Resilience in Action: Training, Wellness, and Mental Strength Beyond the Frontline

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to condition specific protocols. I've seen firsthand the difference Neutrodyne makes in my patient's health and in practice. Everybody, Dr. Rob Silverman here, Proven Health Alternatives. My guest today, my Illuminary, Jay Lacayo. Jay, how are you doing today? I'm doing well, man. Thank you for having me. Thanks for coming on. You've got a great extensive career in law enforcement, but I just want everybody to know you are a SWAT officer. And I got to ask you the question, as a swat officer, I watch the show, man.

Tell me some things about like, how do you get to SWOT? There's different avenues to get the SWOAT. So some people go like the proactive route, which is what I did. I was in a proactive unit. And it was kind of the natural progression to go from a Proactive Unit into SWAT or ESU, Emergency Services. So that was something that I always wanted to do as a police officer. Rightfully so, I figured out what the route was going to be. kind of progress towards that way. But other people who have like a background in maybe like volunteer firefighting, who are prior EMTs or medics, they tend to lean towards this way, meaning the emergency services or slash SWAT route.

Or you can be prior military, which is a lot of the ESU guys or SWOT guys were prior to military and it's a natural progression from going from prior So you were in New York City police office first, you switched to Chester County in White Plains. You were ESU I think for 10 years. Yeah, 10 years, yeah, a decade. And then you went to SWAT? No, so ESU and SWOT is one and the same. Over in LA, they'll call it SWA. On the East Coast, we call the ESUs, which is emergency services, and there's several different disciplines within emergency service.

So I got to ask you, I'm thinking about a second career, what physical tests do I have to take to get in a SWAP? Because I mean, you guys are in great shape. I mean, again, I know the show. It's a TV show that's shooting from a helicopter. I don't think you guys are doing that. But, it's rigorous physical test. Not everybody can pass. Yeah, so the way we do it here is you have to pass the Cooper test in the 70th percentile.

SWAT Career Path and Training Standards 4:10

So the cooper test is a test based on a mile and a half run, push-ups and sit- ups, right, according to your age and gender. You have the pass that in 70 percentiles. At the time when I went through SWAT school, I had to get in at a I think I had to run a mile and a half and like 10 minutes and three seconds. I completed it in 949 and then it's like pushups and setups I forgot what the number was. But past that then you have to do a obstacle course that they set up for you, which is all job driven tasks that are associated with emergency services.

So it's like traversing stairs, and they have a battery ram that you have to hit through a door as a sledgehammer. It's a bunch of things. Quite difficult. it is not for the faint-hearted. You have make sure that your in top physical condition because it a position that requires a lot of you. They want you to be at the peak of your performance. Not easy by any means, but we got it done. Is there any hand to hand? I mean, obviously, they say that in training, but is there anything hand-to-hand or combat tests to be?

No, no, that's not a requirement. It's literally just the Cooper standard and then it has the obstacle course. There's no requirement to have hand. You are Liable to so you have to go to a firearm school, right? Which is within the SWAT school itself and you to shoot proficient So you think I think anything under 90 is a fail. So Wow. Yeah, that's high level handgun shooting rifle Yeah hand gun long gun and then they have what they call 40 millimeter launchers which launch like CS or You know less than lethal ammunition, you know to disperse crowds and so on.

You have be proficianed though To piggyback on the idea of hand-to-hand combat with police officers, we were talking off camera before about which styles or how they can prepare themselves for an unfortunate inevitability of a hand to hand with an assailant. Yeah, I think it should be a requirement. I always tell guys you should do some kind of combat training of some sort. Because, you know, almost 85 to 90% of our interactions come to some kind of grapple of some sort. So Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is great when it comes to like weapon retention, and you get less injury when you have somebody who's proficient in Brazilian jiu jitsu, right?

So you can have someone who can, A, retain their weapon, but B, subdue an assailant or suspect with minimal force and it's less damage. When you get somebody in a compliance hold and they know, hey, I can't really get out of this, they will stop. But if you have someone who's not trained and doesn't know what they're doing, it just creates more of a window for injury and potential fatality. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is really popular, obviously, within the UFC. What about something like Krav Maga or Hapkido where you can use a hold to gain control of somebody?

Krab is great too. Krob is more ideal for what we do because they kind of train real time, right? So there's no geese, there is none of that, they'll come in Dressed as is and and it goes back to you know It's like it's urban warfare right because we're dealing with people on the street right or in close quarters because you could be in an apartment and have to take action but um, you, know something like Cribs some people might not like right some, people say judo or keto that you Know it using someone's you.

Know energy and redirecting them those kind of martial arts I feel are great but even boxing man if you just know how to parry or block or counter It'll just help you because the more you know, the less of a chance you have to going to lethal force. Do you think also in the martial arts, that mental aspect? I've noticed, I get nervous if I got pulled over and I feel the police officers nervous. If you're more comfortable with the setting, more in a comfortable environment, you project that confidence and if you will control over the situation, do you that's an ad from doing some martial art training?

Yeah, because you definitely develop a ton of confidence because, you know, that you're capable of protecting yourself or your partner, right? And so, having that knowledge does make you a more confident police officer. So I think a More Confident Police Officer is a safer police officers. I will agree with you 100% on that. How do you mix in that training with your extensive exercise regimen. So you're lifting weights, you doing flexibility, your running, and you also doing some sort of martial arts bag, katas, whatever it may be.

You just kind of loop it into your training program. put it in where it fits, right? So, you know, my training schedule is, it's like a six day training and so on a seventh day, I'll throw in some combat training, whether it is just doing some light rolling or because when I roll, i'm just how to get out or into certain situations, right? So, I'm not doing it for sport, for competition, just to have the knowledge. So it's just being able to figure out a training regimen that suits your needs. If you're a guy that does crossfit or you do just traditional strength training, you know, chest tries, shoulders buys, take a day and a period of time, where you can work on hand-to-hand combat or some kind of combat training, you know, be it hitting a bag or just, rolling with a friend and just getting some key points.

You know as a doctor of chiropractic for 26 years, we have to do continued ed and we should every year, each state's different. And I've told a lot of my colleagues that I think that there should be some tests to make sure that doctors in general, healthcare practitioners are up to snuff. It's not necessarily knowing the new stuff, but their acuity is sharp enough to help people. Now that through my field under the bus and I'm gonna get some hate mail, I wanna ask you, do you think if you were made police commissioner of the US, would you have intimate in testing to make sure everybody keeps up to a certain standard.

Yeah, I mean that would be the ideal situation because it holds you liable, right? There's a sense of accountability when, you know, i would say quarterly that you'd be testing guys to to makes sure that they are performing at their best ability but You know, we don't live in a perfect world and, you know. But if I could have my way, I would do something quarterly. It wouldn't even be an annual thing. Quarterly, these guys would be getting tested. Now to revert back to the question we just talked about, is there a continuing Ed?

No, there's not a continue Ed. I think once you get on, free to go as you may, right?

Combat Training, Confidence, and Officer Wellness 11:40

From that point. I mean, my job is a little different. We have in-service training every year that everybody in the department has to partake in, which I think is great, because we have so many things that we go over, like law updates, federal and local laws. They kind of give you everything that you need, and it's every we do it. So I'd think that all jobs should go to that, but not all job do. national standard in place for, you know, departments worldwide. It's all according to where you work and how your department functions.

You know I meant to ask you, everybody brags about LA SWAT being the best. Why do they have that title, if you will? Honestly, it's kind of like where SWAT originated. So, If you're a SWOT guy, you know about LAPD and like the term SWT. That's why it never stuck on the East Coast, right? On the east coast, we use emergency services or like a critical incident unit. We have different names. LA has SWAT, Special Weapons and Tactics, or out west. It's strictly that because they only deal with special weapons and tactics, whereas here on the East Coast or on this side of the country, emergency service has so many different disciplines.

You have vehicle extrication, you have rope rescue, special weapon and tactic, all those things all in one. I think LA has that name or that reputation because they are one of the originators and they specifically deal with special weapons and tactics. Obviously, you know the history of LA. LA was a super busy place and so they got a lot of reputations doing what they do. We live in Westchester County, both of us. I practice in the next town over from White Plains and Hartsdale. There's some very small, they're almost bedroom communities.

And some of them are policed by 12 police officers. How do you get around that when the surrounding areas are cities and there's a lot of activity? That's tough. Man, these smaller places don't require what I call intensive policing. It's basically an overwatch. That all it really is. When you work in these small hamlets and villages, it's just over watch. If you need additional resources, that's where the bigger cities kind of come into play. And those smaller jobs are the jobs that tend to pay the most, because obviously in this places, the taxes are a little higher.

So your services need to meet those expectations of those tax prices. Because a lot of guys that work in these big, big cities, they want to go to these small villages and these hamlets because they pay more to do less work. Now, there's gotta be some mental tests. I mean, again, this is not the average police officer. And I actually love all my police officers are very respectful, tough job. Don't think I'd wanna walk around all day with a camera on my shoulder. You don't wanna comment about that, but I'm sure that I make some mistakes in my sentences with patients by accident, not using an article or something like that.

That said, Mental tests, you have to have some sort of increased mental acuity. So what tests do you take to be a spot officer? So there's an interview process, right? During the interview, they put you in scenarios and they basically check to see how you would respond. adverse situations. And it's not a requirement, but it is something that a lot of teams do because you are part of a team, right? So you have to learn how to work well with others. You also have know how respond in high stress situations, so they give you a bunch of scenarios.

Basically, based off of your answers and passing the Cooper test and so on and forth, that's how they determine if you will make the team or not. Now I know, because I've seen you in a gym, you're in great shape. You're lean, your muscular. Thank you, appreciate that. No, no worries. And you have a history of athletic events. I think you said you played some football. Yeah. and you've partaken a lot of things. So what's your own personal regiment like to be able to, in your forties, right? Yeah.

I'll be 43 in June. Right. To be the SWAT officer. My training is kind of simple, so I have like this hybrid kind approach to it. So I like to log miles, I run anywhere between 20 to 25 miles a week. You can break that up, however, but I usually I try to break up the runs over five days. So it was like five mile runs and I do traditional strength training mixed with high intensity interval training. I have a push day and a pull day, and then I'll have lower body day as far as weight training, then a full body.

And I do incorporate a lot of zone two cardio just to build my aerobic baseline. Because it definitely does help with the distance running. But also, when you build that aerobics baseline, your cardiovascular endurance goes through the roof. It's slow, and it's very, very monotonous. I've learned as I got older, if I build this baseline it just makes me a little bit more efficient when I'm out there. Outstanding, so I'm curious, now that we've chatted a little bit, what possessed you to be a police officer?

I always love to ask people their why in their life, and I know you have an interesting one. Yeah, my father was in law enforcement. My father a correctional officer. Mm-hmm. And my uncle was a New York City police officers. So I grew up knowing that I wanted to wear some kind of uniform of some sort. Right. Uh, My Father also served in the military as well. I think the natural progression for me was going to either be military or law I had the opportunity to join the NYPD in 2005. Prior to that, I was on the cusp of joining the military.

I'm going to joined the Navy. And thankfully, the MYPD called me first, and I ended up signing up with the MyPD and 05. So my reason for being a police officer comes from my family. You know, come from a line of first responders. It was the family business, so rightfully so. That's what I did when I became of age. Family business like Blue Bloods, great stuff. Yeah, yeah. So like I said, I watched a show, my wife and I watch the show. We're hoping that they don't cancel it. Is that real what they do or is that TV real?

There's some reality to it that a lot of these shows are based on like somewhat true events or, you know, or like a derivative of. So, yeah, it's pretty accurate. I mean, get enough research where they can kind of base their show off of it. So they don't deviate too far from what actually happens. Now you got a great background there. I mean, right behind you. You got sneakers, man. Some basketball, some look like lifestyle. There's got to be a background story to that. So, you know, growing up, I was always into, like, Michael Jordan, right?

So Michael, Jordan was my he's my goat. I grew up watching Michael. Jordan. Yeah, so in 1991, when he won his first championship is where I kind of got bit by the sneaker bug. So the Jordan 6 just came out. I begged my dad for a pair of sneakers. He bought me my first pair Jordans in 1991 and I've been hooked ever since. Um, I'd been on a mission to collect every single Jordan that I ever wanted, which I did. And, uh, it's something that sticks with me to this day. That's amazing. And by the way, I agree with you on Jordan being the goat.

I think LeBron is wonderful, but he's in the top three with your bar. So I'm sure we'll get a lot of flack on that. We'll definitely get some flak for that I said, sorry. Am a Larry guy too. In a magic guy. But you know, they're not there, But I will say this, so I really, Hey guys, everybody, think magic's better than Kobe. Oh, wow. That was the first time I heard that one. Yeah. Kobe was great. I just think magic was better, but they both have five. Yes, they do. and if Larry didn't hurt his back, things would have been different.

And if Len Bias was there, that was team would've been. But yeah, I just watched something about Len bias and they said that he could have. Been better than Jordan and that's what they say. I mean, II can only go off of like guys who played with them. You know, the I think Horace Grant played. With him and Horus Grant stated that. He was the baddest mother effort he's ever seen and then someone stated Didn't you play with Michael Jordan? He repeated it again. He said he's the baddest duty that he has ever seen.

So if a guy who's played with both can say that, then there has to be some kind of potential there. At least that's what I think. You know, Len Bias, he was wonderful. Uh, He had Jordan S type skill. Um, I.

Mental Health Outreach and Community Support 20:50

Think if he. Was three quarters of what Jordan is, you would have changed the, the league with the Celtics, with that frontline. But I wouldn't say he, was Jordan. You know, remember James Worthy gave a great story about Michael Jordan in that he said, I was better than him for the first three weeks in college. And then Michael just elevated, you know it's just like life. Like when you started as a policeman, and I'm sure you had a skill set, You've harnessed it and you've really flourished and fostered some great outcomes with it.

Absolutely. You know what amazes me and I know we're going to go into the mental health a little later in the program, but how do you stay calm in a most stressful life and death situations? I mean, it's tough. What advice would you give everybody how to stay come? It's a great question. You know, it's it all goes back to training, right? I think I've trained enough to know that I can handle the worst of situations. So I. Preparation has always led me to have an extreme confidence when going into any kind of tumultuous situation.

I feel like I trained If the worst of the worse does happen, I am trained up to a point where I can I think get through almost anything. So I've always been very confident in my skill set because I trained enough to know that worst case scenario I I, think I'll end up on top. But I've always been a very calm guy in crazy situations. So I think just me just having a cool, calm demeanor when things get crazy has always helped me. I'm going to ask a question that everybody said when I had a SWAT officer on.

When I get pulled over for a car infraction, I know you don't do that anymore. Yeah, haven't done that quite some time. Yeah, they always say, I didn't do anything, but okay. How do they keep everything deescalated? Because the policeman, the officer, is probably uncomfortable coming over to a car because I understand it's a very unsafe avenue for you guys to go through. So what would you recommend to the person, me, that gets pulled over to keep it calm? Yeah, just know that the police officer is not trying to ruin your day, right?

He's only doing his job. And I think most of the time when you get pulled, you kind of know what you got pulled for. Me as a police, I get pull over, Right? I already know I have all the windows rolled down. I got my hands attended to. You know, don't want to give them any kind reasons to feel uncomfortable. You know, and I tried to be as I try to make the police officer feel as comfortable as possible. So, you know just realizing that they're doing a job that didn't wake up in the morning, with an objective to ruin your life specifically it just just have an open mind man you And just pay attention when you drive.

I think a lot of us get very distracted, or sometimes our mood dictates the way we drive, so if you're upset, obviously you can drive a little faster. If you are gloomy, you gonna drive slow. So just having an open mind and just understanding that the police officer is just doing his job and try to be as forthcoming as possible. And I would say honesty is the best policy. Like if I know I'm speeding, I'd be like, listen, why you stop me? I was driving fast. Sometimes that'll get you off the hook, man.

that becomes more of an issue than it escalates. So just not giving them a reason to, you know, take it to another level. Right. I mean, I remember when I was younger, long time ago, used to get tickets. And I went to an officer and I said, you know, I don't get it. Why are you guys giving me tickets? He says, well, he probably deserved it, probably did do something wrong. He said what's your demeanor to piggyback on what you said? And now when I, an Officer comes over, yes Officer, no Officer. I'm sorry Officer And it seems to work better.

And I wish there should be more training with young kids to deescalate because like you said, the cops aren't trying to hurt you. But it's a tough stop for them. Yeah, it is one of the most dangerous things you can do as a police officer is a car stop. Especially if the passenger has tinted windows. Oh, yeah. Which in most cases, a lot of cars are tinting. Car stops and domestic violence incidents are the two most popular calls where police officers get hurt. My staff in the front wants to know, can you share some insights into nutrition?

What's your diet like? Oh, so I was plant-based for a very long time. I just recently went back to consuming animal protein. So I have a, very, simple diet. It's lean meat and green vegetables. And I try to stay away from some bread, rice, not saying that I don't have it. it's just not as frequent as most people would lean protein, green, vegetables, I do take supplements. Uh, take glutathione, curcumin, What else do I take? NAD, which is I think has helped me tremendously in my later years. I've been taking N.A.D.

for the last like three years, so since I'm 40, I have been taken N A. D. That definitely has help me out a lot. And then, you know, just making sure that I hydrate. So I try to drink my body weight in fluid ounces of water. Try to do that. If I can't get that much water in, I'll have some kind of hydration supplement. And last but not least, sleep is the real PED. Sleep hygiene is very tough, especially with police officers, because we work some odd hours. I right now have a phenomenal schedule, so I'm able to kind to hone in on some good sleep hygiene.

But yeah, gotta get that sleep. That's something that I didn't do very early on in my career. Yeah, I remember when you went vegan and you loved it because you said like the inflammatory feeling you may have had in your body because, you're not really telling everybody, but you do a lot of heavy lifting. You can move some weight. you know, being an athlete, you're able to do those Olympic lifts. I can say it for you. So I remember when you were plant-based, but you said it was a little hard to hold the muscularity with the plant base, which is typical complaint.

Yeah. You went more plant forward. It's almost like Tom Brady, where he does 80% plants and 20% protein, plant forward. So that's a great takeaway. By the way, people who are plant-based, if they're not able to eat animal protein, they add the branch chain amino acid leucine. Leucin will signal enough protein muscle protein synthesis to equal actually animal proteins. Love your supplements. Yeah. So tell all your vegan friends, they need to take leucine or they needed to eat a shiitake mushroom.

Remember the king and the shitaki mushroom are the steak in a vegan place. My wife and I do eat vegan. We're not vegans, but we would do we'd vegan meals. Um, we'll eat anything as long as it's a whole food, a real food. And we try to avoid ultra processed food like you are. But love your supplement regimen. Glutathione is the master antioxidant. My recommendation on that, and we never get a chance to talk about this, is liposomal glutathion. It's much better. Yeah, that's what I take. I'll take a lipsomal version of it, yes.

Its the Master Antioxidant, curcumin is wonderful. The anti-inflammatory decreases what we call NF-CAPB inflammatory. NAD, absolutely. And I will tell you that David Sinclair now loves you. MMM makes N.A.D. There's a receptor site in the body, or reserve, I should say. in the body for NAD everywhere. And if you want to have mitochondrial function, you do need that NAAD. Man, You hit the two big ones. Drink some water and get some rest. Love it. Yeah. That's been a huge game changer. I think when you're young, you take those things and you don't even consider them as factors.

But I, think as you get older, especially, working the shifts that I've worked out, I thing 90% of my career has been evenings or some variation of. So, sleep is not something that felt like I needed until as I got older. you start to notice a little bit of a decline in your cognitive function if you don't sleep as much. Another supplement that I take that didn't mention too was creatine. I took it for the cognitive effects. It's great for muscle development and so on, but I like what it does for me on the on a cognitive level.

It is phenomenal because I noticed the days where I do take and the day's I don't and it's a little bit is this a a bit of brain fog when I. Don't take it and I notice I'm a lot sharper when i have my creating a creating produces or allows ADP to go to ATP okay brain is mitochondria number one mitochondrial organ. That ability to process energy gives you the ability have more of a cognitive effect. Love creatine. I tell everybody, I wrote my thesis on creatinine when I left chiral school. It was about 26 years ago.

Wow. And it was like the BPC 157. Yo, don't take that, you're going to tear your tendon. You're gonna do this. So a lot of these athletes who are using different kinds of supplements, i.e. steroids, were saying they were taking creatines, but it the steroid and the excessive amount that was damaging their tendon, So creatine is a great choice, short and long-term amnesia, and much better cognitively for women than men, believe it or not. Really? Didn't know that. Yeah, so share with all the female officers.

I want to turn to Paige. You've got a history in this. Tell us what that is. The mental health outreach team that I work for is attached to my department. We have a social worker that's attached to the unit as well, but basically what we deal with is people in crisis, the homeless population, and anyone who has issues with substance abuse within our community. So, you know, I go out on the streets of White Plains and it's call specific. And I basically attach these people to services. So if you're homeless or unhoused, if your suffer from some kind of mental illness of some sort or substance abuse, which kind goes hand in hand,

Law Enforcement Technology and Future Outlook 30:50

you'll deal with us, my unit, and we will attach you to the services within the county. And it's great because I get to give back. Also, I'm a peer supporter for my job, so any kind of police officer who's going through something. I work with two non-for-profits, and I am able to get them services as well. So it is more of me giving back, you know. 20 years this July, 11th makes 20 year. I did two years in New York City and 18 years as of tomorrow in White Plains. So it's a great, great avenue for me to give back.

That's fabulous. It's compelling. So many Americans have mental health issues. We were talking about it. I've said it before, I'm afraid of heights. You put me on top of a mountain, and I'll tell you anything about my mom. No doubt about anything to get out of that scenario. From what you've seen, why do you think so many American suffer from mental issues? think it's a cumulative thing, right? I think over a period of time, you know, we're underneath so much stress and you can only, put so, much weight in a book bag, until it starts to affect you.

And I believe that, just my personal experience, I witnessed a lot of things as a young child and, know therapy wasn't a thing back then so over a period of time that you know that trauma that perceived trauma uh spills over into your adult life and if you've never impacted um at some point it will you one incident away from having a mental health crisis. But I think it's due to the things that you experienced growing up. And I, think right now is a very tough time, especially after COVID. I that isolation and not being, you know, humans are social creatures and being able to be around your loved ones, the social distancing was, I think that weighed a lot on people, plus the unknown, right?

We didn't really know much about COVID. We knew it was something that was making people die. And so I got in their own heads and between the isolation and everything else that was going on, that kind of created the spike in the mental health crisis in United States. Yeah, I saw a precipitous rise in that as well. And I agree with you, we are beings, you know, everybody says I want to get away from it all. I wish it was on a desert island by myself. I don't think you'd be very happy for a long period of time.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. And to speak to that, I think if we have another pandemic or something like that. they're gonna do what they wanna do. And I think we have our education system with that a lot also. Yeah. So that firsthand. Chiropractors, we're going to chiropractic school, learning how to adjust. It's obviously man, man to hand to handle, it's gonna go mano to mano. They actually got through school and almost literally not touching anybody. And same thing with a lot of medical interns.

So I just don't see that happening. But I'm curious. I got an expert here. Where do you see law enforcement going in the next five to 10 years? Oof, man. You know, honestly, it's really tough to say because there's a there are a of factors and it is different in different places. Um, I think technology is going to take over because that is really at the forefront now. You know, there's a drone program in New York City. There's robotic canines now. So technology is, I think, going to be at the forefront.

And right now, a lot of people don't want to take this job. I know we laugh and we joke about the movie Terminator or iRobot, but I with Tesla creating that Android, that humanoid, I think you might see something in that space. Not five to 10 years, but I do believe that it's going to be hard to fill these positions with humans. If they can create a robotic canine, what's to say they It's a thought that's been in my head for a while because of the advances that they've made in policing. I'm from the era of no camera phones.

And I started where there were no cameras phones out there to now there's fiber optic networks that run through cities where you can see a freckle on someone's face. So I think technology is gonna be at the forefront and they're gonna make the adjustments from there. So I don't know if you'll be able to answer these questions, but I'll hit you with it. What do you think a typical police officer should be? I'm going to use the word arm with but because I can't think of another word, what do think they need to be to do their job appropriately?

Pretty much everything that we have now because They, since the whole like police reform thing, they've given us more than enough tools, right? So obviously you're gonna have your firearm, you gonna your ammunition for that, so two magazines, and then you going to have some kind of less than lethal. So like a taser, then the impact tool would be like an expandable baton of some sort. And your radio, your radios probably the most valuable thing that's on your person. I feel as if, you know, that should get the job done.

If not, you got some bigger problems on your hands. So I always ask a lot of guys that have really come up the ranks like you have. I have a friend in NYPD that's head of detectives. How does your job, your position differ from, and I know these are different organizations, let's say FBI and Secret Service? The only difference is that I'm just more in a local municipality. Stuff is only catered to certain things. Whereas, like, if I am a patrol officer, I m the jack of all trades, right? When you become a detective, you are specialized in whatever discipline that, the unit that you're in, so, for me, it's mental health specific, crisis specific.

So, that umbrella kind of goes over several things, right? So, you know, I do a little bit of hostage negotiation, all right. I, do, things like that. So it just comes down to specification when you get to that level of like detective and so on. That's the only difference. It's same job in essence, but if you're like federal, it's obviously a lot bigger. If I'm local, is just smaller. Excellent. So let me ask you something. I mean, you had a great career, got 20 years in, and you can go anytime you want.

You've come up the ranks, passed all the tests, I commend you. Thank you for your service. But what's next for you personally? Oh, man, I would love to dive in headfirst to the wellness space. I think there's a huge need for first responders to have some kind of guidance on what overall wellness looks like, right? So I always say there are three staples in overall well-being, physical, mental, and spiritual well being.

Personal Motivation, Podcast, and Closing Thoughts 38:20

If you have somebody that can guide you on how to have that type of homeostasis with those three things that can now enrich the career of a police officer, right? You know, you can perform optimally, and you kind of go to work and not view it as like, a shift. You can go work, actually enjoy it because you're prepared now for the unknowns, the decisions based off of the training that you're going to be getting from some of this stuff that I would like to give the police officers. So I think me diving into the wellness space and being able to get back to the first responder community is something that i'm looking to do.

I, you know, I'm going be doing something in that aspect where I am, working with first responders, giving them the tools to function on and off the job. think your tale are made for that. I think that would be a great second chapter to the J. La Caio book of life. Thank you, man. Appreciate that. I do. You walk the walk. Please don't comment on this because I don' want you to get in trouble. We always tease the donuts, the coffee. They get the job at 22, they're thin and then they get quite corpulent, things like that, you're the complete opposite.

Thank I'm curious. I mean, I am sure you've had a lot of moments as an officer. You know, people always ask me, do you remember that one patient where, you know you felt great? You felt so good. Almost brought you to tears. Do you have a moment in your head? Yeah, uh, had to call some years ago where I talked to guy off of a roof to me. That is the highlight of my police career. Uh, because it was such an intense situation. And, um, a heart to heart with somebody who was sitting on a roof who's having a hard time.

And thank God I was able to connect and, you know, that man walked away from my situation alive and great. You know nobody was hurt that day. So that's a good day at work. That is a great day work because I remember the movie Lethal Weapon. I saw what Mel Gibson did that doesn't seem viable. No, no, not at all. Do you remember that one? Yeah, I do. It was a Good Flick. But again, buddy cop stuff. Yeah. So, you have a podcast. Yes, yes I do. Why don't you tell everybody about your podcast? It's vastly different than mine, so I want everybody to be exposed to it.

Yeah, it's the Rooted Progress podcast, we talk to people from all walks of life and just ask them questions on what keeps them driven, right? What is your driving force and what have you endured to get you to where you are. I interview people from all walks of life who are successful. And I know I've seen some type of adversity. It's great for other people to hear someone's journey. A lot of the times we look at people and we judge them. You may look someone and say, hey, maybe they had an easy life.

But then they tell you some of things they have to overcome. It's just, it fills my cup to have conversations with people from all walks of life that have endured so much and have become successful people. So that's like the premise of my podcast. Yeah, I've seen it. You got some great stuff there. And I agree with you. There's always that little switch. That's why I asked you why there's that thing. People who love what they do and thrive like you, there is a reason, a why. Like Mark Twain once said, the two most important days of your life are the day you're born and the And then the addendum is that moment.

I always tell everybody it's a moment that gets you in a movie theater for free, if you will. Like you were talking about. And that's just great. So one more question. You are chasing in the car. perpetrator and assailant, and you cross into Hartsdale, where I am, right here on Central Avenue because I hear the alarms all the time. Do you have to stop because you're in a new town, city, or you were able to? No. No. Depending on the severity of the crime, they'll either terminate the pursuit or they will continue it.

The beautiful thing about technology is that we can put it over the radio and the neighboring jurisdiction can resume that. But depending on this severity, the kind they more than likely continue to chase. Well, look, we got to get back in 10 years where you're still in shape, you still transcending, and you doing your thing. And maybe then you'll be considering about retirement and doing that chapter number two. But don't procrastinate. You got a lot to offer everybody. I appreciate your time. Thank you, man.

Great stuff. Rob Silverman, Proven Health Alternatives.