Ep. 79 As Child Abuse Detective Kristen King says in this episode, “If you haven’t cried in child abuse, you probably haven’t been there long enough or you’re lying.” In the years I’ve interviewed law enforcement, officers have always said that incidents with kids are the hardest. I wanted to shine a light on those that handle these cases on a daily basis.

Kristen has been with Dallas PD for 12 years. We review her career and talk about her not so predictable path to choosing law enforcement, some memorable calls from patrol and making the move to Child Abuse, something she said she knew she wanted to do during training. As she says, when it comes to crimes involving children – children are always going to be the victims, and she wants to help give them a voice. She cites the hard work of a multidisciplinary team of experts, agencies and organizations that make this possible.

Kristen explains what constitutes child abuse, the calls she has responded to and the cases she has handled as well as the importance of weighing all the variables when determining if an incident was a crime, an accident, or just bad parenting.

Kristen shares the emotional toll this work can take and why wellness matters — a topic that connects to Ep. 77 in which I interviewed her husband, Dallas Police Officer Joe King, head of the department’s wellness unit and host of the podcast ATO: Bridging the Divide.

A big part of Kristen’s passion is educating families on various topics to keep their kids safe. For example, why teaching “Stranger Danger” falls short because most assaults on children are committed by someone known to the child. She talks about what parents should teach their kids and how to recognize warning signs.

We also cover Kristen’s efforts to educate families on the importance of properly storing firearms in the home to prevent injuries and fatalities due to a child’s access to unsecured weapons which can lead to the charge known as "Making a Firearm Accessible to a Child."

And Kristen launched a campaign for which she helped raise funding called “Tiny Breaths Safe Sleep” about safe sleeping habits for babies – life saving tips that many parents may be unaware of.

This is a powerful episode on the work being done every day to protect our children.

Thank you, Kristen!

You can find Kristen on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-king10671/

Find me on my social or email me your thoughts:

Instagram: on_being_a_police_officer

Facebook: On Being a Police Officer

Abby@Ellsworthproductions.com

www.onbeingapoliceofficer.com

©Abby Ellsworth. All booking, interviews, editing, and production by Abby Ellsworth. Music courtesy of freesound.org

Jim Dudley of Police1’s “Policing Matters” interview with me!

Ep. 78 - LAPD Gang Detective Tim Pearce reflects on choosing law enforcement; working the CRASH Gang Unit with his partner Kristina Ripatti who would become his wife; and on the “Officer Needs Help” call that changed everything for them both.

Tim joined LAPD in 1996 in the wake of the Rodney King riots and the OJ Simpson trial working Skid Row as a rookie and later what was then known as South Central. Tim was paired with Kristina who he met in the Academy as patrol partners and later as partners on the CRASH Gang Unit assigned to the Rollin’ 30s Harlem Crips.

We discuss all elements that go into collecting gang intel – the cars they drive, who they hang out with, their monikers, their secret monikers. He shares the hair-raising incident he responded to with Kristina that brought him face to face with a gangster and his shotgun and the millisecond decision that saved Tim’s life.

Tim and Kristina would marry in 2003 soon after have a daughter. They remained on the Gang Unit working separate districts.

Then, on June 3, 2006, Tim and his partner responded to the “Officer Needs Help” call. That officer, he would soon learn, was Kristina.

This is Tim’s story. It’s Kristina’s story. It’s also the story of what all of you risk every time you hit the streets. It is my feeling that the experiences of officers who have been injured in the line of duty and the impact on them and their loved ones is rarely told.

It is important to note that through this experience, Tim has been inspired to help law enforcement in a unique way. He has created a gunshot wound simulator called Accuracy Under Fire — a training tool designed to help officers respond while injured and under direct attack. Tim believes AUFIRE will help save law enforcement and military lives. Please check out Tim’s website to learn more.

Accuracy Under Fire

https://www.aufire.com/

tim@aufire.com

Find Tim on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timpearceaufire/

We also talk about the fascinating story behind the film “Nothing to see here: Watts” which Tim helped produce and direct. It’s a unique documentary made by rival gang members, police, victims of violence all from Watts in LA. Check out the trailer here:

https://nothingtoseeheremovie.com/

Find me on my social or email me your thoughts:

Instagram: on_being_a_police_officer

Facebook: On Being a Police Officer

Abby@Ellsworthproductions.com

www.onbeingapoliceofficer.com

©Abby Ellsworth. All booking, interviews, editing, and production by Abby Ellsworth. Music courtesy of freesound.org

My interview with Jim Dudley on Police1’s “Policing Matters”

Ep. 77 - Many of you know Dallas PD’s Joe King as the host of the compelling podcast “ATO: Bridging the Divide” which supports the mission of the Assist the Officer Foundation. Joe joined The Dallas Police Department in 1997, starting out in the Southeast Division. We talk about why he chose law enforcement, an early critical incident that sticks with him to this day, and how he quickly was drawn to street level narcotics and gangs which he worked for 20 years.

On July 7th, 2016, everything changed for Joe, the Dallas Police Department and Dallas. That night, while DPD was working an anti-police protest, a shooter opened fire on officers working the protest, killing five, injuring nine other officers and two civilians. Those we lost are known as the Dallas Five, and they include one of Joe’s close friends, Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens. Joe recounts how the tragic events of that night unfolded with much of the killing horrifyingly playing out on live television. He details the SWAT response and the hours-long standoff that resulted in the shooter’s being neutralized by a bomb on a remote-controlled bomb robot.

The shooting was the deadliest incident for US law enforcement since 9/ 11, surpassing the March 2009 shootings of four officers in Oakland, CA, and the November 2009 murders of four officers just south of Seattle in Lakewood, WA known as the Lakewood Four. Their deaths were preceded by the ambush murder of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton less than a month earlier. I lived in the greater Seattle area at the time and experienced the devastation of this tragedy. When the Dallas Five were killed, as I tell Joe, I may have been thousands of miles away, but my heart was with Dallas.

Joe shares the impact on him and his fellow officers. His journey through grief and the cumulative effect of prior traumas led him to seek help through the Assist the Officer Foundation’s confidential counseling.

Joe has since joined the board of the Foundation which is a non-profit that not only provides trauma support but also financial assistance to first responders in need. Joe amplifies the mission with the “ATO: Bridging the Divide” podcast for which he interviews first responders from Dallas and around the country. They share their stories of trauma and resilience and how their agencies handle wellness.

Joe also helped create and serves on Dallas PD’s Wellness Unit which takes a very proactive role in caring for Dallas police officers. That Unit and ATO were both put to the test following the 2024 ambush murder of Officer Darron Burks who, only a few months out of the Academy, was shot and killed while in his patrol car. Joe says, “the Wellness Unit snapped into action that night. It was really a night-and-day response from 2016 to 2024 with critical incident response.”

Thank you, Joe for all you have done and for all you do.

I’d like to honor The Dallas Five for their service and for paying the ultimate sacrifice to protect the rest of us:

Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens

Officer Patricio Enrique Zamarripa

Officer Michael Leslie Krol

Sgt. Michael Joseph Smith

DART Officer Brent Thompson

And to honor