Ask A Cop
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Ask A Cop
047: What is Bleeding Blue doing now? - Danny Morales (Detective Miami-Dade Sheriffs Office)
Danny Morales shares the story of founding Bleeding Blue, an organization that supports officers injured or killed in the line of duty and addresses critical mental health needs of first responders. Since 2022, Bleeding Blue has distributed over $290,000 to 61 law enforcement families in need.
• Bleeding Blue was created after Officer Cesar Echeverri's line-of-duty death when Danny recognized the need to support affected families
• The organization addresses four pillars of first responder mental health: mental wellness, physical healing, spiritual support, and financial guidance
• Danny candidly shares his own journey seeking mental health support despite being the face of a mental health advocacy organization
• Family members of officers gain crucial perspective when attending mental health conferences, often transforming relationships
• The upcoming Mental Health Conference on July 19th features testimonies from officers who've experienced trauma, including shootings and life-altering injuries
• Bleeding Blue also offers monthly peer support groups and culturally competent training for clinicians
• Signs that an officer might need help include silence and repeatedly saying "I'm fine" when they're struggling
• Danny reflects on how his mother's faith journey helped shape both his personal life and the mission of Bleeding Blue
Visit www.bleedingblue.info to learn about events, support resources, and how to get involved.
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 Talking about starting our day.
Speaker 2:Danny, I know that throughout your career you've had different shifts, different times. Are you a morning guy? You like the night shift? You like the afternoon shift? What's your favorite niche spot? What do you like? I am definitely not a morning person, so when you told me originally hey, let's do a 7 am podcast.
Speaker 3:I was like this is not, it's not happening, but um, it's. It's a lot more fun to work the afternoon shift. A lot more goes on if you if we're talking about police work, you know I can still do some stuff. Personal life during the morning hours, you know know. Dive into police, work three o'clock, work until 11. You can still get home on a decent time, get some rest At least my department. You get paid more to work on the afternoon shift.
Speaker 2:So always a plus.
Speaker 3:Yeah, can't complain there. And no, I think I think one of the best things is that you know, even if you wake up at 9am, you still have a significant amount of time to to do some stuff before your shift. So I find that afternoons works for me best. And you know it's definitely not for everybody, it's definitely not for the family. Um, it's very tough. You know your kids, your wife that has a regular, you know nine to five schedule.
Speaker 3:You're not you know, spending dinner with them, or you're not doing homework with the kids at home, and that's things of that nature. So it's not for everybody, but, um, you know I'm I make it work for my family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the season, season of life you're in, definitely works. And uh, do you still start your day though like like coffee, eggs, bacon, like I mean, do you like like morning stuff, or you're not even it depends.
Speaker 3:You know, some some days I'm I sleep in as long as I can. I try to get as much sleep as I can because you never really know in in the world of homicides. Um, you know there's shifts that you work 30, 40 hours and you're, you know you're not, you're not getting home to even have breakfast, yeah, um, but you know the days, my regular days.
Speaker 3:You know a nice coffee to start the day, uh, typically no sugar. Uh, drinking black. And you know starbucks they're gonna take my money every time, unfortunately, um, you know, they're not big police supporters, unfortunately yeah, you know the food is good.
Speaker 3:The food is good um, you can't see a cop yeah, they got the system down packed, yeah, but you know what it is to walk into duncan donuts and you're dressed in uniform and then it's just like you know you're just filling into that stigma of cops love donuts, so I'd rather go to starbucks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, in Miami we have more cops going to La Carreta and Versailles and Sergio's than we do donut shops sometimes. But if you're listening and you're from out of town, can you just text us? Give us a text 786-313-3115. 786-313-3115. We call that our text vault 3, 3, 1, 1, 5. 7, 8, 6, 3, 1, 3, 3, 1, 1, 5. We call that our text vault. And if you text us we can get to your comments live on the air. We can.
Speaker 2:We could send a question or just a comment for Danny. I sent some people today a text saying hey, think of some very difficult questions. He loves those. No, we don't love those, but we will talk about any questions you might have. So text us a question or just a comment. You can also call 786-313-3115. And that's a live. This is live right now, if you're listening on God's Way Radio 104.7 FM and you will join us for the program and we'll be able to talk to you for a moment and continue on. But, danny, while we woke up, now you're getting ready for your shift. This is your time. Right here, you're starting your prime time. I'm thriving right now. You're thriving. We've got a Celsius going on. We've got a cosmic vibe going on right here with Celsius.
Speaker 3:So Joey, who's…? Shout out to Celsius representative is listening. This is a nice sponsorship. Oh, actually, yeah, Sparkling fruit punch edition.
Speaker 2:So I don't know who's listening or not, but if you want to get back behind Bleeding Blue, that's what we want to talk about. So Danny Morales mentioned he is an officer. A lot of the people that are involved with Bleeding Blue, they're all officers. They're part of the family or family of an officer and it hits close to home. It always is something that it's not just something we support, but something that we live every day, and so that's what it is for Danny and, I know, for many others. So, danny, let's go back, I guess, a little bit, which we've talked about, but just to, if someone's listening to just this episode how did Bleeding Blue start? You know, give us an idea there of the name, right, bleeding Blue, kind of where that started, and I know there's some events that led to the actual starting of the organization. But go back to the name, kind of who you sitting around the table? You got a couple of people. How did that name come up?
Speaker 3:name, kind of who you're sitting around the table. You got a couple people. How did that name come up so?
Speaker 2:I'm full credit to my mom. Uh, my mom came up with the name. Yeah, she's. Uh, she loves to buy stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she loves spending money when it's not her money. Even if it's her money, she's up spending. Um, so full credit to my mom. The idea of the organization was was created, like you mentioned. You know, there was a loss in our police family. Uh, cesar Echeverri was shot and killed in the line of duty. You know, I kind of got drawn into that investigation by just being present at the hospital, you know, supporting friends and family at that moment, and because I'm in the homicide capacity I had to end up working that case and just seeing the needs of the family, you know, wanting to help me, and my brother got together hey, let's do a fundraiser. And then that kind of just spiraled into starting an organization, kind of doing things a little bit more organized. And I want to say we probably went to two or three names and, like, bleeding Blue was probably the third name that came up.
Speaker 3:I can't remember the other ones, to be honest with you, but it was. It's something that when we read it on a text message, it was like, hey, this is it. We created the logo and it kind of just spiraled from there in a good way, right, and it's essentially to help officers injured and fallen in the line of duty, and now we've moved into the mental health space. So it's something that I don't look back and say could we have done it differently? It's all been growing pains, positive growing pains, things that we didn't know what to do in the beginning, that you know. Now I feel like I can be a non-profit consultant at this point, you know, because it's been a lot of speed bumps along the way, but the intentions were always good, you know.
Speaker 3:I think God realized that and empowered us to do better and bigger things, and has always guided us along the way, yeah, you mentioned the big influence of mom and I know you have you know she has a lot of law enforcement through and in her life between her sons, her.
Speaker 2:You know her family in general and you mentioned, you know God guided us along the way and I know she has a lot of influence, you know, in that faith component of life You've mentioned. You mentioned it in the last time we were together. But I don't know if you want to just mention a little bit about kind of that importance of mom, just stopping bleeding blue for a moment and and just just a shout out love to to mom. Just you know what you know for you personally, for the family, just what she means and means. And if there's a mom listening out there, you have a son in law enforcement, you have family in law enforcement.
Speaker 2:Show up to one of these Bleeding Blue events and just pick. She's always there, she's in almost every event that they have. She's still majorly involved, she's a know part of the board. She's very, very supportive. So if you're out there and you want people that live it again, show up to one of the events coming up. Let me give why don't you give the website and then we can talk a little bit more about mom. But I just, I just think she's a great person that you know people should meet. She's contagious just in her energy and love. Yeah, so bleedingblueinfo.
Speaker 3:Wwwbleedingblueinfo is our website. You know there is um. The home page obviously talks about a little bit about what we do. There's an about us section. You know gives a little bit more of a backstory, and then there's an events page. All our upcoming events, some of the past events. We typically try to do events on a yearly basis, make them a lot larger and it's not just like a one-time thing. You know there's a merchandise section on that website as well. That's where we raise funds for everything that we sell.
Speaker 2:Cop a new shirt. See that, there you go.
Speaker 3:That was clever, that was pretty clever and then there's a just ask section, which is our mental health aspect of it. But taking it back to mom, she rock, you know, and we've had our ups and downs, as I think any mother and son have had in their lives. You know, teenage years were rocky because I was going through puberty and I thought I knew it all and but at this, at this day and age, you know, I remember moving out at the age of 23. And the first person I called was my mom. I was like hey, can you come to the?
Speaker 3:uh, this mortgage office, I gotta sign or the title the title agency and I was like I gotta sign all these papers and I don't know what any of them mean. Can you come hold my hand through this?
Speaker 3:yeah um, you know, and I was so excited to get out of mom's house, but you know, there she is in that, uh, at that huge moment in my life, right. Um, like you mentioned, she married a cop. My brother became a cop because of that, I became a cop because of that. So she had to deal with three cops in the household at one time and it was very um, I'm sure it was very hectic for her, you know, always wondering what's going on.
Speaker 3:We have a family group chat and you know something major goes on. It's kind of like everybody checking in making sure we're all okay. And you know you had mentioned a little bit about how God has provided strength in our family. You know my mom had a very rocky time, I want to say, back when I was like 15, 16, 17, around those ages, and the only thing that what saved her was God and the church, you know, and that kind of brought me to my path and my walk with god and, you know, was able to become a better man because of it. And we always remember our foundation. So you know, taking it back to when I was two or three years old, I was baptized catholic. I don't remember going to church after that you know I don't at all.
Speaker 3:You know, I think it was more done because that's the nature of the beast.
Speaker 2:You know, that's kind of customary, Maybe ritual custom, tradition.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know. So, other than that, I really don't remember going to church, but I know that that was a very impactful moment in my life when we went to church and it saved her and it saved our family. And my therapist asked me the other day actually I was talking to her and she was like why do you keep dating girls that go to church? And I was like she's like we need to figure out the root of this issue. And it's not an issue, right, but it was like a common trend. And I was like you know, I've never really sat down and thought about it, but I can probably say it's because of that, because God and church saved my mom and saved her life, life and saved our family, right, um, so I think that's something for us.
Speaker 2:You see, the strength that you know, the stability, the, the perspective that that can give a life, with or without that. So definitely, definitely is um, thanks to mom and uh, again, you know, thankful to my mom and thankful to don't get me wrong, she still drives me nuts.
Speaker 3:I love you if you're listening um call back, call back.
Speaker 2:You gotta defend yourself here. Call back. So 786-313-3155. Now we're having a good time and and and it's.
Speaker 2:These things are important, you know, because a part of our upbringing when we're talking about mental health and all these issues, um, you know a lot of the things that we've seen and done, even as a child. They, they kind of shape who we are. And now you get thrown into law enforcement and, and that shapes definitely who you become, um, but you don't always fully let go of some of those, those things you, you grew up with and some of those things are what resort you go back to and you resort to them for strength, for perspective. Um, you know, there are those times where I think we drift and we think we can do it on our own because we feel high and mighty, especially in the law enforcement. You know, world, like you, are the person who's supposed to bring that stability and the chaos and have the answers for everything, and and then sometimes we get hit with like well, actually I don't have the answers for everything yep and it's okay, that's that's why we need each other so much.
Speaker 2:So tell us a little bit there about the journey of Bleeding Blue. I know last year you had this mental health conference, all the events you've had. So just give us a little synopsis I have some notes there as well, but you probably have them in your mind right how many families you've been able to help and just some of the feedback you've been hearing regarding some of those events. And then the mental health conference from last year as we kind of get into the one from this year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so since our inception in November of 2022, we've been able to donate and distribute over $290,000 to 61 families. Now Can't give you the exact number from the top of my head.
Speaker 2:You've got to update your website. Already your website's outdated.
Speaker 3:I think I've got to get with Melanie. If Melanie you're listening, she's our vice president, she does our numbers. Shout out to her, we will update that. But $290,000, somewhere in that ballpark range, um, and 61 families, and that goes from anything from.
Speaker 3:You know, a fallen officer doing a fundraiser for a t-shirt or a coin or a memorabilia that the family can hold on to, or an injured officer, and we're hosting an event, you know. So our most recent one that can come to mind is you know, we did a bike night for an officer that was injured on a motorcycle. That is his passion, that is what he loves doing, that is his crowd of people. Um, he was in the hospital dealing with a head injury and we hosted a motorcycle night, you know, to raise funds for him. You know he's not going to be at work, he's not going to be able to make overtime, not be able to provide for his family. You know, let's do our part and host an event that his friends and family are going to come and enjoy at the same time and has a mission behind it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, with that said, we moved into the mental health space about a year and a half ago after the director of the miami-dade police department shot himself. Thankfully, he's alive and well today and probably dealing with his own demons, right. I mean, I think everybody in in life has their own stuff going on, but we've realized that we're not indestructible. We're alpha females and males and we think that we're the strongest people out here and sometimes it gets to our heads and there's a lot of traumas and there's a lot of stress and depression and anxiety. That goes on in a day-to-day life of a police officer. And we hosted this conference in attempts to save one person's life and, if you remember, you were there last year. We had about 450 people in attendance and the feedback was incredible, honestly, and it's encouraged us to do this event again and it's in two weeks and I'm stressed, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can only imagine. And so, again, bleedingblueinfo, if you're listening, pass it on, share with everybody. We want to see that place as full as possible. It's going to be a Miami-Dade School of Justice. It's a beautiful facility, large and able to handle. So this is for everyone. So, if you're interested in mental health and police officers, yes, but it's specifically for the everyday person, this is, this is just how to live life conference. This is a how to live life conference. I mean for an officer. It just happens to be focused on the things officers go through, by officers sharing their personal stories, people who have dealt with and been involved in their own either trauma or helping someone through trauma, so clinicians or pastors, different people who are going to be there, and so, if you're at all involved with first responders, police fire. The other ones that I come to mind to, too, are nurses. I was hearing a testimony of a nurse the other day. I mean it's pretty much a similar description of what they go through.
Speaker 3:Right, I mean, you kind of think about it. Right, it's first responders. Police and firefighters are dispatched to a traumatic scene first, and then after that the body or the person gets transported to a hospital. So now you've got nurses and CPA, cpas and doctors, medical professionals at that hospital and even sometimes in between you have ambulance personnel in that mix ems. Yeah, it's a continuum of care right, and let's not forget the dispatchers.
Speaker 2:The dispatchers are the ones that are listening to that, yeah, and who never get the final story. Sometimes I always think about them whenever I go to a critical incident like did they get? Do they know what happened? Like it's always it's. It brings them so much closer to know either way, whether the person you know was helped or didn't get help, but at least they, they know what happened. So, dispatchers, if you're out there also, um, great, great, uh, time to invest a little.
Speaker 3:It's one day a saturday eight hours of eight hours important knowledge, important life experience, that we're going to be getting testimonies from people that have lived traumatic experiences. And and you know you and I were talking about this prior to going live that it's not for that person that's already gotten the help. Yeah, it's, it's nice to see those people that are out here, but they've already done their part in getting the help that they need those peer support guys that go to training and understand and are already helping people actively. But we want to focus on getting the information out to those people that are going through what I call the suck. Right, yeah, we have to embrace the suck and go through it, you know, try and work on our lives so that we can better, be, better people for our family. And you know, we invite and encourage you to bring your spouses if you got teenagers, you know they can come and understand what it is that your father or your mother's going through.
Speaker 3:And I and I tune back to a story that was recently told to me one of our board members, um, didn't have the best relationship with his daughter. He was, you know, always. He works midnight shift, so he's gone from the house at late hours, he's working overtime, you know, calls his daughter every now and then, whatnot, but his daughter has never really known what he's gone through and maybe why dad acts the way that he does, or maybe lashes out the way that he does. And it wasn't until the mental health conference that he invited his daughter and his daughter sat there and she told me she was like Danny. This gave me a different perspective on how I see my dad. I completely understand how, why it is that you know all these things are going on and I cried. I cried the entire time you know, because this is.
Speaker 3:It might be somebody else on stage, but I know that my dad went through the same exact thing and she says I don't go a day now without calling my father because I know that it's going to help him, it's going to make him know that I know I'm there for him, his family's there for him. We understand what he's going through and we're going to encourage the help that he, that he needs yeah, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:I mean it's, it's, it's so huge and again, the conference is set up for any of that. If you're a family member, if you have family, that's in law enforcement and we're so, I think, hard-headed at times to just ask for help Officers. I know they'll get injured and they're like I don't want anyone to know, I don't want to be seen like this. I understand, but at the same time I know that while I am not injured and I am doing okay, I am saying now that if I say I don't want to see no one come see me, because that's really what I'm saying, I know.
Speaker 3:so I think I sat here a year ago and I told you, you know there were certain places I would go for help, certain places that I wouldn't. And I feel like a hypocrite a year later, right, because I am now sitting in psychological services for my department getting help. And you know, I hit my breaking point and I think we all hit that point and a lot of people see me as the face of bleeding blue. I'm a homicide detective. You do this. You have a personal life at the same time. How do you navigate all these things? And I was like, hey, listen, I you know, I just do. You know it feels good to give back and all this good stuff and whatever, but at the end of the day, I wasn't taking care of myself and I hit that point, um, probably about a month ago, and I started seeking help and I don't, I feel the best I've ever had and you know I'm tired.
Speaker 3:I can tell you that I'm still not sleeping the best, but mentally um, I feel great you know I feel like I'm at peace. Uh, there's tranquility in my life. Everything's been going great ever since I started putting in the effort, and I think it starts there, and I think god realizes that yeah, yeah, and that's so.
Speaker 2:It's so huge. Right like now you could say that. But sometimes, in the middle of it, you're like no, like it'll be fine, it'll be fine, I'll be fine, I'll be fine, I, I'll be fine, and so, yeah. So I like to say those things, I like to say it up front. Like you know, people that I care and love, like if I ever say no, don't come see me or I don't need help, I mean you know for a moment, yeah, give me a, I need, um, I need, even if I say I don't want them, I need them. So, um, you're not going to get rid of um, people who want to help.
Speaker 3:I think that's a sign, right? I mean, sometimes, like you go to these um, you listen to some of these podcasts of um. For example, I was on a podcast with Carolyn Acosta and her husband committed suicide about a year ago's actually, who we're dedicating our conference to. He was a firefighter, air rescue pilot and one day the next, you know, he he committed suicide, left behind his wife and kid, and I went on her podcast. She started an organization called First Alarm Foundation and it's to honor her husband and help out other firefighters. And one of the first questions that she asked me was what is it? What is a common sign that I should have realized that my husband was asking for without, like indirectly asking for, and there was two things to that one silence and to saying that you're okay, right, and I think that if any first responder comes home and says I'm fine, or is being very quiet after saying I'm fine, then that's the first alarm, right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and just to give some perspective, if anyone is listening to this and the recorded podcast or live on the air, I'm fine. A lot of times means look, I love my family, I love everyone that's around me. Right now I'm not at a state where I'm going to be very helpful to other people. If I get a question or something I'm probably going to like lash out. So I'd rather just kind of be reserved right now because I don't want to hurt the people I love and care about that are around me.
Speaker 2:But I know that the way I'm feeling and the way my body is reacting to some of the things that I've seen and done and my you know, sometimes it's admin, sometimes it's internal stress. A lot of times maybe like 80% I don't know what the number is, but it's a big portion of it could be internally and what sometimes the person is really saying is I love you guys too much to give you some very bad response. That is what I wants to come out. But it's not because I don't love you or I don't care and and that's the time that they need.
Speaker 2:That doesn't mean it's a great place to live forever in no, absolutely but for a family member to know, sometimes the I'm fine and the not talking is like. It's like their self-protection mode to not hurt someone that they really don't want to hurt the same time too.
Speaker 3:I mean, imagine my day-to-day as a homicide detective. You know what I see, what I touch, what I experience, um, excuse me, um, going to a family's house and informing them that their loved one just got murdered and them wanting to go see the body at the hospital. That's not a normal response. That's not something for a normal day-to-day person to do. But there's a job to be done, right, somebody's got to do it. But at the same time as I'm helping other people, I've got to help myself, and that's what this conference is based around. And I'm happy to say that I am now at the point in my life where I've sought and seeked help and I can now host this conference without feeling like a hypocrite, right? Because it's like I was doing this stuff to help everybody else, but my family was not in the right place and, you know, thankfully we're getting the help that we need. I can be a testimony to you know, seeking God first, seeking professional assistance and then just doing the right things that we have to do on a day-to-day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and so, yeah, that's such an important question that she asked, and it goes into just the idea of whether you'm fine, um, uh, you know, and and we just got to continue to be there for each other, um, but, but yeah, so that's a, that's a good thing to to know is sometimes that silence, sometimes the I'm fine, uh, give them some moment, but don't maybe let it stay there, that's all right, you're fine, okay, great, you know, and just continue to be there for them, because when it's the right time, like for you, you said everything's fine and then at some point I said, okay, I'm, I'm done here, I gotta do something.
Speaker 2:It came yeah you know, and you had the people to support you around it, and you feel comfortable enough, it's too late to uh.
Speaker 3:You know, some people experience that in form of suicide, some people experience that in form of, uh, substance abuse and sometimes they you have to go through a divorce or a breakup to be able to realize those things and unfortunately it's. It gets to the point in our, in our lives and I think I could speak for most of the police officers, um, and I would imagine the firefighters are the same way. You know, it's because you are, you are in control all the time at work, and when something doesn't go your way on a crime scene, you make it work right because you have to. You get to a crime scene, you get to a scene domestic violence. You've never met this couple in your, in your life before, and now you're telling your husband yeah you're giving them fatherly advice, or you know adult advice, or you're making something happen.
Speaker 3:Someone's going to jail today, you know, based on the circumstances of that case. So it's like you are always in control, so you're trying to control everything around you and you can't. This life is not meant to be lived alone. And that's why you have family, friends, people that care about you, and you have to rely on everybody that's around you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Again, just want to give you the phone number if you're listening 786-313-3115. We do love and like to take the phone calls or the text messages. We are recording this. The live recording and airing of this show is during the summer and we know that there's a little bit less people out on the road, which I'm thankful for. I'm not going to deny it, but it does play into that. If you're listening to this recorded still, you can call that number, 786-313-3115, or text it and and let us know, did you have a question, something that came up you want to know more about? We will get you that information. So, danny, talking a little bit about um, about just the work, right, so you're in homicide now? How many years you've been?
Speaker 3:in homicide. So I've been a cop for eight years and I've been in homicide for four.
Speaker 2:So four, so half your police life in homicide, and it's one of those areas that every area needs your brain fully on the whole time. But you know, homicide is one where you also I mean, there's a part of it that, like the more tired or sluggish, you know it's going to affect your work, and so I'm sure you have little things that you probably do. Maybe I don't know, maybe not, maybe I'm, but when you get called, you finally okay, it's calm for a couple of days and homicide happens. Do you have a certain little routine or something that you do in the middle of it just to kind of keep you going? Do you just take load on extra snaps? But that's, that's huge, right?
Speaker 3:yeah, we definitely take naps in the car. I got a nice, uh, comfy pillow in my car, but I think you, there's a sense of fire that hits you, um, when you get a fresh case. There's that eagerness to figure out what happened and there's an eagerness to have a response to the family, because you know you may respond to a scene and you know who died, but their family member might not know who died yet. And when you go make that notification, that next of kin notification, there is nothing in the world you're going to tell these people that's going to give them peace at that moment, no matter if you're faith-based, no matter if you I don't know feed them.
Speaker 3:There's, there's nothing they lost somebody and losing someone in a traumatic way is even worse, right? Um, you know, I remember my grandmother passed about a month ago and she was on the, you know, on the in her 80s and you know she was sick and that sucked. But if I were to get a phone call and say my grandmother got killed, you know an innocent victim, right, that's, that's a little bit different. Yeah, so there's a sense of fire to be able to have those answers to, to give to that family and that kind of wakes you up.
Speaker 2:and it's interesting because and I don't know if every person in your field does it exactly like that, but you said it a couple of times and you're constantly mentioning the surviving family and which, in a sense, part of Bleeding Blue, is taking care of the surviving family and that's a big part to you that you even bring into the way you view a case in homicide.
Speaker 3:I started Bleeding Blue with the mission of and I will take that back my family started Bleeding Blue with the mission of if something ever happened to me, somebody either on the board or a volunteer or a co-worker would have a foundation to be able to provide for my family. If I ever passed away on the line of duty and I'd sacrificed my life for anybody because that's the job that I signed up for there would be either money in the bank to help my family or there would be a platform for them to be able to do a fundraiser. And it's very similar. My life is dedicated to helping other people and I love every second of it. It's rewarding. It brings me a sense of peace. You build more friends and family this way. I have met some incredible people through Bleeding Blue and I have met incredible people that I would never cross the road with through my homicide career and I get phone calls every Christmas.
Speaker 3:I get phone calls on every holiday, essentially still keep in touch yeah, um, mothers of you know, there's this one specific mom who her son got killed probably about two years ago, and she calls me every holiday and I was I'm the same age as her son, so she kind of sees it like this is my void and we call a detective.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, wow, yeah, so that's special and, man, that personalizes the whole, the whole thing. Uh, big time and uh, but yeah, um, and I think it's so important, even in leadership, and that's why I wanted to make an emphasis from hearing you say, oh, the family and for the families. Because in leadership, when you're leading a group of people, in any career, but especially in law enforcement, there's a family there, there's a person. They become family If you can do it correctly. There's leadership and there's chain of command and when that? You know.
Speaker 2:The other day I was having a conversation with someone and it's like you know, there's moments where it's like this is the order and this needs to get done Absolutely. But in leadership too, there's that caring aspect that goes such a long way and realizing that their family is represented here. This isn't just an individual person or a machine or someone to throw around. So, you know, when it comes to a case, when it comes to the foundation bleeding blue, when it comes to leadership and leading others, man, we can't forget the people. The people are, are, are, are human and and uh, and just got to keep that perspective going because we can get blinded real quick.
Speaker 3:It's been, it's been a, it's been's been a roller coaster. I could tell you that, you know it's been a lot of growing pains, uh, within the organization, within my personal life, within my career, and I've realized that the way you treat other people and the way you want to be treated are very important, and sometimes we get a little carried away, sometimes we get a little confused on what the goal is and what you know it is that needs to get done and the way to handle it. And I think that you know life kind of just guides you and throws you in these experiences for, for a reason, and you know, you grow from them, you make things better as you can, and that's essentially what the conference is about. You know and it all roots back to.
Speaker 3:you know like it's kind of crazy how everything in my life roots back to the same little small circle of things. I'm branching out in different areas of my career and my professional if you want to call this a business but it all roots back to helping others, help myself and just growing as an individual.
Speaker 2:Do you have I mean, you don't have to answer this you could tell me, ask me that next time, which would mean there's a next time too. But do you have any regrets along the way?
Speaker 3:I have zero regrets. Zero regrets in life. I think everything is a lesson. It's either, what is it? How does that corny saying going?
Speaker 2:How about regrets? How about regrets? Or how about because that's totally true, right, like even the hard things I've gone through? I'm like there's so much that I learned through the process, but or redos saying there's a couple things, oh, absolutely yeah, and any of those that are like able to be shared just for the benefit of someone like um.
Speaker 2:I could think of one for me. Like um, I complain very easily, like I I I consider myself pretty good at it like I can find something to complain about and during the whole expert enough, yeah, I'm pretty much an expert, um, and I realize that I'm actually that that's to myself.
Speaker 2:But then I see, see others, and I'm like, wow, I'm not even in your league, you're complaining about nothing. But I realized it didn't get me anywhere. Like I would complain about how chaplains responded, I would complain about the kind of people this, you know, during the Surfside building collapsed, well, I'll complain about this or that. And I realized it's not getting me, it's not solving the problem. And so, you know, I switched that and I began to try to okay, well, let me try to do whatever little piece I can to show by example and by training and any way I can help someone get to what I think is a better place of helping others than just complaining about those that I don't like the way they're doing it, you know.
Speaker 2:So that's something that I would say a regret that I complained. I mean, I guess I regret it, but even more I'm like, okay, that's something I would redo. I would probably complain less and do more, and even if it's slow and steady, so anything like that that stands out that you can say you know what? Here's a lesson I learned, here's a lesson I learned. A long life, it doesn't have to be, we can come back to it. No, I'm thinking you said you're gonna ask me some challenging questions.
Speaker 3:So I, um, you know something that, again, I don't regret anything in life. I think everything has has made me who I am today and put me in the places that I am today. But I think that the way if I were to talk to a younger self 21-year-old Danny starting the police academy, I think I would say to treat people differently. I think that's something that I've learned, that I, you know it goes a long way, it really does.
Speaker 3:And when you say treat people differently, like I think the way that you're, you even just speaking to them right, I know my intentions have always been good. I know that for a fact I'm not an evil person, but maybe just my approach or you know, some people are not, as you know, thick-skinned as others you know. So I would tell definitely you know 21 year old danny, like hey, take it easy, you need to figure out who your crowd is, you know. You know not be. You know it's okay to be confident but not cocky. It's okay to be, you know, confident but not arrogant.
Speaker 3:And I think that that was something that you know kind of got to my head as a younger, as a younger officer. And you know, with all this power and starting a successful non-profit, and you know going up the this power and starting a successful nonprofit, and you know going up the ropes and hitting homicide at a very young age of 25 years old. You know there's some confident boosts there and you know you might have rubbed some people the wrong way, and you know. But you know it's life. You talk to officers that are getting ready to retire and it's like you're going to learn a lot of stuff throughout this 25 year career and it's wisdom that you're going to pass on to your family and thankfully I've been able to you know now only eight years in being able to to realize what my faults were and, you know, grow from them yeah, yeah, and it's, it's.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's sometimes hard as a young man and you know, I considered myself pretty young and then lately, every right along, every officer I'm with is younger than me, but that's a different story.
Speaker 3:Gray hairs popping up in that beard. You saw that there's like three or four.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know I'm 42, but you know I've been involved with law enforcement now like about 10 years, um, and and I remember starting off 10 years ago and, and, and it's a different reaction I would get from the officers. It was more like, oh hello, little boy, you know I didn't have a beard or facial hair, I would shave, and you want to be a police officer one day. That's so nice little boy. And then you know I'm like I'm here to help you. This is terrible, but changing that mentality and it's a little bit difficult for me because I like to do a lot, like just get things done myself, like I could do it faster than you, let me do it.
Speaker 2:But you get to a certain place, you know now you're eight years into it, where you start thinking, okay, well, I'm not 21 anymore, but there are some 21 year olds starting, um, that mentorship, that like trying to pour into others things I've learned, and you start, you know, getting there and you're still doing it while young if you're. That's kind of like the change. I hear you saying where now I'm kind of thinking a little bit more how I speak to others and and and, perchance, maybe you'll have the ability to have some younger people. Then you enter homicide. Maybe it's already happened and now you're hey guys, look, you know, here's some things that I've seen, and you're going to start trying to demonstrate it, first of all by example and then by just helping them get there. So it's.
Speaker 3:You can't force anything on anyone in this world, right? It's almost like a sales pitch, you know, when you're walking around the mall and it's like these people throwing merchandise at you and they're like come try our product, and they're like trying to force this on you. It's very similar to trying to help people, right? And it's like whether it's peer support, you know, for mental health, or it's, you know, just trying to help an officer on a case, and you're like, hey, like maybe you should do it this way instead of telling him hey, do it this way.
Speaker 3:You know, because some people everyone learns differently, and I love teaching. I think it's huge and I think it hits a different way for these young officers when they see a young cop trying to help them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Well, we got our first call. I believe this call is from out of town, but let me see. Good morning or good afternoon, you're on the air. We have a little time left here.
Speaker 4:Okay, all I have to say is George from St Petersburg.
Speaker 2:George, good to have you on.
Speaker 4:Man, I just want to thank you guys. I know a few guys were in the morning. My nephew, his girlfriend, was having a baby and they couldn't find the heartbeat. They couldn't find nothing but through the prayers she said she's in the hospital. So far everything's going good. They will let me know tomorrow what's the detail.
Speaker 2:We'll do what. We'll definitely have that in prayer. Thank you, george, for the call and for that family, the staff in the hospital, and just continue to pray. We have our Ask a Cop program. So I know you are a big supporter and love and always are doing your part in praying and being there for the officers. Appreciate it.
Speaker 4:Yes, I'm there, man, and just I'll close it with this and just end it very, very quick. I know you have your lack of of time. Keep on trusting in god, that's all I say. Don't lose your faith, hang on. Remind yourself the movie of rocky that never gave up and he won the battle absolutely, man.
Speaker 2:It's one punch at a time. At times it's a fight, but but. But we know who wins at the end exactly awesome.
Speaker 4:Thank you, george. All right, have a great one. Thanks for calling, but we know who wins at the end Exactly Awesome.
Speaker 2:God bless you. Thank you, george. All right, have a great one. Thanks for calling. And so, again, that was 786-313-3115 is the phone number you can text or call and we can get to. You live here on the air.
Speaker 2:So, danny, we're talking about, just again, the mentorship, trying to help others, and, again, one of the reasons why the Mental Health Conference has come up right. We're not experts, bleeding blue, I'm. You know I'm not saying anything. That's not news. It's not. This is not news to anyone. You know, it's not this group of experts that got together and no, it's just people who are there and wanted to help and has been putting it together, figuring it out even along the way, and I think that only lends itself to how much more it's helped, because that's where most of us are. We're figuring this thing out.
Speaker 2:And so I'm so thankful that the risk involved because you put yourself out there and some bleeding blue and everyone that's on the board and everyone who's been involved last year was a risk. I mean, it could have risk. It could have been. What an idiot, what a terrible organization, you know. So there's risk in all these things and some people might see what bleeding blue is doing or other organizations like and there's so many people we can mention um, you know amazing people that have come around you, come around all the work happening and yeah, and it was. You're putting yourself out there, you're being exposed to it. But I think the reason is because maybe it could work. You know, and that's a mentality I have a lot of times it's like I don't know if it's all gonna work, but but maybe it could. So let's do it, let's try.
Speaker 3:So you were part of the committee at the time of hosting last year's conference and it was a scary ride. It was definitely a lot of money that was invested into it and little by little, as things started to develop and we prayed over it, sponsors came forward and the event ended up being covered. And then you can host an event and you can have all this. All these sponsors give you 20, 30, 40 000 to cover it, but if no one shows up, what was the point of it, right.
Speaker 3:And I think that that day at the end of the conference, I think we all realized that we did something bigger than has ever been done before in the first responder community and, honestly, I remember telling somebody at the end I was like again if we, if we spent this money to save one person's life there, it was worth it. And I remember just standing there. I didn't get to enjoy the conference, I was running around, my head cut off. But I remember, as people were leaving, people just kept coming up to me and random people I've never seen before and they're like Danny, thank you so much, you saved my life, danny. You don't know what this did to me, danny. You don't know how this helped my relationship, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. There's a bunch of board members involved.
Speaker 2:There's a bunch of volunteers involved, and a lot of them got positive feedback. You've got to have a pretty face too, yeah.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I appreciate that and I don't remember these people and I would remember them coming up to me and I was like wait, can you tell me your name at least Let me get something to reach back out to you and see how we can make this a bigger and better event. So the positive feedback was great this conference this year between our board members and our mental health committee, we've been able to put together a great lineup of speakers.
Speaker 2:Tell us a little bit about those uh speakers just maybe. I mean, I know we have 10 minutes or so left, but just give us a little idea what we got in store for this year yeah, so it's no secret.
Speaker 3:You know we're very transparent. We have bleeding blue and um, we'll start off the day with, uh, sheriff rosie and the commissioner, roberto gonzalez, who are, you know, big supporters of the event. I believe the mayor is going to swing by, um, if it fits in her schedule, and at that point we will start the day with john savadra. He's a lieutenant with our department. He's gone through multiple police involved shootings, and he'll talk about his testimonies. Um, as far as you know what that trauma looks like, you know being involved in that and how he overcame it, right, that's the goal of this. Um, we'll move into a four-pillar panel, right? So we'll talk about the four pillars of mental health. We're going to start off with mental wellness, physical healing or physical fitness, spiritual healing and then financial. So we'll have experts in all four of those fields on a panel discussion on stage and then that'll move into.
Speaker 3:We have a firefighter that's coming in who is a retired firefighter, became a clinician and he's an artist and he expresses emotion through art and it's actually a very unique approach. His artwork is very well known in the first responder community. I'm sure we've all seen it If you were to go onto his page. His artwork is very well known in the first responder community. I'm sure we've all seen it. If you were to go onto his page, his name is dan son. Dan son art on instagram and you know we have him flying in from canada and our canada. Yeah, I, uh, I didn't even know how to say his last name, so I mean it's, it's gonna be.
Speaker 3:You know we end the day with Jason Sheckerly. He is a now retired police officer who was trapped inside of a police vehicle and 40% of his body is burnt to crisp, basically completely altering his physical appearance. You know, I actually was previewed to his presentation that he's going to be giving and there's images on there that are very hard to see. And you know, now he's traveling the world giving his testimony, trying to help other people, uplifting hearts and spirits, and you know it's going to be a great conference.
Speaker 2:So we have, you know, a great lineup of people there. You have, I know, a couple other people just maybe sharing about their own experience or the organizations they're with Some of the local. You know some more local people and then you have a lot of tables. So tell us a little bit about what to expect. I'm a first responder. I said, fine, I'll go to this thing. What do I got to lose? Look, first of all, it's practically free, because you're going to get snacks, you get coffee, you get water, but you get lunch.
Speaker 3:Breakfast and lunch.
Speaker 2:You get breakfast and lunch Just the things Everyone gets a swag bag Swag bag I like the new name, it was goodie bag Sounds like goodie bag, everything that you're paying for in a sense. So, um, obviously there's costs. I hope people understand that if you're out there and I love you. Police officer, friends that have told me this they're like what it's not free and I was like it's more than quadruple, quintuple. I don't know a higher way to say uh, worth the money.
Speaker 3:So what's what's? 40 to save your life right and Right.
Speaker 2:I mean you go to McDonald's today.
Speaker 3:I spent $20 on McDonald's yesterday with my girlfriend. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:It's not a fast food saving money place anymore.
Speaker 3:Vendors, vendors.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So vendors we have about 20 vendors. I think there's going to be 21 now after today's email, but we're kind of targeting.
Speaker 2:Maybe 22 after today's email? Um, but we're kind of targeting maybe 22 after today's live program.
Speaker 3:If you want to hit us up bleedingblueinfo um, we're kind of targeting every, every aspect and I talked about the four pillars, right. So if you are struggling with, you know, stress and depression from financial issues that you're dealing with, you know there's going to be two financial advisors there, uh, with resources to help you out. If you are on the spiritual side, there is chaplains and a Mighty Oaks Foundation who's flying in to provide, you know, assistance, knowledge, training and, on the spiritual side of things, or even just prayer, mental health resources. There's a bunch of different organizations that are there with different tools for you. Organizations that are there with different tools for you Some of our local departments, some are private organizations, some are 24-7 hotlines. Miami-dade's peer support team is going to be there as well, and which one did I miss?
Speaker 1:Mental wellness physical, oh physical.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we have a doctor who's going to be on stage. She's an acupuncturist. I didn't know that was a word until I met her Sounds made up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I know firsthand personally. My girlfriend goes to acupuncture and it's changed her life and I don't like needles so I'm not doing that, but I know that it works. I know that it's something that it's, you know, obviously medically it's a profession and it's something that has healed other people. So, different approach you know there's there's vendors for all types of areas that you may need and you know we're excited to have everybody there. These are people that are, you know, taking the time to also continue to expand their knowledge and it's not only setting up a table, it's partaking and interacting with the crowd.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and so if you're interested in being part of that again, just reach out to bleedingblueinfo. You can call us 786-313-3115. If you happen to be listening to this at a later date after July 19, which this year, the conference is Saturday July 19. Don't wait till the week of Does registration close?
Speaker 3:So we will not close doors for anybody.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, so don't make Danny's life more frustrated and anxious and dying when you wait till the last week. So you know what? If you're not sure, just buy the ticket anyway.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then if you don't show, up.
Speaker 2:You paid it forward. It's still gonna go toward, uh, toward good stuff. So if you were listening again on a later date and you're like, man, it's past july 19, um, and I'm still listening to this podcast, well, look, there's not only a possibility of the following year and the different resources, but just go to bleedingblueinfo and reach out and say, hey, I listened to a podcast and I didn't get to go to the conference. What do you got? And we'll hook you up.
Speaker 3:We'll hook you up. Every third Saturday of the month there's a first responder peer support group. They meet up in Kendall I think there's two locations now. Actually, you can message us about some information there there if you're a clinician that's listening. We do host now culturally competent training for clinicians. Uh, so there's a variety of of resources and tools that bleeding blue is expanding on and as time goes on, we will continue growing that mental health, uh. Part of the organization yep, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And so, uh, again, the whole point reach out, reach out and um, share with the family. Uh, he mentioned danny, meant. You know, you mentioned just the importance of the family. You know, maybe you're like, ah, my husband and my wife is a police officer. They're they're forced to work that saturday. Of course it always happens, but but you're the family member, you come on out, you're the mom, you're the dad, you come on out, um, not only would you be supporting Bleeding Blue, but you'll be able to benefit yourself from seeing that.
Speaker 2:And I've seen those experiences. Like you mentioned that daughter, you know, I remember one daughter specifically telling her dad in front of me in a family event that we were having for police mental health related. And she's like, man, you know, because of these programs, because of this, I have I don't just have my sergeant dad, which was that's what we used to call him because he was like on sergeant mode all the time. But, man, I have my dad back, you know, and what a difference that makes. And you know what that shows me too. It's never too late. It's never too late for our kids, for our family, for ourself, to decide to do whatever it is that we need to do. At that moment, you know it's too late, forget it and you maybe want to dive deeper into not the best ways to deal with things. Not the best ways to deal with things. It's always the right time to start doing those things that we know are going to benefit us, are going to benefit our family. It's not an easy road, but it's worth it.
Speaker 3:I mean, there's even a networking aspect of it as well. Right, I remember some individuals who joined us last year are now really close friends and have started a podcast together, and these are two complete strangers, both cops in different counties and saw each other at the conference, probably shared a few words, exchanged phone numbers, had a similar story and now they're doing God's work. So, I mean it's, not only I mean it's, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Get up Saturday morning, july 19th. Hey listen, I'm getting up. July 19th.
Speaker 3:I'll be there for sure, bright and early, 5 am 5 am sounds fun.
Speaker 2:That's your favorite time of the day5 am. Yeah, we talked about in the beginning of this right full circle here. If you had to go back, danny, to one event that you guys have hosted that just kind of stood out above others. Um, is there any one event?
Speaker 3:yeah, absolutely which one absolutely.
Speaker 3:Um, julian was a, or is a, monroe county sheriff. Uh, who was who lost his leg. He is now a amputee on a prosthetic and we hosted an event for him with, alongside uh, the key largo and key west commission and community, a massive event that we hosted and it was, you know, he attended it even with his prosthetic that day. Yeah, actually, I don't even think he had a prosthetic yet because he was, uh in a wheelchair still. Um, you know, traffic accident real quick, short story traffic accident. As he was doing a arrest, uh dui came and hit the back of his patrol vehicle, pinned him against the other vehicle. He lost his leg.
Speaker 3:20-something-year-old officer, two years on the job, very eager to continue his career, loses his leg. We do an event for him and now he is a volunteer for Bleeding Blue. He supports it. He gives back financially. He's shown up at 7 am to help my mom set up a tannin table because I wasn't able to. He's even gone with me to donate checks to other recipients that we fundraised for and one year later he started working this week back on the road in.
Speaker 3:Monroe, so he's an amputee with a prosthetic and one year later you know between being a recipient of funds to being a volunteer with bleeding blue. And now you know back to full-time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and I, I love to see the, the bleeding blue or that let me know that's not true. I love to see the blue family just in general bleeding blue part of it. You know, danny and others, so many people involved. Um, you know, just to see the family that is made from it. So well, we're getting to the end here. I'm going to end with a prayer.
Speaker 2:I just think it's appropriate um praying for july 19, praying for everyone going, praying for people to sign up and and get out there, and um, just thanking everyone for for listening if you're listening on the recorded or on the live program. We're thankful for your prayers and your support as well. So, father, god, I just thank you. I thank you for Danny, thank you for Beating Blue Imperfect people that you take, like me, like Danny, like us, and you do something with us. I pray we would never steal or take the glory, god. We do it because you have given us breath of life and you give it to us every day, and we could be so grateful for another day. We get to serve and help someone because of what you've done for us, god, ultimately. So I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to ask a cop for more information or to get in contact with us. Visit our website, police, thank youcom. You'll also find out how you can support us again. Just visit police, thank youcom. 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.