CopTalk relaunch update!
A lot has happened since my brother Jim started Netcopspsi.com and we wrote the book CopTalk almost 20 years ago. We are about to relaunch the website and podcasts to answer your questions.
How it started:
What started as an idea, and with both of us being cops, Jim had a vision to share our experiences with citizens to help them avoid making the same mistakes others have made which caused them to become victims. We stayed up late at night after our patrol shifts writing chapters for a 288 page book called CopTalk. We wrote the book, and started our website, because of something we would say to ourselves all the time at the scene of tragedy or loss; Why did this have to happen? Many times it did not need to happen and we felt the general public had a right to know what they could do better to protect themselves. What makes us an expert to be able to tell people how to protect themselves against being victimized? Absolutely nothing! We are not experts and we do not claim to be. But on the other hand, we’ve responded to thousands of your calls for help, enough to clearly see that most people take their security for granted and then are shocked when something goes wrong.
Jim got his friend and reserve Sheriff’s Deputy Brent involved who did all the technical stuff, editing, publishing, and website creation. Brent also joined us in our podcasts which became popular. All that in-between his full time job of installing emergency vehicle equipment.
CopTalk was published close to 20 years ago and after its release, news stations, newspapers, and reporters contacted us for interviews, stories, and guest appearances. Two local cops who were brothers that wrote a book not just telling war stories, but actually giving useful information and examples of what went wrong that caused people to become victims. We gave examples of various crimes and explained what happened, and gave tips to our readers on what they could do to avoid making the same mistakes. We simply wrote a book suggesting ways for you to do things – better.
CopTalk was self-published and available online and at book stores but with our busy schedules and lack of major publisher advertising, we did not have the time or resources to keep it going. Brent started posting questions from readers on our website CopTalk.info and we started a podcast which was popular.
Again, our busy schedules and lack of time caused our podcast to fade away. I run into people that bought our book 20 years ago and they all comment that the information we gave in the book back then still applies to this day. Common sense and taking precautions will reduce your chances of becoming a victim.
Although the book sales and podcast faded away over the years, to this day Brent still receives hundreds of questions to our website. So Brent and I decided to Relaunch CopTalk.info with an updated website and a new podcast to answer your questions.
But I am sad to announce that CopTalk’s founder and co-author, my brother Jim, won’t be joining us on the relaunch. Jim passed away in January 2024 after a short battle with cancer. Jim would have loved to relaunch CopTalk but I’m sure he’ll be watching over us and laughing at our podcasts. Jim may be gone but he’s not forgotten.
I have since retired after a 30 year career at my former police department. My friend Ed worked with me for several years at my old department before retiring medically and later moving to AZ where he currently works at a Sheriff’s department as a civilian employee. Ed was a guest on some of our podcasts so we decided to have Ed join us in the relaunch of CopTalk to help answer your questions online and as a regular on our podcasts.
Brent opened his own company for emergency vehicle equipment consulting and is in the process of becoming a reserve again.
Well, that’s the history of CopTalk and the relaunch of the website and podcast starting in late August 2025.
Hope you enjoy the website and stories, and listen to our podcast where we answer your questions and give our honest and sometimes blunt opinions.
Mark
Bio Information:
Mark
My brother Mark had been a cop for 12 yrs when we first wrote our book. Between the two of us, we had a lot of first hand experience at seeing how people became victims, and how a lot of the situations could have been avoided. Mark works in an active city with a wide variety of calls for police assistance. For years, he worked the high crime/drug sales areas in his city with the assistance of his K-9 partner, a 120 lb Rottweiler battering ram named Bolo. Bolo had the nose of a bloodhound and loved to search for bad guys. Bolo also loved police chases, howling along with the siren the whole chase.
Mark got interested in Police work by listening to the stories I told of the calls that I responded to. Mark became a reserve officer and patrolled the streets where he now works, only then he didn’t get paid for it. He excelled as a reserve officer for over 2 years and was persuaded by his department to become a full time sworn officer. Mark graduated from the police academy and has been working with the same department for the past 20 plus years. His professionalism and dedication to duty is noteworthy, and he is highly respected by many. (Even the bad guys respect him!) Mark obtained a motor position in the traffic unit after 8 years of working K-9 and since the department wouldn’t let Bolo ride in a sidecar wearing goggles and a bandana, Bolo got to retire.
Shortly after retirement, Bolo had to be put to rest due to cancer and Mark continued to work as a motorcycle officer in the traffic unit. Mark enjoyed working the commute hours and he got called out to investigate major auto accidents or traffic related fatalities. Mark has also worked detectives and currently works in the juvenile division investigating juvenile crimes. He works closely with the two junior high schools in his city and Mark has created programs to try and help juveniles from developing a criminal record. The city where Mark works is a very active city with a wide variety of crimes. By working in such an active city, Mark brings to us the equivalent of having 30 years experience instead of 20. His insight to violent crimes involving weapons, drugs and gangs is invaluable. Off duty, Mark is a proud parent to two beautiful daughters and has been married longer than I’ve been a cop. Mark’s contributions in CopTalk regarding juvenile crime and parenting in today’s society come from not just being a cop, but also as an everyday parent.
To contact Mark by Email click here: mark@coptalk.info
Bio Information:
Brent
My career started at the young age of 16 when I applied to be a cadet / explorer with my local police department. Nothing like being 16 in high school and getting to ride along with local law enforcement on the weekends. My friends that liked to party on the weekends never understood why I wanted to work with the cops. That volunteer position reset my perspective for the rest of my life. I went from a naive 16 year old to a kid that understood that the world was not at all what my parents tried to prepare me for, responding to accidents, shootings, bank robberies unarmed and being told to stay in the car was eye opening that the world was not all glitter and rainbows.
From cadet I followed the path into my local Sheriff’s Department as a SAR (Search and Rescue) Volunteer, that position pushed me to get all my first aid certifications and within a few years was on the command staff for the entire SAR team. But my call was to keep expanding my role and capabilities and to do that it meant I would need to lose all my nights and weekends to attend the reserve academy for Modules A B and C. After all of the training we were required to do over 180 of work in the field to become a level 1 Reserve. The position of Level 1 Reserve basically makes you into a non paid full time regular Deputy that has the same responsibilities as a normal paid Deputy Sheriff. This allowed us to go on patrol as a solo unit.
My reserve career spanned about 25 years in total – Retiring out in 2011 to pursue my other businesses I had been involved with while being a reserve deputy.
Recently the passion for public service has called me back into reserve work for my local fire district. It is good to be back. While as reserves we do work for no money and fairly few thank you’ s, those of us who do the job do not do it for those, we simply do it to help the public on their worst days to try to make them just slightly easier.
To contact Brent by Email click here: brent@coptalk.info
Bio Information:
Ed
My quest to become a law-enforcement officer started back in 1981 when I applied for the San Francisco police department. Unfortunately, at that time they were under a federal consent decree and had different standards for hiring at the time.
My quest to become a cop continued but at this point, I decided to take the construction route and wait until my four year Carpenter apprenticeship by the union was completed in 1988-1989. While attending my four-year apprenticeship program in California, I always saw a large sign that said become a deputy sheriff with a phone number. I thought, well I need to complete my at least carpenter apprenticeship, and become a journeyman before I jump ship and become something else.
My journey into law-enforcement began in the latter part of 1988 when I realized I was going to graduate from the Carpenters apprenticeship program. Just prior to graduating, I called the phone number for becoming a Deputy Sheriff.
After graduating from the Carpenters apprenticeship program, within several months of that, I was raising my right hand and becoming a sworn peace officer within the state of California.
I took a substantial pay cut, but realized that no matter what happened there would never be a lack of crime or inmates and I would be able to continue feeding my family and supporting them with medical /healthcare etc. I continued on this journey for the next 12 years before I was medically retired from an incident that occurred on duty.
After retiring in the year of 2001, I went back into the construction field as a supervisor and enjoyed myself very much. Double dipping was pretty good as far as money was concerned. However, if I ever let the cat out of the bag and mention that I was previous law enforcement, my job became 20 times harder because people immediately looked up upon you as being a cop.
Eventually, I moved to the state of Arizona and continued in the construction field as a welder. However, the trades did not attract me as much as I would’ve liked. I continued to look into some fields that were in the arena of law-enforcement. I applied for a job as a “court security officer” with a local Superior court which essentially was scanning your bags, through the x-ray machine. I did that for nearly 4 1/2 five years. My current job as a so-called “Deputy Service Aid” began with a large sheriffs office in Arizona that was starting a program similar to what most police agencies had as a police assistant. Writing cold police reports, vehicle accidents, recovering stolen vehicles and so forth. That was right up my alley so I went ahead and applied and obtained a position with that agency.
For the last 6+ years, I’ve been employed with that agency and have enjoyed myself and now I’m currently in an administrative position maintaining the vehicle fleet for the district. Sounds easy, when you deal with a lot of cops and 40+ cars, it can be challenging and amusing as to how they tear cars up.
As the podcast continues, I will share some of my vehicular follies that I come across during my daily duties as an administrative individual who has to keep cars on the road for law-enforcement officers.
Ed
To contact Ed by Email click here: ed@coptalk.info