#30. Law and Life in Humboldt: Chief Brian Stephens’ on Policing, Community, and Americana

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, welcome to the 100% Humboldt podcast with my new best friend, Brian Stephens.

Brian Stephens: Good afternoon.

Scott Hammond: Chief, right?

Brian Stephens: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Ch- I'm s- Chief Brian Stephens. Hey, Brian, good to have you.

Brian Stephens: Glad to be here.

Scott Hammond: All right. Eureka, California PD chief. Let me show everybody where Eureka is, just in case there's any confusion. It's in Humboldt County, which is in California, way up in north. And here's Eureka right here on the Bay. Uh, founded in 1854. I, I'm making that stuff up. Anyway, hey, Brian, welcome.

Brian Stephens: Thank you.

Scott Hammond: How'd you get to, uh, Humboldt? What's… Uh, tell me about your journey.

Brian Stephens: How'd I get to Humboldt? Well, um, I was in the military.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Uh, I served five years in the United States Army.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: I was in, uh, basic training, met a lady. Years have gone by, but before I got out, uh, we got back together, uh,

Brian Stephens: got married.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: And when I was getting ready to get out of the military, uh, had a, an agreement. Uh, whoever got a job first, that's where we're gonna move.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Stephens: And, uh, she was from Humboldt, from the reservation down in Hoopa, and she knew a lot of people and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … she interviewed on a Monday, or applied on a Monday, interviewed on a Tuesday, and was on a plane on a Wednesday, so…

Scott Hammond: Uh, so you sh- Did you guys…

Scott Hammond: Were you, uh, in the military together?

Brian Stephens: Uh, we went to basic training together.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Stephens: Um, she was from the National Guard, National Guard.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Stephens: So she came back to California, and then I did my full five-year tour.

Scott Hammond: So did you guys move to Humboldt or j- up to Hoopa, both?

Brian Stephens: Uh, we moved to Hoopa first-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … and then, um, into McKinleyville-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Stephens: … and then back down to Willow Creek.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful valley up there.

Brian Stephens: It is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, l- summers are nice. Winters are l- probably less so, right?

Brian Stephens: Uh, it matter, yeah. It's can be beautiful, and it can be-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … treacherous at the same time.

Scott Hammond: Guys have kids?

Brian Stephens: We do. Uh, two. Have my son, Andrew, who's 24.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: And my daughter, McKenna, who's 21.

Scott Hammond: Very nice. That's cool. Is e- either of them in law enforcement?

Brian Stephens: No.

Scott Hammond: No. Are they g- are they going for it?

Brian Stephens: No.

Scott Hammond: It's like when I was a kid, my dad was in insurance in San Diego, and I, I said, "Man, that insurance, that's for chumps." That… My dad, how, how does he do that? I… So boring, and at 53 I became a State Farm agent, which is, as you know, um, uh… It's been fun. Yeah. So you come out to our Humboldt Hero stuff to recognize vets 'cause you are one.

Brian Stephens: I do. And, uh, have been lucky to be a recipient of that, and I think it's a great program, and I appreciate r- recognizing the veterans in our community.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Brian Stephens: I apologize for not being there recently.

Brian Stephens: It's been-

Scott Hammond: You've been busy

Brian Stephens: … just hectic, so yeah.

Scott Hammond: So what's been, what's been going on that's kept you so busy? You got, you got promoted, right?

Brian Stephens: I did. I was promoted to chief of police on January 4th.

Scott Hammond: Congrats.

Brian Stephens: Which is, uh, the last step in my career, but it's also a very humbling accomplishment and, uh, to be able to lead my people and, uh, take care of the city that I've been in now for 27,

Brian Stephens: 28 years.

Scott Hammond: It's amazing, so congrats. That's great. You, you've earned it.

Brian Stephens: Thank you.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I thought that would happen sooner, 'cause the other chief was gone. Was there an interim guy for a minute?

Brian Stephens: Yeah, so after Chief Watson, uh, Chief Todd Jarvis was brought up from, uh, the San Diego area. He'd retired as the second in command of the San Diego Police

Brian Stephens: Department-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Brian Stephens: … uh, to serve as, uh, interim chief for a period of time, which-

Scott Hammond: Gotcha

Brian Stephens: … was about two years, and he retired now for his second time, and-

Scott Hammond: Wow. Does that mean two retirement? Does he get to double dip?

Brian Stephens: Uh, I don't think he's-

Scott Hammond: Probably not

Brian Stephens: … quite invested enough in the, the PERs system. San Diego has their own retirement system-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … as a city, and he didn't get enough time in the PERs system, so.

Scott Hammond: So where did you serve, uh, uh, in the Army?

Brian Stephens: So I did my basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And then, uh, got assigned to Fort Lee, Virginia.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: I was a part of the 555th MP company, and from there I deployed to Haiti, uh, for 40 days during, uh, when we went into their country to help with their occupation issue they were having.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And then went to Panama for four months as a part of a, a normal rotation for-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … military police to go there, um, to protect those bases, following up on Operation Just Cause.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So those are two conflicts that we had that were kinda

Scott Hammond: within couple of years of each other, right?

Brian Stephens: Uh, Panama was, um-

Scott Hammond: I don't remember which was first.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, Panama was first, and it was prior to me going in the military-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … but we still had a, a very large military contingency in-

Scott Hammond: Gotcha

Brian Stephens: … in Panama, protecting the canal, protecting the bases there and the-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … communities. And then Haiti, yeah, that was in late '90, '93? '94. I went to Panama or, I went to Panama in '93-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Brian Stephens: … to '94, and then '94 we went to-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: …

Brian Stephens: Haiti.

Scott Hammond: They say Haiti's pretty rough.

Brian Stephens: It was definitely a third world country, but it's, uh, had some

Brian Stephens: very, very unique places-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … some very beautiful places when you get up into the mountains, heading, like, toward the Dominican Republic.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, and, and there were a lot of good people there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: A lot of good people we met there, so.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Brian Stephens: And then I transferred to Fort Knox, Kentucky for my last two years of

Brian Stephens: service.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: So-

Scott Hammond: So all MP duties?

Brian Stephens: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha. Good training for police work.

Brian Stephens: It was, you know, yeah, 'cause, uh, where I was born and raised in Kentucky, I applied at 18 for, uh, a law enforcement position. There was one opening.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Stephens: And there were 300 and some people that showed up to take the written test for that one opening, and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … I realized at that point, not only did I wanna serve my country, but I needed to get something else under my belt to help-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … um, you know, set me apart from the rest of the applicants, so.

Scott Hammond: Build, build that resume.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. Recruiting is not like that nowadays.

Scott Hammond: It's a little different.

Brian Stephens: It's a little different.

Scott Hammond: A little different.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: A little different world, so. Uh, you, so you started at EP- Was EPD your first policing job?

Brian Stephens: Yeah. I, uh, went to the academy, and while I was in the academy applied with Eureka Police Department-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … and was hired about two months after I graduated from the academy.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: February, uh, ni- 18th of 1999.

Scott Hammond: So is it about 27 years ago, is that what you said?

Brian Stephens: Uh, it'll be 25. I've been in, in Humboldt 27-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Stephens: … years, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, gosh, I would love to hear some stories, but, uh, so what w- what, what were the earlier days like, uh, the '90s, early 2000s compared to, say, now?

Brian Stephens: Um, you know, uh, policing polices the community and the needs of the community at the time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, so, you know, the needs of the community at that time were a lot different, and we had a lot different, um, or lack of a lot different resources than we have now.

Brian Stephens: So, um, enforcement was what we did.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, we didn't have the outreach teams and things that we had now.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: So we dealt with, you know, a lot of the issues we deal with now with our care team, CSET team, was all dealt with by patrol-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … um, through enforcement. Um, those quality of life type issues, uh, you know, drinking in public, those kind of things, trying to control behavior through enforcement.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: Um, it's, you know, it's Eureka. It's, uh, it's been consistently busy.

Brian Stephens: It's a-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … it's a small town with big town problems.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Um, that hasn't changed over 20 years.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Brian Stephens: The problems change a little bit.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: You see the influx of higher gang activity during periods over the last 25 years versus-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … periods where you don't have that. You see higher rates of car thefts, depending on, you know, just whatever's going on in, in the criminal world at the time. Narcotics has always been an issue in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Big, big deal up here, yeah.

Brian Stephens: But you see the transition, too, from marijuana, where even when I was at the task force, you know, marijuana was something we enforced heavily, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … now I sit on the safety committee that goes around and helps marijuana businesses get licensed by the city and the state, and make sure they're safe for their employees and their-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … customers and our community.

Brian Stephens: So-

Scott Hammond: Things have shifted, yeah.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: So it's been… That's why I'm saying you really have to police to what the community and your city needs at the time.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: So you have to be flexible.

Scott Hammond: Kind of begs the question, what's next in terms of the shift, but we'll, we'll get, we'll get there in our conversations. So, uh, so you're back in the CAMP days. You weren't working on CAMP, but the, the guys that came and enforced, uh, uh, marijuana, uh, c- campaign against marijuana cultivation.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. I never actually worked with the CAMP team-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Stephens: … but I was assigned to the Humboldt County Drug Task Force for almost four and a

Brian Stephens: half years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And as a part of that, we focused more on the, um, indoor grows, illegal grows-

Scott Hammond: Gotcha

Brian Stephens: … deep in the valleys, hidden from-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … site diesel generators, those kind of large scale operations.

Scott Hammond: So the illegal guys that came up and just destroyed the environment-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … kind of guys?

Brian Stephens: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And gals.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, was that under Sheriff Downey?

Brian Stephens: Um-

Scott Hammond: Is he-

Brian Stephens: Yeah, he was the-

Scott Hammond: … in those days?

Brian Stephens: … sheriff when I first started. Maybe he was the sheriff probably through my entire time when I was-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … at the task force. The task force at the time was run by the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement through DOJ.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Stephens: Um, so they oversaw our task force, which was still a multi-agency team from the county, but it was overseen by a DOJ-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … supervisor.

Scott Hammond: It really has shifted. So marijuana used to, uh, be grown… I, I was gonna point on the map, but I'd have… I'll just do this.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, still is, but it was enforced in pretty, uh, pretty heavy ways with helicopters. I mean, there's… I assume there was guns involved and, you know, it was har- more hardcore enforcement, right-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … at the source?

Brian Stephens: I… Yes. There's, you know, it's a, it was a criminal enterprise. To, to many it was a criminal enterprise, and from an-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … enforcement standpoint, people are gonna protect their, their enterprises,

Brian Stephens: and that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … raises the safety issues-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … of surrounding law enforcement going in and trying to enforce laws in those

Brian Stephens: areas. So-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Stephens: … the appropriate measures were taken to ensure the safety of the members of any team that was going in to do any type of enforcement.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: Helicopters were often used just because, uh, distance traveled, be able to get into very rural areas, National Forest Service lands-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … that would take hours to hike into.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: You can fly, um, the operators or the agents in.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: They can do their job. You can fly the product back out.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, so it just helped with the efficiency of the operations to-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … to get in and out.

Scott Hammond: And it occurs to me, and, and don't, I don't have a big pulse of this, but and then the enforcement in town was, had, had a history of some other shooting and officer related,

Scott Hammond: uh, sh- shooting at, at criminals, right? I mean, we don't… Uh, it doesn't seem like we have as much of that anymore is where I'm going with that.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. I mean, the enforcement's changed. Um, you know, the municipal code in the City of Eureka allows for a certain amount of square footage or plants to be grown.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, and with the legalization, you just don't see people trying to grow it themselves anymore when you look at the cost to do what you could do for-

Scott Hammond: It is

Brian Stephens: … 6, 12 plants and what that, the time and everything, what you're gonna get out of it, when you can just-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … drive down Broadway now and stop into a dispensary. You don't have to get out of your car.

Scott Hammond: Drive through, yeah.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. So, um-

Scott Hammond: Actually, they have delivery guys too, right?

Scott Hammond: So-

Brian Stephens: It's… Yes, they do

Scott Hammond: … DoorDash.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, DoorDash marijuana.

Scott Hammond: Dope Dash.

Brian Stephens: Cannabis, sorry.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So it's funny. Cannabis, thank you.

Scott Hammond: The, um, so I walk from my office down to the bay to work out, and I think I must, must be five or six dispensaries that I go by.

Scott Hammond: It's just-

Brian Stephens: There's, there's several in the old town area.

Scott Hammond: It's like, and I was realizing, true in Arcata. It's like I'm driving through Arcata going, Samoa Boulevard, I go, "Geez, I'm not even downtown yet, and here's five." You know, so I'm going, I guess, uh, big, you know, can of business.

Scott Hammond: So, um-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … don't wanna get stuck on that one, but it is, um, it's interesting. So may I, may I offer the question to say that has some of the enforcement issues of the crime that's related to Eureka, Humboldt County, been related to the marijuana industry dating back to the '70s? Is there, is there a… I always assume the trimmigrants that come through town, got burned, got whatever, never left, stayed and lived on, how do you, whether on the streets or on, in crime or both, that there was an association. Do you… Am, am I drawing a fair conclusion, or is that part of it?

Brian Stephens: It… That is a very fair conclusion. So historically, in my time here in Humboldt County, um, you do see those folks that come from all over the world-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … for the glory of working in the marijuana fields in Humboldt County, because it's well known for the marijuana business and trade. And, um, that, that really hasn't changed as much, 'cause we still have legal large scale operations that need, um, workers, so there are still people coming. I don't think we see as much of, not here locally in Eureka at least, as much of thePeople who have now been abandoned as a part of this process-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … either they didn't get paid, or now they're stuck in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: We don't see that as often in the city. Um, when I lived in Willow Creek, you would see that quite often at the end of the

Brian Stephens: season.

Scott Hammond: Get abandoned up in the hills.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, and then, you know, they come back down, and they're, you know, looking for rides or looking for ways out. They're looking for other work. And that, that transition of people just kept turning over every year. You know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … you know, you wouldn't see the same people, and there's a huge crime, uh, element to that in that, you know, there's sex abuse, cr- sex crimes that occur.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: There's trafficking that occurs.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: People don't get paid. You know, I'm sure there's unsolved homicides. People go missing. Uh-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … we see that in the news a lot. Um, and a lot of that is the last thing they told a family member was, "I'm gonna go to Humboldt and work in a marijuana garden."

Scott Hammond: Never saw them again.

Brian Stephens: And that's it, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So it's not that, not a c- totally uncommon story. It's not Murder Mountain. It's, the whole thing's not Murder Mountain, but that, that's a real deal.

Brian Stephens: It, it happens, yeah.

Scott Hammond: People-

Brian Stephens: I mean, there's-

Scott Hammond: … go missing.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, there are people who go missing.

Scott Hammond: I noticed there's a missing guy right now. I saw… Who, who know? I mean, it could be mentally ill pe- it could be a variety of people, but, um, there's a pro- probably a higher, uh, or an unusual percentage of folks that maybe are dead or missing that came here.

Brian Stephens: I, I, and I think that's been… I think they've reported on that, that, you know, there are quite a few open cases of missing people that the last-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … known location was in the Humboldt County area somewhere.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah. Huh. Y- yeah, it's not

Scott Hammond: Disneyland.

Brian Stephens: It ain't-

Scott Hammond: It ain't that great

Brian Stephens: … well, it is a great comm- I mean, it is a great community-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … and it's, you know, y- you're a higher, you're at higher risk of something happening to you with, with who you associate with and what you associate with.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: Y- you know, come to Eureka, go to college, start a business, retire here, you're not gonna have the issues that if you come here and you work into a trade that potentially is, um, you know, has some type of negative connotation behind it or illegal activity associated with, then chances are, goes up for you to be involved in some type of-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … criminal behavior or dangerous behavior for yourself.

Scott Hammond: Sure, sure. So, um, as chief then, what are you, what are you seeing now in terms of, uh, present challenges in, in Eureka and surrounding Humboldt County? What do you, what do you see? What do you wanna focus on? Kinda what, what, what's your platform or coming, coming in, what, what are your top three, top three takeaways?

Brian Stephens: Um, yeah, that's tough. You know, and I, I think it's tougher for me to come up with those type of takeaways or platforms to work off of-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … because, yeah, I've been a part of it for 25 years.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: So it's a transition of positions. It's not a transition with coming into an area with-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … a fresh ideas because we-

Scott Hammond: So priorities are still the same

Brian Stephens: … we've been working through these ideas together as a team for, you know, years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: So, uh, I think right now some of, I mean, some of our main issues we're having externally obviously is the houselessness-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … mental health. Uh, our care team, um, and our CSET team are working diligently to do that. We now have clinicians, uh, case managers that work for the city of Eureka. That program's being expanded shortly hopefully, so we'll have 24/7 coverage. Um-

Scott Hammond: So they go out on, they go out on patrol, or are they-

Brian Stephens: They're available to patrol, so if we get onto a call that, um, someone's in a mental health crisis or-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … needs some assistance, then we can call, and they'll respond to us.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And sometimes they can take over, and we eliminate the need to have an officer or officers stay on scene.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Uh, a lot of our community members have resources already in place, and they, we don't know about that, so our resources would be potentially to put them on some type of mental health hold, take them to the hospital, which then creates this community issue because we have issues at the hospitals, assaults and

Brian Stephens: things. We have issues with nurses getting assaulted and the lack of beds and services

Brian Stephens: there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And then you or I break a leg, and we're waiting in the lobby for-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … a long time. So we are currently diverting about 90% of all mental health holds, all our calls away from going to SV, going to St. Joe's.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: So, and I think that's because the CSET team knows what the resources are. The care team is a resource-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … to all of patrol, and once that's expanded to 24/7, I think we're gonna see even better results for-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … the city, uh, the, our community members, but also the department, and be able

Brian Stephens: to free up-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … the, the short number of officers that we have to have better response times to other calls, deal with other issues, so.

Scott Hammond: Other issues, yeah.

Brian Stephens: So that's exciting and, uh, we're looking forward to that.

Brian Stephens: Uh-

Scott Hammond: So CSET is, uh, LaFrance and his team.

Scott Hammond: They-

Brian Stephens: So it's Sergeant Omi.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Stephens: John Omi now-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … oversees that.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Stephens: Uh, Commander LaFrance is the commander who oversees all investigations, which does include CSET.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Stephens: Uh, so he sees it now from a command level.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Sergeant Omi is the supervisor on the ground. Uh, we have one, uh, mental health clini- or mental health officer on the team, one park ranger-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … and then one community service park ranger.

Scott Hammond: Is it the same thing? Is it the MIST officer?

Brian Stephens: That's, that's what she's trained in.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Stephens: Uh, we just don't call it… She's technically the MIST officer.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: But yeah, um, so but they're all trained with the same level of

Brian Stephens: skill sets-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … to deal with the community that they're most likely-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … to run across,

Brian Stephens: and, um, they work together all the time on calls, so it's, it's a team effort to do what

Brian Stephens: they do.

Scott Hammond: So enforcement's shifted then. It's, it's more maybe a little bit more counseling, a little bit more,

Scott Hammond: um-

Brian Stephens: It's resource-based. So we do all we can to notify, advise, put the, put people into contact with things and, and resources and groups that may be able to assist them to change-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … whatever environment that they're currently in.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Uh, you know, there still is a need for enforcement, and we've had to work through some court rulings and stuff-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … that that can't be the priority. There's gotta be certain parameters-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … set up around that. But with some of the more, uh, programs that we have coming with, uh, the village down on Hilfiker-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … which is gonna be, uh, uh, one of Betty's villages down there now.

Scott Hammond: Oh, nice.

Brian Stephens: Um, there's gonna be some new pro- property that is gonna have some other opportunities for some housing on it. That should be done hopefully this-

Scott Hammond: Really?

Brian Stephens: … summer. Um, short-term hou-

Scott Hammond: How-

Brian Stephens: They get people off the, off, immediately off the streets, so we're not talking long-term housing, but to get them off the streets into an area. Once we canOffer resources, have resources available, and know they're available-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … then the enforcement piece is still there for us to deal with those that just will not accept services.

Brian Stephens: So-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … over the years, we've found that there are your, uh, your have-nots, your want-nots, and your cannot's. And it's the want-nots that are the ones who have that criminal element behind them, who maybe historically have been, uh… I mean, there's generations of folks that have been living in our greenbelts and on the streets who have had kids who were raised on there

Brian Stephens: who now are-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … living that lifestyle. So-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … um, certain people just will not take advantage of resources offered, and then-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … you have to look at other avenues to change the behavior because it has a negative effect on the community.

Scott Hammond: It's a generational problem, yeah. J- J- Sheriff Downey shared a lot of that Southern Humboldt. There's, there's, you know, th- two, three, four generations of grow

Scott Hammond: farm criminal, I mean, element that has… It's, it's problematic.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, and it breeds stuff that isn't… It's, it's aberrant. So enough said on that.

Scott Hammond: The, um… So my, my question is, and, and this was always r- rumored,

Scott Hammond: um, that other communities would bring their, their, uh, their criminal element to Eureka and drop 'em. Give 'em a one-way bus ticket, give 'em a taxi, get whatever, put 'em in a car, send 'em here. Is that, is, is that ever corroborated? Did, did, did, uh, Pelican Bay Prison ever bus guys down, gals down here?

Brian Stephens: Um, I, I can't say that Pelican Bay ever intentionally bused people with a one-way ticket to Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: So when you get out of, at least back in, you know, I call back in the day when I was on patrol, um, what we would see is that when people are released from Pelican Bay, they're given a bus ticket back to their, uh, city of arrest, whatever it is.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Stephens: However, Eureka was the first bus stop on that route, and if you've been in prison for any period

Brian Stephens: of time-

Scott Hammond: You wanna get out of the bus

Brian Stephens: … you wanna take the chance to get off and get a Big Mac or whatever it is, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Right.

Brian Stephens: So, uh, we did see a lot of p- of individuals who are recently out of prison get off here in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And then it doesn't take long if they don't show up to their parole office where they're supposed to report back to, then now they're wanted, and so we would have to deal with that back, you know, uh, years ago 'cause the p- parole system-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Brian Stephens: … the rehabilitation system has all changed and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … what that looks like now. So it really is… You know, that's, there, there's another example of how policing's changed. I mean, we had, you know, 300 and some parolees probably in Eureka at one

Brian Stephens: time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And, you know, they had certain restrictions that they can't carry a knife over four inches.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Brian Stephens: They can't drink alcohol. And you make, you find an individual on parole violating some of those things put in place for them, and it was an automatic six months to a year-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … back in prison.

Scott Hammond: But not now.

Brian Stephens: Not now, no.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: There's just that lack of accountability and, um,

Brian Stephens: deterrent-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Stephens: … for a lot of the criminal element that is still occurring.

Scott Hammond: Do we still have some of the same number of parolees in the 300s?

Brian Stephens: Uh, you know, Scott, I don't know. I haven't… Uh, not that many people get put on parole anymore.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Um, so there's other, you know, PRCS or just local probation, local jail time.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Brian Stephens: So I have not looked at the numbers recently to see what that population looks

Brian Stephens: like.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha. So, uh, what… So what are our, our issues then? Homelessness and me- slash mental il- illness. What else would you throw in there?

Brian Stephens: Uh, fentanyl is huge.

Scott Hammond: Still, still a problem?

Brian Stephens: Yeah. We're having overdoses daily.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: Um, I, I have lost track of how many times that officers have been administering Narcan and, um, it's just second nature now.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: They just take it with… We, we, we supply it with them. It's in their cars. They carry it on their person in case they're out in a greenbelt somewhere or on a trail.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, but yeah, they-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … we get called to, you know, man down, person down calls, and so often they're some type of fentanyl overdose.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: You know, officers are doing CPR until medical arrives.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: It's just, it's a almost a daily occurrence.

Scott Hammond: So Narcan counters the, the fentanyl e- experience?

Brian Stephens: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Stephens: As long as… I mean, fentanyl's pretty strong, so it matters how much they've taken, how long their overdose has lasted, but-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Stephens: … yeah, usually one or two doses will start to get someone-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … back out of.

Scott Hammond: Wow. The, um… Yeah, that's gotta be hard. We've had a number of friends lose kids, and it's just, it's really brutal. So, uh, Bet- let's go to Betty Chid for a second. So they're building a village down by the, uh, on the bay behind Hillfiker?

Brian Stephens: Yeah, down-

Scott Hammond: Is that that fire, that fire training area?

Brian Stephens: It's at the very end of that, so between there and the wastewater treatment

Brian Stephens: plant.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So it'll be a temporary housing with-

Brian Stephens: Yeah, they're like, uh, assembled, like these dome-like houses-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Stephens: … that are being assembled down there-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … with all the utilities and everything. And, um, you know, Betty runs great programs.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And Betty's programs are successful because they're managed.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: And there's, there's guidelines.

Brian Stephens: There's-

Scott Hammond: And they have Betty,

Scott Hammond: who's-

Brian Stephens: It's a very powerful source

Scott Hammond: … she's, you know, to meet her is, uh, I hadn't known her, and you hear about somebody, then you meet them, and you go, "Wow, you're pretty humble and pretty amazing."

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And she's, she's won another award at the chamber dinner the other night, and you

Scott Hammond: were there.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, C- Community Resource Agency of the Year, whatever-

Brian Stephens: Yeah, Nonprofit Community Resource, yeah

Scott Hammond: … Nonprofit, yeah.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And it's, I guess it's a gal like her that could attract enough resources to build the village.

Brian Stephens: Oh, yes, absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And the support behind it and, um, because of the way she manages everything and the success she's had in her programs, the community can get

Brian Stephens: behind-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … and the city can get behind programs she wants to institute because they've seen the positive outcome. It comes from-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Stephens: … all of her, you know, Pathway to Paydays, all her, um, activities she does there at her center just up from our police department-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … her kids program.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: It's just amazing.

Scott Hammond: So the one thing I see with her, she requires accountability.

Brian Stephens: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And that's a pretty big thing, the A, the A word out there. It's like, huh, that's, oh, we're, we're all accountable.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: She'll go to the ends of the earth to help you until you-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: You cross her-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: And then you're done. Yeah. Well, that, that's accountability.

Brian Stephens: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Cool. So, uh, le- let's talk about you. When, when you're off duty, what, what's your, uh, what's your preferred Humboldt day? What would you go do?

Brian Stephens: Uh, I've really got into golfing lately.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Brian Stephens: I find it, uh, you know, it's frustrating some days, for sure.

Brian Stephens: Uh, but, uh-

Scott Hammond: It's golf, yeah

Brian Stephens: … chasing that little white ball around.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: But there's so many times I can, you know, get off work and can go and put my earphones in and almost in, you know, in Eureka, almost be by yourself some evenings on the golf course-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … and it's just nice to be out catching some fresh air and-

Scott Hammond: Play the Muni?

Brian Stephens: Yeah. Mostly play at the Muni.

Scott Hammond: I haven't played the Muni in years. I heard it's, it's nicer.

Brian Stephens: It is.

Scott Hammond: Right now it's pretty wet, I bet.

Brian Stephens: It's very wet.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause that thing floods like crazy.

Brian Stephens: It's wa- They did a lot of, uh, mitigation for that, so it's not as bad as it used

Brian Stephens: to be.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Brian Stephens: But you still can't get six inches of rain over two weeks.

Scott Hammond: Oh, no. That, that, that creek just floods out, I'm sure.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, what, it's… My dad called it a sucker's game 'cause you get one good shot at golf and you're going-

Brian Stephens: And you're in for the next one

Scott Hammond: … "I'm, I'm going pro, man." "I'm gonna be, I've, I've gone on the senior tour, I

Scott Hammond: swear."

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then it's like, and then it happens again and you're not that great. Um, remember ending, ending at Beau Pre on the 18th and, you know, firing like a 20, 30-foot putt and going, "This is the best game ever." Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Suck you back in for the next time.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's a sucker-

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you're gonna come back for the next one. Yeah. I like that idea of, like, headphones through, uh, you know, just maybe I,

Scott Hammond: you know, um, ear pods with just listening to some tunes.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And playing.

Brian Stephens: It's, it's relaxing, whether you're walking or on a cart. Um, I started walking more this year just-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … because you can take your time and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … play later. You don't have to get back by the time and turn the cart in-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Stephens: … so you get a little bit more of the evening.

Scott Hammond: Do you get to play Baywood yet?

Brian Stephens: Uh, I have a certificate to play Woo- Baywood-

Scott Hammond: Oh, come on

Brian Stephens: … with one of, uh, my friends.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And I'm looking forward to that.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Brian Stephens: It'll be my first time.

Scott Hammond: It'll be great. You'll love it.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: My, my dad said there's no course like that on, on the earth.

Brian Stephens: Wow.

Scott Hammond: It's, you know, the redwoods and the roadies, and it's in bloom, and you go, "Where am I?" And it's… Yeah, Baywood's pretty cool.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You're making me wanna golf 'cause I haven't golfed… I, I took a season off and didn't play that much anyway, but I got a new hybrid, uh, four, so,

Scott Hammond: you know.

Brian Stephens: You gotta try that one club, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the old guy club that you can't miss till, till you miss a lot. Uh, so a day of golf. What else would you, where would you go to eat if you could eat anywhere?

Brian Stephens: Eat anywhere. Um, I mean, I love, like, the Sea Grill, Laripins.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, there's a lot of good restaurants in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: I, I, I deal with a lot of people who come to town, and, um, some of our contractors come to town, and they're just always talking about… And they're from bigger cities.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And they're like, "You guys have some-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … top of the line restaurants here," and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Brian Stephens: … um, so.

Scott Hammond: We have a friend that, uh, they're from Boise, where my daughter lives, and he came down here and stayed at Trinidad and ate at Laripins, and he goes, he goes, "I'm telling you, man, the top restaurant's in California right there." He goes, "You, you got it. We ate there, and it was-"

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … "amazing."

Brian Stephens: And there's good small restaurants. I mean, yeah, I love Sammy's, and Paul's Live from New York.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Go there often to get different meals.

Brian Stephens: And-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … um, yeah, just a lot of good opportunities here and a lot of great restaurants-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … or great restaurant owners that just take good care of you.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. No, there's a lot of good food in Eureka. Uh, so Leonardo DiCaprio's in town and all the guys, and is… I realize that's not, that was Arcata and that was Cutten, but did you get to, are you guys ever involved in any Hollywood shoots that come to town and-

Brian Stephens: Uh, we were involved in, like, the permitting process, meeting with the site producers that were here-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … prepping for a lot of the activities they were doing-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … making sure we could handle anything they needed. Um, we did supply some officers, um, this last week, like Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 'cause they were doing the big shoots at the Eureka High School gym-

Scott Hammond: Oh, okay

Brian Stephens: … and the high school area, uh, out in Sequoia Park and that-

Scott Hammond: That's right

Brian Stephens: … that area. So they needed some help with that. And, you know, we want the community to know that, yeah, most people know it's a movie set, but there were a lot of activities they were doing that-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … could create calls for service if somebody didn't recognize what was going on.

Scott Hammond: What was happening, yeah.

Brian Stephens: So having a uniform presence there is always-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … helps ease-

Scott Hammond: You get to meet Leo or anybody?

Brian Stephens: You know what? I stayed away from-

Scott Hammond: Sean Penn

Brian Stephens: … stayed away from the sets. I, uh, I assigned people to go do that, and, uh, it sounded like they had a good time, but I don't know how much they actually had any-

Scott Hammond: So you said-

Brian Stephens: … interactions with them.

Scott Hammond: Somebody said Leo was spotted up at the Carriage House in Arcata, and then Sean Penn was out at the shooting range.

Brian Stephens: Oh, I-

Scott Hammond: So I, whatever, I guess every different actor.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. And it's great that they take advantage of the community and, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … uh, yeah, I saw, uh, Leonardo has spent some money in the old town, was going around the businesses taking pictures of people and buying-

Scott Hammond: Yes

Brian Stephens: … some local goods.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, that's, that's good for the community.

Scott Hammond: Our friend said on Dick Taylor, uh, Adam Dick said they were pretty sure he came in with a entourage. He, he, he's smart enough, he wears, he wears a mask. So you c- really, I mean, who'd even-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know behind the mask? No one. Leo. But he came in and bought some chocolate, and he had a couple of big guys with him and whatever and hung out. So you can tell we're from small town America, where, where this doesn't happen often.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. It's the… Yeah. And that's, uh, that was one of their concerns, just that we we're happy to be here. We wanna-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … bring great things and economy boost to-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … the area, but we're the next big shiny thing that's going on in Humboldt County right now, so you know it's gonna draw some attention, so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah

Brian Stephens: … it's not LA, where this is happening on every street-

Scott Hammond: It's-

Brian Stephens: … corner and-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Stephens: … stuff

Scott Hammond: … every day.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, it's funny, 'cause we got bigger issues and bigger fish to fry. So at the crack of around 9:15 this morning, I'm coming southbound on 101 around the bay, and here comes an entourage of CHP and other, uh, uh, official vehicles. Any, any idea what that could have been? Sh- uh, literally about 12, 15 cars that were, um-

Brian Stephens: Were there black SUVs in there?

Scott Hammond: Yes, sir.

Brian Stephens: That was the movie people.

Scott Hammond: Oh, do they get escorted?

Brian Stephens: No. Well, yeah. So if there was-

Scott Hammond: That's funny

Brian Stephens: … so yeah, so if they were still doing a shoot today, um, yeah, there was at least that many cars in their scene. So they have, they had some black and white cars that look like patrol cars they

Brian Stephens: were using.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: But they had three or four, like, all black, uh, Chevy-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … Tahoes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's what those were.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. And CHP is escorting them, so when they're, if they're, they were probably doing a driving scene, so they could move the cars away from the front and back of them so they can do what they need to do.

Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay. I wondered what that was. I, I go… I'd really never seen anything like that-

Brian Stephens: Yeah, it sound-

Scott Hammond: … for 40 years

Brian Stephens: … and that looks like a video. Yeah, I saw a video on one of the local sites that they were coming down off an on-ramp, and it was, like, CHP cars, and it was, like, all the movie cop cars, and all the black SUVs, and CHP cars in the back, so.

Scott Hammond: So those guys create, the officers create a space

Brian Stephens: A safety space for them, yeah

Scott Hammond: So these guys can do whatever-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … up close.

Brian Stephens: And, and they don't want other cars necessarily in the, in the shoot.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: You know, you got a camera car, and you don't want things around there that you can't control, so s-

Scott Hammond: Some paparazzi. "Leo-"

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: … "What are you doing?"

Brian Stephens: So.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, that's, uh… Yeah, I, I… 'Cause I'd never… It, it was literally probably 15 rigs.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, that sounds about right from-

Scott Hammond: Going, "Man, what's going on?"

Brian Stephens: … what I saw.

Scott Hammond: So do you guys coordinate a lot with other, uh, uh, police departments as well?

Brian Stephens: Yeah, we have a very good-

Scott Hammond: The sheriff?

Brian Stephens: … working relationship with the sheriff's department, uh, CHP.

Brian Stephens: Um, yeah, all of them really. Anybody can call us at any given time. We know that with any agency up here, and the same they know with us.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: If you need assistance with something, just pick up the phone.

Scott Hammond: So you guys are, uh, d- all dialed into one another as-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … on ne- as-needed basis.

Brian Stephens: We have monthly meetings with the law enforcement chiefs of Humboldt County. So once a month, the sheriff, all the chiefs, uh, forest

Brian Stephens: service, all the parks-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … er, D- Del Norte gets together and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Brian Stephens: … have a meeting, talk about issues we're having.

Scott Hammond: So rangers, people that would have-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … law enforcement r- roles.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: So, uh, Coast Guard, so just to continually build that relationship of, of first responders and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … uh, share ideas, share issues we're having.

Scott Hammond: SWAT team, of course.

Brian Stephens: Prep plant, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So what do y- uh, so if you were to break down your, um, your responsibilities in terms of the d- department, h- what does that work, uh, how does that work? So you got officers. You got your admin people and dispatchers and-

Brian Stephens: Sure

Scott Hammond: … what, who, what kind of programs are within that?

Brian Stephens: Sure, so you have, our, in our agency, we have a chief. We have two commanders. One commander oversees all the patrol operations, so that's all the black and white cars. That's all of our cops on the street.

Scott Hammond: Who's that, by the way?

Brian Stephens: Uh, Commander Wayne Rabung.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Brian Stephens: And then, uh, Commander, uh, Leonard LaFrance is in charge of investigations and special teams, so he oversees CSET, our criminal investigations unit-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … our drug task force agent. Uh, so that's how the enforcement side of the house is broken down.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, we have a, a records manager that oversees our records division. I have a communications manager who oversees our communications center and all the dispatchers upstairs.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: We have-

Scott Hammond: Shout out to those guys.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, they're amazing.

Scott Hammond: To all of them actually-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … but the dispatch people are pretty, pretty key, right?

Brian Stephens: Yeah, they're-

Scott Hammond: They gotta remain very calm.

Brian Stephens: We call them our guardian angels, so.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Brian Stephens: It's, uh, yeah. It's that calming voice in your ear when you're having your worst-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … time, whether it's you're calling in something or you're working on the street, either way, so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, kinda manages the adrenaline hit and… So, uh, so two commanding officers, or commanders, and then you got your, um… So what's under those guys? So-

Brian Stephens: We have sergeants-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Stephens: … that oversee the patrol operations or special teams. Um, and then we have, uh, field training officers on the patrol side, so they are, they train all our new hires, but they're also, uh, can stand in for the position of a watch commander or a sergeant if they're absent.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Um, yeah, so that's the patrol division, animal control, community service

Brian Stephens: officers.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, our evidence tech falls under our criminal investigations unit.

Scott Hammond: How about Larry Henderson? What does he do?

Brian Stephens: Larry is a part-time property technician up in the-

Scott Hammond: He's a tech

Brian Stephens: … property room. So we have a property coordinator- … uh, one full-time property tech, and then Larry, who helps out up there on a part-time basis.

Scott Hammond: Good friend of ours. Yeah, I hadn't seen him in months, and he came by the office

Scott Hammond: yesterday.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, he's been a godsend. He's just a great guy.

Scott Hammond: He's a neat, he's a neat guy.

Brian Stephens: He's done a lot of great work for us.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, and smart, and he's just a g- good, good man, so. How many people are you over then?

Brian Stephens: Um, I think we're allocated for about 78.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: We're nowhere near that, but we're probably somewhere in the

Brian Stephens: mid-60s.

Scott Hammond: So you're, you're hiring right now?

Brian Stephens: Constantly, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: So we just did a recruitment for our police recruit position. Uh, we got 26 applications for that, so we're starting through the, uh, oral board process, and then we'll move people into backgrounds. Hoping to get five into the next police academy in July.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Brian Stephens: Uh, we're getting ready to open up our communications dispatcher position again, so all levels for either recruit or lateral or entry level.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, we have a couple openings probably coming up by the summer in there, so we wanna be able to get a eligibility list for that. We have some openings in community service officers.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: Um, have a budget analyst that will be flying very soon-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Stephens: … which, uh, is a pretty important r- a very important role in the department. Reports to the chief, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … is responsible for a lot of our bill paying, grants-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … budgetary issues, anything like that.

Scott Hammond: Money's pretty important, I imagine.

Brian Stephens: It is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: It is, so we're looking for a highly qualified person for that position.

Scott Hammond: So how do you guys primarily hire? So shout out if you guys, anybody out there wants to apply.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: A lot of stuff. How do you, um… Uh, obviously online.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, so, uh, our human resources department will do, um, the announcement, and they'll share the announcement through sites that they have.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And then we create often flyers for each position as they relate-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … personally to us and our department.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And we use social media a lot to, to advertise those.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Police agencies, police, um, uh, academies, we'll send them flyers.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Brian Stephens: Uh, we have a couple of their officers, a commander and an officer, that's gonna be going on a recruitment trip, so they'll be going to Siskiyou-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … on the 5th, and they're going down to, uh, Santa Rosa, Sacramento, primarily looking for dispatchers and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … uh, new officers that are already in the academy that we could hire, uh, upon graduation in June.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: And then we'll be doing a, Cal Poly's having, um, a job fair on I wanna say the 15th of February.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I think so.

Brian Stephens: So we'll be up there looking for some of our, um, professional staff position, our budget analyst-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … our record specialists that we have. So, um-Up there advertising those positions, and a- actually any position.

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: But, uh, we, we believe there's some high-quality people coming out of Cal Poly that we'd-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … really be interested in taking a look at.

Scott Hammond: You guys have a lot of local staff, right? They're local, like-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Omie, different ones that are from-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … born, born and raised

Brian Stephens: A lot, a lot of people are Humboldt born and raised, for sure.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. 100% Humboldt, you might say.

Brian Stephens: Hundred… That's-

Scott Hammond: That's it

Brian Stephens: … that's a great way to put it

Scott Hammond: Which is right over in this area.

Scott Hammond: So, um, no, I like that. And, and I have, uh… So w- what's the age that you can go to a police academy?

Brian Stephens: So I believe the academy, you can go to the academy on your own at the age of 18.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: 'Cause most, most academies, most academies have gone to a college curriculum.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, however, you can't be hired in the state of California as a peace officer until

Brian Stephens: you're 21.

Scott Hammond: Gotta be 21.

Brian Stephens: So, you know, we would prefer that candidates looking to come into the profession would either knock out a f- couple years of college-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … which is important-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … um, and then look at going to the academy when they get closer to 21.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, or looking at other positions within the department at 18 that then we can bring you in, train you on those positions-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … integrate you into the department, give you a great foundation, so when you do m- decide to make the switch to peace officer and you're getting ready to go to the academy, you're coming in with a wealth of information-

Scott Hammond: You bet

Brian Stephens: … and confidence that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … a lot of people don't have.

Scott Hammond: Yeah-

Brian Stephens: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: You know what's going on

Brian Stephens: … so we can help set you up for success.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Or hope that we're building loyalty and dedication to the department because we're investing in you-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … and your career goals and aspirations.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Brian Stephens: So, um, yeah, so there's a couple different avenues to go.

Scott Hammond: So I have a 20-year-old who could bench 435 and say at a, he

Scott Hammond: had a propensity toward law en- law enforcement. Do you guys… And, and all went well. Do, do you guys underwrite him at CR, at College of the Redwoods, for the academy?

Brian Stephens: Yeah, so, as part of the recruit position, the applicants we know don't have experience, they need to go to the academy, and we hire them, uh, and send them to the academy. So, um, upon successful completion of the background

Brian Stephens: process-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … you're hired as a police recruit.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And, uh, that way you're getting a wage. We understand a lot of people have jobs and families, but they wanna-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … make a career change, and they can't just walk away from a salary for six

Brian Stephens: months.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: So this just allows them to have some funds coming in during the time while they're in the academy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: We pay for all their uniforms, supplies, books, everything-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … like that. And then upon successful completion and, and hiring, the swearing in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … uh, then you're elevated to a first-level police officer-

Scott Hammond: I like it

Brian Stephens: … at step one. So-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Brian Stephens: … um, that was an important tool the city allowed us to have because there are so many local people-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … that we've been able to pull in who just couldn't walk away from a paycheck.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: And, uh, but they're dedicated, loyal-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … Humboldt County residents who wanna be a part of their community, and, uh, we've got some great employees that way.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I like that. That, I think that's makes it transition easier.

Scott Hammond: So, um, you guys are out in the community a lot, so it's, is it community-based policing enfor- It, it has a name, right?

Brian Stephens: Uh, yeah. I mean, community policing is kind of like the way policing is going right now.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: You gotta really be involved. You gotta understand the community you're policing. You gotta be a part of the community.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Um, 'cause otherwise you don't know what's going on. Um, you can build walls between the police department-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … and the community, and that's not what we want. We wanna build avenues of communication. Um, so I love the opportunity to be out at special events. My, you know, the officers enjoy that overtime and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … assignments because they get a chance to interact with people who-

Scott Hammond: It's Saturday, it's Arts Alive, man, we're gonna do this

Brian Stephens: … Arts Alive.

Scott Hammond: It's probably a preferred duty, I would think.

Scott Hammond: It'd be fun.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. Yeah, most of the time, unless it's the winter and it's raining sideways on a Saturday night and you're out on foot patrol, but-

Scott Hammond: You're drinking coffee.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, but, you know, and, you know, and the summers here in Eureka have been great lately, um, with the Thursday night concerts-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Stephens: … the Friday night markets.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: Then you have Saturday night Arts Alives and some of the other special events that, you know, draw people from around the world to, to Humboldt, to Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: And, um, it's just great to be out there. People enjoy seeing us. They enjoy the safe atmosphere that-

Scott Hammond: I think it's great

Brian Stephens: … the presence feels without feeling like there's a presence-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … because it's just we're there. We're there standing on the corner having-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … a conversation, and you're available and approachable-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … uh, 'cause you're just open at that point to-

Scott Hammond: Seems like it checks a lot of boxes, doesn't it?

Brian Stephens: It does.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: It does.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And it helps me from a, you know, a leadership standpoint get a feel for the

Brian Stephens: community.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: You know, people talk about stats all the time, and, you know, stats can be manipulated.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: And so it may look like on whoever did them that crime's up, crime's down. But stats never really engulf how does your community feel.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And that's where the conversations come in, so I-

Scott Hammond: What's the momentum right now in the community?

Brian Stephens: Yeah. So I like to hear how-

Scott Hammond: Hmm, good one

Brian Stephens: … people feel about if they're safe, how they feel about the events. You know, when you have people thank you for just being there 'cause they feel

Brian Stephens: better-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … that's important, and it's important knowledge to bring back to share with the other officers and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … and we make adjustments that way, too, if we're not meeting the needs and people are bringing that up, then it gives me the opportunity to-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … make adjustments to how we're approaching events and-

Scott Hammond: We saw a guy at, um, Arts… Uh, I think it was the Friday night market. It's one of the last ones in October.

Scott Hammond: And, um, it was a taco wagon or burritos or something. Anyway, the guy grab- a customer grabbed the tip jar, and he hightailed it down the alley, and this guy got him. And you know, it, I thought, I thought they were gonna rain blows on his head. He just, he didn't. He was restrained. He, he took his money back and, you know, screamed at him a few times, and he might have shoved him, which was probably he got off easy, but, um, you know, there was some self-policing going on there, you know?

Brian Stephens: Yeah. That's-

Scott Hammond: Here's a poor guy working for nothing, and you're stealing his tip jar. Come on, man.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. And yeah, we had that a couple times this summer down at, uh, Livin' the Dream Ice Cream got their tip jar stolen a couple times. We were finally able to catch the guy, but yeah, it's unfortunate. And, you know, you want it from a police stand- you wanna get th- thieving is justIt's one of the, you know, it just gets under your, just under your skin.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Brian Stephens: It's like people like, especially like you're saying, people at the Friday night markets who are not making a ton of money at those events-

Scott Hammond: They're already broke

Brian Stephens: … yeah, you know, and they're out there every weekend working or, you know, the kid's working at the ice cream shop or coffee shop, you know, trying to make extra money, and the tip money helps them out, and somebody comes and takes it.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: It's like these are just hardworking people trying to get by.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And it's… And we understand there are people down on their luck, but stealing's not the way to-

Scott Hammond: No

Brian Stephens: … to go.

Scott Hammond: It's an extra special, uh, crime. I'm not sure what, what's fit. I remember, um, we were in El Dorado Hills, and some kids had spun out and made a bunch of gravel and dust on the, on the highway, and we, it, it was obvious that the… And we drove by, and this, uh, CHP had them with their jackets sweeping, sweeping the crap back on, the gravel back off the road, and I go, "Eh, that was instant, uh, justice."

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like that. You know, let's-

Brian Stephens: They'll remember that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, let's get that corrected right now.

Brian Stephens: Yeah-

Scott Hammond: So

Brian Stephens: … more than a ticket.

Scott Hammond: So yeah, no, I love, I love the fact that you guys are out there. So, uh, the evening events, uh, you guys are probably pretty prominent in s- I wanna say Starbucks. That's probably not necessarily true, but you guys hang out, walk businesses in Old Town and all, right?

Brian Stephens: Yeah, during the events for sure.

Brian Stephens: Um-

Scott Hammond: Is there an Old Town officer still there in that, that outpost?

Brian Stephens: There, there isn't right now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Uh, just due to staffing, that's one-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … of the positions we pulled back. Uh, fortunate for us, our CSEA team does a lot of work in the Old Town area, so they're able to address some of the concerns and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … have the flexibility because they're a proactive unit that we can-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … ask them to do certain things to help out when issues arise.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: Um, but yeah, that's, that's not been there for a couple years now, and, you know, as staffing increases, obviously there are

Brian Stephens: plans for-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … how do we go back to addressing some of the, the needs of our community and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … and appropriately utilizing our personnel-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … to get the most bang for the buck, so.

Scott Hammond: Do you guys walk the mall at all, Bayshore Mall?

Brian Stephens: Uh, officers will go out on foot there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: You know, Target, they go out on foot quite a bit at Target. We spend a lot of time at-

Scott Hammond: A lot of shoplifting there

Brian Stephens: … a lot of shoplifting, a lot of, you know, merchandise.

Scott Hammond: Heard that at Walmart as well, right?

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. So, um, yeah, and then again, we're right back to changes in the law, lack of accountability.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: Um-

Scott Hammond: Well, we got a guy that works for us that works at Safeway in Arcata, and they, they, they have shoplifters, and they're not allowed to confront them.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They can just walk out the door with a steak.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like-

Brian Stephens: The liability is high for some of these businesses that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … they're worried about that, and it, it affects you and I-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … because they have to make up that, that loss somehow, and that's-

Scott Hammond: Right

Brian Stephens: … they raise prices.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We have law enforcement, so I could only envision the lawlessness that would ensue if there was less or none.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It'd just be a revolution and chaos, and so thanks for what you guys do.

Brian Stephens: Thank you.

Scott Hammond: Thanks for keeping the chaos at bay and the anarchy too.

Brian Stephens: Managing the chaos.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So, uh, let's say I'm a new guy and I'm coming to town and, and, uh, uh, hey, Brian, and, and, you know, in or out of uniform, what, what are some of the hidden gems that you really like, uh, in, right in this area, in Eureka? What… If you were, whether it's food or, or sights or hey, I'm a local, and I'm just taking a, a staycation,

Scott Hammond: um, what are some of the stuff, things that you've seen, um, outdoor, indoor that are maybe the hidden gems, the, the, you know, the secret spots? I mean, the Muni Golf Course, hey, it's a muni, man, but it's a nice one.

Brian Stephens: It is. It really is.

Scott Hammond: Um, what else, what else comes to your mind?

Brian Stephens: Um, I've had the opportunity to do some hiking, um, on some of the, like the waterfront trail, but like, um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … and portions I've not, you know, I've patrolled and, and back before the trail was even there, everything behind the mall and the greenbelts and that kind of

Brian Stephens: area.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Uh, so it's really interesting to walk it now or f- drive it with our gators when we're out just patrolling-

Scott Hammond: 'Cause that was a city at-

Brian Stephens: … to see how far it came

Scott Hammond: … it was a village at one time.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. If you go back and look at that video online of the last 300 camps that we had and what that looked like compared to when you walk it now and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … nature and the environment regaining control of that area in a lot of ways-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … uh, it's just amazing, that transformation. But, you know, I walked the, the new part of the trail from the foot of Pound Road down to, um, the next exit there at Humboldt Hill.

Scott Hammond: Is that King Salmon or what? That's, uh, Humboldt Hill.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, Tubby Ranch, the Tubby Ranch parking lot down there.

Brian Stephens: And-

Scott Hammond: Is that down t- by the PG&E?

Brian Stephens: It's just before that, so you get off-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … you would get off at Humboldt Hill, and then-

Scott Hammond: What's the new stretch-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … at the south end of town.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And all that restoration work that the city done in that area out there, it just, it's interesting, you know? It's just, it's calming, and the people you meet out there-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … walking, it's just nice to have those interactions. And, you know, there's some refuges just south of Eureka, um, where you're walking out right on the bay and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … the wildlife and so-

Scott Hammond: Do you think it may be Hookton Road out that way?

Brian Stephens: Yeah, out, out that way.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: So there's just some beautiful areas like that that, you know, our, our lives and society is so chaotic anymore that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … to find time to get away just to catch your breath and-

Scott Hammond: Pretty key

Brian Stephens: … take in the environment that we live in, we're very fortunate. I mean, it's just-

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy

Brian Stephens: … you know what? People ask you all the time, "I've traveled a lot, you know, what's the most beautiful state park or national park you've been to?" You know, and I… Yosemite for me is probably one of the most intriguing-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … just awe-inspiring places, but it's like the Grand Canyon is pretty cool too, but if you live near the Grand Canyon, it's just a hole in the ground and a bunch of rocks.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Brian Stephens: And you live in Humboldt County, you know, and it's like, yeah, we have the ocean, we have redwood trees.

Scott Hammond: We're just being-

Brian Stephens: We take it for granted every now and then.

Scott Hammond: It's true.

Brian Stephens: But you see these cruise ships come in and, and talk to the people who are visiting Humboldt for the first time.

Scott Hammond: And their eyes are that big.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, they're traveling from all over the world to come see a redwood tree.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And so, you know, stepping back and, and not taking for granted the, the beauty and the awe-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … that we have here, and it's just, uh, 'cause someday, you know, may not be here no more. We… I may not be here no more.

Brian Stephens: We may move-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … you know? And, um, just so I don't forget it, you know?

Brian Stephens: So you take-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … the opportunities to make those memories and-

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That, that trail, that trail system is really nice. I like that. I think of the skywalk at the, you know, at Sequoia Park.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They had that lit-

Brian Stephens: The zoo

Scott Hammond: … the other night, was really amazing.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, the zoo. The fact we have a, a zoo-

Scott Hammond: The zoo's cool

Brian Stephens: … in our city that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … you know, and we see so many of our… You know, the city was, um-Gave, has given a benefit to city employees for free zoo memberships.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: And I see online all the time family members from our department just take the day and go through with their kids.

Scott Hammond: Go to the zoo.

Brian Stephens: It's like a thing they do, you know?

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Brian Stephens: It's, have them run off their energy and stuff, but it's just a … And you see the enjoyment they get out of it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: It's just a great benefit, but it's just a great opportunity for this community to have that.

Scott Hammond: You know, Redding doesn't have a zoo.

Brian Stephens: No.

Scott Hammond: It's like-

Brian Stephens: No

Scott Hammond: … you know, there's a lot of… I don't think Chico has a zoo. Uh, Sac has a zoo. It'd be interesting to see how many… Uh, I'll Google that real quick. Yeah. How many zoos are in, uh, cities in-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in, in California. Bet, I bet it's under 100 easy.

Brian Stephens: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Probably under 50.

Brian Stephens: I would say so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Huh. Thank you, Mr. Arkley, by the way, just for the record, and, and, and the zoo, the whole-

Brian Stephens: And the Zoo Foundation

Scott Hammond: … Foundation

Brian Stephens: … and all the hard work that goes in to maintaining it

Scott Hammond: Jeff Lamery and yeah-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and Mike from Wells Fargo. I mean, just, uh, Mike Deard- Michael Deard, thank you.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it-

Brian Stephens: Yeah, it's not easy to keep it accredited, you know, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … keep it up and running, so they do great work.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. The g- the animals require a lot of work.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So, uh, the zoo, the trail, what, what el- what are there hidden gems, the top secret, uh, takeawa- I, I, I'm all about bagels. I think last be- I mean, they're in four places, but the bagel-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … bagel store is great.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. Uh, I mean, the, the coffee, especially coffee and chocolate. I mean, that's just-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … uh, you know, you always stop by those places. They're just-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Brian Stephens: … when people come to town and, um… Yeah, and you know what, I mean, if you're someone who enjoys beverages, I mean-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … you have the places like The Carter House that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … has just an amazing bar and-

Scott Hammond: Yep

Brian Stephens: … Mark does a great job with the hospitality and the people he hires there.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: There's a great bartender there-

Scott Hammond: Yep

Brian Stephens: … who is just a, a wealth of information and lively, and it's just-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … I, I, I go there just to hang out with him sometimes and have conversations, and we've become-

Scott Hammond: He's a really interesting guy

Brian Stephens: … we've become good friends.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: So, um-

Scott Hammond: Funny you'd say that. That's, uh, you know, I don't like to admit that I'd, I'd ever had a martini, but that's where Joanie and I like to go. And occasionally Mark will be there or General-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Carl Adams or any, any number of, uh, locals, but it, it's kind of the undiscovered gem.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, it really is. It's-

Scott Hammond: And, and, you know, if, if you called one out, the food's delicious. The vibe is really nice. Never overly crowded.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, and the accommodation's there if you wanted a staycation, like you said, and you want a nice place to go and stay and-

Scott Hammond: Take a-

Brian Stephens: … have dinner or a drink-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … and not have to worry about anything.

Brian Stephens: It's just-

Scott Hammond: Take a walk on the Bay.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. It's, uh, just a beautiful spot.

Scott Hammond: Go get a $3 taco at Umberto's or whatever that one-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … is next door. So yeah, no, there, I think there's a lot of really neat, neat things that, you know, if you… I think just the neighborhoods b- like behind where, uh, the, behind the Eureka Inn all the way back 10 blocks, and j- just walking those neighborhoods are remarkable architecture.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. You know what? That's, and that's, that's interesting 'cause, uh, we live in such a fast-moving society. You often miss the little things, and I always notice it when we do, like, the Rotary Parade in, in April. Um, you know, we walk 7th, and we take off and go up 8th

Brian Stephens: Street.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: But we're walking, and, you know, parade, parade walk, right? You go, and you stop for five minutes 'cause somebody's car-

Scott Hammond: You look around

Brian Stephens: … is recruiting, yeah, whatever.

Scott Hammond: Hey, look.

Brian Stephens: But you get a chance to, like, look at these homes and some-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … of the detail and the, the effort people put into their yards.

Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh.

Brian Stephens: It just, you miss that when you're just

Brian Stephens: commuting.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: You're driving to and from. You have purpose.

Scott Hammond: I gotta get to In-N-Out Burger.

Scott Hammond: I gotta go.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I gotta go. No, I think you hit on something on that, is the therapy walk.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Get out, put your shoes on, get out, get out of, from behind the computer, and go get some fresh air, man. 10, 15 minutes is not gonna kill you.

Brian Stephens: It does great for your mind and-

Scott Hammond: Such a reset, man, and, and I think we're so, like, buried in the screen. It's like we, we,

Scott Hammond: um, we just do ourselves a disservice. We think we're being productive, and it's nothing like that.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you're right. I, I really like that. And, um, Don Brown, who was a State Farm agent in Fort- Fortuna, uh, before he died, I got to hang out with him when I came down. And real quick story, I've told this before, but I got, uh, at, to his office. I got my sport coat on. I'm looking good, man, and he goes, "Get in the car. We're going kayaking." I got some shorts and, and some sanda- "Get, get going." And I suited up, and we went out to Hook and Slough, and he said, um, "Whatever you do, don't miss out on Humboldt County because you live, you live in God's country. You gotta go out and experience it." And he, we did it on the

Scott Hammond: water-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … which is even more fun-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know, to see Eureka from… Here's one, Madaket.

Brian Stephens: Oh, the Madaket, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Ride the Madaket, man, the oldest running boat in, uh, California, right?

Brian Stephens: Yeah, and the smallest operating bar too.

Scott Hammond: That's right. It's got a bar. That and The Carter.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Mark. Um, yeah, no, that, that's a great way to see

Scott Hammond: Eureka.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it's, it ain't that expensive. It's probably under 20 bucks, right?

Brian Stephens: Get a little history lesson along the way.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: It's a different view too.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: You're always looking out at the water, look back at the city, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: We often, uh, would drive over to Willy Island first thing in the morning working graveyards to watch the sun come up, but look back to

Brian Stephens: Eureka.

Scott Hammond: That's kind of neat.

Brian Stephens: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I like that

Brian Stephens: … you forget where you are, you know? After working all night and everything you've seen, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … you get to watch the city come alive as the sun comes up, and people-

Scott Hammond: I like that

Brian Stephens: … start moving around. It's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … yeah, it's kinda nice.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You get there that early, and you see the, the early birds coming out-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and the actual literal early birds. Yeah, I like that 'cause you could see right, the mountains behind it-

Brian Stephens: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and Neyland and all. Yeah, I like that.

Scott Hammond: Well, um, I'd like to ask you about your legacy. What would you like to leave behind here, uh, in Eureka at Humboldt? Uh, what, what would you like to be known for? What does it say on your gravestone?

Brian Stephens: Uh, I've often told people that, uh, whether it's my retirement

Brian Stephens: or, um, my funeral, that, uh, if one person stands up and says, "He did it right"-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Brian Stephens: … then all the, all the injuries, all the scars,

Brian Stephens: all the-

Scott Hammond: Will be-

Brian Stephens: … all the demons-

Scott Hammond: Will be made right

Brian Stephens: … it, it will have been worth it, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Brian Stephens: So, um, you know, and how do you get there? You know, you, you do… M- my goal is to take care of my people, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … they're taking care of the city, so the better I can take care of-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … the employees that I have, their families-

Scott Hammond: I love it

Brian Stephens: … the better off they are to take care of our community. And so-Yeah, they're my priority.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: They really are. 'Cause-

Scott Hammond: I call that serving the servants.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's a real– It's a special blessing to be able to help people that are busy on the front lines helping people.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause that, that's… I don't know if it's foot washing, that would be a Bible reference, but it works. Uh, that, you know, to help those guys and

Scott Hammond: gals who, who come back probably banged up a little bit from time

Scott Hammond: to time.

Brian Stephens: Always, yeah. I mean, that's, yeah, it's a lot actually.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Um, and you know what? We've, we started a new wellness program about two and a half years ago now. We just signed a three-year contract.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, but it's one that is robust. It's got a culturally competent, um, wellness manager-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … and clinician.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, it actually has expanded to almost the entire county now, has contracts with-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … service, and they've actually opened an office up here.

Scott Hammond: Great.

Brian Stephens: And, um, so… And I have seen the benefits to our employees immediately.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: Whether we have a critical incident and we're able to debrief it sooner-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … because we have the resources up here-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … or just the services that our contract provides them, uh, to have access to clinicians. And-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Brian Stephens: … the stereotype in law enforcement about mental health, and if I need help, then they're gonna think I'm weak, or they're gonna take my gun away, or… That's, that's gone in our department-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … and across the board in Humboldt County pretty much. It's we want you to be healthy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And it's not just about the job, it's about your future.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And, you know, I don't want to have to retire people out because of things they've seen. And if unfortunately we do have someone who suffers from so much trauma that they can't work anymore, I wanna make sure they're healthy enough to be a good father, be a good husband-

Scott Hammond: Amen. Yeah

Brian Stephens: … you know, a wife, you know.

Brian Stephens: So-

Scott Hammond: Good for you guys. Yeah

Brian Stephens: … it's that surrounding them with the care they need-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … to do the great work that they do day in and day out.

Brian Stephens: So-

Scott Hammond: Sounds like family to me, team.

Brian Stephens: That's what we're working for.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. It's a, it's a constant-

Scott Hammond: It's wonderful

Brian Stephens: … strive, you know. It's c- It's a constant goal to try to reach and get that feeling. But-

Scott Hammond: There's one of the top three takeaway.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's 100%… You know, it's all about that.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, I love that a lot and, you know, that self-care and, and being able to care for other people. So, uh, last question. What, what do– what did Nick and I do to help EPD? H- What, what does it look like for the average citizen? What, what, what's a couple things that we could do to support

Scott Hammond: y'all, um, be a blessing, be a part of the team, be, you know, uh, making this place a better place?

Brian Stephens: Um, education is key and knowledge is key.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Brian Stephens: So if you have issues and concerns, please let me know.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, I can't fix what I don't know.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Brian Stephens: Um, I can't help mold or change what needs to be changed if I don't know what direction it needs to be going in because I'm not getting the feedback. So if you have a, a, you know, if you have an incident-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … and you think it could've been handled better-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … or you think that they did a great job, that communication back to the department is key so I can, I can answer for that, and I can share that. Um, for the employees, if you get a chance and you see them out in a non-kind of enforcement way, so-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Brian Stephens: … you know, it's not like they just pulled you over or anything like that, I get

Brian Stephens: that.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Brian Stephens: But if you get the opportunity to say thank you-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … that goes so far.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Brian Stephens: That goes so far.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Brian Stephens: And they may be having the worst day of their, you know, of their week, but if, you know, if a, if a community member who really does appreciate what they do day in and day out all of a sudden just-

Scott Hammond: Make your day

Brian Stephens: … just says, "Hey, uh, s- sorry to bother you. I just wanna say thanks for what you do."

Scott Hammond: Appreciate you.

Brian Stephens: "We appreciate you."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Brian Stephens: That can reset somebody's mission on why they do what they do and why they sacrifice what they sacrifice.

Scott Hammond: Love it.

Brian Stephens: So-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Brian Stephens: … that positive feedback for them is truly crucial to-

Scott Hammond: You see that with Humboldt Heroes and-

Brian Stephens: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … veterans, you know.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: No one said thanks for a while. You know, just they, they didn't forget, they just, no, there wasn't the

Scott Hammond: opportunity.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So the thank you, I love it. I can do that. That, that's, that's doable. My dad used to say, "It doesn't cost anything to be kind." You know, it's, it's free.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You just gotta be intentional with it. Well, hey, what a pleasure, Brian. Appreciate you.

Brian Stephens: Yeah, appreciate you having me. It's been a, an enjoyable conversation.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Thank you. Any parting shots? Any shout-outs? Oh, so if we wanna get ahold of you, um, could do that via the, the, the, the landline?

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, and, and you could take– they take messages, you respond, you're-

Brian Stephens: Yeah, my assistant can get information to me-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Brian Stephens: … if that. Um-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Stephens: … my email address.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Brian Stephens: Can email me issues. It's all online and-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Brian Stephens: … um, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So this is a way to interface with the chief.

Brian Stephens: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Brian Stephens: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: I think that's everything. Appreciate it.

Brian Stephens: And I will be as responsive as I can, but understand that just sometimes there's a little bit of delay. It's just depending on what it is and what's going on at the time, so.

Scott Hammond: It's all about that.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: With, with what's the demand of the day.

Brian Stephens: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How weak.

Brian Stephens: What's the fire I'm currently working on?

Brian Stephens: But-

Scott Hammond: No, I appreciate it. Thanks for coming in. Appreciate you.

Brian Stephens: Yeah. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

Scott Hammond: 100% Humboldt. Thanks.

Brian Stephens: All right.