PODCAST: Why I started in Law Enforcement, and More IMPORTANTLY Why I stayed | MRC 103
Why I started in Law Enforcement, and More IMPORTANTLY Why I stayed | MRC 103
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Show Notes from This Episode
We know first-hand the struggle of trying not to take the job home with us and let it affect our families. We know the toll the law enforcement career can have on marriages and relationships. And we also have been frustrated by the lack of authentic leadership in our agencies. This Law Enforcement Podcast was designed to help you overcome the mental toll of the law enforcement career and the negative effects it can have on your personal life.
Hosted by active-duty law enforcement, we bring you two weekly podcasts. On Thursday, in The Interview Room we sit down with amazing guests who provide actionable advice on leadership, mental health, and relationships from their lived experiences. On Monday, in Morning Roll Call, you and I enjoy a cup of coffee and discuss current events, offer encouragement, and discuss practical steps for achieving the life we were meant to live. If you’re ready to become a better leader and protector on and off the job, then, please, scroll up and click follow to join us on the journey.
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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.
00:00:09:13 - 00:00:31:14
Wayne Mulder
Welcome, my friend, to the On the Blue Line podcast with Wayne Mulder. I'm your host. You got it. Right Wayne Mulder. And this is the podcast where we help law enforcement overcome the mental health. Told the profession to become better leaders and protectors on and off the job. This is the 103rd episode of Morning Roll Call and this week on the podcast, Why I started in law enforcement, but more importantly, why I stayed.
00:00:31:16 - 00:00:34:24
Wayne Mulder
Morning Roll Call starts now.
00:00:34:26 - 00:00:39:06
Because, you know, it's only going to get two.
00:00:39:06 - 00:00:39:26
Seasons.
00:00:39:26 - 00:00:44:23
Wayne Mulder
No, When you break the law, if you decide to do this, we're going to hold you responsible.
00:00:44:24 - 00:00:48:02
You are the only good thing. It's someone's.
00:00:48:02 - 00:00:50:24
Wayne Mulder
Worst day. That is a privilege for a police officer.
00:00:50:24 - 00:00:56:07
At the very least, you could honor the sacrifices of police officers and their families.
00:00:56:14 - 00:01:22:18
Wayne Mulder
We have the ability to save the Republic. Okay. So welcome. I hope you had a good weekend. We were a little quiet on social media over the weekend. Sunday was about getting chickens. Yes, you heard that right. It was about getting chickens. So I'll put those pictures of the little chicks out on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it.
00:01:22:21 - 00:01:43:06
Wayne Mulder
Be sure to follow us there. That is the platform I'm the most active on. And then I just kind of share it to the other one. So if was on Twitter at on the blue line in the number one ad on the Blue Line, in the number one, but you can follow along on the other ones with the content that I do push out, which is on the Blue Line podcast on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Rumble and all the other ones.
00:01:43:06 - 00:02:05:09
Wayne Mulder
So be sure if you would, whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on, if you would leave us a rating and review, it helps us a lot and I really love your feedback. I get a lot of comments on social media, but I'd love to get emails, so definitely reach out. Would love your feedback, ask any questions if you have any content suggestions, anything in particular you'd like to know?
00:02:05:15 - 00:02:23:26
Wayne Mulder
Feedback on the blue line dot com feedback on the blue line dot com. All right. So this week a little bit different. So if this is the first time you're joining us, just so you know, there's two podcasts that I put out on a weekly basis. The one that comes out today, which is Monday, is called The Morning Roll Call.
00:02:23:26 - 00:02:42:12
Wayne Mulder
And it's really just you and I sitting down and discussing something. And then the second podcast is called The Interview Room, and it comes out on Thursdays. And then there I sit down with different guests from all walks of life and we discuss different topics. This week is literally just going to be a real quick, you and I, having a quick conversation for Morning Roll Call.
00:02:42:15 - 00:03:03:21
Wayne Mulder
Typically I will lay out some news and we go over some different things. But I really been spending some time thinking on some different topics and I thought that I would just talk plainly to you. I didn't even prepare anything. I know that's scary, isn't it? But I just wanted to have just an honest conversation with you, the listener, for a moment.
00:03:03:23 - 00:03:27:29
Wayne Mulder
One thing when you start a podcast or when you do something like this is you're talking to one person, but you're also talking to so many people from so many different walks of life. That makes it very difficult, right? When you try to develop content, when you try to decide what you want to talk about, the one person you have in mind is going to get it because that's the person you're resonating with.
00:03:27:29 - 00:03:57:21
Wayne Mulder
That's the avatar, if you would. The one person who the conversation is meant for, however, others will hear it and they may come up with a completely different idea or it may interact with them differently. This week on social media, I had a conversation with an individual that actually kind of started out with them, making what I perceived to be a somewhat negative comment on a video that I had put out and they had talked about, well, law enforcement officers should follow the Constitution, and it kind of went down some of those roads.
00:03:57:23 - 00:04:16:15
Wayne Mulder
Well, we went back and forth and I actually agreed with this individual on a lot of different things that they were saying. And so we kind of went back and forth. And towards the end they said, hey, I'm going to check out more of your content and I'll go back and look at one of these other videos, because what really was the issue was communication.
00:04:16:17 - 00:04:47:12
Wayne Mulder
What really was the barrier is that individual doesn't know me and had only seen one small clip. Instead of going back and looking at all the different information that comes out, I say that to say that I thought that for newer listeners or for people coming to the show, what I might do is go back and discuss my journey into law enforcement and then kind of talk about something that has been coming up to the forefront a lot in the conversations that I have and and the online environment.
00:04:47:14 - 00:05:07:21
Wayne Mulder
So I came into law enforcement later in life because of my thirties, as some of you know, and some of this, I also have a talk that I give. It's called spiritual wellness. And some of this content is in there. But for me it was never a desire to come into law enforcement, right? I never woke up one day and said, I want to be a cop.
00:05:07:24 - 00:05:33:27
Wayne Mulder
That just was the furthest thing from my mind. I had no no reason I wasn't anti-police in any way, but it just it didn't really resonate with me as what I wanted to do. I wanted to build businesses. I wanted that was more my thing and what I wanted to do. But the housing crisis took me out of the market, took me out of what I was doing in 2008, and it changed the course of the trajectory of what I was going to do.
00:05:33:29 - 00:06:02:06
Wayne Mulder
Even at that point, I wasn't so sure that I wanted to be a cop. I was I was going to go do something else, anything else, right? So I started looking at other periphery things, not really thinking about law enforcement. It wasn't until I ended up going through the academy while kind of looking at some of those other jobs that I got to know guys who were cops and I got to have conversations with them and I got to really understand what law enforcement is all about.
00:06:02:08 - 00:06:21:07
Wayne Mulder
Now, again, when like I said, when you talk, you're talking to one person, but you're talking to lots of people. So those of you with a lot of experience, those of you who know me personally, some of this you're going to know and some of this isn't even going to apply to you because you've been doing this a long time and you all have your own stories and your own journey of how you came to this career.
00:06:21:09 - 00:06:42:27
Wayne Mulder
But speaking to that person out there who specifically is looking at law enforcement or wonders why anybody comes into this career, I always want to encourage them that I don't think. I think sometimes they have in their mind that, well, it's got to be something that you've either always wanted to do or like a natural progression. In other words, that you're in the service you get out of the military.
00:06:43:04 - 00:07:02:17
Wayne Mulder
Well, what I'm going to do, okay, I'm going to go into law enforcement and there's nothing wrong with those roots that just wasn't mine. Mine was working in customer service fields, then moving into landscape design build, and then eventually coming into going to the academy. And while in the academy I got to meet men and women who were in law enforcement.
00:07:02:20 - 00:07:25:20
Wayne Mulder
And what was neat was I really liked the boring parts of law enforcement. It wasn't about the wearing the badge, it wasn't about driving fast. It wasn't the flashy lights, it wasn't defensive tactics, it wasn't the firearms. Those weren't the things that attracted me. Those are all good things and they're very important. And there are obviously things that you teach and you develop, and those are all important skills.
00:07:25:23 - 00:07:47:21
Wayne Mulder
But law enforcement was really the ability to go out and help people. Now, I know, I know what you're thinking, that that's cliché, right? And every time we have an oral board, every time you sit down and if you're not familiar with what an oral board is, but typically for promotional purposes, hiring purposes and so forth, you sit down in front of a panel of people and it's called an oral board.
00:07:47:23 - 00:08:18:05
Wayne Mulder
And typically for people, I've seen as many as five people, seven people, but usually you have, say, either corporate or detect. You'll have a sergeant, you'll have a lieutenant, possibly a captain, or some spread like that where they're getting different perspectives. Right. And every time you sit down for one of these oral boards, one of the questions they always ask are one of the derivatives of questions that they always ask is why do you want to be in law enforcement or what brought you to law enforcement?
00:08:18:08 - 00:08:43:12
Wayne Mulder
And you'll typically get the I want to help people and sometimes that almost becomes cliche. It almost becomes like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you. I hear you, I hear you. Yeah, but why did you really want to do this? You know? Well, I needed a paycheck. Okay, well, that's honest. Maybe. Maybe you did. But at the end of the day, it really is an opportunity to help people and not in the way you think.
00:08:43:15 - 00:09:06:08
Wayne Mulder
Because anyone who watches just like cop shows or maybe even, like, sometimes LAPD's maybe a little bit better. But still, there's a certain sensationalism that sells. Watching something on television, they're not showing those hours of boredom. Right? Remember that law enforcement is hours of boredom with moments of terrifying excitement. Well, what they want to show is the terrifying excitement, because those are the moments that sell.
00:09:06:08 - 00:09:24:20
Wayne Mulder
That's what glues you to the TV. Watching that canine on the track, you know why you have a camera right up on them. That's why you're watching it. If you're a civilian, it's not because of, you know, the hours that they sat there typing in their car, preparing for this or the time that they spent there just trying to help somebody solve a problem.
00:09:24:22 - 00:09:45:07
Wayne Mulder
Or maybe at 1:00 in the morning, they're out there fixing their sprinklers. Yes, I've done that, you know, all sorts of things. But what it is in law enforcement is this opportunity to help people. So I started going through the academy and I started realizing, well, some of these soft skills, some of these things are the things that I enjoy and that I could bring to this profession.
00:09:45:07 - 00:10:06:13
Wayne Mulder
So then I started looking into it. Long story short, I ended up getting hired and then I came into the career field. And throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to start very early with teaching, with being able to help out at a local academy, doing things that much like this podcast allow me to give back, because I think that that's an important part of what we do.
00:10:06:16 - 00:10:31:23
Wayne Mulder
One of the things that I get a lot, one of the feedback, the pushback that I get a lot is, well, why would anyone want to be in law enforcement these days? Right? And I think that that's a mistake. Now, let me put caveats in here, because there's always caveats. Again, when I'm talking to people across the country, you have to boil it down to who are you talking to and what specifically is the environment in which they're working.
00:10:31:23 - 00:10:54:01
Wayne Mulder
Right. So there are certain states, certain cities, certain areas. You're absolutely right. Maybe working in law enforcement right now. Right. There is not a smart move. It may not even be a safe move. It might not even be a good move. Right. It might not be good for your family. It might not be good for their safety. It might not be good for, you know, if they've eliminated qualified immunity in that state, I wouldn't I wouldn't walk.
00:10:54:01 - 00:11:15:22
Wayne Mulder
I would run. So let me preface what I'm saying in that there are some areas where the politics and the belief system and just the direction were going that I wouldn't work in that state either. And I wouldn't blame you for running. And I think that if they don't change something, people who fit the mold of what I'm describing here aren't going to go work.
00:11:15:22 - 00:11:41:27
Wayne Mulder
They're right. It's going to be the people that you don't want in that position. But that's a different conversation for another day. But outside of those areas, and until they turn around and their politics change and so forth, but there are a lot of good states, good counties, good areas that are very pro law enforcement and that want good men and women out there serving on the serving on the front lines.
00:11:42:00 - 00:12:01:21
Wayne Mulder
I had the advantage of one time being on a podcast and the speaker, the guy that I was talking to, he brought up a question about, you know, what is it? You know, you go to these terrible scenes, right? You go to maybe it's a suicide that just occurred. Maybe it's a child death, maybe it's a, you know, the worst of the worst.
00:12:01:21 - 00:12:25:09
Wayne Mulder
Maybe it's maybe it's Easter morning. And mom just ran out to get a couple items for her kids for their Easter basket. And she pulls out onto a very busy road and gets drunk and never makes it home. That morning I've seen all those calls and he asked me why? Why do you continue to do this or why would you tell somebody to come into this field?
00:12:25:11 - 00:12:50:28
Wayne Mulder
And I thought about it for a moment and I looked at him and I said, because the way I look at it and I'm telling you, the way I look at it is that in that moment, I'm thankful that I'm the one that can be there. Right. We, as law enforcement get the opportunity to be sometimes the best thing that can happen in that moment on somebody's worst day.
00:12:51:00 - 00:13:16:04
Wayne Mulder
You know, for I remember a few few years ago, I was on a seeing and I can't obviously go into details and so forth, but it was a horrible thing that had happened. It involved a suicide. It had just been observed. It involved a parent observing it and the older child and the parent was inconsolable just completely besides themselves.
00:13:16:06 - 00:13:41:04
Wayne Mulder
I could it couldn't be controlled. They were And as you would expect, if you're a parent, if you're listening to this, if you have children, then you understand exactly where I'm coming from. And they just couldn't be controlled. And in that moment, it was getting so bad that some of the younger officers and others that were around me were looking at this individual and we're thinking, well, maybe we need to hold them under like an involuntary hold.
00:13:41:04 - 00:14:05:16
Wayne Mulder
Something in some states like Florida, it's called a Baker Act. But you know, where you would get them and hold them to take them for some for to be evaluated for mental health just because he was so beside himself in this moment. And I remember distinctly walking up to him and just deciding to hug him. I'm not suggesting you do that.
00:14:05:16 - 00:14:23:28
Wayne Mulder
I'm not suggesting that it's the right thing to do. There's obviously officer safety issues and stuff that you've got to make your own decision in the moment. But in the moment, what I felt needed to be, what needed to be happen and there were some other things and so forth on the scene that allowed this to happen as well and maintain, you know, safety and so forth.
00:14:24:00 - 00:14:51:22
Wayne Mulder
But I just locking them in when that human touch, that human connection took place, I could just feel his body just like give out almost like just go into a sense of relaxation. Now, he was still distraught. He was still in pain. He still had seen what he'd seen and he is still going to suffer. And he was still going to go through the stages of grief and all that was still going to happen.
00:14:51:25 - 00:15:17:07
Wayne Mulder
But in that moment, we were able to bring something into that moment that hopefully makes it better in some small way, brings light into someone's darkest moment. And that to me is what I think when people are like, Why? Why still work in law enforcement? Why? Why do you still do this? Why do you suggest other people come into this career?
00:15:17:10 - 00:15:37:07
Wayne Mulder
Because I think it can still be one of the most rewarding careers. Well, listen to me plainly. You didn't come in. Nobody comes into law enforcement to get rich. And if you're coming into law enforcement for the money, you're a fool. I'll just say it plainly. Yeah, I mean it. It's not. Why you should choose this career. There's there's other ways to make money.
00:15:37:07 - 00:15:55:03
Wayne Mulder
There's easier ways to make money. My goodness. Now we get paid fairly. And as you move up, you'll make decent wages. I mean, it's fair money. There's I in no way complaining about the money. I've never quite understood the people that do. I think for what we do, it's it's very fair and you can raise a family on it.
00:15:55:03 - 00:16:20:02
Wayne Mulder
You can you know, sometimes it's a struggle and sometimes you pray and a little bit more, but it can be done and there's nothing wrong with that. But you don't come into this career for the money. You don't come into this career because that for some of these ancillary reasons that I hear on social media where people are like, Oh, well, you just want to, you know, arrest people.
00:16:20:02 - 00:16:38:24
Wayne Mulder
You just want to, you know, it's this badge, heaviness that resonates with people and really upsets them. And they they're like, well, that's what all cops are this way. Well, that's that's not true. You come into this career because you want to make a difference in the lives of others, because you want to have the opportunity to be there.
00:16:38:26 - 00:17:03:01
Wayne Mulder
You know, in some of those darkest moments when somebody is struggling, I find it a privilege to be the one that can be there. I look at it as, if not me, who? And I know that in that moment I can bring something in there that hopefully will make a positive difference for them. Then the last thing I want to mention, so I kind of discussed why I came into the career.
00:17:03:09 - 00:17:24:07
Wayne Mulder
I discussed why I stay in the career. But the other day when I was having a conversation with somebody and they were talking about the things we see. Right. Kind of the the ghost, if you would, the some of the traumatic incidents we go to. And then you're just never able to get that image out of your head.
00:17:24:09 - 00:17:48:24
Wayne Mulder
You you may even think of that image at the most inopportune times. I was talking with a friend of mine and he said exactly that. He said, you know, it's amazing to me I can be sitting there having a conversation with someone and all the sudden I'm seeing something from some grotesque seeing. And it's, you know, I just don't understand it, you know, And we talked about it for a while.
00:17:48:24 - 00:18:11:22
Wayne Mulder
And obviously, if some people and these the mental health side of this builds up and as we've talked about on here, there's some great counselors and some people that we can suggest. And sometimes it's just as simple as having these conversations, just understanding that these are normal responses because of the abnormal situations that we observe and the things that we go through.
00:18:11:24 - 00:18:37:15
Wayne Mulder
And I think that sometimes that gets lost as well because when we talk about law enforcement, mental health, we want to when we talk about supporting law enforcement, it's in this arena that they need the support. It's a knowing that, hey, this is normal. You you are doing an abnormal job. You are wanting to do this for the right reasons.
00:18:37:22 - 00:19:07:15
Wayne Mulder
You're wanting to be there to bring light into that moment of darkness. And because of that, you're going to see things, You're going to observe things, you're going to do things that aren't normal. They're normal, but they're abnormal events. And your response to those abnormal events is normal in a lot of ways. So law enforcement, mental health is making sure that we have the resources at the agency level, at the community level, that we're rallying around them.
00:19:07:15 - 00:19:28:27
Wayne Mulder
You know, it's more than coffee with a cop. It's making sure that your local law enforcement agency has the resources that needs in the mental health field and that we're supporting them because it is long as what happens is and this is kind of goes back to the states and the cities and so forth that I'm talking about, where there is a clear problem and you know which ones I'm talking about.
00:19:29:00 - 00:20:03:13
Wayne Mulder
You see them in the news all the time. You see things like we're going to get rid of qualified immunity and all this just complete craziness that you're seeing out there. And when it comes to those cities, one of the biggest things I hear as far as feedback from law enforcement officers is they don't feel supported. And when you don't feel supported by your community and you don't feel supported by your agency and you don't feel supported by your administration and you and so forth, and then you go through all the normal things we all have in our lives, that's when we start seeing these catastrophic things happen when it comes to law enforcement, mental
00:20:03:13 - 00:20:23:03
Wayne Mulder
health. So these are all related. So I just wanted to have a quick conversation with you this week. Kind of just talk to you about what's on my heart, just kind of tell you my story a little bit of how I came to law enforcement, why I stay in law enforcement. And then lastly, just encourage you, if you're in law enforcement, know your resources, right?
00:20:23:03 - 00:20:40:14
Wayne Mulder
I've had this talk before, but know who you would turn to. Maybe it's a peer support. Maybe it's actually going and sitting to talk to someone. Maybe it's just having conversations with friends. Maybe it's as simple as just making sure you make time every week or two to maybe have a bonfire in the backyard or go buy chickens like I did yesterday.
00:20:40:16 - 00:20:58:09
Wayne Mulder
You know, all these things that help us decompress the problem that I see or one of the struggles that I see with especially a lot newer officers is you're you're working your long 12 hour shifts or ten hour shifts or whatever you're on at your agency, and then you're working off duties and then you've got a new family.
00:20:58:09 - 00:21:18:18
Wayne Mulder
And what you're not doing is ever decompressing. In fact, you're trying to make so much hay while the sun is shining that you're not going to be ready for anything, let alone any sort of harvest. So I just encourage you to think about these things and hopefully this answer some of the questions and some of the feedback that I get on social media.
00:21:18:18 - 00:21:27:26
Wayne Mulder
So that does it for this week's Morning Roll Call. I'll see you Thursday in the interview room. I'll see you next Monday morning. Roll call. But in the meantime, I'm going to see you out there on the blue line.