Ask A Cop
Ask A Cop is live and unscripted. Each episode gives other officers and the community a window into a police officer's world and provides authentic community engagement with law enforcement professionals.Listeners can relate by asking questions, hearing some of their own struggles, and finding solutions. Despite preconceived notions, these men and women, who serve and protect, are approachable and eager to answer questions. This resource provides meaningful engagement for officers, their families, and the community. As chaplains, we have witnessed the immeasurable rewards of simply sitting down and having these positive conversations. Produced in partnership with Gods Way Radio.
Ask A Cop
043: Finding Purpose After the Police Radio Goes Silent - Manuel Inguanzo (Ret. City of Miami Police)
Officer Manny Inguanzo reflects on his 31-year career with the City of Miami Police Department, sharing how faith sustained his marriage, guided career transitions, and prepared him for retirement. His journey from patrolling Miami's toughest neighborhoods to finding purpose beyond the badge offers wisdom for officers at any stage of service.
• Started policing in 1993 in Model City (Liberty City) during peak gang activity
• Attributes 31-year marriage survival to "the grace of the Lord" and meaningful conversations with his wife
• Faith played crucial role in maintaining integrity on duty and resisting common temptations in policing
• Transitioned from patrol to staffing to Office of Emergency Management as God directed his path
• Emphasizes saving time off for genuine needs rather than calling in sick unnecessarily
• Recommends consistent financial planning through deferred compensation from career start
• Finding true joy comes from family and spiritual fulfillment, not just financial security
• Discovering purpose and creating structure are essential challenges in retirement
• Teaching children in Sunday school proves more challenging than chasing criminals
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This is Ask a Cop, a conversation with those serving our community in law enforcement. We're connecting to ask questions, hear perspectives and continue to build a relationship between the community and officers. If you'd like to connect with us, stay tuned after this episode to learn how. Right now, though, get ready to Ask a Cop.
Adrian Caballero:The legend has retired.
Manuel Inguanzo:Well, you have to add on there in his own mind. So why don't you introduce yourself?
Razz Vazquez:Did he retire in his own mind, or the legend in his own mind, legend legend in my own mind.
Adrian Caballero:I just think we're misconstruing that word retired. He's just tired again.
Manuel Inguanzo:He's retired Now he's getting tired all over again. He's tired again.
Adrian Caballero:So why don't you introduce yourself real quick? Just give us your name. My name is Manuel.
Manuel Inguanzo:Inguanzo. Well, they know me as Manny or Inguanzo Iggy. Some of the guys on the force used to call me Iggy, so just Just the old timers, all right.
Razz Vazquez:What year did you start with the department I?
Manuel Inguanzo:started in 93.
Razz Vazquez:1993, man there's probably people listening to this program that weren't even born in 93.
Adrian Caballero:I was 10 years old. Yeah, I was 10 years old.
Razz Vazquez:And in 93, back then it was incredible policing, because you were really front lines against a lot of what. Well, you tell me what did you have to?
Manuel Inguanzo:deal with yeah.
Razz Vazquez:Well, my first assignment was uh in in model city, uh during the b-shift hours. And for the people that don't know, model city, city of miami.
Manuel Inguanzo:What are the coordinates? Those are called liberty city or the pork and beans. Uh, over there there was a. There was a lot of, um uh, gang activity that was going on. There was different gangs that were trying to take over different sections of the city. So, yeah, it was an interesting time.
Razz Vazquez:Yeah.
Manuel Inguanzo:Interesting time.
Razz Vazquez:A lot of shootings yes. Drug activity yes 1993,.
Adrian Caballero:How old were you when you became an officer? I?
Manuel Inguanzo:was 20, ended up 26. I was 25 when I got in and then about 26. 25, 26.
Adrian Caballero:When, when released 09 and 09 if you, if you're hearing this on podcast, you're hearing this or if you're hearing this live, you can go back to some of the episodes that we've had, uh, months ago, maybe years ago now, where manny was here also with his wife and, and they had an interview talking about marriage. So if you want to know more just about that dynamic as a wife, you know what she learned as a husband in law enforcement, so go back to one of those episodes and listen to it, and so I know that you had, uh, you can go back to that story and here's some of the beginning parts where you're, you're, you're married and you're getting into this profession, and it was a little bit of a surprise for her.
Manuel Inguanzo:But now, years later, 31 years later.
Adrian Caballero:Yeah.
Manuel Inguanzo:I remember we were just dating, getting to know each other. At that time we were working at the same place and I turned to her when the city of Miami called me up. I could say city of Miami, yeah, all right. So the city of Miami called me up and I could say City of Miami, all right.
Intro:So City of Miami called me up and asked me if I was still Right and still if I was interested in becoming an officer.
Manuel Inguanzo:And I said, yeah, just give me a minute. And I looked at her and I said, hey, I applied to become a police officer years ago and they're calling me. She goes. I have no say in it, you have to go where you have to go.
Razz Vazquez:I go okay, let's go. That's a good wife. Good wife, You're kind of like a phenomenon, because law enforcement, by the nature of the job shift work challenges the things that you see, the trauma. You try to not bring that home, but it's there. So you suppress it, you explode. So a lot of officers. It's one marriage, you suppress it, you explode. And, uh, so a lot of officers. It's one marriage, two marriages, several marriages, and then sometimes they wind up not even being married. You survived 31 years of working, christmas holidays, shift work. When I met you you were kind of like glued to to midnights, you know. Yeah, I think I'm kind of guilty, you know no man you.
Razz Vazquez:You've done your tour there. We gotta get you out of midnights, you know? Uh, how did your marriage survive, man?
Manuel Inguanzo:and it's by the grace of the lord. It's by the grace of the lord, that's. That's the only thing I could uh, I could give it a count to has nothing to do with anything that I did or anything that my wife did. It was just having having jesus christ in the middle of our lives. Even in the beginning, before we had given our lives up to the Lord, the Lord was already working in our marriage. The Lord was already there and you don't realize it. You don't realize when you have those early morning conversations with her, or those late night conversations with her, or when you come home and you're tired and you're just upset, there's no real reason. They say why are you upset? I don't know why I'm upset, I'm just mad. The world.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah, I'm just mad and it gave her peace that she would be able to talk to me and bring out things that you try to suppress and then, as the marriage continued on and that Officer Manny would come out. It made it that much easier when we accepted the Lord, because the Lord knew us. We just didn't know him right. So when we accepted the Lord and brought him into our hearts and brought him into our lives, it just directed that marriage to places that we didn't even know Our intimate conversations. That was hard for me. Even after I gave my life up to the Lord. Those intimate conversations were hard by nature. I speak. I talk a lot. Everybody knows that I could talk to anybody. I talk a lot. Everybody knows that I could talk to anybody. But in talking to everybody or anybody, I tend to reserve a lot of things in myself. My partner Kathy she is my lifelong partner, right?
Adrian Caballero:She's your backup, yeah she's my backup my 15.
Manuel Inguanzo:She was able to be able to retrieve that. That was in there, giving me time to process whatever it is I was processing, or whatever it is that I was going through, and then we were able to speak, to speak about it, which which was phenomenal, and that was the Lord's.
Razz Vazquez:You know it's funny because you're listening to Ask a Cop. This is the first Tuesday of the month, right here at God's Way Radio. Thank you for listening. This becomes a podcast. You could get it anytime, you just reach out for it.
Razz Vazquez:Our guest today is Manny Iguanzo. Officer Manny Iguanzo, 31 years, with the city of Miami, retired and still able to laugh, to smile, to be normal and calm. But I got to say this we're talking about the secret of your marriage. I just got to say this. You know, we were talking about the secret of your marriage and I just got to say this and I'll get way here to you. I just get excited. But he says the Lord, the grace of the Lord, I didn't do anything. But yet he talks about how they had conversations. So they spoke, they made it a priority to speak. Then he spoke about how they also had intimate conversation.
Razz Vazquez:It wasn't just the sky is blue. How are you doing? If I find two ships crossing by? No, they would stop and see what each other's heart was Listening to you. You reminded me of a proverb that says the things that happen are like deep I'm paraphrasing Are deep in the heart of man, but the wise person can bring them out, and so it's not just a marriage, it's a relationship, it's a friendship, and then, knowing you, I also know that vacation was a priority with your life. You wouldn't take one week here, you would take a whole month, I think.
Razz Vazquez:Yeah those times, get your little camper, get with your kids and go away. So you invested in that life for you wasn't just law enforcement. I mean, you're a cop. I mean if you get cut, your blood comes out blue, kind of like right. But that's not the only thing you are. You have an identity and I'll let you speak because I know you're getting excited.
Razz Vazquez:No, no, we're good, but you took every year that since I met you you always take your vacation with your kids and he would come back again as a human being, normal, not just trauma responding. And then another thing about you is this guy and Chaplin you could attest to this I don't remember many married couples conferences that the Iwansos weren't there. I mean there were some that maybe they couldn't come, but for the most part once or so in theory. I mean there were some that maybe they couldn't come, but for the most part they would try to make a priority to be fed. Anyway, I said too much.
Razz Vazquez:I don't know, a chaplain or Manny. You want to respond to that. You got a mic.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah, you need to feed into the marriage. First priority is with a word and also to each other. Kathy had taught me early on in our marriage was not every situation that she comes to me with does she need for me to resolve? So she taught me how to listen. There's a lot of times that there was a lot of listening and in that listening, and we were talking about love, like you were talking about earlier, um, on the show, uh, the previous show, um, you were talking about love and and and that love, yes, it's an action. Uh, it's an action. It's not just a word, it's definitely an action. And in and in that listening, there's that action, that that presence being there, being there for your kids, being there for your friends, being there, of course, for your wife. That's an action that needs to be taken and you have to make that a priority and it has to be purposeful, purposeful. If not, and then for what is it?
Razz Vazquez:You got to have a purpose. I like that You're not just going at it with no aim, with no um, nothing in mind. What you're saying is that there's something that you want to accomplish, which is make the marriage better, make the relationship.
Manuel Inguanzo:You have to work at it, you have to work, work at it.
Adrian Caballero:Now you said uh, you said you know only by the grace of god. We've already showed you how the grace of god comes out very practically in what you said, right At home, and you made it practical at home. But that's off the job. On the job too, and you talked about feeding. You know feeding on the Word of God and how it helped you then communicate what you feed. You know what comes in, you're able to share it out.
Adrian Caballero:So on the job, I know there's a lot of calls, there's a lot of situations. On the job, I know there's a lot of calls, there's a lot of situations. You can go from 29 in progress, right, a robbery. You can go to a death, 45, right, they call it a 45. And then there's all sorts of other things 33s, all these other things, and so people don't understand that there could be compromises on the job that tempt you to not want to do those things you were doing at home, so navigating, and then the people around you. It's a circle and it feeds and they feed, and somehow, if you know, manny, you know that. First of all, let me go back to this real quick. I never got to do a ride along with you, oh, man, I never got to see manny in the streets.
Intro:I will forgive you for that publicly, in this moment.
Adrian Caballero:I will forgive you for that uh, as uh, a certain entity lost my, my application like four or five times and I, by the time I went, manny was not on patrol anymore, he was in another section of the department but, after I've forgiven you now, while you were on patrol, I've heard stories, um, you know, yeah, uh, if there needed to be hello, kind sir, please come this way, it could be, but when there needed to be action, love and action, in that case there was, and so let me.
Razz Vazquez:Let me interrupt you here a quick, a second, and just say this what I think you're saying even more clearly, which is that the pastor says it the shepherd needs to have two voices, one to call the sheep and one to drive away the wolves.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah.
Razz Vazquez:And I think a cop needs that too, and I think that's what you're saying, chaplain.
Adrian Caballero:Yeah, I'm saying in the background that the reason some of these 29, 45, 33s didn't contaminate you, it wasn't because you're this soft guy who just gently goes through life. No, when there needed to be action, there was very, very precise action, effective, and people wanted you on their team. So how did that and how did the Lord and, as you said, the grace of the Lord, help you carry through some of those things? Because they were all around you.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah, that's a good question, chaplain. Yeah, that's a good question, chaplain.
Razz Vazquez:How could you still be law enforcement and have grace and love Jesus, yeah.
Adrian Caballero:And not fall into some of those numbers that I said. Yeah, we I, if you know.
Manuel Inguanzo:You know, by the way, if you're listening, yeah, the Lord kept me away from a lot of things right. So when I would go let's say we would go to a person that has passed away right In the natural course of death, it gave me compassion towards the family Because you would sit there and you would look at the family and that helped me to at least talk to them or listen to them. What's going on? There's different stages of grief that we've learned the denial, the disbelief, the anger. You know all these things.
Manuel Inguanzo:So I was always able to have that heart for that family. I went through it in my family so I was able to share what I had learned from what happened with my family, with people, and then, when you would go with some of the other robbery or not natural death you still grieve with the family. Your family is very important because anything that you do first, at least in my life I'm going to speak on myself anything that I did, I would. I knew that the lord was watching right and I knew that if I would do something that was wrong, that it would, it would, uh, misrepresent the god that I serve you know, I gotta add to this too, because he's not only a god man, he's also a team player.
Razz Vazquez:So so, knowing you, you also wanted to. You, you wanted to shine for MPD, you know, and and that's what made MPD the agency, that that it was world renowned. Uh, you know to to some degree, because officers really wanted to represent the agency properly, the badge properly, the uniform properly. So I hate to to cut in, but I just wanted to expound a little bit on what you said no, definitely, definitely.
Manuel Inguanzo:um. So, so if, if you misrepresent jesus christ, how can you go to another person and talk about jesus christ when they're looking at you and you're the only jesus christ they know and they say, hey, but wait a minute, you know you. You punched me a bunch of times or you kicked me four or five times, you called me these names, you know, is that the Jesus you serve? I don't want to serve that Jesus. And then, of course, secondly, would be the family. Right, anything that I would do or anything I would say, I know it would affect my family.
Manuel Inguanzo:So if I were sitting there and one of the signals that a chaplain had called out, it's 33, right. So for those officers that know what that is is, how can you turn around and, in front of your family and in front of your loved ones and in front of your God, turn around and say I'm going to back you up, I have your six. Anything that happens, I'm going to be there. I'm going to fight next to you, when you're not doing that for your wife, the person that you did that in front of them, how can you do that? You can't. You're misrepresented, you're a hypocrite. So that's how it kept me away from all that 33ing.
Razz Vazquez:For those that are listening. You don't have to give the signal away, but you could at least tell them what you're talking about.
Manuel Inguanzo:Extracurricular activity outside of your marriage. Okay, well, there we go.
Adrian Caballero:We got a text here. It says this is a nod to your age. They're saying if I would have actually been able to ride with you on that B-shift mentioned, I would have been in a car seat right next year and I wouldn't have been legal almost, almost that had to be an officer, yeah yeah and then and then he says christ and cafecito is what kept manny going that's what kept me going.
Manuel Inguanzo:That's true. That's true. No, I never wanted to be responsible for, uh, for anything to happen to adrian, so that's why he never, or Pastor Raz, God didn't open the door. I was like I never wanted to be responsible. If something were to happen and then they get the brunt of it, I wouldn't be able to handle it. My wife would have beat me up.
Adrian Caballero:So let's talk, and one of the words I wanted to look at throughout the program today, throughout our talk today, is the word preparation.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah.
Adrian Caballero:Right preparation. You've talked so much about how god prepared you for every and even the mindset which you go into it and you know the mindset of the family, of god's grace, meaning if it would have been up to manny alone it wouldn't have been accomplished. But god has stepped in and through that. Now you look back realizing how many practical things that grace of God came out on the job and off the job. But now you've been patrol and in order to not go through the last episode, you continue on. You've changed different sections within the department. Some you maybe you enjoyed more than others. But just kind of guide us through how that and preparation in every section you were in prepared you for the next section. And as you travel through and you make those changes in your career, you know leaving patrol was a big deal. I know, you know it's like man, but I love this part. But your body is needing to be prepared for other things and so can you guide us through just transitioning through departments and the preparations. It's an amazing.
Manuel Inguanzo:It's an amazing. I've been sitting back now, right, retired, right, and thinking about my career and what I've been able to accomplish and where the Lord had sent me right, and then I sit there and I'm like man, this is amazing, right. So in patrol, I was used to working midnights, I was used to not having that much sleep, giving priority, of course, to my family, giving priority to the church and doing my thing. I was used to that. That's what I was used to. And the Lord prepared a unit for me, right, and the unit was staffing. And in staffing, when I went into staffing, he put me in a small little room no windows, right Real close up with a bunch of people, which was awesome. And then he settled me right. So I did. I missed patrol, I missed the excitement.
Manuel Inguanzo:I missed the action being able to de-stress at times, right when you yeah right, uh, be able to be able to, uh, to de-stress, of course, um, and then it gave me a different type of a stress, right, so, so that that was a very stressful um part. Right, so I'm changing from being out on the street, being open, doing, doing what I want, driving around, driving through different parts of the city of Miami, learning the city of Miami, knowing which car should be at this house, what car shouldn't be at this house. This guy always leaves his lights on. This guy turns off his lights.
Adrian Caballero:The lady in the corner with a lot of information Right, the people that I know, la China.
Manuel Inguanzo:Right La China, that I would be able to go over there and talk to her and she would give me information and I would go out and look like I knew what I was doing, right. So it was from that to a small little room with a bunch of guys and ladies and we were working in staffing. Using a different capacity in my life, of my brain and those who know me, I'm more of a hands-on kind of guy. I'm not really a techie guy.
Manuel Inguanzo:But the Lord let me go through that transition. And as we went through that transition and just being faithful to that transition, it opened up another door into the Office of Emergency Management. When I went into the Office of Emergency Management OEM is also known we don't only give out water just for those who don't know right. So as we were there, I was able to be out there with the guys but at the same time I was able to be inside guys but at the same time I was able to be inside. It was a different type of stress but he transitioned me into that after, I believe, two years of staffing and there I ended my career in that that I was able to be out there helping officers prepare for a civil disturbance or helping officers just giving them a command center to be able to go inside and de-stress themselves and having that interaction with those officers. It helped me tremendously.
Manuel Inguanzo:So the Lord had directed that he didn't just take me out of patrol straight to civilian life and then you're sitting there going. Man, I should have done, I should have stayed, I should have done, done one or the other. He transitioned me slowly so in in that preparation, that that that the lord had had guided for me. It was all, it was all and I could tell you it was all him because it was. I didn't have the brains to be in staffing I didn't, and disciplined it to be in staffing. But in OEM I was able to go there and I was a hands-on kind of guy. You would plan out your situation or whatever situational awareness that needed to be done and then still be out there with the guys. So he gave me the best of both worlds in that career, you know it's interesting.
Razz Vazquez:I just got to jump in here and say, as I listened to the conversation, you know there's three major things that Manny did. Work is one of them. You know, when he was at work he was about work. Family is another one, and he did that good. So he would have stood out, he would have did, but then church came into his life, which is not just about church as religion, as God, jesus Christ came into his life. So now Manny is a composite of three parts Obviously a motivation for Christ. He wants to excel, he wants to be found worthy and acceptable, which speaks about his character. It speaks about who you are. When you talk about integrity, when you talk about integrity, when you talk about motivation, obviously you did law enforcement, not for the paycheck, not just for the retirement, not just for the benefits.
Razz Vazquez:You did law enforcement because in your heart you wanted to make a difference Like save the chaplain and save the pastor, don't let him ride with you, just in case you know.
Razz Vazquez:But that's the way he's wired, you know, he's always kind of like, oh nine, always, you know. But then there's something else that that I love, that I have to highlight because, uh, a chaplain, I know that there's other law enforcement listening to this and I know some law enforcement I haven't been a chaplain myself that they could, they could do patrol for all their life and if they have five lives, they're going to do it because that's the way they're born, that's who they are. But it's not just about what you're comfortable in and it's not just about what you want to do. It's allowing God to guide you, to prepare you, because God has a plan with your life. So in watching Manny, I've seen how he could have fought and been stubborn, but he allowed God to use the crazy pastor sometimes and so to get out of patrol to go to staffing. God got him ready to go to emergency management, because God's not finished with you yet. You're retired but you have no idea how God's going to use all those gifts and traits that he's given you. And so for you that are listening, law enforcement, maybe it's time for you to allow that door that God's been opening up for you that you're saying I'm not going to do this.
Razz Vazquez:I don't like to be with management, I don't like to be with commands. Forget about what you like. What is God trying to do next in your life so you could get to and chaplain? Sorry if I'm going too long, but I just got this the last thing I'll say here for this time. I got a chance to go to his retirement dinner and to see the people, to see the celebration. I didn't need. I'm so sorry. I couldn't eat because I didn't eat past a certain time, but the food looked so good man. Then they had the music and then his mom was dancing. I mean, how old is your mom?
Manuel Inguanzo:Manny 85 85.
Razz Vazquez:That lady's dancing better than me.
Adrian Caballero:I haven't seen you dance too much. I'm sure there is.
Razz Vazquez:I got two left feet now. But anyway, the point I want to make is how Manny has been just a regular cop, but he's influenced, not just the neighborhoods he's patrolled, not just the people, he influences also the criminals. They respect Manny. And then the law enforcement, the other law enforcement. You know cops that are cops. I want to mention some names, but I won't because I'll leave some names out. They respect manny, you know, because, because they know man, this guy's a cop, but this guy, he's, he's, he's. He's a son of god, he's an individual, he's a husband, he's a father.
Adrian Caballero:Okay, I'll stop no, I can see manny has a word. No, it was just looking at me it was.
Manuel Inguanzo:It was interesting, right, I was, uh, I was doing a devotional. Um, the other day I was reading and it this stood out right, and it was about faith, right, and the faith. Yeah, I have faith and stuff, and in this devotional I'm just going to read a little excerpt of it, or actually one sentence of it. Right, it says. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding. Faith is a deliberate commitment to the person of Jesus Christ. Even when I can't see the way ahead, you got to repeat that that's still good All right Faith however is not intellectual understanding.
Manuel Inguanzo:Faith is a deliberate commitment to the person of Jesus Christ. Even when I can't see the way ahead, we, as men, as officers, as Christians, we tend to analyze everything, and if it makes sense to us we do it. But faith doesn't work that way. So when I was asked to go into staffing, I didn't go ahead.
Adrian Caballero:So was that a conscious decision you made Like, hmm, let me think about this, the next thing in my life that I think would make me, or, like you said, thing in my life that I think would make me, or, like you said, I kind of, yeah, how that transition into that was not even a great thought that you had right.
Manuel Inguanzo:no, no, asked no, no, I was asked yeah, I, I was thinking about it and I was like man. You know what are the benefits? And truly, there, there, there was no real benefit, right? But I would say I was. I was like man, you know, and the Lord gave me a peace in my heart and my answer was yeah, okay, let's go. I don't know anything about it. I didn't know what they did, I didn't know what the unit did. I had to go into the SOPs or standing operating procedures and read what it is that they do. Oh man, this is a lot of stuff. I'm not good at any of this stuff, but the Lord just directed it that way and it wasn't something that I prepared for myself and it wasn't something that I said hey, you know what I'm good at this, I'm going to try it. I'm going to do it because I know I'm good at it. No, it wasn't that.
Adrian Caballero:Even OEM. I didn't. I knew what they entailed, but I thought they only gave out water. Yeah Well, maybe, sergeant, if you're listening. By the way, you can call 786-313-3115. Any questions? Any questions? Any thoughts?
Razz Vazquez:Any comments.
Adrian Caballero:If OEM just gives out water, that's a man.
Razz Vazquez:Let us know 786-313-3115.
Adrian Caballero:Manny tells us stories, but maybe he just gave out water all day. You did give out water, I did, um, and actually, uh, side note, one time I went to ask for water and it was hot, as hot can be. So maybe ice with water. Just a future recommendation for oem. Yeah, an ice machine I'll make. I'll make a note of that. Uh, so so those transitions and but it's so important to realize sometimes that God is moving us and we try to buck at it, we try to resist it and it's sometimes God using very natural circumstances to prepare us for next seasons and next things in our life. So even in your preparation, and we can go back and forth here. Just to kind of get to the part where now you prepared for retirement, and I know there were decisions. There's a drop, should I make a drop? Should I not make a drop? So we're going to get into that right now. Just kind of think about that, that preparation, what led you to the retirement part of your life now. But before that, I believe we have a text.
Razz Vazquez:Got a text message for you here, officer Iwansu. Manny as we call him, a brother, a friend. It says my heart this morning. I love dearly Manny and Kathy so much. The heart of the Lord shines so bright through them.
Manuel Inguanzo:This is from west kendall.
Razz Vazquez:Later I'll tell you the name, but it's good to have people listening that that would say that. And then I have another text message here that's got two questions. By the way, you're listening to ask a cop first tuesday of every month, god's way radio, also podcast forum conversation. Um, two questions. A lot of people say that man, once I retire, I'll get to do this thing or that thing, or I'll finally have made it Now being retired. Officer Iguanzo, how true do you find that statement? So you could be thinking about that.
Razz Vazquez:Let me tell you a second question what has been harder? What has been harder? This is the question Chasing after criminals or teaching kids Sunday morning in children's ministry?
Manuel Inguanzo:I know who said that one Teaching kids. Oh man. Definitely teaching kids oh man, we have fun here they're.
Adrian Caballero:They're a handful, so you know when I nap the rest of the day yeah, he'll finish a whole 12-hour shift going through all sorts of crazy challenges challenges, maybe you know arrested, but you put him two hours with kids and he's white.
Razz Vazquez:But is the assignment that God has for him. It's gonna be. It's gonna be beautiful. It's gonna be beautiful for you, for the kids. Yeah, but those are the two questions. So we got two questions on the table.
Adrian Caballero:He answered one of them.
Razz Vazquez:Teaching kids is definitely harder.
Adrian Caballero:And then the first one again is a lot of people say right man every time tired. I'll get to do this, I'll get to do that. I finally made it. So now being retired, what?
Manuel Inguanzo:do you have to say how?
Adrian Caballero:true, do you find that statement oh?
Manuel Inguanzo:man all right, so I'm I'm freshly retired okay, so so it's been, uh, it's gonna be two months. Now, on the eighth it'll be two months I retired, uh, february 8th, um, I was like that I go, I'm gonna do whatever want to do. I'll wake up whenever I want to wake up. I want to do this at the house, I want to do that at the house, I want to fix this. I'm going to do that, and the truth is is I haven't done anything. Benny.
Razz Vazquez:I got good news for you. I took that step like five years ago, in 2020, and I still haven't been able to. Right, but like last Sunday I drove to Brandon, taught the two services, drove back and was able to share here. I'm thinking these people didn't get the memo, man.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah they didn't Right, so you sit there and you're like okay, you've lived a structured life.
Manuel Inguanzo:For most of my life. I was structured. I knew I had to wake up at a certain time, I knew I could go to sleep at a certain time and then let me fill everything else in inside there. And now in in retirement life, um, I don't have that structure right.
Manuel Inguanzo:So now it's, it's now, it's going to be two months and and I just came to realize, maybe sometime last week, I says man, you know what? I need to sit there and structure this, this retirement life, right, because I say yes, yes to everything, but yet I'm not doing anything. And there I said, man, I'm not gonna finish. Finish, like Pastor Ryders always tells me, always tells me and it stays in my heart always is how you finish your race and you need to finish your race. Well, my race isn't over, my race is still going, really beginning, and me saying yes to everything and not doing any of it is not finishing the race. Well, so I need to realize, hey, let me say yes to this and then I'll do it, and once it's done, I'll go to the next one.
Razz Vazquez:I say yes to everything. 786-313-3115, in case you want to call. You have a question. You have a comment. Chaplain, you also had asked Manny a question, which was a great question and maybe you want to repeat it.
Intro:So, manny, a question which was a great question and maybe you want to repeat it so many yeah.
Razz Vazquez:So let's go back. But I got another text message here I gotta share. It says Manny and Kathy are the real deal. They personify love in action. Wow, that's from, uh, that's from Village Green wow.
Adrian Caballero:And so you talked about after retirement and kind of some of that loss of structure and not having a sergeant or someone above a sergeant telling you hey, by the way, today you're going to field force, you got to do this, you got to do that, and all you have to do is figure out I don't want to do those things, I think that's probably not the best route, but let's do it because that's my assignment today. That's one thing you have to figure out and god has to help you with.
Adrian Caballero:Now you're in a different stage where now you almost got to become your own sergeant lieutenant and tell yourself what to do and and decide what you're gonna do.
Manuel Inguanzo:Or you know, yes, my love can also be a great little help for helper sergeant there yeah, no, she, um, she's been great, right because, uh, because she knows me right and she knows that I could sit there and watch westerns all day long, right, so, um, so, so my heart has always been hey, let me, let me, let me, uh, be alongside her, let me, um, let me see how I could help her, right, so she's, she's always busy. That lady does not stop. That lady does not stop. That lady does not stop. She's almost like Pastor Raz. It has this energy. That's incredible.
Razz Vazquez:She's got more.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah, so I've always been alongside her.
Intro:But I've come alongside her.
Manuel Inguanzo:Now I'm seeing all the behind-the-scenes stuff that I never really saw right, and I would always make All right. So I'm lighthearted and I joke about everything and I always sit there and say, what have you been eating bonbons all day? But now I see I'm like, wow, I go, how can you do all these things? So she's been keeping me occupied in the things that she does and it has been fantastic. It's been great to see these things, just the way she pours out to all the people that she pours out to, and the things that she does, and I'm like man, wow. So I'm able to see a lot of what the Lord has done in her life and that she is pouring out to other people, and he's giving me this time to be able to see it where I didn't see it from before. So the projects and stuff that are at the house they've been there for years. I'll finish them eventually, right, but I'm able to see these things.
Manuel Inguanzo:I'm like wow what are you showing me, lord? What are you showing me and and and, and um, he's revealing things.
Adrian Caballero:So there's a ladies event coming up. I think it's on a saturday.
Razz Vazquez:Just try to see, you know, maybe yeah no thank you lady, get it all done, this chapter, this chapter, already have it on there and that way she's she's not.
Adrian Caballero:Oh, she's probably listening now she won't be surprised yeah, she probably knows, she anyway so preparing, though while you're you're there in OEM Office, Office of Emergency Management. That involved deployments to hurricane, all these things. But you know that you're on this thing called a drop. Can you kind of, just for the listeners, describe a little bit of that? You know you're going to retire and should things you would have wished you knew earlier on, before that time came a drop and you explained it in a second. Now there's a certain amount of years you get to enter this drop and then you know by the end of that time you have to retire. But maybe there's, you know, Manny Road Patrol 1993. You wish Manny today would have told him some things for that guy. What are some of those preparations that you learned along the way? And then that's the financial.
Razz Vazquez:That's a good question, man. I can't wait to hear the answer.
Adrian Caballero:That's the financial and any other little things you kind of would have wanted to tell yourself but how do you get ready now through this transition, preparation for retirement? I'm so excited.
Razz Vazquez:Let me jump in here. I mean, that's a brilliant question, Chapman. So what you're saying is Manny 1993 needed to hear some things from.
Intro:Manny Maybe, maybe.
Razz Vazquez:Turbo Manny 2025.
Adrian Caballero:Maybe I don't know, so what?
Razz Vazquez:you're saying is what would Manny 2025 tell Manny which the application is for the young officer that's listening or a law enforcement agent that's listening and starting? We could get a lot of wisdom here, because he's done it 31 years, so what would he do different, to maybe be even in a different point today?
Manuel Inguanzo:yeah, that's a. Wow, that's a, it's a. That's a tough question, right, that's a, that's a real tough question start.
Adrian Caballero:Let's start off easy. Uh, explain to us the drop all right.
Manuel Inguanzo:so, um, okay, so in the drop in the drop, you're able to technically retire on paper. Uh, then you have, uh, in the city of Miami. You have a certain amount of years, seven years you have seven years and at that time, after the seven-year elapses, that's when you have to sever. Now you're no longer working. The pension that you would have received throughout that seven years is actually put into a retirement savings account. That money goes into that retirement savings account and you continue to work and get your paycheck and work your off duties and do whatever you need to do. You could continue to work going that way, but at the end of the seven years you have to go. The many of 1993, I was blessed to have a lot of uh way senior guys that I worked with, the ones that actually, um, taught me the the street right, uh, you know I was anyways that taught me what the street was.
Adrian Caballero:You could shout them out. If any specific person yeah, he might leave one.
Manuel Inguanzo:There might be too many though, yeah, there was a lot of them right and they were able to tell me hey, listen, you need to invest in, there's a thing called deferred compensation right, where you put a sum of your money or a certain amount of money into an account, where you manage it with stocks and stuff like that, with mutual funds mostly. So that's for the long term, don't worry about it going up and down. That's for the long term. Don't worry about it going up and down. That's for the long term. How much you should put in? Start it off with the minimal amount and raise it up every single time that you get a raise. You get a raise, okay, raise it up that much more. So the Manny of 1993 was maxed out for several years. And then the Manny of 1998, when I had my first child, started bringing it down right. Then I went along with four kids right bringing it down. Now the Manny of now would have said, hey, listen, don't bring it down, get used to the money that you have.
Razz Vazquez:So this is very important, chaplain, thank you for that. Manny, thank you for that For you that are listening, listening to plan your retirement. You have to be practical financially. You have to be wise financially. Don't wait till you're retired and then try to say how am I going to make money? Where's the money coming from? Uh, so manny's telling us that the young one started off well, but then he cut it down. What you're saying is, you would have told yourself don't cut it down. Learn to manage what you have.
Manuel Inguanzo:Leave it at the same, invest to prepare for the retirement, for the retirement for the future, and you had and and that would have. That would have been, it would have been different, right, um? But the man of now knows, knows where, where the lord guide he provides right. So I've always lived check to check-ish. You know, I worked a lot off duties in the beginning. A lot, and I still did work a lot.
Manuel Inguanzo:But that financial part of it should be done early in your career. Even if you go, man, I'm going to need no, you're not going to need it. Man, keep going, right. So when you get to the end, you have that nest egg where you could sit there. But I could sit there and tell you no amount of money could give you happiness. No amount of money could give you happiness. What will give you happiness is watching your children give their lives up to the Lord and serving the Lord. What gives you happiness is joy. It's not even happiness, it's joy. Happiness just flees away. So the joy that you have is watching that your family is secure and that your family loves Jesus Christ and everything else will be provided, everything else. So even if you retire and you have quadrillion billions of dollars, um, in the bank, that's not going to bring you joy. It's not uh and it's not going to give you stability, because as soon as you lose one of those trillions and billions of dollars, you're going to be like oh man, oh, I'm broke.
Manuel Inguanzo:Fulfillment that will yeah, that will never fulfill you. Yeah, so what will fulfill you is watching your family and and the love that they give you and the love that you are able to give them. So that's what you need to be looking at, because he's going to provide. He's going to provide. If you're committed unto the Lord, the Lord's going to provide for you. Now this is I'm on the spot right. The Father won't give you a rock.
Razz Vazquez:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's funny. Jesus teaching his disciples. He says hey, a father, if your son asks you for bread, he's not going to give you a rock. If he asks for bread, he won't give you a rock. If you ask for egg, he's not going to give you a snake or scorpion If you ask for fish. And so how much more will your heavenly father give you the Holy Spirit when you ask? And so what Manny's saying is that you know, if you're living life for God, god will provide. He'll give you what you need you just got to be a good steward.
Manuel Inguanzo:A good steward and enjoy, have joy.
Adrian Caballero:Now, in that preparation financially, you gave a lot of good advice, but there's like a mental part to it. Where did you ever before, did you, do the full drop?
Intro:the full eight years yeah.
Adrian Caballero:Did you ever, before those four, eight years, say you know what? I've had it and I'm done, I want to pull out, I want to get out, I want to leave this place? And you didn't. Maybe why. If you could explain it. Maybe you just are stubborn, you're like I'm going to finish it, or you just thought about something that kept you going. What kind of kept you going? And was there a time where you're like I'm just through with all of this? I want to leave this place, I'm done with it.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah, or in between. That happened, I think, a month after I dropped right and it continued on for the rest of my career. But again, giving all glory to the Lord and giving me the wife that she gave me right when I would sit there and get home, because she knows my heart right, so she knows when I would sit there. Like that's it, I'm done, I'm tired of xyz. Uh, she would say, okay, I mean, you know what has the lord told you. You know, if the lord hasn't told you because I know you, manny, as soon as you leave, and if you leave too soon, you're gonna be frustrated I said, you're right, I would go into prayer and the lord would just give me another day it would give me the rest that I need to have that next day wisdom.
Adrian Caballero:Now that's it. Yeah, and I know you. You wanted to go back and see your sergeant every day shout out sergeant, if you're listening sergeant 786-313-3115 sergeant sleeping today 786-313-3115 he better not be so.
Razz Vazquez:Uh, yeah, just joking my man they're one down.
Adrian Caballero:Did they replace you in OEM, yet I believe they did, I believe.
Manuel Inguanzo:They'll fill the spot, but they won't replace me Well technically they put somebody there, but actually he was for the previous guy that had retired, oh okay yeah, so I know we're down, it's catch up, it's catch up, it's a police world.
Adrian Caballero:So we have another text. And then I have a question just to remind us here. I'm going to ask you about days off and taking days off.
Razz Vazquez:Yeah, good, good, good, hey, good morning God's Way Radio. Our family has been blessed to have known Manny because, in the BC years before Christ, an honor to witness his miraculous conversion, conversion and amazing law enforcement journey. Despite a busy life, you and your family have always made time to be there for hours, in the good and the bad times. We love you and we thank the Lord for you. Wes Bird, okay.
Manuel Inguanzo:It's okay.
Adrian Caballero:Don't cry, manny, it it's okay. I know you want to, uh, so I and and you know, we know that there could be floods of text. You know, in those ways, um, because when your life is not about yourself, it's evident and, and I think it, you know, uh, as a friend, you've seen that, you know, even in the responsibilities, there was this Jesus who gave grace. That's how we started this whole program to help serve others.
Adrian Caballero:And there's a continued wanting to help serve others. But let me ask you real quick about days off, because I see this a lot amongst, maybe, the younger generation. Maybe that's not accurate, I'm not sure, but people seem to want to blow their days off and they're taking days off and I know you got to take care of yourself and you get the me days and the personal days but can you if there's a benefit to having those days off?
Razz Vazquez:so you had. No, just I wasn't understanding the question, and it's a good question. When I finally got, it's a great question. So what you're saying is how do you manage your days off that? Do you just take them and then not have any? Or do you discipline and not take them so maybe later on when you need them, or whatever? Am I getting that right?
Adrian Caballero:Yeah, so there's two parts right, there's a lot of. There's people who I believe don't have some of what you had. You mentioned already earlier in the program the grace of God, those conversations with the wife church. That would reset you, that would give you the energy to go the next day to work. So a lot of people burn through their days off and they go on all sorts of things. But just being wise, with days off, you went in sometimes when you didn't have to and you ended up being able to go on month-long vacations. Maybe that's one of the benefits, or you had them toward the end of your career. So just explain to us if you have any comment to the officer listening their mindset on good days off, good stuff, thank you, what, what, what.
Manuel Inguanzo:When I first came on, uh, the guys that were there were a lot of them were retired military, right. So so you, you wouldn't burn days off. You loved going to work because you always had that chance to become a hero, right, uh, and that that kind of drove me as well, right, always having that chance to do something that somebody else wouldn't do. But you, you were able to do it when, when that circumstance happened, um, so I wouldn't burn any time off, uh. But as you guys know, because you guys have known me for for a long time, I would save my time, right, I would say save my sick time, I would save my comp time, I would save my vacation time. I would always keep time there in case I would get hurt. I would have that time to be able to, to, uh, to take to, to recover, and that and and and that check would still continue to come in, uh. But in that, in being able to save my time for the beginning of my career, when my sister became sick, I was able to take time off, right, and the reason why I was able to take time off and be with her and take her to the doctor's appointments and the hospital visits and the overnight hospitals and stuff, was because I saved that time and that check never went down because I had that time to do it. As well as when that refrigerator broke or that roof needed repair or that car needed repair and you looked at your bank account and there was no money there, that comp time time you could cash it out and you're able to repair those things. So so, my, my, the time, the comp time, the vacation time and the sick time, uh, I I continue to accumulate it. Uh, so that I would be able to use it for those times. Right, that vacation that I would take was because of that vacation, that that I had saved for so long and I was able to take it. There was a time that was given to me that the time that I was able to use it.
Manuel Inguanzo:Um, but in those those incidences where where you had to take a day off because you had to do something, there was somebody that was sick, somebody needed a hospital care, go over there, I would be able to take it off. Uh, and what was the blessing on that is in the diligence and the resolve to go to work every day came into account when you would ask somebody hey, can I get the day off? Of course you never take the day off. They didn't have to think about it. They said, man, this guy has something to do and he knows. I don't have to sit there and come up with an excuse or anything else like that. I don't have to sit there and invent something or, um, let's put it frankly, we don't. I don't have to lie why I need to take the day off. It's because of this yeah, it's uh, uh.
Adrian Caballero:You know the, the typical. Uh, you know that there's a shortage, you know they're not going to give you a day off because you've asked for a bunch of days off, and then so you call out sick and so you end up having to kind of lie to do that, and then you put it. What happens is the people that are in that group, in that squad, are like man, this guy is leaving us.
Manuel Inguanzo:Letting us down? Yeah, he's letting us down, and now right. So now your crew? Now it was. I can't depend on him. I can't depend on him. But what's lost? The thought.
Adrian Caballero:Yeah, you'll come back to your crew depended on it and the investments that are made. And that's why I wanted to bring it up. And you know, I think there's a philosophy. And you said these guys came from the military and you don't have to come from the military. My dad didn't come from the military.
Razz Vazquez:I didn't come from the military. I didn't come from the military, you know, and so so some of that training is is is just, uh, man, there's grit that that we need in life. Some people get that military downloaded too.
Adrian Caballero:Yeah, and and and, man, you know what there's a responsibility responsibility and and you sign up for it, you do it and, as a matter of fact, to me I don't know if to you it is a joy, like it was a joy to do those things. Sometimes it wasn't a burden, because doing the right thing always pays off yeah and so that was my right.
Manuel Inguanzo:My thought was this you call, you, call out sick. I'm not trying to preach to anybody, but you call out sick and you're not sick. Now you have to think about. Hey, this sergeant might come to my house and knock on the door to find out if I'm still here.
Adrian Caballero:One aspect.
Manuel Inguanzo:That's one aspect. My crew now is out there and something might happen to Joe that's next to me, because Joe just called me. Joe that is next to me. He gets hurt and I wasn't there. I could have prevented that. So all these things are little guilts that you have to live with. It says why bother? Why bother living with those guilts? Man, joe got hurt. Oh man, I should have been there. I don't know. I took the day off because I wanted to watch the Dolphin game I can tell you what the outcome is going to be.
Manuel Inguanzo:I'm going to get myself in trouble. All right, I'm going to get myself in trouble.
Adrian Caballero:All right, I'm going to have to get some prayer after this man Another season of the Dolphins man. But anyways, so no, and I'm thankful for that perspective and we need to hear it, we need to hear it.
Razz Vazquez:I lost my train of thought with that too Well, I got a text message, one word here.
Adrian Caballero:We'll go to the text messages. Great One word here that keeps coming to. I lost my train of thought with that. Well, I got a text message. We'll go to the text messages. Great One word here that keeps coming to mind is change. You know change, and we don't like change.
Manuel Inguanzo:No.
Adrian Caballero:But sometimes that change is exactly what we need.
Manuel Inguanzo:Yeah.
Adrian Caballero:And we got to let God direct those things. It's not to not take days off, it's not to not, it's to have the days to be disciplined in our life, that when we need that time it's there, because I've seen many people then get hurt and now they burned their days on very silly things that weren't that important. Now they're hurt, now they need the time.
Adrian Caballero:They don't have it and now they're having to, everyone is having to give of their time so that that person and man if I want to be one of those people that is able to give, because I disciplined in the times that I had to discipline and sometimes you went to work and you didn't feel like going to work, but you did It- sounds to me like you guys are talking about discipline.
Razz Vazquez:You guys are talking about integrity. You guys are talking about being a man of ethics. It sounds to me like what I hear. You know, it's good to be here listening to you guys. You're talking about thinking of others. You know, thinking of your co-workers. You know we're troops, we're a team, you know, and those are qualities of yesteryear, but they're still here, present today and we need to make sure that they're highlighted. I got a text message here, officer iwansu and chaplain, that says good morning, god bless, great show this morning.
Manuel Inguanzo:Uh, this is one of our listeners, kind of fairly new, and he's also a baseball coach oh so so you guys are influencing the listeners what keeps coming to mind and I I heard it at the the men's conference that we just went to here in calvary chapel, miami. Uh, we, uh, uh. And the men's conference was we just went to here in Calvary Chapel, miami, and the men's conference was there's mountaintops and there's valleys, right. So when those mountaintops, when you come down from the valleys, sometimes they're very difficult, right, they're hard times. So when you go to work, sometimes just that could be your valley, right. When you go to work and you're not feeling well and you're going to work and you're saving your time, but the pastor that was teaching, he turned around and he said he goes, the grass only grows in the valley, yeah, not in the mountain peaks. So when we're in the top, we need to go down to the valley and humble ourselves because the grass will grow there.
Razz Vazquez:That was amazing. You know valley, pointing to tough times, down times, low times, going to work when you really don't feel like it, but you grow because you know that's what I've discovered. It always happens.
Adrian Caballero:Another text message here you want to read or you want me to read, so as we end the program here, we have about one minute left and this text reminded me of how we need to pray. If you're listening, pray for a Miami-Dade fire. They've been going through a lot of losses lately, so just pray for our first responders, police and fire. Keep them in your prayers. One thing here the coach that just texted us also said that they had canceled, uh, one of their games due to a tragedy. It was a high school water polo player, that um, that passed away in the pool and and I played water, you played water polo I played water polo so that that hits a different way, just for for that reason alone, I mean.
Adrian Caballero:So let's just close the program in prayer, as we have about just 30 seconds here. So, god, we just pray for our family. We pray, god, that those that are hurting because of the tragedies that have transpired lately, for deaths, for hurt, for betrayals, we just pray you would cover and heal these people. Your Holy Spirit would touch them. Thank you for Manny today. Thank you for the officers that are represented and have been listening. We pray for them to be home safely to outlive their career beyond retirement, continue on thriving in their life, closer to you Every day. We pray in Jesus name. Amen, amen, amen. Amen.
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