WEBVTT - Police Officers J.D. Williams and Chris Walters 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.600 This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.879 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.880 Steve Smith Senior and I'm Little John, and this is 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:16.319 cut to it. Good do it, Good do it. Let's 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.880 getting down to do it. Good do it. We asked 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.120 the questions you always want to know, but no one 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:29.200 ever asked, Let's cut to it. You ain't heard am 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:34.680 about it? Then we're about to let you know. It's 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:46.800 all the very podcast. All right, j D, Chris, thanks 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:48.199 for coming on to cut to a podcast on this 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.880 special episode. WHOA whoa? Come on, and I old j 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.640 D and Chris. J D Williams and Chris. I gotta 0:00:54.640 --> 0:01:02.480 bring up my notes now Walters, Chris Walters before five 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.560 million episodes. That's the first time ever. So that's that's cool. 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.640 Uh yeah. J D Williams Chris Walters from Charlotte Mecklenburg 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.280 Police Department. We're happy to have you on and just 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.320 have some good conversation today. So our first segment is 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:17.440 called get iced Up. Go ahead and give them the 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.600 first one. You two ready a ready? All right, officers, 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:25.400 buckle up, bout the cups. I'm ready, all right, each 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:29.000 of you and YouTube decide rock paper sisters on who 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:35.760 goes first. What's the last book you've read? Two Nashi coats. 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:40.320 It was the last book. Impressive what you got, Chris, 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.000 the Bible? Read it every day. You should have said, 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:49.680 you should have because I usually I know it's the truth, 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.640 but it's the lazy truth. It's hard work being dedicated 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:59.400 to the Lord nice before the lightning because he said 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:01.560 it with a week to two points for the reversal. 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:10.320 I've known you for almost twenty years. Curse hmm, I'm 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:16.920 leaving footsteps all right, um j D. What did you 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:23.400 want to be growing up as a kid? Growing up, 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:30.200 I wanted to be uh okay, underwater photographer. Yeah yeah, 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.400 where that stand from? Um? I used to love watching 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.079 animal shows as a kid, and I swore out I 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:41.520 was gonna be the next job Cousto or something like that. Wow, okay, yeah, 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:43.760 what about you, Chris? You gotta think of a lie 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:45.680 now because you can't talk that. You can't say I 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.280 want to be a cartoon A lesson as cliche as 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.840 it is as law enforcement. And uh. The reason that 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.080 is is because I was seven years old at home, 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:00.280 single mom and by myself. She was of work and 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.240 I'm flipping through the channel's watching TV and the show 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:07.080 Cops is on, so I stopped. I look at it, 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:11.639 and it immediately enthralls me. So I immediately associated that 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:17.480 to what a man was, fast, strong, authoritative, sheep dog protector. 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:19.799 And my mom came home that day and I told 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.480 her I was gonna be a man with shoe. You know, 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.760 when I grew up, I've been alone. That's my goal 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:29.880 the entire time being law voiceman. Now, how do you 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:33.880 christ Now I'm forty two. If you're talking about the 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.360 same cops, I'm talking about the fast people weren't in 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:42.560 the uniform back in the day cops, Well, I'm just 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:48.120 as a seven year old laughing like Steve got a 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:52.480 point like the old like the new Cops, the old 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.280 cop BacT when it first started, good Luck used to 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:04.960 outrun You better pump up those d Browns. You're gonna 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:10.200 need them all right, Chris? Do you prefer baths or showers? 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.160 Is a LUFA involved, brother? I don't care what you do. 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.640 I'm a shower. I'm a shower guy. Okay, cool bath 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:26.719 ice bass ice bass Yeah, keeps my joints good. Okay, 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.880 you one of those? Yeah, I knew that would come 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:34.040 out smell like being gay pretty much icy hot. Now 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:40.640 it's probably it's evolved. I gotta it was called cream 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:45.040 of Jesus. That freeze only fix anything. My chicking out 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:50.800 my neck puts bio freeze on. Chris. Favorite family vacation. 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:57.239 You've had cruises A lottle cruisers, okay, j D. Cross 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.280 country trips in my family? Um, grandmother, what do you 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.159 consider cross country from Calia to New York? Okay? Cool? 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.080 I just want to make sure I've met some folks. 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:15.200 They left the county, but they considered traveler from It's 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:20.520 a different trip, different strokes with different else. Yeah cool, 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.440 all right, last one with having two cops here, I 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:34.320 have to ask this question. So choices crossops, bagels or donuts? Donuts? 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:41.240 Absolutely donuts? Now sign is on contractually obligated to have you. 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:43.680 Have you ever eaten a doughnut? You get it from 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:51.560 Alright cake or Chrispy Crane cake. That's the West Coast 0:05:51.720 --> 0:06:02.760 the world runs on, don't get ri Charlotte created from 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:13.680 the Pauls Pauls. Wow, all right, let's moving on. Okay, 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:22.560 So favorite sports scene growing up? What about you? Chris? 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.400 I was a Vikings fan until the Panthers came. We 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.599 didn't have a So you didn't like you didn't like 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.960 Washington football team. Everybody here like the Washington or Dallas 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:37.400 if you were if you were a Dallas fan, then 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.880 you were a Laker fan, and you were a Yankee 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.160 fans like everybody's as a whole bunch of those rings. 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.279 So I'm already starting to see you the opposite. So 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:51.480 it's like, no Washington, Karen shar let me go in Minnesota, Okay, 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.520 just going against the grain. Well, you know, just what 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.720 I like to eat, what I like to watch. Chris, 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.880 Where are you from in the place you call your hometown? Um? 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:04.719 From Charlotte. UH was raised on the East Side. Lived 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.880 with my mother in a single, one bedroom apartment. She 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.640 had a twin bed on one end of the bedroom 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:12.920 and I had a twin bed on the other end 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.680 of the bedroom. And um, you know, I lived there 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:21.320 paycheck to paycheck until I was probably levin and we 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:26.400 moved to uh two bedroom house off of Lawyer's Room 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.560 right outside of Man Hill and I lived there until 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:38.760 I graduated high school. Okay from Riverside, I e And 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.360 I said I was there my whole life until I 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:47.400 went to the Marine Corps of Special Ops and then, um, 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:49.360 we're talking about earlier. I was on the All ring 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.480 boxing team, moved to Vegas when I got out to 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:56.560 go pro and uh realized real quickly, need to get 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:02.040 a job at round. Did you realized, Oh, man, god 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.960 is it's a whole long story. But tell me which 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:09.720 round you got yours? I'd say probably when my tooth 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:14.800 got broken that changed your mind. I mean other than that, 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.600 the story was like you had the typical boxer story, right, 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:19.400 you grow up in Cali, then you go to Vegas 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.040 to train and then tooth broke. Yeah, that's what I said. 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:25.840 I said, what ash? What? What round? Did you get 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:35.600 your ass whooped? That made you change the entire It's 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:40.480 like from from well I lost the tooth, I can't 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.400 hear out of my right ear. From the side of 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:47.600 being everybody got a plant, they get punched in the mouth. Yeah, 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:49.320 if I gotta player to get punched in the face, 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.240 and they too fall out. Swallowed it. I swallowed I 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:54.840 thought it was a piece of my mouthpiece. Man, I 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.560 swallowed it. That'll make cancer your plans. That's his name. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.920 I remember some nineteen year old Hispanic kids, straight straight 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:06.440 out of Texas. Woe me out? How many rounds? It 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.640 was an exhibition, so we were doing like force. You 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:15.080 got your answer for press? Oh yeah yeah, finish Yeah yeah. 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:17.920 That's how I knew my tooth was broken. Training was 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:23.400 asked me questions. We're sorry, yeah yeah, but I was old. 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.280 You know, that's what the problem is, you know, being 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.240 a professional athlete year old yea for for boxing. I 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.320 was in the Marine Corps first, and when I got out, 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:37.559 I was trying to go pro boxing. Negative, you're behind 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:42.840 the power curve, brother, I'm not sure how to follow up. 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:54.200 I'm sorry, sorry, and exactly you're supposed Yeah, yeah, it's 0:09:54.240 --> 0:10:00.840 like beat up. It's like no so so growing up 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:03.079 in in Cali for U j D. And in Charlotte, 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.760 how did how did growing up in those places shape 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:10.559 your outline or outlook on life today? Be honest with you. 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.880 I never had, never, never had any aspirations to be 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.240 in the police office, never had any aspiration to being 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.200 a law enforcement In fact, I was one of those kids. 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:23.079 Um and Steve, we're from the same spot. You know, 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.160 if this was gangbanging, you know, it was a line. 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:27.360 You know, it was kind of teetering. But I never 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:28.920 got any trouble or anything like that. You know, I 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.120 had a good head on my shoulders. Um. But I 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:33.480 you know, to be honest with you as a kid, 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.559 I you know I wouldn't. I wasn't pro police at all. 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.600 Why um, I mean, you know you know how it 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.040 was back then you had to uh you had the 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.920 task Force, you know Sam Ridino County Sheriff's Apartment, Riverside 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:49.280 County l A. How do you uh forty nine? So 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.839 you were we were on the same time frame. Especially 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:57.200 Riverside Semi Valley was not the police department in Los 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:01.000 Angeles as well liked or well respected. Why because you 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.679 had to Rodney King, and you know you had to 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.880 Rodney King, which led to the Reginald Denny to red Ship, 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.040 led to l A RDS YEA and before and before 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:15.440 we got into a culture of policing where it was 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.600 taboo it's taboo now to profile. Back then, profile and 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.560 was how they did their work. You know, they're going 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.199 to certain neighborhoods and look for people that fit the description, 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:30.560 and they stopping and you know, harass you know, ask 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.560 your questions where you're going, where you've been where you're 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.960 coming from. Uh, my prom night I got proned out. 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.320 We in tuxedos. You know, they were just doing it 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.920 to be jerks. So but what changed my outlook? And 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.760 as a single dad, Um, that was special ops in 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:47.079 the Marine Corps. I got told you so when I 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.840 got out, I was either gonna be a cop or fireman. Um. 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:55.480 And there was a point where I realized that you 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.960 gotta fight the battle from within. So so let me 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.480 stop you right there. Because Chris, as you hear j 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.599 D say that what do you not to put you 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:08.080 on the spot, and putting you on the spot, what 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:12.000 do you what do you feel? Or says because you 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:19.479 are a white police officer. Hearing how how that impacted 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.920 j D as a black man, but it didn't deter him. However, 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.600 hearing a police officer say that back in the day, 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:33.400 it's disturbing, Like I think we've found where the there's 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:39.520 a disconnect in humanity right. Uh. When I grew up, 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:45.679 I grew up on the East Side, low income housing. Um, 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:51.880 I didn't see a difference in people any personally. That 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.160 didn't all of my friends, you know, you say I've 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.160 heard that though I hear people say that you. I 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:01.560 don't see a difference in pol growing up. I didn't 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.720 I was eight years old. That that is something to me. 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.640 I believe it's taught, and that was not taught in 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.720 my household. I was not taught. I was. I just 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.560 I've never I've never had that opportunity to ask someone 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.320 because I've heard you know you sometimes people don't see color, 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.080 you can't use your color. But but I get where. 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:20.880 I get where you come from from it to where 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:25.600 when when you're in that neighborhood and you're surrounded by 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.559 you don't know what this, but everybody isn't afforded this. 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:34.280 I think it's a social economic placement issue that I 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:38.880 found myself in. I was an under educated mom who 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.960 didn't even graduate high school, working paycheck to paycheck. I 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:46.400 distinctly remember going over to my neighbor's house with a 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:48.679 five gallon bucket to fill the water up because our 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.040 water was turned off to flush the toilet. Right, But 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.360 it's it's what we lived with. I mean that that 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.400 you that was my norm, right, Like that is what 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:01.600 my best friend Terrence grow went up, my other best 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:06.079 friend Taiwan growing up like that is what we experience 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:10.240 growing up and we never I thought we were different 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.079 from one another. That was how we connected and related 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.640 to one another. I think that's interesting you say that, 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:20.720 and I love that comparison. It's damn there impossible to 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.400 feel like you're different when the stuff you don't have 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:29.520 your neighbors don't have, right, Yeah, Like I mean what 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:36.160 you're saying is growing up my grandparents and in their place, man, 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.680 we had to We had the bowl in the sint, 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.880 you wash your hands and unless you did number two, 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.760 you use the you use the water when it got 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:51.720 high enough to dump the pa to make it flush. Yep, 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.920 you know, because you that's just how it was that, 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.160 you know. So for me that that was that was 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.120 my our standard. That's what that was what we had 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.040 to the point of where when I went back home 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:08.400 with my kids, when they pulled up to uh to 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.480 Grandma and Grandpa Betty and Frank's house on a three 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:19.880 forty nine Eastern ut, they look like, what is this 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.000 one of my book? My boy, my oldest now tree. 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:28.200 We've traveled across We've traveled around the world. And I 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:33.000 mean to say that not in bragging contact. Years before 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:37.320 we went to Italy, but he says we've been in Mexico. 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.760 He says, those just look like the homes in Mexico, 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:45.040 daddy shanties. H m hm. Where did you get that? 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:49.880 He got? That is bikes where we traveled on vacation. 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.320 He saw that similarity is where I grew up because 0:15:54.360 --> 0:16:01.040 that was his reality. That j D mentioned what his 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.320 interaction was with the police when he was younger, Chris, 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.040 what was yours? I never really had much. I remember 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.479 them in the neighborhood, driving through, but I never physically 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:17.240 saw any kind of interaction with law enforcement and community 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:18.960 members like I just never saw it. But my mom 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.360 also kept a tight leash on me because again working 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.360 paycheck to paycheck, I wasn't allowed to be outside. Uh, 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.760 she wasn't home and so that gave me roughly, on average, 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.120 about forty five minute window to be outside from the 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.320 time that she was home and then the lights came 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:37.480 on and I had to come home. You know, you're 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:47.160 a latch key, kidd, and I but the string break 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:52.600 your mom put on the on the I D Dog 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:55.560 tag when no dog. That just the key. You get 0:16:55.560 --> 0:17:00.600 those done at Walmart? Remember you lose that key? I mean, 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.160 I asked that was that was I was not afraid of, Hey, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.000 my key is going. I was afraid of the look 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:09.000 and the reaction I was gonna get from my mom 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:11.639 when I got you know, she got home. Don't let 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.200 me be sitting on the porch still when she pulls up. 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.359 At what point for both of you, guys, I guess, 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:25.840 at what point did you realize that becoming a police 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:35.680 officer was okay? What was the reception from your friends, family, 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.840 and and people you you interacted with and you also 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:50.159 respected their opinion? Ah, for me, it was a split. Um. 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:51.919 Of course, your parents always gonna be proud of you. 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.879 My grandparents were real proud, but a lot of the 0:17:56.160 --> 0:18:01.280 younger generation my age and younger in my family, Um, 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:03.200 they were cool. But it was you know, you could 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.879 always tell you know, j D here, you know the 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:11.159 cop here, you know Popo here, you know? And I 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:17.040 think it. You learn to be able to conduct conversations 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:22.480 with your family and your friends real fast, because anytime 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:26.520 something happens, you're the sounding board, right as a black man, 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.560 as a cop, you're the sounding board. Why y'all do this? 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.160 Why do pl you know, police do that? Why they 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:38.600 do this? You know? And to have those conversations and 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:43.320 walk away with your family and still have respect, respect 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:46.800 and and maybe hopefully give somebody understanding. Like I get 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.480 a quick example, I got a homeboy back home. This 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.520 dude been shot twice. Uh, he got shot in high school. 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:56.000 He got shot pie about ten years ago, and his 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:59.719 mom's house got shot up twice. But then he'll call 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:05.560 me like, like, please keep shooting people? Like is that 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.680 you know? But you you've been shot twice by people 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.240 that probably looked like you. UM. So to be able 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.920 to sit down with him and have that conversation, um, 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:19.040 I think it's empowering at times, but it's also draining. 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:23.960 Draining is exhausting, Yes, sir, what about you? Chris? For me, 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.240 um family side, it was just like I said, just 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:32.000 me and my mom. She's passed. Uh. She always said 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:33.879 that she was going to support me and whatever I 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.199 did right, and she knew that was my goal. But 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.960 she instilled in me if that's something you want to do, 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:41.840 you have to get out of this cycle. And that's 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:45.240 what I was talking about earlier about the social economic cycle. Right, 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:46.840 you have to get out of the cycle. And the 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.520 way you get out of that cycle is education. You 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.439 have to graduate high school. You have to. And so 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.840 as I got older, I did my research and realized 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:59.040 that I have to have a high school diploma. I 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.240 don't have to have a college degree, because in my mind, 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:04.920 I'm waiting for a local church to come and bring 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.480 me food from their food pantry. I certainly cannot afford 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:13.879 to go to college. My mom didn't know that I 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:16.840 was a prime candidate to get, you know, free money 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:18.680 to pay for me to go to college based on 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:22.320 our social economic status. But she had not even graduated 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:26.080 high school herself. And so that's where the I just 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:27.600 knew I had to I had to make it to 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.439 graduation of high school, and that was the focus that 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:32.960 I had. I got my first job when I was 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:38.080 thirteen to help pay bills because I got tired of 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.520 the water being cut off, the power being cut off 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.600 until pay day. I remember how excited Friday's came. When 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:48.399 she got paid. She went and got her check cashed 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:50.879 and we went to Pizza Hut. I mean that was 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:53.800 like I was getting a hot meal. I was free 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.680 reduced lunch. I got. That was my hot meal the week. 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:59.040 I remember how excited I was with that. So she 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.800 said to get out of the cycle. You have to 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:04.359 get an education. And so that's where I stayed in. 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:06.480 You know, I made sure I did what I was 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:10.240 supposed to do and finished out high school. Friends some 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.160 have come and gone, which is natural. That happens with 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:18.879 no matter what, right that that that happens. Um you 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:21.640 can see and like I when I was in recruiting, 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.199 I used to tell people also that you'll see the 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:29.879 difference of who your true friends are, right because regardless 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.080 of what you're doing as a career, if we're we're boys, 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:36.399 you're gonna be my boy, right because at the end 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:40.119 of the day, you define the uniform. You don't let 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:45.840 the uniform define you. Right. So I'm Chris Walters in uniform, 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:50.440 I'm Chris Walters out of uniform. That's just who I am, right, 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:54.040 And so you can see when people start to distance themselves. 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:56.479 It's like, where you really my boy? To begin with, 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.520 we have to take a break and morning thing. We 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:09.240 gotta pay some bills. You got checks. I love cut 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:11.880 to It and I love it even more when you 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:16.040 download us and subscribe and you can follow us on 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:19.280 social media too. Smithie, where where at that's at? Cut 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:24.480 to It on Instagram? What about Twitter at cut to It, Facebook, 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:28.600 cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr what about online? 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:31.480 And you can follow us at cut to It podcast 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:34.719 dot com where you can buy merch and you can 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:38.200 subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got 0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:41.679 all my answers questions. UM, yeah, I got all my 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:45.320 questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother cut 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:49.760 to a podcast dot com. Well, let's get into the 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:53.560 career stuff. You know, what's what's what's the best part 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:58.919 of the job working with kids, um, especially when you 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:01.080 have an opportunity to show up in the neighborhood or 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:05.800 uh particular community in uniform and have a positive interaction 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:07.720 with young kids because a lot of these kids they 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:15.160 only see officers responding to negative situations, people getting arrested, 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:20.800 you know, chaos. UM. And I understand that because of 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:24.480 you know, to Chris's point, socio economic situations. You have 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:27.240 a lot of children that live in areas where they're 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:32.159 exposed to trauma daily at a young age, and it's normalizing. 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:36.359 It's normalized, like someone so shooting at each other on 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:40.080 the corner. It's normal for them, and that's not normal. 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:43.600 And then the police responding and having all kinds of 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:46.240 chaos in their in their neighborhood. That's not normals. Now 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:49.760 how a kid is supposed to grow up. So you know, 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.720 when I have those opportunities there to coach and work 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:57.199 with pal and and just have those kind of and 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:01.520 I try to be in uniform or some kind of uniform. 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:05.240 Um intentionally, that's intentional. And I went to one of 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:09.640 your camps, uh, I think you had at Artcael ago 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:11.920 years ago, and I would show up and I would 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:14.920 always have something because I have volunteered, and I would 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.520 have something that represented me being a cop, so that 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:19.600 we can open up conversations and then these kids can 0:24:19.640 --> 0:24:21.879 walk away and be like, yeah, you know Officer j D. 0:24:22.040 --> 0:24:24.000 He helped me, you know, run my routes or he 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:26.879 helped me do whatever. Um. I played football for the 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:33.560 Cobra's the Charlotte Police and Fire team. UM. And any 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:35.880 chance we had, you know, to interact with those kids 0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:38.240 so that way they can be exposed to police officers 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:41.280 on a positive level. If you don't mind, let's talk. 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:45.640 Can we talk about those stigmas, because I think there's 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:50.320 a stigma as a I'm a law body citizen. There's 0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:53.439 this stigma with the police, and I think to some 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:57.240 degree some police officers, there's a stigma that not everybody 0:24:57.440 --> 0:25:01.080 is a law body and citizen right for various reasons, 0:25:01.280 --> 0:25:05.240 because of maybe what they experienced as a kid or adult, 0:25:05.359 --> 0:25:08.400 or a teenager or a college student and vice versa. 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:10.960 So I want to run through some scenarios that me 0:25:11.000 --> 0:25:14.399 and Gerard have been through, and I want you to 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:19.800 walk me through and my off base with this, okay, 0:25:20.520 --> 0:25:24.160 and you can tell me, Steve, that was BS or 0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:27.359 you know, even what did you do? What you know 0:25:27.480 --> 0:25:30.800 were you just to really just to walk through it, 0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:34.359 almost like you know, talking about football. A couple of 0:25:34.480 --> 0:25:39.560 years ago, I'm back home coming visited family. We were 0:25:39.560 --> 0:25:42.680 down to UH, down to Santa Monica Pier right at 0:25:42.680 --> 0:25:44.800 my own stomping grounds. I used to actually work at 0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:47.640 the UH at the Ferrisville and Settlement at the State 0:25:47.680 --> 0:25:51.719 Monica Pier. Right. So we're we're staying in Orange County. 0:25:52.960 --> 0:25:58.200 I'm driving all the way back now it's about West 0:25:58.200 --> 0:26:01.560 Coast time. I I'm in the car full of family. 0:26:01.720 --> 0:26:03.720 I got my beautiful wife in the front seat, I 0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:06.320 got my my three Deuce wasn't even born, so I 0:26:06.320 --> 0:26:09.200 had my three kids in the back at that time. Um, 0:26:09.240 --> 0:26:11.960 so it's just six years ago. Um, six and alfe 0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:15.879 years ago, he'd be seven. Uh this shot. So so 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:18.080 I'm starting, you know, I'm looking around. I can't turn 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:20.600 the radio up any you know anymore, because then I 0:26:20.680 --> 0:26:23.720 wake up, the wake up the kids. And so I'm 0:26:23.760 --> 0:26:26.080 going and I'm driving, and I can feel myself now, 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:28.080