We often hear the saying, "You are a product of your environment," and indeed, there is undeniable truth to this. Our upbringing, the values instilled in us by our families, and the communities we grow up in shape who we are and who we become. For many of us, we are born into families with long-standing traditions, passed down from generation to generation. These traditions can be cultural, religious, or even professional. They serve as a foundation, a guiding light that provides us with a sense...
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 97
Welcome back for our 15th Message From the Host! Today we will feature one of our great partners in the Carry the Load organization. This great organization started as a grass roots movement in Dallas to restore the true meaning of Memorial Day. It has since grown to a national movement as they have raised over 42 million dollars with a staggering 93% of the monies raised going to the programs for military and first responders and their families. Carry the Load has donated over 800,000 dollars t...
Apr 10, 2024•33 min
Today we sit down with another member of the Banes law enforcement family in Fort Worth PD’s very own Scott Banes. Scott has been a member of the FWPD since 2005 and has worked patrol, the Special Response Team, Crimes Against Children Unit, Major Case Unit, SRT, CIT, and is currently the Sgt. over the Fentanyl Overdose Team. Scott is married to a true bad in Karen as she is a six time BJJ World Champion and owner of Genisis Jiu Jitsu and they are parent to four beautiful kids. We will get a his...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 56 min•Ep. 96
Welcome back ATO Family Today we are sitting with one of the original members of the Dallas Police Fugitive Unit in Daniel Jamieson. Daniel hired on with the Dallas Police Department in February of 2008 and trained at the Southeast Patrol before moving to Northwest Patrol. In 2012 Dallas Police Chief David Brown created a brand-new unit called METRO that was designed to follow violent crime trends and began hunting fugitives in the City. In 2017 this unit morphed into the new Fugitive, and they ...
Mar 25, 2024•2 hr 20 min•Ep. 95
Welcome back for our latest message from the host with one of the Assist the Officer’s biggest supporters in the Mill Creek Ranch. We sat down with General Manager Norm Bissonnette who tells the listener about his background in serving the great state of Kansas as a law enforcement officer for thirty years before moving to Texas to serve a different way. Norm was fortunate enough to be welcomed in by the Stewart Family who offered him a job just to maintain the property. After showing his true w...
Mar 22, 2024•39 min
In Memory of Dallas Police Sgt. Anthony Allen #8098 Today we will tell the listener the story behind the creation of the Dallas Police Honor Guard Unit. Like all great ideas there is a unique story, and this one is no different. I knew this story would be important, so I sought out the person who had a vision that he turned, after years of planning and frustrations, into a reality for the Dallas Police Department. Sgt. Joe Denomy #4081 hired on with the Dept. in 1978 and proudly served for 36 ye...
Mar 11, 2024•2 hr 9 min•Ep. 94
The ATO is proud and honored to welcome on the Founder of Breaking Barriers United and Chino PD Officer Ryan Tillman. This episode will cover Ryan’s journey as he hired on with the Chino Police Department in 2013 and quickly realized the need to improve relations with the police and the communities they serve. After years of working in Chino PD and being the school resource officer the Don Lugo High School he sharpened his God given talents as a pure communicator as he listened and actually hear...
Mar 05, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 93
Call 1-800-COPLINE to access this service. YOU ARE NOT ALONE The ATO is proud to present the story of such a landmark and crucial piece of law enforcement as we tell the story of COPLINE. To tell this story is the founder, Stephanie Samuels. She is a psychotherapist that works exclusively with police officers. Ms. Samuels has lectured all over the country on PTSD and vicarious trauma, including undiagnosed PTSD and the from department silence after officers are involved in critical incidents as ...
Feb 25, 2024•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 92
“Child Abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime” -Herbert Ward Today’s episode will hold the listeners hand as we walk you through a child abuse investigation from someone that has walked this tragic path nearly twenty years with the Dallas Police Department. Detective Corey Foreman hired on with Dallas in 1993 and graduated in Class #238 and then quickly headed to the Northeast Division to begin his career as a rookie cop. However, a prior internship at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Cente...
Feb 12, 2024•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 91
Episode 90 Dallas Fire and Rescue Firefighter and Peer Support Coordinator Casey Ellsworth Welcome back ATO family and welcome one of Dallas Fire and Rescues finest in Casey Ellsworth. Casey started in 2009 in Dallas and hit the ground running at Station 19, one of the Department’s Urban Search and Rescue stations in Dallas. He is trained in High Angle Rescue, Low angle Rescue, Trench Rescues, Structural Collapse situations, Heavy Machinery Rescues, Disaster Medical Specialists, Confined Space a...
Feb 02, 2024•2 hr 16 min•Ep. 90
ATO today’s episode features one of the true leaders of the Dallas Police Department and one of the most influential people in Dallas Police over the last three decades. This is a story of how a young kid from Houston came to Dallas Texas to serve the City in 1994 and end his career as the President over the Department’s largest Association. Mike started in God’s country, the Southeast Division, and quickly gravitated to an aggressive, proactive style of policing and worked in the 3080s drug enf...
Jan 15, 2024•2 hr 36 min•Ep. 89
Stop Minding Your Own Business ***Trigger Warning: Death by Suicide conversation*** We want to ring in the New Year and welcome on the great Dallas Attorney Terry Bentley Hill to our ATO Family. Terry turned her personal tragedy into a new mission in speaking on the very uncomfortable topic of a person taking their own life. She can speak from the unique perspective of being someone left behind not once but twice in her life as both her former husband and 14-year-old daughter suffered from depre...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 88
Merry Christmas ATO Family This message is from Kent, Joe, and two special guest cohosts in Sasha Kim and Omar Figueroa. We are extremely grateful for our loyal listeners. We want to say thank you to some of our day one listeners and we want to give special mentions to some of the many folks that have reached out with inspiring messages. This message we will talk about upcoming episodes and projects we have in store for 2024. This podcast wants to hear from our listeners for suggestions and feed...
Dec 24, 2023•36 min
In Remembrance of James Lynn Baker II, A.K.A “Mr. Jackson” ”The Dallas SWAT saved my life” This show takes pride in providing a variety of topics and guests and although we are all different, we are still human beings. We are flawed, we are complex, we are unique, and we all have the potential to serve at the highest levels. However, some of us take very different paths….dark paths, before we find our true calling. Life for all of us is literally like a pot of boiling water and what we become in...
Dec 17, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 87
Welcome back ATO Family! This episode has been a project since this show began as we finally tell the story of the attack on Dallas Police Headquarters on June 13th, 2015. At approximately 12:30 am a suspect, driving an armored van, drove to police headquarters in Dallas Texas and planted bags containing pipe bombs and opened fire on the front of the building with an assault rifle. Several officers responded and were met with gunfire in the streets in front of headquarters and then led the polic...
Dec 04, 2023•2 hr 20 min•Ep. 86
Today’s episode details a collaboration between two countries, The United States and Australia, that have the same goal in combating the flow of illicit drugs into their countries. The Drug Enforcement Administration was formed in 1973, by the Nixon administration, for the war on drugs and over the years this administration has grown, evolved and they have been the countries leading experts on illicit narcotic sales that terrorize the globe. The Western Australian Police Force, colloquially WAPO...
Nov 27, 2023•2 hr 28 min•Ep. 85
"Check in on each other." Today’s episode will welcome on two true Texas servants in Gretchen and Aaron Grigsby as they will detail their lives of service and how they found each other to form this true partnership. Both are homegrown true Texans and both, albeit via different routes, traveled a path that led them to the Lone Star State’s Capitol, Austin Texas. Gretchen worked for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, Texas Senate Committee on Agriculture, Rural Affairs and is currently th...
Nov 14, 2023•2 hr 25 min•Ep. 84
“You can’t do this” Today’s guest is an artist with the Dallas Police Department. He’s not an artist that uses an easel, paint brush, or canvas, instead he uses his personality, drive and natural adaptability as his tools to present his own form of artwork. He treats undercover work as a form of artwork…. he uses his tools to gain to win the target’s admiration and trust, then betray them for the greater good. The cat and mouse game of police undercover work, in the United States, goes back to t...
Nov 01, 2023•2 hr 15 min•Ep. 83
Welcome back ATO Family…..today we bring you a special Message from the Host. And we want to introduce the Blue Goes Pink Initiative. Backing the Blue or showing the Thin Blue Line is a way of letting the community and police officers know that they have your admiration and respect. With that in mind, "Blue Goes Pink" is a way of showing that same admiration and respect to the individuals that have been affected by breast cancer Our purpose is to help promote breast cancer awareness and highligh...
Oct 31, 2023•39 min
"Law enforcement had different plans for me" ATO Family please welcome retired Dallas SWAT and current Texas Attorney General Fugitive Unit Chris Webb is back on the mic for another episode. He sat in his own episode to talk about his incredible career and also a vision that he had back in 2019 to continue to serve his brothers and sisters in the first responder community by creating a retreat that puts mental health and wellness on the forefront. Chris and his amazing wife, Judge Rainey Webb, p...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 82
"Always come home". This is the story of a young Dallas Officer who had ambitions of fighting crime, serving the city and starting a new family. Mitchell Penton embraced the Northeast Patrol Division’s fast pace and settled in with several other young officers that became a blue family. Mitchell loved being a cop….was a loyal son, a devoted father, and husband and everyone in his life looked to the future to travel with him on this journey. But life being what it is - a series of intersecting li...
Oct 11, 2023•2 hr•Ep. 81
Welcome back to the show for our 80th episode and we will be taking you back in time to the age of hair bands, the cold war, and the rise of cocaine in the United States. Ground zero for cocaine distribution into the US was Florida and specifically the city of Miami as it rolled into our country from Columbia. With all the cocaine that was pouring in brought not only the ungodly amount of cash but also extreme violence. Movies and documentaries have been made about this era, specifically Cocaine...
Oct 03, 2023•2 hr 44 min•Ep. 80
“Act Outside the Box” Welcome back ATO Family Today we welcome the Boss of Dallas PD back to the mic as we talk about the Dallas Police Department’s mission in making mental wellness a priority. Over the last couple of months Dallas has endured tragedies with officers taking their own life as well as losing officers to medical emergencies. Chief Eddie Garcia is here to talk about making his employee’s health a priority and is dedicated to establishing a culture to come forward and get help more ...
Sep 24, 2023•50 min•Ep. 79
Support the good, condemn the bad, honor the fallen. Our next guest grew up in a very small town in NORTHERN Minnesota, which is why his accent is still so strong despite the fact he hasn’t lived there since 2005. He spent his childhood playing every sport possible, with a year-round focus on hockey. He played hockey in college at Hamline University where he graduated with a degree in criminal justice. Upon graduating college, he joined the Dallas Police Department in 2005. Admittedly, he chose ...
Sep 20, 2023•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 78
" I do not recognize my own reflection staring back at me" On September 11th, 2001, todays guest woke up to head to work to the World Trade Center to lead a meeting on an upcoming event. Her stress began as she sat behind a wreck on the way to the twin towers. The life of a Secret Service Agent is calculated and the importance of being punctual is paramount as she parked and quickly entered the WTC to make her meeting. The world watched as the North Tower was struck by an airliner at 8:46 am and...
Sep 11, 2023•2 hr 26 min•Ep. 77
“Struggle and pain, and fear and shame, are part of the human condition.” Welcome back ATO family! Today we give the stage to Lifeologie founder Melanie Wells (LPC-S, LMFT-S, RYT, PYT) as she educates us on the difficulties of navigating life and relationships. The first responder world endures much trauma in the work life but even more in the homelife as marital issues, bad coping skills, bad communication skills, and divorce is prevalent in our profession. This is the topic we have not tackled...
Sep 03, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 76
“A Front Row Seat to Life” ATO Family today we are celebrating our milestone 75th episode with a true piece of Dallas Police and ATO history with David Rodriguez. David was born in 1948 and grew up in a segregated West Dallas and joined the Vietnam War right after high school. At this time Dallas PD had their recruiting doors wide open for veterans of this war and David walked right through those doors and into DPD’s open arms in 1969 and graduated in academy class #107. He made his name as a le...
Aug 07, 2023•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 75
Welcome back to another message from the host as we sit down with Kathleen,Justin, and Alex from the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers to discuss the 23rd Annual Freedom Run. This run was created in November 2001, after the deadly 9/11 attacks, to honor first responders dedication to serving their communities across the country. DAYL was formed in the 1920s and is now nearly three thousand members strong as they are the only bar organization in Dallas dedicated exclusively to the needs of youn...
Aug 03, 2023•28 min
Episode 74 Garland Texas Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Detective Tony Godwin ****Sensitive Material Warning**** Welcome back ATO Blue Family. Today we are sitting with a true expert in his field, a law enforcement Hall of Famer, a Detective that investigates some of the most horrific crimes against the truly vulnerable…..children. Garland Pd Detective Tony Godwin has been a Detective with the Garland Police Department (30thyear). Assigned to the Northern Texas ICAC Task Forc...
Jul 23, 2023•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 74
Episode 73 Dallas Police Homicide Sergeant Jessica Criddle Welcome back ATO Family as we are extremely happy to welcome Dallas native, Homicide Sgt. Jessica Criddle to the ATO stage and pull back the curtain a bit on this amazing human’s life. She attended The Booker T. Washington Highschool for Arts and studied dance. She then ventured to Sam Houston State and dove into Biology Pre-Med and Dance and graduating with honors in 2003. Jessica then began interning at the Medical Examiner’s Office an...
Jul 11, 2023•2 hr 31 min•Ep. 73
