Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: I'm Alex Stone, former military service member and law enforcement officer, now CEO of Echelon Protected Services, one of the fastest growing private security firms on the west coast. And this is ride along, where our guest and I witness firsthand the issues affecting our community.
You, I believe our proven method of enacting meaningful change through compassion and understanding is the best way to make our streets a safer place and truly achieve security through community.
Voila.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: My name is Andira Harris. I'm a former community and housing advocate and I'm here to do a ride along with my good friend Alex.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: Hey, Alex Stone here. Welcome to the ride along. We have a wonderful guest today, Andira Harris. Andira is a great friend of mine. We've been friends for a couple years now, almost four or five years. Wow. Time flies.
Former housing advocate. Former community advocate.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Right. You're a fifth generation born and raised Portland resident. Yes. Right. So deep ties to the community, especially the black community. And currently you're a small business owner. And we'll get into that a little bit at the end. Why don't you introduce yourself to the folks?
[00:01:32] Speaker B: So my name is Andera Harris and I've born and raised here in Portland, Oregon.
Fifth generation, like you said. Grandma, mom, great grandmother, and then our kids. So been here a long time, worked in housing and in community advocacy on both sides. And. Yeah, just here to share.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: I love it. Thanks for coming today. So I kind of wanted to start our little talk today by going to how we met.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: And kind of talking about that.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: I'll start, yeah, I was living on 162nd, which is in southeast Portland here off of Stark. In the springtrees. They're no longer called the spring trees anymore. We won't say what they're called.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: People who know from Portland, you know.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: What you're talking about.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: But yeah, I was living there and a situation happened where someone was murdered in the back of my parking lot. And right before they were murdered, you guys came in to take over the community policing of that particular property. And then some events happened around that situation and yeah, we became really good friends after that. Yeah, we did.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Literally, I would say within 30ft of the shooting, that's where you were living.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Your front door close. Right. And at the time, your daughter, who's now a woman.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Yes, she's 19.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: She was just starting high school.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: She was twelve.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: She was twelve.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Was she really twelve or 13?
[00:03:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So young kid at home and obviously that's a major concern.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Single mom at the time, young kid at home.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: And we're in an area that I would say is an ethnically diverse area.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Very much so.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Right. And so there's always the sensitivities of, who are these white dudes coming in here with uniforms and guns? Right.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: It really was. Who is this white dude walking around this property that we don't know?
Where did he come from and why is he here? And who is he supposed to be looking out for? Like, is he for you, for the management? Is he for you, for us? What's going on? So that was the question that we had when you first stepped up and you came and you were the nicest person, you introduced yourself. Well said. Hey, Google me. See what you can find. Said, google me. So we did and found out that you were an ex cop and that you had done some really great work where you were previously employed. And we just instantly became really cool after that. And you worked really hard to make that community, make that particular property more livable. Yeah.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: And so going back to that moment, I'm white.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: The majority of the area is African.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: American, and I'm black, by the way.
[00:04:20] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: And she's Kim folk. Not just skin folk. She's Kim folk.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: You can't say that.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: I can say that.
Your boyfriend at the time, the father of your child?
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Father of my children.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Right. Good guy.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Decent.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And he's an Og.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Yes, he is.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: He's an OG. So I'm walking through the neighborhood and I see some sea shakes going on.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Yes, you do.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: So there's some Og crips around?
[00:04:52] Speaker B: Ogs, yes, very much.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Unfortunately, we lost one of them. Great guy. Great guy.
This is an area that is. The shooting was gang related.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Yes, it was.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: And then the area itself is, I would say, has a long history of being involved in gang activity.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Right now, this isn't a reflection upon anyone who lives there. This is just the reality of the situation.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Just the reality of the situation.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Just like Wall street has a bunch of people doing insider trading.
[00:05:25] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Just the nature of the nature of the game.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Nature of the game. Unlike DC, which has no problems.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Yeah, they do their stuff out.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah.
So I'm rolling through. I'm seeing some gang handshakes.
I'm seeing some crip walking going on.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: There was some loud music, some loud.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: Music, some crip walking.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: There was some drinking going on that night, kicking back.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: It's a Friday, right?
[00:05:48] Speaker B: It was a Friday.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: It was. And so I roll up and what I tried to portray was that, hey, number one, we're not the police.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Right? That's the first thing you said. You walked up. You said, hey, my name is Alex, and I'm not the police.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Yeah. I literally said that I'm not the.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Police because they were like, who are you? And it was like, I'm not the police.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Just know I'm not the police. I'm cool. What's up? Who are you? What's your name? How you doing?
[00:06:15] Speaker A: That's right. And then I said, hey, we're here because you're important.
We're not here because we're trying to hurt anybody. Our goal is not to scare people from entering the property.
Right. We're here because you have a child and I want her to be safe at night.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: And so that message, have you ever been approached that way when it came to security in that neighborhood?
[00:06:45] Speaker B: No. And I've lived in various other complexes that have had security, and I've hardly ever had conversations with security. And the conversations that you usually have with security are not those types of conversations. It's usually you trying to tell them, hey, leave that person alone.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: That person's from this community. That person belongs here. That person is friends with someone here. You don't have the right to stop and frisk anybody.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: You don't have the right. So security is acting like police. Acting like police, getting involved in situations they know nothing about.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: No.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Having interactions with people they know nothing about.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: And having the most inopportune, and I want to say unrealistic conversations with people. I'm going to do this if you don't do that.
Trying to force somebody out, trying to.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Make somebody do something, everything's a zero sum game, always, I'm going to win, and you're going to lose. And I don't know who you are, and I don't care.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: And I don't care.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: And I don't care. My job is not to care about you. Which is weird. This is weird. But this is actually.
We call this the law enforcement model in security, but this is typically the best. Companies act this way.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: Yes, they do.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: And I'm saying best in scare quotes. Right.
This is probably what you expected.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: This is what I expected.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Right. And did I meet your expectations?
[00:08:12] Speaker B: You did not. You exceeded my expectations.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: All right, good. Okay, so how did me being a white guy coming into a black neighborhood with a gun. Right.
At what point did you realize this guy actually is here for us? Because it's one thing to say something, but it's one thing to feel it.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: So the first couple of times you came by. We were really skeptical of who you were, the reason why you were coming by, because we just kept seeing you. Why do you keep coming back here? We're not doing nothing. We ain't bothering.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: No, you're like, why is he harassing us?
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Why is he harassing us? Why do you keep coming back here? Who are you? We don't know you. Why you keep bothering us?
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Basically, and this is typical, because the black community is predominantly an urban community in America. And in urban environments, you have more policing per capita in urban areas than you do in suburban or rural areas. Absolutely right. Where I would say a lot of white people live, non black minorities, especially whites. And so a white kid in the suburbs might see a police car once or twice a week, but a black kid in an urban area is going to see a police car ten times, 20 times a day, a day. And those lights are going to be activated and the sirens are going to be going, and they're typically going to be on some type of stop, right.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: 90% of the time they're on a stop.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: And so this sense of hesitation is coming from a sense that really, the black population is being over policed, and.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: We have a healthy fear and mistrust of the police because there have been zero sum games where I'm going to win and you're going to lose.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: So there is no incentive to cooperate. There's no incentive to be nice. There's no incentive to allow you in. There's no incentive to invite you to the cookout, because if you're just going to be like that, we don't really want you around. We'd rather police our own neighborhood.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Yeah. You see a police officer, you know they're going to contact you immediately. You're thinking this contact is going to lead to a loss for me, automatically. This is not a win for me. No. Every contact has to be a win for them, which makes it a loss for me. And when this is going on generationally, generation after generation, year after year, it begins to erode that trust that should be there. That community trust that should be there is no longer there.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: And I do want to preface this by saying that not every cop is a bad cop. Not every situation is a situation that can be handled with grace and dignity. Sometimes things are going to be escalated, and it is what it is. But when you go in thinking that this situation is going to be like the last, that's where you've already lost as a police officer.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Yeah, unfortunately. Unfortunately in Portland specifically, but in other urban areas, they're actually underfunded. So according to the FBI statistics, Portland is only 35% staffed. And what this means is when you have law enforcement contact, it's because they had a call, whatever that means. Right. Someone called 911 and said, there's a suspicious black guy in the corner. Well, when you roll up and it's like 20 black guys, which one do you contact? Right. And so they're running ten calls behind, so they don't have time to actually start a relationship with you. There's no time there because they're always behind in their call volume. Right.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: The situation or the issue with that is that that's not my problem.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: It's not.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: It's not the community's problem. It should not be the community's problem behind in calls.
[00:11:55] Speaker A: But it becomes the community.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: It becomes the community's problem. And you make it the community's problem by not allowing that extra five minutes to hear out the situation. That could have de escalated everything. And you could have taken that call off your list. You could have taken that report out of your hands. You could have not had to take somebody to jail and not have to take those extra steps. But you chose to do that by encountering the people with the same information and with the same attitude that you encountered the last person or the last ten people or the last 50 people. And that's not fair.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: It's not fair. And so when we came in, Reed, my partner, obviously, we're both former law enforcement.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: Right?
[00:12:34] Speaker A: We were the police. Right? We were.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: They was the popos.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Yeah, we were. And Reed's a super cop. I ate a lot of donuts.
And so we came in knowing that this mindset know, Reed's brother is actually african American, so he especially, I think, understands it. And so we know that this exists in an urban environment, and so we intentionally came in and we wanted to build relationships. So eventually, at some point, you said, this guy is harassing us. When did you realize this dude's not harassing us? I think this dude actually cares about us.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: The day that you came and said that something happened to our manager, the day that you came and said, hey, something happened to the manager, do you know what happened? And I was like, no. And you were like, well, do you know these people? And I was like, well, yeah, I do know those people. And I was like, well, that's what she gets. And you were like, yeah, that is what she gets because of what she did.
You can tell them. I'm not going to tell them.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: No, I'll tell them.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Go ahead.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: So the manager made a fatal flaw. So there was a shooting, gang related. The family had come out and set up a giant memorial.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: Yes, they did.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: And without even notifying us of the situation, they decided to go out there and take the. Everything as big as this wall here. There were candles and there's a little tricycle and teddy bears, a lot of stuff, prayer candles, things like this. And she took it all and threw it all away in the trash.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Yes, she did.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: Took it away and threw it all away. And so they kicked the door into the office and put a gun in her face and beat her ass. And then they beat her up, rolled her over the top of her vehicle. It was bad. It was bad.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: It was pretty bad.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: We had a conversation. The conversation was she was born and raised in the country and did not understand the social dynamic of what even.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: A memorial meant and why you don't touch it, why you don't remove it.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: And it was from then she actually quit shortly after that.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Yeah, she quit, like, the next day. I think it was the very next day she quit. She didn't come back. She might have waited a couple of.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Days, but she quit, which was very understandable in this situation because she was very unprepared for where they put her. And I don't know who told her. I think she said that her manager told her to take it down, and they knew better, and so they kind of set her.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: This is funny. I don't think they do know better, and I think that's what this conversation is about.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: I think that there's a cultural difference that occurs in neighborhoods where you have subcultures that are almost like a family.
Right. And the best way I can explain it is these people that run that site had no idea what they were doing.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Truth is, they knew exactly what they were doing. They just didn't care. Because there are memorials all over the city, people who have gotten in car accidents, people who have been involved in other shootings, people who have been involved in bicycle accidents, motorcycle accidents. There are memorials everywhere. And so you know better than to touch them or take them down.
There have been memorials that have been up there for 10, 15, 20 years.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: I think what they didn't understand was the memorial being there was actually causing violence to end, to stop in that.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: Particular complex at that time.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: It was a safe space.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Correct. So in urban environments where there's gang activity, when there's a shooting or there's a death and there's a memorial up that area, essentially becomes disaffected. You're no longer allowed to engage.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: It becomes holy ground.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: It becomes holy ground. Like a church.
[00:16:29] Speaker C: Right.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: And so they thought that removing.
They were concerned that the memorial was actually going to cause or bring in more gang violence. They didn't understand the dynamic that removing it would cause the violence rather than keeping it. There would be an actual way to stop the violence, because the people, they didn't grow up in the setting, they don't understand. Right. And so all of this is going on at some point. I think you and I become really good friends because we literally would have conversations, like, every day.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: Every day, right. Every day we were talking about.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: Because you're the most interesting person that lived there. There was the OG. The OG who lives in the center area by the pool.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: And I was also one of the main people who would actually stop and have real conversations with you.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: I didn't just blow you off. I didn't just, hey, how are you doing? All right. And then go back in my house, I would be like, hey, what are you doing today? Like, how's the neighborhood? What's going on? Who's out and about? And you'd be like, you're always doing it. Yeah. Because if you're going to be around here and you're going to be in our neighborhood, we might as well use you for some good.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: What's going on? Who's doing what? Is there anything that we, as the residents need to know about? And that's how we built our organic friendship on top of everything else that was going on. And then you did the most amazing thing you could have ever done, which was you decided to go behind the community, behind the manager's back, behind the property company's back.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: She's telling all the dirt folks, all the business.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: All the business.
And you actually decided to get a permanent memorial?
[00:18:11] Speaker A: I did.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: For the front of the complex so that it wasn't in a space that was impeding traffic or that would allow extra people to be on property so that that would alleviate their fears but also kept it as holy ground.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: And that particular move solidified the relationship that we have now.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: It was the right thing to do for the family, and it was the right thing to do for the property.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: And it was the right thing to do for the community.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: It was.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: And doing the right thing isn't always an easy thing to do. Sometimes you do have to go behind some people's back. Sometimes you do got to come out of your own pocket. Sometimes you do got to.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: I never got reimbursed for that.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: No, you never got reimbursed because they were never going to reimburse you.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: They didn't want you to do it.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: I don't even know if they know it's there, to be honest.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: I think they actually took it down again because it was in the front of the complex by the bushes.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: I don't think it's there anymore. Okay. Interesting.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Yeah. But the complex no longer has the same name. I don't think they want it to have the same connotation.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: They've revamped the whole thing. And a lot of the people who were living there at the time no longer are residents at that complex anymore. So they kind of got away with that one.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Yeah. That's sad. I'm going to drive by there next week.
Something else I think that we did that helped was when we arrived, the property was extremely dirty.
And the reason that we were told was that groundskeepers were afraid to go there and pick up trash because of how violent it was. Right. And so I made the management invest in cleaning.
I think we found, like 120 syringes in the playground. Oh, in the playground, around the pool. The pool was shut down. It wasn't even usable.
And there were broken glass from bottles all around cigarette butts. And we literally cleaned that property for almost a week straight. And anything that was a hazardous to a child, anything that would stop community engagement from occurring outside, we fixed. We cleaned it as best as we could. And we also monitored all of the trash areas.
Right. Making sure that they were safe and secure.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: Making sure that we didn't have homeless people sleeping in there, stuff like that. Right.
And as soon as we did that, kids were literally playing outside more.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: Almost within a two or three month period. I mean, this was a shooting. A shooting had just got. And the guy who was killed was just turned 18.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: Yeah. He was a very young kid.
[00:20:57] Speaker A: He was young who had a three month old.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: Jess had a baby. Yeah.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: And so it went from kids were scared to go outside and even sit outside in the parking lot to within a three month period. We had bands of children running around the parking lot playing until the. Because it was summertime, playing until the sun was setting. So eight, nine o'clock at night.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: Yeah. The way it was when we first moved in.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Yeah. In fact, there was, I think, the Puerto Rican, the Puerto rican family that lived in the back. We started doing community movie night. You remember that?
[00:21:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: And we would get the projector and project movies for the kids and have barbecues in the back. And we would project them on the back of a giant wall, literally. The kids from other complexes in the neighborhood would come. We'd have, like 30, 40 kids out there.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: And it became a place where if you were going to sit in a car and sell dope, you couldn't, because there was always someone watching. There's always people.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: There's always kids out there.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Barbecues were happening.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: We were always hanging out.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: And that's what the community was before the shooting, and it took a minute, and you guys were a big help in turning the community back into that after the shooting. It allowed us to be free again, to be able to be who we were before everything happened. And it's invaluable to a neighborhood to be able to go back to the way things were so that people feel safe again.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Yeah. So you think that what we did made people feel safe?
[00:22:27] Speaker B: Yes, very much so. Very much so.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: And it's not that we didn't. There were times when we had to.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Kick people off property, trespass folks. You know what I'm saying? You knocked on cars.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: Remember the one I think there's.
She was the white lady that lived, like, in the parking lot in the back.
She was homeless, but she was also prostituting.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Yeah. And she was in the back. And you guys got her off the property. There was a couple of meth heads. They used to hang out back there and just kind of get high right across the street from the playground. Like the playgrounds over here. The parking lot is over here, and they'd be over in the back. There was like one little blind spot from the cameras, and that's where everybody would be. And it was literally at the end of my parking lot, my driveway. Right. And so that's where the shooting occurred, and that's where a lot of the activity was. That was turning that neighborhood into a mess.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: And so from your point of view, and we're going to go out and we're going to ride along today, so I'm sure you'll have a lot to say about what we're doing.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Do you feel that there was something that we could have done better, looking back, that we should have done differently?
[00:23:38] Speaker B: The only thing that I think would have made that whole situation better would have been to actually call the police. That because certain officers frequent the same neighborhoods, they run the same beat. So if you call those officers in who are constantly running our beat, who are constantly at our complex, and introduce them to the people who you've met, you know what I'm saying? And to just make those connections for them so that when you take up and leave from a complex, that those people who are still left behind or those cops who are still left behind, that community engagement can continue because the relationship is already built. That was the only thing that I think that you guys could have done a little bit differently.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: That's actually great feedback. And unfortunately, at that time, in the development of our company, we were Persona non grotto. We were not really law enforcement. Didn't even want to have a conversation with us. No, this is not true. In other locations, there were other cities that we were operating in where we had great relationships with gang task force sergeant all the way up to deputy police chief. Excellent. But when it came to Portland, they didn't know who we were and what we were doing.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: And so they were very resistant.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: They're very resistant to work with us. In fact, we would call law enforcement and they wouldn't show up.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: They would not to our calls. Yes, they would not.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: They're like, who are you with? And we tell them, like, yeah, we're not coming. We're like, what? Anyway, this guy kicked in someone's apartment door.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Tell them to call.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Yeah, tell them to call.
And again, being a former police officer and just one of my shifts alone, I had three separate deaths in one shift that I was responsible for investigating on one shift. So when you're a police officer and you've worked 90 hours a week for ten months, and you work 21 days in a row, and you're going call to call and you're constantly busy, are you really going to take the advice of a quote unquote security guard about a crime in progress?
Unfortunately, and I get it.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: But when it comes to being more inclusive, being of help rather than the problem with police is that you're always behind the crime.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it's reactive.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: You're always reactive.
You're never there before anything happens, you're always thereafter. And so you have to deal with the aftermath. But the truth is that if you would come out and meet the neighbors, sometimes these things wouldn't occur. Because they know how close the neighborhood.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: Is with the police. Yeah, exactly.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: They know how engaged the neighborhood is with telling on people. And so therefore, it reduces the amount of crimes that you have to deal with because the neighbors ain't putting up with it and the cops ain't putting up with it.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: If I was a dude, if I was in a part of a criminal organization. And I was driving around looking for apartment complexes to sell dope out of, and I constantly saw a detective's car or a cop car in the neighborhood, and they were hanging out with the kids, talking to people, just having a barbecue. Sitting there with a barbecue. I'd be like, basketball.
[00:27:00] Speaker C: Playing basketball.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: I would never sell dope there.
That's got to be their cousin.
They have to be related to that.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: Somebody is hanging out. Somebody's fucking the police.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: Yeah, or that cop's dating somebody. Exactly.
[00:27:15] Speaker B: Somebody.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: They're going to find out who I am. 48 hours, that's it. And I'll get pulled over and popped. And so you're right, we have to be able to increase that level of engagement to such a degree that people are just too scared.
The people that are preying on poor neighborhoods, that are bringing all these problems to areas where great people live, people that are already struggling, we got to be able to keep out folks that are doing that. So I appreciate you talking to me about that connection, that point of connection we had. So I think that that really leads to what we're doing today. So today we're going to ride out with Bach. All of you know who Bach is. Fantastic.
Know, I don't know if you know Bach.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: Around. He's an OG. He's been around. He was like employee number seven, I think. And so he's been around for a long time.
He has an emt background. He was a reserve police officer for years, that type of thing. And he is actually in charge of our PI division and our training division. He helps run our training division as.
Yeah, we're going to be out in Old Town.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: Which is another historically ethnic community here in Portland area, unfortunately, and this is something that I think it's important to mention, is that part of redlining. Redlining was essentially a way in order to take land. For property owners to take land banking laws, they would use any means possible in order to disaffect an ethnic community in order to take their land away. Right.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Redlining was gentrifying. Redlining was an area in which they wrote, literally, a red line around that said that African Americans can buy property inside the red line, but not outside the red line.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: You couldn't get a loan from a.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Bank outside of the red line.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: I think a part of that historical redlining was ethnic communities were historically areas where they would put undesirable operations. So if you have a federal halfway house or if you have a state prison halfway house, or if you have.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: A metal refinery, metal factory, or if you have a shipyard, or if you have spray painting operations or anything industrial that pollutes the ground, the water, and the air. That's where you put the African American.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: Yeah, pretty much. And I think on top of that, you would have even sex offender registration classes or anything, any type of any activity that required people that were known criminals to live or operate were almost always put in minority neighborhoods, always in the red line. Always, always.
And a part of that was that would drive down values, and then they would just gobble up that property later.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: On, which is what they did. That is what we call gentrification.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:08] Speaker B: Which is what brings us to where we are now.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Right. So we're going to go out in a historical neighborhood right now that in old town Chinatown, they house about 10% of Portland's total homeless population.
[00:30:22] Speaker B: Right.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: So there's around 400 people living in about a 40 to 50 square block area. Right. And so we're going to go down there and we're going to ride along. And as we're doing this, I want you to give us your opinion and your critique about how we're operating and what we could do better.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: What do you think about that?
[00:30:40] Speaker B: No problem.
[00:30:40] Speaker A: Is that good?
[00:30:41] Speaker B: That works.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: So before we hit the road, tell the folks again who you are, where they can find you. And I'm interested. I want them to know about what you're doing now, this business venture and your trip to Africa.
[00:30:52] Speaker B: So currently I am working with a friend of mine in Ghana, and we're trying to get an import export business going. So I'm interested in importing high end african goods into the US and exporting used goods into Ghana because there is a huge market for our used items in Ghana to help out some of their more less affluent neighborhoods and some of the poorest people, they get the most value out of things that are recycled, reduced, and reused. And so using that model that Portland is known for, the greener pastures and all of that, we want to send some of know gently used items over to help out in a different country. And so bringing profit to both sides of the world and, yeah, just maintaining some businesses, I love that.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: I think that's great. So you're going to be going to Africa here shortly, right?
[00:31:52] Speaker B: I will be going to Africa in the next six months, yeah, I love Africa.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: I lived there for a while. I lived on the other side of the continent in Ethiopia.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to Ghana.
[00:32:01] Speaker A: I've never been to West Africa. I'd really like to go.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: It's going to be nice. If you want to go, you can go hang out.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I wish. We'll see. I'm always traveling, but we'll see. Yeah, that'd be great. When are you going?
[00:32:15] Speaker B: Trying to get there between now and February.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: Okay, awesome. Okay, so I think we should hit the road. Yeah, I feel like that we should connect with Bach, jump in the ride and see what we can get into.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Let's go.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: So you're going to be on patrol.
[00:32:32] Speaker B: Lord have mercy. Y'all help me. Y'all see this? Y'all see this? They taking me.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: All right, we're here at the ride along Portland, Oregon. Gonna head into old town and meet up with Bach.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: All right, let's time. So what are you anticipating seeing when we get downtown?
[00:32:54] Speaker A: I anticipating seeing a lot of people overdosing.
It's spiked this past month. Is the hype it's ever been.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: Are you currently carrying Narcan?
[00:33:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:03] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:33:03] Speaker A: Got a lot of Narcan on us. Bach is in charge of training everyone how to use Narcan. He runs our Narcan program. We actually, as a nonprofit, loving one another. We facilitate and we give Narcan to, like, ten or 15 other entities, including other security companies that can't get free Narcan and other nonprofits, we give them Narcan as well, like CDT and people like this.
And then I tell Bach to offer them free training. And we just eat that cost as a security company because the more people out there doing it, the better it is for everybody.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:39] Speaker A: Fantastic, man. He knows what he's doing. Hey, we had just arrived here at the office. We're going to jump out and meet up with Bach. We'll catch you in a second.
Cool. All right, here's Bach. So let me introduce you real quick. We're going to be rolling with him tonight. Hey, what's up, Bach? Hey, good to see you, bro. Hey, good to see you, brother. This is Andira.
[00:34:07] Speaker C: Andira, hello. Michael.
[00:34:09] Speaker A: Michael, Bach.
[00:34:10] Speaker C: Nice to meet you, too.
[00:34:11] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, ready to roll. Where you at tonight?
[00:34:13] Speaker C: I'm all over anywhere.
[00:34:15] Speaker A: Okay, cool. All right.
[00:34:15] Speaker C: We can just kind of go.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: Not just old town, right?
[00:34:17] Speaker C: We can just kind of go wherever.
[00:34:18] Speaker A: Let's hit it. Let's roll.
Should love that. AC on.
[00:34:37] Speaker C: Hear about today? No, it happened.
I ended up being called by Mike Martin, who was given Narcan the lockdown. And I get there and the dude's dying. Like, legit dying.
[00:34:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:52] Speaker C: And we ended up doing rescue rest, and he came back when he came back, he was unhappy and was cussing at us.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: Yes, of course. Yeah.
[00:35:05] Speaker C: All right.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: EMT Kinetics came.
[00:35:08] Speaker C: Yes, they sure did. Yeah, 705. I can make that happen.
Awesome. I'm on east west side of merchant right now. Unlock, please.
Copy. West side of merchant, over there in a second. Hey, Clyde. Thanks, sir, I appreciate it.
I'm currently leaving the.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: You all doing okay?
You all need cigarettes or anything?
You got a couple?
[00:35:37] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: You know Bok, he has them on him.
Thank you.
[00:35:52] Speaker D: Yeah, I take care of her.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: Where are you at? Stand out over here.
Okay, cool.
Yeah.
[00:36:02] Speaker C: You moved out of his head.
[00:36:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Good to see you, Clive.
Yeah. Take care, Alicia.
So they've been in old Town for years. She overdosed on the railroad track. The train.
[00:36:23] Speaker C: Did you ever hear the story about we thinking he was dead?
Spencer goes to a set of tents, basically out of Blanche goes, bro, I need help out here. This guy, I think he's dead, but I'm not sure. So I go hauling up there and I'm like, oh my gosh, it looks exactly like Clyde. It's Clyde. Clyde's dead. So Spencer, myself, like five, six other people, we're all basically grieving the loss of our buddy Clyde.
[00:36:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that's Clyde back there.
[00:36:52] Speaker C: Because that's Clyde. Like, Clyde's a good dude. We like him, he's friendly, whatever.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Yeah, he seems to be a good dude.
[00:36:58] Speaker C: Yeah.
Well, 6 hours go by and I've told Pete, I've told all these people Clyde died.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: We do, yes.
See what I'm saying?
[00:37:12] Speaker B: Okay, I got you. I'll make sure that I get some more.
I'll make sure I got you good.
[00:37:19] Speaker C: All right, so about 6 hours go by and then Clyde walks in front of me and I've already mentally gone. He's know, on and on and on. And then sure enough, there's some people.
[00:37:33] Speaker A: Over here in this alcove right here.
[00:37:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I saw that. Like it looks like he's lying down.
[00:37:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:36] Speaker C: Watch out, watch out. Okay.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Thanks though. So we're going to go there, offer him a cigarette, talk to him.
[00:37:48] Speaker B: You want me to go?
[00:37:49] Speaker A: Yeah, sure.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: This is the job.
Wow.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: How you doing, fellas? Hey.
[00:38:04] Speaker B: Seven one one.
[00:38:07] Speaker E: Southeast. Cold gate.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: What's there?
[00:38:11] Speaker E: Southeast.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: Is that a house? Brother, you doing okay?
No, we're going to call you a radio cab, taxi.
And they'll take you wherever you need to go.
[00:38:23] Speaker E: Take you everywhere you need to go.
[00:38:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:28] Speaker C: Are you headed home?
[00:38:29] Speaker A: Hospital. Hospital, like that, right? Wait, what?
[00:38:33] Speaker E: No, he wants to go home.
[00:38:35] Speaker B: He's not going to a hospital.
[00:38:36] Speaker E: He wants to go home when you die?
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Hospital.
[00:38:39] Speaker E: The only reason I stay there is because the lady that owns the place can't afford hospital. She's in bed.
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Yeah, we can do that.
[00:38:53] Speaker E: I owe her my life.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: Well, my name is Alex. It's nice to meet you. Yeah.
This is Andera, and this is Bob.
[00:39:02] Speaker C: Hi there.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: And so we run a security company, but we also have a nonprofit, and we pay for to radio cab people to places like this all the time.
[00:39:11] Speaker E: Can you three join us?
[00:39:13] Speaker C: What are we talking about? I don't understand to have conversation. But if you need a ride, I can get one to you.
[00:39:19] Speaker E: Please.
[00:39:19] Speaker C: Okay. And what's the name of the location?
[00:39:22] Speaker E: 12711 Southeast Holgate. Holgate. And they call it a boulevard. Hardly enough room for two cars.
[00:39:38] Speaker C: What's your name, sir?
[00:39:39] Speaker A: That's true, actually.
If you've been around Old Town, you definitely met me, because I'm married to the streets of Old Town.
[00:39:47] Speaker C: Hi, Jasmine. My name is Michael. I work with Echelon and I'm an accountant under the old Town Community Association. I need to order a cab for a gentleman, and I can give you an origin and a destination address.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: What brought you out to Old Town, Portland?
[00:40:02] Speaker C: No, but if they come by, looks.
[00:40:04] Speaker B: Like you were at the hospital today. Were you at oh issue or the VA? The VA.
[00:40:12] Speaker E: They gave me zero pain medicine.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: Yeah, of course.
[00:40:16] Speaker E: And that's the first thing I stopped there for. And everyone that came across me, two doctors, five nurses and others too, said, you'll have to see your doctor for that. And I said, what the hell are you guys? And they said, good luck.
[00:40:44] Speaker B: Do you have a primary care physician? A real doctor? A regular doctor, you see?
[00:40:48] Speaker E: Yeah, but he split.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: Oh, he doesn't work there anymore.
[00:40:52] Speaker E: I'll bet he does.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: What branch were you in? I was in the army.
[00:40:55] Speaker E: Me too.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:57] Speaker E: Point man.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:41:00] Speaker E: With ground pounder.
[00:41:03] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:41:04] Speaker E: With a helmet that had a big bullseye. Yeah, with a red cross, of course. And all they gave me for my own defense was an M 60.
[00:41:16] Speaker A: So you're a medic or. Eleven Bravo. Medic. Nice.
[00:41:20] Speaker E: Do any of you guys ever work for the betterment of the country?
[00:41:27] Speaker A: Sometimes I want to believe that. I do.
[00:41:30] Speaker E: And it's harder work than combat, right?
[00:41:34] Speaker A: Often, yeah.
[00:41:35] Speaker B: Being an advocate for somebody who can't advocate for themselves is some of the hardest work than anybody has ever.
[00:41:40] Speaker E: And you know what else? Morse code. Wayne Morse took the state in the election, but they poo pooed him because Oregon is a maverick state.
[00:41:57] Speaker A: I love the history lessons.
[00:41:59] Speaker B: Oregon is a maverick.
[00:42:00] Speaker A: Great. I love it. Yeah, it's definitely a maverick state.
[00:42:02] Speaker B: Yes, it is, Mary.
[00:42:04] Speaker C: There you go.
[00:42:05] Speaker A: We're going to check on them real quick.
We'll be back.
[00:42:08] Speaker C: We're not leaving for you.
[00:42:09] Speaker B: Okay, so they should be coming pretty soon.
[00:42:11] Speaker C: It's a lot of money giving out cigarettes.
[00:42:13] Speaker A: It is, yeah. We give her out like eight cartons a week. Yeah, cigarettes.
[00:42:19] Speaker C: We give out a lot.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: You all need another cigarette.
[00:42:21] Speaker E: They say you can't smoke in public.
[00:42:24] Speaker A: Yeah, true story.
You can smoke whatever you want in public.
[00:42:29] Speaker C: You can. You can smoke whatever you want.
[00:42:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:33] Speaker E: Not in my place.
[00:42:35] Speaker A: Have you all been on the streets in old town for a long time?
[00:42:38] Speaker C: Yes.
I see you. If you look to the south, you'll see me walking into.
So I'm right here.
[00:42:45] Speaker E: So there's your cab.
[00:42:47] Speaker C: He's right here.
No, he's coming over here. Indira, he's coming over here. Yeah.
[00:42:54] Speaker B: Okay, perfect.
Thomas, he's going to come around the corner.
[00:42:57] Speaker C: Right over here.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: Budy, if you come stand right in the street. Yeah. You want me to take your back for you?
[00:43:03] Speaker E: Please.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: Perfect. I'll take that.
And he'll give you a handsome street.
Now, this is the hard part, is the stepping down.
[00:43:13] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: If you come right this way.
No, step right here, buddy. If you don't mind, we'll help you step down. Okay?
[00:43:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Come forward with that foot. Yes. Now take that. Step down for me.
[00:43:34] Speaker B: We got you. We're not going too far.
[00:43:36] Speaker C: You ain't going anywhere.
[00:43:37] Speaker B: There we go.
[00:43:38] Speaker C: I got you.
[00:43:39] Speaker B: Easier.
[00:43:39] Speaker E: Just lean this way. Both of us?
[00:43:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:42] Speaker E: Can I ride up front, please.
[00:43:48] Speaker C: To grab the window frame right there. I'm going to come behind you here.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: Probably be easier to have him sit first.
[00:43:53] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: And then swing his feet in.
[00:43:55] Speaker E: Watch my head.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: See, that's exactly what cops tell people when they arrest me. Sit down first. That's why I always tell people. Yeah, sit them down.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: Well, it's also easier for people who have mobility issues and are unstable on their feet.
And it's harder like this.
[00:44:16] Speaker E: Homeless people.
[00:44:17] Speaker B: It's just a little harder to get them in if you get them to just kind of sit down.
[00:44:21] Speaker A: That's what I do.
[00:44:22] Speaker B: And then I just kick their feet around. I do it to my grandmother all the time.
[00:44:27] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:44:31] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:44:37] Speaker C: You're welcome.
[00:44:40] Speaker A: So that's actually a big deal. What just happened? This guy, you can tell he's not.
[00:44:45] Speaker C: Completely out of it, but he's disoriented.
[00:44:48] Speaker A: Dressly disoriented. Was at the VA hospital earlier today. They obviously gave blood or he took a blood sample, and so the sun's almost going down. We're in old town. There's the high crime area. There are shootings here every night. This guy is just talking to another guy he doesn't know who was in a prison gang. He has face tatoos. So that guy was going to get taken advantage of if we didn't get.
[00:45:10] Speaker B: Him in that cab.
[00:45:10] Speaker A: If we didn't get him in that cab. Yeah, 100%.
[00:45:13] Speaker C: I'm glad that he was not leaving out in the street.
[00:45:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:15] Speaker C: Because it would have been a night out here.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:17] Speaker C: And unfortunately, he was coherent enough to know exactly where he needed to go.
[00:45:20] Speaker A: Bad situation for him. But at the end of the day, I think we did the best we could with that scenario. I do. And the level of engagement that occurred here already took care of the problem. We were originally stopping here for a simple loitering in private space. We engaged them. That's Dee Dee and Seth. And just that engagement, they moved.
[00:45:44] Speaker C: Easy.
[00:45:48] Speaker A: See, we got radio cab accounts in all of our neighborhoods.
[00:45:52] Speaker B: And that's awesome. So that people like that who just literally need a ride home, you know what I'm saying? And it ends engagement. It ends confrontation, it ends everything. And other people see you do a good deed.
[00:46:05] Speaker A: Exactly what was going on. See, this lady, she needs to have her breasts covered, right?
Because that's going to.
[00:46:13] Speaker B: Technically, she's in a paw.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: She is, but.
[00:46:19] Speaker C: I don't think she wants one.
[00:46:20] Speaker B: She wouldn't have took it.
[00:46:21] Speaker A: I think she's working.
[00:46:22] Speaker B: She is very much working.
[00:46:23] Speaker A: She's definitely working.
[00:46:24] Speaker C: That's the point.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: My bad.
Well, at first, when I saw her, I thought maybe she was under the influence and didn't have the capability of clothing herself. I didn't realize she was shown a little bit. She's advertising, correct?
[00:46:39] Speaker C: Yeah. And then you're going to go up a block, and it'll be in the parking lot on the left hand side, just past you. That red car that's parked on the left past the white car. He's awake, just waiting for the booth.
Okay.
[00:47:00] Speaker A: So not an overdose. No, just deep sleeping.
He probably used until he fell asleep coming out of that stupor.
[00:47:11] Speaker C: On the left. No, he's moving.
[00:47:13] Speaker A: He's moving.
[00:47:14] Speaker C: The one here on the left is what I was looking at. He's moving this whole crew over here on the left here inside the property due to the blue. No, he's moving.
[00:47:25] Speaker B: No.
[00:47:30] Speaker C: He'S got a knife in his pocket.
[00:47:33] Speaker A: Looks like the coffee shop is still going on in there.
[00:47:36] Speaker B: Coffee?
[00:47:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:39] Speaker B: All right, for a couple more hours.
[00:47:42] Speaker D: Let's go grab some coffee.
[00:47:43] Speaker A: All right.
[00:47:44] Speaker B: Tom will be right back.
[00:47:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you think? Bro, you're good?
[00:47:50] Speaker B: All right.
[00:47:50] Speaker C: You want me to go and do it?
[00:47:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:54] Speaker C: What's going on? Ma'am, are you staying out in the wild right now without one?
I think the best I might be able to do is some blankets, but I'd have to be able to meet you somewhere because I don't have them on me.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: Their store is closed, right? Do they close this early?
[00:48:15] Speaker C: Yeah, they were open earlier.
[00:48:17] Speaker B: They close early so that they can.
[00:48:19] Speaker A: Okay, I didn't know that.
[00:48:20] Speaker B: Decrease the amount of people.
[00:48:23] Speaker C: Got a gentleman out here who doesn't have a tent, and he asked for one. Unfortunately, we're currently out of tents. It's a resource limitation kind of thing. Sometimes they come in, sometimes they don't. We do have blankets, though, and I agreed to meet him in a little bit. As soon as we can go get some blankets.
[00:48:43] Speaker A: Where are the blankets?
[00:48:44] Speaker C: They're in the resource office back in the yards. Okay. This guy right here is. I'm worrying me.
Let me look at him.
My man, are you okay? My man, you okay?
You all right, bro? You want a cigarette?
My man, you okay? Hey, you all right, buddy?
Okay, cool. How are you doing?
Good. We're going to go back to the yards and get a blanket and, hey, have fun still.
All right, sounds good.
Alex, you might have Aaron hike long?
[00:49:28] Speaker A: Nah. Come on.
Yeah, that's where Alicia lost her arm. Right there. She passed out.
Yeah. You didn't know that?
[00:49:35] Speaker C: I didn't know where I knew that.
[00:49:37] Speaker A: Yeah, right there. Her and Clyde used to live right under there.
Train came.
Let's go. Hand these off and walk over there.
Hey, y'all needed some blankets?
[00:49:50] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: Awesome. I'm Alec.
Nice to meet you. Cool.
[00:49:55] Speaker C: In front of their door.
Yeah. Doing okay, though. Look, if you ever want to get into a shelter, you run into me enough, right?
Place ain't all that great. So if that's what you ever change your mind, that's what you want to do, you let me know, okay? I'm Michael. Remind me your name again.
Okay. Thank you.
We're good? Yeah, all good.
[00:50:30] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: Y'all have a good night.
[00:50:34] Speaker C: You catch bags?
[00:50:35] Speaker A: We got bucks. Y'all let us know.
[00:50:36] Speaker C: You doing okay, man?
[00:50:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:50:40] Speaker C: All right?
Yeah.
[00:50:43] Speaker E: Ma'am.
[00:50:46] Speaker C: How are you doing, my man? You doing all right?
Do you need a cigarette, man?
You want me to give you one? I do. I hooked you up.
Yeah. My name's Michael.
I gave out my last bottle of water, just a little bit ago.
They're hand rolled.
[00:51:04] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. He got some smokes for sure.
[00:51:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll square you away.
[00:51:11] Speaker A: The dude with the hustler shirt is actually hustling.
[00:51:15] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:51:17] Speaker A: He did two handoffs. If we've been here, the guy across the street, I mean, it's all possession level, so the cops don't care.
[00:51:24] Speaker C: Copy.
[00:51:25] Speaker B: Thank you. Well, he's in the right spot for it. He's right in front of the mocha.
[00:51:29] Speaker A: That's right.
You want to check on that lady sleeping, just in case? Might as well, right?
Ray Ray.
[00:51:38] Speaker C: Yo, yo, what's up, Ray Ray?
[00:51:43] Speaker A: Did you get your housing the other day?
[00:51:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I did.
[00:51:45] Speaker A: Awesome, bro.
[00:51:46] Speaker B: I got my record player.
[00:51:47] Speaker A: Good job.
[00:51:48] Speaker E: The right to love some beautiful man tonight, because I earned my graduate. My mama.
[00:51:55] Speaker A: Good job.
[00:51:55] Speaker E: Said I love hot mom, just as my mom.
[00:51:57] Speaker B: All right, so tonight, any man that want to make me happy, give to me good.
[00:52:03] Speaker A: I earn my reading papers, all right.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: When I grab my housing. But also tonight is that night.
[00:52:11] Speaker C: You got it, buddy.
[00:52:12] Speaker B: So if I got it, any man.
[00:52:15] Speaker E: Out there who wants me, just do one thing.
[00:52:18] Speaker B: Help yourself.
All right.
[00:52:21] Speaker A: Love you, Ray Ray. Love you.
[00:52:23] Speaker E: Now, put that everywhere because tonight's my night.
[00:52:25] Speaker A: Oh, that's right. That's going on the YouTube.
[00:52:27] Speaker C: Give me some knuckles, my man.
[00:52:28] Speaker A: Yeah. So the lady on the street, she's go for cool. Hey, Ray Ray, in old town, Portland's looking for a man to love, and.
[00:52:36] Speaker E: That night is tonight.
[00:52:37] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:52:38] Speaker C: That's right, Ray Ray. Good night, buddy. Okay, good talk. Good talk.
[00:52:44] Speaker A: Check. Ray Ray needs love. Check. What else?
[00:52:47] Speaker C: Go to the next thing. Yes.
[00:52:49] Speaker A: So no overdosing on this block.
When you're patrolling at night, there are no shelter intakes.
[00:52:56] Speaker C: No, after 03:00 it's pretty much done.
[00:52:58] Speaker A: So all these people, they have to fend for themselves.
[00:53:01] Speaker C: I'm looking for Jade, by the way. Okay, so she's going to have a shaved head and a split right earlobe. Okay. And her mother's looking for.
[00:53:12] Speaker A: Oh, that's the lady from.
[00:53:15] Speaker C: So she tried to kidnap that kid the other day? Yes, she did. And she's tried to do it before. Apparently, she's bald.
[00:53:20] Speaker A: About the fight. Were they about to fight?
[00:53:22] Speaker C: No, everybody's friendly.
[00:53:24] Speaker A: I saw her grip on her face a little bit.
[00:53:25] Speaker C: Yeah, but they were about to hug. Okay.
[00:53:28] Speaker A: Similar to a fight?
[00:53:29] Speaker C: Similar to a fight, but not quite. I want to go talk to that group right there.
That group right there. So you want to just pull over right here?
[00:53:36] Speaker A: Got you.
[00:53:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:53:38] Speaker B: Hey, man, how are you doing tonight?
Make sure my security walks in front of me.
Hey, darlin everybody okay?
[00:53:48] Speaker C: Worried about you for a second there.
Yeah, I know. I was just worried about her. I'm not accusing anybody of wrongdoing. I'm just checking on them, making sure everybody's okay.
[00:53:58] Speaker D: Thank you. I appreciate that.
[00:54:00] Speaker C: You guys need a cigarette at all?
[00:54:01] Speaker D: Sure.
[00:54:02] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:54:03] Speaker A: Do y'all know Pax?
She's a female with bald hair. Have you seen her recently? Her mom's in town from out of state and her mom's looking for her. We're not the police. I ain't the police fan. She's a missing persons and her family is here in Oregon looking for her.
[00:54:21] Speaker C: Totally not in trouble. We're just trying to connect mom with her daughter is all.
[00:54:24] Speaker D: I've seen the mom, so I know.
[00:54:26] Speaker C: Oh, yeah? Okay, cool.
[00:54:29] Speaker D: I already told mom she's been around.
[00:54:31] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:54:32] Speaker D: Just hit or miss.
[00:54:33] Speaker C: Yeah, but you think over by six?
[00:54:36] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:54:36] Speaker C: Okay. All right. I'm going to take a peek around the corner and then maybe, hey, darlin I'd be in debt to you if you could tell me kind of where she's at. I'd really like to make her mom happy.
Up and down on six?
Well, I mean, you know how it goes, bro. People love each other, you know what I'm saying?
I don't know the whole story, my man. I'm just trying to help people out, you know what I'm saying?
If it were my family, my son, my daughter, how would I want others to help?
All right, well, you guys have a good night and I'm glad you're going. Okay. Thank you.
[00:55:16] Speaker A: So, again, during the daytime, people are more personable. It's easier to have a conversation. At nighttime, they're going to be a lot more guarded. They already had their defenses up. See how the bikes were positioned, contacting, end of the day, much easier, a little more low key contacts. At night, you got to watch yourself. You saw the guy who was playing with the knife. He was stabbing that thing when walked up.
[00:55:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:55:36] Speaker A: So the good thing is, as soon as he handed the cigarette to him, he put the knife away because the hand got used to smoke a cigarette. And the things that kill you are hands kill people. So if you give them a cigarette and they're occupied with that, that's one less hand you have to worry about. So that's also a safety issue.
[00:55:52] Speaker B: It's a little too much slim flimbery going on.
[00:56:15] Speaker A: The New York Times photographer that's rolling with us tonight. Spotted the lady. Pax, right? Or Jade, who attempted the kidnapping, like four or five days ago. We found her. Bach rolled out quick and we lost them. So now we're kind of looking for them. We just did the block and parked really quick. I mean, it was less than 45 seconds. So we're going to go out, look for them.
You know Pax. Her street name is Pax. Ball headed white chick.
[00:56:42] Speaker C: How are you doing, darling?
[00:56:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that was a good spot.
[00:56:46] Speaker B: Trying to catch up with the other half of our crew. But you have a good night, okay? And if you see us down here again, let us know when you're ready. Okay?
Trying to get in touch with detox.
You all be careful. Okay?
[00:57:08] Speaker A: So they're on Harvey Mill. Cameras will spook her. He said so. He's afraid the cameras will spook her. I'm going to get.
I'm going to go check on that person right there.
[00:57:17] Speaker B: Yeah, the leaner over here? Yeah. Think he's all right, though.
[00:57:22] Speaker A: Are you good, my man?
You good?
[00:57:25] Speaker D: Yeah, my leg.
[00:57:28] Speaker A: What happened to it? Well, go ahead and take like ten or 20 minutes, whatever you need. But I guarantee you if you stay here, the guard's going to pop out and tell you something. Right now we're filming a documentary, so don't worry about that guy.
About homelessness and drug use in Portland.
[00:57:43] Speaker D: Oh, really? That's so cool, dude. If you ever need anything, bro, answer questions or anything. I don't really necessarily need to be honest, but if you have any questions about anything that I am able to answer, I'd be more than willing to.
[00:57:58] Speaker A: Awesome, bro. My name is Alex.
[00:57:59] Speaker D: Alex.
[00:58:00] Speaker A: Thanks, Travis. Appreciate you, bro.
Take a couple of minutes and get know, whatever you need.
It does, bro.
[00:58:11] Speaker D: It's so cheap that we can literally do nothing and still get high. You know what I mean?
[00:58:17] Speaker A: $2, bro.
[00:58:18] Speaker D: Back when crazy heroin, we had to get bucks together.
[00:58:25] Speaker A: Was it two for whites and three for blues? Right now, what is it for a dollar? Oh, my God.
[00:58:31] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:58:32] Speaker A: That's insane.
We'll be back by you too, bro.
Always, bro. Yeah, you too, brother. So he was just telling us, like, right now, whites are like a dollar. Back in the day, just three or four years ago, if you were going to shoot heroin, you had to go earn $20. And now you can get that same high for a dollar.
Right? And that's why we have literally probably 50 people within one block, all smoking, all getting high, smoking whites and smoking blues on foil. So.
[00:59:05] Speaker B: So we just want to just go over there and say, hey, we talked to your mom, she's looking for you.
Yeah, the worst that can happen is that she runs off and we lose contact with her for the night.
[00:59:17] Speaker A: Right.
[00:59:17] Speaker C: I think the best thing to do would be to at least try and connect with her and say, look, here's your mom's phone number. Do you have your mom's phone number? She wants to talk to you. We're trying to get the two of you guys together.
[00:59:29] Speaker B: Let's just go. Yeah, the worst we can be met with.
[00:59:32] Speaker C: I think that if we have any chance of success, it would be just the two of you alone without me. I do think so.
[00:59:39] Speaker A: I don't know what the point is until we can get hold of the mom.
[00:59:43] Speaker C: That is part of the end game strategy.
[00:59:46] Speaker B: The best thing we can do is go over and just make contact. And either she runs or she talks.
[00:59:49] Speaker A: Let's give it five more minutes.
[00:59:51] Speaker B: All right.
[00:59:52] Speaker A: I know it seems like a lot, but it's okay. She ain't going nowhere.
[00:59:57] Speaker B: She ain't.
[01:00:01] Speaker A: Only fools rush in. That's what Elvis says.
I'm going to get a picture and act like Elvis.
But it's true, right?
[01:00:13] Speaker B: Holy fools rushing.
[01:00:16] Speaker A: Think drug induced psychosis when she tinted the cabinet.
[01:00:20] Speaker C: Yeah, she's been smoking fentanyl since we've been sitting here.
[01:00:22] Speaker A: Yeah, but was she on meth or fentanyl when she tried it?
[01:00:24] Speaker B: Probably both. Whichever one she get her hands on.
[01:00:27] Speaker C: She was not depressed. She was definitely elevated.
[01:00:30] Speaker B: Whatever she can get her hands on.
[01:00:32] Speaker A: Yeah, you're probably right.
[01:00:34] Speaker B: You selling drugs? That's what she keeps jumping out the car for.
[01:00:39] Speaker C: Yeah, so I originally texted her at 2134-2149 that is 15 minutes. It's not real long.
In the game of the world.
[01:00:50] Speaker B: It's also 09:00 at night.
[01:00:52] Speaker C: It is.
[01:00:53] Speaker A: She could be sleep.
[01:00:54] Speaker C: It's almost ten. Yeah, but the last we heard is she was out running around right now looking for because she's from Arizona. Well, it went straight to voicemail.
[01:01:07] Speaker B: Hey, guys. How y'all doing tonight?
Anybody need a cigarette?
[01:01:12] Speaker A: There you go.
[01:01:13] Speaker B: Anybody else? Cigarette, cigarette.
[01:01:20] Speaker A: Hey. Packs, right?
[01:01:21] Speaker B: That one's menthol.
[01:01:22] Speaker A: We've been out with your mom a couple of times.
[01:01:24] Speaker B: I don't think that we have a regular for you. Okay, perfect.
Is she parked over there?
Oh, excellent.
[01:01:33] Speaker A: Okay. In the suburban right there.
[01:01:35] Speaker D: She didn't know she's in Honda pilot.
[01:01:39] Speaker A: Okay. We transition, like, about 150 people a month off the streets. And so we've been out looking for you tonight, actually, because we wanted to see if you were interested in meeting up with your mom.
Okay, nice. Yeah.
Oh, cool. Okay.
Well, I'm Alex. If you ever see me out on the street, if you need anything, let me know. We're here to make sure everyone's safe.
We're not trying to control people's lifestyles or nothing like that.
Do you have a phone number?
[01:02:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:02:21] Speaker A: Where do you stay at?
Do you have a tent anywhere?
[01:02:25] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:02:27] Speaker A: So her mom's parked down the street in the Honda pilot. She's been there.
[01:02:33] Speaker C: Her mom's down here.
[01:02:34] Speaker A: And a white Honda pilot.
[01:02:36] Speaker C: Does she know that?
[01:02:37] Speaker A: Two blocks away? That's what she says. I don't know. That's the truth.
[01:02:42] Speaker C: There's a white Honda. I'm looking at what looks like a white Honda.
[01:02:45] Speaker A: So she says she's staying at a tent near 7th and oak.
Very coherent, obviously.
[01:02:50] Speaker C: Yeah. A lot better than previous.
[01:02:53] Speaker A: I think we've done what we can do.
[01:02:55] Speaker C: I think you're right. I'm smoked. I'm really.
[01:02:59] Speaker A: You look better than that, though.
[01:03:02] Speaker C: I'm really tired.
[01:03:04] Speaker A: Hey, it was nice to meet you all.
Hey, thanks, bro. Hear that?
[01:03:09] Speaker B: I did.
[01:03:13] Speaker A: Hell, yeah. Get off the streets, get clean. Six months, bro. You can come work for me, too easy. Yeah, and call Spencer tomorrow. I'll try to get you into housing. Okay. Tell him, Alex. You got the number from Alex.
Nice to meet you.
[01:03:29] Speaker B: Okay, cool. There's a bob behind you.
[01:03:31] Speaker C: That's not right. This is number 503.
[01:03:33] Speaker B: Bob's behind you.
[01:03:35] Speaker A: Hey.
[01:03:37] Speaker D: Yay.
[01:03:38] Speaker B: I feel so accomplished.
[01:03:41] Speaker C: That's pretty rad.
[01:03:42] Speaker B: That's awesome. Hi, sweetheart. How are you?
Good.
She's not leaving you. Hers. Not leaving you.
My dog does the same.
[01:03:55] Speaker A: Yeah, right.
[01:03:56] Speaker B: Yeah, every time.
[01:03:57] Speaker A: For real.
I'm Alex.
[01:04:01] Speaker D: Hi, Alex.
[01:04:02] Speaker A: Shannon. Nice to meet you.
[01:04:03] Speaker D: Pleasure.
[01:04:04] Speaker A: So, I work with Bach.
[01:04:06] Speaker D: Oh, okay.
[01:04:07] Speaker A: And we basically have been out looking for her tonight.
[01:04:10] Speaker D: Really? Yeah, I found her earlier.
[01:04:13] Speaker A: That's what she was saying. Yeah.
[01:04:17] Speaker D: And then I grabbed her, and then she left me just sitting out there. I literally was running out of gas.
[01:04:24] Speaker A: She said she was just about to come talk to you, though. She did.
[01:04:27] Speaker D: She told me that I need to eat. I got to receive. I have to work again in the morning.
[01:04:33] Speaker A: Are you staying here local?
[01:04:35] Speaker D: No, I am a truck driver, so I'm on the road a lot.
[01:04:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:04:40] Speaker D: I actually just asked for a transfer so I can get a local route, so that way I can be here.
From Arizona.
[01:04:52] Speaker A: Yeah, that's.
[01:04:54] Speaker C: Right.
[01:04:58] Speaker A: So we own the security company. We also run a nonprofit called loving one another.
[01:05:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:05:05] Speaker A: And so you can always call that as well. I'll give you the phone number?
[01:05:11] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, she's, like, in a pretty good state right now.
[01:05:16] Speaker A: She's awesome.
[01:05:18] Speaker D: 9064.
[01:05:21] Speaker A: Hey, dude. Nice to meet you, bro.
[01:05:22] Speaker B: Okay, everybody stay safe.
[01:05:26] Speaker A: Okay. I'll share my contact. And then the guy who runs the nonprofits. Contact.
[01:05:31] Speaker D: Yeah. Because I let her know, and it's like, right now.
Come on.
[01:05:38] Speaker C: How are you doing, man?
[01:05:39] Speaker A: You want to cigarette hungry?
[01:05:42] Speaker D: And then I realized I had her bag, so I was like, let me circle the block and see if I can find her.
Now, when I can see what she's wearing, it's easier to find her.
[01:05:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:05:56] Speaker D: It'S crazy because she blends in, but right now she's super recognizable.
Then she just told me, like, a guy that she introduced me to that was friends with and was kind of looking out after her. Just got his headphone off.
[01:06:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right in front of one of my guards, the dudes who just got shot in the head.
[01:06:19] Speaker D: He went by Wolverine.
[01:06:20] Speaker A: Yeah. One of my guards was right there when it happened.
Yeah, witnessed it. That's horrible.
[01:06:28] Speaker D: I know.
Seemed like he kind of had his.
[01:06:30] Speaker A: Shit together a little bit.
He had a really good reputation on the streets.
[01:06:38] Speaker D: Jay said that I guess he got in trouble with the Hondas or.
[01:06:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, the Honda's for sure.
[01:06:45] Speaker D: And I worry about that with her, too, because they kind of look out for her, and I've seen them when people have stolen from her, punch people, if she says anything, they come running after.
And then when she has her manic episodes, I worry about, are they going to take her out?
It's because she wants to come out.
[01:07:11] Speaker B: I know.
[01:07:12] Speaker D: She's a puppy. She's super hyph.
[01:07:15] Speaker A: You do long haul, short haul, they go with you. That's nice.
[01:07:21] Speaker D: I just started bringing the cat with me, but my job is already, like, you need to get verification, and that's why I want to switch and get the local route.
[01:07:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:07:31] Speaker D: If I get a place, then I can maybe get a house sitter or convince her to.
[01:07:37] Speaker A: Right? Yeah, I would imagine. There's definitely the people hiring up here for trucking, for sure.
[01:07:44] Speaker D: Yeah. I haven't really looked locally. I work for Snyder. I just did, like, an internal transfer.
[01:07:52] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:07:52] Speaker D: So I just have to get approved to do it. But then when she crashes, she'll be asleep for, like, two, three days. And that's why. Because we were looking for her last.
[01:08:01] Speaker C: Right there, dude.
[01:08:02] Speaker D: We couldn't find her because she was asleep in the tent, and we stayed kind of in that little area. And then I kept looking down here because it's like that mother intuition.
I just don't know where she's ever at. But even right now, I had the bag, I looked down and I saw it and I was like, shit, I better find her.
[01:08:24] Speaker A: It is.
[01:08:26] Speaker B: And it's a very addictive lifestyle. Because there's so many other people out here. There's so many different people to hang out.
It's very attractive.
[01:08:35] Speaker C: Your cat here about ready to Obscon?
[01:08:37] Speaker D: Jesus Christ.
She wants to get out.
[01:08:42] Speaker B: Yeah, her was running.
[01:08:44] Speaker D: She was looking. Daisy, no jumping. Sit. Good girl. Sit.
[01:08:54] Speaker B: She said, somebody touch me. Pet me. Pet me. Peace.
[01:08:57] Speaker D: It's so funny. Is that Daisy? She knows my kid. She's never met Jay, but when she seen her the first time, she was so excited to see her.
[01:09:04] Speaker A: Yeah, well, she could smell the family. You know what I mean?
[01:09:08] Speaker B: You're sick.
[01:09:09] Speaker D: I didn't even think.
[01:09:10] Speaker B: Family line.
[01:09:13] Speaker A: Hey, that dude just tucked a gun in his waistband in that SUV right there.
[01:09:17] Speaker C: Which one? White shirt.
[01:09:19] Speaker A: Yeah, he's just opened the door. He's in the back right there.
Well, we're going to leave you all alone so y'all can talk.
Family reunions. Don't need a camera there, right?
It was a pleasure to meet you, Pax.
I was homeless as a child with my mom in a car for a year and a half. And I was homeless as an adult for two years. I lived on the McDonald's on Eon Avenue. On Highway 30. Right there. Kind of near Slabtown. So the streets always win.
And I believe that when you were a little kid and your teacher asked you what you want to be when you grow up. I don't think that this was what you were thinking.
[01:09:57] Speaker D: My grandpa will always.
And I wanted to be a process worker. House painter.
[01:10:05] Speaker A: Nice.
So I just want you to know that no matter where you are in my heart, I'm believing in you.
And I'm hoping that. Yeah. Awesome.
And I'm hoping that someday you can be who you want to be when you were a kid. It was nice to meet you as well.
[01:10:23] Speaker B: Nice to meet you, too.
[01:10:24] Speaker A: You have my phone number. If you ever need anything, call me directly. Okay?
[01:10:29] Speaker D: All right.
[01:10:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:10:31] Speaker D: Thank you.
[01:10:32] Speaker B: All right, you guys have a good night.
[01:10:34] Speaker A: Nice to meet you.
[01:10:35] Speaker D: Thank you.
[01:10:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:10:41] Speaker A: So remember.
[01:10:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:10:42] Speaker A: One of my guys witnessed the murder like a week ago.
Literally 10ft from the vehicle. Shot him in the head. So that was apparently Pax's best friend on the street. Wolverine.
[01:10:55] Speaker C: Yeah, I hope so.
[01:10:56] Speaker A: And the reason I want to leave is that SUV, I think are the Hondurans. And he looked at us. And he pulled a gun out of the backseat, and he tucked it in his waistband, and that door is still open, and he's been looking at us. So I just want to get out of here. I don't think it's worth staying any longer, so hopefully they can reconcile. All we can do is put the people in the right place, and by the end of the day, the person on the street, they have to make that decision for themselves if they want to change their lives. So, yeah.
To our night, right?
[01:11:36] Speaker B: Not really just a night.
[01:11:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, when you grow up the way we grew up, this is a regular.
This is just some regular shit going on tonight.
[01:11:51] Speaker B: Pretty much. Ain't nothing new under the sun around this.
[01:11:57] Speaker A: Andira.
[01:11:58] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:11:59] Speaker A: We talked in the studio about just how our level of community engagement as a community affected you personally in that little microcosm of the apartment complex. Right. And so now you're seeing what we're doing on a larger scale. What are your thoughts about that?
[01:12:15] Speaker B: My thoughts about that is that you guys are reaching a lot of people. Your name is out there. A couple of people that we ran into already knew what security company you guys worked for, which means that you guys are out talking to people, which means you're engaging. And so that's awesome to see. And it also lets me know that the neighborhood is receptive to you guys being out here because they're passing your name along, because they know that you guys are out here helping. So it's beginning to snowball into something very beautiful to where you guys will be able to help more people and reach out to more people, and then maybe we can get some of these people off the street.
[01:12:47] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. Hawk, what are your thoughts?
[01:12:50] Speaker C: Yeah. On tonight? It's been a long day.
[01:12:51] Speaker A: You've been on patrol at 16 hours, 14 maybe.
[01:12:56] Speaker C: It's 1015. I started at six in the morning.
It's been a long day.
[01:13:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:13:01] Speaker C: I'm ready to hang up the gear.
[01:13:02] Speaker A: Yeah, long day. And unfortunately, this was a good result. We've got the mother and the lady who almost engaged in the kidnapping five days ago, tried to kidnap a seven year old the day before that, tried to kidnap a four year old.
She was in a manic, drug induced state. Right. And now we see her here. She's almost completely coherent.
[01:13:24] Speaker C: Right. And moments where she goes. Yeah.
[01:13:27] Speaker A: She's in and out of coherency.
[01:13:28] Speaker C: Exactly. Right. Yeah. When they're more coherent, it's the right time to be able to connect them with family.
[01:13:32] Speaker A: That's right.
[01:13:33] Speaker C: The right time to be able to scoop them, to scoop them up out of the situation, to get them to talk about stabilization, to talk about the future, to talk about what their life has hold for them. It's the right time to be able to connect with them on a human level and be able to say, you're worth so much more. And we want you to think about the future just like what you said.
[01:13:51] Speaker A: Yeah. You have value.
[01:13:53] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[01:13:54] Speaker A: You have value. Hey, thanks for joining us on the ride along. Every episode is a hard episode because we're doing hard things, but hopefully you can see the work we're doing. It's transformative. It matters.
If you're going to engage in community transformation, it begins with personal transformation, and that's why every life matters. So we'll see you next time on the ride along. Thanks. See.
