First Response with PepperBall CEO Bob Plaschke

First Response with Bob Plaschke, Episode: 27 - Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Training Officer Andrea Alt - More Than the Bite: Inside Police K9 Teams

A police cruiser door pops open, a K9 rockets out, and the “bad guy” goes from confident to panicked in seconds. That viral moment is real training, and it opens the door to a bigger question: what do police K9s actually do all day, and how are they controlled when everything is loud, fast, and dangerous? We’re joined by Andrea Alt, one of the leading voices in police canine work, to walk through the mechanics and the judgment behind K9 deployment. We talk about why the professional term is "K9,” how working dogs learn commands in Dutch or German alongside English, and why tone and consistency matter more than any single word. Andrea also explains the difference between apprehension and detection, including how “bite and hold” is trained to target limbs under legal standards, and why that jaw pressure is the part people underestimate. From there, we dig into the less visible side of K9 units: tracking that recovers discarded clothing and DNA, passive alerts for firearms or explosives, and barking alerts used to locate hidden people during building searches. We also cover the practical realities of running a K9 program, including how many teams might operate in one area, what it costs to equip a dog, and why ballistic and stab-resistant K9 vests can be out of reach for some departments. Andrea closes with the mission behind her  nonprofit, the K9 Creed Armor Program, which helps fund protective vests for K9 teams in need. If you care about police transparency, K9 training, and public safety, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find these conversations. https://www.pepperball.com [https://www.pepperball.com]

First Response with Bob Plaschke, Episode: 26 - Chief Art Acevedo (Ret.) - Leadership, Ethics and Relational Policing

You can’t understand modern American policing by looking only at headlines. The real story lives in the everyday moments: a traffic stop, a tense protest line, a hard conversation with a mayor, a decision to de-escalate instead of escalate. That’s why we sat down with Aurora CO, Chief Art Acevedo, (Ret.) one of the most decorated big-city police chiefs (Austin TX, Houston TX, Miami FL) of the last few decades, to talk about what actually builds trust and what quietly destroys it. We start with Art’s American journey, arriving from Cuba on the Freedom Flights, and how his family’s push to assimilate and embrace diversity shaped the way he leads. From there, we get honest about the trust gap around law enforcement, why police are still judged as part of government, and what changed after George Floyd. Art explains why mass crowd tactics can backfire, why precision and restraint matter, and how leaders earn credibility by showing up and leading from the front. The heart of the conversation is leadership and ethics. Art lays down a blunt rule for anyone chasing the top job: don’t become a police chief unless you can afford to lose the job, because integrity is the only thing you fully control. He also breaks down “relational policing” and his TREAT framework (transparency, respect, engagement to build emotional capital, accountability) as a practical blueprint for better outcomes, safer officers, and stronger community relationships. We close with why professional associations matter in a nation with 18,000 separate agencies but one Constitution. If you got value from this, subscribe, share it with a friend who cares about public safety, and leave a review.  https://www.pepperball.com [https://www.pepperball.com]

Special Episode - CEO Bob Plaschke as a Guest on the Officer Roll Call Podcast with LT Frank Borelli (Ret.)

A lot of agencies are being asked to lower use of force complaints while handling more mental health calls, addiction-related incidents, and day-to-day disorder with fewer people on shift. That squeeze creates a simple operational question: how do we keep officers safe and still resolve resistance without defaulting to higher-force tools? Lieutenant Frank Borelli sits down with PepperBall CEO Bob Plaschke to dig into what command staff are asking for right now and why “non-lethal at distance” is becoming central to modern de-escalation. We get specific about the street realities: why creating 35 to 50 feet of space can change decision-making, reduce panic, and keep officers out of the close-range danger zone. Bob explains how less-lethal launchers are being used to drive behavior change, what the effects feel like, and why shorter decontamination time matters for both subjects and officers. We also talk about the situations everyone dreads, like noncompliant vehicle occupants and barricaded subjects, and how distance-based tools can reduce the need for risky hands-on extraction or blind entries. Along the way, we connect tactics to the bigger picture of community policing and officer wellness. Fewer injuries, clearer body-camera narratives, and less lifelong “baggage” after violent encounters aren’t abstract benefits, they shape careers and trust. If you care about police officer safety, law enforcement de-escalation, and practical less-lethal options that work in the real world, this conversation is for you.  https://www.pepperball.com [https://www.pepperball.com]

First Response with Bob Plaschke- Episode 25: Col. Frank Milstead, Chief of Police, Mesa, AZ (Ret.); Colonel, Arizona Department of Public Safety (Ret.): Body Cams And The Burden Of Proof

Video has become the new witness, and that changes everything for public safety. PepperBall CEO Bob Plaschke sits down with retired Colonel Frank Milstead, former Mesa Police Chief and former head of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, to get brutally practical about body-worn cameras: why they took off, why “recording” is only step one, and why agencies that do not review footage are setting themselves up for failure in court and in public trust. This episode also digs into what cameras can’t do. A body cam is a single viewpoint that can be blocked by hands, steering wheels, or the officer’s own movement, and it will never recreate the full perception of a high-stress moment. Frank connects that reality to today’s fast-moving headlines, especially around ICE operations, where multiple videos can trigger instant judgment while the real facts still require time, review, and investigation. Plaschke and Milstead talk about how quotas and poor arrest planning can raise risk, and why accountability has to be aimed at leadership decisions as much as front-line actions. From there, the discussion steps back to modern policing’s hardest workload: mental illness, addiction, and homelessness calls that officers are not truly equipped to solve with a vest, cuffs, and a sidearm. Milstead also calls out public safety technology that gets overhyped through data overload, and he makes a strong case for drones as first responder as the next big tool, plus the coming need for counter-drone defense. If you care about police transparency, body cameras, ICE oversight, and the future of public safety tech, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. https://www.pepperball.com [https://www.pepperball.com]

First Response Podcast with Bob Plaschke, Episode 23 - Asst. Chief, Mesa, AZ PD - Ed Wessing (Ret.): Leadership, Wellness and Modern Policing

The loudest part of policing is what you see on the street. The harder story is what happens before and after the call, when the phone rings at 2 a.m. and someone’s life is suddenly on the line. We talk with Ed Wessing, retired Assistant Chief from Mesa, Arizona and a former Marine, about what it really feels like to step away after 30 years behind the badge and why retirement can be the first time your mind truly gets to exhale. We get into how modern policing has changed: the jump from minimal tech to body-worn cameras and real-time scrutiny, and the shift from arrest-only metrics toward community policing that rewards relationships and trust. Ed explains the broken windows theory in plain language, why parts of it fell out of favor, and what replaced it: problem-solving that includes residents, city services, and long-term fixes that make neighborhoods safer. We also talk about homelessness, community courts, and why you cannot arrest your way out of every societal problem. A big thread is police wellness and first responder mental health. Ed shares how leaders and officers cope with cumulative trauma, why younger officers push for better work-life balance, and how training has evolved into immersive scenario-based simulators with coaching and debriefs. We close with the misconceptions he wishes more people understood: most officers do not want force, they want compliance and everyone going home safe, and they carry the weight of what they see for years. If you care about public safety, police training, community trust, and the future of law enforcement, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the conversation. What’s one policing misconception you’ve heard that needs correcting? https://www.pepperball.com [https://www.pepperball.com]