Ep. 77 - Many of you know Dallas PD’s Joe King as the host of the compelling podcast “ATO: Bridging the Divide” which supports the mission of the Assist the Officer Foundation. Joe joined The Dallas Police Department in 1997, starting out in the Southeast Division. We talk about why he chose law enforcement, an early critical incident that sticks with him to this day, and how he quickly was drawn to street level narcotics and gangs which he worked for 20 years.

On July 7th, 2016, everything changed for Joe, the Dallas Police Department and Dallas. That night, while DPD was working an anti-police protest, a shooter opened fire on officers working the protest, killing five, injuring nine other officers and two civilians. Those we lost are known as the Dallas Five, and they include one of Joe’s close friends, Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens. Joe recounts how the tragic events of that night unfolded with much of the killing horrifyingly playing out on live television. He details the SWAT response and the hours-long standoff that resulted in the shooter’s being neutralized by a bomb on a remote-controlled bomb robot.

The shooting was the deadliest incident for US law enforcement since 9/ 11, surpassing the March 2009 shootings of four officers in Oakland, CA, and the November 2009 murders of four officers just south of Seattle in Lakewood, WA known as the Lakewood Four. Their deaths were preceded by the ambush murder of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton less than a month earlier. I lived in the greater Seattle area at the time and experienced the devastation of this tragedy. When the Dallas Five were killed, as I tell Joe, I may have been thousands of miles away, but my heart was with Dallas.

Joe shares the impact on him and his fellow officers. His journey through grief and the cumulative effect of prior traumas led him to seek help through the Assist the Officer Foundation’s confidential counseling.

Joe has since joined the board of the Foundation which is a non-profit that not only provides trauma support but also financial assistance to first responders in need. Joe amplifies the mission with the “ATO: Bridging the Divide” podcast for which he interviews first responders from Dallas and around the country. They share their stories of trauma and resilience and how their agencies handle wellness.

Joe also helped create and serves on Dallas PD’s Wellness Unit which takes a very proactive role in caring for Dallas police officers. That Unit and ATO were both put to the test following the 2024 ambush murder of Officer Darron Burks who, only a few months out of the Academy, was shot and killed while in his patrol car. Joe says, “the Wellness Unit snapped into action that night. It was really a night-and-day response from 2016 to 2024 with critical incident response.”

Thank you, Joe for all you have done and for all you do.

I’d like to honor The Dallas Five for their service and for paying the ultimate sacrifice to protect the rest of us:

Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens

Officer Patricio Enrique Zamarripa

Officer Michael Leslie Krol

Sgt. Michael Joseph Smith

DART Officer Brent Thompson

And to honor

Ep. 76 Andre Lemay’s law enforcement career spans 33 years starting in 1991 with the Pittsburg Police Department in the Bay Area of CA and later as special agent for the California Department of Justice, a role he had for 26.5 years.

We dive into his early critical incidents on patrol including his first life-or-death fight with a suspect who was not trying to get away, but who intended to do serious harm. Andre also talks about the harrowing experience of coming to the aid of fellow officers engaged in a shooting that nearly took their lives. He discusses achieving his dream assignment in Narcotics and the unique challenges of doing undercover work in the city in which he grew up.

In 1997, Andre joined a DOJ Task Force in CA while with Pittsburg PD and then in 1998, lateraled to the California DOJ as a special agent where he continued working in Narcotics. He later moved into the agency’s Bureau of Firearms where he investigated firearms crimes at the local, state, and federal levels. In 2011 he created a K9 firearms detection task force that sparked his passion for working with detection dogs. That passion became his next chapter following his retirement in 2024—founding K9 Bullseye Detection, a unique program that uses highly-trained firearms detection dogs for school safety including protection not only from gun violence but also from the spread of deadly drugs like fentanyl.

Andre reflects on the changes he has seen over the past 30+ years in terms of how drugs and illegal firearms ownership and sales are prosecuted, and we discuss the impact of policies that decriminalize drug use on law enforcement’s ability to get dangerous criminals off the street.

Check out Andre’s website where you also can find his contact info:

https://bullseyek9detection.net/

Andre’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-lemay-049257270/

Bullseye K9 Detection on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bullseyek9detection/

Also check out this article in Police Mag:

https://www.policemag.com/special-units/article/15736766/innovating-school-security

Thanks for listening to On Being a Police Officer. YOU are what keeps me going.

Police1 Q&A with me:

https://www.police1.com/patrol-issues/policing-podcast-profiles-on-being-a-police-officer-podcast-shares-the-raw-truth-behind-the-badge

Find me on my social or email me your thoughts:

Instagram: on_being_a_police_officer

Facebook: On Being a Police Officer

Abby@Ellsworthproductions.com

www.onbeingapoliceofficer.com

©Abby Ellsworth. All booking, interviews, editing, and production by Abby Ellsworth. Music courtesy of freesound.org

Ep. 75 – Strap in for a wild ride as On Being a Police Officer teams up with Cameron Santana of Santana True Crime to sit down with Eric Tansey—former cop, veteran, and host of the hit YouTube Show and Podcast Failure to Stop—to talk about his upcoming book, Pig Latin: A Seriously Funny True Story of a Former Police Officer, dropping August 26.

Because Cameron was Eric’s field training officer (featured in the book as Jayce), this is the only interview where you’ll get the story behind the story. And you’ll hear some Eric adventures that aren’t in the book.

Eric served with the Raleigh Police Department from 2012 to 2019, after his time as a U.S. Army paratrooper in Special Ops from 2003 to 2010. As Eric says, he joined the police force with a ton of unrealistic expectations. The reality of the job knocked him down and changed his perspective on everything. Always a magnet for uncanny, wild situations, Eric reveals exactly what it’s like to deal with everyday life as a police officer—from trying to tackle naked suspects to pepper spraying himself in the face, from dealing with an angry mob to coaxing suicidal subject off a bridge.

Beyond the darkly funny anecdotes, Eric explains how PIG LATIN aims to build empathy for law enforcement professionals and remind them they are not alone in their fears and mistakes. Tune in for an insider’s ride‑along that will make you laugh, cringe and see policing in a new light.

Also check out Ep. 74, a repost of my 2023 interview with Eric which covers not only the book, but his childhood, the breakdowns he’s done on Failure To Stop, how he became a sommelier and so much more.

Get his book on Amazon:

“Pig Latin: a seriously funny true story of a former police officer”

You can find Eric on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erictansey_official/

And Cameron: https://www.instagram.com/santanatruecrime/

Find me on my social or email me your thoughts:

Instagram: on_being_a_police_officer

Facebook: On Being a Police Officer

Abby@Ellsworthproductions.com

www.onbeingapoliceofficer.com

Check out this Police1 Q&A with me:

https://www.police1.com/patrol-issues/policing-podcast-profiles-on-being-a-police-officer-podcast-shares-the-raw-truth-behind-the-badge

©Abby Ellsworth. All booking, interviews, editing, and production by Abby Ellsworth. Music courtesy of freesound.org