Episode 6: Rob Turner on police training

I didn’t put out a new episode last week because I had to put my brain on pause for a bit, but I’m back this week with a conversation about policing.  This summer, I remember watching the George Floyd video feeling absolutely sick to my stomach about what I saw on screen.  I wanted to try to make some sort of sense out of what I was watching so I started trying to find all the media I could to help process it.  In my search, I came across a podcast called Fat, Drunk and Stupid hosted by a fellow named Rob Turner.  Rob is very different than me as you’ll hear in our interview.  But he served our country in the Army, then became a police officer in Virginia.  He released an episode on policing that was raw, apologetic, and extremely vulnerable coming from a police perspective.  I really wanted to know more about his  background and how his training in the Army differed from his training as a police officer - so I reached out to see if he’d be willing to talk.  He was.

In my quest for information, I wanted to get Rob’s take on his Army training versus the training police officers get.  I was shocked by what I heard and I took a lot away from our conversation.  It’s no accident that I’m releasing this on Veteran’s Day.  Hearing Rob’s experience reinforces my respect for the training our armed forces receive, and opened my eyes to the potential of the next generation coming in to police work.

Rob is the voice of change that I think is missing from the conversation about policing.  As discussions about defunding the police continue to move forward, Rob’s perspective on changing the training is valid and truly opened my eyes.  Our system can only change if we continue having these tough conversations with open minds - Rob’s experience isn’t unique, I’m sure and it brings up another form of systemic oppression in it’s own way in that the path for Veterans tends to be limited.  Perhaps if we as a society are more welcoming to our Military family, we can learn from their experience.  

I want to give a huge thank you to everyone that has served our country.  I’m not exaggerating when I talk about the amount of respect I have for those people that train and put themselves in harm’s way to protect our country.  Thank you to the young people who continue to step up and serve, and to those who have come out of it, thank you for shouldering the burden of that experience.  That wraps up another week of Right In Front of My Face and yet again, I ask you this week to please suspend judgement, and have a real conversation with someone different than you.  You never know what is happening Right In Front of your face.

Here is Rob’s episode Police, Racism, Statues and Flags: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fat-drunk-and-stupid/id1477716604