#134- "Social Media Mobs: What to Do" with Amanda Bolin, Anthony Rogers, and Leighton Guarnere

In this episode of the Blue Grit Podcast, we take on a growing problem in law enforcement: how quickly social media mobs form before the facts are known.

Recent incidents in Galveston and Arp show exactly how dangerous that can be.

In Galveston, an officer-involved shooting was quickly met with online outrage, but the facts matter. The suspect, Randy Martin, was recently released from prison after being convicted of murder. He was not pulled from the vehicle. He got out on his own, fought the officer, caused injuries, and grabbed the officer’s weapon during the encounter. Aid was immediately rendered at the scene.

In Arp, an officer investigating smoke and flames inside city limits was aggressively approached by dogs that came through a fence line. The landowner later admitted, “Everyone knows my dogs bite.” Instead of accountability, the officer, department, and chief became targets of online attacks and threats.

Joining this episode are TMPA Executive Director Kevin Lawrence, Field Representative Leighton Guarnere, Regional Attorney Amanda Bolin, and Galveston Municipal Police Association President Anthony Rogers.

Together, they break down how false narratives spread, how officers become targets before investigations are complete, and why associations must respond quickly, aggressively, and factually when members are under attack.

The message is simple:

Let the evidence come out.
 Let the investigation happen.
 Let the facts lead.

But stop allowing social media mobs to convict officers for doing their jobs.

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Guests

SPEAKER_04 0:03

Um and man this this didn't really get wired up and beered up until about 9 30, 10 o'clock last night. Um I told me that I didn't mind to watch the wants to answer what's the dance. Um he's like, man, I whatever I gotta do, he's telling me what viewers, watchers, what's news.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

I'm your host, Tower Owen. We've got a fact full show today. I have several guests on. We've got Kevin Lawrence in the house, Lady Denario, Philaps in Southeast Texas, Anthony Rogers with the Alvaston Municipal Police Association, and along with a newcomer on the show, stay tuned for her full episode explaining her background, the regional attorney Amanda Bolin, down in the Houston, Fort Vend area. Uh, she's been with us quite some time. We're gonna cover some topics today, specifically about social media mobs and how associations deal with the complexities and challenging situations that we have to face very often.

Sponsors And Conference Registration

SPEAKER_03 1:03

So, first and foremost, let me get some house cleaning house cleaning things out of out in order. Huge thank you to our sponsors this year for our conference, one being Home Wealth Management, East Coast Amusements, and FirstNet with ATT. Thank you so much for becoming Ruby sponsors for this year's annual conference. If you have not already, go ahead and visit our website at tmpa.org and get those conference registrations completed. It's going to be this year, jam-packed July 24th through the 26th with Texas FOP joint conference there in Dallas, Texas. So again, visit TNPA.org and get your registration completed now.

Texas City Leadership Change

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Leighton, we'll go with you first because there's some big news that just broke a little bit ago in Texas City, a story that we've been assisting and covering and and uh dealing with for quite some time. Texas City might have some new change in administration.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Yes, you're correct. Uh as of uh yesterday evening, uh Chief Cravens with Texas City Police Department uh resigned his position as chief of police at Texas City.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

You know, we've we've been battling that part out. We've been battling this situation for a long time. And I want to be clear because I had a conversation this morning for a situation you and I have talked about uh there in ARC. And we're gonna we're gonna cover a little bit about that today because it kind of ties into what we're dealing with right now. But we don't want to give the impression that we're not law enforcement or that TNPA is not administration friendly. We support great administrators in this profession. The problem is that we are going to call out and identify bad leadership. And and the point is that Texas City for many years now uh has displayed just that bad leadership, poor leadership. And so we are super excited for what's to come for Texas City. Uh they've had bad leadership for for so many years now, and so we look forward to working with Texas City Municipal Police Association. Anthony Rogers was a big, also big role in that, and to assisting our messaging uh and our members down in Texas City, as well as Amanda Bolin. And so we've got the powerhouse team that also dealt with that situation. But Layton, what's the what's the I guess the mentality or what's kind of the the uh the temp right now with this news breaking this morning?

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Well, I think you have morale starting to go up now. They they feel like or the officers uh on the street, they they feel like that there's some positive that's coming out of this, and they're they're looking forward to the future of the department and moving on, and we'll see where the search goes with uh the new chief. Uh, there's still some other things going on within the city. There was some other either terminations or resignations that occurred, as well as not only the chief, but some other key positions in the city. And from what I'm told, is it's not over with. There's going to be some other changes. So it's the vision of the new, the new mayor. It's a mayor strong form of uh council, and uh we'll see where that goes. But right now, uh it feels like everybody's starting to be upbeat and uh looking forward to change and and positivity going forward.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Yeah, for sure. Like I said, we're super excited for what for what's the hold there in Texas City, and we'll be kind of keeping you guys uh in the loop and certainly most likely have Rachel Sparr back on and maybe give some updates and how she's navigated around this really a challenging situation, uh, both professionally and personally for her. And so, man, she's been a champ through it all. Uh looking forward to having some extensive conversations at conference uh with Rachel Sparr.

Amanda Bolin On Calling Early

SPEAKER_03 4:32

So Amanda, let's let's cut let's cut down to the nitty-gritty. Um, I think uh we'll we'll kind of introduce let me introduce you first and give you background of of uh what's your background as far as attorney and and why you're a good fit for TMPA. Uh but introduce yourself. Who the hell is Amanda Bowling?

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Well, um I've been a licensed attorney for gosh, 24 years almost. Um, about the first 14 of those years, my practice was as a prosecutor, um, both in the state of Florida and then primarily here in Fortman County. And um left the DA's office here in 2019 and immediately knew I needed work that was still on the good guy's side. Um, so managed to get my foot in the door with TMPA, which is important work to me, not only as a former prosecutor, but as the spouse of a law enforcement officer, um, so that I can at least, like I said, feel like I'm still on the good guy's side, still wearing the white hat with um defending police officers.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

What advice, real quick, before you dive off into this Galveston situation, you know, regional attorneys across the state, Texas is so big. And I honestly, I have to admit, when I move down to where I'm at now, closer to Kevin, uh based out of Austin, you know, it it kind of put things in perspective that Texas is so big and it's regionalized in the sense of what are you seeing in your region? What advice would Amanda Bowling give the members of your area that just of the members that you serve? Of course, we just jokingly said this a couple weeks ago. You've answered critical incidents as far as four hours away. But what would you like to kind of tell the members that are listening to this podcast? Like what advice would you say is the number one thing that you see amongst the members of TMPA? What advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_00 6:13

I would say you have your membership for a reason. And so use it and call us and call us early because we're gonna be more beneficial to you as an attorney on the front end of anything, whether it's a critical incident or whether it's dealing with a disciplinary matter or something like that. We are always gonna be of a bigger benefit the sooner you get us and get us involved. Um, so some of the obstacles I have had as of late have been, you know, thinking as an officer, well, I, you know, I can handle this part myself. I know what's going on. I can provide a statement and then end up finding themselves in a bigger mess because they didn't get us involved right away.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

Yep. I I agree. One of the things that Kevin kind of likes to always pinpoint and say is he we would much rather get involved in the first inning than you call us and we're nine runs down and it's bottom of the ninth, and you expect a home run from us. And you know, that's the reality is that uh for all intents and purposes, it's somewhat an insurance policy, right? And and it's good for us to get involved early, uh, just like you said. So, but you guys, our regional attorneys are the best of the best, and really across the nation. But this specific incident right now that we're gonna talk about is a situation you responded to to assist our Galveston members. We're not gonna talk case specifics because our hands are tied in the sense of, you know, that's the investigation is being conducted right now of the

Galveston Shooting What’s Public

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Texas Rangers. But I'm gonna kick this off by kind of reading the press release from the Galveston Police Department. And then Amanda, you and Anthony, uh, for those that don't know Anthony Rogers, he's also joining us today. He is the Galveston Municipal Police Association president, longtime TNPA member, close friend really to all four of us, uh, or all five of us or four of us on this podcast. Really good guy and a huge advocate for really the southeast portion of Texas as far as a local concern. Yeah, uh yeah, I know. Uh we've all got a joking uh relationship with Andy. Again, he's he's uh he's a he's a huge ally for TNPA and a huge advocate for us, and we greatly appreciate not only the friendship uh but the partnership that we have with Galveston. But the press release that Galveston Police Department put out is a traffic stop results in officer-involved shooting. Galveston, Texas, May 18th, 2026. An investigation is underway following an officer-involved shooting that occurred during a traffic stop in the 1700 block of the 55th Street on Monday, May 18th at approximately 3 45 p.m. During the stop, an occupant of the vehicle was injured after an officer discharged his firearm. Officers immediately rendered aid at the scene, and the injured individual was transported by Galveston to the emergency uh to a local hospital UTMB emergency department, where he was later pronounced deceased. Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this incident, said Chief Doug Bally. We will provide additional information as soon as the appropriate as soon as appropriate to do so without compromising the investigation. Currently, details are limited and remain an active investigation. That press release was pushed out shortly after Monday, and I'd em me and Layton immediately contacted each other. And since then, the um the deceased has been identified. Uh, and we're gonna talk about that. But shortly after You mean the injured the injured party? The injured party, the deceased.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

That was all they put out originally, was that he was injured.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Well, it says he he was he was pronounced deceased there at the hospital. Okay. Uh shortly after that press release, social media kind of began to launch their own campaign, and and that's what this podcast is specifically designed to do is kind of combat uh these social media mobs. Um and it it's it's kind of twisted its own narrative that um you know officers didn't immediately render aid, uh, that this subject was not fighting law enforcement officers, that you know, the the Galveston police officer wasn't wasn't injured, and we know that all now to be not true. Um Amanda, do you want to touch on real quick working at a DA's office and understanding and working closely with the Texas Rangers, just like TNPA does, one of the things that we as a labor organization, and Kevin Lawrence, you can piggyback off this, we actually want and plead with departments to release body cam footage when it's available, as soon as possible, because it clarifies everything. It gives transparency to everything. And we've advocated for this at the state legislative uh level and we've advocated for it with different police chiefs. And then this situation, we can't because of the Texas Rangers. So maybe give some insight on why that's not being readily available immediately right now.

Bodycam Timing And Ranger Oversight

SPEAKER_00 10:35

You know, I think the biggest thing is that the integrity of the investigation um needs to be protected. And, you know, when it comes to investigating stuff like this, the Texas Rangers are the best of the best. And that's why they're brought in as a neutral investigating body to take a look at these cases. And we don't want anything that they are doing to investigate this case to somehow be compromised because of the release of the footage right now. Um, don't get me wrong, I am fully behind at some point footage being released because I do think it dispels quite a bit of the um stuff that we are the narratives that we are seeing on social media. But at the same time, it is important for the investigation to be done and done properly and not affected in any way by the release of any footage just yet. And in every case that I have had, the Texas Rangers stand by that opinion to not yet on in terms of the release of the body cam footage. You know, at the end of the day, obviously, I guess it is up to the Galveston Police Department whether they want to release or not. Um, but the Rangers have always taken that stance because this is we're so early in this investigation. Um, you know, even as the officer's attorney, I don't even have all of the information yet. I haven't seen everything yet. And so we don't want to do anything to get in the way of what they're doing, just like we wouldn't want anybody to get in the way of an investigation for anything else, any other criminal case, right? We would want a full, fair, uncompromised investigation for any death, whether it involved a police officer or not.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah. Kevin, I saw you smoking. Well, I want to piggyback on this because I think this is one of the great things about the TMPA system, is that we almost always disagree with the lawyers that we're paying to represent our members on this issue right here. And it is it's times have changed because of the proliferation of cameras. Everybody's got a cell phone, which means everybody's got a camera. There's gonna be other videos released that's gonna be put out there. So our position is very simple. And I think, first of all, it's most important for the public to understand Anthony Rogers is the president of the Galveston Municipal Police Association. He has zero say so on whether or not this body can footage gets released or when it gets released. It's not up to the officers, it's not up to the unions, it's not even up to the lawyer. It's up to the chief, it's up to the city manager, it's up to the city attorney. And they are almost always getting advice from somebody telling them don't release it. We always urge them release it as soon as you possibly can. That's all good. That's more political bullshit. The problem is there's gonna be other videos released before law enforcement actually releases official videos. And it's a whole lot easier to answer questions about well, wait, wait, but we see this on the video. If you're showing them the video and you can say, well, hang on a second, you're not seeing, you know, you're not seeing a 360, you're not even seeing a three-dimensional perspective. You know, it's a lot easier to get people to calm down when you're showing them at least part of the video than when you're telling them we're not gonna show you the video, but we're gonna encourage you to hold off on any judgments you're gonna make. I think times dictate that we need to release videos as soon as we possibly can anymore.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Yeah, I I completely agree. And and and one of the situations, quite frankly, looking back on, we would not be doing this podcast. And quite frankly, I most likely may not even have a job in the role that I serve with TNPA if you can't look back at George Floyd. I think George Floyd changed the trajectory of the communication aspect for police. I think it changed the trajectory for police unions and associations on how we answer and how we combat false narratives. And so that's exactly why this episode and podcast is being done today, just to give a little bit of insight and transparency of really what's going on. Right now, we, TMPA, Galveston Municipal Police Association, and Amanda Bolin, we are not trying to cover up anything. We're waiting for facts to be presented. We are going to defend our member and we're going to stand behind that. However, everything that's being done right now is in the hands of the Texas Department of Public Safety Ranger Division and quite frankly, the chief of police with Galveston. Now, I will tell you in my relationship and communication, and Anthony, if you want to piggyback off this, Doug Bally is a man of integrity. And Doug Bally is a man that he's firm, but he's also fair. And so I have to think there is a reason why Chief Bally is choosing to withhold the body cam footage. And I've got to think that's most likely because of the Texas Rangers asking for that not to that not to happen. What we're doing today is seeing um the mom got on the news the other day, and and Anthony, I believe you met with the family today uh from as the union president, and one of her concerns and complaints was she was she was not able to hold uh or see her son. And our hearts and prayers go out to that family. You know, they didn't choose the situation, their loved one did, but they did not. And so they're having to deal with the death of a loved one because of bad decisions on their part. But the reality is this is that his body is evidence, and that evidence has to be processed thoroughly, correctly. Uh, and so that's the situation we're doing and and and going through right now and navigating around, is that we're we've got news stations that are trying to jump on this and maybe twist the narrative, and it's unfortunate. And it it's it's we we live in a society right now where sales or excuse me, clicks sell and silence does it. And so we're trying to combat that. But yeah, you met with the family today. What was the mood like after y'all met with

Meeting The Family With Transparency

SPEAKER_03 16:10

them?

SPEAKER_04 16:11

Yeah, so I kind of have a couple contacts here in the community um that are pretty influential people um that you know have a lot have a lot of influence on the community down here. Um I've been in constant contact with one of them over the past couple days. Um, and man, this this didn't really get wired up and geared up until about 9 30, 10 o'clock last night. Um I I he told me, hey man, the mom just wants to, she wants to talk, she wants to answer, you know, some questions answered. Um I reached out to Chief Bally and he he's like, man, I whatever I gotta do, you tell me what time, I'll move my schedule, I don't care what it is, and we'll meet with them. Uh we met with them about 9:30 this morning. Uh myself, Chief Bally, um, Sergeant Simpson, who's who's taking care of the uh internal affairs portion of things, and Assistant Chief Mitchell. Uh, we met with the mother along with um four other people that were with them. Um and man, it was it was a very positive conversation. Um we I actually we actually provided the mother with the contact and information for the medical examiner's office. Um provided her with she had some questions that that we can't answer that only the DA's office can answer. And we provided her with that information. Um and it was it was a very, very positive meeting. It was a very, very it was a meeting that I think will really calm the waters. I think they understand where we're coming from. We understand we understand where they're coming from. And I think they walked out of the meeting understanding that that we have nothing to hide. We're being transparent about everything. And uh I have an immense amount of respect for Chief Bally on how he handled this, um, how he's handled everything in the four years he's been chief. We don't have a Texas City problem down here. We have a homegrown chief who loves it here, and and he's phenomenal. Um, he's firm, but he's fair. And that's that's really, you know, as a union president, man, that's all you can ask for. Just just be fair, be consistent, and he's done a phenomenal job of that.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

So you're saying he's B-O-I? He is. He is B-O-I.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

That's a beautiful thing. It is, man. People don't understand it. Man, if you're not, you're like ostracized. If you're not born on the island, you're in it. He he's done a phenomenal job, man. He's done a phenomenal job. And and I can tell you, when we we met this morning, he was he was pretty damn nervous about it. Um, as as I would be as well. You know, I mean, he's he's the he's at the head of the table, he's the one answering all the questions, and he did a phenomenal job. And it was the meeting went very, very well. And I don't want to speak from them, but I think on both sides it went very, very well.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

Amanda, did you have something to say?

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Oh, I was just gonna echo regarding Chief Bally. I mean, I've gone um kind of head to head, had to cross-examine him before, and it was a little tense, but I still have um immense respect for him.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Yeah, and I'm sure your position dealing with Chiefs across your region, uh, good and bad,

Social Media Mobs And Officer Safety

SPEAKER_03 19:05

you can speak from your experience as well as Leighton and me and Kevin can too. Um, you know, one of one of the interesting things about this case, and and I'll just I'll I'll be the elephant in the room to say this, it seems like every time that law enforcement, we have a situation where it's a very well-known member of the community reflecting back on George Floyd every time that it's a black suspect, um, it's like we we we pause, we gasp. Oh my God, you know, how are we gonna uh combat this? And it goes back to my saying earlier about social media and the communication things of how we communicate out there, which back to Anthony's point, this kind of kicked off last night. A lot of the community members were pushing out false information and and and pushing out their own narratives, which at some point, we as a statewide association, and quite frankly, the ones that are representing this member, uh, on the legal side of things, we've got to say something because we can't continue to allow you know false narratives to be pushed. And so we responded, Anthony and you and I communicated as well as Ms. Boland, and uh, you know, our our social media was just facts. You know, before anyone rushes to blame the officer, I understand that this encounter, what this count encounter involved. The suspect, Randy Martin, was recently released from prison after being convicted of murder. During the traffic stop, Martin was not pulled out of the vehicle. He eventually got out on his own. Once out, he fought the officer, caused it caused injuries, and grabbed the officer's weapon during the encounter. After the incident, aid was immediately rendered at the scene. These are not minor details because they matter. A suspect's choices can turn a traffic stop into life-threatening fight in seconds. When someone refuses commands, fights an officer, and injures that officer and reaches for a weapon, they are the one creating the danger. Let the investigation happen, let the evidence come out and let the facts lead. But stop blaming police for violent actions of Randy Martin, TMPA stands with our Galveston police department members. The point of that put push out was that again, when communities are very emotional and things like this transpire, it seems like they immediately want to transition to blaming cops. And the reality is, is regardless of what the investigation holds, Mr. Martin made a choice that day. And when you continue to fight law enforcement, you're making that choice to put yourself at risk. There was a gun involved in this situation, and that gun was on that officer. And if that weapon is continuously being reached for, then I think the officer has a right to defend himself. Amanda, I touch on, I guess, what has been released thus far, or what information we do know, or do we know anything since Monday, or have you been in communication with the DA's office? Explain kind of where we are right now from the regional attorney standpoint of kind of where we go from here.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

So I haven't been in touch with the DA's office. That will come a little bit later in the process. Right now, I'm still coordinating with the Texas Rangers regarding um, you know, gathering all of the evidence, getting formal statements from. Anybody that needs statements, giving both myself and my client an opportunity to fully review any of the video that is available after that is when I'll shift a little more to contact with the DA's office. But part, you know, part of the reason that that information you put out last night was important is because there are there is some false information being put out there by various people within the community. Um, you know, one of those things being that uh Mr. Martin was drug out of the car like a ragdoll. And that's just completely false based on everything I know about this case at this point. He voluntarily got out of the car. Um, and that will become clear at some point when all of this video is released. Um, the other um false information from our perspective was this idea that um aid was not immediately rendered. Um, you know, one of the news stories I saw had a witness saying, oh, you know, they waited three or four minutes before rendering any aid. Um, that's completely false as well, was a matter of seconds before aid was rendered. Um, you know, it's I think it's difficult sometimes for non-law enforcement members of the public don't understand that part of protocol in situations like this, it is required to um secure handcuff the individual, even if they have been incapacitated. And so that's what the officer did in this case. He placed handcuffs on them, um, made sure that the situation was safe, and then immediately began rendering aid. And so it was important, uh, we thought, for that information to be made clear to the public um that you know, they're just you've got some bad information out there that is just spiraling with it being spread when it's not true.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Hey Tyler, also to go off that, uh, I was getting text messages last night from guys that were worried because these the lies that are being put out or the false information that's being put out was talking about the officer being involved. It's not even the officer that they were saying that was involved, and these guys' lives on social media are being threatened, and they weren't even involved in the situation. So hopefully everybody can take a deep breath and a step back and allow this investigation to go and and not start putting stuff out there, rumors out there that's not true, and end up getting somebody hurt.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

Yeah, Late Layton and I talked last night about 10, 1030. Um and we were talking about exactly that. I mean, it it's not just the false information as far as what occurred on the traffic stop. Um it spirals so much that it it has they're putting officers' names in this that don't even work for the Galveston Police Department anymore, which is is baffling. It's like what what are you like people are they're so far off base that it's not even funny? And you know, it's it's it's the world we live in with social media and with you know everybody having to have a say so and all the drama, but you know, we have to I feel like we've navigated it very well.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

I'd want to add to that, like I feel like it's like keyboard warrior warriors don't understand the concept of officers having to make a split-second decision. Um, and I think when we do see the the footage in this case, we're gonna see that this officer was faced with maybe one or two seconds to make a decision that could have potentially um cost him his life based on the information that he had at the time. And your average person just doesn't get that because this day and age, people are other than police officers, people aren't having to make split second decisions. You get minutes, hours, weeks sometimes to sit back and reflect and decide on a decision. And and police officers don't have that luxury.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Yeah, right, because they can always pause the video game and you know, and wait a little while before they go get their you know pizza rolls or whatever. I think it's important for us to remember Ferguson and what happened there. You know, the lie got spread across the world before anybody started putting out the truth, and we are still suffering the consequences of that, which had now been twelve years since that happened. Yeah, because we've never been able to convince that 60% of the population that the lie never happened. Because they were convinced within 24 hours of exactly what that which is why we need to change our thinking and get out faster and get out better and get the truth out there before the lie becomes fact.

SPEAKER_03 26:30

Yeah, and that's exactly what we're doing right now, Kevin. Right? I mean, several months ago you called me and and uh you were fit to be tied. And and I think I want to highlight something that's really important and kind of unique. Kudos to Galveston Municipal Police Association and Texas City Municipal Police Police Association, and here's why. Messaging and the communication aspect, the reason why Kevin was upset a couple months ago, there was a situation, I believe it happened in Minneapolis. Uh there was an ICE officer that had a situation up there to use deadly force. And Kevin was so beside himself because there wasn't anything being done by the Minneapolis Police Department. And so Kevin's thought process was is we got to get out in front of it, at least speak down here, because our members in Texas were having to answer for something that happened in Minneapolis. Does that sound familiar? So kudos to you guys, GMPA and Texas City, because the communication aspect, I think members across Texas lose sight that when we're unified, not on political agendas, not on different agendas as far as association aspects, but when we are united on the communication stuff to push valid, truthful information out to combat lies and false information, we stand a far better chance to come out on top, just as we saw with Ferguson and just like we saw with George Floyd. And I think that's the principle and spirit behind what we're doing today. We're not trying to combat or hide anything that will transpired Monday. We're simply telling the general public and our members, hey, this is a situation. We wanted to cut it up and discuss it with you guys and give you guys a playbook of how we at TNPA navigate with locals and our regional attorneys on how we push positive messaging out there and how we ultimately defend our members in challenging situations such as this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

If you're not showing the video, you're hiding something. Yeah. If you're not showing them anything at all, you're that's the that's the assumption in the in the public's mind and the media's mind is that we've got something to hide and we've got to get out in front of that. By the way, is it possible to just have y'all stuff annex Texas City now?

SPEAKER_04 28:32

And I don't know that we want that problem yet. Like we'll let them we'll let them sort through all that. Like, hold on, Kevin. Like, start out a little bit. Hey, I I will I will say this, and I'm I I'll I'll say this real quick, and I and I think about getting messaging out. I think people need to realize, um, and it goes back to things like the conference, right? Like uh I talked to Leighton. Uh if I'm calling Leighton, I'm sure he doesn't know is there an Austin-involved shooting, or do I want to talk mess about LSU football? You know, like I mean, I I'm sure he has no idea why I'm calling, but that's the friendship that we have, that's the relationships that we built. And that's what you know, we built with so much of TMPA. I mean, we we if we we may see each other once a year at the conference, I see Leighton way more than that, unfortunately. But you know, we may see each other once a year at the conference, but the relationships that we build, and and I I know Tyler said this before, like if we don't know what's going on, we can't really help you. It's kind of what what y'all went back to at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Yeah, like you were gonna say something. Lighton, you're gonna say something.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Yeah, I was just gonna say, just to reiterate, uh the officer that is you know, the the officer that is involved in this, he's a great, great officer. Makes sound decisions. I know him personally. I've known him for a while. Uh so there's there's no doubt in my mind that he did the right thing of what he had to do at the at the time uh because of the situation. So I th I think the doubters out there will find out that this officer is is a stand-up officer, stand-up person, and uh has always made sound judgments and and is good for the community of Galveston.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

Yeah, and and to your point about about officers and and uh and the thing about me, I was a victim of this because of my my involvement with TMPA. When you push false narratives out there and put officers' names that have not been positively identified or listed in any press release, man, you put so much risk on that officer professionally and personally. Uh death threats, it it should have no place in what we're doing right now. I'm I'm gonna talk real quick about ARC police department. There was a situation on Friday. We have an ARC member uh responding to a simple control burn, and it was a rule setting, but it was inside the city limits. A pack of dogs that were residential dogs came up and attempted to attack the officer. He responded with le with lethal force as he's justified to do, and he created this montage of again social media mob. And one of the residents there in in ARP uh proceeded to post his picture and say, This is the jackass that shot you know uh Woodrow, which was the dog's name, and created this continuous hatred towards law enforcement. And I think it goes back to where as as a society, that's what we've turned to, and I think that's exactly why we're doing podcasts like this today, is to is to say, wait a minute, timeout. Is this the right is this the right way to handle this? And I and I ask anybody that's not in law enforcement today, if you can advocate for law enforcement anytime that you can, please do so. Speak up. Join us in the voice and combating these anti-law enforcement reddicts because you're putting our members and our law enforcement officers at danger. Whether it's in Texas or whether it's in Minnesota, wherever it is, you're putting lives at danger by not speaking up. Kevin, is there anything else we wanted to we wanted to cover in this podcast?

SPEAKER_01 32:04

Uh I don't know.

Laws Ahead And Final Conference Push

SPEAKER_01 32:05

John Wilkerson just walked in with a look on his face like I'm in trouble again.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

So speaking of John Wilkerson, uh he is our legislative liaison. There's going to be some different laws that we are trying to push for next year. We're going to have him on the podcast along with Brian Flatt and Mitch Landry and John Serrega to kind of cut up and discuss some things that you know may help us combat exactly what we're talking about today. Um, you know, that's the reality. Some Halo laws are being discussed right now, and so we're working with our legislators there at the Capitol to kind of get those done, but we're navigating around the politics side of it, and that's just the reality of it. And we've got a phenomenal team in Austin. But anyway, I think uh this kind of wraps up our podcast. I cannot thank Amanda Bowling enough. Uh speaking of conference, she and I uh had communicated a lot on the phone. She unfortunately is an Aggie, uh, so please forgive her for that. She attends almost every AM game. Uh proud graduate of Texas AM, but she's become a close friend. Uh she's a colleague to muck to many, but a close friend of mine, and I respect the hell out of her and the work that she does. And, you know, she gets it. And the special recipe.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

Maybe rethinking that now.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Fully expect it from a long horn.

SPEAKER_03 33:14

Yeah, I know. So uh, you know, the the reality is is a special recipe of where these regional attorneys, whether they've got law enforcement experience, Amanda came from DA's office and she's she's married to a cop. And you know, that that that's special recipe, it matters. And we've got the best legal plan across the nation. And uh Amanda's a representation of that. So Amanda, thank you from all of us at TNPA. We greatly appreciate the partnership, the friendship, and the continued work that you do across the state.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Absolutely. Thank you guys.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

Anthony, you got anything else, bud? No, man, I just I just truly want to thank all of you guys at TNPA, man. I I I I've said it a million times, man. Y'all are y'all are family, and and we appreciate you more than than we can even explain in words. I truly, truly want to tell Amanda thank you. Um she's helped us quite a few times recently. Um she did tell me that her ETA the other day was 535 and she didn't get here until like 536 or 537, so make sure her pay reflects. Yes. Um no, um Amanda's uh amazing, man. She drove down here through hell of 5 o'clock Eastern Trip. But we truly appreciate you, Amanda. We really do. Um, y'all mean the world to us. Even Layton, even though he's from you know, location, he still means the world to us, and we we truly do appreciate it. And I I just want to leave with this, man. One more shout out to my girl in Texas City Recross Park. Um, man, the the job she's done up there. I don't I I know we all know, but the crap that she's been through is absolutely amazing. That's one hell of a one hell of a chick.

SPEAKER_03 34:42

Yep, for sure. Echoing on what Anthony said about conference, be sure to register for conference. It's a phenomenal opportunity for you to connect and network with law enforcement officers, association leaders, attorneys across the state, and executive leadership within TNPA, such as Kevin Lawrence. It's gonna be a great time. Speaking of Amanda Bowling, she is one of our sponsors at the conference, and you're gonna get to meet her uh and her team. They will be at our conference at the TNPA Texas FOP conference July 24th through the 26th. Get on tmpa.org, register you and your family. This is a family event. So we've got spousal events Saturday and Sunday. We've got kids running around. It's a really good time. It's there at the Dallas, it's excuse me, the downtown Hyatt Regency at the Reunion Tower. So, from all of us at TNPA, we want to thank you for tuning in. We want to also thank you for continued support and law enforcement. God bless you. And as always, may God bless Texas. Now,