#455 | Rallying for Our Protectors: The Story of the Protectors Foundation

Could you ever imagine putting your life on the line for just $13 an hour? That's the shocking reality for law enforcement officers who risk everything to protect us. In this episode, we scrutinize this dire situation, discussing the crucial role of the Protectors Foundation in providing desperately needed support. We'll dive deep into the foundation’s initiatives and how we can all contribute, be it corporations, equipment manufacturers, or individuals. It's critical to ensure these contributions reach the intended recipients and are utilized effectively, enhancing the officers’ capabilities and safety.

https://theprotectorsfoundation.org/

As we grapple with a disturbing recruitment and retention crisis in law enforcement, the importance of standing behind our protectors cannot be overstated. In our candid conversation, we shed light on the Protectors Foundation's work, urging us all to rally around these brave souls. We also express our heartfelt thanks to those who have already made a difference through their contributions. We'll expose the additional challenges faced by officers in smaller departments, handling complex cases on a shoestring budget. By furnishing resources like tactical training, equipment, and grant application guidance, the Protectors Foundation aims to empower these officers, enhancing their efficiency and safety. Your support truly makes a difference.

Chapters

• 0:01 Supporting Protectors in Need
• 9:59 Supporting Law Enforcement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

$13. $13 to put your life on the line. $13 to have the potential to get shot, to get run over, to get stabbed, to see the absolute horror of society. $13 an hour. Now. I have an officer friend that's in a training course right now with other local officers and they're going around Somehow. We got brought up how much people make and one of the officers said $13. 13 dollars. I mean, believe me, I'm a retired federal agent and I can't imagine a career where you know putting your life on the line for $13 an hour. Now, yes, you sign the paper, you get your degrees, you do your training, you go to the academy, you do everything you can to put on that badge, that shield, to do that job, and sometimes, yes, you have to take that job for $13 an hour. 84 people 84 officers, agents, deputies 84 people 84 souls in law enforcement have died in a line of duty this year alone and right now, as I record it, september 20th, 84 people. Let's look at some of the statistics right now Drowned 1. Automobile crash 14,. Died by gunfire 36. 36.

Speaker 1: 1:48

When I started the foundation this past year earlier this year, I should say I started it knowing that I came from a very, very blessed to have worked with the federal government. It was a very blessed setting for me to get there. If I ever needed training, I ever needed equipment I could request it. Hopefully gets approved and hopefully I get what I need. But there was the option that it would. Earlier this year I went to a training with one of my friends putting in on it a handgun course. Rikhaag was putting on a Warhawk tactical. In that course we're law enforcement officers and we got to talking.

Speaker 1: 2:34

When you're in a local department, when you're in even state departments and sometimes even feds, you don't have the resources to go out there and get the training you need. A lot of times you have to pay for it yourself. So can you imagine you're going to go to a course that costs $150, $200, $300 or more, depending on what it is, and you're making $13 an hour? Now, I'm not an expert absolutely not an expert in math, but I know it takes a lot of $13 to get into $400 if that's what the training course is for the weekend. That's a lot of hours and that's $13 before the taxes, before the benefits, before everything else that gets taken out of. And can you imagine having to take what little money you have and getting the training you need. So I identify the problem I mean, that's my background With law enforcement and in military. You identify the problem, you identify the issue and then you attack it every way you can. So the Protectors Foundation was formed and it was formed for this.

Speaker 1: 3:44

The protectors run towards danger every day, 24, 7, 365, all the time they're running towards danger. How do we support them? How does corporations support them? How do equipment manufacturers support them? How does anybody support these protectors? A lot of times you look online. You can't really identify how you can say hey, you know what. That officer over there needs training. How do I get them that training they need? You can reach out individually, but how do you get the right products or the right training to the right people? And that's why the Protectors Foundation was formed.

Speaker 1: 4:30

The goal is to identify areas that need work, whether that's an individual officer, whether that's a department, whether later on, when we move into the other protectors communities, whether that be fire, whether it be EMTs, et cetera. Identify what they need and get it to them. No BS, get it to them. The same officer that just went to training needed red guns. They needed training weapons. Their department didn't have them available. So I reached out to the armament systems and procedures, asp, and they provided the red guns and we were able to get that equipment to the department in time, hand delivered. Boom, that's what we needed.

Speaker 1: 5:21

So many people have been reaching forward. How can they help the protectors? One of the creators of Quick Clot said hey, you know what? Here here's a pretty decent donation. Get some equipment out to the protectors and need it. Quick from Warhawk Tactical has been great about getting training to the protectors community, but now it's time to scale up.

Speaker 1: 5:49

And what the great thing about this is I'm not asking you for money. I am not asking friends, families, individual donations. Yes, there is availability if you want to donate. But no, this is the time for me and for my crew to go out there and ask for donations, whether it be equipment, training or monetary donations from the sources, from companies, for those who businesses that want to support the protectors, businesses that may have money that they need to donate. You know, a lot of the marketing money goes to marketing. They could hire such and such to market their products.

Speaker 1: 6:30

What the protectors foundation is doing now is we're going to say, hey, you know what? And we have platforms, we have social media, we have influencers on board, we have people in the community that if you provide a donation, if you're a business and provides a donation, you're not only going to get a charitable tax donation receipt but you're also going to get the marketing available to it. Everybody that donates to the protectors foundation that wants it will be identified and we're going to say, hey look, they really helped out in a time of need. But it goes back to the need. There is a need for the protectors foundation and I could tell you right now it is going to be on board. It is on board. You want to know where every dollar, every cent is going to. It will be available, guaranteed. But when I think about $13 an hour and I think about so many people, I think you know what.

Speaker 1: 7:33

Every officer throughout the country has a potential to be hurt, murdered, killed, lose their life and limb. But the other thing is they're also dealing with the same things the big departments are. If you go to small town USA and let's say they have 10, 13 people on their department, they are dealing with homicides, sexual assaults, child death, accidents every crime that the big cities deal with that. Some of these big cities may have their own detective bureaus and CSI and everything you can imagine. These small towns are dealing with that. They're doing their own investigations.

Speaker 1: 8:20

You know, I always assumed and this is me coming from the Fed world and I'll knock myself for being a Fed all day long but I always assumed, if there was a murder, that hey, a detective from somewhere is going to come in and investigate it. Or if there is a suspicious suicide, or if there is a suicide or any sort of death or anything else going on, I always assumed that there would be some sort of like hey, there's going to be like a sheriff's detective bureau or someone's going to come in and support these local officers. No, no, you have very new officers out there doing complex cases and for $13 an hour. So one of the things I'm looking at is not just doing the tactical training, not just providing equipment, but looking at other ways to provide resources to them. So if they don't have that background in investigations they don't have any forensics backgrounds, they don't have any use of forest background, they don't know how to write a grant Then we find someone who could provide that training to them.

Speaker 1: 9:33

Think about it this way there is grant money out there, but does anybody know how to write a grant? Does anybody know where to find these resources? That is gonna be one of the things that the Protectors Foundation is gonna be doing, too, is finding the right resources for the people in need. So the Protectors Foundation is up and running. We are a dedicated 501c3 nonprofit. But I want you to think about this.

Speaker 1: 9:59

When I ask you later on if you could spread the message with the Protectors Foundation, or if you could support us, not through money, but by sharing the message and by identifying the needs of those officers in your community, those deputies, those law enforcement agents out there is to remember that $13 is not enough. We know that. Can we help get people paid more? I don't think so. We could write to our politicians and we could write to our council members and stuff, but how can we support the Protectors and I want you to remember that that officer, that agent, that deputy they're out there by themselves dealing with the same things that these big agencies do, but they're doing it alone and they need support. We all know that law enforcement is a crisis right now for retention and recruitment. So these people, these Protectors out there right now. They need help. So the Protectors Foundation we're up and running.

Speaker 1: 11:02

If you are a business, you're a corporation, you're into the training realm and you wanna reach out to us, you wanna talk, feel free. I am always available info at protectorsus. You could hit me up on social media, you could hit me up anywhere. We have our website, theprotectorsfoundationorg. We are available to talk and we are available to help the Protectors out there. Thank you all for everybody that has supported the Protectors Foundation, and there's a long list of people who have already helped, whether that's through website development, whether that's through monetary donations, equipment and training. Thank you all and I'm really excited to really get this going to get the help to the Protectors out there, because the Protectors run towards danger. Thank you all.