what career field they were in, what really was concerning early on was the uncertainty because you didn't know, right? You heard what the news was saying. You heard what government officials were saying, and you just didn't know the same was true. Then what came later in that summer? And you'll definitely want listen to the whole episode with Emerson and we go into all this much deeper because this really isn't where we're going to end today.
00:04:25:21 - 00:04:47:15
Wayne Mulder
It's just the starting point. But we went into, you know, the craziness that came from like the defund the police movement and the the mostly peaceful riots that took over the summer. And, you know, all of this craziness that was going on. And the question that he kept asking is, well, what how does it affect law enforcement? What was your thoughts being in law enforcement?
00:04:47:15 - 00:05:10:04
Wayne Mulder
You know, what was that like? And I kept coming back to this idea of uncertainty right? And so today, since we had to talk about something scary, since it is Halloween, I was thinking, you know, I think the scariest thing we deal with in law enforcement is the unknown. Right. Or uncertainty. And I get it. Like that's a broad stroke way to look at it.
00:05:10:13 - 00:05:40:00
Wayne Mulder
You could certainly look at it differently and be like, oh, well, this specific incident, this is scarier. This is, you know, absolutely. But speaking in broad strokes, speaking it just as a whole, what is something that is scary, that law enforcement gets into? And I would say it's somewhere between the unknown and uncertainty. I remember early on sitting for an oral board and when I say early on, probably about the midway point of my career and I remember sitting at an or a board and for those of you not in law enforcement, essentially it's an interview process.
00:05:40:00 - 00:06:04:22
Wayne Mulder
There's usually different ranks there in front of you. So if you're, let's say, a patrol officer level, then you probably have a sergeant, lieutenant, maybe a captain on the storyboard. And for whatever purpose it is, it can be to be hired early on. It can be for promotional abilities as you go through your career, and it can be for like transferring to other units, but you set before pretty much a panel or what they call an onboard.
00:06:05:22 - 00:06:28:01
Wayne Mulder
And I remember the question that I had gotten early on or in this time period, and they said, you know, what is the scariest call that you ever went to? And I thought of some different ones, right? I thought of, you know, something that ended in loss of life. I, I thought of some that, you know, involved the potential for violence towards me.
00:06:28:01 - 00:06:49:22
Wayne Mulder
I thought of. And I said, well, you know, I think the one that I would say was the most nerve wracking, the scariest from just not knowing what I was getting into was actually responding to a911 call in which that was there was very little information, was pretty much like a911 hang up. So I went out to this house.
00:06:49:25 - 00:07:10:07
Wayne Mulder
And so at the time the area I'm in has changed substantially. But at the time the street wasn't even paved that this house was off of. And I get out to the home and it actually sits on a large piece of property and then it was like a modular style home. And so it had a little port during the front and there's no street lighting.
00:07:10:07 - 00:07:26:13
Wayne Mulder
There's no real lighting on the house, there's no real lighting in the area because again, you're probably on half acre or more lots. Some are acre two acres and fenced in. And then the house itself is just kind of sitting in the middle of this lot. And this was the middle or actually the wee hours of the morning.
00:07:26:13 - 00:07:49:10
Wayne Mulder
So it's very dark out. So I go up to this home and I'm knocking and I'm no answer. And so I go around the home and I, you know, I'm trying to see is there any way to kind of see anything that looks disturbed? Right. So when you go out to like a911 hang up, essentially someone call 911 and then they hung up their phone and it's coming back to this location, not always the same house, but typically that location.
00:07:49:20 - 00:08:04:24
Wayne Mulder
So you're trying to determine in the moment, hey, is someone in distress? Did something happen? And then they left. You know, all these crazy, crazy things happen as anyone, any of you who are in law enforcement know. And then, of course, I'm going into a little bit more detail because I know I have a lot of listeners who are not in law enforcement.
00:08:05:20 - 00:08:22:09
Wayne Mulder
So there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of unknown. When I go up to the house and I'm knocking and I'm walking around, I'm knocking. And then finally I hear what sounds like someone coming to the door. And again, it's the wee hours of the morning, so you give ample time because even when it is very innocuous, there's nothing going on.
00:08:22:24 - 00:08:42:22
Wayne Mulder
You still don't. I mean, if you woke me up in the wee hours of the morning, I'm sure if I woke you up in the wee hours of the morning, you know, you take a little while to get to the door. And if you come to the door, you probably have a firearm. Well, that's exactly what happened. But the difference is, is when he came to the door, he I don't know if he saw light.
00:08:42:28 - 00:09:03:20
Wayne Mulder
This was back in the day, uniforms that still had actual badges and stuff on them. So I don't know if it was the glinting in like the moonlight or whatever that caught his eye. But next thing I know, it's an older gentleman opens the door and what seems like and anyone in law enforcement knows you don't stand in front of the door, you you would offset yourself from the door for officer safety purposes.
00:09:03:20 - 00:09:25:28
Wayne Mulder
And if you can be back a little ways from the door but this was a very small porch on a modular unit. So my options were either being up at the top or being down at the bottom. And where I position myself was as safe as it could be in under the circumstances. Well, this gentleman comes out, he has this revolver in his hand, and he just sticks it right out to where he sees probably the glinting of the moonlight.
00:09:26:14 - 00:09:49:19
Wayne Mulder
Well, he's shaking. He clearly from advanced age or I don't know if he had some medical concerns, but he's sitting there and he's just shaking as he's holding this gun pretty much right at me. And I remember thinking, thankfully, as you can see, I'm here doing this podcast, nothing. Nothing came of it. He I was able to identify myself.
00:09:49:19 - 00:10:17:24
Wayne Mulder
He safely put the weapon away. It fortunately did not discharge, even though he was shaking like a leaf. But I remember thinking in that moment that that is the most dangerous thing we deal with. Right. In law enforcement. It's the unknown. See, it used to be you had low risk and high risk traffic stops, right? Well, you still have high risk traffic stops, but they've added unknown risk traffic stops because the reality is, is everything you go to is unknown.
00:10:17:24 - 00:10:42:06
Wayne Mulder
There's no telling what you might get yourself into. You know, you just kind of hope to default to your training and to your education that you've learned in this career field to stay safe. Well, I wanted to continue this idea. Right. And then apply it to our lives, because that's what we do here. If you're new to Morning Roll Call is I normally throw out something that has something to do with law enforcement in that I apply it to our lives.
00:10:42:06 - 00:10:59:20
Wayne Mulder
So what's the takeaway when we talk about dealing with uncertainty or we talk about dealing with the unknown? Well, there are definitely some crossovers. I found a good article. It's linked up in the show notes for you from Berkeley, where they talk about seven ways to cope with uncertainty. And it's part of what they call their greater good magazine.
00:10:59:21 - 00:11:18:02
Wayne Mulder
It's like a mental health type magazine. And I saw a few of the things that they mentioned on there that I thought not only applied to what law enforcement does, but kind of applies to our response, right? So one of the ones they mentioned was this idea of self-care. And I know we talk about it all the time on here, probably too ad nauseum.
00:11:18:02 - 00:11:37:19
Wayne Mulder
I get it. But it's this invest in yourself. Well, taking that one step further, looking at it from the law enforcement side, one of the things you do in law enforcement is you're training for that moment, right? Like even how you orient yourself to the door like I was talking about. Everything is about training, getting better, getting more proficient, getting safer.
00:11:37:19 - 00:11:59:02
Wayne Mulder
In your response, that is what you do. That way when uncertainty comes, hopefully your training is going to keep you alive, right? Well, that is kind of the same principle when it comes to taking care of ourselves in training in our personal lives. Right. We are all going to face uncertainty. We all are going to face the unknown.
00:11:59:02 - 00:12:17:18
Wayne Mulder
And sometimes it is downright scary when the phone rings and you get bad news or when you don't hear from somebody for a long period of time and all of a sudden your heart starts beating. I mean, some of these things, they're not within our control, right? Like you can't train for that bad phone call that's coming. And we'll get to how we can deal with those here in a minute.
00:12:17:18 - 00:12:41:18
Wayne Mulder
But there are things we can train for. There are uncertainties that we can improve, that where we can invest in our own self care and in our own mental health to be in a position to walk through these things. A second idea is this idea of don't believe everything you think, right? So just because you believe something to be true doesn't make it true.
00:12:41:18 - 00:13:07:11
Wayne Mulder
And just because you believe something not to be true doesn't make it untrue, right? That's your belief. Doesn't have any bearing on what is and what isn't. And one thing that we find is a lot of times people we all, myself included, we have this worst case scenario thinking, right, everything is the sky is falling. So when we're faced with the unknown, when the phone doesn't ring or when something happens, we immediately go, worst case scenario.
00:13:08:10 - 00:13:36:02
Wayne Mulder
Now, I have to put a caveat on this one, right. When you're training for the unknown, then worst case scenario is what you want to train for, right? You don't train for saving cats out of trees. You train for that day when everything has gone off the rails and people's safety is at risk. And what can you do in that moment to help them out and to protect them?
00:13:36:02 - 00:13:58:02
Wayne Mulder
Right. So you're training worst case scenario, but you can't always think worst case scenario. Right. And I find myself doing this in a if you've heard me talk on any of these podcasts that I'm referencing, one of the things I often talk about is the fact that that thinking comes from the fact that we see everybody, almost everybody, on the worst days of their life when you're in law enforcement.
00:13:58:17 - 00:14:17:24
Wayne Mulder
So we take that a step further. And when we are in our own lives, when we're outside of the job, then oftentimes we're looking at things as though they're worst case scenario. So that is something that once we recognize it, then we don't have to go down that road. We don't have to look at things as being worst case scenario.
00:14:17:24 - 00:14:43:22
Wayne Mulder
We can look at them for what they are, evaluate and then act to react accordingly. As we just spoke about last week, so the third and final thing that I want to leave you with is find meaning, finding meaning and chaos. And I encourage you to read this entire article because they have a whole lot of great ideas in here, but I just distilled it down to three that really resonated with me and where I was at, but finding meaning in chaos so humans need significance.
00:14:43:22 - 00:15:04:00
Wayne Mulder
They need to feel like they matter. They need to feel like what they're dealing with matters. It's why people come into this career, right? And oftentimes it is a matter of significance. They'll say, well, I came into law enforcement because I want to help people, which is noble. That's awesome. That's great. But a lot of times there is a personal side of that where they want to feel significant.
00:15:04:00 - 00:15:27:27
Wayne Mulder
They want to feel like, why do people do things for others? Sure. At the heart, empathy. We can go to all those roads, but ultimately it's because they want to feel like I've done something to make a difference in someone else's life. That's significant. So when we apply these three things to the unknown, right? When we approach the unknown, we got to be well trained and prepared.
00:15:27:27 - 00:15:51:10
Wayne Mulder
In other words, think about in our own lives, what are things that when there's uncertainty involved, when there's unknown, that throws us into a tailspin and in turn make sure that we are investing in self care, self preparation and being ready. Right. You know, when we talk about safety, there's all sorts of sites out there, right, that talk about personal self-defense and so forth.
00:15:51:21 - 00:16:10:03
Wayne Mulder
And probably one of the big takeaways with the whole self-defense mantra is to be ready for anything, right? If you're sitting around eating Cheetos and sitting on the couch and watching television and you're not doing a darn thing, and then the day comes that you've got to run a mile, or you got to run into a burning house and throw someone over your shoulder to run out.
00:16:10:03 - 00:16:39:17
Wayne Mulder
Well, that day's going to go really, really bad, right? Well, it's going to go bad because you weren't prepared. So that's the lesson. The only way to deal with that potential uncertainty is to have been prepared in advance. The same is true. I'm actually going to be on a different podcast on I actually I was on by the time you're watching this, but later this evening I'm going to be on a recording on a podcast that will come out in the weeks ahead, and it's going to be all over this whole idea of the response to the hurricanes, right?
00:16:39:26 - 00:17:08:18
Wayne Mulder
When you are dealing with tragedy, when you are dealing with the potential of something catastrophic, like a hurricane fire, whatever, this prepper inside, like you can't train for maybe every aspect of what's going to come with that hurricane. But you can prepare and you can also have yourself the more prepared you are, the more that's going to benefit your mental side and the more that benefits, the better decisions you're going to make when the potential tragedy even happens.
00:17:08:18 - 00:17:29:02
Wayne Mulder
Because you have done everything you can do to have the safeguards in place to get through whatever you may be faced with. So when we approach the unknown, being well trained and prepared, controlling our thinking, and then looking for our meaning or purpose, we can and we will be able to face the unknown and the uncertainty without fear.
00:17:29:08 - 00:17:54:25
Wayne Mulder
And in some cases we might actually even welcome it. So that's all I have for you today. That does it for this week's Morning Roll Call. I'm going to see you Thursday in the interview room. But in the meantime, I'll see you out there on the blue line.