Behind the camera and the glass with A/Chief Alex Landolina

Stephen J: (00:11)
Welcome to behind the 10, a podcast that introduces you to the heroic men and women who wear the tin while protecting our community. Hearing about the extraordinary things they're doing when they're badge in their law. Steven Jay here, the good Lieutenant along with just did the civilian producer. Happy Thanksgiving. Eh, we're there. Aren't we buddy, we're getting close. We're close. Well, when I think Thanksgiving, I think about having cocktails and today's cocktail over conversation sponsor is Shannon V out of Hyde park, New York, Shannon V. Thank you so much. And I think of being thankful, you do think, and we're thankful to the Hyde park brewing company for once again, giving us the October Fest, we sure are to indulge in while we're here with our guests. And, uh, we got a couple other sponsors. What always like to mention those guys, print.com. Those guys print for all your custom apparel needs along with marketing and service.com a podcast by our own, just the civilian producer, visit marketing.com.

Stephen J: (01:04)
Here we are Justin. It's another person local to us that is just doing amazing things. This guy doesn't sit still. There's certainly no MOS growing under his feet. No, not at all the things that he does. And I gotta tell you, uh, I'm gonna be shocked that we can fit in everything in this, this podcast episode. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, uh, I suspect it will be jam packed full of exciting content. We're gonna be hitting police work. We're gonna be hitting, uh, nonprofits. We're gonna be hitting business. We're gonna be hitting farming, probably. Uh, his vineyard that he's got with his family, uh, his family to mention is incredible and I I've met them and they're extraordinary all to themselves. Wow. So you know what let's, let's get Alex. Landolina in here now. All right. I'm your chief, Alex. Landolina Alex. Welcome.

Alex: (01:59)
Thank you. Thank you. Actually is Lieutenant. I never actually the, the title of chief, I was acting chief. I was acting at the time. Okay.

Stephen J: (02:06)
But yeah, but acting you you're in that capacity, you're doing the job. So we're, we're gonna elevate you here. cause there's only one good Lieutenant here. Okay. That's right. You're gonna be the good acting chief. We'll just call you chief today. But Alex, you know, you started Eagle enforcement young. I did. So let's, let's talk about how you got involved in law enforcement cuz it's uh, you know, we like hearing that background.

Alex: (02:27)
I was 21. I, so my background, I, I didn't have interest in being a law enforcement officer. I did not whatsoever. My dad was at the time of state trooper and my dad had asked me, he said, Hey, would you be interested in taking the police test? And I didn't cuz at the time I was working in the film and television industry, I also was playing in a, uh, a same, uh, like a semi-famous uh, death metal bend. I had hair down to my, to my waist practically,

Stephen J: (02:58)
We got a lot in common here. We got the video stuff

Alex: (03:00)
Going on. I'm a musician. I know I saw the guitar when I walked in, I said, this is great. We have

Stephen J: (03:04)
To have a separate segment

Alex: (03:05)
For this that's right. So we're gonna have a jam session after this. So I was not interested in police work. Um, I was working at the time for CBS television and I had a good job and, and I was young and all of a sudden things were working in the television industry. And then all of a sudden they went bad. So unions started breaking down. We started losing jobs and work was not coming in. Like it normally would. What time period was this? When? So this is the late eighties, early nineties. Okay. And what happens is, is unions break down, we're losing our jobs down CBS and I was in the, uh, the Eng, uh, universe, which is electronic news gathering. So I was doing news, uh, you know, going out on stories, working with, you know, like Gerald and different people. So I was a friend of mine says to me, Hey, listen, he goes, there is, there's a group of kids that putting 'em inside a house and we are going to follow it with cameras and they're gonna put it on, on MTV.

Alex: (04:08)
And I'm thinking MTV that's music, these music videos, who's gonna watch this stuff. So I was confused and, and I was thinking about maybe going out to the west coast for work. And I, I was kind of family rounded. So my father again, approaches me and says, Hey, just take the test and see what happens. So I took the test, I took the trooper test. I took the, um, Sheriff's test. I took the Y P D test. I took the local test and I scored high and got called by everybody. At the same time after I had gotten called I, I still wasn't finding work. And I decided, you know what, let me explore this. So I went, did my physicals and I got accepted to the town, Montgomery police department at the time. So it was, it wasn't my background. I had no military. I had no experience in police work. All I knew was my dad. Yeah. But you had that,

Stephen J: (04:59)
You had that insight from your father.

Alex: (05:00)
I, I did. And, and, and he was a strong influence on me. So with that said, I decided, okay, I'm going in the police academy. And I told all my friends and everybody was like, what? I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna go join the, the police, uh, force and go in the police academy. Now

Stephen J: (05:16)
Police academy, the movie was probably right around the same time. Right. So the joke had to be great. I can't imagine. So you get in the academy town of Montgomery police, you finish the academy, obviously I did. And you worked there for how long?

Alex: (05:32)
I was there for 28 years, 28 years. The same PD, same PD. Well, I, I did bounce. So when I originally got hired for the town of Montgomery, I was supposed, still be hired as a full-time police officer. And what happened was, um, because of budgets, they cut the position. So I, I was working part-time in that, that full full-time hours. And, um, I wasn't getting benefits. And my wife and I, uh, had just gotten married and a lo I was on the list and a local police department in Alster county called me up and said, Hey, listen, we have an opening. Would you be interested in coming in for an interview? So I took that job, um, and started my full-time career with the tan Shaham and still continued working part for the 10 of Montgomery at the same time until that

Stephen J: (06:18)
Full-time opening came. Yes. Okay. So 28 years, yeah. Now in your entire law enforcement group, is that 28 years? Did we keep going outside of that?

Alex: (06:27)
No. You know, I did retire and I had been asked to come back to different jobs for whether it be, uh, chief police or as a consult or SROs. And I've considered it a couple times, but I'm so busy with what's going on in my personal life now that I really haven't found, you know, I'm type of person. If I don't give a hundred percent to it, I, I'm not gonna be able to, I can't do it. I never went back into police work. I, I actually considered during the pandemic going back as an SRO, but I haven't pulled the trigger and actually done that just yet.

Stephen J: (07:05)
So 28 years in law enforcement, while you're doing that, you've somehow continued to do this production thing. Yes. I'll call it this thing because you know, this is Justin's interest is totally into this. Oh yeah, yeah. Now, now of talking, I don't know if you picked up on it, but the, the series that he walked away from to become a cop is the real world. Right? I did. I did get no, you know, semi successsful series on MTV, the irony. There's probably

Justin: (07:32)
A segment of people listening to this that are thinking there used to be music, videos on MTV.

Alex: (07:38)
Isn't that crazy. There was a

Stephen J: (07:40)
Time. Yeah. Back when MTV was still good.

Alex: (07:43)
Yeah. I, and, and I've done a lot of work for different shows for, um, for MTV. And I actually did go back and work on real world many, many, uh, years later when they were filming down in Brooklyn and it was great. It was a great experience. And then I thought to myself, boy, I should have done that in the, in the beginning. But if I would've, I wouldn't have gotten a chance to experience law enforcement, which I love. I still love it to this day. I mean, honestly, I, I tell people all the time I miss the clowns, not the circus. Sure. Men there's so many great people in law enforcement. So, so many great guys. I worked with great guys that I hired and women, we, we had so much fun and honestly, I loved helping people in the community. That's what drew me to law enforcement.

Alex: (08:31)
It wasn't, it really wasn't about a badge and a gun or anything like that. My father told me like right off the bat, he says, listen, you want respect? You give of people respect. And I went out and I used to love to walk the beat. And I used to love to get outta the car and talk to people. Um, I became a dare officer, not because I wanted to, this is the craziest thing. When I joined that department in Shaham, I was the youngest guy by at least 15 years, maybe more. And they needed a dare officer. And all these older guys were like, I'm not doing that, let the kid do it. And I didn't even know what I was getting into. And I went up and I got certified and then they put me into a school and it was great, man. I was got to be a kid again.

Stephen J: (09:16)
You know, I think one of the common themes, every time we talk to somebody here, Justin is always that it's not about the badge or gun or, you know, the glory and the fame, or going outta recipe. People, every person we have sit down on these chairs or, or get on the, the call is about helping people. And I think you talk about people who are successful and who are, are out there doing. And, and that's the, a sediment I get from everybody is I just wanna help people. And I think it's great. Right, right. But, but more so you're, you're doing the police thing and you, you left the, the production stuff behind the camera stuff behind. And, and when did you pick it up again? Or did you ever stop?

Alex: (09:48)
I never stopped. The, the thing was I have a creative background. I was a musician, you know, I loved creating content, whether it's music or whether it's film. So I kept the business going and I kept my contact. So I was still in the beginning was a little tougher because as a new police officer, you have to maintain your, your schedule. You're told when you have to work. As I still started to, you know, get older and, and start getting some longevity, I was able to turn around and say, okay, I'm gonna take some time here, or I'm gonna be on a steady shift. So then I could schedule when I would go out and film. So one of the first things, um, one of the first, really, really big things that happening in our area was a friend of mine that I had worked on.

Alex: (10:38)
Uh, the show cops with who was a producer, calls me up and says, Hey, listen, uh, we got this, uh, father and his kids up in your area and they're gonna be building motorcycles. And, uh, yeah, we, we wanna know if you wanna come on the show and in film and I'm like, who is, is it? So then he tells me, you know, it's the, the tunnels who I knew these guys, I, I grew up in Montgomery and went to school at valley central. And they went to school at valley central. So I knew all the kids, that's your town. It was my town. So normally you'd have to travel. I was traveling all over the world to, to film. That's why it was so tough to fit it into police work. Now they're saying, all right, it's in your backyard. And it's five minutes away from the police department.

Alex: (11:23)
I'm like dream job, right? This is great. You know, I could leave my, I could work all day and then go and, and, you know, work over there in film. So I jumped on and I had worked on American choppers from the first season, right up until honestly, only a couple months ago, I was doing stuff for, for a senior. Who's now living down in, uh, in Tampa and it's been great. So I was able to, you know, still stay in the industry. It's such a, it sounds crazy, but it's a small industry and everybody knows each other. So you get a style. And I was doing motorcycle shows and I was doing tattoo shows and they would call you, they would say, Hey, listen, we need a, we need an operator. I need a producer or a producer shooter. And I was good with people. I was go managing, you know, people and crews. So they would constantly call me back to, to do different things.

Stephen J: (12:16)
So in your production world and your police world, did they compliment each other? Did you find that there was skills you were getting while being a police officer or while doing production that really helped the other side of your life?

Alex: (12:29)
Oh my God. Yeah. I, well even like so very young, um, I was managing people with the film industry. So they had me running crews, which did help me when I became a first line supervisor, a Sergeant I was able to, I already knew how to handle people like becoming, being promoted as a young Sergeant and then having to turn around and, and manage older, uh, employees, you know, or subordinates. It, it helped because I knew I didn't wanna be talked down to, you know, like that, that wasn't my, my thing. Um, which is ironic because my father was my boss for a short time, after he retired from the state, he was still working for the town. He was working for the town, Montgomery part-time and he was a Sergeant. So he was my, he was my Sergeant. Right. And then years later, as I got promoted, he was my subordinate.

Alex: (13:21)
So I was in charge of the department and, uh, and I would have to, you know, whatever, say I had to disappoint my father. And he would say, you can tell me I'm the original Lieutenant, you know? So, so it, it did, it helped me, it mented me. And it helped me learn from police to that. As far as from film to, um, police work, the great thing was technology was changing. And a lot of people didn't understand how to truly apply that technology to crime scenes, to accident, scenes, um, surveillance. And the great thing was I had access to all this equipment. So we would go out on a, on a scene and we were shooting back then 360 photos and people going, oh, how'd you do that? And, um, I was like, oh yeah, we had this, this camera. They're like, oh, we gotta get one. And then all of a sudden I would tell 'em what the model was and the municipal we go, oh, that's $7,000. Yeah. We're not buying that. Well,

Stephen J: (14:19)
I mean, I remember the time where we were getting away from film and going digital and the panic in law enforcement was something you've never seen before. Like, we can't get, we, we need this physical copy. We need to have film. Right. You know, and we have all these, uh, studios or black rooms where they call them that they put money into, we're not gonna get away from this. And I'm, we all knew it was gonna happen. Anybody that was young at the time, like this is gonna be the way it's gonna all be digital, but there was real resistance. Yes. You know, so for you to come in with that knowledge and that expertise, I'm sure made it easier for your department

Justin: (14:54)
To, and, and, and like you just said, it's important to point out you, you're talking in the nineties here, the, the, the equipment, even your, your personal equipment is something I was curious about. I mean, it's not like today. I mean, you didn't have the DSLR shooting 4k video. Right. You'd go out and buy, you know, a, a rig for $1,500 and, and get shots that look like, you know, the best from Hollywood. What, how did you, uh, how did you kind of manage that? Like, what was it like trying to buy that equipment back then when the, the stakes were so much higher, the prices were so much higher. Uh, how did you kind of build your kid out back then? So

Alex: (15:26)
The funny thing is when I started in the television industry, we were shooting one inch, which is actually film and everything was shot that way. Then all of a sudden somebody came along and they were like, oh man, we got this new technology. It was a half inch, which is VHS. And they put it into a compact cassette. So I remember at the time actually, excuse me, three quarters inch. Um, at the time we had these giant cameras and the cameras didn't hold any of the tapes, you had this Matic deck that was strapped to your side, and you would put the tapes inside there. And they were giant these things. I mean, they were probably like, you know, 10 inch by six inch giant thick tapes. And they only held 30 minutes worth sometimes 20 minutes to 30 minutes worth of material. So you'd have to run around to get your shot for news or whatever.

Alex: (16:13)
And you are battling with other camera people and other networks to get the best shot. Right. So with that said, everything started to evolve. Everybody went from, they went three quarters, they went half inch. They went to high eight, you know, eight millimeter, high, eight, and all this different stuff. So when digital came around, it was the holy grail. Everybody was like, look at this, but Steve, you were right. I remember the district's attorney's office going. You can't, no, somebody can change that around. Right. And, and they can, the integrity of that, of that digital print is not going to hold up in court. Now, look at us. Yeah. We don't have that. You'd also go out onto a scene, whether it be a crime scene, whether it be a photo shoot, whether it be a video shoot and you would film, there was no way of knowing that you had quality pictures or, you know, so you'd be paid by a client or, or at a crime scene, which you have one shot at, you'd get back to, to, uh, developed this stuff. And you go, oh man. if

Stephen J: (17:17)
It ever got developed, right. People had the guy that just held that film forever until a case finally went to court and like, oh yeah, I gotta do then. Oh, I exposed it. Yeah. Right. We, we had that a couple times and yeah, you, you totally lose it now, obviously with the technology and, and it was also, don't use too much film kid. We're only getting one, one crime scene. Right. You know, and, and now it's take the picture, make sure it's good. Log it in. It's it's incredible. The difference. Yeah.

Alex: (17:45)
I, and, and see, I used to love, my mother was a photographer. Um, it was a hobby, so she had a dark room and she had an old, um, Justin careful. She had an old, yeah. Like Pentex camera. And, um, man, I used to love sitting there watching, like she would let me come in and she would help me, you know, I'd watch her develop and I would take pictures. I just thought it was the great thing in, in the world. So for me, it was exciting as a kid, you know, taking your, your photos down to the, to the shop and getting sure smell of those chemicals. Oh my God. They were terrible. Right. I loved it. Oh man. But it was a lot of fun. Um, and it's actually starting to come back because I know even, I know a lot of kids have been calling me and asking me saying, Hey us, and looking to get back into doing stuff. I have all my old film cameras. Yeah. I keep everything. I have everything from. I actually had my wife's, um, great-grandfather's camera from the, from the twenties. Wow. And I I've been looking to see if I could buy some film and, and try shooting on it to, to do a pro special project, to see if it'll work. Yep. It's great stuff. You know, it really is.

Justin: (18:52)
But you ironically, this, this was my, uh, up here as a camera, a twin lens reflex camera from my father that I, uh, I actually found film for and took, took one role and sent it off to get processed to one lab. That's left somewhere in the, the middle of the country. You can't go to photo Matt. You can't just talk to a photo anymore. Not it's pretty well,

Alex: (19:10)
Pretty wild. I'll tell you a funny story about, uh, one hour photos. We, um, our dare officer at the time, I wasn't the dare officer. Um, well actually I was the dare. We were splitting school. We had a big school district. So we had this guy that worked with us who was big into hunting and he was a, part-timer worked for us. He wasn't always there. He was, um, he was less than smart sometimes. So he had a trail camera when they first came out. That would shoot just pictures, you know, on almost like a, you know, just a time perhaps to, yeah. So I had some stuff that was crime scene stuff that I had asked the dare officer. I said, Hey, listen, could you run this down to, uh, at the time of T a market was our, our place, right? Run it down to the three market and just drop this off one hour.

Alex: (19:59)
No problem. I'll get it done. So this guy said to me, he goes, uh, Hey, could you just drop this off also and get it done? So they also just assumed it was just, you know, it's more case stuff or whatever. So mark said drops it off hour later, he goes back and he comes back to the station and he is very, very, very upset. So I'm like, what is wrong? And he says, he goes, so. And so this officer, he goes, did you look at the, did you know what was on the, what the film was? I said, I, I had no idea. He goes, there was two little girls had walked in off the highway. He had walked so far back to do his, put his trail cameras up. He was almost over the highway. A car had stopped. The mom had walked these two little girls up the woods and they were going to the bathroom. The guy thought he had, he had pornography. Oh,

Stephen J: (20:48)
Jeez .

Alex: (20:49)
So we were laughing. So, so sometimes not being able to see what's on those, those things. Yeah. Quite, quite the issue. He never, he never would take any film back unless he knew his department stuff from, from there on out, I'd say, boy, that would've made some story. Huh?

Stephen J: (21:04)
Sorry, judge. So as you've become a Lieutenant, a Sergeant, you know, acting chief you've influenced others. Has there been a point where you were able to take guys from either side of your life and combine them work together?

Alex: (21:21)
Yeah, I actually, um, so a couple things we've been able to do. I get calls all the time for movies. So I started to ask some of my fellow, you know, colleagues, I say, Hey, listen, you wanna, you wanna be in a movie and stuff. So, um, I had some of the guys I I've hired 'em they? I said, listen, they, you know, I'll bring 'em over to a movie set. They think they're gonna be extra. Some of 'em get, you know, better parts than others. So these guys have had opportunities. I've had opportunities that, uh, we we've been in a couple films and stuff like that, which is, uh, which is pretty cool. Um, cuz the hot som valleys, hot everybody's shooting movies here. A lot of movies being

Stephen J: (21:58)
Showering. Now it's crazy.

Justin: (21:59)
That's because all these, uh, people who worked in the city moved here during the pandemic and let's be honest, we're all a little bit lazy and they're, Hey, I'm not gonna go back to the city. Just shoot it here. This is nice. This

Stephen J: (22:09)
Works right.

Alex: (22:10)
Well also a lot of this, the movies are being, and television shows are being forced out of the city because they're taxing amount. Right? So here in the Hudson valley, it's, they're not being charged as much and it's beautiful up here. So it's easy. Even like some of the shows that I work on, what look like we're shooting in the city, we're only shooting B roll. So that's just us going, sending our cameras into the city and shooting skylines or subways or whatever it happens to be. We're a lot of that stuff is in Newark. We're down in, uh, we're in warehouses and down, down stages down in, uh, in like Newark New Jersey or in surrounding areas because the cost is too much to be in the city. A shutdown. You gotta think by shutting down a whole city block, you're hiring everybody from police, fire, EMS through um, you know, your hands and all an operating budget, just on a small reality television show.

Alex: (23:02)
It's about 47, 40 $8,000 a week. Ooh. It's a lot of money. Sure is. So yeah, we don't, we, we, um, you know, that's why everybody's up this way, but also, um, I've had an opportunity with, uh, a friend of mine who was a famous comedian. He has family that's, uh, that's a police officer. And uh, he decided to go through the police academy and the grew right thing is he didn't do it as a joke. He did it because he wanted to be, truly become a police officer. So he went back into the police academy in his fifties and, and, and here he is now a, a, a real good police officer. Oh wow. You know,

Stephen J: (23:44)
Say his name.

Alex: (23:45)
Why can't you share it? Well, it's John Mulrooney. So dude's funny as hell man. Yeah. And I mean, you gotta remember he was on the, the, the tonight show. I mean, like he he's done Hollywood squares. He, he worked with the unknown comic. I mean, he, he, he works with all the bigs and the great thing was John and I, uh, and another producer came up with a, a show, uh, called comic cop in which we're, we're back to shopping around and the whole idea behind it was not to make fun of people. That's not what it was about. It was showing that proper communication with humor. You didn't have to take the tools off your belt and have to use them by, by. We could deescalate situations by using good and proper communication to diffuse the situation. Listen, that doesn't always happen. We all know that. Right. Mm-hmm but he is. He's a great cop. And, and this is why, um, this is the stuff that we're looking to do. I'm trying to do more projects in the, um, law enforcement community to show people that we are human beings. Well, the

Stephen J: (24:51)
Whole premise of this podcast is to, to humanize the badge, both police and fire, and to show people that, yeah, there's guys and girls out there wearing the badge and they're doing the calls, but there's guys and girls like yourself and all of our guests that are really exemplifying what a person in law enforcement or a fire service really means to be a hero and part of their community. Right. It's I mean, it's exceptional. The stories we get, you just said, bringing humor into law enforcement, we just had, uh, JD buck Savage on. And there's a guy that in the eighties was taking a humorous approach to training. And he's like, and, and I always say, if you can capture an emotion, you got the person. And he was using humor to get the training of products across to Arizona state highway patrol. And, and that's exactly it.

Stephen J: (25:36)
I mean, John, Maroney's a big name. He really is. Yes. But here's a guy that's gonna go to the police academy, you know, later in life and make a difference. And I don't know if people realize who he is when he is working half the time. Quite honestly, he chose to do that. Right. You know, and now he's trying to give back to law enforcement with, with the show you guys are, you're pushing. And I think it's gonna be a great insight to say, Hey, yeah, law enforcement is funny. It's got hysterical. Some things that we get to see, right. But man, it's also scary. And, and to humanize that aspect as a comedian to say, not my whole life, isn't funny. Right. You know, there's some serious going on that I have to deal with, but I guarantee it gives him good content for his standup.

Alex: (26:17)
It does. And, and you know, he's been up and back and forth to a lot of these police conferences, you know, all over the world. They, they hire him all the time to do his comedy act. He's, he's genuine. And, and, and the nice thing is that John's a vehicle. So the film and television industry, uh, or entertainment industry is a little bit sway to one side more than it is the other right. Never noticed. So the nice thing is that John's respected in that industry. And guys like myself, that work in that industry, it gives these people an opportunity to see we're no different than you. That's right. We are the same person. Um, and this is something we chose to do. And it's not about, like we said, it's not about, you know, being a bully with a badge and a gun. That's not what it's about. It's about getting out there and helping people and doing our job because generally that's what we want to do. Um, John and I have had this conversation, he's talked to some really incredible, like real big actors and actresses, uh, and good conversations. And they start to look at things a little bit differently.

Stephen J: (27:33)
All right. So I'm gonna make a pitch to you. And this is totally off the cuff. And Justin, you're gonna back me up, cuz I love you. And, and you always got my back, you got it. We had Troy Smith on Troy Smith's outta San Antonio. Troy Smith runs a, a program where they literally bring inner city kids, community leaders and police together. And they put them in role playings of the opposite so that when something happens and they give 'em a situation, the, the citizen, the, the gang banger at times is told to look at it like you're a cop and they tell the cop, I need, need you to look at it like you are a citizen. And then they compare notes. And by the end of this program, that Troy runs a, they have mutual respect for one another, cuz they didn't understand how the other side saw it.

Stephen J: (28:15)
Right. Right. And they become part of a bigger community that Troy has established where they're doing bowling events. You, you can only get into the bowling event if you wear the respect. T-shirt, you know, I it's the thing. And, and it it's spreading like wildfire. He started this, I think what? 89, 88, Justin, I think he told us. Yeah. Yeah, he got, but I got calling, I got people calling me saying, Hey, we want, we want to get you in on this project. How do we meet Troy? How do we become part of this? But here's the pitch I'm gonna make. We get somebody like John, who is a well known person who has respect in the community. And we bring in those naysayers and we do choice program. Sounds great. I'm telling you right now, you put that out there. People are gonna holy

Justin: (28:54)
Cow, right. Alex, you, you said communication before. And, and that, that perspective and perception, uh, are too important components in, in being able to have a good, good communication,

Stephen J: (29:03)
Right? Yeah. Cuz also Fe to say that if you experience something sometimes just role playing, it changes your mindset cuz you went through the experience. Yes. So if we can do that and we can help be that vehicle, I, I would be happy to do that in any which way that you think we could be. Part of that. Whether it's bring Troy up, bring John over mix 'em together. We need to make that happen to, to change some people's mindsets to show that cops

Justin: (29:28)
Are human. Right. And even some exposure makes a, a big difference in certain instances, right? Like I know we've, we've had this discussion, uh, about, I remember being a kid and being at the mall and you know, you get like a shoplifter and walking outside and seeing like nine police cars and always thinking like, really you need nine cops to bring in a, a teenage shoplifter. Uh, but then later on doing some ride-alongs and stuff, it was a, it was a much different perspective, right. A much different experience. Uh, and it provided a much deeper understanding of why those things happen. And we've had a lot of discussions like that over the years, Steve, like with the, you know, leaving the car on, I always say, oh, wasting gas. Why would they leave the police car on, walk out? And uh, and you know, again, that, that little bit of exposure and that little bit of perspective can change a lot in a very, very short amount of time.

Alex: (30:15)
Well, see, that's, it, it, it's educating people to understand what everybody's doing. Most people don't turn around and go, you know, what, why is that person, why is that, you know, uh, cashier doing what they're doing? Why are they what's that, you know, produce manager or doctor or whatever, they don't question that profession. But because you know, we're in the limelight, they seem to question law enforcement more, but without proper education years ago, um, we had done a program called career in law enforcement. It was. So we started up this program, um, chief Hurley, uh who's with who's now the chief of the village of Walden police department. Um, it was him, myself and a couple other people. Um, Jeff Holmes, who was the acting chief of police at the time in Walden. And we would bring in high school kids that were interested in a career in law enforcement and introduce them to all aspects from sheriff through municipalities, right up through FBI, secret service, whatever, even the military.

Alex: (31:19)
And we always wanted the kids that it wasn about the ones that wanted to go and become cops. It was the ones that were confused, what police did or they were skeptical or they questioned what police did there. It, it is. Yeah. And those were the kids that I found were, were so taken by this. And we, we, we became, we had, um, good communication skills with, they started to come back to the police department and we opened these rapports. And then we started to open up doors in the community. It was a great program, that's it? It's educating. It doesn't matter what you do in life. You should educate yourself. I mean, that's

Stephen J: (31:56)
The thing, I'm a hundred percent with you. One of the things I always try to make sure that we do in, in my department, my office is any new later, any power person that has say over your budget or what you do over your policies, needs to understand what you do, needs to understand what you face on a day to day basis. And I always, always, always try to get them to do a ride along. Yes, because there's no better experience than Justin's done it with me. Yep. There's no better experience than to put them in the past seat and go, hold on, hold on tight, cuz it's gonna be a ride. You're gonna see things that you

Justin: (32:26)
Don't even understand. One life changing experience.

Stephen J: (32:28)
And it really is. And I've always a friends' family that said, Hey, I wanna do ride along. Maybe not be with me cuz you know, I want them to get a real experience depending on what I was doing at the time. But those programs, the careers in law enforcement, I know several departments that have that, the Explorer programs. Yes. These are things that are really doing a great outreach to our community. And I think that is what's helped fostering a better relationship. I still think that our, our lawmakers should do even more. I'm all for all of them going through a simulation of training, the ones where they go into survival houses or even the VR stuff now where they can experience decision making process that we have to make in a moment's notice.

Alex: (33:08)
Steve, let me tell you something. Uh, Frank Pierre, who is the acting chief of police down in, uh, town Highlands now. Right? So he was running the police CA me at the time they had a simulator down there and they were getting some blow back from, from the politicians at the county level. So he invited them down there and we all went along to watch and put them in that simulator. And as they were, you know, um, acting at these scenarios and they were shooting like innocent people and stuff. Oh yeah, they were going, oh, we didn't have enough time. Oh we didn't see that come. Like they, it was incredible. They walked out realizing, okay, you're making a split second decision to either take a life or save a life or whatever it happens to be or protect your own life or protect somebody else's life.

Alex: (33:58)
They walked out of there. We definitely, I agree. They need to do more of this so that they understand things happen. Okay. We, we're not, that's not our job. That's the last thing any of us ever wanna do is resort to deadly physical force or even physical force, you know? So a hundred percent we need to educate whether it be our community legislators or whatever. And that goes for us too. Yeah. I mean, we need to educate our, I keep saying was one of my biggest platforms as a, as an administrator is getting your officers educated. You cannot have complacent officers. Officers need to know that as technology changes or trends change, you need to know what's going on. Keep educating. You know, when we stop learning is when we're in the, in the ground and that's, I'm a firm believer. It doesn't matter what you do in life. You need to continue to learn and it just makes you a better person.

Stephen J: (34:54)
Completely agree. Completely agree. So you've done the production thing for a long time now. Yes. But longer than you were police officer. Yes. But you continue doing that. You continue to involve yourself in the police world. And you know, we first met through charity. Correct. And you know, you were, I think a Lieutenant at the time, um, and you play hockey. I do. You, you got a, a great family, very involved in the hockey. Yes. Hockey thing. Yes. Um, and, and traveling all over. And we said, how, Hey, we're looking to do a charity hockey game and you stepped right up. And what I loved about Alex is not only did he step up the play hockey, but he brought all this other stuff with him to make the charity event a success. And it was items that you had come across or friends that you called to get items.

Stephen J: (35:38)
And, and all this money that was raised in this charity event went to helping law enforcement officers and firefighters who are hurt or killed while in service. Right. And to me, that was just an inspiration. And, and you know, we talk about humanizing the badge, just that act alone, man shows your character. And I, and I appreciate so much. And that's why we became great friends, right. Is cuz I knew that without asking you were someone I could count on and you would take that extra mile, that extra step to make sure things were, were working. Right, man.

Alex: (36:03)
I love that. Listen, I guns and hoses, that whole organization you guys started wow. To this day. I wish I could still be part of it. Um, in, in the playing aspect. And unfortunately I had a stroke in, in uh, in 2017 and, and you know, I was paralyzed on my, my left side and thank God I've come back. And, but I'm still grounded in, you know, anytime they call me up and say, Hey, listen, we need something. You know, I'm calling my productions up, say, Hey, send me some swag, send me some autographs. Um, you know, my wife and I own a winery. So we, we, we will throw whole bunch of stuff out there to, uh, to, uh, as donations. Um, I COVID, I was so upset that COVID had taken away. Yeah. A lot, a lot of events, a lot of those events. Yeah. Because I saw that you had Alonzo on here, you know, like, and I know he was big with, uh, doing the baseball stuff, you know, which I, I was terrible, but I was a catcher. I was just terrible. Just couldn't play it. Hockey was my sport, you

Stephen J: (37:00)
Know, but what people don't understand how you mentioned that you own a winery and I think that was through your wife's family. Right? Correct. If I remember right. But after guns and hoses and Alex and I got together and doing that charity event, I'm also involved in a lot of other charities that we talk about all the time and, and the Ryan Macel children's cancer foundation was one of them, my wife and I had run, uh, an event. It was a wine and food festival in the fall. And man, I said, Hey Alex, can you help me out? We want to wanna make this bigger. And not only did Alex donate his wine, but he reached out to all the other wineries on the, the other side of the Hudson valley that we had just untapped. And next thing you know, he, he's pulling up in a pickup truck with just cases of wine, you know, and, and that's where people don't understand this, this value of community, whether it's in law enforcement or in business, this value of community is so great. And we can really have that influence together. And it's just, it really exemplifies everything that we're all about here sitting in this room talking, but it's, it's inspirational. You know, I use that word a lot in talking to guests, but it is because I think it's seeing that the acts that you've done and we've done together that bring that community up. Yes. You know, really bring that community up. Well,

Alex: (38:08)
It, it concerns me, you know, like everybody could talk about the me too movement and stuff like that. But it's the me mentality that really upsets me because people don't understand that we gotta help each out. This is bad times everybody's has something going on. So, you know, I have five kids, my kids will go and volunteer and do what they have to do. Cuz I've taught 'em that way. My father taught me that, you know, same thing. So we have to be positive role models for not only our, our children and our families, but for our community too. So we go out and do this. I, I don't want anything in return. I just love doing it. And so that's the thing. If everybody would just realize it's not all about money, it's it just acts a, this, you know, I just, my neighbor across the street is, is 90 something years old, she needs help with something.

Alex: (39:01)
You go, you pull the garbage cans in. Once that, once that take you like 30 seconds a minute, it's an act of kindness. We forget how to do this. So we need to start doing more volunteering, just a little bit high, hold a door for somebody, put a smile. All right. Yeah. A lot of us are wearing a mask. Now you can't see a smile, but , you know, just, you have to just be able to help a little bit. And, and I think that if everybody does a little bit more, a little, these little acts of kindness, it'll start to become infectious, you know, and it'll spread across the world cause we need this. Well,

Stephen J: (39:37)
You had mentioned your family and I know I've met your family. Um, but I want, I wanna just touch on this really quick. Your oldest son . Now you talk about AXA, kindness. You talk about helping community. He developed a product that just was mind blowing to me. I, I just wanna touch on it really quick cuz you gotta be so proud of him. Yeah.

Alex: (39:55)
I, I joke around. I said, you know, all the hours that we put in as law enforcement officers, I would question a lot of things. If that kid didn't look exactly like me, cuz he is spitting image, nothing

Stephen J: (40:06)
Spitting image. You there's no denying he's your son.

Alex: (40:08)
Yeah, he is. Uh, it's crazy. But Joe developed a plant-based product that stops bleeding instantaneously, uh, when he was around 16 years old. Um, so he is, he owns a company called Creson the, uh, the products called vet in the vet market right now with their up for FDA approval now. Um, so it should be moving into the military and private use, uh, within the next year. So it's just, it's incredible. Absolutely

Stephen J: (40:38)
Incredible. I mean you gotta just beam with, with pride. With that. It, I,

Alex: (40:42)
I just got a chance to see him cuz him and his, uh, fiance travel all over the place and they to try to make arrangements to getting married in Italy, uh, next year. So I just got a chance to see him. I was, I was coaching a hockey game down in, um, down in uh, uh, Ramo and came up and my daughter and I said, oh, we'll get together. And every time I see him, I I'm like shocked. Like the stuff that two of them are doing. It's just crazy. He's crazy smart. But he is a good kid and he, he uses it for good. So that, that's the thing one day, uh, us as, you know, law enforcement and, and EMS and fire and, and military, we'll all be carrying this product once the government, you know, all the red tape gets taken care of cuz that's the thing that stalls all these things, right. You know, this is a great product, but they have to jump through hoops just to get the thing out to, to everybody

Stephen J: (41:30)
Else. It's so easy for people to underestimate the work. That really goes

Justin: (41:33)
Into that from beginning to end. Yes. Uh, I had a friend once to tell me there's no such thing as a good idea, only good execution. Uh, and I think about that a lot because we all have great ideas, but it's really hard to actually take the idea, make the product. A lot of people won't even get to that step of making and fabricating the idea that's in their head and then actually being able to bring it to market and, and help of people with it is awesome. It's

Alex: (41:54)
You're, you're, you're a hundred percent, right. It's the, he puts in, you know, 20 hour days constantly. And it there's a lot, you know, you always hear, it must be nice type thing, but there's always like lots of hard work before he gets to the must be nice.

Stephen J: (42:10)
Right? Of course. Yeah. You didn't see all the hours and the money and the, the, the crying and the failures to that must be nice moment. Absolutely. Alex, we ask everybody like if you could go back and, and talk to your 21 year old self or somebody who's 21 that wants to, to get to where you are. And you've been, what's a little bit of advice you could give them.

Alex: (42:30)
I always say, you have to be, you can't give up. You gotta just keep pushing, cuz you're gonna get a lot of rejection in life and it doesn't matter what, what, uh, you know, from who or where. Um, but you need to be true to yourself. I always say, just treat people with compassion, you know, treat people with respect. You're gonna get the respect back and just never stop learning, man. I I'm, that's why I keep saying, it's just you, you don't know what life's gonna bring. I was teaching the academy up until just last year. And the one thing I always said to the kids in the academy class was being a police officer is like being a sports star. You don't, when you're gonna get hurt, that's the truth. True. You're going to get hurt at some point. Sometimes you come back from it.

Alex: (43:21)
Sometimes you don't. So always make sure there's a backup plan. I was very fortunate in life. You know, I, I had the film and television, which I didn't get rid of. Um, my wife was in the wine industry and then we went up buying the, uh, the, uh, winery from her parents back about six years ago, we had a backup plan. And when you had originally asked me at the beginning, you know, about going back into law enforcement, the thing was, I miss it, but I have a good backup plan and I could still work in the law enforcement community and help out consultant do stuff and hopefully bring stuff to, uh, to, to the general public in a positive light about law enforcement. Um, but we never stopped learning. We kept working and working and working and, and we'll continue to do that. So that, that's my, that's my advice.

Stephen J: (44:11)
And the last question we always ask everybody, how do you define a hero,

Alex: (44:15)
Man? You know, it . I think that anybody, my heroes are, are people that just genuinely just wanna go out and do good, you know, yourself, you know, with all the, the stuff that you do, you know, the Alonzos and, and um, those that are giving they're just selfless. Heroes are selfless. That's, that's really what it comes down to. They go out and they do for others. And, and a lot of times you wanna put in everything else on the back burner, you know, sometimes you, you go with doubt. So a hero, somebody is selfless and, and, and, you know, puts themselves almost second to, to everybody else.

Stephen J: (44:57)
Well, it's amazing. Every time we ask that question, I almost wanna take a mirror and put right in front of you, because what you defined is you that definition is you Alex, because from the day I met you, it was always, how can I help? How can I do more? How can I make this better? I call. And it was about the law enforcement and the fire community, but also the communities that you've served and you continue to serve because you continue to help so many people. And that to me is exactly what you said and it's exactly you, and it defines you. It defines your father and now it's defining your children, right? And cuz you have a great family that continues to do so much for, for the community and, and you guys, you are heroes and it it's an honor to know people like you really thank you. You know, cuz it's not a guy that's looking for fame and fortune. It's a guy just wants to make it better. So I appreciate you man. And, and you truly are hero to me and a lot of other people

Justin: (45:44)
And you are making it better. Well,

Alex: (45:46)
Thank you. And, and thanks for having us on this is a great show. You know, this is what P people need to hear. They, they need to know that there's positives out there, you know, and this is only going to, you know, keep, this is the snowball effect, man. Yeah, man, you know, this is like the, the tiny snowball rolling down the hill and is just gonna be getting bigger and bigger. So the, you know, hats off to you and Justin, I mean, this is just great stuff and, and just keep going and we're gonna, uh, you know, I'm gonna spread the word too, so

Stephen J: (46:15)
Well, it it's the people that are sitting in the seat where you are that are making this show and, and we're just a vehicle to show people, things that normally people in the seat don't want to say, right? They don't want the, the limelight on them. It's what can I do for others? And that's why we're, we're doing this. And, and thank you. Yeah. It's been

Justin: (46:31)
Such a pleasure to hear these stories. Thanks. Thanks guys

Stephen J: (46:40)
Told you so

Justin: (46:43)
Unbelievable.

Stephen J: (46:43)
That's all I could say is told you. So

Justin: (46:45)
How do you end up at a winery? How do you end up filming real world and, and orange county choppers and inks and police officer full-time what, what an insane and wild

Stephen J: (46:56)
Story, not to mention his coaching that he is doing. Mm-hmm his family that he's raising, obviously doing a great job.

Justin: (47:03)
Yeah. This guy is not taking any breaks.

Stephen J: (47:06)
It's it's an incredible, and it's, again, these people don't usually talk about themselves. So for us to sit down with Alex and getting all this in information outta him, I think we could have like another two episodes with just Alex.

Justin: (47:19)
Yeah. Yeah. He had just so much great content. One thing that was interesting is we often talk about, you often talk about how, uh, so many people get involved at such a young age and, and they go through that process. And in his case he still had that opportunity to see what was going on, uh, in his childhood. But he said, nah, I wanna do something else. But it came full circle and he came back to it.

Stephen J: (47:40)
Yeah. I mean, he's similar to bill BELE who started a career before public safety. Right. And kind of went back to it as well. And I really actually never let it go. Yeah. Yeah. Which is quite exciting. Really cool. Yeah. I'm excited to see what other projects he's gonna have in the future, cuz we're gonna pay attention. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Well, thanks for listening behind the 10 and hearing about how our heroes are heroes with the 10 on and off. Be sure to like follow, subscribe and share behind the ten.com. You can find us on all your podcast, uh, platforms. Right? Justin. Yeah. Yeah.

Justin: (48:07)
And of course we have have the new feature where you can leave us a voicemail that we may, if it's appropriate, play

Stephen J: (48:14)
On the podcast. Yeah. Hearing some of them we've had to like, uh, hold off a little bit, but that's okay. you guys make us laugh and we appreciate that. If you have an idea for a show, you can give us, uh, some information there. You can go to our email behind the 10 gmail.com or as I like to say, leave us a coffee, buy us a coffee on the behind the ten.com. That is always

Justin: (48:35)
Greatly appreciate

Stephen J: (48:36)
It's coffee. Yeah. And become one of our cocktail over conversation sponsors.

Justin: (48:39)
We get thirsty too.

Stephen J: (48:41)
I sure do. I'm thirsty right now. So before I go and have another drink, make sure you look out for one another and stay safe.