The Squad Room

Cyndi Doyle is a licensed professional counselor and Nationally Board Certified Counselor. She is also certified in Critical Incident Stress Management and serves the Dallas/Fort Worth area on several response teams. Cyndi is also a LEO wife so her work with cops and family members is very relevant to our talk today. She’s a 3 time presenter at the IACP and the host of the Code 4 Couples Podcast,...

Nick Metz is the retired chief of police of Aurora, Colorado, the 3rd largest city in the state. Before coming to Aurora as the new chief, Nick spent over 30 years with the Seattle Police Department where he rose to the rank of deputy chief — before being demoted — and we talk about that demotion in this conversation. During his time in Aurora, Nick made international headlines when on...

Lorenzo Glenn is active lieutenant for the Anaheim Police Department in California. If you’re not familiar with Anaheim, it’s the epicenter of Disneyland, Angels Stadium, and the Honda Arena. Lorenzo is currently in charge of the Air Operations Unit and the Peer Support Team. He is also the current president of the Public Safety Peer Support Association. Lorenzo has over 30 years in law enforcemen...

Robb Wolf is a former research biochemist and the 2X New York Times/WSJ Best Selling author of The Paleo Solution and Wired To Eat .  Robb has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast , books and seminars. Robb also has extensive experience working with first responders.  In this episode, we talk about the paleo diet which he is fa...

Bruce Valles is the Founder and CEO of Mindbase, a Seattle startup aimed at solving the mental health crisis within public safety. Bruce was motivated to start Mindbase after seeing his uncle’s struggles with mental illness while he was a cop and corrections officer in Arizona.  Bruce has spent the last 12 years in tech, from startups to fortune 500 companies on revenue and operations teams....

Jen Satterly is an author, speaker and wife to Command Sergeant Major (ret.) Tom Satterly who appeared on episode 138. With Tom, she is the co-founder of the All Secure Foundation .  When Jen met Tom, his second marriage was about to implode due to his unresolved trauma and severe PTSD. Eventually, they married and Jen realized she was in for the ride of her life as she tried to wrestle with...

Command Sergeant Major (ret.) Tom Satterly spent 20 years in the U.S. Army’s secretive and elite Delta Force. Tom’s first deployment with The Unit was the infamous 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the book and movie Black Hawk Down. Over the next 20 years, Tom deployed all around the world and was on the mission that captured Saddam Hussein.  But all of that came at a cost. Two broken...

Victoria Newman is the president of How2LoveOurCops.org . She’s the author of “A CHiP on My Shoulder – How to Love Your Cop with Attitude” and “A Marriage in Progress: Tactical Support for Law Enforcement Relationships.” She’s a national speaker and contributing writer for Law Officer among many many other pursuits. Victoria’s husband is Chief Brent Newman of the California Highway Patrol wh...

Pete James is a forensic and online database expert. After he retired as a lieutenant from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office in California, he formed OfficerPrivacy.com to help officers and other first responders protect themselves and their families by limiting the amount of information that’s out there on the internet.  And trust me, there’s a lot! In this episode with Pete, you will l...

Bill Mauro is the author of The Stoic Cop: Policing Through Stoic Virtue. Bill is also a deputy sheriff in Florida with a family in law enforcement.  A few years ago, Bill found himself struggling with a deep depression and thoughts of suicide. A miraculous intervention with a stranger changed his life and he eventually found his strength and guidance in Stoicism.  I can’t overstate how important...

James Geering is a firefighter, professional stuntman, published author and host of the Behind the Shield Podcast. James has been in the fire service on both coasts of the United States and shares his incredible story about how he was driven to become a firefighter from an early age – and it provokes some reflection in Garrett about a formative event in his childhood that he shares on the sh...

Pete Havel is the author of The Arsonist in the Office: Fireproofing Your Life Against Toxic Coworkers, Bosses, Employees and Cultures, was named Amazon’s #1 Hot New Release for Management Books and has reached #2 on Amazon’s bestseller list in multiple categories. Pete is a speaker, trainer, and consultant for organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to churches to nonprofits to law enfor...

Mike Doyle of the Tactical Tangents Podcast joins me on this episode of The Squad Room. Mike is a K9 handler for a large urban police department in Arizona, a new father, a podcaster, and dare I say renaissance man — whatever that means these days.  In this episode you’ll learn how Mike and I have done some of the gritty work of asking for feedback from others and how early missteps in...

Dennis Benigno is the founder and owner of Street Cop Training, perhaps the largest privately-held law enforcement organization in the country, and they’re growing quickly.  Dennis joins us to talk about his career and how he navigated through a start in corrections, to federal law enforcement and eventually, back home working in the New Jersey town he grew up in. In 2015, Dennis was injured...

One day not too long ago, Officer Nick Wilson was on his way to jail. But there was a problem.  The problem was that despite countless trips to county before, this time he was riding in the backseat.  He had just been arrested for DUI. But the problem was actually bigger than that. Nick was suffering from a dangerous combination of physical injuries from his career and emotional and ment...

On October 9, 2017, Carmen East’s life changed forever.  Her husband, Texas Tech University Police Officer Floyd East Jr. was shot and killed on duty.  Carmen joins me on The Squad Room to tell the heart-wrenching story of losing her high-school sweetheart in the line of duty. Her story, and her relationship with Floyd is an absolute must-hear episode.  Carmen shares how Floyd’s lif...

I often get asked how to build resilience quickly. You just have to answer one important question. And then you answer that question over and over and over again. On this episode, my guest Brian Willis helps us learn how to apply a simple acronym – W.I.N. – to create resilience, improve focus, and become better leaders. We also talk about how leadership is a choice, not a rank, and wha...

Tony Blauer is the founder of Blauer Tactical and the S.P.E.A.R. System of self-defense. A world-renowned self-defense expert and law enforcement trainer, Tony has studied fear and how our bodies use fear to keep us safe. In this episode, Tony and I cover a wide range of topics including:  To be the best version of yourself, you need self-awareness.  To make good decisions, you need to m...

Dakota Meyer knows a thing or two about how to move forward and overcoming adversity. That’s why it was a great experience to have him on the newest episode of The Squad Room. A short review of Dakota’s life shows you some of the major obstacles he has confronted and overcome by accepting his reality:  The Battle of Ganjgal where he lost four friends and earned the Medal of Honor. ...

Jonathan Montgomery used to be fat firefighter. Before that, he was a roadie for some of the biggest pop punk bands of the 90s. Several years ago, Jonathan got his act together and lost a ton of weight and is now a ripped former firefighter who owns First In Nutrition along with his wife Anne, also a former firefighter.  Jonathan loved working as a firefighter but saw his bigger calling was h...

Man, and I thought 2019 was rough…2020 isn’t just a dumpster fire, it’s a full-on landfill burning out of control.  My wife and I couldn’t stand staring at the same four walls anymore so we decided on a last minute road-trip to Colorado…and now I’m sitting in the waiting room of Urgent Care waiting for my son to get tested for COVID.  That escalated qu...

This episode of The Squad Room was a recent favorite. I sit down (socially distanced via Zoom of course) with Justin Walker. Justin is a full-time officer at a major metropolitan department and a full-time SWAT officer. He’s also the owner of MilMak Blades and even a podcaster! (seriously, check out his show The Man Minutes, it’s really good).  We talk about a wide variety of topics on...

I’ve been reluctant to add my voice to the chorus of talking heads surrounding the issues we’re currently facing in policing. However, I’ve been encouraged to do so by some people I respect greatly, and asked by many others for my input.  I’ll admit that I was also scared to chime in. Cancel culture has brought us to the point that the slightest misstep or poorly phras...

After graduating from West Point, Jason Van Camp earned his Ranger tabs in 2002. Along with the 101st Airborne, Jason was part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 2006, Jason went through selection and earned his green beret. Afterward, he was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group as a Detachment Commander. In 14 years of service, Jason earned the Bronze Star with V device for Valor, and two a...

Dr. Kevin Gilmartin is one of the preeminent police psychologists in the country. He is the author of the Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement, an absolute must read for any cop or LEO spouse. Dr. Gilmartin’s one-day seminar sells out all over the world and he is one of the best presenters I’ve ever seen. In this episode we talk about: How to activate your parasympathetic nervous sys...