Transcript
What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. I'm Steve Outlaw. I'm the Executive Director of the Florida Public Safety Institute. I realized in life, I was not getting traction, you know, for a career or just advancement, and saw when it to the military. When I left Acta Duda, I came home to Telehassy, and I applied for the Telehassy Police Department. 32 and a half years later, I retired in January of 2020. I was appointed as the Executive Director of the Florida Public Safety Institute, and I actually started that role to allow one of 2021. I learned early on the value of relationships and just to be able to have a conversation. Everything that comes up a police officer or a law enforcement or a deputies mouth should not be just a command to do something. Our job in life is, yeah, we keep the peace. We bring calm out of chaos, but you realize, okay, you know, I'm here, they call us when things are going bad. They don't call us and say, hey, we're having a party, we're having stakes come on over. And so you learn to strive pretty quickly. Okay, what can I do to bring some positivity? We apply 770 hours to teach a law enforcement officer, and then they graduate, they go to the respective agencies, and they'll be stowed this authority, uniform, a title, a badge, a gun. It's such an awesome responsibility. And sometimes the only training they really get is what they get in the academy. We don't just produce students. We grow humans to be better citizens and public safety professionals and leaders. I'm Steve Atlol, the Executive Director of the Florida Public Safety Institute. You're listening to voices that inspire.