Skip to content Choir Practice: A retired Seattle cop on freedom, faith and fellowship May 8 · 41 min ...more
Choir Practice: A retired Seattle cop on freedom, faith and fellowship
May 8, 2025 · 41 min
He served in one of the most anti-police cities in America during the 2020 riots, and yet he refused to turn his eyes away from God. Now he's doing some incredible work to bring cops to Jesus.
Series Choir Practice May 8, 2025 · 41 min · Choir Practice
He served in one of the most anti-police cities in America during the 2020 riots, and yet he refused to turn his eyes away from God. Now he's doing some incredible work to bring cops to Jesus. ...more Show the full description Show less He served in one of the most anti-police cities in America during the 2020 riots, and yet he refused to turn his eyes away from God. Now he's doing some incredible work to bring cops to Jesus.
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In this video 0:00 A Call to Serve and Support3:27 Challenges and Resilience in Law Enforcement17:21 Faith and Ministry in Action
A Call to Serve and Support 0:00 I'm being joined, in the law enforcement today studio with, CEO Kyle Reyes as well. I am so excited about what God is doing. This has just been a really,0:11 special, opportunity, tonight just to be up here in Connecticut. Just the way things worked out. I am just so grateful to, Kyle Reyes just to be able to be up here, to be able to, to0:23 do this Zoom here tonight and for him to be able to join me. So I just wanna just invite him in for a minute, just to share, anything that, you know, kinda guys put on his heart to share with you all, and0:35 then we'll go from there.0:36 Thanks, Rilla. Yeah. Thanks, Kevin. Everybody, good evening. I know, many of you are probably exhausted if you're East Coast time like I am over here. You know, I'm I'm blessed to speak at all sorts of conferences0:48 and galas and events, and I'm never never nervous. Right? Like, I'll get up there in front of 10, 15000 people and and never think twice about it. It's the first time in a long time I've been nervous. Like, here in our0:59 own home and the law enforcement today's studio, when you asked me to do this, I thought, what do I, of all people, have to contribute that's going to have an impact in in the couple of minutes here that's going1:11 to to touch somebody or or encourage them. What's up, America? Time for another episode of Acquire Practice. I've got my cohost here.1:20 Hey, Bernie. Good morning. How's everybody doing today? And We've got Jeremy Wade, our special guest from, well, I
1:26 mean, originally from the other side of the country, but not anymore. Right?
1:29 Yeah. I'm in Tennessee now coming, was from in Seattle.
1:33 So the idea behind choir practice is?
1:36 That we get together, generally to decompress after a day in law enforcement, whether it's a cocktail or not an alcoholic, but sharing the solidarity, the brother and sisterhood of law enforcement,
1:48 and the blessings of being together.
1:50 So we have, people flying from all over the country. Once a month, we film out here at the studio in Connecticut, the law enforcement today studio. And the idea behind the whiskey wall, started years ago. We have a
2:00 series called behind the uniforms. We invite active and retired emergency responders and veterans. They come out here. They bring a bottle of whiskey. We share a cocktail. They tell you a story about a good day on the
2:09 job, a lousy day on the job, and then their name goes on the bottle, the bottle goes on the wall. So this is truly a wall of stories, but we have, you know, many guys don't drink. We rarely drink anything ourselves
2:20 anymore. And so in those and in those cases, they'll bring in some kind of a memento, something that they leave behind on the wall. So we we had a rock from the top of Mount Everest. We've had a Paul Butler. Paul Butler
2:32 brought his badge. Yep. And so, we encourage you to take part in the series, but we also take part in something here internally whenever we're all together, whether we're breaking bread, whether we have meetings.
2:43 We always as an organization and as a family, start everything in prayer. And so we decided that instead of just doing that off camera, we should start doing that on camera because we are in a place in society where we
2:55 need God in our lives more than ever before. So I've asked Jeremy, our guest, to lead us in prayer today.
3:00 Yeah. Dua, just thank you for today. Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for the brave men and women serving to protect, all of our communities across our country. Pray that you'd protect
3:12 them. Pray that you guide them, direct them, and that you're with their families, that serve behind the badges. I pray that just as a nation, that we can turn to you and trust you,
3:24 in all that we do. In Jesus name, amen.
3:26 Amen. So we'd like to start off every episode with giving some shout outs to some of the incredible people, businesses out there that that support us and support the series. None of these, in the spirit of full
Challenges and Resilience in Law Enforcement
3:36 disclosure, none of these are paid endorsements at all. People send us products. We give them shout outs. They send us patches. We say what's up. So I'm just gonna go through real quick. Warrior 12, obviously, my
3:47 favorite apparel brand. I love this shirt. Trust in God, not politicians. I sent a picture of this shirt to to my boy Eli Crane, my best buddy. He's a congressman out of Arizona now, former
3:58 Navy Seal, had started a company called Bottle Breacher. They turned 50 cow bullets into bottle openers, and Eli was like, dude, they need to send these shirts to every single member of congress. So love it. My friend
4:09 retired US marshal from Maryland, just sent us out his patch, the United States marshal district of Maryland. So this is going up on our patch wall. We just had the Carolina field office. CID
4:21 sent us their vise and narcotics squad patch and challenge coin. So thank you guys going on the wall and a challenge coin wall. Then we have obviously some warrior that's for you this time. Warrior 12 drinking wear.
4:34 So these guys, I love this. Make honey great again dot com. It's obviously daddy t. It's Trump. They sent us this. And if you go to make honey great again dot com and you use promo code LAT, they're
4:45 actually putting 5 dollars from every single sale into a fund to help wounded officers to get here to the whiskey wall to tell their story. So super cool. Thank you guys. Make honey great again dot com. Promo code LAT.
4:56 That is the paid endorsement, if you will. There you go. And then, a couple more quick shout outs. So sticky holster, don't worry. These are all clear. They are unloaded for everyone who's going, oh my god. They have
5:07 guns at the whiskey wall right now. The sticky holsters sent us these holsters for everyday carry. Super cool stuff. These guys are huge supporters of law enforcement. So I said, you send us some holsters, and we will
5:18 give you a shout out. They make all different sizes. It literally sticks against you and holds in place, so it's great for everyday carry. I'm actually going to be carrying this 1 when I run. It sticks and it holds when
5:29 I run. I know they don't promote that, but that's kinda cool stuff. And then last but not least, GoPills, really good friend of mine who, he's a retired military, then he he went into, the
5:41 financial industry, then he ended up running a highly kinetic group, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya for the CIA. Super good dude. Works in counterhuman trafficking now. He's doing some work with these guys,
5:52 GoPills, and they are for hypercognition. From what I heard from all my boys who served, this works spectacular, and these guys used it when deploying. All I know is that I think I have attention
6:04 deficit disorder, and so we'll see if I make it through this episode now that I just took a couple. Alright. I'm done. Thank you all. If you guys have stuff you wanna send, if you support law enforcement, send it. We'll
6:14 give you shout outs, and then we'll keep your stuff. So especially gun companies, they should start sending more stuff
6:19 to it. Well, for me, it's more like sweatshirts, polo shirts, police departments. I will definitely rock them for you if you send them out extra large, please. And, we'll be proud to do that. And, also, today, my
6:29 coffee's in a red solo cup to honor Toby Keith and his passing. Thank you for your music. Thank you for trying to keep America together in these troubled times. God rest
6:41 your soul, my brother, and to your family and
6:42 your fans. We are here with you.
6:43 So who are you?
6:45 Yeah. Thanks for having me. I'm Jeremy Wade. I'm the executive director of Mission First Alliance as a nonprofit organization, serving first responders nationally. I was a Seattle police officer for
6:57 13 years, left the department about 2 years ago. This is my patch here for you from the Seattle Police Department.
7:04 Awesome. Thank you, brother.
7:05 And t shirt from Mission First Alliance
7:08 for you. Awesome. Very cool.
7:09 Yep. And blue line bible from 1 of our ministry partners with, Shield 6 1 6 out of Colorado Springs. Awesome. Love it.
7:17 So the the weird thing about you, man, is that I feel like every other day someone's like, yo, you gotta meet this guy Jeremy Wade. You gotta meet Jeremy. You got I mean, it is
7:29 it's actually kinda getting to the point where I don't know if it's laughable, ordained, or or just creepy because it it I'm telling you, man. Constantly nonstop, guys. So, like, you gotta meet Jeremy. You gotta meet
7:40 Jeremy. You and I connected, I don't know, probably 6 months ago maybe. Yeah. And I just I fell in love with the organization and the work that you're doing because it's a very unique, it's a very unique
7:52 nonprofit in the way that it's set up. We're gonna dive into that a little bit later, but I wanna kinda qualify you and your backstory in Seattle. Mhmm. Can we talk a little bit about that and and sort of the end of
8:04 your career there and and what led up to it and just kinda walk us through, man.
8:08 Yeah. I loved my time in the Seattle Police Department. I'm born and raised in that area, got hired at 26. A week after my second child was born, went to the academy,
8:20 and I was all in from day 1. I remember my very first, call first shift on FTO, ended in a SWAT call out where I was there for 6 hours
8:32 after shift. And, then it was 1 of my first shifts in my second rotation FTO that we, I located a bank robbery suspect that had just hit his third bank in 3 days, that ended
8:44 in him ramming at another officer, and then a robbery detective, having to use lethal force on a suspect to stop him. So it was just it was all in. I loved everything
8:56 about the job. Got hired in 2008.
9:00 Now you've you've had quite a few accolades. Right?
9:03 Yeah. I've got a chance to be in a few things. Yeah. I got God just Just a few. Yeah. God had me in the right place at the right time a few different times. Yeah. There was another incident with a a partner that I went
9:15 to the academy with that, was an active shooter in a bar, that we were some of the first through the door as we could hear gunshots still going on and people screaming inside the bar.
9:27 And God was with us that day, and, we were able to stop the suspect and, save everyone on scene in that bar, including the bouncer out front that had been
9:38 shot that we had to step past to get into the bar and suspect's girlfriend in the bar who he was targeting and shot multiple times. So, yeah, I was involved in a a few different
9:50 incidents, and each 1, I think, just gave me more resolve that this is where god wants me, that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. But each 1, I think, also gave me a greater burden just to understand
10:02 in the ways that the job was changing me and impacting me, and just the impact I could see on some of my coworkers too. So that really kind of changed the trajectory of my my career in this
10:14 health department.
10:15 Let's talk a little bit about the riots at the the tail. And when did you retire?
10:20 In 20 22.
10:21 Okay. So you you were there. You went through this. I gotta tell you, man, we we have very candid conversations on the show about all things law and order and society. Bernie and I don't always agree on everything, but
10:32 the 1 area that we've always stood fast on agreeing on is that you you have to call out stupidity in law enforcement when you see it. And it it blew my mind candidly to
10:44 see that we surrendered a precinct, to anarchists during all of this. But I'm sure that there's there are always different stories
10:56 behind what goes on. Can you kinda walk us through what really happened, as much as you you can or feel comfortable? Because we only see 1 side. Right? Like, we see that this was seized, comfortable because we only see 1
11:05 side. Right? Like, we see that this was seized and taken over and turned into this this CHAZ, this no cops zone. What was really happening in Seattle during all of this?
11:13 Yeah. I think that Seattle is a a challenging city to work in and and as many other cities are as well, we'd our
11:25 protests are not uncommon in the Seattle area. Even in my time of 13 years, there were a number of protests that we dealt with on a regular basis.
11:37 Our department, from my perspective, including the lieutenant that I last worked for, I think, leads the nation in crowd control. And he was involved in
11:49 training so many other departments around the country in crowd control. We deal with this so frequently. We're prepared for it, and handle it in the best possible way for the best
12:01 possible outcome for everyone involved. Citizens in the city, those that are out, you know, expressing their views. So I have great respect for the department and those who serve and those
12:12 who are there to protect all people in different points of views. Those riots in 20 20 were a whole different thing. It was
12:24 it was just very different from the get go. There was a lot more momentum behind it. There was a lot more people behind it, and we were dealing with it day
12:36 in and day out. I think in the first 2 weeks, I was averaging probably around 20 hour days for 2 weeks straight
12:48 there day in and day out. In 20 20, I had the opportunity to help start our wellness unit. I had been a full time peer support coordinator and leading our peer support team. So
13:00 I appreciated the opportunity and I appreciated the leadership and the, and the the just the opportunity to support the officers and the family members through that. So I was still left in a supportive
13:11 role. But I was behind the lines. I was in the precincts. I was all over the department doing my best to make sure everyone was taken care of,
13:23 was there for them if they needed anything. I was at the hospital with every injured officer and we had a lot of injured officers just to support them. And then by
13:35 proxy supporting spouses and the spouses and family members at home were dealing with it just as much as anyone else. The officers
13:47 were dealing with it in a big way, and we had 800 unarmed National Guard supporting us and mutual aid from all over the state supporting us. But it
13:58 was it was challenging. There were long days, long hours, and not a lot of support from very many people in the city. There were even city council members on the front lines of the protests.
14:11 So we definitely felt like we had kinda everyone against us, but doing the best we could.
14:16 So I heard someone in law enforcement make the analogy. They they were in Seattle, and they said this was our Benghazi moment, when the precinct was handed over. What
14:28 any insight as to what the thought process was there? Because I'm I'm looking at this from a nonlaw enforcement perspective. Right? And I'm thinking, man, like, if ever there was a time where we
14:40 gave a blueprint to enemies of the country on how to beat law enforcement or how to destroy public safety, it's, hey. Let's let's show them that when things get really bad, we're just gonna hand over the police
14:51 department to them. Am I crazy? Is that a bad way of looking at it? Like, what what was really going on?
14:58 Yeah. I I don't know the behind the scenes. I was definitely not privy to a lot of the behind the scenes, you know, and and I respect the, the
15:10 leadership and just that there was difficult decisions being made. I I know that we were holding a line that was a flashpoint and, you know, was
15:21 night after night after night was difficult. And and officers were being injured, and it was a challenging situation. So,
15:34 yeah, I I I don't know what led to those decisions. I know that we were trying to work through it day in and day out the best we could. I know that
15:47 there was leadership saying the night before that we would never give it up. I mean, I even talked to, officers on the Department of Military Experience saying that, that those riots were more challenging than some
15:58 of their military combat experiences. And I think some of that just comes from the rules that we had to play by. You know, that there were more and more, just
16:10 pressure on us to be less militaristic, have less equipment, have less lethal less lethal use, you know, so more and more and more was being taken away from
16:22 us. And I'm doing my best to support on the back end. And and I was shocked at some of the stuff that I was even hearing from family members afterwards. My wife was even in a
16:34 position of supporting spouses and, you know, even a couple days after we gave up the precinct, you know, I was hearing from spouses that were told that last night before we gave it up
16:45 that, you know, from their officers that here's here's where the will is. Here's the code to the safe. You know, if things continue down this trajectory, I may not be coming home tonight. We're
16:57 outnumbered in those types of situations. We've got the advantage to the tactics and the things that we can use to control crowds and situations like that. You know? But if too many
17:09 of those things are removed from the equation, then it it it's not a good situation and isn't gonna end well for anyone.
17:16 The fall of the precinct and the establishment of CHAS and everything, what did that do for, officer morale? Was it helpful because the agency said we're not gonna put you in a position where you have to hold the line inShow more
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