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Iron Smoke Distillery in Fairport, from the mac of All Trade Studio in Fairport
and driven by Victor Chrysler Dods, Jupe Brahm. It's Bilified the Bill Moran
Podcast, Well, hello and welcome. Thanks for getting your pond on,
Thanks for telling a friend. That's how we spread the word about the Pirate
Ship. Today, I am very honored to be sitting with Todd Baxter,
the Sheriff of Monroe County, a thirty six year veteran of law enforcement twenty
two years in Rochester. I didn't realize you had done twenty two years in
the city of Rochester as an RPD. I started in eighty seven and then
retired after twenty two years as a captain, okay, as a captain there,
and then went on to be the chief of police in Greece. Well,
it was quite a transitional time. I have to say. I know
that I have long flowing hairlic cures, but Greece, well all that I
mean that that that's a lot of give back. Tell me more about what
was growing up, Like, where are you from originally? Yeah, so
I was born in Alleghany County. I often joke I was born in Cuba,
Cuba, New York. Yeah, okay, but my parents moved up
here when I was one. So I grew up in the city of Rochester.
So you did, yeah, thirty school and Jefferson High School. And
what did your parents do? My father was working for railroads down in Allegheny
County. They got a nice job at General Motors. He worked die cast
for thirty two years at Rochester Products and okay, Walton Metal and making our
carburetors for a car was there always a sentiment to give back or to be
of service? You know? That certainly seems to be in your DNA.
But I don't know if that was something that you just have intuitively inside yourself,
or was taught to you or both. I think I seen it with
my mother and my mother sided a family. When I said my dad,
my stepfather raised me. But he was a hardcore guy, you know,
heavy drinker and worked worked hard. I mean thirty two years in die Cast.
But my mother and her side of a family from down you know,
the southern tier, and they're always doing something for someone else. That's what
they do, right. They're always helping out the neighbor farm, or they're
going to you know, help someone that's sick, or they're taking care of
the elderly people. And good to Christian values if you will. Yeah,
and grew up with that and just you know, give back. Yeah,
we often call them Christian values. They just seem to be almost human golden
rule, you know what I mean. There's always like the Ten Commandments,
like if you actually followed those, ye're a pretty good person. Yeah.
For all City Rocket, it's not at all. I don't, I don't,
uh, I don't understand that. How about you don't steal? Well,
well let's argue about that. I mean, that's that's that sort of
thing I would think for sure, when when you look back, what who
taught you the most in your life? Do you think? Would you say?
Your mom? Yeah? I think just watching her example, like,
yeah, you know I was. I was. I don't want to give
a whoe story, but I grew up in a difficult hollow as my father
was a hard worker, drinker, but you know, he's my stepfather,
but he raised us. So I'm always looking for the silver lining. And
my mother tolerated a lot with the drinking and a divorce and all this sud
coming up the Rochester at Alleghany County, and I watched her go to work.
She drove the school bus in the city routs for thirty some years.
Wow. She went to the hospital twice on her job drive. She's been
in the hospital as many times as I've been as a cop. I think
just driving school bus in the city, I from student had assaulted, you
know, really being assaulted in the bus. So but she was always doing
something else too. She was always involved in little parties or getting helping people
out. Yeah, and just watch that. And I didn't know what I
was gonna do out of high school. Bill, I'm not exaggerated when you
look at like letters I used to write home when I was in the army.
Yeah, I was illiterate. People people have no People make fun of
my spelling still to this day. But I was literally I didn't have a
lot of schooling and a lot of education, a lot of directions. But
I looked at my stepfather, he was a soldier many years ago, and
I said, you know, maybe I'll go in the army. That's what
transformed my whole life. That's really interesting. So it kind of gave you
that that inner. Yeah, you learn direction, maybe, yeah, you
learn values, you know, yeah we're joking about Christian values a second goal.
But you learn teamwork, you learn a spree of corps, you learn
you know, you can't do anything by yourself. I mean, these are
not cliche things. This is what makes people successful in life. Diversity,
you know, the Army is diversity. So those things, you know,
A drill starting taught me a lot in thirty you know, twenty two years
in the United States Army taught me a lot about serving other people. And
sacrifice and things like that, and then you went into the reserves for nineteen
years. Right, yeah, so three years active duty an MP military police
officer right on high school. And there's a luck of the draw. I
didn't even know I wanted to be a cop. I didn't grow up I
want to be a cop, and never clarssed my mind. Actually used to
throw snowballs at police cars. I noticed street Rochester and run. But you
know, I took the recruiter test, the ASDAB is called, and right
before I right after my senior year in high school, I said I'll go
in the army. I took the test and the score gives you an option
of what you could do, and one of the options was you scored height
enough to be a military police officer. I just seen a cool picture of
an MP with a canine, said can I do that? And of course
the recruiter so, sure you can do that. I haven't had a dog
yet. But that led me to MP work, which was a bunch of
young people that want to be cops. So I said, you know,
I think I want to be a police officer. It's interesting. I love
your I love what you said earlier. I can't spell. When you look
at the letters, they were illiterate, and I think a lot of times
that become something that is seeing. You can see it right, educate.
Education in my family was a big deal. My dad has a doctor in
philosophy, my sister is a doctor in linguistics. My mom's got a master's
in speech pathology. I went to Fisher, that's it. I did the
radio and then this. But uh, you know, education was always a
big deal. However, I think what I've seen with my guys and what
I kind of get with you is I've always said, uh, as long
as you have a motor to do something. One guy was going to do
well in school, really well. One guy I could see wasn't. But
he's working in a factory and uh, waiting tables. But the things now
to sound literate. We have all these great tools that if you use them
properly, AI to help you write something, spell Check, all this you
can get, you can come by because the ideas are what we're looking for,
you know, and getting the idea out and having that motor to do
something, yes, yeah, but being illiterate, yes, and not being
that I mean that that hurts, right, Yeah, so I'm get away
with high school. I went to Jeffers High School. I you can get
away with a lot and just keep on moving forward. Just be a halfway
decent kid. You move forward and you can graduate. But you know,
going in the army and realizing that this is a lot of this is embarrassing,
right, this is you know, so the self driving not to make
yourself better. You know it spell checks a beautiful thing, but still you
got to be able to talk the language. You gotta be able articulate.
You're and now you know, my letters aren't perfect anymore, but I can
write a good essay. I mean, during that time, did you go
and try to then improve yourself in those areas for the master's degree? And
you know from literally Bill, I from this is amazing. Yeah, I
ended up with the master's degree, but that took years and years, a
year of self education and self you know, in learning from people. Yeah,
I got family and friends and don't mind telling me I screwed up.
So you know when you spell the word wrong, and I you know,
people let you know, and you just learn each time. You just make
yourself a little better every day. Right, That's what I did after high
school. Well, I always think like it's you know, it's an old
cliche thing that you would always hear they say to movies and they say that
in boxing gyms. Is you know it's one step, one punch, one
round, right, and a lot of times, well we'll hear these what
what I believe are cliche terms of it's the journey. Well, yeah,
it kind of is, because if you got everything that was coming to you
all want, you couldn't handle it right, So you kind of go along
and you incrementally get better. And I'll always say to like my guys,
you're like, I'm getting frustrated. I go, yeah, you can't get
there from here, but you know what, you can't get here, so
you can't get there half step forward. It's like a diet, you know.
Yeah, I'll wait one time. You can gain it back in a
week. It takes a couple of months to lose. St Patrick's that we'll
do that to you. What is a day in a life for you,
like now as as the sheriff of Monroe County Because it seems like it,
I don't know, do that Do you have days or they just hours upon
hours that they're literally hours, hours there's no weekends. No, that's part
of the job. You don't you don't go and say I'm going to punch
a clock in nine to five, or I'm gonna have this weekend off.
A weekend off for Mary and I is a very chureish thing, right,
we got to put that on the calendar, make it happen. But you
know, wake up in the morning and you're checking emails right off the bat,
and usually one of them is pissing you off, and you don't get
your blood pressure going. And uh, but I lead an organization of twelve
hundred people. I have eight hundred people that are incarcerated underneath my responsibility.
So I got two thousand people every day that that need something right or need
me to do something for them to make them successful. And so it's a
it's a full time job. It'll never end. And that's the nature of
the beast right as it rolls through. So when we say what do you
do to unwind that? And I do know one of the things that I
know you've done, No, no to go down to uh do the baja
ro. Yeah, that to me sounds the coolest. And there's document there's
a documentary online you could actually go watch. Yeah, check it out sixty
three hours. It's called Ryan Green, a local kid here went and went
to the last Baja we did. We've done through them and he went down
there to document it. But he actually became one of the team members.
Yeah, but yeah, that's that's I do the adventure things for outlets,
you know. And I have a wonderful wife and she lets me go on
a Last year, I did eleven eleven day bike trip, bicycle trip up
the Main I left my house and spend sport and rode my bike to main
Ball but myself, all by yourself. Myself. Yeah, saddle bags and
really eleven days. Yeah, there's only one other person I know who's done
something like that by themselves, and that's my younger brother. Bought a bike.
He had a job in New York City. Was a labor negotiator for
the city. He was part of a team they did the contracts between the
fire department and the city. And he said, one day they came in
with a guy and everybody at cubicles they're singing happy birthday or something. This
guy or whatever was thirty years at this job. I really goes, I
can't do so he bought a bicycle, flew out to Seattle. Hardly trained,
he rode across the county, across the country. Did it across the
country? You know, single guy at the time in early twenties did that
and then went and got his masters and uh, yeah, so my idea
of riding the Maine actually started as across country trip. It did. I
was scouting three or four routes to come across the continental United State, all
kinds of books and things written, and there's I have a full time job,
and that let's go from Spongsport that Beck, Maine, and yeah,
turned out to be the eleven. I don't know where the back now.
My brother, my younger brother now lives in Kenny Bunk. Yeah yeah,
yeah, it is really back. I chose that that's the most eastern part
in the continent, not in the United States, where the sun hits the
first Yeah, the first glimpse of the sun is seen in the Beck.
And there's a lighthouse. And what what time of year did you do this?
End of August beginning? Okay, so a little later in the summer.
Yeah, chili nights. Yeah, but that had to be pretty It
was great. I met someone you again, so many wonderful people in this
community. And then you start branching out and you're just stopping the restaurants and
they're going, what are you doing? And I'm explaining to the story and
in the conversations to get deep at what they do and where they're from.
And it's wonderful. Well, you have a nice way and certainly bringing things
out of people right when you're talking to them. I don't know if that's
what you ever trained to drive, no, but it's nice. But the
the idea of pushing yourself to do things like that. There was some spots
I hit the ply wall in Maine and lucky, I had a couple of
hours onunderneath my belt. I was making up time. I was pating time.
So I stopped one beautiful little town of me and I called my friend
Brett Shobiski and yeah, yeah, and said Brett, I'm on the wall,
man, I can't get off this. And he's a he's an altar
everything ye see across like Ontario, you know. Uh. And he gave
me some things to do and and you know, he said, I was
joking like gatorading and touching them for you, man, you go to the
local Chinese restaurant and put salt on everything they give you, and then put
your legs, elevate them in the hotel room and massage the heck got them
and and before you know it, you'll be letting the electic acid out a
certain part of your body. And yeah, work like a miracle. It's
amazing. Yeah, it's one of the things I think that a lot of
times we get confused with hydration. Yeah is you know, well, I
drink it a lot of water. Well, you're washing the cells away to
permeate to get through this, you need salt, salt, Yeah, it's
it's in there end. It is doing Chinese food, So don't do that
on the ring. That's amazing. But you've done a lot of things like
that. Yeah. You even went with Brett when he was running from Florida
back up experience. Yeah, his states from as and we did five days
with him and he ran a marathon a day. But just watching his routine
and how he recovered after each marathon. You know, he did a marathon
a day and then the next day is warm up, his carbohydrates, his
food, dye, and his water plan. He was It was like watching
a science experiment. Yeah in front of you, like this guy's got a
drop sooner later. But with you, why why push yourself like that?
Why? I mean, you've got a job, You've got two thousand people
a day, you got a wife, family, grandkids now, but you're
still is it the challenge? Is it something? What is it? I
think it's more love it because I never got that deep into it. But
I think, really, but what it is is, you know I can't
turn it off. I mean, the job is there twenty four to seven.
So when I'm doing these altra things, when I'm doing the things that
are just taking into that wall, you can only concentrate it that next as
you said that next maybe file and sometimes we're talking five inches. It's a
thousand on my own race, but sometimes we want to get five inches,
you know. So it makes you concentrate and you know, break the chain
of all the other things that's going on. That's that's interesting. It's almost
like a very zen type thing, which I know sounds silly because a lot
of people say I've often talked about I meditat every day. It's very hard
to try to empty the thoughts and just concentrate either on a sound in the
room or your breath or whatever, and how good that is for you.
But I would always talk to like guys who race cars, I'm going,
there's nothing else you can think and I love I love going as fast as
you can. Now, I've never really raced where I've got cars inches away
from me. But last summer I never really like watching drag racing. The
cars are cool, but you know I did drag did you really? Now?
That is like imagine But it's one of these things where you just you're
adrenaline, but you can't think of anything because there's a point where you're like,
holy shit, I'm doing one hundred and fifty split. It's all it
takes, and that's all it takes, and I go that to me is
the greatest thing, because you can't think of anything else and nothing else matters
that That's the only way I can shut it off. Is Yeah, you
know, I'm through Vermont, New Hampshire, and I'm looking at Maine and
I got hills again, and yeah, right to the next hill. It's
just the next hill. Get up the next hill so I can go down.
So was this all off road stuff or because I know I was trying
to remember when my brother did it. Some of it was paths, but
a lot of it was you're on roads that cars ride, and maybe not
the main highways and things more than the side roads. There's there's a lot
of roads. So I did from I lived in Spence Sports, so from
Spence Spport to Sconnected he was all the canal trail and then I started heading
northeast from there, so it was all almost ninety percent I was road after
that. Yeah, and so safety is a big concern, Well, sure
it is. And I got to think, like because I know people who
were professional cyclists that stopped because of the things that happening, you know,
the event of texting and driving. So you could see him coming from out
of way, best conventions. I'm lit up like a Christmas tree on that
bike. I'm out like a nerd. There's somethings flashing all so if you're
gonna hit me, it's a murder. I mean, there's always didn't see
me. You had to see there's a Christmas street going, so I know
that. You know, with the sheriff, there's a lot of the administrative
duties and things, so but I think one of the biggest problems that we
have now with driving is the distracted driving. It's it's no longer the main
activity. It's what you do while you you know, text your friend or
I like the technology and the hands free and the voice activation text, but
it's still How about when it doesn't connect all of ausly it drops out,
God damn it, and where it's all your detention on the road not anything
else. Yes, yes, we are addicted to it. Yeah, there's
the other way to put it. No, And and I know that it
has become a tool. It's a computer in your pocket. Uh. I
like to say, people walking around with the TV station. I don't know
how anybody gets away with anything anymore with the number of cameras. You know,
people disappear. I go, how is that beloved? When criminals don't
get away with love cameras? Well? How about when they tell themselves?
How about the film themselves and you look at the backdrop, I know where
they are. Yes, what do you believe is kind of the the biggest
the biggest misperception of the police sometimes, you know, as we're talking about
that is because there seems to be uh, we're brazen in society with the
cameras. I mean, we're telling on ourselves a lot of times. Well,
I truly believe, and I don't want to get too much into what
we kind of if you want, but you know, we created over the
last four or five years a culture of lawlessness. We've we've taken the anti
establishment culture and put that on steroids, right, And it's always been around
for years, you know, question authority and all that, so that's nothing
new, but it's not steroids. And then we did all the reforms,
six years of reforms, just heavy reforms and criminal justice, and a lot
of those have terminology that creates culture. And the culture is lawlessness. When
you say less is more and you say least restricted means when it comes to
criminals, and no one goes to jail unless you you know, even on
bail right, right, the whole thing is don't put anybody. Can you
explain with bail reform? Yeah, I know, I've talked about a few
times, but I'd love to hear from your perspective, because I don't know
that any of US citizens actually know what that is. And I was told
that it was to keep somebody for a minor crime, not preventing them from
going to work the next day so they can actually pay their bills and do
that sort of thing. I don't know if that's it. And who doesn't
disagree with that statement, right right? Who? If it's mind doesn't mean
it's like, you know, stealing a quarter of milk or a pichure.
You're a teenage kid and you did something stupid, right right? And yeah,
kids, you got challenge with peer pressure and you went out and committed
a small crime. No one wants those people sitting in marroal Cone Jail.
I don't want them. Yeah, I don't need them. I don't need
to burden you don't need to pay the tax dollars one hundred and twelve,
the one hundred and fifty hundred and seventy dollars a night. Yeah, you
know, so no one wins when we cursorate someone. But so what happened
with bail reform? But I just so many prefaces because it was discovery reform,
bail reform, legalization of marijuana, it was the Halt Act, it
was Less is More, it was raisy age. These are all significant changes
to a law. Criminal just law occurred in three years, right, So
then came down the pipe for the last six years, we're still trying to
read the air of what's occurring around us in the criminal justice community, whether
it's police, judges, prosecutors. So the one party is familiar with because
of the terminology is bail reform. So what happened was the overall tenant of
bail reform was the least restrictive means. If you have a police officer arrest
you and accuses you of crime, brings you before a judge, you should
be released on the least restricted means. That's the culture change that occurred and
what we told the criminals, you won't commit crimes, and we're going to
release you prior to conviction in court, which could be six months from now.
We are going to release you from the police custody the least restricted means.
That was the overall tenant. Some things could get bail put on them,
but even the judge had to give you the least restrictive means of the
bail right. That was the overall tenant of bail reform, which took it
way too far. There needed to be adjustments there need bailary bell was broke,
but they went way too far, and that's all we're asking for in
the public safety world is just bring it back a few not just you know,
towards the center. So when you got someone like the Saint John Fisher
guy, right, great example, right, who could have been remanded by
the way he could have been, but it has no follow through on everyman.
Even if we remanded him when we arrestled the sheriff's office, there was
still no follow to in our criminal justice. How are we going to intervene
that guy's life, right, because he was on a stairway clearly towards target
of violence towards women, right. Yeah, And then we then we got
wind of and understood what was occurring in Brighton for it for years before that
with this guy. Right, So when you put the totality the picture together,
we still couldn't remaind that guy to jail, even for a couple of
days, just to put safety plans for the lady. So how do we
bring that pendulum back a little bit? I think the pendulum on a lot
of social issues has gone yeah, way too far, and even in behavior,
and I think sometimes you'll start to see it readjust itself a little bit,
but it takes a while. So and again there's don't forget there was
no six huge reforms and I don't disagree with that any reforms. As a
matter of fact, legalize marijuana. You want to legalize marijuana, I don't
care. Set up safety plans for our roads, and set up the freaking
stores. Right, we have one good store in Montal County right now that's
selling. So where's everybody buying in a marijuana the same place they used to
buy it illegally, but now you can possess it. And the black market's
out of control. Tony Mazukuwitz was killed in a marijuana investigation. It was
a legalized substance. These these these politicians legalized as substance. But the didn't
open up one freaking store. So the black market went out of control.
And that's where you've seen a lot of violence in the city of Rochester.
It was selling a marijuana. They stopped selling cocaine. So marijuana, there's
no punishment for it. No one carricters, right, but there was no
stores open. So where are you getting your marriage? This is New York
States trying to make money off of it. Well, one tax dollar has
been collected, you know. Now we're finally opening up stores here kind of
this four years ago, right, Yeah, who's been selling to marijuana for
the last four years? New York State. It feels like New York State
makes things hard. I don't want to put a safe thing. We're creating
laws out of emotion, ah, not out of lodge. So who doesn't
If you want to create legalize marijuana, go ahead, but just set up
a business plan so people can open up stores before you turn off the black
market or open up the black market totally free from make sure a couple of
stores are viable, make sure you open, make sure they've been licensed.
That makes sure the regulations are working. No, they just simply we're going
to legalize the possession of it, but we have no business plan, open
store, and now we're just fo years later getting stores. That's emotional laws
as opposed to logical law. How do you create logical law? You talk
to experts in the field. Right. You don't create laws around medical doctors
and not talk to a medical doctor. You don't crobably laws around school teachers
and not talk to a school teacher. But we can do it with criminal
justice apparently very well, because we got this term assemilment or Senator Yes,
Yes, you're not smarter everybody else. I'm not. I don't know anything
about creating law. I wouldn't try and create law unless I talk to you.
You're a law creator, right, So, But that that's this long
answer your question. They made a lot of laws out of emotions, and
I don't disagree with most of the laws. Discovery form. I don't disagree
with it. You talk to Sandra Dorley, that's her biggest pan. It's
not batterary firms discovery yeah right, but people don't even know what talking about.
Yeah, right. So discovery would be where you're trying to prove this
something or something it could be disclosed. Are they able to hide things?
Discovery law? So we've always had discovery laws. Discovery means I'm a police
officer, arrest you, I accuse you of crime. Right, I have
to present the disc attorney has to present all the evidence that we've gathered against
you. Yes to your defender, Yes, your public defender. You're a
lawyer, you personally, so you can prepare defense. Right because you're innocent
to prove Who doesn't agree with that? Right? Right? But so,
because there were some loopholes, if you will, it could have been fixed
and moderated. They would like. The argument was, we'll hold all that
evidence we have to the last minute while you're sitting in the hoops call we're
sitting in jail, Yes, which is forcuingate a lot of defense to plee
right a crime they might not be convicted of, but because of the everything
was stacked against them in the criminal justicism, so they may discovery reform,
which means within thirty days, we had to turn over all our evidence.
I arrest you and accuse you of a crime. Within thirty days, I
had to turnover all the evidence. Okay, you may not have all these
we got tons of work to do. We might have even made the arrest,
but we still got video evidence we got to collect, we still got
DNA tests to come for. There's no way you can turn it all over.
And if it's not turned over ins a reason amount of time, you
could lose that whole case. Right and when when we're saying when you're saying
discovery and evidence, it could be somebody's doorbell cam, right for something that
happens if we're looking for an angle, yeah, yeah, and we've seen
you go down, or we're accusing a crime of a crime of going down
on Main Street in fair Park, and we know occurred within an eight hour
period, but we ain't got enough evidence to arrest you. Yes, right,
but we got to go back and get how many cameras up and down
this street? Yeah, we got to go find them out. Then we
got to review eight hours of video from each one of those cameras, just
through the math. Yeaht that just the man, more crime coming in every
day, right, So it's so even with that, you know, we
we're able to go back and say, just give us forty five days,
We'll take fifteen more days, and we're able to you know, leverage the
legislators to at least add a little common sense to that, right, Yeah,
because who disagrees with discovery knowing you're accused of crime. No, I
don't blame you a bit, absolutely absolute. Yes. So how has so
when you're when you're looking at this and we see things like the reform,
which are more laws which were to try to I think I think the original
idea was to make things better, better for society, better for the person,
better for everything. It just I don't again, I'm not maybe not
well thought out, but how has society changed since you started. You go
back even to the beginning and when you were at the RPD, But what
has changed? Have you seen a change? We hear this a lot and
a lot of times my I don't want to. I don't usually argue,
but I'll hear people go, well, you know they're not teaching. Curse
if anyone, and I'll go, hold on a second. I know that
maybe that is true in certain pockets, but we go to an extreme and
I said, I've had three guys who went through school and it isn't that
bad. I know that sometimes the loudest gets the most attention, but I
don't know that they're always the largest group. But yet at the same time,
you know, I was reading something today about things that gen xers and
boomers are sick of looking at, and it's people wearing pajamas here and doing
this, and I go, there is a more casual, right, And
I often think that that stuff affects behavior. When you dressed in your Sunday
best, you behaved, you just did you know? I don't know.
I don't disagree with that. I think what is really deteriorated is the and
we always want to talk about building up communities, and building schools. What
it all comes back to a central place, one little house, right,
whatever the house looks like, and we've failed to support the house structure,
of family structure, right, And it could be a broken family, it
could be a grandma raising, but we don't champion, cherish, worship that
family unit and build from there. What we want to do is show millions
of dollars at criminal justice reform or even in policing, right, give me
a million dollars or schools, well, we just to give the schools money.
And I go to these anti poverty initiatives and I agree there's there's extreme
poverty in segments of our community that needs to be worked on, my heart
bleeds. But if we're gonna throw money at all these nonprofits, which may
be okay to do, but why aren't we going to the local houses saying
what do you need in this house to stabilize your house and build your house
out? And that's how you build the street, and that's how you build
a community. That's how you build a school district right from the Well,
we don't do that, and that's what I've seen. We don't even champion
or cherish, or worship or praise. And you know, I think Aristotle
and some Greek philosopher I will get it wrong, but you know what we
honor is what's creating in your country, right, well, got to honor
that family structure, right or again, it could be a divorced family,
could be two male Yes, yes, I don't care, I really don't.
But let's champion folks. Let's you know, and then bring it down
to the smallest unit, because that's where it's all built. It's funny,
uh. I don't know if you know this young man named Jeffrey Rogers.
So Jeffrey has reached out come on here a few times, and he brought
in the young lady last time. And this young woman, I believe her
name was Naya, really impressed me. And I said to her, what
do you think the solution is for, in particular the sinning? And I
thought, holy shit, this kid may have just hit it on the head.
What she said was, we have what you've got, poverty, but
you've got people who are growing up in an emotionally unstable right. So now
you've got people who can't control their emotions, no one showing you how,
no one teaching you another way. So now you get angry, and she
goes. And then you get you get a little older, you get on
the street, and you fear, so you get a gun to protect yourself.
And she goes, and nothing good comes from that, And she said,
and it just becomes this cycle of people. But a lot of it
was she goes, and too many people too proud to go get counseling.
She said, but you need to have a way to deal with this.
We don't know how to deal with our emotions. And I would say poverty
is tough. Oh, it drains you right, feeling like you're always put
down having that mindset. I mean, I feel like you're always getting kicked
in the teeth. Nobody likes that. Nobody wants to feel it. You
can say, which I believe in the philosophy because I you know, pull
up your bootstraps. That's true. That's true. But I also believe in
the science that if you grow up in a poverty stricken world with a lot
of chaots and negativity around it, Yes, it affects your neurons as you're
maturing through life, right, so you don't ignore that. But where I
go is that, you know, I can have police departments better community relations,
I get better school districts. I can pay teachers more, whatever that.
But if we don't go home and champion that household exactly, study skills
or to help them with their anger management so they can teach the kids anger
management. Right. But we at the sheriff's office, they said, how
about the city police part and grabbed eight hundred people last year with guns in
a world that's stricting my violence? How many households of those people arrested were
visited, you know, the next day by social service, by past by
police officers say, you must be scared to death. Your son is just
arrested with the gun. You know, he's as good as dead or going
to kill someone and go to prison for life, right, right, how
can we help you? Right? I mean, that's that's we don't We
don't waste any time or energy on that that household. So I I'll keep
on champion and let's bring it back to that that door. Knock on the
door and see what's going on in that house. Right. You know,
if there's young siblings there in there and watching, you know, their neighbor
gets shot, I can't imagine what they're seeing right now. Trauma and you're
right, and that and that is there's there is a great trauma to that
stuff that is is not we don't really address, don't. It's interesting though
that you see it like that. Do people listen when you say these things?
Yeah? I think they do. And I mean, yeah, I
don't want to get into the you know, the conservative No, I understand,
but you could do both. That's what I'm saying. Yes, I
mean, carrying a gun in Rochester right now, you should probably be detained.
Right, Yeah, You're as good as dead or going to kill someone,
right. I mean, it's just that's the violence is going. But
with that, there's a holistic approach to solving that long term problem. Jail
is not the solution to that problem. You might have to go to jail,
yeah, time. I got absolutely no problem with that. But even
when you leave jail, you're gonna come back to our community. We're coming
back. We made you any better, right, and we made have We
made that household any better, and we made this street any better. Right.
So there's a But that's where I keep on going with this. It's
bigger than just as it is. And there is something about I always think
like I was always a big champion of Habitat for humanity, and the reason
I liked it so much was but it's that, and it's the satisfaction you
get. And when you got this satisfaction, you want to push yourself more.
And if you look at the stats on this stuff, and I don't
believe the stats lie, the kids from those homes graduate and many of them
go on to secondary education or higher education, I'm going, what are we
doing? Why aren't we pushing for more of that? Because I also believe
as much as you know pull yourself up by your bootstraps, I also believe
that when you do, there's somebody somewhere who's going to meet you halfway and
help pull you through and go, hey, I see it in you.
I've been there, I know this, or I see it in you.
You got this, And I feel like they'll step out a hundred times to
help you out, Yeah, because they want to be part of that.
And sometimes I feel like there's a lot of big language, big words,
and you know what I mean, not not necessarily backed by action and or
or even inspired action. There's words. There's things to look good and we
will throw money and we'll do this, but that hasn't worked, and what's
the unresult? Well, the end result, who's getting the money? And
how do how do we you know, you make things better with that stuff.
It's it's a hard I mean, there's no easy solution. But boy,
I love the idea of going right to ground zero. Let's find out
we arrest a kid with a gun. That's that's there's there's not money,
more clues. We got to look for something inspiring on out of controlling that
kid's life. Yes, right, right, and again, detaining might be
the proper thing. That's it. Go back to ballery form. You're carrying
a gun, right, you're probably sitting in a hust call for a couple
days. But what are we doing with you? Right? And what are
we doing your family? And what are we doing? And you might have
stay there a long time if you're a gang binger just wants to shoot up
everybody. Yeah, maybe you stay there a long time to use you see
the judge again, and someone determines that you're safe to come back to our
community. And that's the opposite of someone that can stole the candy bar.
Right. We're talking about each one's individualistic right, and we got systems that
don't look at the individual or the individual house. No, what I was
putting you into containers? Yeah? Fit here the city school district is doing
that. Yes, yes, that's kind of a big broad statement, right,
yeah it is. You know, how's that one teacher? What's she
doing and what does she need up with? Right? Right? And what
are they what what makes up the school district? Yeah? Students? Students,
students, and that's we spend time energy on that household where they're going
home too. Yeah. But since you started till now, what are we
seeing people more of the I don't want to say disrespect, but disrespect absolutely
disrespect, absolutely disrespect for our laws. Just look at our driving. Number
one complain I get as a sheriff of a seven hundred and fifty thousand person
community is driving right, I mean, no one gives a crapit ball vacant
laws, traffic laws, right, you know when it's texting the driver or
just speeding and weaving and out of traffic, or blowing the stop sign in
the neighborhood. Literally, probably the biggest complaint I get because it's it's but
it's a symptom, it's an indicator of this lawlessness, This care free attitude,
this screw my neighbor over right now right, yeah, and a lot
of that. And again, I don't want to blame COVID for the spike
and crime. It's part of it. All these things are part of it.
But you know, we we really enclosed ourselves and shut ourself off from
our community and you know, survival of the fittest. I guess I also
think that it's much easier to find like minded people. Now, do you
know what I'm saying? I do so this morning on Twitter. Okay,
this is what I'm talking about, and I go, what happened to having
an exchange? Everybody wants to have the conversation, but nobody wants to have
the conversation, right, They don't want to do it. And the thing
is, like, I feel like people don't understand what an opinion is.
An opinion, by definition, is halfway between fact and fiction. I'm not
saying that you're full of shit, just half full of shit, but it's
your opinion and a lot of that may be your perspective on life, where
you've come from, what your background is. I have no idea, but
in order to learn and grow, you have to have the conversation, and
we don't anymore. And I would say a lot of time learn none yes,
and a lot of times in social media now it becomes or it has
been for a number of years. In my mind, you're not wrong,
You're dead fucking wrong. How dare you think that way? And I go,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. This isn't this
is not in any way, it's not even American. You know what I'm
saying an exchange what we're supposed to right, exchange of ideas. I mean,
part of the freedom is there's an ugly side to it. I got
to listen to that guy say whatever he wants standing on a street corner.
I may not agree with it or not. I mean, there are horrible
books that have been published in things. Okay, But at the same time,
I get to practice my own religion and I get to you know,
all these I get to say what I want. I have freedom pressed.
If you want to go out out in protest, you're allowed to go out
protest. Try that in parts of the world. It doesn't work. It
doesn't work, it wouldn't last a minute. No, So you have a
lot of wonderful things like go, but boy, this did that to me,
and I don't know how you navigate that. Well, that's the burden
of the job right now, because you're you're walking through a minefield every day.
Wrong terms. You know, I've said some things over here in this
radio program. I'd like wonder if that's coming back to Honty, right,
just talking to you with a friend, right. But that's why that's the
world we're living where Tipton is so careful around each other. We're not being
honest with you. We're not being truthful, and you never fix any problem
if you're not honest and right. And so that's exactly we're going to these
meetings and we're defensive walking into them as opposed to I'm going to try and
build some trust with it. Yes, that's the only way I can build
trust with you. I'm going to be a little bold with you and tell
you my actual opinion and see what your reaction is. Right, if you
tell me to go pound salt, we'll probably never talk together. But if
you say I understand what you're saying, but I think about it my way
too, yes, that's that's the only way it's ever going to get done.
But social media is exasperated. I think it's made the ultra critique of
everything. It's yes, I mean there's there's great aspects of it. You've
you've been able to reconnect, stay in touch with people, you can communicate
in more ways and a lot of times though it's you know, it's fighting,
it's arguments, it's divided families, one hundred and twenty divided families,
one hundred and twenty characters. You know, yes, your Twitter, right,
yes, and they'll send me a question on Twitter, sheriff, your
deputies did this or you didn't do this yesterday? What do you think?
I'm like, you really think I'm going to engage you in a Twitter conversation
to pick up the phone, give me a call. Yeah, I'll even
buy the coffee. I don't care, But can we at least have a
two week conversation? So the problem is too because then things are taken out
of contexts writing next to you and pissed you off, and then you call
them and you go, oh, asn't fat as I thought it was?
Yes, exactly, well that's what you wanted, right, And but yeah,
we're gonna do that in social media all day long, all day long
one hundred. How when you get keyboard warriors he or a little more bolder,
let them say it to your face. Yeah, and some you know,
you're like, dude, you know me, pick up the phone.
What what do people need to know about interacting with police? What would be
the best way? Because I think that that's you know, you get a
lot of training. We don't. And I think a lot of times,
you know, if you're in an agitated state. I mean I've seen officers
do a great job of talking people down or walking through situations. I mean,
probably the scariest I would think for a police officer is a domestic situation,
only because you don't know, you don't know what's gonna happen. You
don't know that you don't know the traffic stop you're making, You have no
idea who going over, what they were doing, or where they're going,
or what's in the car. And people get really mad when you say this,
But it's really the simple Just if you I can guarantee if you just
comply with the police officer. Yeah, and he might be a freaking jerk,
he might be one hundred percent wrong. Let me take care of that
part, okay, Right, If my depittys one hundred percent wrong, I
guarantee I'm gonna take care of it. Right. It might be coaching or
counseling, it might be disciplined, but who wires bad employees. But with
that other side, if you just comply with a law enforcement officer, it's
probably gonna be a an okay encounter, right, and if they're wrong,
we'll take care of it on the other end. But that's not the time
to adjudicate that. Right when a police officer says, do this, almost
one hundred percent of the time, if you do that, everything's gonna be
just fine. And if there's a procedural problem, there's a he did something
in proper, let's deal with it all the time. But the other side
is I hire hundreds of cops a year. I've been hiring. I hired
in roches, policemen. I hearting the Greece police, weren't. We're hiring
good human beings, very very few idiots, you know, And we've had
a few, right, we've arrested a few police officers. But these are
great human beings, these are public servants. They come on the job to
do the right thing. That's the other that goes. They're good human beings,
they're great servants. They give up their life, yes you yes,
you know. So let's not you know, whitewash or even bastardize the whole
organization. You might have a bad apple somewhere. Okay, we'll take care
of that, right, But trust me, when these guys show up to
your call, they're they're really they're good human beings. They put on a
uniform and we'll give it all up in a moment's notice for you. And
if you keep that in the back of your mind too, you know,
these are good human beings. And and I've done this for thirty six years
in the city of Rochester, the heart of the city. Some of theific
I did in a ton of Greece. Now I'm doing a county wide with
the Sheriff's office. These are great human beings. These these cops them,
I absolutely love them, like I can't believe what they're still doing today.
It's funny to me because you mentioned like, oh, we've had to arrest
a few, yeah, a few, but those are the ones we concentrate
on. What what what's the percentage? One half a percent? Yeah,
exactly. Thirty six years and four big pleas. This is what I'm saying,
Like I always always go, we got to step back and look at
the We have to go macro, not micro, and a lot of things
and try to look at the big picture of what is actually happening here.
With taking any take any human beings run organization, there's gonna be a bad
apple on the organization. Of course. Now we have a lot of power
and authority, so ours is, you know, amplified when we do something
bad. Right. Yes, okay, I don't mean I don't mind holding
myself did a higher standard. Right. But let's not forget that these guys
are freaking heroes. Let's not forget that in a public service. Let's not
forget that they're calling your neighbor at three o'clock in the morning. We'll get
out chase someone through your back hair because there just came out of your ground.
I know I need a gun. At the other end of it,
I would say this after having Chief Barnes says he's copied you. I don't
know if you know this, Matt Burns, Yeah, Chief Barnes never heard
of work around there. He uh, he's doing a cop cast now,
okay, oh, that's right, Yeah, yeah, he doesn't here.
So I had a conversation with him once and I won't go over to the
details, but I know what most throughout my entire career, uh, I
knew pretty much what every day entail, right. I knew that I was
going to get up and I'll probably say some inappropriate things into a microphone and
we'll call the day. But this I don't That's not the case with police
especially ever. I mean, you don't know what's coming. And he told
a story of just I would say something that happened probably within a half hour,
like a half hour, and it went, oh my god, like
how you handle that from having to take care of a deer that was dying
on the side of the road and playing paper rock scissors as to who puts
the deer out of its misery, and then a tragedy to have with the
train tracks with just seconds later, while they're designing that, the call comes
in and a father hands a body part and you're going, oh my god,
and that's your and that's just Tuesday and the yeah, and then tomorrow
you're going to go to a missing person's kid. You know, you got
to show a lot of empathy yes, and you just got trauma written all
over you for the last eight hours. Yeah. And then the next day
you're gonna go to a domestic abuse case and you're gonna your heart's gonna bleed
for the victim of that, and you got to determine who's the primary aggressor
and make an arrest. But at the same time, they realize their whole
life's going possibly away, so they start. Everybody's fighting. So you go
to your here's the bad. Yeah, you go to your next one.
You like, do I want to be part of this? Right? But
that's we're humans, that's your The long answer to your question is, don't
forget these guys are humans. They're great, sir. Right. I always
think with humans, you know, apply just comply. The one thing that
we do is we always want to blame so somebody else. It's not our
fault. We didn't know, we didn't do. Everything is your fault.
If it happens to you some way, somehow, you were I don't know.
I don't. I'd never say things come out of the blue. I'll
say they come out of the oblivion. Somewhere I was oblivious to something that
was going on. We've got to take a little bit of self responsible.
Yeah, a little self responsibility with this stuff because it's not other people's fault.
But if I'm going away, who am I owing at the guy that's
there to Yeah, the guy w's putting the handcuffs. Even Koby's seven habits
highly effective person yep, right, the first one have a number one,
be proactive. What he talks about there is be control your own emotions.
That's yeah, right. You can't do all the other successful habits unless you're
control yourself right. And there's a lot of books written on just at one
point. Yes, but you know, if you're letting, if you're controlling
me right now and you're you're pissing me off, I'm You're on me.
I'm doing everything you want. I'm a puppy dog to you. Right.
So that's why Stephen Covey was talking about decades ago anywhere that is true.
I always say that the number one thing adult can do it has learned to
control their emotions. But it's not, it's not at all. But that
to that point, How hard is it now with everybody having a camera,
so either to make sure you're doing your job right, not somebody being misbehaving
or also the other thing. You know, years ago when my guys were
little. I think my son who's going to graduate college in a couple of
weeks, was in second grade and there was a chase. Some guys had
come up from the Brooklyn and picked up a father and a mother, or
a father and a daughter, and they were the wrong people. So they
wound up dropping them off in Greece and high speed chase and it ended up
coming up Bushnail's basin and they abandoned the car. And I mean it was
they were everywhere. And I lived right on East Street. I could watch
this out in the sun room, and they one of them. It was
a warm day, and the gym teacher left the door a little bit open
for the kids to get air because there's no air condition. And I'm one
of the guys who went into the school. So now the school goes into
lockdown. So the swat team comes and they're up in trees. And I
remember seeing my son's teacher after this. She said she had dark in the
room, got the kids down, closed the blind so they wouldn't be scared
with the guns and all, and read to them and they didn't even know
what was happening. Right Meanwhile, in the neighborhood, Todd, you would
have thought, like all these minds, I'm going up there, I'm like,
what are you doing? I'm like, why I refuse? It became
a huge fight, Like not fight, but it became a bit of an
argument because I'm like, I'm not I go you. You know what you
are, You're human cholesterol. You know what cholesterol does. It gets in
the fucking way. They're the pros. Stay out of the way. What
are you gonna do? You're like a cheery s. I understand you're afraid
that it's traumatic for the kid, but I also think when you bring your
emotions, that's traumatic. They probably didn't know until they see mom or dad
freaking out, and I don't. I mean, maybe I'm insensitive. I've
been told I have no nerve us in certain situations and ship like that.
But I always figure, let the pros do the job. I don't do
electrical because I'm always afraid I'm gonna screw it up and I'll fry my hair
or be dead or whatever. I'll call it. Pro same thing here.
Let the pros handle it. They're trained. You bring your young son to
the emergency room with a compound fracture r Yeah, you're gonna want to do
everything you can. Yes, certainly, I got to turn it over to
the medical process, right, you've done all you could, Yes, and
let them do their job right, and you help out any way you can.
But sure you would. Absolutely, if I'm on the side of the
road, there's an accent bullet for your kid. Absolutely if they like,
if they you know, all of a sudden they said to me, Hey,
I need you to can you grab something I'm running, I'll do whatever.
I'd love to do that. Yeah, I'll go get water for the
team. Well, when it's the swat team, I'm gonna stay back.
They are all all of a sudden, there was like this line of parents
and I go, I understand cars. So we work through those things.
I mean, those are intentional things that we have to work in our critical
end. Yes, let's deal with the families, cause you can't leave my
hanging. No, it's not. But if you don't address them and I
and what they really need is information. Yeah, So let's get to them
when the information as quick as possible and let them know what we're doing and
let them know how we're doing it. And the fact is, I'm just
a bad parent who doesn't care enough caidding. I just didn't want to get
in the way. I'm like, listen, I'm I don't know what's going
to happen. Let's say the guy runs and they're all standing out here.
What happens? What are we doing now? Just stay out of the way
and everything will work better. I don't know. But with the cameras and
things, I mean, how hard is that? I mean, you're talking
about controlling emotions, because I'd want to turn around and go turn that off.
I'm trying to do my job. Here Do I come? Do I
come stand next to your cubicle and film you? You know what I mean?
No, it's it's it's it's a lot of pressure. Yeah, and
that was that pressure came before the advent of body warned cameras right right,
and now it's you talk to almost any deputy or a police officers. They
wouldn't give up their body worn't cameras. I don't think a millionaires no,
because they want to capture everything. Sure. Here's the problem though, when
they're sticking a camera in your face right there, and you've watched you watch
the depundits on sporting events right the next day, Monday morning, and we
talked about the Buffalo Bills and they could have ran that play and they should
have passed here. And you know, we argue forty minutes, was he
out of bounds and not out of bounds? They crossed the plane on the
on the goal line. And we got seven cameras from seven to and we
got professionals that used to do the sport, we're taking it in law enforce.
It was just the opposite. We got one little pin camera, maybe
a different angle from someone's cell phone or grammar that's been waiting for us to
make a mistake. Right, do everything perfect, cop, We're going to
hold you accountable. That's a lot of pressure. But don't forget. You're
only looking at small snippets, right. And if you if you're going to
critique law enforcement or a medical doctor or anything, think about a Monday night
football game and so many different ways. Look at it the next day and
still argue when we had professionals look at it, and we had and no
one was gonna diet. If the football player makes a mistake, right,
no one's losing anything. You might lose a game. But you know,
there's so much pressure on these guys and they're ultruly critiqued. And you look
at the roch To Police Department and talk about micro management, you know,
talking about and they're all my friends, and then the chiefs my friend.
But when you have an Attorney General that will critique you, you have a
police accountability at will critique you. You have an internal affairs unit that will
critique, you have a police department, you know, command staff the critique.
You know, they might all be appropate. I'm not in the argument
no, no, might will. But but the point I'm making is when
can you imagine your job? You have no different I used to did that
job well. I used to hate when I had to sit for air checks.
So it's just you and the air the progress. But that's the thing
in opposite, These cops are working in a pressure all the time. What
always changed my perspective a little bit on this was back in I'm going to
say maybe around twenty ten, I don't I don't remember, but there was
a case in the city of Rochester where a mother and daughter got in a
fight and the police were called. They were out in the street. I
think it got physical, and so one of the officers was going to arrest
to the daughter, and the video from somebody's cam was a white officer,
black citizen battered her like the back of her head, like kind of swattered
her. And so it came out like there was all this prob look at
this that could happen. And it was Adam McFadden at the time that called
me and said, I'm sending you another video. I want you to see
this. He said she reached either for his private parts or his gun,
and to prevent her, he just and he goes he was fully in his
right. But it became a huge, huge deal, and it became a
huge deal with the person who then became the mayor of the city, Lovely
Warren, And she came on a radio show and she was telling me,
like she wanted to call it cultural, I don't know, some kind of
a cultural appropriate and I don't want to say appropriation because that's not the right
word, but basically like there was a cultural divide and the officers didn't know
how to talk to citizens. And she said it took a black officer to
call it. And I said to her, how many years is that guy
on the job, and she I said, I think what you have as
a veteran officer problem and you also have a problem of overreaction because we're not
seeing the full story. We're not seeing the full story, and you know,
people misbehaving. I'd love to see any citizen, like, you know,
someone tried to grab you somewhere. What do you think you're gonna do?
What's your instincts, especially if they're going and you had a gun?
Yeah, I mean fly lands on your nose exactly. Sometimes that's the part
where you go emotions versus logic. It drives me crazy. So the advent
of body warned cameras. I remember I was on another radio program back then
and I was explaining that, you know, when this technology comes out,
it's never going to solve the trust issue that people don't trust police officers.
Right, it's gonna help. It's a good tool for us. It's a
good tool to show a little smaller portion of the action. Right, you're
not telling the whole story, you're not even seeing the whole story. But
it'll still never solve the trust issue. Never really, you know, it's
helped. I'm not saying bodywarn cameras haven't helped in that. But trust is
between me and you. Trust is you know, a relationship. Trust is
in the build trust. We probably had to have something difficult to happen between
us and the build trust. It can't be peaches cream all the time.
You know, build trust that way you build trust. Me a little turmoil.
Speaking of trust, what do you think people say behind your back?
No, and I don't mean that. Well, I'm serious with that.
You didn't you didn't send me a question ahead of time? No, I
didn't. I didn't say any of the questions ahead of time. But I
just I often think, like, what do you think people say behind your
back? Because I will tell you, as a citizen of Monroe County,
I've only heard glowing things. A guy came in here today, just stopped
in. Uh, we live in a similar area, see him around the
neighborhood. Came in and he goes what he got going on today? I
said, Sheriff Todd Baxter's a great guy, and that that's what I hear,
and that that's a nice thing. But I don't know. I mean
well literally, I mean today, maybe I'm a servant. I want I
want to My goal is to be perfect every day. That's just in my
DNA. You'll never reach it. So it drives me absolutely nuts when people
critique me, right, that's that's part of the job. So I got
to internalize that. But there's not It's not that he loves Todd Baxter.
You know, I've had a fire employees and I love cops. Last thing
everyone was fire cop. They were they were They're good human beings. You
know. I've I've arrested some people that don't like me. I've had political
adversaries that don't like me. So it's not all. But my goal is
you know, I've always had the goal of of who dies with the most
friends want yeah, not the best money, or he dies with the most
friends. So if I can repair a relationship with someone that it drives me
absolutely not to keep me awake at night. If I pissed someone off,
really it does. That's interesting and I don't mind doing it if I have
to. I don't mind tenting to take a walk. I don't mind arresting
you. But you know, it's just not in my DNA to tweak people
and haven't pissed off of me. What's the best part of the job for
you? The cops, man, it is. I love the cops.
Yeah, I love what I love what they do. I love reading the
stories in the morning when they you know, went that extra mile and you
know, and did the right thing and put time and effort into serving someone
else, whether it's you know, arresting someone that stole something, or it's
finding a missing person or taking that extra going in the cold water to get
a guy out of the car that went to a pond. Going into firehouses,
We're not firemen. They go in the houses. I'm fire all the
time, you know, we only see it. These are I love them,
I absolutely love them. So my job is to provide everything I can
for them, support them, you know, and support the organization leave a
little better. But that's what tries me. Do you see yourself sort of
as the CEO? And I know that sounds funny, but I always think
like a great boss to me knows what makes his employees tick and not what
makes his employees as a plural but individual what makes Joe and Martha or whatever
you can choose, but what makes them tick, What are they going through,
what are they bringing into their job, and especially in a job that
boy a lot of trauma. You're witnessing a lot of trauma. Yeah,
or going in most people don't call nine one one. Nail it right,
You're going into people's worst situations and they don't call us for the birthday party.
They call us when the birthday party went bad. Right, So we're
walking into fifty percent of the people when we leave like us. The other
fifty percent don't like us. Most every call you go to so over years,
over time, and don't forget the environment we've been working in, the
super hyper anti police critique right for the last These guys are tired, they're
really warn out. So we spend a lot of time trying to build them
up, do wellness programs, make sure they get good contracts, give them
and they add a boys at a girls let me know that they're appreciated.
Not by me so much, but when the community writes a note. They
all need to know that there's people out there. I love what you do.
I hope you know I do. But there's people out there that need
you and want you. You know. So I look at my job as
you look at an orchestra. I'm I'm the band leader, right, I'm
the guy op at the top. Don't. I don't play the symbols,
right, I don't. I don't do the drum, right, I don't
do the snare drum. My job is to make sure that we have a
good snare drum, to make sure that they have the you know, the
symbols that and I core got to play. And I'm trying to make some
harmony out of it because we've got different needs, different wants, community cops,
right, and trying and synergize those efforts. It's really set vision and
synergize the efforts and support these guys and gals to get it done. That's
that's my goal. And then I pay other people train them and pay other
people to do all those other things. Right. I can't possibly deal with
morale an a zone on the midnight shift. I could do things that you
might want, like get a good patrol car, or get you new rifles
or you know, give you an uniform, peace of equipment you want,
But they ain't gonna fix your morale. There's no way. I mean,
that's sergeant's business, lieutenants business. So I try and encourage those guys.
Take care of the troops. We'll take care of everything else. Yeah,
Easier said than done again, like we do. It sounds perfect. It
does deal with people, I mean right, including myself. Yes, right
right, I don't know what to start perfect, No, and you always
know the things that are that are going. How do you how would you
like to be remembered when you decide that. I don't know if you'll ever
hang it up at some point, I mean, we all. I don't
hope I do. I'm just saying, you know, maybe you want to
take that bike trop across the country. All right. I like how we
went to the West coast and follow the win by right, listen. I
wanted I entered law enforcement. I started this conversation. I didn't know I
wanted to be a cop. I entered the Military Police Court at eighteen years
old. I'm going to leave after close to forty years of service sometime or
another. I gave it all. That's the one. It wasn't perfect.
I wasn't I gave it all. I did everything. I left Jeff,
and I was an illiterate kid. Yeah you know, and I'm blessed to
be in the Morrol County Sheriff today. That's that's just my family, that's
my faith. That's all the wonderful friends that we've had over the years that
supported us. This is an amazing career and so what my goal is just
give it all, right, Yeah, I want to leave warn out.
Yeah, I hear you. You know, we've talked a lot about you,
but family is very important to you. And you have a great partner,
your wife Mary, right that just I mean, but she's right by
you, along side you, and it's probably somebody. It's probably you need
somebody like that who's kind of walking with you on all this stuff. Because
boy, I don't know what the day is like, but it could be
it could be an example of Mary. So Mary's I can give you a
thousand examples. But if it wasn't for God, it wasn't for the army,
and it wasn't for Mary. Yeah, none of this I wouldn't be
on your podcast. But just Christmas Day, we're home, we're having sauce
or she's making dinner and she I didn't want to do it because I don't
want to have these poor cops feel obligated. But she made me call the
serge and make the serge and two of the deputies working just get them over
our house. I wanted because she wanted to appreciate these guys. They were
uncomfortable. They showed up for a little dinner, right, they got to
get their balls busted by their friends. Now, But that was all Mary's.
She knows what's really really important. That these guys need to not hear
from the sheriff here from Mary that we love you guys. Man, right,
you're out there, you're not well. That that's that's what she brings
to the table. And I think that that probably goes a lot further than
anyone with or I can write letters of support, sure and get metals out.
But yes, you know, and all that means a lot, it
does. But I think it's that it's amazing. She's literally almost beat me
over the head. You make the call, make the call. Maybe I
don't want to bother these guys, but they we had such great camaraderie just
sitting around our table and they all loosened up and we have to have a
little chow. You know that Mary makes those things happen. That that's awesome.
Well, thank you for for coming in. What what's next with what
I know your day? Or I mean I know that there you've got to
run again, right, Yeah, Yeah, so we're we're interested in running
again. You know, we got to do a couple of Politically, it
feels like you have great momentum, good things are happening, You're doing good
work. Let's stay in the past. Yeah, So all my plans right
now is I'm going to run again in two years. We haven't made that
official announcement yet, we'll make that soon. But the idea is, I
have some huge projects going on right now. We're a new regional investigation operations
center. This is game changing in the world of law enforcement locally. This
is cutting edge evolution right in front of you of real time technology, real
time information to cops on scene of crimes. It's incredible. We're building it
out, we're funding it as we speak. I just got fitty new deputies.
Yeah. Over the last three years we added to it so the you
know, the manage that growth of an organization and put those guys and gals
where they need to be in the right place for you community, from themselves,
for safety. This it's so it's a lot more than two more years
are worth to work. So, you know, so we're going to stick
it out for the long haul. But on the other end, I also
watched the average death of a police officer fifty seven years old. I average
police officer dies a fifties and I'm fifty this year. So that's in the
back of my head. Well you beat it, right, yeahorrah? This
job people up. Yes, and I want to be able to enjoy my
grandkids. I want to enjoy my wife. And so why I keep riding
those eleven mile or eleven day trips or whatever. Yeah, well, I
mean I can understand that. Yeah that I did not know that that was
the seven This job each cops up, and it's it's the bad guys get
us sometimes with Corny, your heart disease gets almost every time. Really,
just the stress, repetitive stress shift work right, it'll eat the human body
up. It's amazing. Did not know. Well, this has been a
great conversation. I thank you, Thank you sometime and I appreciate it.
We will wrap it up, Todd Baxter. Make sure what's a website that
people can go if they wanted to learn a little bit more about the Monroe
County Sheriffs Sheriffs dot gov. F it's right there in the county website.
We just got our own. When you do a podcast. Yeah, we
do a podcast Behind the Badge. It's not as popular as yours, but
it will be because I just spoke about it. But it's behind you.
So behind the Badge is the philosophy. Let's let's talk about the cops that
are doing the job, but also the people in the community to support us.
So we have local nonprofits come in, we have local you know,
anybody that works around law enforcement. You know, we had we're talking about
crime. We had insurance people and the other day's just talking about how crime
is affecting their insurance business. It's an important thing. We don't think about
it, right, I learned a lot just doing that one. You think
about it when the bill shows up? Yeah, yeah, Or you can't
get a car park, or why is my insurance so high? Because it's
usually on percentages? Right, And don't forget every time someone steals from the
local box store, you and we all pay for it. They're not eating
that profit. No, they can't business. Amazing all right. Well for
Sheriff Todd Baxter, I'm Bill Moran. I'll see you tomorrow. Botail didn't
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