The Hero Next Door

Keith Billiot spent nearly 31 years in law enforcement, including three decades with the DEA. He began buying drugs undercover at 23 with zero training, rose through the ranks to lead tactical teams and a Special Operations Division desk, and helped orchestrate the capture of Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a globally designated cartel kingpin in Jamaica. In this episode, Billiot details a deadly force...

Former Daytona Beach mounted police officer turned Federal Air Marshal, Sonya LaBosco, joins Nick Searcy and Dr. Darcy Leutzinger to share her frontline journey from local law enforcement through the post-9/11 air marshal expansion. LaBosco details how she exposed the government's Quiet Skies program, which placed law-abiding Americans on domestic terrorist watch lists after January 6th. She revea...

Tim Clemente knew he wanted to be a cop before he could spell the word. From the blood-soaked streets of St. Louis's Third District to the FBI's most classified counter-terrorism operations, his career reads like a national security briefing. In this episode, Tim sits down with Nick Searcy and Dr. Darcy Leutzinger to recount five homicides in a single shift, flipping a foreign head of state on day...

Brian Sizemore lost his son, Lucas, a young Atlanta Police officer, to suicide on January 9, 2024. There were no warning signs. Lucas was an all-American kid from Michigan who graduated from the Atlanta Police Academy, earned marksman status, and served in one of the city's toughest zones. In this episode, Brian shares Lucas's journey from deer camp to badge, the phone call no parent should receiv...

Jim Etzin, Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services Coordinator at Oakland County Tactical Consortium, delivers a comprehensive operational briefing on active violence response in America. From the 1984 McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro to Columbine, Aurora, Pulse, and Uvalde, Etzin traces the paradigm shifts that changed how law enforcement answers these threats. He addresses solo officer e...

Lieutenant Dan Colasanto, Garland (Texas) Police Department SWAT Commander and President of the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association, joins The Hero Next Door to talk mission focus under pressure, what the public gets wrong about SWAT, and how tactics and technology have changed. He also recounts being shot during a 1998 narcotics warrant and breaks down the 2015 Garland response that stoppe...

Former Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson walks through the real story of the Michael Brown shooting, the riots that followed, and how a manufactured “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative fueled nationwide unrest. He explains his decisions on the scene, FOIA, media pressure, social media, DOJ targeting, and the long-term toll on police, families, and communities.

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn shares his journey from Jal, New Mexico to leading one of America’s largest sheriff’s offices, his Air Force service, becoming Texas’ youngest police chief, fighting fentanyl and cartel crime, shaping Texas laws like the Chris Kyle Bill, and building a world‑class training academy—all while raising 10 children, most of them adopted.

Former ATF special agent Sheila Stephens spent her career hunting violent criminals, infiltrating gangs, and running undercover operations across the country. But the injury that ended her time in the field nearly ended her life as well. In this powerful first episode of The Hero Next Door , Sheila sits down with host Dr. Darcy Leutzinger and the Proud American Studios team to talk about what real...