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Moline Police Department PoDcast
A community connections podcast from those who serve this community. Listen in to episodes about the people who work in the Moline Police Department, the cases they investigate and the community they serve.
Moline Police Department PoDcast
Quad City Blue Flight
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Quad City Blue Flight is a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to honor those who have served while inspiring the current generation of law enforcement officers. On September 9th 2026, we will take the nation's first Blue Flight, which will bring active law enforcement officers, retired officers, and the families of officers killed in the line of duty from Scott and Rock Island counties together on a chartered flight to Washington, D.C. During the trip, participants will visit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, the National Law Enforcement Museum, the Police Memorial Wall, the US Capitol, and other historic and law enforcement-related sites. It's an opportunity to reflect on the profession, build relationships, and recognize the incredible service of the men and women who have dedicated their lives to protecting our communities. But this organization is about much more than one trip. We want to elevate positive stories of law enforcement, strengthen connections between officers and the communities they serve, and inspire future generations to consider a career in public safety. Right now, any active or retired law enforcement officer from Scott or Rock Island County are eligible to participate. We believe that when we recognize service, we strengthen our communities and help protect the future of our profession, which is vital to public safety.
Quad City Blue Flight is a local 501 C3 nonprofit with a mission to honor those who have served while inspiring the current generation of law enforcement officers. On September 9, 2026, the nation's first Blue Flight will bring active law enforcement officers, retired officers, and the families of officers killed in the line of duty from Scott and Rock Island Counties together on a chartered flight to Washington, D.C. Participants will visit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, the National Law Enforcement Museum, the Police Memorial Wall, the U.S. Capitol and other historic law enforcement related sites. It's an opportunity to reflect on the profession, build relationships, and recognize the incredible service of the men and women who have dedicated their lives protecting our communities. Quad City Blue Flight Board members believe that when we recognize service, we strengthen our communities and help protect the future of our profession. Moline is located in the heart of the Midwest, along the Mississippi River. Just three hours from Des Moines, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois, the Moline Police Department has served our community since 1872. Our agency is guided by core values of professionalism, teamwork, and integrity that help us provide high-quality policing to improve the safety and quality of life in our community. This is the Moline PD Cast. Welcome back to another episode of the Moline Police Department Podcast. I'm Darren Galt, the Chief of Police here at the Moline Police Department. Today we have a great episode and a conversation about our people that serve and have served in law enforcement. It's about remembering careers dedicated to public service. Probably many listeners recognize the term blue flight or think of a similar honor flight that has been around in the Quad Cities for many years for military veterans. And here in the Quad Cities, a group of volunteers asked a simple question if we honor military veterans this way, could we possibly honor law enforcement officers as well? And that became the Quad Cities Blue Fight to simply honor those who served and recognize their sacrifice, celebrate their careers, and preserve the history of law enforcement. So today we have uh the Quad City back the blue flight president Greg Keller and board member Officer Joe Cleaver from the Moline Police Department. So welcome, gentlemen. I appreciate you guys coming in and uh and telling us about the Blue Flight.
SPEAKER_03Thank you very much. Thanks for having us.
SPEAKER_02Well, let's get back to the beginning. Uh obviously, every organization starts with an idea. Tell us, uh, Greg, uh how did the blue flight come to begin?
SPEAKER_03Well, I I collect old police cars, and two years ago in April, I went out to Charlotte, North Carolina to a large uh police car, antique car show. And when I got home from the show, it was probably about two weeks later, I saw a little blip in the news about they had a shooting out in Charlotte, and eight police officers were shot. And I was trying to find out more information on it, and there wasn't very much information. And a few days later it came out that four of these officers had died. And I I was really shocked. I I couldn't find out much about what was going on, and then when I did see it, it was kind of in the middle or towards the end of the newscast. And I've been in law enforcement 25 years, and I don't ever recall a single incident where eight officers were shot. They were doing a joint task force drug raid, and four of them had died. And I was thinking about my friends that are still working in law enforcement, and those that have retired from law enforcement, and I thought, with everything going on, and uh with all the officers leaving and not staying, I had this vision, and I had this vision probably a few years before that. What can we do for our current law enforcement and the ones that are serving? And I thought, a blue flight. It works great for the veterans, and this is something the community can come and support. And also the goal is hopefully the officers that are working on them, it'll help them feel value and want them to stay longer. And this this is what it's about.
SPEAKER_02Well, you mentioned 25 years. Tell us a little bit about your your career in law enforcement.
SPEAKER_03Um, I was with the uh Davenport Police Department. I started out by Des Moines for two years. I got my dream job. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to work for the Davenport Police Department. And in 1990, I got hired. They hired three of us, and there was um there were 750 applications. So I felt very honored to be hired on. I had a I really enjoyed my career. I had a very good career. Um unfortunately, um my second day on the streets, um we when I was training, and my training officer actually turned on the lights on the siren for the first time. I I didn't know what the radio code was, but I knew it was something bad. And uh we went to a a dumpster fire behind the school off of 10th and Marquette Street. But it wasn't uh it wasn't trash. Unfortunately, it was a child that was that was still burning. And uh this you may be aware of her name, Jennifer Lewis, and that was my second night on the job. That was my first dead body, and it left an impact on me for the rest of my career, and I'm very fortunate that I was able to work in criminal investigations. I worked in the Metropolitan Enforcement Group as a drug agent on the both the Illinois and the Iowa side. And uh I worked a lot of cases involving children, a lot of death investigation. In my final three years, I did the uh did the polygraph exams for the Quad Cities.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you for your service and uh on all you've done in the Quad Cities and your time at Davenport. Uh Joe, like you, has his dream job. He works for me. That was his dream. Always. Oh, good. Uh Joe, uh, thanks for coming by. You've been on before uh to to talk on our podcasts, and Joe's a a sergeant here at the Moline Police Department in our criminal investigation division. Joe, what inspired you to get involved with the Blue Flight?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I uh serve on a couple other boards in the Quad City area related to law enforcement. Um and I know one of our retirees, Gary Hogner, who served at Moline. I'm gonna uh butcher how many years. I think it was longer than I've been alive currently. So he served for a while and he had reached out to me that he knew Greg from from the job, and they were starting this cool idea uh to fly active and retired cops and some gold star families out to Washington, D.C. And uh they just kind of asked some areas that maybe I could help him out with. Um, and I thought it was a really cool idea. I know obviously I'm active and have gone through the last four or five years and have seen the struggles for not only our agency, but other agencies to recruit and retain um officers in this job. And while I think that's getting better, I think we can still do more. And this is this is an option for that.
SPEAKER_02I looked at your website and it says that your mission is to uh your goal is to transport as many working and retired law enforcement officers to Washington, D.C. to visit the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Wall as possible. Greg, when you when you had this dream and and uh this vision, who was your first call uh to to start getting this going?
SPEAKER_03Uh Steve Garrington, who's the director of the Veterans uh Honor Flights, the Quad City Veterans Honor Flight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so if uh if people outside the Quad Cities are listening to this, can you tell us a little bit about the honor flight and and what you learned from that call with Steve?
SPEAKER_03So I I've known Steve since I was a child, and Steve is in charge of the Quad City Veterans Honor Flights where they fly to DC maybe one to three flights a year, uh just for honoring our veterans from the uh Quad City area. And uh the reason I called Steve is one, I I wanted to get his feedback and an opinion about his doing this, because I don't I don't want to I don't want to compete against the veterans. The veterans have a a great organization, they have a great mission. And it was it didn't take long after talking with Steve that they fully supported us. He said, not only did I support this, but I'm gonna help you start your organization. And they came to our second board meeting and gave us a lot of mentoring on board structures and uh and we still refer to them on a regular basis for our details for our upcoming flight.
SPEAKER_02So starting a nonprofit can't be easy. No. What what is the behind the scenes uh work? Uh you know, everybody's gonna see the website, your social media posts, they see your your fundraising efforts, but there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to even just launch a nonprofit. What was that like?
SPEAKER_03Uh well the first thing that we did is we got a lawyer and somebody who would be able to do the so Brian Heyer uh is our attorney, he's completely volunteers his time, does a great job, but just the just become a 501c3, which is a nonprofit um through the IRS is a very lengthy process. I think the it's like 36 pages of paperwork that you have to submit, and it has to be right. And if one thing's wrong, uh you'll you'll have to start it all over. So that that took us after we turned that in. Uh we were told that was going to take up until November, but uh we got it at the end of August of last year, which was good. And then putting a board together, um, we have a great board. We have like Joe is on our board who's who's working, and and Josh Paul and Kurt Wilson. Josh is with our Bett North Police Department. So we have two sergeants uh about the same age. So they give us a lot of uh feedback on what's you know, what's the point of doing a program like this if we don't know what the the current officers things have changed a lot since I retired. So we we have a lot of current feedback, and then of course they're a lot better with the uh the technology. But putting the board together and uh we have Amy Larson from the Arsenal and Penny Gunther from Blackhawk Bank. Have I re I included you that have I forgotten anybody?
SPEAKER_00I think you missed Chief Reynolds, retired Chief Reynolds.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yes, yeah, and Chief John Reynolds um has knows so many people on this side of the river and has so much experience. Um so putting the board together and then actually meeting and putting agendas and uh uh dealing with airlines. I've never rented a jet. Yeah, I think it wouldn't be too difficult. It is. And uh you you think you might know this the size of the jet. So we went jet shopping. Actually, that went on for months, and uh we ended up using Sun Country Airlines, the same one that the Veterans Honor Flight uses, and uh and they were the most reasonable.
SPEAKER_02Well, all this costs a lot of money, it's not cheap to uh fly a jet to DC. Joe, you've been involved or maybe have a connection to the fundraising, right? Uh you've had to do some fundraising to get the the uh the finances in order to make this happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's uh when we started out, you know, with zero dollars in the in a bank account at Blackhawk, uh it can be a little daunting to try to decide where uh where to go first, where to ask. And and I think the overall vision was that the community would support this. And we kind of did some uh some testing with local businesses, some conversations just to see if uh you know we fit into every business kind of has a uh an area that they're they want to give back in um and whether we would fit that vision. And we did for several businesses. So we've been really lucky to have uh business support, private donor support, um, you know, sponsoring seats on the flight, uh, which has been great, and and and trying to get things out through through social media. Um it's it's definitely difficult and it's it's ongoing, but we've we've come a really long way and it's it's pretty incredible how much the community has supported the idea.
SPEAKER_02So do you feel like it's been pretty successful with the with the fundraising? Where are you guys at? Are you still uh in the fundraising mode or or how has that uh worked out so far?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you look um on our our Facebook page, um we've got kind of a cool plain graphic that we try to update every few days, um, you know, money relative to the number of seats that we've essentially paid for. Um so I think at last uh count that we had posted, we were still around needing about 35,000 out of the uh of the original goal. Is that still right, Greg?
SPEAKER_03So this morning I just put in a another $5,700 deposit. So and I don't think I don't think Josh has updated that yet, because I just haven't told him. Oh, we're gonna we're gonna be like in the high 20s.
SPEAKER_00That we still need so it it's it's definitely been successful. We've had some great businesses step up. I'm sure you've seen all of our social media pages and um our you know, our chief sponsor, Accenture Credit Union, has been great. Um, but obviously we're always still, you know, the idea is that we can do this on an ongoing basis. So the flights aren't cheap. Um, things like uh the cost of fuel going up. Uh, you know, we don't lock in a fuel price back when we booked the jet. Um it's kind of a game day decision of how much they're gonna charge us. So we just want to be prepared and make sure we're putting on a really good event like we we promised we would.
SPEAKER_02So you had the uh idea, uh Greg, and the board, you guys get together, you have your meetings, you start the nonprofit. You gotta have a destination uh to take these uh active and retired officers to. Why Washington, D.C.?
SPEAKER_03Because that is where the National Law Enforcement Memorial Wall, where there's over 22,500 officers' names engraved on this wall who have died in line of duty. I when I did start this, really before I got too far into this, I uh went out to Washington, D.C. and I met the the folks that are running the National Law Enforcement Museum and the Wall, and uh talked to them about my ideas. I actually went to um had a meeting with my congressman. I sent this ahead of time to get their feedback, and so it was clear and it was obvious, this is where we need to go. Um with all the presentations that we've been doing in the community in the last year and a half. That's one of the first questions I try to ask. How many of you know about our wall? And most people don't know. And unfortunately, there is um there is more than ten officers from this community, this quad city area, that have died in the line of duty. So that's where we have to go there, and we have to go to the museum because that's that's where everything that we're doing is being recognized and honored.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial is one of those places that is uh sacred ground. Uh every police officer who graduates from the academy knows about it. Uh when I was young, we would go down to the law enforcement memorial in Springfield every year. Uh and of course, every May during National Police Week, uh officers from all around the country gather in Washington, D.C. I happen to be out in uh um the National Academy in 2017, and we we took a trip to the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial, and it is a special place, uh almost a quiet, uh peaceful uh place where I think you can just reflect on all the sacrifices that uh go around in our country every day from law enforcement officers or are putting their lives on the line. But it's more than those in just an engraved name, right? That that name tells a story, it represents a family. You mentioned families that are still left behind. Uh Joe, can you talk about Gold Star families and and how you're going to incorporate families of uh law enforcement officers that have been killed in the line of duty?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so one of the uh other boards I was talking about I sit on is the the Quad Cities Law Enforcement Memorial. And um obviously we have our uh memorial event annually in the spring and uh the first Sunday of May. And, you know, there's a lot of really active families uh who have unfortunately lost loved ones in the line of duty that attend that ceremony and were able to uh to connect with and connect to current law enforcement officers so they know that their loved ones are not forgotten. And we had talked pretty early on as a board that we wanted to bring a couple of Gold Star families out as obviously their loved ones' name will be engraved on the wall. So uh the decision was made that we will have two family members, uh, one from an officer uh who passed away in the line of duty from Rock Island County and a family two family members from uh an officer who died in Scott County. So we'll have a little bit of an announcement coming up on that of who the families will be. Um obviously we want to honor them, allow them to visit the wall and just kind of interact. I think uh, you know, still feel a part of the family, even though their the loved one may have passed. I think that's in in talking to Gold Star families, I know that's very important that they still feel connected to the to the profession. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Greg, you mentioned meeting with uh the folks that run the law enforcement uh memorial wall as well as the m museum. Um the memorial honors the sacrifice and the museum tells the story of policing. Can you tell us about how you what your perspective was when you when you met with the the folks in the museum, toured the museum and and why are you incorporating that into the trip?
SPEAKER_03So I I I actually I met with the people with the museum um in the in the walls cr across the street, but when I when I was talking with him, I actually had the opportunity to um which I was very lucky to to talk to the president of the National Law Enforcement National Law Enforcement Organization. And um I am being told that this has never been done before. The flight, the blue flight. The flight, and and they they do a ceremony every every year for in the middle of May for the for the police officers, but coming in individually like this and coming from a community. Um they they ri they really like the idea because it's it's uh a dedicated flight and um with all the officers, it's it's it's quite an experience. The the museum is beautiful, and it's um it's just for the law enforcement. They have a helicopter from the NYPD that is suspended from the ceiling and different vehicles and different interactions. But I I'm really hoping with having the the working and the retired officers in there, this gives us some uh bonding time and it helps uh these officers really have a tough job right now. And you know, if they we can instill some value with them on this trip. Uh as as you well know that there's a huge shortage of applications and how much it costs. As as a chief, you know, from from doing uh all your background investigations and sending them to law enforcement academies and having somebody with them for sixteen weeks, training after they get out of the academy. If we can get one of these officers to stay a little bit longer, and we can get some more people interested in this profession. So hopefully I I am surprised how many officers that that I've talked with that are familiar or who never been to this wall. The honor guard officers, most of them have, but the working a lot of them haven't. And so I it's time to let them see this and feel it and experience this.
SPEAKER_02So you have
SPEAKER_03uh ambitious day uh planned out here i mentioned in the opener uh to to visit the memorial and the museum and and other sites what's your schedule look like for for that day for your first flight it's it's gonna be a busy day uh we're gonna leave early hours from the Moline and by the way if uh anybody who need has any mobility issues we're we're bringing plenty of wheelchairs uh unlike the uh the veterans honor flight where they have guardians um half our our people that are flying this are officers and we're actually what we're gonna do is we're just gonna take turns if someone needs a wheelchair making sure that they don't have to walk in the mobility so it's gonna be a long day but don't worry about it because you if you can't walk you you can ride and so when we get to DC and and we're working on all the details we're we're hoping just to get off the plane we have three big charter buses waiting for us and then we're gonna go to the the National Law enforcement museum and wall and and then we're gonna have a nice catered lunch from uh Mission Barbecue and we're we're gonna go to the Capitol and we're gonna take on some other sights uh and we're gonna have one more meal before we we fly home and we'll probably fly out of there always kind of get the times mixed up because we got central time and and uh DC time uh but the the goal is we're we're gonna try to be home be home around nine o'clock central time and this this is where the the the community we hope to fill the uh airport up with supporters that night so you mentioned uh if you if the officers retired officers uh have some mobility issues certainly um as we age it's a little bit tougher to to make those long walks so somebody might be still able to walk just not that much right so that there's no uh no shame in taking a little bit of a a ride from the uh airplane to the bus and the bus to the wall but hop up and enjoy the the shorter walks and once you get there right yeah good we'll we'll be we'll be glad we're we'll even insist ride if you have any we want you to be well rested and not tired. So that sounds like a busy day tell us how how much planning has gone into this event so myself it's it's been two years our board it's been 19 months since we started the the planning is um it's seven days a week we we are broken out in committees and uh everybody has a lot of responsibilities um there is um just for the um the pre pre-flight meeting and uh and photography we have uh people involved that are gonna do the photography for us for free so that the people flying can do that but we're we're um it it would have been nice if we could have done this about three months ago because I I know this is really wearing on everybody on the board because it is it is and we're down to about 54 days and I I just tell everybody you know we've we feel the crunch um and it's it's seven days a week we're we talk to each other on weekends and nights this isn't a Monday through Friday but uh we wouldn't be able to do it and we all we all get along really well well September might be a little bit better weather than uh June or July has been out east so um so that that probably worked out best for you but Joe you've been involved in uh in all these inner workings uh how was the the volunteers gonna make this happen yeah I would say that Greg uh Greg puts in by far the most time he should be recognized for that it's been his baby and his dream and uh I had to tell him a couple months in that he can't email me until after 5 a.m when I wake up so because I'd I'd wake up I don't know what time you wake up. About 4 15 I I wait till I usually try to wait to about five o'clock before I send send emails. I want to make sure it's your first email of the morning. It's always from Greg.
SPEAKER_00But yeah it's been uh it's a lot of logistics um especially because you know we're at the mercy of uh you know I I too have never booked a private jet I don't know that anybody uh around here has but um when you're booking that there's a lot of things out of our control um you know weather's one pricing's one uh slot times I think you know even just parking the plane while we're off of it in Washington DC has a significant cost and then we have to get permission and you have to have space to park the plane um there's just all these different logistical aspects that everybody's had to jump on and you know Greg's l led the way but um I would say we we've come a long way and you you kind of have to get into the weeds to make sure that when you land and have 175 people walking around that we know where we're going, things are on time, um, you know, we have enough food we have enough snacks we have enough water all those things and I think we're doing a great job of finding every little detail and listening to the the veterans on our flight about some lessons learned that they have had uh to make sure this is a successful day.
SPEAKER_02Well let's talk about the airplane I was really surprised when you guys first brought this to me about uh the private rental of uh of the airplane I guess I kind of assumed that you'd hop on a United or an American Airlines uh flight and everybody uh get over there and get off and that's not how it works for these uh charter flights so you mentioned Greg that you're using Sun Country uh these are regular large airplanes but they're not commercial airplanes can you talk about the process to getting that and and renting that and Joe kind of alluded to all those but maybe a little bit more detail on the logistics of the actual plane itself.
SPEAKER_03So we we contacted well first you Google where you rent a jet plane from and then you you kind of work it from there and uh so we I think I probably got six different quotes for people on jets and this is kind of an unusual size um we didn't really need one for a hundred and eighty four passenger but it's significantly Sun Country is is probably gave us a a $40,000 break.
SPEAKER_00Now the the scary part was while we were doing this I start seeing on the news that Sun Country is going to get bought out and then I'm thinking where did we wire that $10,000 deposit to I because it it was to a third party and then I'm thinking I want to make sure everything's on the up and up and so Sun Country I believe the deal was finalized in uh June might have been uh might have been in May so they're now owned by a Legion and uh so they're in a transition process but uh so we we so this one size was is so more cost effective than any other size jet and um that's uh I hope I hope I answered yeah so we ended up uh going with a 737 uh which very common commercial aircraft that I'm sure a lot of people have flown on but um you know we kind of debated different sizes and how many people do we take for the first trip and what we found out is um while it might be a little cheaper to go with a a a smaller maybe regional jet that we could rent our cost per seat is way more effective with that 737 size and then and using it through Sun Country has been great like Greg said giving us a break understanding our mission um and then their familiarity with the Quad Cities International Airport um because they they also charter the honor flight so uh you know we have a a lot of help in a sense of um you know the airport's familiar with this type process flying people out in this size plane from our area and back in one day um and then just kind of those tips along the way from the honor flight so the experience for somebody that's flying there is going to be similar to a commercial flight it's it's gonna look like a normal commercial airliner it's not like celebrities are flying in a in a fancy lear jet where they're sitting facing each other and you know tables and all that kind of stuff it's looks like a regular commercial flight it it is yeah and and another big reason being cops we always try to have a second plan in case something so if for some reason something would happen to our plane we're out in Washington DC if we use a small airline we might be stuck stuck sleeping on the plane but Sun Country has 70 jets they usually have six or seven available so if we had any kind of issues as long as it's not midair of anything we get on the they will get another jet to us within one to two hours.
SPEAKER_03So that was another really good thing about using them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah great point never thought about that the things you have to have to think about when you're the logistics for the airplane instead of United or Delta or whatever that just has other planes sitting there at big airports.
SPEAKER_00So um so that's a a big advantage of using Sun Country then so uh outside of uh the flight what was one of the other big hurdles that that you guys were dealing with where you were trying to get this you get the jet kind of uh logistics set up what was the other big challenge that you had in front of you I would say we're we're currently you know we're we're still at the end we're kind of at the end of the fundraising phase um and and right now you know we really want officers retired and active to apply um you know that's our our huge thing we want to make sure this thing flies full um you know that's that's our best bet of making this a success success and I think once we have a flight under our belts again the goal is to to make this an ongoing program um you know we want to get some really good feedback from the officers and retired officers that attend uh and and propel this into the future so I think the message from us right now is just you know you've earned it uh the community is supporting this financially uh you know we have volunteers coming out for our pre-flight the morning of when you return that's the whole goal so uh you know everybody who's contributed to this and worked towards it wants you to be on that flight whether you're retired or active so um you know if you if you qualify we really'd ask that you go on our website and apply.
SPEAKER_03That is that is are such an important point. We we have all have been going to the different agencies here in the last two weeks we got a big push and we're talking to the officers why haven't you applied well someone else is more deserving of this I want someone else to go it's like it's it's hard to to tell cops we're we're doing something in your appreciation and they're they're so used to let somebody else go but no we this is for you um this is so important that people that are working that they apply and and it's absolutely no cost. We uh just the local officers in this quad cities and and this is the officers and the union associations and FOPs but they have donated themselves $25,000 plus dollars for their own cause this is for them and uh but that's how much they want to see it succeed.
SPEAKER_02So Joe you mentioned uh getting applications and what what does that process look like for somebody that might be interested in in uh Scott or Rock Iron County to do this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah so our website is qcblueflight.org um you'll see a big yellow button that says apply on the kind of on that front page there's also a a tab at the top that says apply as well and then there's two uh pdfs linked there one says active application active officer application another one says retired officer application um so go ahead and click on that you can download it and print it out if you'd like uh to print it out and handwrite it um you can also fill it out as a PDF and then um email it there's instructions on there where to email it back to us at our Gmail account. Uh you can also drop them off anywhere you'd like uh we've got an office at KSI but you don't have to go over there in Davenport. Uh really every police department is is represented um so if you want to drop it at their at their desk specifically Moline I'd be happy to take it here or uh you know Sergeant Paul over at Bettendorf would be happy as well. But the easiest way is uh to just click that print it out and turn it in as as quickly as you can. We extended a little bit to get us through the end of the month but um they're starting to roll in pretty well now I think our efforts to to recruit have gone well.
SPEAKER_02Greg you mentioned your your first call was to Steve at uh at the Veterans Honor Flight what did you learn from him about why do this why is it important to the veterans? What was their vision and what similarities do you see in the purpose of the veteran honor flight and the purpose of the blue flight?
SPEAKER_03Um well as as I see it the uh the veterans flight is they they really emphasize the welcome home that the welcome home that many of the veterans didn't receive when they served and and during that time when they served uh the environment a lot of the community environment wasn't friendly for them coming home and and this is their way of of saying thank you and showing their support for them. That's that's that's how I see it. And so you can draw some parallels there to the law enforcement community uh that I think not to to directly compare military and police service but the the the lack I guess of um daily affirmation or appreciation that either someone is currently serving in the military now or in the past or a law enforcement officer they do this for God and country or the community uh the public service aspect of serving and I think what you said there you could draw some similar comparisons to a police officer may go their entire career and not have any type of uh welcome home or uh um a celebration of their service and in that aspect I think you you probably could draw some similarities to that yeah well one of the things that I've learned and uh when I set this up I I took a course through the University of Iowa it's a business venture startup and I was the only non-profit in there and and part of it's about customer discovery and who is our customer and and what I learned and this is where it kind of all comes in together is uh I I truly believe that the community does support our law enforcement. But when you think back and the and the honor flight is awesome they've done 64 flights what has the community really been able to do for the officers well we haven't really given the community the ability what I call it to show their appreciation like what we're gonna do here with this blue flight where where the community comes in for the veterans and the airports and they show that support I I I would ask that the the ones who do support and and I think the officers are the officers are are dealing with negative negativity every day on your on your job. And there gets to a point where I think they may they just don't realize it. And uh but by doing this and the comparison is we're gonna do the same thing on September 9th we're gonna we're gonna fill that airport with the community just like the veterans in the community come out and when they come home they're gonna feel appreciated and valued.
SPEAKER_02Well and you you feel like there's a public education aspect to this right that you that there may be um a a young man or woman in that uh crowd that that sees uh the community's appreciation and gets the bug to apply you mention when you applied in the 90s to the downport police department 750 applications I'm I'm guessing they probably are getting less than 75 applications. That's right.
SPEAKER_00Similarly when I tested here in the Quad Cities um packed gyms hard to get on lists lists that lasted for two years I was on Moline's list uh for two years I was third on the list never got a phone call and um and we don't have as many applicants uh that we did uh we're probably from 350 applicants in the 90s down to maybe 15 uh at a at a time maybe uh maybe 20 at most and so proportionally to Davenport's size you are seeing less and less people interested in the law enforcement career so I think there's an education aspect to this wouldn't Joe you you do a lot of things for our community and in different um you were in COP and you've done uh different uh community events here there is a community connection aspect to the blue flight yeah I think just the the financial support if you want to look at it from a a way that you can quantify something but you know when we talk to various businesses and individual donors I don't think a lot of people are aware of the the national struggle it's not just QC specific but the national struggle to recruit and retain police officers on the long term um you know generations prior to to ours and mine it was unheard of to consider leading leaving the profession before your your pensionable age that's kind of becoming more common. So uh I think as we try and search for different solutions, whether it be you know different monetary incentives for people to come on the police department, a lot of different things have been tried and I I think we're making a little headway, but not quite there. So this is another creative idea of maybe it's the uh that service aspect to recruit new people that maybe you know it's not just my money that's going to attract them or perks or different things like that. Maybe it's that sense of uh service and honor that uh previous generations truly felt and that's why people would show up in the thousands to test for a place like Davenport if we can bring that back slowly uh and this is one step toward that and post flight really drive home that impact and and retention which is really important and then uh you know who like you said who's in that crowd and maybe that honor and that service and uh experiencing that moment will will attract new applicants.
SPEAKER_03Well I think it has to be it has to be the um intangibles that people do the job for uh although over my career and Greg's career the pay for law enforcement has uh greatly improved and and officers can make a great living uh there will be financially secure uh in their retirement Greg's retired and and uh doing well I'm retired from East Moline and and uh here serving in Moline and you you can make a good living there's no doubt we'll never be able to compete with the private sector on wages and and perks but you might not get that fulfillment making a widget uh that you will for serving your community can can I add a little bit on that education part um Kurt Kurt Wilson's a deputy sheriff for Scott County he's on our board he's also the uh works at the Pleasant Valley High School he's our school liaison officer and so we we're partnering up with the students they're volunteering for us when we're doing our orientation day and so there we're we're getting in with the youth uh we went over to the uh Blackhawk Community College Career Day um we got to talk to I was excited I got to talk to two students that were studying criminal justice. We'd I'm I'm kind of blown away we we hardly have anybody going to school right now and uh for this uh occupation and so we we're trying to get the Well talking to the college student. So I I tried to grab as many different majors as I could while I was there. And just tell them a little bit about the different opportunities. It's not just wearing a a badge and a gun, but there's all kinds of opportunities in in law enforcement from crime scene tech, you know, fingerprints and different things like that. Polygraph examiner? Oh, polygraph.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. You can change what you do m numerous times in your 30 years or 25 years of service. You can you can hold uh numerous different positions. I know you you mentioned that you've hold held numerous different positions. Downpoor Joe's had a lot of, and how many years do you have on now?
SPEAKER_00Uh I just completed my twelfth, and I'm gonna say I've I've changed every two to three years, kind of what I've been doing.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, and then you have some ancillary assignments. You've been on here before talking about uh hostage negotiation and and things like that. And so there's a lot of different things that um you that you can do. This this career is very fulfilling. Yes, it is. And I think that that's one thing that uh you'll see in the blue flight is that the community doesn't have any idea what a crisis negotiator is, a polygraph examiner is really what a detective does other than maybe solve a crime, or if you're mad that he didn't solve a crime. Uh the patrol officer that uh that responds, there's a lot of misconceptions about law enforcement, about an arrest, and that you know they don't understand how the court system works and state attorney's office works. But everybody knows that it that it's needed. Even even the people that have been our biggest critics know that that our communities need law enforcement. And we're all I think one thing we can agree on is we want high quality law enforcement, and that we want the best people to apply and the best people to be in the profession. We can that's a that's a base that I I find a lot of common ground on.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_02And uh and to do that, we've got to have good applicants. We've got to have the good officers like that are sitting in this room, uh, Detective Griffin and and uh Sergeant Cleaver stay in the profession uh uh for a full career and and serve our communities. And then we need to honor the retirees that's that spent uh 30 plus years, 25 plus years. I think you mentioned Gary Hoogner. I I think he just recently retired. He ended on like 42 years, I think, or something like that. There's been a lot of people that have have uh spent a lot of time away from their families serving our communities. What you mentioned uh for the future a couple times, Joe. What what do you think the uh Blue Flight Board's goals are for the next five years?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think based on what, and I can let Greg follow up to this, but I think uh we want to make this successful. There's a lot of cops in the quad cities. We have the numbers and kind of the ratios where each agency is represented. But I think most importantly when we get back is to kind of measure the impact that it had on the officers that went, uh how it made them feel, if they the active officers, if if they feel that you know, we we've talked about what's the criteria for going and what who needs to go. And like our message earlier was we want everyone to go, we want everyone to be able to experience it. And even if it's just uh a day away and a nice trip where everything's taken care of for you and you don't have to think about anything, um, even if it's just that, uh a break for you, we'd be happy to have you, and and there's nothing more that you need to do or get out of this. So ultimately coming back, I think really measuring that, communicating on what the flight was and continuing our education of uh young people that might be interested in this career, I think is our ultimate goal.
SPEAKER_02Greg, what do you think the goals are?
SPEAKER_03Well, uh to get through this flight on September 9th. Secondly, um I haven't been on a vacation with my wife. My wife hears us every day, day and night. Um she's been awesome. We're gonna go on a little vacation, and then um my wife and I, the board, they can go on their own vacation. And then from what I I already sense the second flight, we want to make sure it's it's something the community wants. But from what we're already taking from this and and talking to some of our donors, the second flight will be much easier. It'll be much easier to fund. We won't we won't have to work as hard educating the officers in the community what it's and I as long as they want it, and we're gonna do an assessment literally right after this flight. Yeah, so we'll we'll we'll be doing a second one. So we have a uh a sergeant from the Des Moines Police Department that's interested in our flight. Um there's interest that maybe they might want to do this or they're interested. Uh so the the the ultimate goal is uh when you're talking five years out, that the National Law Enforcement Museum wall and museum will be busy every day from blue flights coming in from across the country that in five years I can call any of anybody maybe in the country and say, Hey, do you know what the National Law Enforcement Museum Yes I do? It's uh and that these communities, I I think we're gonna be really busy just working with other communities because I think they're gonna see this. It's all a wait and see. No one wants to be the first in case things don't work out. This is the toughest part of it. But these communities, I believe, are gonna be calling us and they're gonna say, you know, we wanna we wanna do something for our officers. How can we go about doing it? And uh so in five years, um we we have maybe maybe we'll do one a year. But just imagine if we have all these agencies across the country, and just imagine, maybe we're at the bottom of the curve here of all the things that have been going around and been going on, and this is it, and it starts to turn around, and maybe this is a thing that's gonna help it turn around. It's not gonna by any means solely do it, and we look back five years and uh and then we're all advising other communities on how to do this. Inspiring, right?
SPEAKER_02You're you're looking to inspire uh the good applicants, the communities, the retirees, uh, to improve the the community nature uh of law enforcement. Are there any anything upcoming uh that the community should know about? Any uh volunteer donation opportunities that you've got coming up in the next few weeks?
SPEAKER_03So we're always taking donations. We're we we are getting close, uh, but you can go on our our website to make a donation. Volunteers. Um you can go on our website, you you can send us a message you'd like to volunteer. We're gonna need volunteers on uh August 29th. We're doing our pre-flight orientation. We're we're doing it at the Pleasant Valley High School. And but where we really need people is coming out on September 9th to the airport. Um that that that will be our next major since we're so close to the flight. Um that's what that's what we would like.
SPEAKER_02Uh just I think a few weeks ago we had the chief of the Quad City Airport on, and uh one thing that I learned from that was that uh they are becoming more and more trained and more and more proficient in crowd control because of how many people are coming out to the honor flights and then the upcoming blue flight. They're expecting big crowds, uh, of course. So what was to to date, what's been your uh proudest blue flight moment, Joe? We'll start with you.
SPEAKER_00I think uh, you know, sitting, I I guess I've never I'm fortunate to have a a mom who's been active in fundraising for most of her career. I have not been, obviously. I've done policing since graduating from college. Uh so when I was kind of sitting at some of those board meetings, and not that I ever doubted uh Greg's vision, because he always he's got a really good elevator pitch uh that we call it that kind of gives the vision to anybody who doesn't understand. Um, but you know, wondering if we would land those big donors or if people would really support it. So, you know, I I think obviously there's other signs that things are going to go well, but when you start asking people, would you be willing to support this? And it's a hard thing to do if you're not really used to to fundraising. Um but when we started asking and these major quad city pillar companies started saying yes, um, that was pretty cool that you know they were kind of shocked by the struggles that law enforcement might be having and on understanding Greg's vision and our vision of how we can be a part of fixing that. So when they really started stepping up, wanting to be, you know, title sponsors of our of our organization, that was that was pretty cool and made me realize that you know we might still be a little ways away, but we're gonna get there in the end.
SPEAKER_02Well, you mentioned your mom. Give her a little shout-out for all that she's done and and trying to help with the the uh fundraising efforts.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, she's been great. Uh my her name's Nancy Rankus. She uh long she's retired now, does some consulting on the side, so she was able to uh do some consulting for the board, uh specifically Greg, on on uh speaking and understanding that nonprofit world and how grants work and uh how you ask businesses to support your cause. So she uh she really helped us out a lot, and I know she'll be there uh the morning and evening of the flight to see it happen.
SPEAKER_02Greg, how about your proudest blue flight moment?
SPEAKER_03Well, there's been so many. It it takes me about a about a half an hour to wind down every night when I go to bed. And uh so one night when uh I was laying there and I thought there's this couple and they're going out to all these businesses in these different places every day, every night, and Nancy and Jim. And and that was last fall. And those were the that was my first real thought that people outside the board and outside of law enforcement truly believe in what we're doing, and so much that they give up all this time to do this. Um you can't put a price on that. And that was a golden moment for me that this is this is really gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02Well, I know that uh your proudest moment uh for both of you will be on the evening of uh September 9th when you land back in uh Quad City Airport and uh see all those uh people there celebrating, all the law enforcement officers uh that took that first blue flight. Greg and Joe, I appreciate you coming on today. Uh once again, Joe, how can uh people reach you on the web?
SPEAKER_00It's qcblueflight.org. Uh, we also have a Facebook page as well, quad city back to blue flight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, if you go on uh the Facebook page, uh that's on there, their uh their um contact information on there, qcblueflight at gmail.com. Uh also their P.O. box if you want to make a donation. Uh appreciate you guys coming on there. Good luck. Best of wishes to you on the uh first uh Quad City Blue Flight. That'll be awesome.
SPEAKER_04Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02If you're uh if you enjoyed this episode, I ask you to share it with someone. If you know a retired police officer in the Scott County, Iowa, or Roccon County, uh Illinois area, tell them to put in an application and be uh one of the passengers on the first Blue Flight. If you enjoyed our podcast, we have over 40 other episodes in our podcast vaults available on Spotify, Apple Music, and on our website. I encourage you to listen to uh many different conversations we've had over the past three seasons about our people, our cases, and our community. We appreciate you listening. Take care, and this has been the most recent episode of the Moline Police Department podcast.