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True Blue Podcast

Author: Matt Waterman

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Go behind the scenes with members from the Victoria City Police Union (VCPU). A long format podcast giving you an in depth glimpse into lives of police officers working in Esquimalt and Victoria. You won't find content like this anywhere else and you will hear regular interviews from a diverse group of VCPU members telling their stories.
103 Episodes
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We start out Season 5 of the True Blue Podcast talking with Constable Ari Knazan an 11 year veteran of VicPD. Ari was hired a little later in life compared to the average recruit but obviously that meant he brought a breadth of life experiences with him to the job. He has a couple of great stories behind his motivation for becoming a police officer. Victoria Police was the only department that he applied for and loved that he got hired in the city he lived and played in. &nb...
Inspector Michael Brown was on duty on 28 June 2022 and served as the Critical Incident Commander (CIC) for this event. Insp. Brown is a 29-year Police veteran, a former GVERT operator and Team Leader, he talks about wanting to be a police officer as a kid and the GVERT Christmas gift he got as a 15-year-old! “Why Waltz, when you can Rock & Roll.” Insp. Brown goes through some of the historical GVERT information and how the team has evolved and progressed since the inception....
"Your husband has been shot" - is anyone ever ready for this news? A career in police work is inherently dangerous and the families are thereby subjected to wondering how safe their spouse or parent is while on duty. The True Blue Podcast is delighted to have Amanda MacIntyre and Angela Reichert share their stories about what the past two years have been like after both their husbands were shot during the BMO incident. Hear how they received information about the shooting, all t...
The "True Blue Podcast" is proud to chat with Cst. Steven Reichert from Saanich Police and the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team (GVERT). He was injured during the BMO Robbery and Shootout, one gunshot wound to each leg and one to his left forearm. Steven shares details of being shot, the amazing tactical response of his teammates and shortly thereafter the medical response efforts by GVERT and Saanich Patrol members to save his life and the lives of the other officers. Ste...
Rollie Woods joins Tom Stamatakis in this episode to talk about Police Oversight in British Columbia. Rollie is a former Deputy Commissioner at the BC Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPPC). He has 35 years of policing experience, 10 years experience on the Executive of the Vancouver Police Union (VPU) and as President of the Senior Officer's Association before moving to work in Police Professional Standards at Vancouver Police and ultimately at the OPCC. Rollie and To...
The Victoria City Police Union (VCPU) is proud to introduce Sgt. Angela Van Eerd (Union President) and Sgt. Joan Elliott (Union Secretary). Hear directly from these two inspirational leaders as they join Matt Waterman to discuss their rise to important positions on the Executive of the VCPU. The VCPU was organized in 1946 and after 77 years the members have elected their first female President! Sound editing done by Todd Mason. More about the Victoria City Police Union (VCPU): - Tweet us at...
In celebration of Black History Month, the Victoria City Police Union (VCPU) is proud to speak with Tim Kituri who is currently serving as a Provincial appointee on the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board. Tim came to Canada a little over 20 years ago and now resides in Esquimalt. He is originally from Kenya and tells a very unique story while living in the capital Nairobi about a specific incident where he was in fear of the police. He also shares a positive story about his firs...
Erin Toplak, President of the Vancouver Island Chapter of "Beyond The Blue" joins VCPU Director and host Tom Stamatakis on this episode. Tom and Erin are life partners and share some of their own struggles of being a partner to a police officer. VI Beyond The Blue (BTB) is a non-profit organization that provides peer support to the families and spouses of police officers. BTB wants to create a safe and comfortable place for family members to reach out to and find support. E...
Meet the most important “Prevention and Intervention” team in Greater Victoria that focuses on Youth Exploitation. The incomparable Mia Golden has been in the business of Youth and Family Counselling for about 30 years and is the backbone of MYST. Her current partner is Cst. Gord Magee, he brings 26 years policing experience to the team and has been attached to MYST the previous 3 years. Hear from Mia and Gord directly on what exactly their team does on a daily basis and how invo...
Cst. Angelina "Ange" Atkinson is one of the 6 new recruits in Class #172. Ange comes to VicPD as an experienced BC Deputy Sheriff, looking to expand her law enforcement career into the policing world. She is a rare "home grown" Victorian, a graduate of Lambrick Park Secondary, the Camosun College Criminal Justice Program and also a graduate of the Greater Victoria Police Camp Program. Ange is no stranger to training at the Justice Institute of BC, she completed her Sheriff traini...
In the final episode of Season 3, we get an update from Cst. Chris Allen who has now been working for VicPD for 2 years. Chris is working in the Patrol Division; he has been passing on his experiences and knowledge as a Field Training Officer (FTO) to new recruits. Chris is a former high school teacher, and we believe well suited to be training new recruits in their Block II. Chris gives us insight into some of an operational police officer’s daily functions; he shares what ...
"The White Hatter" is a team of on-line professionals helping teens and their families with everything from sextortions to extensive digital literacy training. Darren Laur is a retired Staff Sergeant with 30 years service at the Victoria Police Department. The White Hatter has assisted 294 children and their families, 18 of those identify as females and the remainder teen boys – the youngest being 12 years old. The team continues to teach digital literacy and internet safety to stude...
On this episode we chat with Cst. Matt King about VicPD's new OSI Dog. "Daisy" was sworn in October 2023 to be the first Operational Stress Intervention Dog at VicPD. She is a 3 yr old Golden Lab and comes from a long line of purpose bred dogs that are trained to help officers dealing with trauma and stress. Daisy came to VicPD through a partnership with Wounded Warriors Canada. Police work includes officers attending high stress incidents repeatedly over a long career and ...
Good News - Bad News

Good News - Bad News

2023-10-2807:42

The True Blue Podcast has paused releasing further episodes related to the BMO Shooting incident from 28 June 2022 that involved officers potentially facing discipline. Future episodes related to the shooting will be released when the OPCC investigation is concluded. Sound editing done by Todd Mason. More about the Victoria City Police Union (VCPU): - Tweet us at https://twitter.com/VicPD_Union - Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/vicpd_union/ - Find us on FaceBoo...
You won't want to miss this episode! Mike Jarosz was 1 of 7 GVERT members inside the van that took multiple rounds from two gunmen. Mike is a TEMS Medic on the team and he shares amazing details from that horrible day. He also provides some remarkable insight into the stresses police officers have to deal with during and after a critical incident. The candidness of his psychological struggles are refreshing and speaks to why mental health supports are so important for ...
Ben King is a tactical member of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team (GVERT) and took a rifle round in the leg on 28 June 2022 in an effort to keep our community safe. Hear Ben tell his story of being shot, the chaos at the scene, the heroes at the scene, the medical staff that put him and his friends back together, his long recovery to walk unassisted again. Ben shares his perspective on life and what's important and thanks his family, friends, colleagues and the communi...
Hear the amazing story of Retired Sergeant Laurie White (RCMP) and her struggles to survive and persevere after being shot on duty in November 1998 while serving a search warrant at a residence in Kitimat, BC. She was air lifted to Vancouver and due to severe damage to her right leg Laurie awoke to finding out that her leg had been amputated just below her right knee. After ten painful months and numerous failures she was able to return to full uniform duty with the RCMP in Kitima...
**Trigger Warning** This episode discusses the topic of a bank robbery and shooting where 2 people died and multiple others were seriously injured, some of the content may be distressing to the listener. This series of episodes was created with the objective that talking about the subject could in part provide the listener with more information about the event from many different perspectives. It could also provide the police officers, their families and others that were in...
**Trigger Warning** This episode discusses the topic of a bank robbery and shooting where 2 people died and multiple others were seriously injured, some of the content may be distressing to the listener. This series of episodes was created with the objective that talking about the subject could in part provide the listener with more information about the event from many different perspectives. It could also provide the police officers, their families and others that were inv...
**Trigger Warning** This episode discusses the topic of a bank robbery and shooting where 2 people died and multiple others were seriously injured, some of the content may be distressing to the listener. This series of episodes was created with the objective that talking about the subject could in part provide the listener with more information about the event from many different perspectives. It could also provide the police officers, their families and others that were involved ...
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