Ashlie: (00:17)
Welcome back to another episode of Tactical Living by LEO Warriors. I'm your host, Ashlie Walton.
Clint: (00:23)
And I'm your co-host Clint Walton.
Ashlie: (00:25)
In today's episode, we're going to talk about just how much cash first responders spend out of their pocket and how much we wish they didn't have to. So just sit back, relax and enjoy today's content.
Ashlie: (00:42)
If you're listening and you're a first responder or you're in a relationship with a first responder, you might know just how rare it is to get times together to do the simple things in life such as going to the grocery store. I say that because Clint and I got to go to Target today where we split kind of the household essentials mixed with some of the grocery shopping combined in one trip. While we were there, he ran into the mom of one of his high school friends. Clint started to share with her how he does a lot of work in the mounted unit at his department. He loves it. He loves riding a horse. He loves the time commitments because he gets to work a lot of overtime when he rides mounted.
Ashlie: (01:33)
But the only downside to that is just how much cash is spent out of his pocket by doing something that's a hobby but that is also work related. Clint, talk to me about a little bit of the expenses that the mounted unit goes through personally and how much of the actual assets are applied towards work when you guys are riding mounted.
Clint: (02:04)
You know for us in our department, our mounted unit is completely voluntary where if we have a horse and we want to get involved in it, then we can. Other agencies actually provide everything they would need surrounding the mounted unit, which is not very many, but those that do are great. They have great tools and asset. But I think that also deters from the relationship that you have with your partner or the horse. For us, I mean figuring in the feed, the shooing, the saddle, the vet, the vet bill is nuts… where money really racks up, but also the clothes. I mean I have to buy new pairs of jeans all the time. They just get so dirty you just don't want to wear them again. And also the cowboy hats. There's just the list goes on and on and on. And this is all money that we have to spend out of pocket in reference to it. I think I have five different uniform shirts cause they couldn't make up their mind on which one they necessarily wanted us to wear once they finally agreed on one. It's the one with that we can wear on a normal day to day basis.
Clint: (03:34)
But that's, it's something that we all love to do. We enjoy doing it. So for us it's worth it. You know, we do have a few bonuses in reference to being on the mounted unit like when we work the special events, like the raves or the fairs or anything like that. It's all paid overtime for us. But they're very long nights. I mean you figure 12-13 hours actually in the saddle… it wears on your body. The, the monetary value that comes from just being a police officer in general is high for our agency as well. I know there's other agencies that provide a lot of the tools and equipment, but for us we have to buy a big majority of our equipment.
Ashlie: (04:31)
Apart from the mounted unit, I know we've had these discussions in great depth when tax season comes around, but for the listener, what are some of the things that you can think of that as a police officer you have to fund out of your own pocket that you used as a necessity or as an asset in your day to day work?
Clint: (04:53)
You know, for us, before certain instances that occurred in our city, we had to provide our own plate carriers to protect us for from rifle rounds or higher caliber weapons as well as our rifle. We had to provide our own on our duty belt. They provide us a leather, Sam Brown and other, you know, our duty weapon, our Taser, things that we can't necessarily buy on our own. But if we wanted to carry an expandable baton and we had to purchase that ourselves and the money just adds up. We do get a uniform allowance, but that is like a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of dollars that we've spent over the years towards my uniforms, towards the equipment, towards every necessity that is there. And not necessarily a necessity, but some are conveniences as well, and I know it stacks up time and time again, but for safety, that's probably the most important concern and that's why we've purchased those items.
Ashlie: (06:11)
Absolutely. And I know that from talking to a lot of people online, there are even agencies that still exist today where it is not mandatory to wear your bulletproof vest. Sometimes they're not issued and sometimes these officers have to pay out of pocket for them. And having said that, there's also some foundations that have been created to help to aid because that should go without question, just like your duty weapon is to have a bulletproof vest to wear every day for your safety.
Clint: (06:46)
Yeah. And I'm fortunate that our department does provide us with the updated bulletproof vest every five years or so and, and you know, that's a very expensive cost. If we want to upgraded, we can pay to have it upgraded. But the cost in a bulletproof vest, you're looking $600 to $1,000 easy and they need to be replaced about every five years.
Ashlie: (07:17)
Yeah. And it's, it's just crazy to me how there, I mean, you're fortunate to work in a department where you get paid, well certainly not as well as some other agencies, but for Clint, they judge their pay increases based on like a medium, right? They take an average.
Clint: (07:37)
Yeah. It's based off of, I'm going to say 10 different departments within the Southern California area and they put us right in the middle of their average pay.
Ashlie: (07:51)
But there are a lot of departments where these officers are getting paid just cents above minimum wage. And it blows my mind that to, to be in a profession where it's so high risk and you're having to fund so much out of your pocket based on convenience. Sure, but based on safety concerns, most importantly that the salary is, it's just nothing when it comes down to what you actually take home as an officer, there's so many additional fees when you take into account… the union dues, the insurance, you know, if you have any additional pension plans and things like that. That the dollar amount that you see deposited into the bank account is far less than what that, that rate per hour is. And I just wish that there was, uh, a better calculation when it comes to the reimbursements and just how much money out of pocket first responders have to spend for the duty equipment that they use every single day to make life easier for them and then to make their job safer.
Ashlie: (09:00)
It's just too bad because in corporate jobs, for example, or even a job at McDonald's, like the employees have the assets for everything that they would need in order to do their job proficiently and to be most effective. And any good employer, any good boss would want their employees to have every asset that they need to feel comfortable, to feel safe and to be most effective and productive when they're at work. That helps to build the relationship. And this is coming from an entrepreneur coming from somebody with a business background and degree. It's still important to have that in a relationship with the employer and the employee. And when you're a first responder, there's this distance because many times you'll work for the state, the city or the county. And it's not like you, you can go to the higher ups at your station and complain about having to pay for something because it doesn't usually work that way.
Clint: (10:03)
Well, we could complain all we want. You just would never give it to us.
Ashlie: (10:08)
And I think it's so cool that there are a lot of organizations that do help to fund those that really can't afford it because most first responders have families that they're also trying to support while serving the community that they work for. And it's not easy to decide whether or not you're going buy your son cleats for soccer or if you're going to buy yourself, you know, uh, a new, a new belt because your back is starting to hurt from having to get in and out of the car so many times throughout the day.
Clint: (10:49)
There's so many tools out there that go from especially talking about the, the belt that we wear and how we can reduce the back pain surrounding that. And there's new and updated versions of things like back plates or suspenders or there's chest, chest carrying devices where you carry your, instead of wearing a belt, you carry it all on your, your shoulders. Some departments allowed others don't, but most of the time the officers have to buy it themselves cause that's a considered like a luxury item. It's like, you know, you go on an airplane and you pay for your ticket and then they give you peanuts and some water. But if you want to buy the meal you can buy more or the TV, you can pay even more money for that.
Ashlie: (11:41)
And it's funny because coming from a medical background, I think of how circumcisions are considered cosmetic and so you have to pay cash to have a circumcision done in most instances. Like it's just ass backwards. In my opinion though, what it boils down to is that when you're a first responder, the willingness to do the job that you've taken an oath to do far outweighs all of the other crap, all of the other things that you have to deal with. So much so that a majority of first responders, especially police officers, they sign on until they retire and it goes without saying that they know that this is what they're committed to doing for the rest of their career and they know what the financial obligations going to be and it's nice to be able to vent about it, right? It's nice to be able to have it, to have an outlet and people that can understand and relate to the fact that there are a lot of expenses and it drives me crazy when I hear people from the community make comments like, oh, will I pay your salary?
Clint: (12:53)
And that makes me laugh because the community I work for doesn't have a lot of taxpayers within it. And I love it when they say that to me because I can completely counter that. And they go, well, I pay a sales tax…well, with with your welfare.
Ashlie: (13:16)
And so what it boils down to as you're listening, it's not just first responders. I think that there are a lot of professions where individuals will choose to support a lot of things independently. I can think of teachers, for example, because it helps to further expand on their career and ultimately serve the higher purpose of what it is that they signed on for in the first place. And when you have that mindset and you know that if you are having to shell out money out of your own pocket, but it's for the greater good of what it is that you're living your purpose in every single day, then you're really able to enjoy your Tactical Living.
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