ATO: BRIDGING THE DIVIDE

ATO today’s episode features one of the true leaders of the Dallas Police Department and one of the most influential people in Dallas Police over the last three decades. This is a story of how a young kid from Houston came to Dallas Texas to serve the City in 1994 and end his career as the President over the Department’s largest Association. Mike started in God’s country, the Southeast Division, a...

Stop Minding Your Own Business  ***Trigger Warning: Death by Suicide conversation***  We want to ring in the New Year and welcome on the great Dallas Attorney Terry Bentley Hill to our ATO Family. Terry turned her personal tragedy into a new mission in speaking on the very uncomfortable topic of a person taking their own life. She can speak from the unique perspective of being someone left behind...

Merry Christmas ATO Family  This message is from Kent, Joe, and two special guest cohosts in Sasha Kim and Omar Figueroa. We are extremely grateful for our loyal listeners. We want to say thank you to some of our day one listeners and we want to give special mentions to some of the many folks that have reached out with inspiring messages. This message we will talk about upcoming episodes and proje...

In Remembrance of James Lynn Baker II, A.K.A “Mr. Jackson” ”The Dallas SWAT saved my life” This show takes pride in providing a variety of topics and guests and although we are all different, we are still human beings. We are flawed, we are complex, we are unique, and we all have the potential to serve at the highest levels.  However, some of us take very different paths….dark paths, before we fin...

Welcome back ATO Family! This episode has been a project since this show began as we finally tell the story of the attack on Dallas Police Headquarters on June 13th, 2015. At approximately 12:30 am a suspect, driving an armored van, drove to police headquarters in Dallas Texas and planted bags containing pipe bombs and opened fire on the front of the building with an assault rifle. Several officer...

Today’s episode details a collaboration between two countries, The United States and Australia, that have the same goal in combating the flow of illicit drugs into their countries. The Drug Enforcement Administration was formed in 1973, by the Nixon administration, for the war on drugs and over the years this administration has grown, evolved and they have been the countries leading experts on ill...

"Check in on each other." Today’s episode will welcome on two true Texas servants in Gretchen and Aaron Grigsby as they will detail their lives of service and how they found each other to form this true partnership. Both are homegrown true Texans and both, albeit via different routes, traveled a path that led them to the Lone Star State’s Capitol, Austin Texas. Gretchen worked for the Governor’s O...

“You can’t do this” Today’s guest is an artist with the Dallas Police Department. He’s not an artist that uses an easel, paint brush, or canvas, instead he uses his personality, drive and natural adaptability as his tools to present his own form of artwork. He treats undercover work as a form of artwork…. he uses his tools to gain to win the target’s admiration and trust, then betray them for the...

Welcome back ATO Family…..today we bring you a special Message from the Host. And we want to introduce the Blue Goes Pink Initiative.  Backing the Blue or showing the Thin Blue Line is a way of letting the community and police officers know that they have your admiration and respect. With that in mind, "Blue Goes Pink" is a way of showing that same admiration and respect to the individuals that ha...

"Law enforcement had different plans for me" ATO Family please welcome retired Dallas SWAT and current Texas Attorney General Fugitive Unit Chris Webb is back on the mic for another episode. He sat in his own episode to talk about his incredible career and also a vision that he had back in 2019 to continue to serve his brothers and sisters in the first responder community by creating a retreat tha...

"Always come home". This is the story of a young Dallas Officer who had ambitions of fighting crime, serving the city and starting a new family. Mitchell Penton embraced the Northeast Patrol Division’s fast pace and settled in with several other young officers that became a blue family.  Mitchell loved being a cop….was a loyal son, a devoted father, and husband and everyone in his life looked to t...

Welcome back to the show for our 80th episode and we will be taking you back in time to the age of hair bands, the cold war, and the rise of cocaine in the United States. Ground zero for cocaine distribution into the US was Florida and specifically the city of Miami as it rolled into our country from Columbia.  With all the cocaine that was pouring in brought not only the ungodly amount of cash bu...

“Act Outside the Box”   Welcome back ATO Family   Today we welcome the Boss of Dallas PD back to the mic as we talk about the Dallas Police Department’s mission in making mental wellness a priority.   Over the last couple of months Dallas has endured tragedies with officers taking their own life as well as losing officers to medical emergencies. Chief Eddie Garcia is here to talk about making his...

Support the good, condemn the bad, honor the fallen. Our next guest grew up in a very small town in NORTHERN Minnesota, which is why his accent is still so strong despite the fact he hasn’t lived there since 2005. He spent his childhood playing every sport possible, with a year-round focus on hockey. He played hockey in college at Hamline University where he graduated with a degree in criminal jus...

" I do not recognize my own reflection staring back at me" On September 11th, 2001, todays guest woke up to head to work to the World Trade Center to lead a meeting on an upcoming event.  Her stress began as she sat behind a wreck on the way to the twin towers. The life of a Secret Service Agent is calculated and the importance of being punctual is paramount as she parked and quickly entered the W...

“Struggle and pain, and fear and shame, are part of the human condition.”  Welcome back ATO family!  Today we give the stage to Lifeologie founder Melanie Wells (LPC-S, LMFT-S, RYT, PYT) as she educates us on the difficulties of navigating life and relationships. The first responder world endures much trauma in the work life but even more in the homelife as marital issues, bad coping skills, bad c...

“A Front Row Seat to Life”  ATO Family today we are celebrating our milestone 75th episode with a true piece of Dallas Police and ATO history with David Rodriguez. David was born in 1948 and grew up in a segregated West Dallas and joined the Vietnam War right after high school. At this time Dallas PD had their recruiting doors wide open for veterans of this war and David walked right through those...

Welcome back to another message from the host as we sit down with Kathleen,Justin, and Alex from the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers to discuss the 23rd Annual Freedom Run. This run was created in November 2001, after the deadly 9/11 attacks, to honor first responders dedication to serving their communities across the country. DAYL was formed in the 1920s and is now nearly three thousand membe...

Episode 74 Garland Texas Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Detective Tony Godwin ****Sensitive Material Warning**** Welcome back ATO Blue Family. Today we are sitting with a true expert in his field, a law enforcement Hall of Famer, a Detective that investigates some of the most horrific crimes against the truly vulnerable…..children. Garland Pd Detective Tony Godwin has been a De...

Episode 73 Dallas Police Homicide Sergeant Jessica Criddle Welcome back ATO Family as we are extremely happy to welcome Dallas native, Homicide Sgt. Jessica Criddle to the ATO stage and pull back the curtain a bit on this amazing human’s life. She attended The Booker T. Washington Highschool for Arts and studied dance. She then ventured to Sam Houston State and dove into Biology Pre-Med and Dance...

Welcome back ATO family. "You saved your partner's life" Today we are sitting down with former Los Angeles Police Department David Klinger as he tells us his story of starting in LA PD in the 80s and immediately being thrusted into a life in death situation as he had to take a life to protect his partners in the streets of LA.  Following his shooting he continued his work in law enforcement and de...

Episode 71 Dallas Police Assistant Chief Reuben Ramirez #7345  From Idea to Implementation  Welcome back ATO family and welcome on Dallas Police Assistant Chief Reuben Ramirez who commands the Tactical Support Division. The Units under his command include Dallas SWAT, Gang Unit, Narcotics Division, Fugitive Unit, Mounted, K-9, Traffic/Motors and the Helicopter Unit. He started Dallas PD in 1995 an...

Episode 70 Cedar Rapids Iowa Police Dept. Matt Jenatscheck “The Rolodex” ATO Family please welcome one of our blue family members that has traveled over 800 miles to take the stage for the listeners. Nearly a year ago the ATO received a heartfelt message of gratitude, and it formed a new friendship many states away. This rollercoaster of a story will touch on many topics and have many emotions but...

A Message from the Host XI with Rebecca Leppert of the Pro Players Foundation Very Special guest cohosts Dallas K9 Angela Arredondo and Sgt Andrea Shipp. Hello ATO Fam and welcome back for a quick message. Today we are sitting down with Chief Operating Officer Rebecca Leppert from the Pro Players Foundation that is dedicated to improving the quality of lives for the most in innocent in the world w...

Episode 69 Dallas Police Placed Network Investigations Task Force Brandon Dye #11015  Welcome back ATO friends as we welcome on a guest that proves that determination, desire and support can lead to a path of greatness no matter where you grow up. It about the people around you and that inner drive that can propel you to having the desire to being the human being that can help others and make your...