HOW IT ALL STARTED

It was the summer of 2020, in the midst of the Covid crisis. Most of us can agree that we were a Country divided not united. At the time I had 25 years of law enforcement experience in the state of Ohio and from my position, I felt like the entire country was out for law enforcement officers.

I could not understand how people could put a label on all police officers. I was outraged!  Not only did this cause our Country to be divided but my personal house was divided. In addition to being a Deputy Sheriff, I had also been a High School Football coach and in 2016 my wife and I were given the opportunity to adopt a young man that had come to the school from a previous failed adoption. He was a 15-year-old African-American male whom everybody had sadly let down. Fast forward 4 years my son was in college playing football & then in 1 split second Covid happened I think it is fair to say that our whole entire way of living was turned upside down. School closed down and he wanted to stay in the area he was going to school in because he had gotten a job at Amazon. 

One day I am scrolling thru Facebook and I see a post from my son accusing all cops of being murderers. That he would be killed in the streets for being black.  I was in shock. Didn’t he know that I was a good cop? Didn’t he know that the majority of law enforcement did not support any police officer that would do such a violent act? As of today my son and I are not Facebook friends. It has taken a few years to have a decent relationship.  We will not agree on everything but have learned how to respect each other’s opinions. This dynamic has made me genuinely passionate about & the reason I founded and created 1 Split Second.

What I’m offering

I have taken my experience from the last 30 years of my life to create workshops, educational forums & training for all walks of life. Young Mid-Life, senior, everybody can learn something from this. Not only can others learn but my team will keep expanding our knowledge and learning from others’ experiences. I created our school workshop & teacher education forum with one thing in mind.  Educate. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is not pro-police, it is not racist, and it doesn’t judge. It is the one thing that we ALL can have.  

I want young kids to understand how to conduct themselves if they have a police interaction. I want to show scenarios where they will have one split second to make a decision and based on that decision I will show them if needed how if they just changed one small thing or said less the situation would not escalate. Most of the time the police come to your door, work, school, etc. when there is a problem, and if you’re dealing with a problem, those officers don’t have the time to talk about police relations. This is an opportunity to ask questions and give tools to people. 

I believe that youth education is our biggest challenge.  Schools are our best way to get thru to the most kids at the same time.  With that being said, I have several workshops for the Corporation side, Churches, Sports teams, parents, and teachers. We go over what drugs look like, safety measures, where people hide drugs in plain sight, and what you should do if you see something suspicious when to call emergency services.  The topics are endless.  There is no age, race, or gender that can’t learn from this experience. 

There is no component of this program that will be made into any political debate.  Based on schedules and needs, we will have other staff: former drug addicts, bad guys that I have actually arrested, Correction officers, 911 dispatchers, Fire Fighters, EMTs Rescue Workers, Nurses, Chief of Police, Past Residence coordinator for Drug & Alcohol treatment centers and Military. If you have a situation that has happened and you think we could help but it’s not listed, call (937) 459-6924, you would be surprised by what we all know.