All right, guys. Welcome back to another ARN podcast. I'm your host, Kent Shel. I'm the dude that sits here pretending like he knows what he's talking about. And I am joined by probably one of the coolest dudes in law enforcement. >> Oh, man. >> The newly appointed Chief of Police of the town of Florence, Arizona, Chief Matt Thomas. >> Man, that's quite the answer, dude. I don't know if I'm one of the coolest guys. I mean, you got Frank out there. Come on. >> Oh, bro. I love Frank, but man, your uh your background is insane, man. Some of the coolest [ __ ] I've ever seen. >> Yeah. I've had a pretty blessed career and a pretty crazy life, so it's been it's been interesting. Yeah. >> Yeah, dude. Uh, look, I give uh I try to give all my guests a little gift, but >> some Sean Ryan action going on here. So, are these gummies, bro? No gummies, but it's just swag. >> All right. All right. >> You know, some >> I like it. >> Some swag, >> dude. >> I can rock that for sure. All right. I like it. Thank you, sir. >> Yeah, dude. >> And I've got something for you out there done. Yep. >> Um All right. Let me just give a little background of who you are. >> All right. >> Uh Chief Thomas brings more than 31 years of law enforcement experience, retiring as chief deputy of the Panal County Sheriff's Office. Over his career, he's worked everything from patrol, traffic, and investigations to narcotics and SWAT, spending 18 years on the panel regional SWAT team and taking part in over 700 missions. He's also led major cartel and narcotics investigations alongside local, state, and federal partners. A graduate of the FBI National Academy and an instructor in leadership, tactics and cartel awareness, Chief Thomas is also the author of Inter Interceptors, the on the untold fight against Mexican cartels, a firstound firsthand account of the battle against organized crime. He is committed to raising professional standards, strengthening community trust, and leading Florence PD into a nar new era. Dude, that's that's Is that accurate? >> Uh, I mean, what am I missing? No, you're not missing anything. That was that was my career wrapped up into a nutshell, man. You know, it's crazy. >> Um, and I talked to Mark about this, you know, cuz Mark and I talked when I was getting ready to depart cuz he had departed before me and kind of went through the whole thing. Um, and uh, I was telling him, dude, you know, you you read all that and that equates into 32 years of of stuff. Um, but as I prepared to leave, it really hit me. One day I was sitting in my office and my whole career and life was right there in like four boxes. And so you're like, >> dude, I you know, it's just one of those things that kind of >> sits you down and like, well, that's it. That's a wrap, you know? And so it was it was kind of a crazy thing to um to leave the So, but uh >> that's got to be an emotional at least for me it would be, you know, I spent >> Yeah. >> my whole career here. Yep. Yeah, it was um I held it together pretty good. Um because it was uh kind of a celebration, too, right? Because I knew I was I was not leaving law enforcement. I was just going from the sheriff's office um over to Florence. And I was super excited about that move cuz uh I was going obviously from a pretty big agency. You know, we have like 250 sworn and 170 in the jail. And so a lot of staff in um at town of Florence right now have 33 cops. And so, um, I knew I was, uh, going from big to a little bit smaller. Uh, but I was excited about that. And so, there was there was the it was like an emotional roller coaster, right? Because sad that I'm leaving the So, it's where I grew up. It's where I spent my whole adult life. Um, but I'm excited to close that chapter and open the new chapter. So, a whole bunch of emotions at once. And then um you know as you know this but um until you go through it and experience it you don't understand it how fast the train keeps moving without you right like it's just a machine and uh um really when I when I took my direct reports a few weeks before I was leaving my direct reports were then assigned over to who is now the chief. So he was coming into that position. So, I signed them over and I really had nobody reporting to me anymore. That's when it all started to kind of settle in that uh like you're not the guy anymore. Um and not disrespectfully, but people stop coming to you for answers, right? Because you're not the guy anymore. Um so all of that, you know, I got a couple of weeks to kind of process that and work through it. Um and uh yeah, it was >> it was it sucked and it was cool all at the same time. >> Yeah. Bad, man. Yeah. >> So now you've been, let's see, chief of police for four or five months now. It's been long. >> Let's see. May 19th is when I started. So we're a couple months in, almost 3 months in. Yeah. >> Wow. I was way up past. Uh how's it feeling now? Are you you feel comfortable? >> Yeah, it's it's been cool. Yeah. Um it the town has been like I just I can't even describe how nice it's been um coming into that town as the chief and how uh just accepting they've been and embracing they've been uh not just my staff like the entire town um town council the town manager the town manager was a former chief so he's now my boss u which makes it really nice because he understands police and he understands the PD and um so I don't have to explain a lot when I go to him and say, "Hey, I need to do this or I need to do that." >> That's nice. >> Um, so it's it's been nice. It's been a a good move. Um, a lot of um a good chunk of young cops um and a few tenur ones. So, it's a good kind of mixture, but they're all just uh just great attitudes and so it's been fantastic, man. Yeah. >> And I'm assuming you had already built up a reputation >> being at ESO, right? Uh which which uh is jurisdiction the right word? Which which uh encompassed >> Florence, the town of Florence as well? >> Right. Right. Florence, our town seat. So >> yeah. So you already had >> county seat. Sorry. >> Um the public already knew who you were. Yeah. Right. They were already accusto and and officers because I I uh I would tell people they're you know first couple weeks they're kind of like how is it? I said kind of weird cuz like I'm the new kid at the at the school. Um, so all of a sudden I'm the new kid there, but I'm in charge. And so, uh, it was kind of a weird phenomenon, but it was, uh, so a little bit of, you know, kind of getting to know their culture because it's a little bit different than the so >> uh, because I I didn't come in there with any, you know, aspirations to change their culture or anything. I I just wanted to come in and lead them correctly. And so I kind of came in and, you know, figured it out and and, uh, trying to fit in a little bit. But that was I think the nice thing for me is that uh most of the I had taught a lot of them in the academy at some point or worked with them throughout the years. U so kind of already knew who I was and I didn't have to really go in and prove myself, right? Like a true outsider coming in. >> Um so that was all kind of nice. >> It was an easy transition. >> Yeah, it wasn't bad at all. That's cool. Wasn't bad at That's cool cuz that was one of my first questions is I think I asked Mark this uh when he became sheriff of Panal County. What was what was the climate like? So it sounds like >> Yeah. Everyone already knew who knew who you were and uh sounds like it was just an easy uh >> Yeah, we had a rough climate when Mark took so took over. You know that that it was and I lived through it. So >> I've heard stories, bro. >> Yeah, it was heard stories. >> Something else. >> Well, that's cool, man. I'm I'm stoked to hear that. um Florence PD and it's dude Arizona's growing up. >> Oh yeah. >> How many uh people in Florence do you have? >> We have the population is right around 27,000 but the cool thing is uh we are on the cusp, right? So if you pay attention to like the East Valley, the growth is going that way. We had Santan Valley just incorporated, right? So that's going to be and I think if I heard right, that is the single largest town incorporating uh in the US. So, um, one big town there, but everything is moving that way. So, Santan Valley butts right up against Florence. >> That's right. >> And so, it's all growing that way. Uh, Florence is looking like over the next uh 5 years, they're anticipating about 40,000 in growth. We have about 27,000 right now for population, and they're anticipating another 40 on top of that in in a 5year span. So, that's a lot of growth for us. >> Yeah. So, exciting. Oh yeah. Exciting. But also, I don't know. The first thing that comes to my mind is more people coming in, more crime, you know, goes up, >> more people, more problems. Yeah. >> You guys going to get busier and busier. >> Yeah. >> But that's part of growing pains, right? >> Yeah, it is. And uh it is going to happen. And uh but Florence is unique in the sense that they have uh it reminds me kind of uh of Queen Creek back in the day and even Gilbert back in the day. Uh it's got a a very strong historic district down there. Um been around since 1866, right? And and uh that core doesn't change. So the town is really proud of that and they embrace that. And so even the new growth around that, they they kind of fall into that historic town atmosphere, I guess. Um, and so it what what I've seen is the people that are coming to that town are people who want that that smaller town feel. So it's kind of kind of nice because they have the same values, all that stuff. >> Totally. >> Yeah, >> dude. I love driving down uh through uh downtown >> uh Florence. It's It is a really cool vibe. >> Yeah. >> A lot of uh Yeah. historical buildings. It's It's just a cool spot. Yep. There's a barbecue spot that we hit up there once. It was really good, man. >> Oh, they got a couple spots there. And then they have a uh a very unique Greek population, too. And so there's some great Greek food there. Uh because they have a a moth I can't uh talk monastery just down the road. And it's a huge monastery uh Greek Orthodox. And so people from all over come for that. And >> No kidding. I didn't even know that. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's hu And it's beautiful. If you ever go to the grounds, I mean, it is immaculate there. And uh just it's like an oasis in the desert, so it's awesome. Yeah. >> I had no idea. >> Yeah, that's a that's a shame. >> Well, that's cool, man. Um for for people who don't know, I've I've known Matt for a while. >> Um first met you, >> we were filming a documentary about the border, actually, >> and we interviewed uh you for this inter uh for this uh documentary. Um, I I'd like to talk about that a little bit, not about the documentary, but just about because it's a it's a subject I'm really passionate about. Um, and growing up in Arizona, you know, I I kind of grew up in in a bubble for multiple reasons, but uh after have going on this journey of filming this documentary about the border and and the cartels, it just it blew my mind about what was going on in my backyard, right? Um, so I want to I want to talk about that stuff, dude. Especially you've you've written a book about the cartels and stuff like that. >> Um, >> starting your career in the '9s and fast forward today, how how is that the cartel enterprise changed over the years? Oh, dude. It's completely different because u if you watch Narcos, Narcos does a good job of lining out how the Mexicans came to power, right? Uh because so if you talk about back in the '9s, the Colombians were still in power. So the Colombians actually held the power. The cartels were just transporter or the Mexican cartels, they weren't even cartels then. They were just, you know, the Mexican drug lords were um drug runners. And so if you think about like Arizona, the routes have been around since the Ponchobia days, right? And so way back when in the 1800s, these were smuggling routes. Um they were smuggling opium, they were smuggling uh alcohol when there was prohibition going on. Um so it's always been a smuggling thing, right, for the the um the Mexico that were involved in that. And so in the '9s, same thing. They were transporters for the Colombians, mainly, you know, cocaine and stuff. And then they got into the weed stuff, um and the heroin. And so, uh, and then meth was kind of back then that was a biker thing on the US side, right? The the Mexicans weren't really involved in that. It was the bikers on the US side that were doing that stuff. Um, and then as time went on and and uh I mean, we see it over and over again when there's a power vacuum, somebody fills that, right? And so you had uh Pablo getting taken out and then a lot of the Colombian cartels were getting uh targeted by the US. And so as that power shift happened, so the Mexicans saw the opportunity and and started taking the power and said, "Look, we're not going to be just transporters. We're going to we're going to be the ones that run this thing." Um, and they started taking over. So as we went into the 2000s, we started to see them coming into power and uh we saw the whole game kind of shift to what it is now. So the Mexicans kind of took over, came into power, and they started running everything. And and so if you look at the 90s, early 2000s, um there was plenty of dope being run back then, too. Um there would be bodies coming through. Uh but it was all different then, too, because um like different mom and pop groups, for a lack of a better term, on the US side, would all run their own stuff, and they would just pay taxes for using those routes. And then as as time went on, um the cartels got more and more exclusive on those routes and and basically said, "These are ours." And I mean, now you can't travel those routes unless you have explicit permission from them. >> And they really don't give permission for people to to use those. >> Um so it's it's completely changed in the violence level. I mean, we saw it go from and it was kind of uh for me like growing up. I grew up in South Phoenix and I remember as a a youngster like if somebody got hit with a chain, a stick or stabbed that was like a big deal, right? Oh my god, somebody especially stabbed. Somebody got stabbed. That's crazy. Um and then as we moved into the 80s, shootings were an everyday thing, right? So it went from sticks and bats and knives to guns. Um, and then it went to, you know, all full auto guns and stuff like that. So, it it that progressively got worse. Mexican cartels progressively got worse. So, they just got more and more violent. Um, and then when they split, and again, if you watch Narcos, you kind of see this all play out on that series. They did a really good job of showing the history. Um, you see how they were all kind of under one umbrella and then they split their territories and then they started infighting and that kind of became the cartels that we now see and those guys fighting each other is where the violence really shot through the roof. >> Now, were those families that split off? H how was that formed? >> Regional and and familial. So, um you had Yeah, there were some relations and then there were some territories, right? So, um, you had some that were running the Tijana area and it's all around ports, right? So, ports into the US kind of run it like if you look at the the Huades cartel out of Huades, right? So, they're going into uh Texas and then you have Arizona ports now New Mexico. New Mexico was always kind of the weird one cuz it was it was there um and it's just like Texas, Arizona, and California, but there wasn't a lot going on there. Well, now there's um a lot going on there, too. So, um, Cali had their ports. Arizona had its ports. And so, it was all kind of regionalized. Some of it was familial, um, based on, you know, who was related to who. Uh, but really they just split territories. And they, you know, they being the cartels back then said, "Hey, let's, uh, you know, if we're working together, we're making money, right?" And, and just like everybody figures out, like, if we work together, we make money. If we fight, that that's kind of bad for business. Uh but then um you know again growing up with all Mexicans, I'm married to Hispanic and uh being in that culture, you understand that uh it could be as simple as you looked at me wrong and I take that as disrespect and now we're fighting and then that kicks off a war. >> Oh my god, man. >> I'll never forget I uh I was actually with uh one of Mark's sons down at the border once. Um, I think it was around Aravaka, that area. >> And I popped my drone up and they popped a drone up as well. And uh, here's the wall. We're I don't know, maybe 200 yards away from this wall, >> right? >> Just over the wall, and I can't remember which cartels were there, but you had one on the left and one on the right. And right in the middle of them is a is a a path if you will, >> right? >> Uh we pop our drones over and we probably shouldn't have flown them into Mexico, but we did. And these guys see them and on both sides they start shooting at our drones. >> Yeah. >> Um and it was later explained to me Yeah. that uh both sides were controlling that that path that that uh they they wanted control of over that. Yeah. >> Whether that's, you know, bodies coming through, pushing bodies or pushing their product. Um it was fascinating to see. Absolutely fascinating. >> Yeah. And that what you're describing th those are essentially they call them alone down there like um they're they're the lookouts, right? And so they they're on the high points looking out and they're all along the border watching out and they're on phones, they're on radios, they're on everything. And then that carries over to the US side. I'm sure you know and found out then. >> Um carries over. They have the same thing going on on hilltops throughout uh the US depending on the routes and and down there if it's in Arizona it'd be all cinnalans that are controlling those routes u but you have different factions right now that are um fighting for power because again they they removed Chapo that caused some issues. his sons think they're in charge and then you have Mayo and Mayo's son thinks he's in charge and so you have two sinneloan factions are now going at it and so yeah it's a it's a never- ending thing it just evolves man >> uh just this morning I saw it was Fox News uh they they posted something about uh today officially which is weird to think but uh the Mexican cartels are officially in our crosshairs. >> Yeah. >> What do you think? How do we tackle this issue? Are we just going to bum rush them? What I mean, what what do you think the plan is to to really And of course, the Mexican government uh the president there, she's like, "No, you guys aren't doing anything about this. We'll we'll deal with it." But >> well, and there's a lot of posturing going on on both sides, right? You got President Trump that's basically saying, "Here's what we're going to do, but it's a sovereign nation, right? in Mexico saying and Mexico is a very proud sovereign nation, right? They got a lot of history. Um, and they've got history with us. And so, um, I think, you know, I I don't know what the solution is. I'd be rich if I knew that. But, um, I think that what's going to happen is, as we've seen before, um, the the press stuff is all a bunch of chatter, right? It's just they're talking talking. But I think behind closed doors, both governments are working together because I think uh the Mexican government understands how corrupted they've become and and not because they wanted to, but because of the criminal element of the cartels. And so I think they want to get away from that too, but they have to be very careful because they have to give the appearance to their people that it's not the US, right? So the Mexican government has to look like it is the Mexican government handling business and the president especially. I mean if I were the president I wouldn't want everybody saying well yeah it's real nice that you know Trump came in here and fixed all of our problems. What do we need you for? Right. >> Um so it's a big balancing act. But I think what you're going to see is is much like we do everywhere else right we have these ODA squads that embed and they create um unrest and they train up um the people down there to do their thing. So I I would imagine that same kind of stuff is going to go on and >> um really we have to remove the cartel has its tentacles lead man everywhere. Y >> and so you've got to really start removing the heads of the snake and then you got to just keep whacking. >> That's right. >> So I don't know man. I don't know how it's going to look but >> you know what's scary to me is that I know something is going to fill that void. So now we go after them and what's next? >> That's true man. >> Yeah >> that's true. And one one thing I can't stop thinking about is a lot of people think that the cartel are just situated in Mexico, >> right? >> They're all over the world. Oh yeah. I mean they're they're in Europe. They're in, >> you know, they're all over. >> Yeah. And the Sinnoloans, that's how they became so powerful, right? Is they branched out and they went worldwide and and they had sakarios all over the world, right? They had some of their sakarios were um social media guys. So they were posting their pictures in Rome and they're posting their pictures in Vegas and so yeah, they're just all over the place and they've they've got their tentacles everywhere. And in the US, it's funny because you talk to people like I told you, I just came back from Wisconsin and uh you talk to people up there and you ask them like, "Hey, do you guys have a cartel problem up there?" And they're like, "Well, you know, we think we have a couple of them." And so you start talking to them and getting down to the nitty-gritty and you're like, "Dude, >> yeah, you got them everywhere. You just don't know it." >> And so all throughout the US, man, they're because it's their distribution network, right? So they've got their people everywhere. >> That's right. And if they don't have, you know, actual cartel members in their state, they are certainly feeling the effect of what they're pushing. Right. Right. >> We have a national crisis going on with with fentanyl. >> Yeah. um that stuff is everywhere. And of course, I I think the Trump administration is doing a good job of of uh you know, keeping that stuff uh from coming in now, but >> right, >> it's still coming in and and they're always just like you said, they're they're going to they're going to fill that void. They're going to find new ways to to bring that stuff. >> Well, and what they started doing with the fentanyl um is putting it in everything, right? Because it has a very addictive quality. So now when you test dope, whether it's weed or meth or heroin, it all has fentanyl in it because they're they're mixing that in with damn near everything. And so yeah, and uh we would be foolish to think and I think this is where the American public needs to really open their eyes is um there there's a statement that I read and when you dive into it um you really it should send chills down your spine because people don't realize we're already at war. All right. We're at war with China. That's >> right. >> We don't understand it because it's not a conventional war. They're not per se bombing us and you know that type of stuff. And it's not um boots on the ground. Um but >> not yet. >> Yeah, not yet. Um but if you think that this fentanyl thing is not by design, you're foolish. And uh of course the Mexicans are opportunists. The Mexican cartels are opportunists and they're looking to make money. Um but behind that is the um Chinese Communist Party who are supplying them everything they need and getting it all to them so that they can make it. And people don't understand and and Mark speaks about this as well um because we both kind of dove into it but uh the Chinese remember they have a very long memory and they consider the opium wars that the westerners tried to wipe out their race. Right. And so they still teach their children that the Westerners are forever the enemies and we we the Chinese people should do everything we can to wipe them off the face of the earth. >> So um Americans need to wake up a little bit because that is going on right and that is a thing. That's right. >> Um and they've succeeded in killing hundreds of thousands of us with this this drug in particular and it's not going to stop man. It's just you know and I don't know what the endgame is and I don't know how how we fix it. Yeah. >> I don't know. >> And it makes it tough for you guys being uh in the front lines. I mean, you guys are constantly trying to figure out new ways or or figure out their their new ways, right? Um just a few days ago, I came across a photo and I've seen multiple photos, but they're getting good, man. I mean, they're even >> I think it was a bundle of bananas. Hundreds and thousands of bananas that were stuffed with fentanyl. >> Yeah. >> It's wild. >> Bananas. Limes. I've seen limes. watermelon wood. Um, an actual like cut wood that you would think is firewood where they have cut it in half, boarded it out, filled it with dope, resealed it, and it looks like a log. Like, when you look at it, you're like, "No, this is a log." And then when they cut it open, it's full of dope. I mean, they're just ingenious. And they I mean, it's a lot of money, right? They're making a lot of money, so they're going to they're going to get their stuff across. But >> they are ingenious. And I, you know, I can tell you from um even my time chasing them out in the desert and stuff, they come up with some of the most ingenious [ __ ] that you've ever seen, man. It's crazy. >> God, man, this is going to be a tough one to to crack down on. What What is the most memorable uh incident you've you've been in uh dealing directly with the cartels? >> Oh, dude, there's been >> I'm sure you have multiple. >> Yeah, there's been a lot of them that stick out. you know, when I was writing the book, that's kind of what I was doing is going through some of the the ones that stuck out to me. One of the the most funny, memorable ones is one that I wrote about um where at the time I was undercover and I was driving a uh kind of a root beer brown uh Ford F-150 quadcart at that time really liked those trucks and they were still in a [ __ ] ton of them out of uh Phoenix area. And so we had worked all night and it was just at daybreak. We had kind of pulled off into some farm fields and we were uh we were kind of down in this dip. So it was a weird kind of spot where there were some mosquite trees and then a dip. And so where we parked if if you parked to the west or east of us and looked, you really wouldn't see it. You would see the treetops, but you couldn't tell vehicles were there. So we knew we had a good little void there to hide in. So, we were kind of hanging out there debriefing real quick and uh I walked over about 50 yards to to go pee and uh I thought I saw a person pop up and then pop down and but I'm thinking like, okay, I've been up all night, too. So, am I am I just tired or what's going on? And so, as that's going on, I hear what sounds like a jet. And I'm like, what the hell is that? Because there was no we were not in a flight path there. So, I'm trying to see like where is this airplane? And then I look straight ahead of me coming from the uh west going east and I see a a dust trail and it's fast like they're moving. And so then I put two and two together that that's what I'm hearing and it was vehicles traveling high rate of speed coming towards us. And so I'm like, "Oh, damn." And so at finally at one point I can see that it's two trucks. So I'm running back to my guys and I'm yelling, "There's trucks coming. There's trucks coming." which we knew, you know, was going to be either stolins or dope. And so, um, we get back to our vehicles and they go by and it's two trucks and they're loaded with dope. And so, we take off after them and we're in this chase. Well, u, one is red and one is the exact same color as my truck. And so, I'm almost chasing myself, right? And so, uh, the red one I catch up to. Um, but we got to this spot where it kind of narrowed down and one of them starts doing donuts and he's trying to create uh dust diversion, right? So, he's doing donuts and he's just dusting us out. And as that's going on, >> um, I'm kind of cruising through and I come face to face with the red truck. And so, the red truck had one driver and was full of dope and I lost the brown truck. It had gotten lost in the dust. But we come face to face and we we basically go right by each other and we're looking at each other and the funniest thing was the look on his face because I could see he was in my mind what he was thinking was how in the [ __ ] did this white guy get our truck as I went by he's like looking at me and then you know of course I spin around and the chase is on until he wrecked >> but u that was so that was one of the funnier ones and it was just because of that moment right where he and I made eye contact and and I could just see the confusion on his face like the hell's this white guy doing in our truck, >> dude. I can imagine the adrenaline was just going crazy. >> Oh yeah. >> Oh man, >> that was uh that was a fun one. And I I'll give you one more. >> Oh gosh, killing myself with the tea here. Um there was another one where we were um we had kind of crept out into this area. There was a lot of violent encounters in this area. So, um this particular crew that so the boss that ran that area had a high propensity for violence and so his guys were more violent. So, they we were catching more armed guys. They were being more confrontational, that kind of stuff. And uh so we are sneaking out essentially and uh we're driving under darkness. So, our our lights are all out and all that stuff. And uh we get out there and we one of our lead our our lead vehicle was ahead of us probably 5 minutes and uh we're coming in and we're just kind of creeping in and getting into the area that we want to set up in and they come over the air and they're like, "Hey, are you guys is that you that just pulled up?" And we're thinking we're like looking and we're like, "No, we're not we're not to our spot yet." And so we tell them, "No, we're at uh whatever location, you know." and they said, "Well, is there any other cops out here?" Because we just had a vehicle just stopped about a hundred yards from us and they got out and they're all kitted up and um so they're all, you know, tacked out. And so we're like, "No, dude. There shouldn't be anybody else out here." But, you know, at that time we had uh like Border Patrol. Um they had some units that would go out there and and not necessarily play nice together, wouldn't communicate well. And um then we had FBI attached to Border Patrol for a while and they were they were acting like they were super secret squirrel and they were doing some stuff and and so we thought, well, it could be, right? Cuz we don't know. Um so we said, "Well, just just watch them, you know, under night vision and see see what they do." And so we keep creeping towards them. Um and and at so at that point, I'm thinking and I'm running this operation, so I'm thinking that's probably cops that didn't say they were coming in the area, right? So we're creeping towards them and then they come up and they're like, "It's bad guys. It's bad guys." And so we're like, "Oh shit." And so I call the one guy. I'm like, "How do you know it's bad guys?" He goes, "They all have AKs, dude. They're not It's not There's no cops that carry AKs, right?" He said, "They all have AKs." And he says, "And one of them saw us." And he says, "Um, they're they're running." And he said, "They're coming towards you." And so we're like, "All right." And so I, you know, we know all that. And so we start going faster towards where we're trying to get to. >> And we're trucking along, but it's hard to go fast in those areas because it's open desert. >> And so we're trucking along pretty good. And uh we're on a trail that, you know, kind of a a twotrack. >> And uh one of my buddies who's driving, he's he's kind of driving and he's looking and we're blacked out, right? So it's dark. We have some ambient light >> and he's like, "Do you see something shiny up there?" And I'm like, uh, I can't really tell. And I said, I I thought I saw something. And he goes, I I thought I saw something, too. And so he says, I'm just going to, um, you know, look real quick. And so all of a sudden, he's like, [ __ ] And he he dives to the side. It was the other truck coming at us, blacked out. And so we miss each other. We we verge off, miss each other, spin around. It's the bad guys. And, uh, they have a quad cabin. There's four deep in there. And so we flip on them. And then um they haul ass and we haul ass after them. Now we're lights on, right? Cuz we're we've been blown. And so we're chasing them and they're going through and they're driving it like they stole it because they literally did. And so we're trying to keep up with them as best we can without wrecking or dropping a [ __ ] or an oil pan and uh going after them. Boom. Boom. Boom. And all of a sudden, um if you've seen a car wreck, you'll know what I'm talking about. when a car hits hard in the front that the that you'll see the tail lights go up and then they'll come back down. Yes. Right. So that happens. So they're about 50 yards in front of us and I see the lights go up and bam down and I'm like, "Oh [ __ ] they hit something." And so we come around the corner and there it is. It's It's sitting there kind of like this and all the doors are open. So then we're like, "Well, shit." You know, if the doors are open, they're not in there. They're out here. And they've got AKs. And so we all bail out and and we set up a quick um you know just kind of give ourselves a 360 around the vehicle because we have no idea where they're at. And uh then a couple of us go up and we clear the the truck and they had dropped two of their AKs. They were hauling ass so much and uh from the impact I think they lost control of their their guns and so there was an AK on the ground and there was one down on the floorboard. So we know okay only two of them are armed out of the four so that's better. Um, so we hold our position until the other guys get there. And long story, very long story kind of shortened up at the end here. Um, they all got away cuz we held we didn't we didn't really go after them. We didn't have air support at that time. >> Um, we kind of held what we had cuz we we were anticipating a gunfight that they were going to come back and try and >> get at us and so we held our own and then we called in more resources and they ended up getting away. It was a stolen and uh I think the intel once they worked it through they were figuring that there were probably a rip crew out there to to rip off a load and we had kind of interfered with that whole thing. But that that kind of stuff though was like a typical thing. We would always >> have that kind of stuff going on. >> God man. And how many were you rolling deep out there? It sounds like you and your buddy >> uh we would typically like that operation there we were eight deep so we were four in a vehicle. Um because what we would do is we were getting out there and we would set up um where you would have uh like a person on the ground and a ground person might have spikes with them. Um and then we would and we had some some marking stuff that we were trying where we would try and GPS mark vehicles and stuff like that. Um, and then we would have um technology that we would use for nighttime stuff and all that. And we'd get up and and uh so we would get in place, get a couple guys up high um and get some surveillance going so we could kind of see the valleys and then we would set up to intercept, hence the names, right? So we would kind of set up and as uh bad guys came through, we would just jump them and whether that was on foot or in vehicle. And that was kind of the game, man. God, bro, that is badass. >> It was kind of fun. >> So, I reached out to uh Mark this morning. I was like, "Hey, I'm going to be uh be talking with Matt this morning." So, I was like, "Hey, give me some uh give me some fun stories that So, uh let's see. He told me to to ask you about throwing a flashbang into a circle of illegals at night." >> Oh, dude. Yeah, that one. I I think I wrote about that one, too. >> Did you? Yeah, that was uh just a point of clarification, I did not throw the flashbang. Um we were we were actually uh at that point we had partnered with national Bortac team. So Bortac national guys out of Del Rio, Texas had come over and they were they were assigned kind of TDY to that to our area because it was so hot. And so like what you're seeing in Texas right now is is what it was in Arizona at that time. And so um we're teamed up with the Bortac guys. We're going out on a we were doing nightly missions, right? So we would go out every night. On this particular night, uh what we had done is like as a team leader, I was teamed up with one of their team leaders. So me and a guy named Pete were together. And uh that way we had good comms with everybody. He had comms with his guys, I had comms with my guys, and and there was no communication issues. And then all of our our um dudes were teamed up as well. So you would have a PCSO guy and a Borttech guy or um a couple and a couple, right? Two and two or four and four. Um so we're all over the place out there. And this this is right off the interstate because at that time they were we were letting them make it up to the interstate and then we were intercepting them there because uh we had better technology in place and so we had some other means to detect where they were when they were >> uh that type of stuff when we were working with uh BP because they had they have more assets and so uh >> BP had more assets. Yeah, the Bortackers did because Bortac is about as close as you can get to a law enforcement special operations unit that is like the military. So, the Bortac guys are are the closest to like a a Delta squad that you'll see um in the law enforcement realm, right? They are uh top-notch dudes and uh they have a lot of equipment, a lot of lot of money. They go national, they go all over, right? Um and so when you see like right now if you're seeing um some of these bad guys that are on the run that they're catching out in the middle of nowhere in the forest and stuff, those are bore attackers catching those guys. So they get called in because they're such they are phenomenal man trackers. Like I've never met anybody. There's dudes legit that would they we'd be under night vision walking and there's like >> all right we got four guys. They're walking northbound. One of them has a limp and I'm like what? Like I don't even see foot tracks. What are you talking about? That's insane. Yeah, they're they're crazy trackers. >> Um but that night we're we're with Bortac. We get a group. We um surveillance watches them come up and they staged just south, probably 20 yards south of I8, right? And so they're at a pickup point. We know that. And so typically what they would do is they would get to that point and they would hang out and they would either call or signal for their pickup ride. And then a pickup ride would come in. Um they would uh offload the dope onto the car and uh they would be out of there and then the guys would get in a separate vehicle and they'd be out of there. Um so we we have the dudes they're kind of like a cviaquil is the best way to describe it, right? They have made it to a palivvery tree and they're kind of covied up under that tree. Um they had crossed over a barbwire fence that's just on the other side of the tree that uh separates um kind of the I8 easement and farm fields. And so you got a barbwire fence, you got a big palibvery tree, and then up and you're on I8. So we park on I8 and we kind of use the cover of semis and [ __ ] for our movement. And so we park down a ways from them and we're running under night vision and stuff and we're sneaking up on them and we get probably I don't know, we had to be 8 yards, 10 yards from them and we can hear them talking and they're all gathered under there and we're under night vision. They're not. And so we can we can kind of see them. Um, a little bit lower technology back then on night vision, so we were running the greens and sometimes that's hard to see with the shadows and [ __ ] but you could see that there was people in there and we could hear him. >> So, uh, Pete, uh, one of the the vortac guys, he taps me on the helmet and so I look over at him and he has a flashbang in his hand and he kind of wiggles it, which I, you know, that means this is going right. And so I'm like, "All right." And so I I get on the radio real quick and let everybody know and hey, flashbang out, flashbang out. And so he lets his guys know and then he tosses it and he it it was the most perfect toss. He he tosses it in and it just kind of dump right into the middle of where these guys are sitting and they're actually sitting on their bundles of dope that they had packed up. So they're all kind of sitting on their bundles of dope eating and bullshitting. That thing goes off. Boom. Man, like I said, cviaquell is the best way to describe it cuz they immediately just jump and you know, some of them jump through their skin and just take off running. I've never seen a human being hit barb wire at the speed that the one dude hit it. He's full running and he's blind because it's dark. Flashbang goes off, a lot of light so you can't see. And he's just he's running because he knows something's happening but he doesn't know what. And we're yelling police and stuff at this point. uh takes off running and he hits that barb wire and just flips in the air and boom, right on his back and you can hear like that primal kind of like that came out of him, right? And so I knew, all right, that dude's down and he was not getting back up. He was he was moaning and groaning. He hit hard and uh that we just started snatching up guys and a few of them ran into the the fields, but we had we had uh surveillance so we were good. We we rounded that whole crew up. I think we ended up with probably I think it was probably about 3 or 4 hund pounds of weed at that time and there was probably eight packers. Um but yeah, and again that was a typical thing taking down a packer crew like that. Uh it just we've never had the opportunity to use and Bortac at that time they were notorious for using flashbangs for everything to disorient those groups and man did it do its job that night. Yeah, it was >> it was fun to watch. >> I would have loved to been there. Can we explain uh what bundles are because I didn't know what they were until I started, you know, working with uh Texas DPS and Border Patrol. >> Yeah. >> Um but for those of you who don't know what a bundle is, it's essentially a large I mean, I'm sure it comes in all different >> typically they were 25 pounds. >> 25 pounds. >> So what they do is uh with weed specifically because weed was the cash crop at that time of the cinnolans, right? So a lot of weed coming up. So, it would be probably about that big, about, you know, about, I don't know, a foot 14 in tall >> and probably 3 foot long, and then probably 12 to 14 wide. And it was just compacted weed. And so they would put it in these uh these big compactors and just squeeze it down to that big. And that would be about a 25 lb bundle. And so they would have anywhere from three to four of those typically and they would put them in these big um like sugar sacks like the uh burlap sacks. So you'd have a big burlap sack that would have three or four of those bundles in it and then closed off and then they would sew in uh Mexican blankets that they had ripped as um kind of the the straps. Yeah. And so it would have Mexican blanket straps connected to the burlap and they would carry that thing up for 5 days. And so from the border on up, they would pack that big thing. And it was crazy cuz um when you if you would see it under night vision and stuff, it had a very distinct >> cuz I mean it's just it looked like a big brick on their back when they were walking. >> A very distinct thing. And then again when you see them on the ground and then those 25 lb bundles when you take them out >> uh they were always wrapped in that uh like that brown packaging tape. So they always had like the brown packaging tape. I've seen them there was a few times where they were trying to get really fancy. They were foil covering it >> and then they would put transmission fluid around the outside of it and then they would wrap it >> with uh some clear stuff but um that they thought the dogs wouldn't catch that. >> I see. and uh masking the >> Yeah, but it it didn't work. Yeah. Uh but yeah, that that's a a bundle and they they were there was a lot of them. >> There's a lot of them. In fact, some of my favorite memories uh working with Texas DPS uh while we were filming this documentary. We would uh I spent a lot of time with their aviation unit. >> Oh yeah. >> And man, I'm I'm blanking his name. I know his last name is Morris, but he was one of their trackers. >> Okay. And dude, I could not believe this dude could see tracks from up in the air. Yeah. >> Same thing you were talking about, like, "Oh, this guy has a limp." You know, he Oh, these guys been walking for days and days. He could just tell, >> right? >> Um and I'm in in the air, you know, trying to find it with my camera. I'm like, "Dude, I don't know what you're seeing." >> But he would lead us to where these bodies were all the time or just bundles, right? We'd be flying around and we just find the bundles and get themselves away from it. Yeah. But one of my favorite memories is uh one time we found this these bodies. I think there was four or five guys out there. Uh they heard the Hilo so they they ditched their you know their their bundles. Um, and uh, we ended up uh, we were working with Border Patrol and uh, end up rounding these guys up and they walked them back to where the where they hid the bundles and then they made them wear the bundles and walk them back to, you know, where the BP vans were. >> Yeah. Yeah. And those BP guys, we would do the same thing. You'll match up shoe prints and you'd be like, "All right, that's his." And hence, you know, the the carpet booties that they wear >> uh to kind of erase the uh the track and not you can't line them up to Okay, your prints were next to that bundle. >> That's right. >> Um yeah, they >> they were slick, man. >> They're good at what they do. >> They are. And they learn quick. >> Oh, yeah. >> Whatever they get busted, they'll change their tactics and >> That's exactly right. >> Yep. >> Um All right, dude. I want to kind of switch gears. This is this is a topic that I've been uh kind of researching and talking to a lot of deputies about. >> Okay. >> Um and that's you know we're living this world where AI is it seems like it's taken over. >> Yeah. >> It's wild, dude. They just released uh chat GBT 5.0 a couple days ago >> and I was playing with it with my wife last night. I uh I took a picture of myself and and put it in and I said, "Hey, make me look old." >> And dude, it's crazy. It's scary how >> detailed it is. It looked just like me, but you know, >> you can adjust the details, too. That's the crazy thing. You The more input you give it, the more it'll adjust it down. And that's right. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> It's wild, dude. We are living in some crazy times right now. >> Yeah. Um, but I want to talk about AI specifically. Um, how it's changing policing. >> Um, what does that what does that look like, especially for you? Um, being in the position you you're in, chief of police. Um, actually, let me back up. I I just saw something about Axon putting out um maybe a software update. I'm not really sure, but on the bodywn cameras, there's now the ability to uh to translate. >> Yeah. >> Right. Which is wild, man. >> Yeah, it is. It's crazy. >> I was with a fun story. I was with uh uh Deputy Ballard a few months ago and pulled over a gentleman who made an unsafe turn or whatever it was, right? We pulled him over. >> Dude was from China, didn't speak a lick of English. >> Um >> and it was very difficult communicating, right? And all all Ballard wanted to say was, "Hey, dude, just don't do that anymore." >> Right? >> But that message wasn't coming across. The guy was like, "Huh, okay." You know, just >> So this having this technology, something as simple as being able to translate what you're trying to say is is incredible. >> Yeah. Well, and I mean, if you think of emergencies too, that was a non-emergency situation. But if you think of just think of a citizen running up to you, but the citizen doesn't speak English or doesn't speak your language >> and uh you're able to hear like what they're actually trying to tell you. Yeah. It's >> absolutely >> It's crazy. And then but I'm I'm kind of torn, man, because I um you know, obviously not all of us are going to learn all these languages, but I also feel like it's it's dumbing people down because they're not having to like actually learn. They've got something doing it for them. But uh >> absolutely. >> Yeah, it's it's great. There's a lot I can tell you um you know, AI and law enforcement is growing rapidly, the use of it. Um, and so for my purposes as a chief, I I obviously I love it. Um, in the sense that the the time that it uh the time that it allows officers to be out on their beat rather than doing things um that so if you talk report writing, right? I'm looking at a program right now that is AIdriven um for bodywn cameras. So, uh, for our body warn cameras, if we have this program, the program, the officer can go and download his body warn camera from the call he just went to, the AI will essentially take that interaction and draft a report based on what you tell it as a cop. So, you tell it like, "Hey, I was on a domestic violence call. It was call number whatever. um access my bodywn camera and draft give me a first draft report on that incident and then AI spits it out in a couple of minutes. Here's your report. And then all you have to do is go in and proofread it, change some things, add some things, take out some things, whatever. Um and then uh go down and say, "Yep, this information is true and correct." And there you go. Um, so it fixes uh because sometimes, not sometimes, all the time, we're all different, right? We're all raised different. We all taught different. So writing skills are different. So it kind of fixes that problem. It puts everybody at the same writing skills. And then you're talking about transcribing video to a report in minutes. Um, so it saves a lot of time for the officers. But as with anything, um, if they get lazy and they don't do the things they're supposed to do, the cops, um, then you're you could be given a faulty product, right? So you could you could get a report that is off because the AI didn't catch something right or there was some inflection that it didn't catch and then you have wrong information. So >> I think all that stuff is only as good as the input that it gets. Totally right. >> Yeah. But it's it's crazy how much it's changing our game. And and then even on the uh the Intel side to be able to um use AI >> and plug in say, you know, as like for me as a chief, I I have a program that we're currently just starting use on where I can say, "Hey, as a chief, I want to know these things about the crime in my town and um can you tell me about these things and frequency and blah blah blah, right?" and it'll take a couple of minutes and all of a sudden it'll tell me, yeah, over the last six months, um, this has been your highest crime. Um, here's where your part one crimes are coming in. Here's where your part two crimes are coming in. Here's your more more active areas. Here's a map to go along with that to show you where you're active. I mean, it's just crazy the information you can get. So, um, from a policing standpoint, you know, what would take you would have to have multiple intel analysts putting all that data together. And now this program can do it in minutes. It's It's nuts. >> It's mind-blowing. >> Yeah, it is. It is. >> Uh I just read a statistic I think I think it was somewhere in Colorado, but they were uh >> using uh AI to essentially write the reports, right? Yeah. >> Um and they were saying it saved up to 70% of their time, >> right? >> Um which is great. You know, now they can be out in the field and do what they need to do, right? Um, which is awesome. Uh, and I've been reading a lot about, um, the use of cameras, real time. >> Yes. Real time crime. >> Real time crime centers and things like that. I know, uh, Scottdale have implemented that leading the way on that. Yeah, for sure. >> Um, I I hear maybe Queen Creek are also uh get gearing up or maybe they already have it. >> Yeah, they have. Yep. >> Um, I know that freaks a lot of people out. >> What are your What are your thoughts on uh on on that technology. >> It's a double-edged sword, too, right? Because uh >> when it comes to catching bad guys, I love it. >> Totally. >> When it comes to uh looking at normal citizens just for the purpose of looking at them, I don't agree with that. Right. >> Um so >> the problem is we know it's everywhere. Like if you think that you are going to escape cameras and stuff anywhere now, you're wrong. And so all of that data is there and it's being captured and it's being fed. And so we're just we're in that world now. There's no like you're not backing out of it. Um and so all we can go for on the cop side of things and um there's always and I I I'm not going to say local agencies, but information or or uh data like that always gets abused in some some form or fashion, right? um you have you have agencies that uh will uh say, "Well, Patriot Act or National Security or whatever, right?" And and uh they get way and we're starting to see as the DOJ um had kind of a a cleaning up, the DOJ is kind of telling on itself and saying, "Hey, we we were doing some stuff that was way out of bounds, right, on our own citizens." Um, so that part worries me, right? If our if our own government is going to use it against its citizens in a a bad way. But for cop work, when I need especially I'll give you just a perfect scenario when I have a screaming mother who says, "My daughter just got snatched on the street and it was a blue van." And we can punch that in and within minutes we can have camera hits like he's he's here now. He's here now. He's here now. And we can save that little girl. [ __ ] Give me that all day long, man. >> Absolutely. >> So, yeah, double-edged sword, man. I don't know. >> Yeah, dude. Yeah, you're you're absolutely right. It can really change the game when it comes to to fighting crime and catching these guys. >> Um I I do have uh some worries though, and I know China for years have implemented this type technology. Argentina is one of them. >> You know, there there's definitely some pros and cons to it. But yeah, if the government can really utilize it, you know, in the in the in the right way. I I do know um I've got friends that are involved at at or have been involved at top level government, right? Um and some of them that have been at that top level have told me, "Dude, AI, be careful." um because and I think that goes along with the fact that >> um our own federal government is known to abuse their authority sometimes and um I think that's where those warnings come from. So we really have to be careful with what we allow >> and I'm part of the government, right? What we allow the government to do with that information. >> Totally. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's a it's a it's an interesting uh topic, man. It's going to be uh it's going to be crazy to see where we are in 5 10 years from now. >> Yeah. Well, and the crazy thing too when you talk about AI is uh bad guys are using it just like we are, right? They're they're using it to simulate voices um to do these virtual kidnappings. Um they're using it for scams. Uh so it's it's not just us, right? Bad guys have figured it out, too. Yeah. >> So true. >> Technology, man, is is great and sucks at the same time. Even when you're talking like drone technology, right? The the cartels are using drone technology now like nobody's business. And they're arming their drones now, which is, >> you know, a whole different problem. >> That's scary, dude. >> That's uh yeah, it's it's uh been interesting to watch in real time for all of us. you know, we we really do live in a in a day and time where we're we're seeing some scary but really cool u things happen in technology. >> And I think, man, you know, you're uh you got some gray hairs, too, like me. So, any of us with some gray hairs, I think we see all this stuff and we think Sarah Connor, she had it right. >> And if you don't know who Sarah Connor is, look it up. Yeah, >> that's right. No, she had it. She had it right. >> Yeah, >> we're going to burn up just like her, too. Probably. Probably soon. >> Yeah. >> Oh, we're on We're in Phoenix, Arizona. We're already burning up like she did. >> Yeah, it's like 100 million today. >> Um All right, dude. I know I've probably taken up quite a bit of your time. Um I just want to ask you a couple couple more questions. What uh what pumps you up, dude? What what music are you listening to? What what band? Well, dude, if you and my my wife will laugh if she's listening, but uh if you uh grab my playlist, you'd be my dude's a crackhead. He's all over the place, man. Because uh I've got Vicente Fernandez, I've got AC/DC, I've got uh NWA. Um I I grew up listening to everything. Music pumps me up, man. It really does. like uh our daughters um when they were growing up. I've got a daughter in her 30s and one in her 20s and and uh my son in high school and um our daughters really experienced it probably the most when uh like they they got the full Latino version of my wife because they would know it was cleaning day on Saturday because the music would be pumping and uh that meant it was time to get up and time to start cleaning. But yeah, that's uh I'm all over the place, man. I uh cuz I I grew up again with uh with a heavy Mexican influence. So I love like Vicente Fernandez and Ramona Yala are my two favorites. Um just because I listen to them quite a bit growing up. And then um I love I love the hard rock stuff like when I'm lifting and and uh when I'm trying to get motivated like when we would do >> u you know some of the cartel stuff and you're trying to >> motivate yourself to go get killed basically. you uh you listen to some of the the hard rock stuff and and the rap stuff I grew up with cuz I grew up in the 80s and I grew up in kind of a >> a gang area and so like I' I've seen DJ Quick in concert. I've seen NWA in concert. I've seen Two Short in concert. Um so I that was all part of my growing up so it's still part of my my playlist. >> Sure. That's badass man. >> I think Will just got back from a NWA concert. I think they were here recently. >> Yeah. But I saw him when Easy E was there. So, you know, not a lot of people can say that he was still the glory days. >> Yeah. >> That's cool. Have you uh I'm on a I'm on a kick right now with uh this band called Sleep Token. >> Sleep Token. >> Yeah, dude. I I can't even I don't even know if you can describe them. They're they play everything from heavy metal to they could in one song they can go from heavy metal to to jazz to this like It's wild, dude. It uh >> I like the concept. It sounds >> Oh, dude. It's It's insane. Uh they're out of England. Uh they're kind of kind of like Slipnot in the way that they, you know, they mask themselves. No one really knows who they are. >> Okay. >> But their music's just fantastic. >> Um but I've always thought people who can only listen to one genre, right? >> Those people are [ __ ] weird, dude. How do you do that? Like like you said, I I have to have a playlist at the gym. Usually that's heavy metal stuff. Say we're out camping, you know, it's usually country or something, you know, you've got to you've got to change it up. >> Yeah, I I'm with you. And and it's all uh kind of mood, too, right? Cuz there there's some days same thing. There's some days I'm country, some days I'm rock and roll, some days I'm rap. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It all It's all over the place. I'm with you. And even some days where it's classical where you just >> 100%, dude. >> Yep. >> I was listening to Beethoven the other night, actually. I just I just needed that to >> to calm down to get ready for this podcast. >> That's right. Well, dude, it's been a pleasure talking to you. >> Absolutely. >> I want to plug the book again. Yeah. Um, and I believe it's on I think I saw on Amazon. >> Yeah, it's on all the platforms. So, it's on Kindle, Amazon, all that stuff. Yeah. >> So, guys, check out uh Interceptors: The Untold Fight Against the Mexican Cartels. Um, pick up your copy. Um, also follow Matt on uh social media. He he's very active on social media. >> Try to be >> um some of the coolest videos you put out, dude. Like I don't know if it's a 50 cal, but you got your cigar in your mouth and you're just >> Yeah. >> just going at it. >> My My wife hates those cigars, but uh I love it. That started like way back when, man, when I was a young guy on the SWAT team and and we would finish a thing and um you know, one of the older dudes was like, "All right, let's smoke a cigar." That was a good good hit. And so that's back, you know, when it started. So, I'll have one here and there, but man, when we go out, like Mark, I'm sure he told you when when we go out shooting, like I love just having a cigar to shoot. Yeah, we've been on I' I've been blessed. And I My son, too, man. I told him, "Dude, you better appreciate this because not a lot of kids your age get to get on a minigun." So, he's been on a minigun with me and been on a 50 cal with me. And >> yeah, we just I I know a lot of cool people that have a lot of cool stuff and they're super good about that kind of stuff. But yeah, and I like posting all that stuff because I, you know, I think other people appreciate the freedom that we have here. >> 100%, dude. We are blessed to live in the the United States of America. >> Yes, sir. >> Um, do you want people to know your uh personal Instagram handle? >> Yeah, it's public, man. It's uh Yeah, I'm I'm deputy deputy one time. >> That's right. >> Is my uh my handle. And uh people now are saying that I have to change it to chief one time because I've switched roles, but I'll always be a deputy at heart, man. So, it's staying deputy. >> That's right. >> Well, dude, it's been an absolute pleasure. >> Uh thank you for being here. I know it's a tre getting out here. >> All good. >> But uh we wish you the best >> uh as chief of police and uh hope hope to ride with you guys one day. >> I think we're going to get a arn down to uh to the main streets of Florence one day. >> That'd be dope, dude. have you guys check it out. >> If if the city if the city will allow it, you know, we'll uh >> we're we're all about uh putting law enforcement, all first responders, in a good light. That's that's our only mission. >> Yeah. >> And you guys have done a fantastic job, Kent. You you know that, you know, uh when when Mark brought you in >> uh and he was selling me on it. You know, I'm always a little bit hesitant because I'm the I'm the keeper of the gates for for Mark. Um, but you know, he he said, "Hey, these guys are good to go." And and we had you and you guys have done phenomenal things for Panel County. Um, I know, you know, I have good friends up in Navajo and they love you up there. And then just seeing all your content, you guys are doing a fantastic job for us. Yeah, we appreciate. >> I really appreciate that. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Um, all right guys, well, thanks for being here and uh we'll see you next time.