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
045: From Stolen Hondas to Spiritual Growth - Michelle Verdin (Sergeant Miami Police Department)
Sergeant Michelle Verdin shares her 17-year journey with the Miami Police Department, revealing how faith, forgiveness, and mental health education transformed both her personal life and approach to law enforcement. Her story highlights the intersection of professional dedication and spiritual growth in a career often marked by challenging circumstances.
• Born and raised in Hialeah with no family background in law enforcement
• Joined Miami PD after being challenged during a ride-along with narcotics officers
• Holds a master's degree in mental health counseling with a specialty in pastoral counseling
• Learned the value of forgiveness after having her customized Honda Civic repeatedly stolen
• Applies Philippians 4:8 as a guiding principle for managing difficult situations
• Currently supervises the chaplaincy detail and works in community relations
• Emphasizes the importance of having interests and support systems outside of police work
• Highlights available mental health resources for officers including EAP and peer support groups
• Experienced significant personal hardship two years ago that deepened her faith
• Was baptized last year after a spiritual journey that began with seeds planted by chaplains
If you have any questions or would like to get in contact with us, visit policethankyou.com. You'll also find information on how you can support the mission of Ask a Cop.
Welcome to Ask a Cop. We're sitting down with members of law enforcement to have an authentic conversation aimed to give you a window into the lives of those men and women serving the community. You'll hear about how you can support us at the end of today's episode, but for now, get ready to ask a cop.
Speaker 2:You're listening to Ask a Cop. My name is Raz. This is 104.7 FM. This is God's Way Radio, Without any further ado. Good morning, Sergeant.
Speaker 3:Good morning, Pastor Raz.
Speaker 2:You got to get a little closer to that mic now. I know you're fearless. I know you're a fearless officer.
Speaker 3:Good morning, Pastor Raz I like that.
Speaker 2:That's better, that's better. Hey, welcome to our studios. It's good to have you here this morning. So, off the bat, what agency do you represent this morning?
Speaker 3:Miami Police Department.
Speaker 2:And it's good to have Miami Police Department. We have a good relationship with them. 1989, was it no? 1995, when the dinosaurs were walking the earth, I started as a chaplain with MPD and it's a world-renowned organization. It's amazing the motor units, william Williams had died doing a funeral procession. So I come on to Miami Police Department and I have to visit Jackson and there's his widow-to-be, his kids. A challenging time and I'm starting heavy and sometimes people say why do you start so heavy? People don't realize law enforcement is not a walk in the park. Or maybe you have a different perspective, sergeant, you have the mic.
Speaker 3:Thank you, pastor Raz. Actually, I was just telling my parents last night that we had set this up for this morning and one of the questions that my mom had asked was if a police officer is ever off, even if you know we're, we're off duty. Are we ever off? And the answer is no, because we always have to be ready to to respond. We always have to be ready to act if you know if we are in danger, if somebody else is in danger, and if our children or our family are in danger. Even where we sit at a restaurant, let's say you know, we're always with our eyes peeled and making sure that you know we're safe.
Speaker 4:I mean, just the other day we were talking and you were on your way to work and there was someone stopped in the middle of the road, which was a very interesting person with a car in drive and their foot on park and asleep or something on the wheel, and so at that point everyone else could just drive by and be like I wonder what happened there, but an officer, they see another officer or they see someone there and they're stopping and they're finding out and making sure everything's okay.
Speaker 2:It's a good thing that you're bringing that to light because again, I don't know why I started so heavy. It just came into my heart. God knows. I don't know whoever's listening. You're listening to Ask a Cop. This is a program here on God's Way Radio. First Tuesday of every month you can call 786-313--5. This is a program where we want community and cops to connect. So, on a lighter side, the fact that you're on 24-7 also means that you're there to protect, you're there to guide, you're there to direct, and sometimes people need guidance, like I mean, you're not supposed to have your foot on the brake and then drive. And I don't know this situation. Was the person sleeping intoxicated? What was the deal?
Speaker 3:So I'm here on my way to work, I'm on my way to work and I'm listening to Steven Furtich on elevation elevation Church. He's out of North Carolina and I was listening to my sermon on the way and I see that there's a little bit more of traffic at that time than there usually is. I mean, I 75 is usually clear and I see, finally, when I approach the cause of the traffic, I see that it's a young lady. She must be in her early 20s. Behind the wheel she is completely passed out, the car is on drive and her foot is on the brake. And I am focused. I need to finish my sermon, I need to get to work and I need to get to my chaplaincy meeting on Wednesday.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was on Wednesday.
Speaker 3:Yeah, at 930. And so you know, in the words of Freddy Caceres you know he's a captain out of Hialeah Gardens and his book sometimes your coffee has to get stale and sometimes, you know, we come across things that we don't plan on, but we have to face these circumstances and we have to, you know, see why God put us in that situation or why he presented us this. So, whether it was the way that I was or how I helped the people on the scene, I said this is what my calling was this morning. I notified my chain and I made it to the meeting good.
Speaker 2:So you made it to the meeting, you intervene, uh, you were able to, uh, to bring guidance to the circumstance and the situation. Uh, chaplain, I guess this is just another example of how much law enforcement need the divine intervention direction and then the human prayer and what would I say, help that chaplains also offer. I don't know if you have anything to say on the subject.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and if you're listening, you're part of the community and you're like, well, you know, as a civilian, as a regular, you know, resident, resident of an area, I see someone I don't want to approach, well, but here's what we remind people all the time you see a siren go by, you see something like that, pray, you can pray, so you are actively involved in the situation. By when you see those lights, when you see a law enforcement officer, uh, um, if they're, especially if there's, especially if there's lights, that means they're on an emergency. You know, call, call or situation, just pray. Pray for whoever's hurt, whoever's going through something. Pray for the officer to be, you know, aware and alert and able to respond appropriately. So not only do the officers, but a Christian doesn't work 23-7. They should be on 24-7 too.
Speaker 4:So a believer is never off. So we can always pray. It says and it tells us right, pray without ceasing, even in Philippians. I know one of Sargent's favorite verses is in Philippians and right before in that same chapter, it talks about rejoice always. And so we rejoice, we pray, all these things are without ceasing. They're part of our Christian life. So we have a guest.
Speaker 2:Sergeant how long?
Speaker 3:have you been in law enforcement? I've been with the Miami Police Department for 17 years 17 years.
Speaker 2:That's quite a while there. That's a good time, and maybe you want to introduce yourself and say your name, michelle Verdon. Michelle Verdon, and maybe you want to introduce yourself and say your name.
Speaker 3:Michelle Verdon.
Speaker 2:Michelle Verdon and you want to talk a little bit about your family. How many children do you have?
Speaker 3:I have two children with Lieutenant Corey Cotto Cash, he's six years old and Penny, she's two.
Speaker 2:Penny two, cutest kids. Penny two and Cash is.
Speaker 3:Cash is six.
Speaker 2:Six and two. Wow, that's great. So to jump in, tell us where are you from?
Speaker 3:I was born and raised in Hialeah, hialeah.
Speaker 4:Shout out. If you're listening from Hialeah, we got Hialeah. Don't confuse it. It's not Hialeah Gardens, it's Hialeah. Shout out to my buddies in Hialeah Gardens Hialeah. Shout out to my buddies in Hialeah Gardens 786. Carlos, let us know you're listening from there. That would be awesome if you were 313-315.
Speaker 2:786-313-3155. Anybody wants to call cash penny husband's name.
Speaker 3:Lieutenant Corey Cotto.
Speaker 2:Lieutenant, Lieutenant Corey, If you want to give us a call, 786-313-3115. Now Sergeant, so born in Hialeah. Tell us a little bit about your background school, maybe anything you want to say. You got the mic.
Speaker 3:Well, I went to Hialeah, Elementary, middle school, high school in Hialeah. I then became a police officer. Middle school, high school in Hialeah. I then became a police officer. I got my master's in mental health counseling and I completed my 1500 hours in clinical hours for the state of Florida man a degree in mental counseling.
Speaker 2:That is great. So after the program, maybe you want to give me a few sessions. We'll welcome it. Listen, we got somebody on the line here. Hey, this is Ask a Cop, welcome. What area of town are you calling us from?
Speaker 6:From Miami.
Speaker 2:Good to have Miami calling Anything you want to say to Sergeant this morning.
Speaker 7:I just want to say good morning and thank you for your service.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.
Speaker 2:And whatever you said, you're calling from Miami. Oh no, miami, big Miami. But to narrow it down, is it the Gables?
Speaker 5:West Kendall.
Speaker 2:West Kendall, west Kendall. Well, you called us. You said hello to the sergeant. Anything else you want to say? Do you want to ask a question? You got the mic.
Speaker 6:No, I just wanted to say hello. That Say hello, that's it.
Speaker 2:Okay. I think you've called before, right.
Speaker 6:No, no, I just called.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness First.
Speaker 3:This pastor this name. She's an amazing friend.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's good, that's good, that's good. One of the things I like about Sargent Sargent is tough. You have officers and then you have officers. You know you have officers that they do what they do, but then you have officers that there's a divine force behind them. So I know Sergeant is tough, but what I love about Sergeant is she's got emotions, you know, and she's not afraid to share her emotions. And you calling right now. I have no idea who you are, but your friend knows who you are and I love the fact that your friend got a little emotional about you calling in now. You got to say something. You got to say something to your sergeant friend.
Speaker 3:You got the mic no, because then I'll really, I'll really, I'll really lose it here. But you know how the bible says to you don't want her to show so much. Yeah, he, and he's seen me before, and so, um, you know how the bible always says to surround yourself with people who are going to support you, and so Maciel Soldier is one of those.
Speaker 4:Hallelujah. Thank you so much for your call and just to share that moment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4:This is what Ask a Cop is about. Right, it's like an officer's day you never know what you're going to get on a shift. So just like this call. We're so thankful.
Speaker 2:I like the fact that it's where cops and community connect. And that's what's happening right now, because one of the goals of this program is for people to see that cops are people. You know, we've had this thing where it's us and them and unfortunately there's a criminal element that has infiltrated and influenced society and I can't believe society got blinded by that. You know, broadsided, but cops are people. They're somebody's mom, they're somebody's wife, they're somebody's daughter. But most of all, I like this phone call because a cop is somebody's friend and I hope that every cop has got a friend and it's a special day when every friend has a cop. But anyway, back to you, sergeant, so hi.
Speaker 4:Aaliyah, bring us back so you go to school. Thank you for the call. Appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for the call. Appreciate you. Stay tuned. God's Way Radio. Ask a cop Back to Sergeant. So tell us Hi Aaliyah Going to school, Growing up, Get a master in health, mental health.
Speaker 3:We're going to take it back, Pastor Raz, because Adrian was asking me to give a little bit about my childhood, and one of the things that I remember vividly is and I still do, because just the other day somebody told me the same thing is that my love for cars and I heard that you love cars too- I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the program. I would have had you on the program earlier.
Speaker 3:I love cars, I love hooking up cars. I love low riders. One of my goals when I reach 20 years with the police department is to use some of my monies to get myself a low rider.
Speaker 2:I like it.
Speaker 3:It's something that I've always wanted, and one of the incidences that I was explaining and I was sharing with Adrian was that this car was stolen three times. I would hook it up it will get stolen and stripped. Hook it up, get stolen and stripped.
Speaker 2:I bet the insurance was thinking about you.
Speaker 3:Yeah well, state Farm dropped me. Shame on them.
Speaker 3:We have no connection to any insurance agency, we're just saying no endorsements, but one of the things that I was always bummed out about it and a lesson that my grandfather taught me was eso es un pedazo de lata, that's just a piece of can. Don't worry about that. And so with that, my sister and I always live like that, that materialistic things are just materialistic things, and sometimes we can afford some stuff because we're blessed and we work hard. But other than that, I grew out of the lowriders, and that's when I pursued my profession Law enforcement profession.
Speaker 2:Now tell me you can't leave me me hanging what kind of car was this that was so desired?
Speaker 3:it was a 2000 honda civic.
Speaker 4:Oh my goodness, yes I'm sure there's pictures of this somewhere. We will and ask a cop try to find one if possible today and we might see it on our instagram or something. This I'm going to send it to you today.
Speaker 2:This is a good good there was a time that Hondas were very desirable and interesting. It was by gangs. They would pick them up and use them.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you knew that or not For a while. They're Toyotas, the 72, 74 Toyotas. Then Honda replaced them. You know it goes terrible, stolen. Some insurers don't want to insure them in certain areas of the nation. But back to you. So you have this car that's taken, stripped, taken, stripped, taken, stripped. About how old were you at that time? Can you say? I mean, you never ask a woman her age, but we're talking in the past.
Speaker 3:We're talking when it's safe to ask a woman her age. So how old were you at that time?
Speaker 2:I was between the ages of 15 and 19 when I was into this, and here's the reason I asked that, because that must have done something in your core values and you know the ability to not not be um controlled by material things, but to know that life is more than than your belongings and the things that you possess. How does that shape you? I mean, is it shortly from there that now you want to get into a profession, that that you're there to help people and then, once you're in that profession, then you pursue the ability to help people mentally? Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:Well, I can say that you know once and to finish that story, one of the car shows that we had attended. And to finish that story, one of the car shows that we had attended, I remember it was a rainy day and we had to polish the rims and make sure that they were all dry and I was bent down to shine the rim. It was my car and my stuff, and this guy walked around me and he said that's the Honda we took it from. And someone else heard this. I didn't get to hear that and when they told me that, I'm like just let it be, just let it be, because I already recovered. I already recovered from from what had happened and I never took matters into my own hands, and I think that that's a lesson that is great for anybody you know that has been trespassed against or that has suffered a hardship. For you, you know, to relinquish anything, any pain, any anxiety or anything to the Lord.
Speaker 2:You got to replay that for me. So here you are in a show, right In a car show, in a car show in a car show and you're I guess you you've entered your vehicle. Is that so? Or the the, the wheels that you're polishing for the car show? It went too fast for me. Whose car is that that's in the show?
Speaker 3:so I'm in the car show. It's my car it's your car.
Speaker 2:And what kind of car is that? You know, I'm a car, the honda civic, or the same honda civic. Yeah, so you're putting that in a show.
Speaker 3:Yes, and then, after I recovered from it being stolen and stripped, I bought everything all over again Three times you did that.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's persistence. And so when that man says that walking around me, you figure out that he had something to do with the theft of the car.
Speaker 3:One of my buddies had overheard him. So my buddy tells me hey, the guy that just walked that way was the one who stole the rims the last time. And at that moment I didn't take matters into my own hands. I let it be because I had recovered and I will recover. And so I've done that since I was 15, 16 years old, in the sense that I'm not going to take matters into my own hands. And, like I said, I recommend anybody going through a hardship or through any trials or tribulations in their life to let go of it and give it to the lord now you, you know you can't say that kind of things to a pastor, because you I know you're gonna back me up, pastor, because what?
Speaker 2:you're bringing or you're bringing into the table here is something that's called forgiveness, something that's called letting go, and you happen to be a mental health professional. So the question is going to be how important is that? You know, because I got to believe that we have some law enforcement listening and sometimes the serge is not maybe a serge like you, you know, and maybe the serge does something that you know we could so easily hold on to, or the lieutenant or the captain or the chief, you know, or maybe you're a serge and maybe one of your troops does something, and if you hold on to it and you try to get vengeance, you might go too far and it might even affect your profession or your standing. So the question to go ahead and land this plane here is how important is it, sergeant, to let go to forgive? How important is that for let go to forgive? How important is that for a career, for a profession? How important is that for mental health?
Speaker 2:Here's a good one. How important is that for relationships with your parents or with your children? Should I go there, you know, with your spouse? How important is that you got the mic?
Speaker 3:I think it's extremely important, regardless of how close or how intimate the relationship is. I think that forgiving is important because, if not, you're hurting yourself the most with holding bitterness in your heart, and so, whatever it is that you have in your heart, I truly believe in letting it go and giving it to the Lord and just praying for healing.
Speaker 2:I love to hear that You're listening to the program Ask a Cop the first Tuesday of every month here, god's Way Radio 104.7 FM. We have a cop here, a law enforcement officer. This is where community and cops connect and, sergeant, it's good to hear from you, because whoever's listening that maybe doesn't know cops. It's good to know that cops, like human beings, they forgive, they're willing to turn the page. How many years have you been a LEO, a law enforcement officer?
Speaker 3:Sworn, 17 years.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:Pastor, I wanted to touch up on the last thing that we spoke about.
Speaker 3:You know, not only is it, you know, forgiving and giving it to the Lord for you to be healed, and praying for the other person who either trespassed against you or has done things to you, whether it's a co-worker or, you know, a significant other, a husband or a wife or a friend, um, you know, sometimes you're going to replace some memories or there's going to be triggers that happen to you and whether whether it has gone away or it hasn't gone away, in in reference to feelings, I mean, you know Adrian mentioned it a little bit earlier today One of my favorite and one of the scriptures that I always go back to is that you know Adrian mentioned it a little bit earlier today One of my favorite and one of the scriptures that I always go back to is that you know the enemy is a liar and he's always going to plant seeds of lies in us, and we don't always know the totality of the circumstances when it comes to all events that have happened to us.
Speaker 3:So Philippians 4.8 is extremely important to me because it states that whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, excellent and praiseworthy, then that's what you shall think.
Speaker 3:Think on these things, and so it's extremely important, because sometimes you can start thinking of things and it's like we don't know if that's 100% true. That's our perception of it, but most of the time it's not true. Whatever is admirable you know if there's something or something you know, something that somebody did, or something that somebody said, and it's not admirable.
Speaker 2:Let it go.
Speaker 3:Then let it go. So this scripture can pretty much match anything that you know. Know you're going through with anybody, and so I pretty much I live by this scripture all the time.
Speaker 2:So wise, so wise, you know. I asked you twice how long you've been with the law enforcement agency because it's good to know that sometimes in the profession you can get jarred, you can get jaded, you can can get marked and before you know it you don't have the what I want to say, the freshness, the innocence which is important to learn. It's important to, in a sense, take every situation. Okay, god, what are you doing? You know what is life bringing my way, and that's the challenge with getting bitter, with having unforgiveness. You know, with I don't know if this happens, you know, but you stop someone and they remind you of your spouse that maybe took everything from you. Is that going to affect the way that you respond and react? So we have some questions here. We have somebody on the call on the line. Hey, ask a cop. Good morning, you are on the mic, but before we let you talk, you got to tell us what area of town are you calling from.
Speaker 6:Good on the mic, but before we let you talk, you got to tell us what area of town are you calling from?
Speaker 2:Good morning, I'm in Village Green this morning.
Speaker 6:Oh good to have Village Green. You got the mic Go ahead, so good morning officer. I'm sorry, sergeant, I wanted to sorry about that. I wanted to ask you about your faith journey, how did you come to the Lord?
Speaker 2:And she's smiling, she's smiling.
Speaker 6:This is Was it while you were already in the police department, was it before that? And how does it affect your daily job? You know, because there's so much evil that you face every day and it's got to test your faith all the time. So Just wanted to give you that as a two-part question.
Speaker 2:So how did you come to know God? How did you come to know Jesus? And then were you already a law enforcement agent? And then, number three, how did it affect your job? Village Green, as you listen in, we're going to listen to the answer of the sergeant. Thank you for your call this morning, god bless you.
Speaker 3:Bye-bye, sarge thank you for your call this morning. God bless you. Bye-bye, sarge. So when I became a police officer, um I one of my classmates, was uh sergeant etchaburu. He invited me to meet pastor raz.
Speaker 3:So pastor raz and uh gotta pray for that guy they planted the seed, uh about 17 years ago, and I came a few times, also with Manny Guanzo, and I just kept on with my law enforcement career. I continued doing my AA, my bachelor's, my master's. I was just trying to find my niche. You know I, I really cared about, you know, the crisis intervention team, the peer support group, uh, part of my years with the crisis negotiation team um. It's a negotiation team um, when we go out and deal with any hostage negotiations with the miami police SWAT team, um. And so I went through some hardships, uh about two years ago, and so that's what made me get closer to God and so I would study the word of God and seeing how I can heal my heart. And so with that, you know, I I was in internal affairs and, uh, an opportunity came to work with the community relations section and I said I always said in 17 years I don't want to work for the community, for the community relations section, because that's just too many events and it's just too many kids. But now it's just, it's just a love that I have, that it's indescribable, because to have a different schedule and different hours every single day of the week and still love what you do and be grateful for it and be recognized, it feels so great.
Speaker 3:And so, being part of the community relations section, that's when I was introduced to the chaplaincy detail and they're like, oh yeah, pastor Raz is in the chaplaincy. I'm like, oh, I can work with that guy. That guy was so nice to me and so I just started meeting all of them, I work with them. They're part of the unit that I work in. And so going through my hardship and leaning on the chaplaincy detail in private session and also getting my own therapy and in involving both in in bettering my heart and my situation, that's where I came to Christ.
Speaker 3:And also I'm working on a specialty on my master's in mental health counseling, which is of pastoral counseling, which is going to be able to use the word of Christ and the Christian religion throughout my counseling should the client want to have Christian maturization during their counseling process. And so I was baptized last year and I literally do a church session every day in my car on the way to work. I live very far from work, so I have over an hour to kill and this is where I am today. And so sometimes you know, when you're a new believer, you know, a new follower of Christ. You're always like well, I'm not, you know, at the level of Pastor Raz, or at the level of Adrian, or at the level of any other pastor or chaplain that you know, and God is just interested in your heart which sometimes means that you're at a higher level.
Speaker 2:People don't realize, because the the economy of heaven. The economy of heaven is that the last are first, the first are last. And what does that mean? Uh, that you know what. Jesus puts it this way unless you become like a child, you can't even enter in. And the thing about a child is not that you're childish, but you're childlike. And so children are willing to learn, children are willing to realize I can be led, I can be guided. So sometimes you know, in the pastorate, sometimes when you move up the chain in the ladder, sometimes pride settles in and I can't speak for any other pastor, but I could speak for myself if I could be transparent that at times I have to deal with pride, you know, because you forget what Paul said. Paul says what does a man, what does a woman have that's not given to them of the Lord? So even when you get the PhD, even when you get the position, even when you get the promotion, who gave it to you? And some people try to think well, I did this myself, but I'm talking too much. Sergeant, back to you.
Speaker 2:We have some questions here that I'm going to let Chaplain also ask you. But one of the questions he had is this military profession that you have? Is there anybody else in your family that's in the military or law enforcement? I mean, what made you, what attracted you, what drew you to law enforcement? And, as I give you an opportunity to think, I also it would be good, by the way, you're listening to Ask a Cop.
Speaker 2:This is a program that happens every first Tuesday of the month here at God's Way Radio, and also you could listen to the podcast. So for those of you that listen on the podcast format, it might be a little bit different than most podcasts, because here we also take calls 786-313-3115. You're listening to the radio program and if you want to speak to our guests this morning, you can. But back to you, sergeant. The question is how did you get into law enforcement? And again, as you're about to answer it, I got to say that, from what you've told me, it sounds like God has been drawing you in your life. Echevarru Iguanzo, I mean, god didn't give up on you, he didn't let you go and now he's got you and we have no idea what else he's going to do with you. I'm glad you're here. You got the mic.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, you mentioned the word pride and it brought me back to you Ephesians 6, 17, corinthians 2, 11, 3. Pride is a chief weapon and pride comes before the destruction and, with that being said, we all have had our times where we've been prideful right. So, when it comes to pride and how I got this and how I got into law enforcement, I don't have anybody in my family who's military and I don't have anybody who's law enforcement.
Speaker 3:You're the first yes, and it was a prideful decision that I made because I did a ride along. I used to be in management at Sterling Jewelers, which is Jared and Kay Jewelers, and I had one of my customers was a high school classmate and he expressed to me that he was currently working with the Miami-Dade County Police Department and I'm like, oh my God, that's like so cool, I want to go do a ride-along. And so I did a ride-along, right, and the ride-along ends up being with um narcotics undercover in Opelika back then, and so one of his partners shows up to lunch and she goes to me if you can't do what a man can do, then don't do it. And I was hired with the Miami police department within four and a half months, so that's how I got into law enforcement.
Speaker 2:Don't give Sergeant a challenge.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we said right, you mentioned the fierceness behind it, fearless.
Speaker 1:So don't let the love.
Speaker 4:And listen if you need to feel loved and appreciated, you want to meet Sergeant Verdon, because she will make you feel like that, but, at the same time, cross some lines and I'm uh, you'll, you'll see 786-313-315.
Speaker 2:You could give us a call if you have a question for sergeant verdon, our guest this morning, 17 years with mpd. Hey, good morning. Your life for jesus. Here the special segment. Ask a cop what are you town are you calling from?
Speaker 8:From the beautiful Coconut Grove in Miami, Florida. I like the Grove.
Speaker 2:I like this voice. I like to take this guy out to eat any restaurant we could go, because he never eats. Anyway, Major welcome to the program. You got the mic.
Speaker 8:Welcome. Welcome, it's been a minute. It's been a minute's been a a minute, been a minute. I've had a very busy summer. I've been away, yeah, uh, and, by the way, the reason why you want to take me out is because I'm an incredibly cheap date.
Speaker 4:You know that well, you, uh, it has to be before like six o'clock after six, then he'll get really expensive.
Speaker 2:Well, that's good, I'm glad to know he's got an hour. By the way, I was thinking about you in Europe and I say, man, when you go to Italy, I hope you what's the word I want to say? I hope you modify some of your scheduling practices and discipline. I don't know. You tell me.
Speaker 8:In the beginning I tried to, but then my wife started looking at me sideways and after that I was to, but then my wife started looking at me sideways and after that I was like I better eat.
Speaker 2:I better eat something. Smart man, smart man. So the sergeant is here listening to what you have to say.
Speaker 8:So I wanted to say so. I heard who your guest was today. I hope you know, and I hope the listeners know, that you have a superstar inside your studio today. Yeah, and.
Speaker 2:I could have told you this 17 years ago, when I met her, that she was a superstar.
Speaker 8:then You've known her that long. Wow, yes, yes. Obviously, when she first came out to the apartment, she saw me as a fantastic inspiration. So she said I got to bring on to this individual.
Speaker 2:You made Adrian choke on his water, bro.
Speaker 5:Major Sorry, Adrian.
Speaker 8:I'm happy that you're drinking water, Adrian.
Speaker 4:All good.
Speaker 8:So listen, I wanted to say that you know the famous cliche that God works in mysterious ways. Well, I like to say that there's times, many times, that God works in obvious ways and that is a sign right there, an example that you have right there in your studio, because I remember when Michelle was first coming on, she was already doing in her studies. She really had a passion for psychology and, to be quite honest with you, she's so intelligent she should be a psychologist. But aside from that, we're very fortunate to have her in the police department. But it's funny how, years later, she's put in a position where she is heavily involved in our Struggle Well program. She's with the chaplaincy detail.
Speaker 8:So again, this is God working in very obvious ways. These are signs that we don't see in the past. We don't see them when they're currently occurring, but certainly in the future we say oh okay, now I see why God had me go in this direction. So again, you have a great individual there, a great person, great mom, great wife. I'll ask her husband later, but I think she's a great wife. I'm sure you guys went over the fact that she's married to a lieutenant in the department Quoto.
Speaker 2:Lieutenant Quoto. Yes, sir.
Speaker 8:Yeah, and I want to give one shout-out before I go. I've got to give a shout-out and I apologize to some of the listeners that may not agree with me, but I just want to give a shout-out to the University of Miami football team for a great opening day and I've got to tell you something. I've got to tell you something. I don't know how. It doesn't matter what team you root for, but certainly your listeners will agree with this. But when I see a young man being interviewed, or better yet, after he scores a touchdown, and after he scores that touchdown, he points to the sky all right and he gives it to the Lord.
Speaker 8:Or when he's being interviewed and the first thing out of his mouth is I praise God first and foremost for this opportunity. So when you see that it gives us hope for the future, it gives us hope for our country, it gives us hope for our city when we see things like that. So we have to continuously encourage signs like that, encourage kids. Whenever you see that, say, hey, man, thank you for giving it to the Lord, so they can continue doing that. So I just wanted to leave you guys with that.
Speaker 2:So Major, thank you. Thank you so much for not forgetting us here at Ask a Cop, and you reminded me of an adage we used to say give credit where credit is due. And so we thank God and we thank MPD, and we thank you for the time that the chaplaincy and community affairs or detail was under your oversight. And so thank you for calling today. May you have a great day and make sure you keep the Grove nice and special, as Coconut Grove is.
Speaker 8:Thank you, major. Thank you, michelle, by the way, I certainly do. I wanted to talk to you before I got on the treadmill. One of the things that Michelle or Sergeant Burden burton sorry forgot to mention was one of the signs of a of a pretty decent leader. A pretty decent leader is identifying good talent and when michelle became available sergeant burton became available I said that is a number one draft pick. We have to bring her to community relations. So one of the best moves I did in community relations was having michelle come over.
Speaker 4:So all right, sir. Thank you sir. You guys miss you guys, and we miss you too. Don't forget us. Uh, just because you're not in community affairs doesn't mean you're not close to our heart. We hope we stay close to your heart and I'm semi-retired, so please don't forget me I'm gonna bring you, I'm gonna bring you both on a search warrant well entry instead of sergeant verdon says her first ride along was with narcotics. So I mean, that's another era, but we'll leave it there and Major for the record.
Speaker 2:for the record, I have done those, I've had the privilege and honor of doing those going into the house I mean, sometimes I'm with people that they know that God is in charge and it's been a privilege. It's been a privilege. So if you do it again, even in my condition, in my state, I'll take you up on it.
Speaker 8:I'm going to arm you both with cases.
Speaker 2:I always have the word of God, the sword. I'm always armed, sir, that's all you need.
Speaker 8:That's all you need, that's the most important. Thank you, sir, love you, love you, you guys be good, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Hey, we have another phone call, sergeant, so let's see who this is. Hey, ask a cop, you're on the air. What every town are you calling from Caller?
Speaker 7:number seven. Good morning. I'm calling from the 305.
Speaker 2:Oh man, oh, here we go. Oh man, Just when you thought it was good, it gets. I don't want to know this credit to the previous caller. But, sir, I'm glad you called.
Speaker 7:You got the mic. Good morning Michel, good morning Pastor Razz, good morning Good morning Pastor and Chaplain Adrian All right, good morning.
Speaker 6:Good morning.
Speaker 7:Good, I don't think I have to say my name. I put a Rican accent. We love it, we love it.
Speaker 4:If you want to know more about the uh accent, the name, the, everything, the last uh episode of ask a cop. If you go on spotify, wherever you download your podcast, you'll be able to hear uh, the current caller's story. So if you're listening now and you don't recognize the voice, go back uh to the uh podcast and you'll be able to get that episode. Mike is yours, sir.
Speaker 7:Yes, so once again, good morning. Like the first caller stated, you know I'm here for support, as Robert 2717 says. You know I started in Chapman's iron, so one person shop is another. So, uh, Michelle, just continue to walk with Christ. Uh, we have a lot of things in common and we'll talk about it later, about cars.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was going to say we could start our own car club.
Speaker 2:Hey you're a car guy too, but I got to tell you I'm still waiting to ride that special white car with red accent. I mean you're holding back on the pastor, bro grace, grace.
Speaker 7:It's not complete, sir, it's not complete, but uh, it's a long assignment for the lord.
Speaker 4:He needs to put the shock, so he can start bouncing up a few feet now too. I like it.
Speaker 2:I like it sir, sir, thank you, so go ahead. You got the mic, go ahead no, no, no, no.
Speaker 7:So I appreciate it and, Michelle, it's a blessing, you know, to have people like you and like me, that you know God uses to go around and sharing the word of God, the goodness that comes from him. So I'm really proud of you and continue moving forward, not backwards. With the Lord, all those steps will be forward. You will never take steps back.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Bode.
Speaker 7:Another verse that I would like to share with you, since I see this morning you're bringing it with the verses Joshua 1.1,. Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid of discouragement or discourage, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 7:I love it, I love it.
Speaker 2:Thank you, sir, god bless you.
Speaker 7:Likewise, have a good day, thank you.
Speaker 2:You too, my friend. Bye-bye. So, Sergeant, you are a star. You've had several people call there. That's a blessing. I'm blessed to see that.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Anything else you want to say, go ahead. I had a question, though. There was a time where man, the phones. The time the phone calls so.
Speaker 2:I'm going to prep you for the question so you can be thinking You're an ASCA cop. What town are you calling from?
Speaker 5:Hey, good morning, calling from the beautiful city of Doral.
Speaker 2:Good to have Doral checking in. What do you want to say to our guests this morning?
Speaker 5:Oh, it's wonderful. I have all the city guys, so I said Miami they have to represent, so calling from headquarters, and it's an amazing time to listen, because this profession is so dark sometimes and you see these wonderful people that love the Lord and are doing this profession. So it's great. So, Sarge, God bless you and you got two guys that are awesome over there. We love them very much.
Speaker 4:Thank you, sir, thank you for the call, thank you and we appreciate you and you are a light there in Doral, in Commit.
Speaker 5:Interference, by the way. Yes, that's good, I appreciate it All right God bless you, thank you.
Speaker 3:Love you guys, god bless you sir. Thank you so much, let's network.
Speaker 5:Thank you, bye-bye.
Speaker 2:Great. So, Chaplain, I think you were getting ready to ask the sergeant a question.
Speaker 4:It was mentioned very quickly, but you mentioned, um, we have a few minutes left but, uh, the interest that you had in mental health counseling started, you know, early in your career, from taking a certain training that's offered to officers. Maybe just walk us through a little bit where you know what was that training. And and then, um, maybe if there's a certain incident, whether it's with that training and that time of your career, or maybe in the crisis CNT right, the crisis negotiation team, maybe there's a certain incident that comes to mind. But I just want to take us back to that time. Maybe there's an officer listening and you're like well, this training, esto, this is dumb, I don't want to take these training. But maybe how it affected you, what you saw in it for yourself, take us back to that well dealing with consumers suffering from mental health.
Speaker 3:I I feel that and it's very cliche when they tell us this, but it's so true in the sense that the more training that you have and the more that you learn, the more tools you have on your tool belt, and so it's so much easier to deescalate with the words that you use and with your verbals and your non-verbals that I felt that that was like my strongest weapon. And so being as confident being confident on a scene where you see that somebody is just stepping over boundaries and escalating the situation, when you truly feel that you can dees, bring down the consumer or have the consumer surrender, in the sense of you know, in surrendering just like getting in the car and taking them to JMH crisis is what I'm seeing, not only specifically when we did hostage negotiation calls. And so at the beginning of the career, they always tell you well, you're going to find your niche, you have to find your niche, you have to find your niche, and I'm like I don't know if I can do a certain thing for the rest of my life. You know, because the Miami Police Department you know whoever is working at the Miami Police Department and hasn't acknowledged that they are extremely blessed in the sense that we have so many opportunities in our police department. Anything that I've ever wanted to do the Miami Police Department has always given me the opportunity and everything I have today is because of the Miami Police Department. And, with that being said, I took the Crisis Intervention Team training. I really liked that.
Speaker 3:And to talk about a specific incident that I had, I only had a few years on the department. I had Crisis Intervention Team certification and I remember that this young man by the old Camila's house on Miami and eight street, he was stuck and stuck that he would not move and he was just standing there and it it took us a while for him to you know surrender and to trust that I was going to get him help without hurting him. And so, with all the de-escalation techniques that I learned and everything that I was able to put in place without giving his thoughts and his vision a reality, you know, because I'm not going to agree or disagree with what he's seeing or what he's hearing, but pretty much using the techniques that we learn in the courses, that really got me inspired to, you know, help people in their times of need, because I cannot imagine what that person is going through, that they 100% believe that they are stuck in time. And so with that, that's when I started going to school and I knew that I wanted to pursue psychology, like Major Guerra said, and so I joined the crisis negotiation team and I pursued my degree in mental health counseling.
Speaker 3:I completed the peer support team training and so now, specifically, you know, after giving my life to the Lord and, you know, supervising the chaplaincy detail, I can say that I wanted to do a specialty when it came to the mental health counseling and get the specialty in pastoral counseling, because how can I give counseling to somebody when part of the things that they tell us or that they teach us during the master's degree coincides with the Christian religion?
Speaker 3:And so, with that certification, it's going to allow the client, if they want to pursue and they want to talk about Christ, I would be certified to do so and so they talk about it in therapy, in the sense that whether you look at science or whether you look at religion and I know that that's two things that you really don't talk about but cognitive behavioral therapy is like a triangle it's a situation, your feelings and your behaviors, and so sometimes something happens, whether it's an incident or whether it's a trigger in our mind, and that's how we're going to decide whether this feeling is going to trigger us to behave a certain way or if we're going to give it to the Lord.
Speaker 3:And so it's extremely important and I always revert back to Philippians 4.8 because of that specific reason. You know I could just give it to the Lord and I can continue working hard at it, and you know you keep praying, and you keep praying and you keep supplicando, and you know the lord is going to answer your, your prayer. And so, whether you believe in the science or whether you believe in the, in the, in the religion, um, it always coincides, and that's what made me follow the, the yeah, the education that word supplicando, right.
Speaker 4:That same verse there in philippians 4 6. It says when you're in a fix philippians 4 6 and it's uh, you know, don't be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication. Um, it sounds different when you say it in spanish. It's like supplicando. It's just something about the spanish language.
Speaker 3:Shout out to hayalia spanish language it's, it's, it's your petition. Supplicando is your petition and with thanksgiving, you give the request to the lord, yeah yeah, you know, supplicando is supplicate which is you know where you're.
Speaker 2:It's like an emphatic request before the lord. It's not just como si, como sa lord, if you want to, but it's kind of like that mom in in the scriptures. There's a mom whose daughter is demon possessed and she comes to Jesus and she says, man, if you could just please intervene on my daughter's behalf. And so there's a testing, because Jesus then speaks to her and says you know, it's not good to take from the master's table and give bread to the dogs, you know. And so it's a way that you think, you look at it and you thinking, man, jesus is really downgrading this lady big time. I mean, what's up with this? But Jesus was making it very clear that she wasn't a Jew, but he came for us Gentiles too, he came for everybody. And so but her response, you know, she just comes back at Jesus and says hey, you want to call me a dog? Okay, I'm a dog, but even the puppies eat the crumbs from the table. So what she's saying is I'm just asking for a little crumb for my daughter. And then jesus says I haven't seen this kind of faith, even in israel. So at first it seems like he's downgrading her, but then he puts her in a place because what she needed to do was humble herself. And now we get to the point because at my age, you know, sometimes you're talking people probably thought he doesn't know what he's talking about. Well, sometimes that's true, but this time I do, because what she was doing is she was supplicating, she was asking Jesus with a laser-focused type of settlement that said I'm not stopping until you come through, and that's suplicando. And so I love the fact that you went to Spanish, because I know, sometimes I get excited and I just go to Spanish, you know, and I think I'm not the only one that does that, because Adrian liked it and, sergeant, you did it.
Speaker 2:But back on track here. I think the sergeant has a question. I think the chaplain has a question for the sergeant, but I gotta get a question in there because it's 821. By the way, you're listening to the program Ask a Cop. This is God's Way, radio 104.7 FM. At first Tuesday of every month you could tune in and we're here because this is a station for law enforcement officers also. We respect them, we recognize them and, yes, we want to give back because they give so much.
Speaker 2:Sergeant, here's my question. No-transcript. You got a substance abuse dependency, it could be gambling, it could be a behavior that if you don't bring it to check, it's going to affect your profession, it's going to affect you, it's going to affect your relationships. So now I want to set up a platform for you and give it to you. How important is that for law enforcement to you know, to get mental health information, education, instruction, wisdom and then, tied to that in your case, how important is that? Mental health with the master's involvement, you know that faith road to have a relationship where we come from, platform with jesus christ.
Speaker 3:You got the mic. So currently I'm not practicing with the state of florida mental health counseling, and what I just do is use the education that I received, um from my university, education for everyday works like, for example, today, in sharing what it is that I learned. And when it comes to law enforcement, it is extremely important to have. Dr Gil Martin says it in his book. He explains how important it is to have a hobby and have other things that are important to you besides the law enforcement profession, and so you know whether it be golf, or whether it be swimming, or whether it be exercising, or whether it be right now researching about lowriders, you know, spending time with the family working out.
Speaker 3:If there's anything that you are having trouble with, you know the Miami Police Department. In the 17 years that I have been there, I have never experienced so many resources and I'm sure we had them. They're just out in our face now, right. So we have the employee assistant program that usually attends our debriefings should something happen. We have the chaplaincy detail. We have our peer support group. Now some of the peer support are part of the Miami-Dade Regional Peer Support Group.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of things that if you are to the point where you are struggling with something like a substance abuse, there are resources out there. And even if you don't reach out to those resources because you want to remain anonymous or you don't want anyone to know what you're going through, there's going to be like resources that you'd be able to find and everything that you put through your insurance with the Miami Police Department is confidential. So our human correction, our health services detail, won't know who is it that's using these services, and I highly recommend them because it's something that's going to teach you a way out, and we all know that temptation is always there, right, whether it's substance abuse or alcohol abuse or pornography, and the Lord always gives us an avenue and a way out. And so the enemy is always going to tempt us, but the Lord is always going to give us an avenue. So, learning your resources, your mental health resources, your peer support, your EAP, you're always going to have a way out because the Lord is going to provide you.
Speaker 2:Sergeant, thank you for that. I guess what I want to repeat is that there's options. You don't have to stay stuck in where you're at, whether it be substance abuse, or whether it be behavioral expressions, or sometimes there's violence, domestic violence. I hear of situations where there's explosive behavior and I can't imagine an officer wants to continue in that because eventually it's going to cost your job, it's going to cost your profession. So I think what I'm hearing you say is that there's options. You can get instruction, you can get help. The situation does not have to stay the same. It doesn't have to continue on a downward spiral where there's going to be loss. Chaplain, I think you might have a question.
Speaker 4:We said earlier to give credit where credit's due. So I do want to give a couple of the phone numbers that Sergeant Verdin just mentioned, but credit where credit's due. Shout out to Hopsi, who is the one who puts together this CIT training, which started to inspire Sergeant Verdin. She's also the clinical director of the multi-Dade, multi-agency peer support team. So their website is MiamiDadeMAPSTorg MiamiDadeMAPSTorg, and that serves every agency here in Miami-Dade. Their phone number is 754-315-PEER 754-315-PEER, and that's a team, a group made up of different police officers from different agencies and some chaplains as well. So if you need something, at least there's something right there right now. You can reach out and find and go from there. But it's so important to do that. There's one thing that I remember in a conversation Sarge you mentioned, and it's how sometimes we want the situations to change and sometimes you know we're like a mouse in a wheel and the situation doesn't change, you know from your experience, anything that you've experienced where we focus on the situation or we don't focus on the situation, how would you from?
Speaker 2:Because of time. I don't know how much we could have for that question to be answered. I definitely want you to take a try at it, but maybe one minute if you could try. I guess what you're saying is.
Speaker 3:It's funny you say that, because today's daily devotional was like the spinning wheels of a car trapped in a mud the cogs of your brain spin impotently when you focus on a trivial thing, and so the Lord tells us to be still and know that I am your God. I will be exhausted among the nations and I will be exalted in the earth. And so not only are we petitioning God to listen to our anxiety, our worries and our troubles, but Albert Einstein said it too right it's insane to keep doing the same thing and wanting different outcomes. So, with that being said, and to keep it short, you need to change the way. Correction the way that I changed my whole life after my hardship was that I changed the way that I was thinking and what I was doing so that I can get different outcomes. And I got the best outcome out of my life, and so I am the happiest I have ever been, and I praise the Lord for that.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that. Before I let you go, I got to know are you an arts lady, opera lady, drama lady, when it has to do with extracurricular activity, do you do any of that? Do you like the arts or opera or drama?
Speaker 3:I'm down for anything. I'm the life of the party. Pastor Rice Travel.
Speaker 2:Do you like to travel?
Speaker 3:I do.
Speaker 2:Okay, and what's your favorite food? Italian, chinese, cuban? Just interested. What's your favorite food and do you have a favorite dish? Hmm, or Cuban? Just interested, what's your favorite food and do you have a favorite?
Speaker 3:dish, or do you do all of the above? All of the above, I like that I like that.
Speaker 2:Are you a martial arts type of lady? You work out boxing, kung fu, jujitsu?
Speaker 3:My favorite type of workout is the HIIT workouts, where they do different stations and you do different workouts.
Speaker 2:Good. And then for hobbies. I think I have an idea, but what's your favorite hobby?
Speaker 3:My favorite hobby is to be with my children.
Speaker 2:I like that, I like to prioritize.
Speaker 3:I enjoy to prioritize my life and my children, and I would do anything to help Corey Cotto succeed in this department and my goal is to be his rock at home so he can continue good, very good.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for being with us. I hope you come back sometime thank you.
Speaker 3:I just wanted to leave everybody that you know is new or old in the profession, and to always remember that we work. Everything that we work with our heart is working for the lord, not for the human masters, and and that's Colossians 3.23.
Speaker 2:Great, thank you. This has been Ask a Cop.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening today. If you have any questions or would like to get in contact with us, visit policethankyoucom. You'll also find information on how you can support the mission of Ask a Cop. We'd also ask that you subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform and if you're enjoying these conversations, let us know and be sure to join us again here on Ask a Cop.