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Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement
2024: Ranked #1 Law Podcast
Host: Tyler Owen and Clint McNear discussing topics, issues, and stories within the law enforcement community. TMPA is the voice of Texas Law Enforcement, focused on protecting those who serve. Since 1950, we have been defending the rights and interests of Texas Peace Officers by providing the best legal assistance in the country, effective lobbying at state and local levels, affordable training, and exemplary member support. As the largest law enforcement association in Texas, TMPA is proud to represent 33,000 local, county and state law enforcement officers.
Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement
#092-"Code of Courage" with Zach Hicks
In this compelling episode, we sit down with Bedford Police Sergeant Zach Hicks, a highly respected officer and TMPA's 1st Vice President. Zach shares his inspiring journey in law enforcement, highlighting the challenges and triumphs that have shaped his career. From his dedication to community policing in Bedford to his influential role within the Texas Municipal Police Association, Zach provides a unique perspective on the evolving landscape of public safety.
Listeners will gain valuable insights into the importance of leadership, advocacy, and unity in Texas law enforcement. Zach reflects on the initiatives TMPA is spearheading to support officers across the state and emphasizes the critical need for collaboration between law enforcement professionals and the communities they serve. Additionally, you'll learn how to build political capital within your association and hear how Zach transformed the Bedford POA into a powerhouse, demonstrating that even small agencies can achieve remarkable influence and success.
Tune in to hear Zach’s motivational story, his vision for the future of law enforcement, and how TMPA continues to stand as a pillar of support for those who protect and serve. This episode is a testament to the grit and dedication of officers who are committed to making a difference every day. 🚔
Don't miss this powerful discussion—stream it now on the Blue Grit Podcast!
email us at- bluegrit@tmpa.org
And at some point in time the chief of police walked in my office and I was a detective and he closed the door and sat down and said the mayor wants you to know that your message has been received. I said are you telling me to stop? He said no, I'm not. He said I cannot publicly back you. Because I said, yeah, I'm going after your boss. Yeah, because we're not civil service, we're at will.
Speaker 2:Welcome back. Blue, blue grit watchers, listeners, voyeurs. I'm your host. Tyler owen got some uh, got some guest hosts in the house. My co-host today, I believe, is in. Uh, what is will smith, welcome to miami. I think he's in miami right now for some fop, for turner order of police business, clint mcnear. But we got tony reich, I'm here. Jay mcclellan, the old silver fox.
Speaker 2:And we've got a guest board member on today we're going to have a little dive off into his career with TMPA and Bedford Police. Welcome aboard, zach Hicks. Glad to be here. Yeah, what's going on guys?
Speaker 4:Man, I'm just glad to be here. Yeah, got Jay in the room. We just pulled him in last minute. The old Silver Fox.
Speaker 2:We said, hey, get in here Like that Mortal Kombat.
Speaker 3:Get over here. I'm trying to work in my office and here I am, we start yelling at him.
Speaker 2:How was y'all's drive down?
Speaker 4:I came down last night, get to hang out with Robbie Campbell and D Leighton.
Speaker 2:Gennari, those two guys. It's always a good time with those two.
Speaker 4:We had a good time. I'm glad to be here, man.
Speaker 2:I would have volunteered the Wimberley Hotel to. I know Jay's not afraid to stay there. Robbie Campbell is a little bit more bougier than most, and so he didn't care for the Wimberley experience when he came down last time. I don't think it was up to his standard.
Speaker 4:But you know Robbie Campbell being bougie, and he's from Beaumont. Correct, it doesn't mix, it doesn't mix at all.
Speaker 2:No, no, doesn't equate, not at all, but yeah, getting geared up for holiday season just back on the heels of we just came out off Thanksgiving break. Did you guys have a good Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3:Excellent Thanksgiving, yeah.
Speaker 2:I just chilled around the house.
Speaker 4:You know I'll say I actually like Thanksgiving better than Christmas. I do too, you know get the families together and have all the what about you guys?
Speaker 2:I work Thanksgiving all day, all right. Well, debbie Downer here.
Speaker 4:Yeah, some things I don't miss.
Speaker 2:Somebody's got to do it. Yeah, well, now man, yeah, we're going to kind of give an update on training of what's going on. We've got a meeting tomorrow with Police 1. Looking forward to continuing that effort. Yeah, just, things were rocking and rolling here at tmpa but, uh, every podcast we'd like to start off with, uh, our guest just kind of giving us a rundown of who the hell you are, how the hell you got involved with tmpa and so who the hell is zach hicks well, I work for bedford police department up in the metroplex, if people don't know where that is, um been there 20 years now.
Speaker 2:Patrol, currently a patrol sergeant it's's known as H-E-B, but not like the grocery store Correct, Hearst, Euless and Bedford.
Speaker 1:But Bedford's in the middle of Hearst and Euless, so I don't know how that makes no sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't make it up.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I didn't either.
Speaker 1:No, but that is our school district and everybody thinks we're all one police department. We are three separate.
Speaker 2:Separate or a grocery chain.
Speaker 1:Correct. I spent most of my career in patrol. I did nine and a half in patrol, then went to CID for four and then promoted back and went back to patrol.
Speaker 2:What did you do in CID?
Speaker 1:Initially just general assignment and then a few years in wound up getting to work All different cases up including a homicide. That's cool.
Speaker 4:And Bedford's had a few. Yeah, they're busy. We all different cases, up and including homicide, that's cool. And Bedford's had a few. Yeah, yeah, they're busy.
Speaker 1:We are between Fort Worth and Dallas, you know, five miles from DFW airport. So we get, with our two major highways a lot of hotels. We get a lot of the same crime as Fort Worth and Dallas. We just stay out of the news.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's kind of almost y'all y'all as far as the size of the city, but the population you guys are growing rapidly, just like the Metroplex though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, luckily in the past five years or so we've had a very progressive council and city management and they've taken over some older parts of the town and bought it out and bringing in new development. So they know we're pretty well landlocked. So they're taking other avenues to bring new business in.
Speaker 2:That's good. Well, I know that you're. How long have you been with Bedford? 20. 20. At what point did you recognize that, man, you needed to get involved with local association leadership and that you had a need for it and passion for it?
Speaker 1:And it was a fluke deal. We've always bought the retirees weapons. The city doesn't do it, the association does. And our treasurer at the time said man, if these guys all retire, we don't know we'll have any money. We said, well, that's ironic because we haven't had a meeting in eight years. So how have we spent money? And so we started digging into it. And you know what happens in a lot of associations if the treasurer's not checked on a regular basis, money gets spent. And so we held elections and took over the board and just got more involved. And then we needed to do a fundraiser and somebody told us they called TMPA it was Dick Brock, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we called Dick Brock and he came in and because we we all had tmpa legal protection. But at the time that's what we thought. Tmpa was just legal protection and I mean it is a great part of it but it's not. I mean that's just a small part of what we do for our members. And they came in and helped us with that and clint was still working at garland. He was a new part-time field rep back then.
Speaker 1:Uh, I've been through a lot of field reps up in north texas hey dick, then we had clint, now we got tony not a lot, yeah, not a lot. Three but uh, I did, you know, a couple years as vp and then I did eight as president, and just you know anyone that we built our membership up and showed them that we were more than just legal protection, even on the local level.
Speaker 4:Well, so I do want to say something about about Bedford's POA, especially when Zach was president. I actually use them as an example to all other associations in the Metroplex and I tell them hey, you need to, you need to look at what Bedford did and look what Zach Hicks did, because he positioned himself with enough political capital in that city to where they actually got a lot of stuff accomplished, not only for the city but for the officers themselves. And I mean they're a shiny example of how you do that. And every time I refer somebody to Zach, I mean he's always more than happy to help him out and yeah, and it's, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I got to know you before you got on tmpa's board and we're going to dive off into that the reason why. But you were also heavily involved. Uh, people don't really know this. You talked about tmpa.
Speaker 2:Everybody knows this for legal for the most part, but we're so heavily involved with other stuff the texas peace office memorial, national peace office memorial, uh, and that's how you and I met, because you were the vice president or president of bedford's poa, but also you were the leader on bedford's honor guard and I'll be honest with you, there's a lot of departments in the metroplex, uh. But it's always amazed me and it's always been like wow, that's that is pretty cool, the size of bedford and the amount of respect that Bedford Honor Guard has. I think it has everything to do with you and I think it has everything to do with y'all's commitment to the Honor Guard service. And that's where you and I met was the PSOF Memorial, and so that's always been kind of a cool thing that I thought you very much cherish that and I think you take a lot of pride in Bedford's Honor Guard, and so that's where you and I met and I've always envied you and respected you for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were several of us for years who wanted to get an honor guard started and it costs money and every city says we don't have money. So it came down to ULIS lost an officer in 2016, and we helped them out as much as we could. And then we went back to our admin and said now do you see the need of why we need one? And they finally did, and we were able to actually get a grant to help pay for the first round of uniforms, and so that helped out a lot. But we've never forced anyone to be on Honor Guard.
Speaker 1:Some departments assign supervisors or something else, but we want people on there for the right reason, because their heart's in the right place, and you know we we've been very heavily involved with concern to police survivors. So we know a lot of the widows and we brought some of them in, and even some of the schools that we sent our guys to. They would have one of the widows come for the mock funeral and then talk to the guys after they did the mock funeral and give them feedback and which was? You know? Know it'll punch you in the gut, yeah, but the uh one thing that just dealing with them on a regular basis, and you know the thing that we tell all our new guys. You know you may have two years to plan your wedding. You got less than five days to plan a funeral and get it right on one shot.
Speaker 1:There's no retakes you know you're there for the family and you just do the best for the family. It's not about anyone in in the administration or anybody else.
Speaker 2:It's about what the family wants and I got asked this the other day why it was a person who was not not in law enforcement. We were having some drinks and they said, man, why do you, why do cops like going to funerals? And I was like, well, first off, dumbass, that's. That's a stupid ass question. None of us like going to it. But I will say, of the many officers that I've gone to that I've been personal friends with and laid them the rest.
Speaker 2:I remember the amount of people that were there, but what stands out to me is the different patches, and that's probably so. We don't like them. Do the law and law enforcement people out there watching, listening, um to this podcast? We hate going to funerals. However, we know for a fact that the family may not remember whatever things said, they may not remember every single detail of what that funeral consists of, but they damn sure will know what the patches were there and the number of officers that showed up. And when you look, look at that aspect, that's what I've always, always stood out to me.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's just, it's showing your final respect for that officer who, you know, gave the ultimate sacrifice. We, we owe it to them to go and honor them, show their family that you know, regardless of what patch we wear, where we're at in the country, what we do, ultimately we all do the same job. And it's going and showing that respect for that family, for what their loved one did serving their community. I mean it's one of the greatest honors. You're right, we, we never want to go to a funeral, but we do because we want to make that honor.
Speaker 4:We want to do that honor for yeah and as we're as we're filming, we're taping this this morning, we lost an officer this morning up in our area Tragic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Tragic. And then two weeks ago we had one from Greenville. So, those cities are two cities that are probably within 30 miles of one another, both very small departments Greenville Police Department, ontario Police Department. Cooper Dawson was the one from Greenville, but yeah, I mean, it's just horrifying.
Speaker 4:It's horrifying and I don't think I mean nobody wants to go to a funeral, but whenever you see the honor guard like Zach and those guys show up and you see that level of respect, I really do think civilians should go see that, because it really is incredible. Yeah, I mean just the amount of respect and the way the honor guards look. And Bedfordford is fantastic. I mean to me it's one of the premier honor guards probably in the state, and we appreciate that.
Speaker 1:And one thing because after many years on it, I stepped aside and let someone else take over. But one thing that they still practice and we still preach to all the people is we're not going to half-ass anything. If your heart's not in it, we'll find someone else to fill the uniform.
Speaker 2:Yeah if you're going to do it, do it right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know when we've had to do funerals for our own, you know whether it's retiree or something else. People don't understand how many days or how many hours we practice for that one thing, and you know. Whatever our assignment is, that is the only thing. You practice, just over and over and over, to make sure everybody's in step and everything's right.
Speaker 4:And I think probably what a lot of people don't realize when you lose an officer in the line of duty is that there's always an officer with that person until they're buried. So people don't realize that and that all falls typically on the honor guard.
Speaker 2:But those are some of the traditions that I think we in law enforcement let's just be honest we eat our own. This is a great profession, one of the most rewarding professions, but we also are the quickest to jump on each other, the quickest to cut each other down. But there's traditions within this profession that make it truly the reason why it's the best agree and those are, those are some of the traditions that they're referring to is a nope.
Speaker 2:That officer will not be alone until he's laid to rest, right period. Um, a police escort to and from, and those, honestly, those haven't been always the case. As far as giving a full escort to, uh, like the autopsies for those, that don't been always the case. As far as giving a full escort to like the autopsies For those that don't know. Again, the law and law enforcement listener out there. When an officer is killed in the line of duty, it is mandated by state legislation that an autopsy shall be performed, and so over the last 20-something years, maybe even longer than that, it's been tradition. So there's things that happen immediately following the death of that officer police escort to and from the autopsy. There's somebody with the family at all times along with the officer, and so that that requires manpower. But manpower people step in and fulfill those shoes, and so it goes back to the honor guard aspect of you guys don't, probably don't even know Terrell or police department, know Greenville, maybe with CID, no, but up in North Texas you know a lot of the departments.
Speaker 1:We talk to each other and you know whether it's coming down to Texas Peace Officer Memorial or whatever else. There's been email groups put together and there's spreadsheets that you know most of the departments up in north texas have and there's, you know, probably 30 different departments on there and a contact for each department. So you know we've often get emails. You know, hey, we had this. It was an off-duty, but we're gonna still give him honors. Can y'all help with honor?
Speaker 1:watch you know, just something that they don't mind reaching out to help and james babb.
Speaker 2:Uh, past president james babb is also uh involved with honor guards, with the bagpipe yes, aspect and that's a whole, nother separate, uh cool tradition that you know law enforcement has to know.
Speaker 2:Kudos to you for, for taking that on and building up bedford's, uh assisting bedford with their honor guard establishment, because it really has set a good standard for an agency y'all size it's. It really is commendable. But I think the Texas PSR Memorial being involved local level and coming down and being exposed to TMPA staff and board on top of our our conference every year, at some point it sparked an interest for you to pursue a position on the board. And let's just, let's just call it what an interest for you to pursue a position on the board. And let's just call it what it is. Sometimes you have local presidents that are kind of thrown into the fire. We've all seen it when we were field reps, when I was a field rep, now Jager in training, but you've got guys that either are on retired, on duty, they just want to have that, essentially like the retirement or Christmas party association fund, or there's actual active associations in it. Bedford was an active association and that sparked the interest for you to pursue the statewide board with TMPA.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we were active because of our field reps you know we had when I started in Bedford.
Speaker 1:We did not have TMRS, we just had a 401 and I didn't know that and neither and so five years in we took a vote and we had citywide meeting and we took a vote and it passed that we would move into the TMRS system and but it was a five year transition. We would immediately go, but you had five years of transition because cops again are almost enemy. A lot of people had loans out against their retirement 401. Jesus and so they said you had, you know, they set a time when you had to get it paid off or they would just make sure they were paid off so we could transition. And in that, when it got down time to move over to it completely, the city manager at the time said well, I'm going to do it, but I'm not going to do it, you know, at 7%. We're going to do 5% and I'm going to make y'all stay in ICMA, because we all know ICMA is International City Manager Association. So that's her retirement and so that's what she was focused on.
Speaker 1:So I immediately called our field rep and I called Dick and Clint, because they were both still working with us and Dick, that man, knew the government code inside and out. Oh yes, and that was amazing. And he said hey, whatever they're sending, you send down here and I'll have Randy DeBraw look it over, and so he would look at the legal aspect of it and actually send it to McLean Advisors, since it had to do with the financial world, and they would say this is not technically a lie, but you're being misled. And here's the whole truth. And I had established, like Tony said, political capital got to know the city council. I, just as the president, just attend the meetings regularly. Get your name out there, get the face, so they know that there's somebody tied, there's a face tied to that name and you know what we're standing for. Because the fire department wasn't real strong with their association and they just did kind of you know, yeah, they were all there, but they just did what their chief told them to at the time, because they believe the chief had their best interest in mind, and you know we would all like to believe that, but that's not always the case. And so we wound up getting the whole truth and I sent all of the facts to all of my members and gave them the email address for every council member and the mayor and I said it's your job to email each one of them individually.
Speaker 1:And at some point in time the chief of police walked in my office when I was a detective and he closed the door and sat down and he said the mayor wants you to know that your message has been received. I said are you telling me to stop? He said no, I'm not. He said I cannot publicly back you because I was like, yeah, I'm going after your boss. Yeah, because we're not civil service, we're at will. You know. So they told us. You know, if you draw a line in the sand, you're going to lose and she's going to win. You know she's got the power. But if you play the political aspect and go after her bosses, which is the council, you know we may be able to do it, play the long game. And you know I've told many people that Tony has referred to me over the years up in North Texas. Listen to your field reps. Don't just ask them a question but take their guidance.
Speaker 4:You know I can tell you what to do, right, like, but I don't, I don't, I don't live in Bedford or I don't live in wherever I'm starting the association. So I can tell you what to do, but ultimately it's not going to be me sitting at that city council meeting or attending those. You know whatever chamber of commerce, you know getting involved. But it's so important that you do that because that is how you make change is you have to be involved with the council, with that city, and do it for the right reasons. And if you do everything for the right reasons, then when something does pop up like you're talking about, you already have those relationships built where you can tell them hey, here's what's really going on.
Speaker 2:I use this analogy the other night. Joey Sepulveda, you've held multiple Collin County events like the area local POF leadership, and he had one the other night. And I use this example Listen, we're all cops, okay, and everybody listening right now who's a cop? You're going to understand what I'm fixing to say. We all have cousins and aunts and uncles and friends that we don't hear shit from for anything the graduation of a kid, the death of a parent. We don't hear shit from them until little johnny gets a ticket. Our little sarah is locked up in jail because she beat the hell out of her boyfriend. You know and y'all know what I'm talking about, and so when that phone rings, what happens? We're like something must be wrong. They didn didn't call for Christmas. I hadn't heard from this son of a bitch in 10 years, but little Johnny's back in jail. Think of that mentality If you're not heavily invested, heavily attending your local city commission or city council.
Speaker 4:Or commissioner's court.
Speaker 2:They have the same mentality. When you show up to that one meeting every two years, I'm going, hey, bullshit, wait a minute, we need to raise that. They have the same mentality that we all. Every single week we get those phone calls from loved ones and family members. Uh, and aunt johnny I'm sorry I said that about you little johnny's going to be just fine when he gets out of prison in 20 years, but that's the the same mentality that they have about us if we're not heavily involved with the process.
Speaker 3:Well, I'll say this when he's talking about referring back to your field rep or whatnot. But you know, sometimes when you're so attached and you're inside working for that association board, you often want things to quickly happen and a lot of times a voice or reason I we had a meeting with a local association me and layton last week and you know they're wanting, they're wanting us to go to council. And you know, take our three minutes of fame and tell them like hey, have you like sent them a letter with your concern, like let's start, let's start at the ground and then we can work to there. We're perfectly happy coming into council meetings and speaking on your behalf, but let's start at the bottom and work our way up the top. But when you're connected and you have that emotion, especially when you're talking about retirement, I mean that's, you know, number one goal on law enforcement's mind is what's my retirement and how much money am I going to have?
Speaker 1:And the aspect we took, don't just be involved in the council. Yes, it sucks sitting through some of those meetings just so they see that you're there on a regular basis. But if you're there and you're involved, sometimes you hear things that you would never get passed down to you if you weren't there watching the meeting. Right, but we we laid heavily on our citizens. So the because it's like everywhere, we don't all live. In bedford, you know we can't vote. Hell not, it's gonna afford it, probably.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the uh you know how much we make, but our volunteers.
Speaker 1:You know the, the retirees that come in. You know our citizens that go to the citizens police academy and become volunteers for us. You know they vote and they volunteer for us because they love us, yeah, and so we went to the president of those two associations and said would y'all please show up at this meeting for us?
Speaker 1:yeah, and that is the only meeting I know of in our city that they called the fire marshal because we overcrowded that chambers that's good and, but we overcrowded it with the citizens that vote for the one sitting behind the dais, and when they see that their constituents are the ones standing with their employees, it was a big deal yeah, well, transitioning into, uh, another passion.
Speaker 2:Of course you talked about your career with bedford, the po, poa, the Honor Guard. At some point you became interested in running for the state board with TMPA and you've had a very unique pathway to get there. Talk about what sparked your interest, how you got involved with the TMPA board and how that kind of all evolved.
Speaker 1:I mean, it started with coming to conference, and that was the field rep, you know, coming to our local meetings just hounding us. Y'all need to come to conference, yeah. And so eventually we went to conference and you know, it reminds me what Jay was talking about taking the emotion out of your decision-making. I always try to have a VP that would not agree with me. You know, have someone that if you're trying to make a decision off emotion, have someone that if you're trying to make a decision off emotion, have someone that's going to step up and say, tyler, that's dumb.
Speaker 2:Don't do that. That happens a lot yeah.
Speaker 1:But just repeatedly going. So our local sent me the first year and then I decided I would take vacation in July every year and go to conference. And so I continued to go to conference and just meet more people. Because, if you need to know, you're not the only one at your local, you're not special. Everyone has the same issues across the state. But go down there and talk to people from Missouri city or Allen or East Texas, find out how you handled it and you know cause. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. And we made the connections at conference and just got to know people. And you know, because you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Right, and we made the connections at conference and just got to know people. And you know, just continually being there, I decided well, hell, I've been local president for this many years. I've given them a decade. Let's get back to TMPA. And I knew that Mike Parker was retiring and that the treasure spot was opened up because at the time Brett Warman was our Region 10 director and he does a great job.
Speaker 2:So and Region 10 does not always have a big representation at conference- so Region 10 talk about what Region 10 is and how big that is.
Speaker 1:So Region 10 is, I believe, eight counties around Tarrant County, and you know so. If Bedford and Arlington are the two main ones showing up, well, Brett gets more votes than I do, so I'm not going to run against him and I wouldn't run against him because he's doing a great job for our members. So why? Why start a fight when there's not one needed, when there's an open position for treasure? So I went down to Houston and went for it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're blessed to have the. We're blessed in North Texas to have the board of directors that we have with Zach and Brett you know past president, you know Chris Ceballos, and we have Justin Ellis, tyler Tibbetts. I mean we have some fantastic board members up there. Yeah, and all over the state too, but those are just the ones that I work with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, board members up there, yeah, and all over the state too, but those are just the ones that I work with, yeah, so you ran for treasurer in Houston. That was a. That was a pretty good conference. It was a fun conference. It was a very good conference. It wasn't Horseshoe Bay, but it was a good conference.
Speaker 1:It was a good conference. It was the year after Horseshoe Bay, yeah.
Speaker 2:It and.
Speaker 1:For the treasurer spot it was. I didn't know that. I guess I forgot there were two sitting region directors that were vacating their region to run for treasurer?
Speaker 4:Okay, I do remember that and so A little bit of drama, and that's something else too. People that are listening, come to conference and get involved. That's truly how I got my job at cmpa. Yeah is when I worked at frisco. I went to the conference every year and that evolved into having relationships that involved into me being an employee.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, and I had a region director from not region 10 but somewhere else in the state to like you're crazy, you've never been on the board. I said yeah, but I've read the bylaws. I meet all the requirements, I have the same qualifications they do, and you know I won.
Speaker 2:There you go, and you've been on the board since.
Speaker 1:Yes, I did four years as treasurer and then I decided to move up to fourth VP and a couple years ago, and about a month before conference Rusty May the one in front of me he retired to take a job outside of law enforcement.
Speaker 2:Once in a lifetime job.
Speaker 1:It wasn't anything crazy.
Speaker 2:But he just wants a lifetime opportunity and in order to be on the board, you've got to be a full-time peace officer. Correct, which I think is probably one of the best rules in our bylaws, because it maintains full-time cops who govern cops and covering all of our legal protection and our entire association. So that's why Rusty had to step down, which advanced you up, correct?
Speaker 1:Correct. So I jumped fourth and went straight to third, and then we had someone else on the board retire.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And President Ceballos at the time just moved everyone up a spot. So I did three months as third VP moved everyone up a spot.
Speaker 2:So I did three months as third vp, which kind of I mean, you know it's kind of stinks because you know, when you got a good board of directors, uh and I'm not just kissing your ass because you're sitting in front of me, but it stinks because it it uh through different things in life. You know we did have some retirements for us to get in that phenomenal job opportunity and then you, advancing up, you kind of missed, you missed out on probably two years of good executive leadership within tmp on the board, so yeah, so I went last year I was planning on being fourth, and then this year I ran for first you know, yeah, I just crazy
Speaker 1:went, went right up and it'll be crazy in july when I run for president. But I was talking to randy earlier and I told him the reason I believe we're more successful than other people is because we have to be full-time law enforcement to be on the board, and our president serves one term. You know we have a one-year term, it's not a 14 or 30-year president. That just gets stale and I'm mixed, I'm mixed, I'm mixed.
Speaker 2:My emotions are mixed on that, I don't. You know. I can sit here and say different things, but I feel like it's almost like the current presidents we have. It's almost like they just now got comfortable in knowing the position.
Speaker 4:It's just about when it gets there.
Speaker 2:Which you know could be great because of the fresh ideas coming in and so forth. But it almost feels like man they just get comfortable and then it's boom. It's a change Like a forth. But it almost feels like man they just get comfortable and then it's boom it's a shot like a night shift, right I?
Speaker 2:I had a 28 day rotation every every four weeks, or 30, right 28 days. Yeah, 28, I didn't do that. Um, where I was, I got my, I got my sleep. Yeah, it's math hard. That was these texas. So, uh, I'll get my sleep pattern down and boom, we've changed days, but it's almost like the same thing.
Speaker 1:You know the same same situation yeah, the good thing is with our, the way our board structured is when the president rolls off he does a year as immediate past president, so he can still be there as an advisor to the sitting. New president right.
Speaker 2:Well, and and I think over the past there's been a. I got hired in 2017 as a part-time route and so there's and it wasn't anybody's doing, it wasn't anything that the board was a division there. But it seems like the last several years, when I first started with TMPA, there was almost a separation, with the sense of they had the board and then you had the employees and we were for the common goal, but the boards basically met and they governed these are the rules. But now it feels like the board. Truly, we're all kind of meshed in with this in a melting pot of doing greater good for the mission of law enforcement. So like, for example, like if Tony can't go to a funeral or if you're in Abilene, texas, you're going to stop by there and fulfill almost that field representative spot.
Speaker 2:It's almost like there's more of a team effort. I think it's just the way it worked. You know, it wasn't again, it wasn't anybody's doing, it's just now. We've kind of transitioned to this big, this big thing where we're all on the same team and we're all working towards the common goal, and I think that's what makes us different. That's what is pushing the success of this organization. That's why we continue to be the biggest and be the best in Texas. It's because of that reason.
Speaker 1:Well, I know several of us up in North Texas. If Tony's got an event and he calls us, we show up and we don't show up just to glad hand and shake hands and take photos with people.
Speaker 2:I did see you kiss a baby, so don't say kiss babies, because I did see you kiss a baby at an event two weeks ago.
Speaker 1:But we help Tony cook If.
Speaker 1:But you know we help Tony cook. You know if he needs help with that, you know we do whatever we need to do. Tony will call me and say, hey, I can't get by. Costco, can you go pick this up? Yeah, and we have no issue doing that because it's for the members, it's not about us. You know we're no more. Y'all are more important than we are because y'all are with them face-to-face every day. We, we're not, you know. Yes, we do make decisions and y'all don't always like our decisions, but you know we we have to set a budget just like everybody else.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, I will say the board I'm not. I can't think of a single board member that we have that if one of us called them and said, hey, can you come help us do this? They're all. They're all going to show up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and I can't think of one of the past even no me either I can think of that. It's been that way.
Speaker 4:And so we do rely on the board members to help us, because there's only but I think it's changed.
Speaker 2:I think before five, six, seven, eight years ago we as employees didn't feel like Maybe it's comfortable calling them to ask for help yeah. Yeah, I think that us being more included with different situations, I think that we as employees are now recognizing man. They're just like us and they're for the same mission and they support us. They support us.
Speaker 4:They support us, they support the members, they support the mission of the organization.
Speaker 2:I don't think the board in the past has not been as supportive, but I think we as the employees are feeling more comfortable as far as a big team effort. And that's what the beauty is behind it.
Speaker 1:You as far as a big team effort, and that's what the beauty is behind it. You know, at the last board meeting afterwards, when we were just watching some college football, you know, I heard Kevin speaking to a past president and he said that you know, no offense to the past president he was speaking to, because that's what he told him to his face. He said but the current board we have now is more engaged than it's ever been before and Kevin's seen a lot of boards over the years. You know. So, apparently, from the top down, you know, everybody sees it and we appreciate that because that's, you know, we are all on one team. We should not be separate. A lot of most of y'all are in a lot of the board meetings, you know, answering questions and having your input as well.
Speaker 4:And these guys are volunteering their time. You know we have, you know what 19, uh board members who are volunteering their time, taking vacation, etc. To come do what we do for the.
Speaker 2:You know 34 000 members that we have yeah so yeah, that's, uh, that's it's, it's been, it's been awesome having you on the board. I hate, I hate that it's been expedited by two years. Uh, but looking forward to coming up the next. The next conference in houston, by the way, I'll mark your calendars coming up. The next conference in Houston, by the way, mark your calendars July 26th. You asked me this the other day. July 26th, 27th and 28th Jay's looking it up right now.
Speaker 1:That sounds right, or?
Speaker 2:he just had a scratch.
Speaker 3:No, I'm looking it up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mark your calendars. It's going to be Houston. It's not going to be at the Marriott, it's going to be at the Hyatt in Houston and we will push that information out in the next couple weeks. It's actually going to be July 25th, 26th and 27th and 28th will be your Netflix on a couch day, so after partying all weekend. But yeah, it's going to be a good time, damn good time.
Speaker 1:And it's ironic because the way it was set up when years ago, we signed a three-year contract with Hyatt and trying to move it around the state.
Speaker 2:Great opportunity, Great decision too.
Speaker 1:I mean from a money standpoint. We saved a lot of money by booking it out, but you know there's not a lot of big hotels in East Texas where you're from, so Ken Gardner had to get named president in Dallas. I thought that was a shot.
Speaker 4:That was a shot.
Speaker 1:Y'all have a Holiday inn and a motel, six in marshall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just not where we want to hold the conference oh, that's true okay, no hotels, no hotels, all right, all right, you know so it was laid out where, you know, the three presidents would kind of have a hometown setting when, right they became president. That's kind of gone the way since covid yeah well, it you know, even though I'm not going to be at home when I'm named president, that I'll be in houston, which is ironic because my first conference was in houston. I got on the board in houston and now I'll become president in houston.
Speaker 2:That's nice, yeah, so it all worked out I don't know where the next one's going to be at. We'll have to wait and see. If you want to be, if you're happen to be watching this podcast and you're associated with, uh, marriott or hilton, uh, feel free to reach out to us. We'd love to have you as a sponsor. Or if you're just a law enforcement pro law enforcement company and you want to get, you want to get involved and be a sponsor at our conference. Keep in mind that we've got about 700 attendees and that that number grows every single year. This is an off year for the fop, but the next, following year, we'll have Texas FOP TMPA Conference, the joint conference again. So, yeah, good times in the Western Front. So you got anything else, man?
Speaker 4:No.
Speaker 2:I enjoyed having you down. It's always a good time you and I get to meet. You know we're colleagues in a sense, but we're also good friends and so I hope there's going to be some new adventures coming up in the Hicks family and continuing to pray for you and your wife on a daily basis and looking forward to the next couple months of what it brings.
Speaker 1:You did help at the first Dallas conference. I got engaged and you helped facilitate that a little bit up in the ball.
Speaker 2:I did, and you are the reason why the Angels Envy thing happened. You are the reason why I had the accident in the bed, zach.
Speaker 1:Hicks, I was one of three people that night and apparently I'm the only one of the three that did not have an adverse effect to the Angel's Envy.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, the Lord works in mysterious ways and I'm not. Thank God it hasn't happened again, but I call that a hickism. It's whenever you urinate the bed and have little accidents. But word to the wise Angel's Envy is not your friend at night, that's funny.
Speaker 2:Anyway, well, man, if you have anything else, we're going to end this with our three rapid fire questions. But wait, hold on. Update on training. Let's talk about that real quick. And let's talk about the reason why it's important for TMPA to continue the relationship with Police 1. I guess not just because of the criteria or itinerary, but for the access. I think that Police 1 does a really good job of giving us that discount. You, with the board, you all saw the need to make that investment and so we're going to meet with them again tomorrow and kind of look at the bigger picture and analyze what the cost and effect and how much people are utilizing it. So, yeah, talk about about police one, talk about what's going on to give us a training update, mr training coordinator yeah.
Speaker 3:So, um, yeah, police one is a. It's a program we've had for a little while now.
Speaker 3:We've we've partnered with them, but it's really started to grow I think, um, you know, officers being able to, I guess, quote remotely take some training where they can get some mandates in, get some training hours done but not have to sit in that classroom, that classroom setting, for eight hours or 16 hours or whatnot, they can do it kind of at their own pace. So we're kind of looking to expand that as well. And yeah, I mean we just continue to schedule classes. We're looking at some new partnerships coming up. You know some things on the horizon as we move into the new year.
Speaker 2:I do want to address something, the reason why we did things different.
Speaker 2:There is another organization out there within Texas that offers similar, not as good, services as TMPA, and so with their training aspect Police 1, their stuff is a lottery.
Speaker 2:And so what happens is that, if you think about it, if you've got 34,000 members of Texas law enforcement which TNPA does have and we're only slotted, which Police 1, only gives them 20 slots, and so if those slots are given to those 20, they can't give those to anybody else, so you have to wait for your turn in order for those to. You know, when you claim to have free training, well then it should be free to all of all of your members, and that's not the case with other organizations out there. And so we advised our board of directors of the, of the situation, we advised of the essentially the, the not correct advertising that was going on, and said hey, we got an option to be more fiscal, responsible. This is what option one is, based off, what the police once told us, and this is what they're willing to offer. And so you guys made the correct choice and and we've partnered up with them.
Speaker 3:So I believe for it's $30, but I mean that's cheap. You know, we we kind of advertise it as 50 hours of T Cole training but, there's.
Speaker 3:There's what? Well over 50 hours of T-Cole training, but there's well over 50 hours on there. We open the entire catalog up to the membership for the $30. So you know, I mean, you know it's not very much. You know money and you get a lot of training out of it, and some of the stuff may not even be T-Cole but it may just be you know training that you want to use for a roll call, like maybe a 10-minute video on driving or pursuits or what have you. You can kind of incorporate it into in-house training as well. So yeah, I mean, police one is a huge value for us.
Speaker 4:I don't know. I'm going to plug another podcast here. It's probably, I think, the number one podcast in the world, but Joe Rogan, I don't know. I'm going to plug another podcast here. It's probably.
Speaker 1:I think the number one podcast in the world. But Joe Rogan, yeah, never heard of him.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I never heard of the guy, probably not too far from us, sitting out here in Austin.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but yesterday or I was listening to an episode and I forgot the guy's name. He had on there but some high-speed operator from the Middle East I don't know if he's a SEAL or what he was, but they were talking about training and they were talking about how much they support local law enforcement. But they both said imagine if local law enforcement got the training that the military received. He said you know, they sit in the classroom, you know 75% of the time instead of you know why not reverse that where you're doing most of your you know, once you're out on the street you can forever do the paperwork. Yeah, so, so anyway, training is a big deal and I think it's something that you know a lot of guys kind of get complacent with when they get in their career. I got my license.
Speaker 3:Now I'm good, but especially as your as your career progresses, yeah, but it's so important man to keep that, you know.
Speaker 4:Keep that training up. You know, look for the cutting edge stuff. I know, jay does a great job with that, and I think you I mean I think team PA is leading the edge on that too, as far as providing classes around the state.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think you're just now getting to where you you of course listen when you first start any job you got to kind of get the get what we like to say in East Texas get the old wheels greased up. Well, they're greased, and, uh, I think you're just now getting going. I think that you're going to set not only in Texas but across the nation, once you kind of, you know, get your feet planted, which they are now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I appreciate it. I hope you're right, you know. I mean I'm going to continue.
Speaker 2:No, no, no no, no, I am right, it's just a matter of time if you make it happen.
Speaker 3:Look at that, he's finally right, y'all you hear that, oh, here we go. I don't. I mean you know we steamroll this thing and, you know, make it as best as we possibly can. I mean, our members deserve it. Law enforcement in this state deserves it. Whether you're a member or not, you know we're going to train you up. I mean you know we care about the people that go out there every day and do this job, Whether you pay your dues or you're a member somewhere else. We're going to continue to gonna continue to support you, you know, in the training and and whatever you need to be successful in this career. Because, I mean, that's what we do we support law enforcement.
Speaker 2:So I agree well, I think it's rapid fire question time. Have you studied?
Speaker 1:I've watched a lot of episodes all right, you ready.
Speaker 3:He's been thinking about it for months.
Speaker 2:I hope I hope, I hope he answers the correct one. I think he's going to answer it correctly, but I don't know.
Speaker 3:We haven't talked about it before 20 years, he's got it figured out.
Speaker 2:What's your favorite cop movie, what's your favorite cop car and what's your favorite drink or choice whenever you're hanging out? Or line from a cop movie, or line from a cop movie sorry, it's Super Troopers.
Speaker 4:Any line from Super Troopers, super Troopers.
Speaker 1:Meow Sorry, the audience showed up.
Speaker 2:Leighton Ganary and Joey Sepulveda just walked in.
Speaker 1:And Crown Vic is the best place.
Speaker 2:Crown Vic Drinking Choice.
Speaker 1:Old Fashioned, because that is the drink of choice.
Speaker 4:That is the official drink. It is Now.
Speaker 1:Tony. Right after I got elected to the board, tony took me down with the field reps and we had a smoked Old Fashioned in that hotel. That was amazing it was good.
Speaker 2:So we got some field reps in the hallway.
Speaker 1:right now they're all staring at us.
Speaker 2:It was hotter than hell inside this room when we got here, so we left the door open and now I'm regretting that because Leighton Yenerey Anyway the top of his shirt.
Speaker 4:But I will tell you all, speaking of old-fashioned there's a place down in Austin that do frozen old-fashioned. That doesn't even sound right and they are delicious Really.
Speaker 2:Yes, did not have Angel's Envy in mind for obvious reasons, but we'll have to take you down there and treat that Sounds good. Anyway, hey, we're wrapping up. Listen, guys, it's gold ball season in Texas, state semifinals. Wimberley Texans are going to be playing this Friday against Waco La Vega and hopefully going on to the state championship. Hopefully we can bring back that state championship. Y'all, Golden football time. I know you don't want to talk about football, because y'all didn't, y'all were.
Speaker 3:Yeah, y'all season didn't work out too good, it was a rough season For my kids. My kids varsity team.
Speaker 2:But he's a sophomore.
Speaker 3:They get beat out of the playoffs In a bye week. I mean, how do you? Yeah, you know it's like getting fired on your day off.
Speaker 2:That's why I feel I feel guilty every time I send him an update, because he's always asking, hey, how'd y'all do? And I just feel like Jay's kind of the single guy.
Speaker 3:I'm having to live vicariously through Wimberley. You are man. Hey, it's fine. Go Texan pride for life.
Speaker 2:Good luck to those guys. Goalball season across the state hopefully Duncanville and North Crowley I'm hoping North Crowley pulls it out. Longview's taking on DeSoto. There's a whole bunch of other good teams out there. Allen is Allen still in the playoffs? I have no idea. Allen's out they got beat, that's right.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, we're getting an update by the Play-By-Play guys, robbie Campbell and Leighton Ganeri, the other also high school football fanatics. But listen, we got our Christmas party today. You guys, stay safe. Everything going on right now with the loss of Greenville, with Cooper Dawson, this morning, with the loss of a Terrell police officer Please, please, please, be safe. We love you guys and if you need anything, don't ever hesitate to reach out. God bless you and, as always, may God bless Texas. This is it for us. The name Zafira means ''Pure'' Religion, ''major'' Religion, ''muslim''. Thank you. The name Zafira means ''Clean'' in Arabic.
Speaker 4:The name Zafira means ''Pure'' Religion, ''mahdi'' Religion, ''mahdi''. Thank you, I'm out.
