ATO: BRIDGING THE DIVIDE

Episode 90 Dallas Fire and Rescue Firefighter and Peer Support Coordinator Casey Ellsworth

Welcome back ATO family and welcome one of Dallas Fire and Rescues finest in Casey Ellsworth.

Casey started in 2009 in Dallas and hit the ground running at Station 19, one of the Department’s Urban Search and Rescue stations in Dallas.

He is trained in High Angle Rescue, Low angle Rescue, Trench Rescues, Structural Collapse situations, Heavy Machinery Rescues, Disaster Medical Specialists, Confined Space and Wide Area Searches.

Casey currently holds the position as the Peer Support Coordinator for the DFFA. The Peer Support work is all voluntary and done on the side. His primary job and assignment is Station 39, B Shift, Tiller-man.

In this episode Casey will take the listener back to May 1, 2017, on Reynolds street in Southeast Dallas as he and his partner Will An were ambushed by an active shooter as they attempted to assist a victim who was laying shot in the streets. Will suffered life threatening injuries as the shooter, armed with an AR-15, opened fire as they approached.

The Dallas Fire Department was formed in July 1872 and has a long history of saving lives in this county and the ATO is proud of the partnership and friendships we have formed.

Critical Incident:

Shooting on May 1,2017 on Reynolds St.

Dallas Firefighters were ambushed as they responded to a down person,

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, and quickly gravitated to an aggressive, proactive style of policing and worked in the 3080s drug enforcement unit and had a unique knack for communicating, a trait that will serve him well later in his career.

He several assignments such as the academy, major crimes, and the traffic unit but all along, behind the scenes, Mike was fighting for the rank and file in the Department.

After years of serving on the Dallas Police Association board and serving as a Vice President, Mike took the keys to the DPA in 2016 then life at Dallas seemingly traveled into the twilight zone as they saw unbelievable tragedy, fight for pay, pension issues poor department leadership that the new president had on his plate.

Mike has dedicated his life to serving the city and not only the Dallas Police Officers but all of Texas law enforcement as he has fought tirelessly for their rights.

The stage lights are bright, the curtain is raised, and Sgt. Mike Mata is standing front and center to tell his amazing story of being a true difference maker in the city of Dallas.

Critical Incidents Discussed:

• The tragedy of July 7th, 2016, that saw five officers murdered by a lone gunman.
• The Dallas Chief Hall administration.
• The Dallas Police pension issues.
• September 6th, 2018, Dallas Texas shooting of Botham Jean.
• 2020 George Floyd riots

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 not once but twice in her life as both her former husband and 14-year-old daughter suffered from depression and died way too young.

Terry started her career in journalism, and she married Amarillo District Attorney Danny Hill who prosecuted some very high-profile cases and took on all of the pressure and anxiety that accompanies that role.

On Palm Sunday in 1995 The Hill family suffered tragedy as Danny’s battle with depression came to an end as he took his own life as the children slept and Terry was left as the sole parent to pick up the pieces to move forward.

Less than a decade later, in 2004, Terry’s 14-year-old daughter Hallie, who like her father suffered from depression, also died by suicide. Terry’s grief was compounded.

At the time of her daughter’s suicide, Hill was in law school at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, where she earned her degree in 2008. Today, Hill practices criminal defense law in Dallas, Texas, is remarried, enjoys time with her family and dedicates much of her life to helping others dealing with mental health issues.

Now Terry’s mission is to keep people from minding their own business as she tells her story so that it will bring awareness and education to recognizing to the red flags that lead to this tragic loss of life. Also, her story can help understand the extreme grief and loss that can accompany the void that’s left in families. We also are thrilled to welcome on special guest cohosts Lt Lisette Rivera and new ATO License Professional Counselor, Johanna Wender. Johanna specializes in first responder trauma.

Terry Bentley Hill you have the ATO’s stage and our undivided attention.

Critical Incidents Discussed:

Palm Sunday 1995 in Amarillo Texas.

Terry’s husband, District Attorney Danny Hill, suffers death by suicide.

2004 Terry’s daughter, Hallie, passed away at the age of 14.

WWW.TERRYBENTLYHILL.COM

www.stopmindingyourownbusiness.org

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 projects we have in store for 2024. This podcast wants to hear from our listeners for suggestions and feedback, good and bad, to sharpen our knives to get better and put out a better product for you.

Please contact us [email protected] if you have suggestions, complaints, or just want to say hi.

If you would like to donate to our cause and support both the Police and Fire Community, please go to ATODALLAS.ORG and donate.

Until next time…..Be safe and let’s take care of each other.

Joe.

In Remembrance of James Lynn Baker II, A.K.A “Mr. Jackson”

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 find our true calling.

Life for all of us is literally like a pot of boiling water and what we become in that water will determine and define who we become in this finite life.

Today’s guest will tell the listener how he became hooked on meth and traveled down a dark path that led him on a collision course and a date with destiny with our Dallas SWAT on July 30th, 2008.

The Uptown Dallas area was on high alert after several citizens were victimized as they not only lost their property but also their sense of security. Today’s guest was the ringleader of these crimes and was captured and sentenced to sixty-five years in the Texas Prison system.

In true Shawshank Redemption fashion this guest received help and guidance from the most unlikely of people as he was about to enter the ultra-hot boiling pot of prison life.

The coffee bean story was born and applied as today’s guest fought, learned, and grew as a person through his journey in the penal system and created a mission to help others and be a change agent as he shared his experience and story with others to try to inspire and motivate others.

The Damon West story has been told on many platforms and stages, all across the world, but never from a stage inside of the police department that changed his life fifteen years ago. ATO Family sit back and soak in the coffee bean story and ask yourself, How can I be a change agent in life?

Incidents discussed:

Damon West arrest by the Dallas SWAT Unit on July 30th, 2008, for the Uptown Burglaries.

Trial, verdict and sentence on May 18th, 2009, for his role in the crimes. Presiding over the proceedings was Judge Mike Snipes.

Dallas County jail to TDCJ from 2009- 2015.

Damonwest.org

The best-selling novel:

The Change Agent: How a Former College QB Sentenced to Life in Prison Transformed His World

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 officers responded and were met with gunfire in the streets in front of headquarters and then led the police on a chase that would end in history being made in US law enforcement history with the method in which the threat was eliminated.

The episode will detail the tragedy from the 2013 arrest of the suspect to the events on June 13th, 2015, as he was eliminated by the use of a .50 caliber rifle, the first and only time this weapon platform has been used on a suspect in the United States.

This episode welcomes then Dallas SWAT members Jude Braun, Kent Wolverton, Danny Canete and Keith Rieg to the stage to give a play-by-play firsthand account of this incident and the significance in Dallas and US law enforcement history.

Guest List:

Jude Braun #5015

36 years with Dallas Police and served 33 years with Dallas SWAT. Jude has the reputation of being an expert on explosive breaching and spearheaded the rifle program on the Dallas Police Department. Braun is now retired.

Keith Rieg #6809

32 years with the Dallas Police Department and is still an active SWAT member after 24 years. Keith is a sniper and pulled the trigger of the .50 caliber rifle during this incident.

Kent Wolverton #8393

20 years with Dallas Police Department and served as supervisor in SWAT for nearly 7 years. Kent also commanded the Dallas K9 Unit and now is a supervisor in Narcotics.

Danny Canete #8834

17-year Dallas veteran with over 8 years in Dallas SWAT. Danny also was a member of the Dallas Narcotics Unit and the Southeast CRT.

Master Breacher Certified, Sniper and Less Lethal and Rope Master and instructor for High Angle Team as well rappel instructor for TTPOA.

Terms used in episode:

“Green Light”: Order giving by the Chief of Police authorizing operators to use deadly force to eliminate the threat.

Weapons used by the suspect:

Jennings JA-9 9mm handgun

Taurus Judge .45 caliber handgun

Savage Model 111 6.5/284 Norma with Redfield scope

Ruger 10/22 with Nikon scope

Stevens Model 320 Security 12 gauge pump

Pipe Bombs

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 illicit narcotic sales that terrorize the globe.

The Western Australian Police Force, colloquiallyWAPOL, was formed in 1834 and provides police services to over 2.5 million citizens of Western Australia.

This story will detail how two countries formed a partnership and created a “pilot” program that sent two Detectives from WAPOL to the Dallas DEA Field Division for a 90-day special assignment to observe the DEA investigate cases in the United States.

After a strict selection process, WAPOL Detectives Benjamin Willian Cox and David Joseph Gilliland were sent to the Dallas Texas to work under Special Agent in Charge Eduardo Chavez and Special Agent Guy Baker.

SAC Chavez leads the DEA Dallas Field Division.

Detectives Cox and Gilliland joined the amazing Strike Force Group to immerse themselves in long term investigations so that both groups can learn from each other in detective styles, techniques and case managing.

Longtime Dallas Narcotics Task Force member, David Roach #9150, took the mates under his wing to show them all that Dallas and the great state of Texas has to offer in narcotics and violence.

Enjoy this different type of episode as we bridge two countries that have common goals in making their home a better and safer place for their people.

Episode Guest List:

Detective Superintendent John Hutchison

Superintendent Hutchison spearheaded this initiative and oversees the Serious Organised Crime Squad in WAPOL. He started in WAPOL in 1986 and became a Detective Sgt in 1992 and has served as a Detective in several positions including covert undercover unit, drug and organized crime investigations and in 2022 he started a TSOC Squad to build the capabilities of the Western Australian Police Force.

DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo Chavez

SAC Chavez leads the DEA Dallas Field Division that oversees daily operations in the North Texas Region and the entire state of Oklahoma.

SAC Chávez began his career with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the San Francisco Field Division in 2000 as a Special Agent assigned to the Bakersfield, California, Resident Office. During this period in the Central Valley of California, SAC Chávez conducted numerous complex conspiracy and undercover operations where his fluent Spanish and upbringing along the U.S.-México border allowed him to infiltrate several Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs).

DEA Assistant Special Agent Guy Baker

I met Guy as I learned he enjoyed listening to this podcast and he prefers to be a behind the scenes operator and does not like the limelight however I want the listener to know this episode would not have happened without Guy. He commands the respect of his peers and has dedicated his life to the DEA. I am honored to have met him.

Guy has over 25 years with the DEA and is keen and outspoken in the fact that Fentanyl is one of the globes most dangerous crisis.

Dallas Police Narcotics DEA Task Force Detective David Roach #9150

David has gravitated to enforcing narcotics going back to working in God’s Country, the Southeast Division, when he started as a rookie officer. David’s proactive talents and knack for natural street instincts as pure police was noticed by all as he spent several years in uniformed positions on assignments that allowed him to showcase his talents. Detective Roach was assigned to the Dallas Narcotics Division and quickly joined the Narcotics Lab Unit then was hand picked to be a member of the DEA Task Force. David is a friend, respected and loyal team member and is bulldog of a Detective that is relentless in building cases on some of the most violent traffickers in the metroplex.

"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 Office of Homeland Security, Texas Senate Committee on Agriculture, Rural Affairs and is currently the TCOLE (Texas Commission on Law Enforcement) Director of Government Relations.

Aaron enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served as a combat engineer and was a member of the Pistol and Rifle Teams. Afterwards he joined the Texas Department of Public Safety in January of 1997. He served several roles in his career with DPS, from 1997 to 2020, that included Highway Patrol, Narcotics, and the legendary Texas Rangers. He now is the Deputy Executive Director of Operations at the Texas Racing Commission.

However, before the TxRC, Aaron took his talents to Round Rock Police Department in 2020 and this profession put that experience and talents to the test on June 7th, 2021, at a Round Rock Hotel. This incident will play a major role in today’s story as it put the Grigsby couple to the test as they both struggled through the fear, the anger, and uncertainty of surviving a law enforcement shooting in today’s world. They took this incident and the recovery head on like they have done personally and professionally their entire lives and careers.

We are also honored to welcome on a very special guest cohost in Round Rock PD Commander Melissa Grubbs as she stepped up in June of 2021, and led by example and displayed true leadership after she took care of the people that mattered most that day…….Her troops And his family.

Dallas Police Child Abuse Detective Kristen King sitting in to cohost.

When I first spoke to Gretchen about this episode, their primary goal was to introduce this story for first responder families out there that wrestle with the fear that when their loved ones leave to serve that they may never come home to know that THEY ARE NOT ALONE.

Both of these amazing Texans have offered to speak with or help other families out there that have endured critical incidents and are still recovering from loss, tragedy, or just guidance on how to process.

P.S. I have to mention their sweet pups, Hope and Felicia.

Critical Incident:

OIS July 2005

OIS June 2021 at the Home2 Suites Hotel in Round Rock Texas during an active shooter situation.

Texas Law Enforcement Peer Network | Texas Commission on Law Enforcement

www.Texaspoliceofficersmemorial.org

“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 greater good.

The cat and mouse game of police undercover work, in the United States, goes back to the early 1800s when the New York City Police created the Italian Squad to combat the crime in the poor Italian neighborhoods. Clandestine work has become a major tool against the war on drugs as this trade is global. The narcotic trades breeds violence, corruption, theft, homicide, terrorism, and ruined families and lives.

Today’s guest joined the Dallas Police Department after the tech collapse after 9/11 and hit the Northeast Division, The other God’s Country, streets and quickly began chasing dope.

He ventured off to other Investigative Units but found his niche as a Narcotics Detective ten years ago.

His resume is as follows:

• Logged about 500 dynamic entries.
• Received clan lab training at Camp Dodge in Johnston, IA and DEA Academy in Quantico, VA / received Level A training at classified DEA facility in California.
• In the FBI Task Force, I conducted federal investigations on transnational organized crime groups including various cartels, syndicates and mafia organizations. I was certified as an FBI undercover employee. I began travelling the United States extensively to work undercover on domestic terrorism, counter terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering cases. At the same time, I was tasked with running the FBI drug interdiction/bulk currency smuggling operation at Dallas Love Field with FBI SA Perez. During my time with the FBI, I was awarded the United States Attorney’s Award of Excellence for helping prevent a terrorist event on U.S. soil. After 4 years with the FBI Task Force, I was given the opportunity to transfer to the IRS Money Laundering Task Force.
• In the IRS Task Force, I conduct federal money laundering investigations. The nature of these cases is highly classified.

The ATO Family will get to know Steve Hodack up close and personal and even hear characteristics that most of his close friends do not know. Steve chose us to open up on his personal life, professional drive and how a psychological profile made his life and career make sense.

Detective Hodack the stage is yours………

Critical Incident:

November 24th, 2009, Officer involved shooting in the Northeast Division while Hodack was working in the Deployment Unit.

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 have been affected by breast cancer

Our purpose is to help promote breast cancer awareness and highlight the importance of early detection. Breast cancer awareness promotes more funding directed to treatment and more importantly, to a potential cure.

Today we sit down with Sgt. Wanda West, retired Dallas PD Lacrondia Ellis, Dallas Officers Sean Moses, Melinda Gutierrez, and Sgt. Crystal Cortinez to discuss this great initiative as we would like to see the entire blue community go pink.

In memory of Carmen Ellen King, Cortney Benavides, and all of those who have lost loved ones to this awful disease.