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
044: How Dors One Officer's Career Evolved Beyond Retirement - Milton Montes de Oca (Ret. City of Miami Police, Sweetwater PD)
Officer Milton Montes de Oca shares his remarkable journey from Cuban immigrant to City of Miami Police veteran to mental health advocate at Sweetwater PD, revealing how life challenges transformed his purpose and mission.
• Born in Cuba and raised in Little Havana, Milton joined the military before beginning his 32-year career with Miami PD in 1986
• Served in various roles including neighborhood resource officer, school resource officer, gang unit, and intelligence/terrorism unit commander
• Rather than traditional retirement, pursued international security work followed by a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling
• Now works as both a police officer and mental health liaison at Sweetwater PD with a mission to destigmatize seeking mental health support in law enforcement
• Emphasizes the importance of positive support systems, continuous learning, and viewing challenges as opportunities for personal reinvention
• A health crisis in 2019 deepened his faith journey and redirected his professional path toward helping fellow officers
• Believes education is crucial: "Anything you have can be taken away from you, but what you've learned, no one can take away from you"
• Encourages officers to surround themselves with positive influences who genuinely care about their wellbeing
• Views life in 10-year reinvention cycles, embracing the opportunity to become "a different guy for the next generation"
If you'd like to connect with us or get more information about our programs featuring conversations with officers, visit policethankyou.com or call 786-313-3115.
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. Right now, though, get ready to ask a cop Without further ado.
Adrian Caballero:we have today with us an officer, and I'll just start by letting you introduce yourself, officer Milton, and just give us just a little bit of your background. Were you born here, miami grew up? Give us a little bit of your background.
Milton Montes de Oca:Well, first of all, I want to thank you for inviting me on the show. It's truly an honor to be here and be part of your mission. As you said, chaplain, my name is Milton Montes de Oca. I'm an officer with the Sweetwater Police Department. Prior to that, I was in the City of Miami Police Department for 32 years, where I graduate where I was gonna say graduate because it feels like right where I retired in 2017 after 32 years. As I said, I am uh, I was born in cuba. Um, I'm so grateful for my, the sacrifice that my, that my parents made and just leaving everything there and coming here to give me the opportunity such as this, and it's just a true blessing and and a sign of courage from them to be able to do something like that. So I was born there. We came to Miami, I grew up in the Little Havana area Very poor upbringing as far as socioeconomics and I graduated from Miami High.
Adrian Caballero:Miami, high Stingrays.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yeah, got a shout out to the States.
Adrian Caballero:That was supposed to be my school. Okay, that was supposed to be my school. No, you missed out. I know. I know I ended up at Columbus. I apologize.
Milton Montes de Oca:Well, yeah, we were better at you than sports. I accept your apology.
Adrian Caballero:So Miami High, that's awesome.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yeah, that was oh yeah. So you know that neighborhood and you can imagine how challenging it was to live there back in the 70s. So, having come from a very poor family then, and it was a lot more challenges for them than I ever imagined, and now that I'm older I can really really thank them for all the sacrifices that they did. So, having had that humble beginning, I joined the military. I figured joining the Army is a good way of getting so much experience and also serving the country that has given me the opportunity to be who I am and what I am today. So I did that. Also, there was a program where you were able to go in and get money for school. I took advantage of that as well. I did that after I got out of the as well. So I did that.
Milton Montes de Oca:After I got out of the Army, I began school and soon thereafter I had to change focus because my wife got pregnant and you know. So I had to really provide for my family. So I started that journey. I said, hey, you know what I'm kind of military bearing right now, and I joined the police department. That was in 1986. And then I just basically grew up in the police department. I was there when I was 22. I retired when I was 55. So I basically grew up in the city of Miami Police Department, which I'm very grateful for as well.
Adrian Caballero:You patrolled the very streets where you went to school.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yes, as a matter of fact, I got the opportunity to be a school resource officer at Miami High. Oh, wow, yeah, Some of the guys that went to school with me ended up, you know, had big teachers.
Adrian Caballero:Did you see teachers that were still there? There was a couple of teachers still there. Yes, and then students that you said became teachers.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yes, yes.
Joey Alcala:My cohort was now were now teaching, or were they surprised to see you in a uniform? Come on, adrian.
Milton Montes de Oca:No, they were. I was a pretty good student through high school and stuff. So I was in good graces with them.
Adrian Caballero:Good, good, good, because you know, there's a change, right when you go from high school student and if you're an officer out there listening, imagine yourself high school. And then when you became an officer, there's some changes. There's things that that you gotta, you know, grow in very quickly. High school is is one thing, and and then getting into the profession. So what inspired you? Like what? What I mean? You said you, you know your wife, um, it was having a baby. You had to now provide. You had the, the military background. So you, you got into city of miami. That's the first place that opened up for you. You sought out City of Miami. How did it specifically become City of Miami that you looked into?
Milton Montes de Oca:Well, first we have to go through a time warp. Right Back in the 70s, there was no social media. There was nothing else other than either word of mouth, or you got a paper, a newspaper and you read through it and you know, god provided me the ability to see that there was an opening in my police department and newspaper. So you know, so I went that way and I was very glad that I did, because that's where I was supposed to be. So that's how I ended up there.
Adrian Caballero:Nice, nice. So that's awesome, you know. And again, if you're listening live, or if you're listening, if you tuned in because you saw an Instagram post or however you came across and you're listening to this right now, maybe you're listening to it in the podcast, so listen, we want you to have all the resources possible. We won't have time for every single thing, so if you need any more information, you can call 786-313-3115, 786-313-3115. Again, if you want a live programming, you go to godswayradiocom. If you want recorded other programs and other officers that we've been able to have these conversations with, you can go to policethankyoucom for all of that.
Joey Alcala:And if you're listening live, you can text us as well If you have a question or an encouraging word. We love the participation when you guys chime in. But back to you, adrian.
Adrian Caballero:Awesome man. So man, so you know we all start somewhere. You didn't stay as a. You know everyone. If you know law enforcement, you start off in patrols probably. You know not the nicest shifts, you know late nights and so. But give us a little bit of a catch us up until I mean, I don't know if you're going to get through all the way to retirement, but just a couple of years. The different units you kind of saw yourself in there in the city we don't want to spend.
Adrian Caballero:We can spend the entire hour talking about your time in the city but just give us a little kind of breakdown there how you kind of navigated through the city, and this was in the 90s. Then you started. No, I started I went to the police academy in 1986 86 I won't say my age, that way you know you guys were born, you guys, I was alive I'll just say I was alive I was young but alive so you're still using revolvers when you came out of the academy correct wow, 38 revolvers with speed loaders.
Adrian Caballero:I can't even imagine that. Well, everything changed after the?
Joey Alcala:after the FBI shooting or the FBI standoff what was it called? So?
Milton Montes de Oca:you lived. Through that I did, and through the riots and everything else, I started in patrol, like everyone does. I got the opportunity to patrol all the different areas of the city at all different shifts, as the chaplain said. Then I had the opportunity to um, become a um, what they call a neighborhood resource officer. So I had the opportunity to actually in little havana of of all places, so god kept calling me to where I was born to do, to make a difference. You know, I see that now and um, what, what, um, that was a great rewarding experience because again, there was, there were still people, uh, business owners and things like that that when I was growing up in that area. They're still there, you know. And now I get to be sort of like the bridge between the police department and their concerns, right, and it was a great concept.
Milton Montes de Oca:The net concept, neighborhood enhancement team was kind of there was a little bit of a pushback at first from cops, you know, because cops want to be cops, right, bad guys go to jail and that's it. But you realize that it's just a revolving door unless you find out what the underlying problem is. You know what's the underlying issue? You know it's. Let's clean up the neighborhood. Let's make sure that uh people have resources to not become, you know, uh somebody that you see every day committing the same type of minor crime. Uh, which is really what? What the big problem was there right now? That meant, not there's some major crimes, of course, but the, the guy that you always saw going to jail was for you know, for things that that you knew that had to be some kind of underlying problem like substance use disorder or something along those lines.
Joey Alcala:Now let me ask you. Let me ask you something, adrian. Just a question that came to mind for for Milton Officer Milton, do you feel that growing up in the neighborhood gave you an advantage as a police officer, and if there's a story that really demonstrates that, from your early years?
Milton Montes de Oca:Well, it did give me an advantage because, you know, the environment was very familiar to me at the time, right, I'd only been away for a few years, so that is a great advantage.
Milton Montes de Oca:So if I would get into some kind of an issue and I didn't have to look at a street sign, I just I knew exactly where I was. So that was definitely something that helped. You know, and also, I mean, I was I've always been, you know, a police officer and doing the best I can for for the people that I serve, at any neighborhood, it doesn't matter, and I'm glad that I was able to work all the different areas in the city, because the diversity is so beautiful and you know the multiculturalism and everything else that comes along with it, right, so I was very fortunate to have that experience. However, working in Little Havana, yes, did kind of give me a little bit of an ownership to my duties, more than the average officer, because I felt that, hey, you know what is here, you grew up here. These are still the problems here. What can we do about this? You know, let's make an impact, you know, from from a perspective of someone that's actually grown up in that neighborhood, that knows what it is that that needs to change.
Adrian Caballero:So I think, I think that yes so that's your question and and uh, so just going forward, and again you know we can, you can mention if you think of anything, uh, along those 32 years. But I kind of want to fast forward a little bit because there's so much interesting things. So, 32 years career, you retired as.
Milton Montes de Oca:I was a lieutenant in the special investigation section, Right. So just a real quick synopsis of the different jobs that I had there. So I was a neighborhood resource officer. I was a school resource officer. I was the motors commander. This might not be in order, okay, just as they come up. I was a motors commander, traffic commander. You know. Also, I worked a very long time in the gang unit as both a gang unit detective and then as a gang unit sergeant. And then eventually, when I became the commander of the intelligence and terrorism unit, I brought the gang unit as both a gang unit detective and then as a gang unit sergeant. And then eventually, when I became the commander of the intelligence and terrorism unit, I brought the gang unit up to work with us. That's just not that unit that goes out and puts people in jail but actually investigate the crime in an organized fashion. It's an organized crime fashion right.
Milton Montes de Oca:So that's where I ended my career in the special investigation section as the intelligence and terrorism commander.
Joey Alcala:Which one was your?
Milton Montes de Oca:favorite. Well, you know I may have some of my guys out there listening to me, but you know I have a special place in my heart for the gang unit and you know the difference that you can really make in the young lives of some people and I saw it.
Joey Alcala:I saw it. That's awesome. You know, if I had to guess, I would have said motors, because most motors guys, guys, they're motors guys, but but it seems like you had a very special opportunity there with the gang unit to make a real difference.
Milton Montes de Oca:that's awesome, I did, and no, not motors is an unbelievably awesome unit. I never expected to go there. The uh, you know, those guys are soldiers. I mean, hey, you know, and they told me when I got there if you tell somebody to direct traffic for 10 hours at an intersection, you can go by at any hour of the day and night. They're going to be there directing traffic. They just have that drive.
Adrian Caballero:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's something about when you go through, you know, in the gang unit you go through some things. Maybe you don't go through on the everyday. It's a little bit of a different experience experience. And so I think when you go through things with people too, there's even a deeper level sometimes with those people. So so I can only imagine that now. Um, so the reason I wanted to get to kind of toward the end there of the 32 years, so we had earlier in our previous episode someone who retired from the city and we talked to him a little bit about retirement. So you retired now and, and you know, you went home and took naps and, you know, went on, you know trips.
Joey Alcala:I was going to say he kept talking about city of Miami. City of Miami Did nothing.
Milton Montes de Oca:Looking at his uniform, he's at the beginning of my career. I love sweet water and we'll get to that Right. So yeah, so you went right.
Adrian Caballero:You retired and did nothing Right. You just chilled and, you know, eat ice cream all day.
Milton Montes de Oca:I'm not that guy Chaplin, I'm not that guy.
Adrian Caballero:Give us a little bit of that, of what happened there towards the end of your career and then, kind of as you retired. What were some things you found yourself doing?
Milton Montes de Oca:Well, I did hear your guest this morning and you know he was right on target when he said that once you sign those drop papers, it kind of gives you a sense of finality, right, like this is, here's a finish line, and then you kind of look forward to that finish line and then once you cross, you go oh my goodness, the race is over, we're into the next race, because I really enjoyed this one, right. So that's what I did. I took about two weeks off and then I started working for a um, an international risk management company, doing I gotta chime in.
Joey Alcala:The man gave himself two weeks, yeah, and during those two weeks, you know what happened a hurricane so I spent most of those two weeks
Milton Montes de Oca:helping my mom when with her house, because she's you know she's a widow.
Joey Alcala:I gotta chime in. I gotta chime in. What is it? And it could be. You know, obviously we want to hear from you, our guests. Maybe Adrian has a thought on it too. You know, full-time in working with police department, now chaplain. Anyways, point is either one of you can answer, shout out to FUPD, oh hang on Shout out to FUPD.
Adrian Caballero:He said full time.
Joey Alcala:But here's the point.
Adrian Caballero:We'll get to it.
Joey Alcala:Here's the point, man. What is it about law enforcement professionals, first responders, that you guys are on a mission. It's like you have to have a mission. What do you think it is? What comes to your mind when I ask you that?
Milton Montes de Oca:Well, I think that this job teaches you how you can really impact the world and then that sense of self-efficacy is very kind of ingrained in you. I can't just go about my business without the world knowing that. I'm obviously speaking from my experience, right, and I think a lot of guys will agree with me you still have that sense of, at whatever level. It doesn't have to be, you know, a full-time job somewhere or whatever, but it's got to be something that if you're not there somebody's going to miss you. You know, because it's because you need to. You have that drive to make a change. You know, you see things around you and you're like you know that shouldn't happen that way because this could be dangerous and it just becomes like second nature to you. So I think that drive kind of like makes you want to still be relative, if you will, in the world.
Milton Montes de Oca:At least it was for me. I couldn't just sit and say I'm done, because I think that's how you really get sick, because your mind controls your body right, hence psychosomatic right. Psychological somatic means physical right, so your mind controls your body. So if youromatic, psychological somatic means physical, so your mind controls your body. So if your mind says, hey, body, we don't need you anymore because we're done.
Adrian Caballero:Then perhaps, maybe you're done, and then that's the drive that I have Interesting, yeah, that mission. So tell us again. You went. Now you're working, traveling, doing risk assessments. I mean you did take two weeks resting through a hurricane.
Joey Alcala:You can't say he didn't take a break, but then after risk management.
Adrian Caballero:Then you took time off and went to sleep and nap.
Joey Alcala:Wait, wait, hang on. What's risk management? That sounds fun. What was that like?
Milton Montes de Oca:It's basically like risk mitigation. It's like a security assessment. Did you get to travel?
Joey Alcala:a lot.
Milton Montes de Oca:That's all I did. All of my clients were international clients, so south and central america, and I've been everywhere. You know all that. Uh, yeah, it sounds cool, but when you do it for work after a while.
Caller:It's not that cool anymore.
Milton Montes de Oca:You know, it's kind of like a little taxi, especially when you get older, right?
Adrian Caballero:you guys wouldn't know that but I do yeah, yeah, we'll get there, we'll get there, we'll get there. Yeah, so, uh, so okay. So then you did that for a couple years, right, and then you took it easy.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yeah, I did it for about six years or so, six or seven years and then during that time it was when COVID hit. Right In 2020, covid hit I was still working there, so then I transitioned, still doing the assessments, but virtually right Zoom. So I became very familiar with Zoom. I didn't even know what Zoom was you know, I thought it was some guy's name name, I don't know zoom, nobody did, man, you know, changed everything.
Milton Montes de Oca:And now it's, you know, exactly. So now we've all adapted and, um, you know, and we, we use it quite frequently and it's very effective. So I I still continued that, but then I said, hey, I don't know if I can do this any any longer. You know, I had a bachelor's degree or I have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. So I started thinking, you know, get older, what can you do? That's not as physically taxing but it still, you know, it still gives you that sense of self-efficacy and you can really share and help right in the future when you get older, until your cognitive skills are no longer available to you, right? So I said, hmm, mental health, that sounds good because I reflected back on my law enforcement career and so many different times that law enforcement officers are called to situations with very little to no training on how to deal.
Milton Montes de Oca:And I know it's changed a lot, you know, with the CIT program et cetera, and it's changed a lot, bringing a lot of, you know, trying to destigmatize, seeking mental health in the law enforcement community.
Milton Montes de Oca:But you know, at that time, you know, I wasn't really aware of all of that stuff. All I said was, uh, you know where can I make a difference? And I saw so many different when I was growing up, backtracking a little bit in the police department as to how many you know have we had other tools? Maybe we could have gotten this guy some help, you know some referrals somewhere where he wouldn't become someone that we see every day or every week that we have to arrest because because's got a substance use disorder. Hence he has to, you know, buy drugs or alcohol or whatever, and then thus has to break into cars to be able to get the money to do that. So you know, it kind of all feeds in one into the other and that kind of resonated in me. You know it's obviously it was the spirit, kind of like telling me hey, you know, pushing me in this direction.
Milton Montes de Oca:Hey, think about this hey, think about this, what do you think about that? So you know, and I did, and I saw it. So I went back to school and I and I got my uh, my master's degree in, uh, in clinical mental health counseling, and it's been a blessing, it's been a blessing I I love every minute of, of, of of that type of work. Um, so um did that. I was still working, I was still working, I had not stopped working at all, right, and then that's towards the end, which towards towards the end means, like December of last year, chief Sergeant Diaz, him and I worked together in the city.
Milton Montes de Oca:Him and I, we've always been friends. So he asked me hey, what did you think about becoming a preserver at the Sweetwater Police Department and, kind of helping us out here with a mental health program? I said, man, what a great opportunity, you know, to truly have empathy, right, having been there, being able to be in front of someone that's also a police officer. No, listen, I know what you're going through. I really know what you're going through because I was there and I know all the terrible, risky behavior that sometimes comes along with this profession and I understand, right, truly understand, with unconditional positive regard. Right, so I did. I became a reservist, you know, went through everything you know, qualified with my gun and all that. A little concerned about that at first.
Adrian Caballero:But I did it. I did it in some years yes and um, so I did.
Milton Montes de Oca:I did that and then, um, you know, the lord blessed me again. The lord blessed me again, the Lord blessed me again. The chief called me again into the office and said hey, listen, you know, I really like what you're doing here. Would you consider coming here part time and just putting some part time hours in here and then really making a difference and an impact here and helping us all? You know better that the Sweetwater Police Department to another level than it already is, which is an amazing police department. Right, and so I did and that's where I am. I'm a rookie, right. I'm two months in. I'm very, very happy. I know my place. I'm a police officer, Regardless of what kind of rank I held before. I'm a police officer there and I'm very, very happy to be that police officer. I'm also the mental health liaison now and I'm happier now than I've been in so many years. You know, I'm very blessed Absolutely.
Adrian Caballero:We got a text and so I want to read you the text. It has to do with some of this part of your story, but it says man worked with Milton many years. He was. I'm going to change that for the person that texted. He is an awesome officer. Have him explain of the importance of education in law enforcement for young officers coming up. I know that he is a believer in higher education. Thank you for your text. Great text, great question yes great text, thank you for your text.
Adrian Caballero:Great text, great question, yes, great text, thank you, and that was one of the things. That was the reason I wanted to get to that part, because you know you did it as a choice, and choice is a powerful word. We all have that. Every moment of our life we're making choices to go back into education and go through as a student, you know, get your education in psychology, you know, to be a counselor, and you're still in the process. Because of the amount of hours that this takes, I mean, it's a long process. It wasn't like, oh, get a weekend course and you're good to go. So just speak to that. Speak to the. You know the importance of that education in a young officer's life as they're coming up, or maybe the retiree about to retire thinking he's gonna just go, you know, buy his new camper and boat and veg out um, which is an option, but um, for you it wasn't. So just speak a little bit to that education, your thoughts on it, the importance of it.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yeah, I mean, if if you know, if you know buying a, a camper and going fishing, and that's what's going to make you happy, you know, as long. The only thing I would add to that was stay active. You know, make sure you have self-care, you know. So your physical body is just as good, but if that's what your mindfulness is to be able to fish and have a camper, then you know, in no way, shape or form will I tell anybody. Don't do that. You know it's great. But as far as uh, uh, education, you know, I mean, hey, you know the way I look at it is you know anything that you have can be taken away from you, but what you've learned, no one can take away from you.
Adrian Caballero:It's in your mind that's a mic drop right there. Anything you have can be yeah, no, no, don't drop my mic, okay, okay yeah, anything you have can be taken away from you, but what you've learned, man, man, you get to keep that. Yeah, that's good stuff, yeah.
Milton Montes de Oca:I mean, you know, if you even read some books or speak to someone that's been in solitary confinement in prison for whatever you know, their ability to recollect things sometimes is better than the average person because they were just constantly educating themselves, thinking about things, so they were exercising, in essence, their mind. So, getting back to the young officers, yes, I mean I would definitely encourage taking the opportunity to while you're a police officer, you know, yes, I understand that sometimes you have to, you know, work off duties and things like that to make ends meet. Or you know, for your lifestyle, I mean make ends meet for whatever lifestyle. Know to, for your lifestyle, I mean make it speak for, to whatever lifestyle you set yourself up for. But it's so important to have that that, that you know.
Milton Montes de Oca:Concept of education because you're able to be, uh, you're able to open a lot more doors. It opens up your mind and it opens a lot more doors. You're able to feel more confident in yourself and your abilities when you're, when you're, when you have an you know, when you have that sense of knowing right Of education in any way, shape or form so important?
Joey Alcala:Well, I was going to mention the more I think about your story, your track that you've taken. It's like a second career, almost right. In a sense it's like a specialization. Yeah, you're an officer, you're built that way is the word I'm looking for. But now you're an officer with a specialty. You know you're looking at mental health, you're looking at developing a program. You know, not just patrol or one thing or the other. So that's pretty cool. It really puts it all together. I just want to encourage anyone with the phone number again, if they're listening. We're about halfway through our live program 786-313-315.
Adrian Caballero:So just there we go. That was almost instantly.
Caller:Thank you for the caller. You are live on the air.
Caller:Thank you for calling god's way radio. Hey, good afternoon. I just wanted to call in and, on the radio, congratulate, uh, our guests. I thank, thank you, to say thank you for what you've done with the city, what you're doing now with a very beautiful city, the city of Sweetwater. And so I wanted to thank you. And then I wanted to leave you with a question.
Caller:I don't know if we were going to get to this, but sometimes officers, they have a good career, they've done well, they've invested their time, their talents, their treasure, and they hit a rough patch. The relationship goes in a direction we never thought it would go Crisis situations what would you say is a safeguard that when you're there and everything begins to close in on you, things get dark? You're thinking about a permanent solution for a temporary problem. What would you say that the officer now that's healthy, that's in a good place, can do before that storm comes, to prepare? And do before that storm comes to prepare? And it's a dual question, because sometimes people have all the training, all the works, but we recently in our city had someone that was very well equipped and yet he makes a terrible decision.
Caller:What role does God play in that situation where sometimes, man, I prepare, I know I've learned, but I hit something that's bigger than that and I need some divine intervention, I need some real work here in my soul, in my spirit. What would you say to that, to the officers that listen to the program, to those that are going to listen to the podcast, as you formulate your answer? Again, thank you for what you do. Welcome to the city of Sweetwater and welcome to God's Way Radio and the program Ask a Cop. God bless you, sir, thank you, thank you very much.
Milton Montes de Oca:God bless you. Thank you. That's a beautiful question and thank you for asking. I want to start by saying that, first and foremost, I believe that it is very, very important to have a good support system around you, a positive support system, and unfortunately, sometimes in law enforcement we have a support system, but it may not necessarily be positive.
Milton Montes de Oca:In the police culture, sometimes negative behavior or risky behavior is expected almost amongst your peers, and sometimes it takes a little sense of maturity or something that says, hey, I was almost done here, I need to look for something else because this is not working for me. But I'd hate for anyone to have to get to that point. So if you're young and you're listening listen to this from someone that's been there you need to surround yourself with positive people that are going to help you. If you say to yourself, I'm not sure if I should do this, then chances are you probably shouldn't do it right. Then and there, think about it some more Get some advice from some people that are successful, that are people that want to have the best interest to you, that love you, that love God, because those are the people that you need to surround yourself with. The negative people. They're out there all over the place. You can have 20 support groups that are of negative people, but your close, close-knit group should be positive people.
Joey Alcala:Yeah, you know, when you said successful, I kind of like inserted a parentheses successful in the ways you want to be successful, correct, right. Because you know someone may have a lot of money and someone considers that success, but like me, for example, I'm a young guy, I have young kids, wife, I want to see my family thrive. You know, I want to see a guy that's a successful dad, successful husband, so that that's really sweet. When you put that parenthesis in there, it's like looking at people that that you admire.
Adrian Caballero:You know that you admire their life, um, and their character pretty cool, you know, speaking about support systems, right, um, I mean, our family is so key, you know, and and it's a big struggle the demands of the job, the times it's. There's no easy way to the best and strongest and most equipped person. It it hits and it it throws some jabs at us.
Joey Alcala:So.
Adrian Caballero:So I don't know if there's anything in there, anything in there like anything in there, like you as a person, anything in that head of your thoughts, in your life, in an experience, um, you know, speaking about family, right, speaking about family, um, and and just just just the importance of that, just the, you know the way to make that a support system. And and I know, now you know, with the studying that you've done, the education which, by the way, as we, as you think about that question, so just think you know family, how does that, how is that part of our support system? What? What are some things you've seen beneficial, um, what are some things that have worked? Maybe some things you've seen that haven't worked, uh, but uh, family, right. But before that, I did want to say that previous text asking about higher education was from someone that themselves believes very much in higher education.
Adrian Caballero:As a matter of fact, they work in a higher education police department now A good friend of yours, I know. Back in the day you guys spent a lot of time too, so shout out to my assistant chief, chief Gomez, for participating in that text. So yeah, higher education, man, instructing ourselves, becoming just fine-tuned in what we do is so important. So back to you thinking about family and support system, anything that comes to your mind.
Milton Montes de Oca:for those listeners out there, yeah, the reason I mentioned support systems and they go kind of hand in hand, right Family, because your support system ends up being your family at some point, right? So that's why it's very important to have a positive family, right? You don't want to, especially if you get to pick them right. Yeah, so you could be just your family, your biological family, your biological family.
Milton Montes de Oca:But family but your supporters that are friends, you actually have an opportunity to pick up. So, you know, interview them before you give them the job you know and just quick back, thank you. Thank you, pastor, for clarifying. I did mean, when I said successful, that's what I had in my mind, but sometimes I forget I'm on the radio. So thank you for no, no support system or that family that you had, you know, uh, at work that you got to see every day. You know, I I used to always make a correlation between the police department and high school. Right, you'd have, it's like going to high school, you know, you have your jocks and you have your intellectuals high school I've been saying middle school lately yeah.
Milton Montes de Oca:So it's like you know it's and it becomes just your, you know. And so when you, when you sever that, when you sever that, that, that you know, that support system, that family, you have to have something to replace it right with right. If you don't have something to replace it with, then you're going to find yourself in a very, very dark place. That could lead to depression, because now you have no one that understands you, no one that can listen that they're to listen to.
Milton Montes de Oca:You give you good advice. You give advice to make you you know yeah, it's I what you're describing.
Joey Alcala:I'm following. My gears are kind of like turning. Maybe I knew this, Maybe it's just coming to light as you're sharing with us. We like to think, oh man, right, but let me make a generalization which you're not supposed to do, but I'm going to do it anyway, and then Adrian will fix it. Law enforcement man, they like to think that they're tough and they need to be tough, you know, resilient, right? Not pretending they need to be tough and resilient for the job, but a lot of that toughness and resiliency comes from the camaraderie, comes from the brotherhood of law enforcement. So now, if a lot of your toughness and resiliency is wrapped up in that brotherhood and then, as you're talking about, you, sever that, it's like, oh, it's like you lose your body armor. It's like you lose, it's like I don't know. I'm just commenting on what you're saying. You said it first, but it's very interesting. I've never really made that connection before.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yeah, and you're right on target. I mean, you're right, you have that sense of you know what am I going to do now? But that's why it's so important to have that family right, like you were saying, chaplain. So important because that family will get you through it. That family will get you through it. And you know, in my case I try to reinvent myself like every 10 years, you know, because 10 years is a generation right.
Milton Montes de Oca:You guys can probably see that, right, wow. So I said well, I have another opportunity to be a different guy for the next generation. That's my. Everybody has a different way of thinking about it. That's how I think about it.
Adrian Caballero:So if you're listening, just for you to know that's amazing. He worked 32 years. He's been retired a couple of years. So if you knew the Milton of three generations ago Different guy Maybe some things have gone on in life that will hopefully. I like to learn from other people, right?
Adrian Caballero:so if you could learn from maybe other people and in their transformation every 10 years it might avoid some things for you that you could learn it through personal experience. But you could also learn it from someone saying man, I've been there, I've done that, I might have done x or y differently I have a question based on that, but I want to let you finish your thought.
Milton Montes de Oca:You're talking about reinventing yourself yeah so, but that's just to just to hop on that. That's a. That's a beautiful way of saying. That's exactly what I mean. You know. So you know who you were 10, 20 years ago does not necessarily define who you are now. So you have to understand that if you're making a mistake now, you still have the opportunity. If god gave you the opportunity to wake up in the morning, there's still an opportunity for you to change. If you're doing something wrong, or continue to do what you're doing and make it better, yeah, that's another mic drop.
Joey Alcala:And no, there's, there's been, there's been several, but I'm man, but I'm serious, I mean I'm gonna call him the mic drop milton man, but but hey, that's kind of has a nice ring to it but? But, man, seriously, I mean whether you're a police firefighter, christian, uh, stay-at-home mom, whoever you are, that's for everybody. If god woke you up this morning, you can correct things or you can continue in the right direction. You, you have that choice and that opportunity. And, um, and I want to get joy, you, I mean.
Adrian Caballero:You said you had a question, I do want to get to the part.
Adrian Caballero:I mean you've. You've heard Officer Milton, you know, say words like, oh, you know, if God gave you another opportunity, things like that. So I do want to get to that little portion of life. You know, were you born, you woke up one day and you said, oh, you know God, and kind of. So where did some things go on in your life on god factor? Um, but even before that, I do want to say this too, because it's the way my mind works and I imagine maybe officers some officers mind works too, um, and we get second, third, fourth chances.
Adrian Caballero:But it is not a good habit to build, to depend on the second, third, fourth chances, uh, to decide what I'm gonna do now. What I mean by that is God might have grace and we've made some terrible decisions and everything turned out okay. That doesn't always happen. So just because Milton is here talking to us now and 30 years have caused reinventions and changes in life, doesn't mean that you're like, yeah, but look at what he did 30 years ago. He's fine. Why can't I do it? And we're not guaranteed that. So the point I think of life is I want to be the best that I can be not just for myself, because, whatever I mean, there's like a little satisfaction in just pleasing myself, but when I get to serve and please those around me my family, my kids, others that's the fulfillment, that's purpose. So I want to make the best decisions I can, preparing for that and so, yeah, so don't just depend on like yeah, yeah, but Milton's old now, ese home, viejo, now he's calm.
Joey Alcala:I would never say that about you.
Adrian Caballero:Well, thank you others others might have said you're not my favorite pastor. But but you know, some people might think yeah, but when you know I'm a young officer man, I gotta party. I gotta party hardy, I gotta do the thing, I gotta answer, answer all the codes we talked about in the morning. If you know, you know the codes. Right. I just want to live like that, man. Well, okay, that's a choice, we all have a choice. But, man, if you can go back and tell yourself some things, maybe there's some differences.
Joey Alcala:That was my question. Some differences? That's, that was my question. That was exactly my question. Now, looking back right at the versions of you, right, um, what are some lessons that you learned? That if, if you could just give the the abbreviated version right, if you didn't have to learn it the hard way, what's the lessons that you've learned over life? You know, maybe maybe two or three lessons that you say man, this is what I learned. If I could skip the school of hard knocks, this is the lesson I learned, this is what I would pass on to someone else.
Milton Montes de Oca:Well, there's a lot in that. I'm going to try and make it as brief as possible. First and foremost, I think that you know learn from your mistakes. Don't just learn for a little while and then make the same mistake again. Right, because every time you kind of get away with it, you know and everybody can fill in the blank on what that means for them. Right Doesn't necessarily mean that you're you're not vulnerable. God just gave you another chance because you know, look at the look at the writing on the wall. You know, look at what's happening around wall. Look at what's happening around you. Look at God's choices for you. You're worthy enough to have survived this Change, that mindset. Instead of saying no, no, god is saying to you you are worthy to having survived this because I have another plan for you.
Milton Montes de Oca:And realize that and I know that when you're young it's very, very difficult to think about it that way. But if you could reword it however you want, that's the way it is. That's the way it is In my case. Obviously, I've been through everything that any other officer has been through, including divorce, or not every other officer.
Adrian Caballero:I'm sorry for Some of the common difficulties of the profession.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yeah, the common difficulties, but many officers I mean, there are some officers, but many officers have been through the same difficulties and you know it took, you know, something very serious to really really set me to the right path. And it wasn't until I was older I still thought that I was going to get away with everything and you know nothing like really, really bad. But you know things like people kind of like, oh yeah, I skated on that, you know, uh, but you know it took it. You know, in my case, uh, you know it took a health concern which there was no other way out of it other than god's grace, you know, god's grace.
Milton Montes de Oca:I, I thought basically that, hey, you know, this is it, you know, and so I don't know if it was how I, you know know, if it was the Holy Spirit, if it was God, I don't know. But all I know is that you know something told me. You know, hey, this may be your last opportunity to, you know, to really find the Lord, not that I hadn't done good things, because I had done many, many good things, but I was not, you know, I was not proactive in going to church. You know things like that which are the right things to do and after that I became very proactive in church and it just changed my life. The more I walked in God's Word, the more doors opened for me, the more blessings came to me. You know I hadn't spoken to Chief Diaz and I couldn't remember how long.
Milton Montes de Oca:And suddenly I get a phone call from him and so.
Milton Montes de Oca:I'm like, okay, god, I get it. Yes, this is where I'm going, that's right, and I'm glad that I am. The Sweetwater Police Department is an amazing, an amazing police department. The staff there is doing an unbelievable job. The guys work super, super hard. I got an opportunity to work with them in ultra this weekend and I just saw the you know the the real professionalism of this police department at work, which was very, very rewarding to me. So, yes, I, I, you know if, if, just to put it in layman's terms, read the writings on the wall yeah, read the writings on the wall.
Adrian Caballero:yep, yeah, and, and you know, and so. So I mean you spoke about it, right, there was some physical challenges in your life. You know, give us the year, more or less, so you retired. This is after your retirement, yes, and so just more or less, what time frame here? Well, I was always.
Milton Montes de Oca:You know what we, you know quote unquote, call you know religious right. It wasn't like I was an atheist. I didn't believe in God. I always believed in God. I just didn't do it the right way, in my opinion. So around, this whole incident happened right around, right before COVID, right before COVID, so about 2019 or so.
Milton Montes de Oca:And then, hey, it just motivated me to where I am today. I said God's got a plan and I think that this is it. I think it's to be able to share my experiences in a professional environment that can actually help people. You know so and you know mental health counseling is something you can do until your cognitive levels leave you. So, like you know, you could be 80 years old or whatever, and you know if you're still functioning, you know intellectually and cognitively, then you're still effective. Yeah, you know.
Adrian Caballero:Hey, listen, man, if you know, if you can take someone and don't take.
Adrian Caballero:I mean, I hope you don't take offense to this, but I don't think he's resilient If you can take someone that came from humble beginnings, right, a guy you know, a guy you know came from Cuba, lived in Little Havana, where I grew up, you know, shenandoah area, miami High area, right, that's, you know. Maybe shared neighborhoods, you know. Humble beginnings, humble family, humble parents, humble beginnings, humble family, humble parents. Uh, man, as as bright as we might be and as good as we might do in school is still english was not my first language. You know, english is not our first language, and you could use words like cognitive and all these things. Hey, there's hope for any of you listening um, there's a reason behind that.
Adrian Caballero:It's not just because, oh wow, they're just naturally smart. No, there's. There's a hard work. Yeah, that goes into the purpose that you find yourself, and it's not just like you wake up and you're like, yeah, okay, I'll help people today. No, behind helping people is it's a lot of hard work, and so that's kind of where what I want to talk about just a little bit now. Um, just give us a little preview to anyone thinking, man, yeah, you may be a mental health counselor, maybe helping people. I mean, we can talk about it from the pastoral side too, but you know, but but this is not for us. This is just give us a little bit of what that trek looks like, because it's not just let me just choose to do this right.
Joey Alcala:Give us a little bit that you're talking about, like the, the training that he did in the school.
Adrian Caballero:Yeah, yeah again he didn't just wake up thinking the word cognitive and thinking the word um, uh, he said earlier, um, uh, psychosomatic.
Adrian Caballero:The word cycle means mind and somatic you know physical good notes you know so so right, it's just that's just not something that so. That came from studying, that came from from work. So just give us a little insight into what that meant. You know the amount of years just to to pursue this and the fact that it really happened at the same time that God's doing this greater work in you. They're both kind of simultaneous.
Caller:Yes.
Joey Alcala:That's a big word too simultaneous.
Adrian Caballero:Man at the end of this we're going to be. So give us a little insight of the hard work right, the length of time that it takes to become a mental health counselor and how that Because you have to do so many hours right Clinical hours or training hours.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yeah, so obviously it's a graduate degree, so you have to have an undergrad. You know it has to be something relative where you could transfer a lot of the credits. Criminal justice is one of them. So if anybody out there considering becoming a mental health counselor, you have a bachelor's in. Criminal justice is one of them. So if anybody out there considering becoming a clinical mental health counselor, you have a bachelor's in in criminal justice. Many of those credits are very similar. So that's something that you can, you can contemplate on your journey to possibly thinking that that's what you want to do. So, yeah, so it's.
Milton Montes de Oca:It's about three years of of graduate school graduate work. You know give and take your your last two semesters of graduate school graduate work. Uh, you know give and take um your your last two semesters of graduate school. You have to do internship hours. So you basically have to work somewhere in a supervised environment, uh, with a clinical director, uh, overseeing your. You know your your work with the clients, but it's face to face, uh, and you know obviously you don't get paid, right, it's just there, you're just there doing your hours. So those are your two last semesters, along with other courses. You have to do your internship right After you graduate.
Milton Montes de Oca:So here we go. You know you graduated, you know the ceremony, the cake, the whole works. Now your journey is just kind of starting again, all over again, because now after you graduate, you have to have a thousand I don't want to see the exact number, but because I'm I can't recall off the top of my head, but it's over a thousand hours a thousand plus hours of face-to-face intervention. Okay, uh, and 600, I think it's 650 hours of qualified supervision. So you have to do both of these. Qualified supervision means there's a qualified clinical, licensed clinical mental health clown or licensed mental health counselor.
Milton Montes de Oca:That, um, that will be, uh, basically like for for cops out there, it's like an fto program I was about to say like probation or fto, yeah, the difference is you have to pay this fto, you know the uh, your supervisor and then uh, that supervisor you have to see twice a month for two hours, two hours in a group setting and two hours of face-to-face. The whole time you're building those thousand plus hours.
Joey Alcala:It takes about two years to do that on an average on top of the three years, on top of the top of your that's after you graduate but, before.
Caller:You can even do any of that you have to have everybody in place.
Milton Montes de Oca:You have to have a clinical uh location where you're going to be seeing these clients with a clinical supervisor. You have to have your qualified, licensed mental health counselor supervisor, write a letter to the state of Florida for you to have a license as a registered mental health intern. So once you complete all your hours and all that oh, I forgot a major or you also have to pass a national exam, which is the same exam that all uh counseling people take, right, a national exam which is very difficult to take. You know it can be done but it's hard.
Milton Montes de Oca:It's hard to take um and it's hard to. It's a difficult exam. So after you do all of that, after you have all your hours and everything, then you can apply for your your full l right, uh, for the state of florida. Then, once you get your full license, you can put your L in front of your letters. Then you are now a licensed mental health counselor and you can work on your own and see your own clients. So it takes all of that just to get to that level. Yeah, and you've completed all of that already. I'm waiting on my license.
Joey Alcala:I'm waiting on my license as we speak.
Milton Montes de Oca:Awesome.
Joey Alcala:Then that's another cake.
Milton Montes de Oca:Yes, you'll buy yourself another cake that's gonna be a big cake, cake for everybody.
Adrian Caballero:Actually, that's awesome yeah, that's a fat free cake, cause you know he's also taking care of his body.
Joey Alcala:Yeah, yeah, well you can tell man uniform is good. I had a quick question. Maybe do you have a favorite bible story or bible verse.
Milton Montes de Oca:I don't know why that question just popped up into my my head um I like I like david I like the story of david a lot I guess probably, you know, probably everybody that's in uniform here does right, that's uh you know, I really, I really like the fact that you know, uh, he's able to to conquer something that no one thought he was able able to conquer.
Milton Montes de Oca:You know that's that's so relevant to all of our lives. Right, you start something and you know, even when I started this journey as a mental health counselor, you know people were like he's not going to do it, it's too long.
Joey Alcala:The Goliath of the master's degree.
Milton Montes de Oca:Some age doesn't come my way. You know, I used to love for that, you know, but I did it, you know so and that's inspirational. So many, so many different parts of your life right, you're David and there's a Goliath there and so many different parts of your life To include addiction, you know, and things like that, marital discord, any of that stuff, addiction in any form right Because when we think of addiction, we usually think you know alcoholism or drugs. But you know, there's addictions in many, many other forms Gambling, et cetera.
Adrian Caballero:Gambling.
Caller:So so you know, so yeah, definitely.
Adrian Caballero:Uh, you know, that's, that's my favorite story um, so, as we kind of come to the end here and have some closing thoughts, starting to land the plane, uh, we land the plane, yes, with working gears. There's been a couple, you know, those plane accidents. We don't want to crash this plane, so we want to land this plane safely here. Um, live radio. It's live radio and, you know, in law enforcement we always say the worst jokes. So, okay, but you're in this new journey.
Adrian Caballero:I mean, what do you see ahead? What do you see? Again, you started this higher education, if I can say. If not, you'll give me a look but you were, you know, over over 50 years old and and pursuing higher education. So you, you know the time where people usually are landing the plane, you're like taking off, and now you're at a police department. So I just wanted to give you a moment to say, man, what do you see in the next couple years? You know, what do you see ahead of for you? Um, and then, before that, let's take this call again. Thank you for calling god's way radio you're.
Joey Alcala:This is our brother from saint pete, my brother. We love that you call that. You listen regularly. I'll just ask you to share briefly because we only have a few minutes left with our guests ready. Go, okay is that?
Caller:what um adrian uh talking on the microphone?
Joey Alcala:This is Adrian here, and we have Officer Montes de Oca here as well.
Caller:Okay, I just closed in with Adrian a story that he shared with me about something that he knows, about a graffiti that he was walking by. Didn't like the way it was written and he took it off, but he had a permission from Robert.
Caller:It was a little story but, man, that really got me. I go. Man, that's the true man of God. Man, you know a lot of people were going to see that graffiti, a lot of people. So he decided to stop and say you know, I'm going to put a stop to it. You know, and he did, he did, he did, he covered it up. You know, they gave him the opportunity to do that and I, who knows, somebody might be walking by and see that graffiti and then maybe see like something like he didn't want for them to see. Yeah, so God bless you, bro. You guys keep on doing the good works. Man, you're doing awesome. Hey, thank you, man.
Adrian Caballero:I appreciate it. I appreciate that little story. You know what it's. We can sit back and just get upset and complain when things aren't going right.
Joey Alcala:Or we could take action and do something about it. It goes back to what we were saying the person that's built for law enforcement, for first responder. You can't sit by and watch something go down. Right, justice, right, the sense of justice. So we have a story, even from Chaplain Adrian.
Adrian Caballero:I'll show you. If you're listening and you want to know more about it, ask me. If you know me, I'll show you. It's a great little picture.
Joey Alcala:Maybe that might be another episode, George, God bless you bro.
Caller:God bless you, bro. Keep on doing the good work for everybody there.
Adrian Caballero:Thank you, bye-bye, george. Yeah, it was during those kind of police riot times and something went on, but anyway, so just give us a little idea. Like you know what do you see? You know you reinvent every 10 years, years, so, um, so what do you see in the next couple years?
Milton Montes de Oca:just opportunities, things you see ahead of the, ahead of the game here. My main focus, my main focus right now, is to destigmatize seeking mental health in the law enforcement community. That is my overall focus. Getting cops to say it's okay to go and seek some help. You know, we can't sometimes just help each other. I mean help ourselves. We sometimes we need to help each other, you, I mean help ourselves. Sometimes we need to help each other. You know, and that is the biggest challenge that I see in law enforcement, you know, destigmatizing that seeking mental health in that environment. So, whatever that shows up, however, that has surfaced in the work that I'm going to do in Sweetwater, then that's what my purpose will be, but that's the focus.
Adrian Caballero:Yeah, and I'm very appreciative of that myself again, uh, giving a shout out to fiu pd, having been a chaplain. We have the overlap of the city and then now we literally work across the street. So, um, I know that that, as far as that's concerned, man, we look for um, all that, really, we didn't plan it. I mean, you know, this is a great thing. God God's way ahead of it. I don't think in a million years you thought you're going to be working at Sweetwater Police helping others mental health. I mean, we don't plan these things, but we find ourselves in it and we want to be found faithful. Right, we want to be found faithful.
Joey Alcala:I do want to acknowledge a text real quick. We got a text. Somebody sent a Bible verse Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans, chapter 12, verse 2. So thank you for texting. We wanted to read it it goes right in line.
Adrian Caballero:Right, give yourself 10 or every year, just what needs to change. Don't be afraid, we're afraid of change, especially in in first responder career. We change is not always our friend. Change of supervisor, change of of this community, all these things but um, but, man, we're in control because we make choices and we can decide what is the change we we want to see for ourselves, especially when it comes to outliving our career. So, man, thank you any last closing. So, man, thank you Any last closing word.
Milton Montes de Oca:No, I just thank you for the opportunity. I really appreciate you guys having me here and it's been an honor to be here today, thank you.
Adrian Caballero:And I appreciate it Again. If you're listening policethankyoucom, you can get more information, godswayradiocom and 786-313-3115. If you're calling then, man, we appreciate that you wanted to participate. We're going to get to you right off the air here. We're going to end in a quick prayer and send everybody off. God, I pray you get everybody not only home safely today, but that any words that were said would have gone from the mind, the intellect, down to the heart and that place of action. And if there's any changes that need to go on in any of our lives, we'll be willing to do them. Lord, for the sake of wanting to be well-pleasing to you, to be a servant, to be there for our family and those that would need us, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. There for our family and those that would need us.
Intro:I pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen. You've been listening to Ask a Cop. For more information or to get in contact with us, visit our website, policethankyoucom. You'll also find out how you can support us. Again, just visit policethankyoucom. All one word Don't forget to subscribe to the Ask a Cop podcast, wherever you're listening right now. We look forward to continuing the conversation when you join us next time for Ask a Cop.