Friend or Foe? DA Investigators Explained with Justin Dominguez

Most people can describe what a patrol officer does, and plenty of people have opinions about prosecutors, but almost nobody can explain the investigative work happening inside a district attorney’s office. That blind spot creates confusion, tension, and missed support when cases are at their most critical. 

We’re joined by Justin Dominguez, a chief investigator in a New Mexico district attorney’s office, to break down what DA investigators actually do, why they are fully commissioned law enforcement officers, and how showing up on major scenes can change the relationship between police and prosecutors. Justin shares his path from corrections and prison intelligence into patrol, then into the DA world, plus the leadership challenge of being supervised by people who may know the law but have never done police work. 

We also get into federal partnership through the United States Marshals task force model, including how violent warrants can be adopted, what criteria matters, and why that extra reach and resourcing can help when a dangerous offender runs. From there, the conversation widens into public transparency and one of the biggest myths in criminal justice: the idea that the district attorney decides sentencing. Justin explains what prosecutors can influence, what judges control, and why real change often requires voters and lawmakers, not rumors. 

Finally, we talk law enforcement mental health in practical terms: communication at home, building a hobby and friend circle outside policing, budgeting for the long haul, and preparing for retirement so your identity does not collapse when the badge comes off. If you found value here, subscribe, share this with someone in the job, and leave a review with the takeaway that hit you hardest.

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Transcript

Welcome And Meet Justin Dominguez

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Chapter Blue. I'd like to welcome today's guest, Justin Dominguez, out of New Mexico. Justin and I used to work for neighboring agencies. And I remember when Justin was in the academy, I want to say it was 2013 or 14. I think we both can't really remember. Um, now he's working as a chief investigator for the district attorney's office and is a part of the Southwest uh investigative fugitive team. So thank you for making the time to get on the podcast today, Justin. If you wouldn't mind telling the listeners a little more about yourself and what you're doing today.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Sure. First of all, thank you so much for having me. And thank you so much for providing this platform for us to get on and talk about these things, you know, in our lives that are so unique to people that are in law enforcement. That's it's it's an amazing platform to have, and it's awesome that you're able to share this with other people. So thank you so much for for that. Um, yeah, so I started in law enforcement back in 2002. And what's what's funny when I say that is back then, uh being in corrections, I started in corrections. I went through the um academy to become a correctional officer for the New Mexico Department of Corrections. And back then we fought so hard to be considered law enforcement officers. Back then we weren't we weren't considered law enforcement officers as correctional officers. It was a it was a completely different uh tier on the ladder, I guess you could say, as far as law enforcement is concerned. Um, but I started in corrections in 2002, uh, went through the academy, worked at the Roswell Correctional Center for a brief time. Uh, then I took had a couple promotions, uh, ended up moving to the Northeastern New Mexico detention facility in Clayton, New Mexico, where I went up there to run the intelligence unit, where I mainly focused on uh narcotics and gangs and stuff like that. Uh while they're growing and learning and uh supervising the intelligence unit staff is what I what I was brought up there to do as the uh STIU coordinator. Um while my time as uh the STIU coordinator in Clayton, I testified in some trials. We had some crazy things going on. It was a brand new facility uh up there in Clayton. And I I've testified as an expert witness before during that time in prison and gang culture. Um I was heavily invested in prison and gang culture uh back then. That's that's kind of that was kind of my niche. That and tattoo identification uh tattoo identification is kind of what what I what I kind of niched myself into. Uh after that, I left. I came back down. I actually um had a meeting with uh a guy that I'd known for a very long time. Uh I and I'd left for a brief moment and was a part of the uh Artista Police Department uh as a police officer. And he was uh this guy was actually my training officer. And uh next thing I knew, you know, several years down the line, I found out he was the chief of police in Lovington. So while I was down visiting family, I went to go see him. And uh we were visiting, and he said, Hey, are you ready to come to this side? And I said, You know, chief, I've always been ready to come to this side. And he said, Well, here's your application. Let's get you through the process. I've already made the determination that I'm gonna hire you. So I was like, okay, great. So I filled out the application, went through the process, the entire hiring process. He didn't just give me a job. I went through the entire uh oral board, you know, interview process and everything, and um was offered and accepted a position as a police officer in Lovington. Now, so I started working there, went through the academy, graduated the academy, uh, did uh a short time in Lovington, fulfilling my obligation to them, and then I went to the Eddy County Sheriff's Office. So I grew up in southeastern New Mexico. Uh, I'm from West Texas, but I grew up in southeastern New Mexico with the intentions of always coming back to police those areas. I'm a second-generation police officer. My dad's a retired federal agent. Um, he had done time as a correctional officer and as a homicide detective, so forth and so on, up to uh becoming a federal agent and then retiring as a federal agent. My mom was a dispatcher, so it's just kind of the life that I always grew up in. So uh fast forwarding getting on with Eddie County, uh, I did eight years with Eddie County before I was afforded the opportunity to move over to the DA's

From Corrections To Police Work

SPEAKER_01 4:00

office. Now, this was a little tricky for me because at the time when I was talked to about the disposition, I didn't know these positions existed. I had never interacted with uh DA investigators before or anything like that. So I had some questions. And uh once those questions were answered, I decided this kind of was the way that uh I'm a Christian man and I felt like this was kind of where God was leading me to be. And so uh these opportunities, I feel like when doors open, you know, sometimes you you gotta take a long, hard look and uh is this something that aligns with your life and what you're doing right now? And if so, then you can't pass those up too many times or they're no longer gonna exist. So after talking with my family, uh, we decided collectively that this was a good opportunity for me. So I accepted the position uh to join the the district attorney's office as an investigator. And uh probably two years into that job, um I was speaking with the district attorney, and we talked about there not being um a supervisor for the investigations division. The all of the investigators were supervised by the supervising attorneys at each respective office. And now when I say that, you know, to to kind of put it more into perspective for potential listeners, our judicial district is comprised of three counties in southeastern New Mexico. That's going to be Eddy Chavez and Lee Counties. Now it's a it's a big area, so each commanding office of that county super the supervising attorney of that office supervised the investigators. So through conversations with our elected district attorney, I I you know I told her, I said, I don't I don't understand how uh an attorney, though well versed in the law, is supervising a police officer because we are all me and and the guys that work for me in my division, we're all full commissioned certified police officers. That's what we do. I don't believe, it is my opinion, this is strictly my opinion. I do not believe that if if you haven't done the job before, if you don't understand what it is to be a police officer, I don't I don't believe that you can supervise a police officer. So um ultimately a position was created uh where I was afforded the opportunity to step in as as a supervisor of this division. I accepted it, uh, and I and I told our elected, I said, you know, if if this is where you see me fruitful for our agency and you see me being able to provide for our agency in in the best light possible, then absolutely let's let's do it. And uh that was probably three years now that I've been the supervisor, uh, I've been the chief investigator for our judicial district now. Um we've we've we've accomplished some milestones in that time where you know one of the things that I wanted to do was actually bridge that gap between our law enforcement partners and the district attorney's office, where where maybe there are other guys at the time that don't know the DA investigators exist. Well, let's let's get that out of the way. Let's make sure that we're doing everything we can to bridge that gap and be the liaison between outside our partnering law enforcement agencies and the district attorney's office because we're capable of providing aid in ways that uh certain departments may need. There's a lot of smaller departments uh or agencies in our um judicial district that may not have you know uh the manpower to say work uh a homicide and then say the individual is transported to El Paso or Lubbock because they're closer, bigger uh airports. I mean not airports, I'm sorry, uh hospital facilities in our area. So maybe they're they have people on the crime scene and they got to send this guy to conduct an interview. Well, maybe that they can't send one. You know, they need to send two people to conduct the interview so he's not by himself. Well, there's something where we can step in and say, hey, I can go with you. I'll go with you. Let's go interview this guy. Let's go, you know what I mean? Or let me hold the scene. You guys go do what you need to do. How can we help our law enforcement partners? How can we bridge this gap? How can I make sure that people know that we exist and we are here to help because we are capable, willing, and able to provide whatever support we can to the partnering agencies in our judicial district. So that's kind of the take that I have on that and where we're trying to move forward, you know, with with that. And and I we've done really we've done really well. So currently staffed, I have uh three investigators stationed at each big office in in our judicial district. There's three separate offices, three investigators at each offer at each office, and then myself. Well, one of the things that we were able to do once hiring that third investigator to fulfill that void that I used to occupy as an investigator and the supervisor at the same time, was it it allowed us to look into joining with our federal partners and make some new ways with our federal partners where we could jump on. So currently I'm I'm a full-time TFO with the United States Marshal Service on our violent offender task force, the Southwest Investigative Fugitive Team. And so what that means is that we adopt warrants from our all of our local partners. Uh, there's criteria that must be met in order for us to adopt those, but we are we are completely sworn in and and certified federally. We go through the entire background process. Uh, it took about a year for us to go through uh because of the access that we have to some of the federal databases and stuff as a marshal, uh, we have to have top, you know, uh security clearance and and all that good stuff. So uh it took about a year. Um this team that I'm on now, we go through and we will adopt these warrants from state agencies and we'll turn them into Fed warrants to where we can work them. And and we just have more resources available as as federal individuals than you know the state people might have, just statewide. Uh, but there is certain criteria that must be met in order for us to adopt these warrants. Um, they have to be violent, uh, they have to be connected to a homicide. Uh and and and not all not all encompassed, but you know, um, as far as it's gotta be a violent crime or it's gotta be uh uh um a crime where any crime regarding women and children, uh I'm sorry, any crime regarding children is automatically adopted. Uh any of your more heinous crimes and and your like federal probation violation type stuff are the warrants that we'll adopt and we'll go assist the agencies in in fighting and our team will will go in and breach and take these individuals into custody. Because, you know, as as a lot of our listeners probably know, if we can go after some of these guys with federal time and federal charges versus just state charges, then it's a lot more fruitful than just what a state can do in and of itself. So, yeah, that's that's a lot to say a little bit, but that's kind of where I've been and where I'm at now.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

That's awesome.

DA Investigators And Fugitive Task Force

SPEAKER_00 10:41

You know, it's funny because we were just talking about before the podcast how I didn't know about the investigative side on the district attorney's office. And I remember when you took that position and I remember having a brief conversation about it, and I was kind of confused because I was like, I didn't know that the district attorney's office had that. But now that you're explaining it, it definitely makes a lot more sense that you went the direction that you went because I don't think that I would want an attorney being my boss if I'm doing police work, you know? So that makes a lot of sense. Um so okay, when I was working in that area, I know that we had the drug task force. That's probably the only federal type work that I remember. So, how is it that you guys are incorporating the joining that federal side with state side? Um, what do officers have to come to you with in order to get you guys on board to help them out?

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Sure. So what we'll do is uh we have we we have several individuals on our team from several agencies in what we call our AOR, our area of responsibility. Uh, and that's everywhere from Alamogordo up to Clovis down to uh, you know, like Carlbad, El Paso area. Um, after that, the Las Cruces sector takes over. Above that, the Albuquerque sector takes over and stuff. But we have several task force officers that have been adopted by the Marshal Service that are embedded in these agencies. Some of them are task force officers with their respective narcotics task forces, some of them are patrol officers with their respective agencies, some of them are deputies with their respective agencies. And what they'll do is they'll take some of these crimes or some of these older warrants that have been sitting there that maybe have kind of fallen to the wayside. They've either fallen to the wayside or something pops off and it's a very violent crime that has just happened and this individual is running. So let's get this locked down right now. Let's get this information in. So as long as the criteria from the warrant is met, then that officer uh will bring that warrant from their agency to our team and we'll sit down and we'll look and we'll say, okay, does this warrant meet the criteria? Okay, this warrant meets the criteria. So let's put it in our system, let's start working this warrant. So then all of us uh we'll start, we'll get together and we'll saturate that area and we'll start using the resources that we have available on the federal side. Um, because again, we're all, you know, we are all unated, we're all United States Marshals at that time working that federal warrant versus being the investigator for the excuse me, for the Fed Judicial District. At that moment when I'm working that, then I'm working as a United States Marshal and I have the resources available to me as a marshal to be able to uh to work that case.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I'm not sure that that answers your question so much.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

No, yeah, that's awesome. So um, I mean, I could I can remember a handful of times that we were pursuing someone that had a warrant that had a murder charge in the city and we couldn't pursue them because obviously we have policies that we can't violate, especially um if it's a pursuit. Pursuit policies in New Mexico, well, at least in in our area, Hobbs in Lee County, it's it's pretty strict. So, I mean, is this a time where you guys can come in handy for something like that? Is that something that you guys can actually do? See, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Most definitely. Yeah, and it's already happened a couple of times. We've had some cases that we've worked up in uh like Curry County, Roosevelt County, the Clovis Portalis area, where those are things where we've we have uh gone after individuals that came across our desk that we adopted warrants on that were uh used to running from those uh agencies because they they know and understand their pursuit policies and understand and know what they can get away with. And so once we adopted those warrants and got in the mix, it's a completely different game because we don't operate by the same uh uh strongholds that the agencies have to operate from. Uh if a pursuit kicks off by an agency and it's an active warrant that we're involved in, then we can 100% uh jump in and and pursue and and you know do what, you know, do what needs to be done in order to affect the arrest.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Very nice. So how long does it take you guys to respond? Let's say an agency contacts you guys and is like, hey, we're we're we have a possible pursuit, you know, and we have this warrant, it falls within the criteria. How long will it take you guys to respond to something like that?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

So it would have to be something that we were actively working already. We would have to have to have already adopted the warrant. Uh it's not, it's not really like a non-call kind of thing where uh something pops off for an agency and they call us and say, hey, it's more of like um we're we're monitoring everything that's going on. And like I say, we we have uh individuals embedded in each agency across our judicial district and and and in our entire area of responsibility. This reaches so much further than just our judicial district. It goes outside that. So in our entire area of responsibility, we have individuals who are embedded in those agencies all across. So if a homicide does pop off, then that individual that's that's on our team will reach out to our team and say, hey, this just popped off. They're writing paper right now. This might be something that we look into getting into. So we'll start tabling it then, we'll start looking at it, and then uh our supervisor, the the deputy, the supervising deputy marshal will wait for that to come across. And then when it comes across, you know, we'll get the information put in and then we'll brief it and uh we'll put together a TAC plan and uh we'll we'll you know we'll move forward from there. So it actively while we're working the warrant, if something pops off while we're work while we're actively working that warrant and it's involving the individual that we're we are uh actively seeking, then we we are 100% all in uh as long as it jumps off as a result of that state paper. Um it's not really so much something of um where we get a call at midnight and they say there was just a homicide. Um this guy's gonna, you know, this guy's running. We we have to already there how there already has to be a state warrant in place in order for us to adopt it federally.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

I see. Okay. Um, you know, I have a a question about uh your the gap that you're trying to bridge between law enforcement and the DA. So I can't say that all jurisdictions have the same issues, but I can obviously attest to the issues of the DA's office that you work for compared to maybe what other people might experience. So what have you done or what has your team done to try and bridge that gap? Because there usually is some tension uh between law enforcement and the DA's office. There's usually a lot of uh disagreements, or maybe they don't agree on certain things, or maybe law enforcement might feel like the DA is not on their side. So, how do you guys work with bridging that gap?

SPEAKER_01 17:30

You know what, I I couldn't have said it better myself. Um, before I knew these positions existed, I was the first one on some of my cases to want to jump and blame a district attorney for not taking my case or for pleaing my case out or for not wanting it to go to trial. It wasn't until I got on this side of it that I started to really understand what all goes into the um the litigation side of you know of our job of being a police officer. And and, you know, a lot of people are mistaken when they think that um, you know, county sheriffs are are the supreme law enforcement entity in

Bridging The Gap With Agencies

SPEAKER_01 18:05

in the area. It's it's your elected district attorney is the supreme law enforcement individual in that judicial district. Um, they're the ones that are approving charges or or moving forward with charges that are brought by uh a policing agency. Um so I think that being on this side has a lot has afforded me the opportunity to really understand why sometimes cases don't come to fruition or why sometimes cases uh are brought but aren't aren't you know prosecuted, what what is looked at, what is not looked at. Um but to answer your question, I think some of the things that I've done to try to help bridge that gap is to try to provide that understanding to uh other officers at those at those underlying uh agencies that we support so much. And that's I want to make that very clear. Our our number one job is to support our partnering law enforcement agencies and their efforts to combat crime in our area. That's our that's our number one priority. Now, whether or not it's fruitful, that depends on the case in and of itself. And everything is judged on a case-by-case basis. It's not blanketed. Um, but I've made sure that we are uh that we have an investigator, uh, at the very least, if not an investigator and an attorney, at very high profile crimes, uh, your homicides, stuff like that. If we're notified about them, then I have boots there. I have guys there making sure that they're uh providing, you know, whatever kind of assistance we can provide to that partnering agency, um that puts us in the face of those outerlying law enforcement agencies to say, here we are, this is who we are, this is what we can do, how can we help? That was the main thing that I wanted to do in order to bridge that gap or in order to put us in the forefront of people's faces saying, here we are, use us, let us help you. Because if we're not doing that, if we're just kicking back, serving a subpoena here or there that comes through for a case where maybe uh a civil department for a sheriff's office hasn't had a chance to really look at it. So we the paper comes across our desk and we go serve it to make sure this person goes to court. Yeah, we can do that. But what service is that really doing to our district? It's really not, you know, it's really not doing anything. Now, if if if there's a homicide that kicks off and the and the chief from Lovington calls me and says, Hey man, we just had a homicide here. All right, I'll have my guy there in 15 minutes or 20 minutes, whatever the case may be, right? Or, hey, uh, we just got this report of this high profile crime. This is a high, this is a high priority type scene. Um, and it's an attorney calling me, and I say, Okay, my guy will pick you up. He will escort you there and make sure that you have whatever you need while you're there. You know, just getting boots on the ground at these cases in order to to uh familiarize my guys and the attorneys with the types of crimes that are being committed or with what they're gonna potentially uh prosecute. You know, I I think you have a far better chance of understanding the scene from a first-person perspective versus reading it from a report.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yeah, of course. You know, um, one thing that I've noticed being from the outside looking in now is uh the community doesn't really understand. First of all, they don't understand law enforcement. There's a lot of frustration between the community and law enforcement and what they're able to do. A lot of people don't understand the laws the way that we do. Um, and that goes to the court phase, you know, when there's a process that is kind of out of law enforcement's control, it kind of falls into the court's hands. So let's just jump to district attorney's office. Um, what is it that you guys can do to help the community understand more what the district attorney's office does, especially on your end, because you're dealing with law enforcement and the district attorney's office, and you kind of understand both sides where the community doesn't really understand either side. So, is there anything that you guys are actively doing to try to help the community understand what that gap is like for them?

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yeah, uh for sure. So another another hat that I wear that uh I was uh that I was blessed with a couple of years ago is I was also made our our agency's public information officer. Um RP So any any press release that comes from my agency is drafted by me, obviously reviewed by our elected, uh, because everything hinges on her law license. I mean, anything that comes out, there's there's uh tons of uh rules of ethics that they have to abide by, things they can say, things they cannot say. So um I went to uh a week-long PIO school in Seattle uh that was put on by the National District Attorneys Association specific for being a PIO for our agency. It taught me a lot, but uh anything that comes out of us is is drafted by myself and reviewed by our elected in order to make sure that it meets that that standard to be able to be put out. But uh one of the things that we do is every month we're on a radio show. Uh it's the third,

Transparency And What The DA Controls

SPEAKER_01 22:40

it's the third Thursday of every month. We have someone representing our office on this talk radio show in the morning. Uh, because I was told a long time ago, any opportunity that we have to educate the public about what we do, uh this is what I learned in PIO school. Any opportunity we have to educate the public about what we do, you take that opportunity, you seize it, and you inform the public about what you do. Uh, transparency means a lot of different things to a lot of people. Some people believe they want transparency and then realize that transparency isn't what they wanted. And then some people want to provide transparency and then realize maybe we shouldn't be as transparent as we want. And speaking of my elected and our judicial district, uh, we are very transparent with the public in what we do. And that's one of the reasons why we do this show every uh the third Thursday of every month. Um, one of the things that I can that I can speak about uh that I think is a huge misconception is that when it comes down to handing down, when it comes to like adjudicating a case and it comes down to actually like um sentencing and stuff like that, the district attorney's office has no hand in in what someone receives as far as sentencing is concerned. Uh, I can't tell you how many times I've seen people upset and off put with our office because of a sentence that someone has received. That is solely, solely, solely imparted by the judge. The judge has all of the discretion. Of course, now there are some mandatory guidelines that they have to abide by as judges that are that are statutory requirements on certain cases. But for the most part, it the judges have the discretion when it comes to sentencing. So if there's if people are upset about sentences that are that are handed down or sentences that are imposed in certain types of cases, the district attorney is not the one to to uh force your your hand on. Uh it's it's you know, those those are the types of situations where it's imperative that you contact your legislators and and stuff like that to uh to to to try to change the laws because that's the only way that your sentencing is gonna is going to uh change. I mean, uh we we will argue, we and I say we meaning the district attorney's office, the district attorney or the assistant district attorney that's that's prosecuting the case or arguing the the matter at hand will argue for for whatever sentence we they they believe is appropriate. Um and you would be hard pressed to find that it's usually anything less than what you know someone else believes that the individual on the receiving end should receive. However, we don't have the luxury of being able to tell a judge what to impose. It's it's it's solely based up to the discretion of the judge. And then there's a lot of things that come without without being a very heinous crime, there's a lot of other things that come into consideration. We're talking history, criminal history. Um, what what what is that what does that look like? You know what I mean? Those are a lot of things that can come into uh focus or into consideration when it comes to sentencing. Um, but I think that's one of the things we like to talk about a lot because a huge misconception is that um when someone is uh when a sentence is imposed that it's it's based on the hand of the of the district attorney or the assistant district attorney, and it's not, it's solely by the judge.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

Yeah. You know, this is where that saying comes in hug-a thug state. I mean, I know you and I are both pretty familiar with New Mexico being labeled as the hug-a-thug state. And uh recently, I know um the the girl from Hobbes that dumped her baby in the dumpster, which was a case that my agency worked, uh, she got sentenced to 16 years in prison, which I thought that was actually pretty shocking considering all of the other types of crimes that we've seen in our jurisdiction, and they don't get nearly as close to 16 years as of course we would want. So, yeah, that's actually a really good thing to discuss because a lot of people don't understand that it's not the DA's office that decides that. And when people are upset, they gotta vote. I mean, that that's where it truly is is the bottom of the issue that everybody just doesn't seem to understand. Um, I want to talk a little bit about transparency. You mentioned that transparency looks different to everyone, and I couldn't agree with you more. Uh, some people will get that transparency and it's not what they want. And I'm gonna say that in law enforcement, this is probably where we face the most issues, is because when you are transparent, people don't like what they're hearing. Um, maybe they've already developed a biased or a conclusion of their own that it doesn't match with. So that transparency doesn't even matter. So, in your position, um, how do you how do you feel is the best way to go about that when you're dealing with anybody in the public or if you're, you know, maybe even rookies in the academy when you're talking to them and you're telling them, hey, this is what you're gonna face. How do you tell them to deal with something like that? How are they gonna go about dealing with that criticism of transparency, being too transparent, how to deal with, you know, how people are gonna take that, when do they ignore it, when do they address it? Do you ever go over those things with them?

SPEAKER_01 27:39

I think that, you know, one of the things that that that you're aware of that that I didn't talk about in the beginning is that I regularly teach at the academy. Um I I do day one. I've done day one at every academy for probably the last four or five years now. Uh, and then I also teach uh or assist with teaching in uh the daytime and nighttime traffic stops, and then officer survival, and then also um the uh domestic violence curriculum. In the state of New Mexico, you there's certain areas where you have to be a uh not an expert, but like you have to specialize in training in certain areas in order to be considered a trainer, uh an instructor for that area. And uh domestic violence is one of those areas in New Mexico where you have to be a specialized instructor, so to speak. And so um myself along with another with another team instructor will usually do the domestic violence curriculum for the academy. And uh, you know, I I just I really think that there's some things that you just can't teach someone. I think there's some things that you just really have to have someone be able to experience for themselves and understand how they're gonna handle it. You can't handle, I mean, you can't tell someone how they're gonna handle a member of the public coming up to them uh asking for transparency. Uh you can only tell them, you know, to pay attention to what is appropriate regarding their uh respective policies and procedures as far as when it comes to that type of contact with the public. Um all I can ever offer for someone in that situation is to remain professional and you know, just uh one of one of the things I've been heavy on for the last few years is it takes zero effort to be kind. It doesn't matter what we're experiencing or what we're going through. And and I was not always this guy, man. I I was a lot more rigid than this, you know, back in the beginning. But as I've gotten older and as I've developed in my career and as I've seen other people develop and things that have gone on, good or bad, uh I just I I really I really keep coming back to it, just takes zero effort to be kind to someone. And that doesn't mean that they're kind back to you. It doesn't have to mean that they're kind back to you. It doesn't always look like that, right? But it takes zero effort to be kind to someone because unfortunately, as a byproduct of our profession, we're always dealing with people at their very worst moments. Uh people are calling us because things are in a complete tellspin, not because they want to tell us that their granddaughter got straight A's on the report card, right? I wish it was. I wish it was that way, but it's uh but it's just not. And the reality of it is that we we have to deal with people at their very worst moments all the time. All we can do as humans, not even as police officers, but as humans, all we can do is remember that it takes zero effort to be kind. Now, there are times where where you got to grab a hold of the boo-boo and get down to business and do work. So I'm not saying be complacent or be, you know, step outside of your zone and do something that that puts you in a situation where you can where you can uh be caused harm or or harm to your to your partners. Um what I mean is assess every situation and approach it appropriately. And it takes zero effort to be kind to someone.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Yeah, I agree with that. Um, so I didn't know that you came from a family of law enforcement. That was new to me. So when you were young, is was being a police officer something you wanted to do just because that's what your dad did, or is there something that struck with you that was like, hey, this is actually what I want to do, not because my dad did it?

SPEAKER_01 31:03

You know, it's it's it's funny because I knew that I was gonna do a couple of things. I I wanted I I was either gonna be a rancher, like my family ranches or as cops. Um, so I knew I was either gonna go, I was either gonna go into ranch work or be a police officer, but I always wanted to be an entertainer. Uh I loved music at at an early age. Uh I started uh the first time I ever performed publicly, you know, as far as music is concerned, I was seven years old and uh performed in in Pecos, Texas, and did a bunch of stuff, you know, musically for a long time. I I got to a point in my young adult life where I'm not naive to the fact that the opportunities are, you know, are there. Uh however, I wanted to know that I always had something to not necessarily fall back on because I I think

Music And Life Outside The Badge

SPEAKER_01 32:01

if you say, you know, you want to have something to fall back on, you're already setting yourself up for failure. You're already saying, uh, well, I want to have something to fall back on because this isn't gonna work. And so I and I don't believe in that. I believe that you know, you you pursue what you want until you no longer either want to pursue it or you feel like you're being called in a different direction. So I that's kind of where I was. I was torn between two directions of what I wanted to do uh and chose to to go into law enforcement because I was still having opportunities to to do music at the same time. So I've kind of been able to live in both worlds uh for a very long time, and it's been fruitful on both on both ends of the spectrum, and I'm very grateful for that.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah, I remember when I found out that you were doing, I mean, you seem more like country music, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Yeah, so I remember when I first found out that you did that, I had no clue. Obviously, back then I didn't. Um, and that is something that you've pursued this whole time. I mean, I know that that's something you enjoy doing. So would you say it's fair to say that's your hobby? Is that something that you like to do and completely disengage from law enforcement when you do that?

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Yeah, I think I think early on, before I had my family, I've got two beautiful girls now, uh, and my wife and stuff. So I I say before my family, music was definitely something that I would allow myself to sink into to get away from the world of chaos, so to speak, for the lack of a better term. It gave me a sense of a familiarity where I was grounded in that something that I had done ever since I was a child. It wasn't something new that I was trying to uh explore. It was something that I already uh was this kind of established in and already kind of knew. And it just, you know, it just gave me a sense of peace to be able to know that I had this world that was outside, soul separate, completely separated from my day-to-day world where I worked as far as being a police officer, um, where it would give me some reprieve from, you know, some of the daily struggles that we experience as law enforcement uh officers experience.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

You know, that's something that you did that most people don't know. Uh, and maybe I don't know if it stems from you having that background with your family being in law enforcement, but most people don't know that having a hobby that is completely separate from law enforcement really is a key uh part of being healthy in law enforcement. You you kind of have to separate yourself. Um, when you're off of work, it's not always the healthiest option to only have law enforcement friends and do law enforcement things because you can't separate your life that way. So, with that being said, is that something that you kind of knew early on?

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Uh no, you know, it's funny because I did know it, but as a young rookie police officer, I still allowed myself to fall into the rut of uh I hung out with nothing but police officers. I wouldn't be caught dead at another person's house unless they were a police officer. If I had a barbecue, everybody there was a badge toter. Uh, there was, you know, I mean, it just that's I fell into that. I I was the guy that was shining his shoes, listening to his radio on his time off. I mean, I I think we all experienced that as young police officers because we have such a desire to to please and to perform that I think that's just unfortunately, I just think it's uh it's unavoidable in our in our profession. I think we all have to go through it at some point. What uh where I'm fortunate enough is that I found out very early on versus letting it carry over for several years. Uh, I found out, you know, this is this isn't healthy for me to constantly be in a state of fight or flight. It's just not healthy for me. Uh, and you can say we're not talking shop all you want, but inevitably, these are the people that you're in the trenches with every day. You're going to revert back to talking about something that is job related. The only way to get out of that is to separate yourself from that environment completely. There's two things when I teach at the academy that I leave the cadets with. The first one is to always ensure that you're providing a healthy outlet for yourself that does not include anything at all, even remotely close to related to law enforcement. Keep your circle of friends that do have that have nothing to do with law enforcement work. You know, all clearly have your have your partners, you know what I mean, and have your barbecues and stuff like that, but also maintain a healthy relationship with people who have nothing to do with what I like to call the business. Maintain a healthy relationship with people who have nothing to do with the business. Um, find something that you enjoy just as much, if not more, than your work. Um it's unfortunate, but you know, you may be a part of some some crazy high busts in your career or stuff like that, that people may remember, they may reflect on and remember these moments, these highlighted moments. But the moments that are gonna matter are the ones that you experience with your family throughout the way. You know, when when you take time to show up to your daughters or your sons, you know, uh second grade Christmas recital, they will remember that. They will remember mom or dad was there, right? And so, you know, after our 20 years or 25 years, or how many, how many every years people are fortunate enough to do in this profession where they successfully retire, those are the moments that are gonna matter because the family that went through every shift with you, went through every call with you, every God forbid officer-involved shooting you were ever involved in, the family that went through every one of those moments with you are the people that are gonna be there at the end, still holding that light for you. They're the ones that you're gonna be able to turn to uh at the end of your fruitful career and say, I did it, but I'm not done yet. Now is my time. Here are is my family, here are the people who are gonna continue to pick me up and carry me through. Uh, I think that's very important for young police officers to understand. You know, we get so caught up in, you know, driving fast and kicking ass and shooting guns and all this fun stuff we get to do, and also dealing with real world problems that most people are never exposed to. You know, as police officers, we're exposed to far more violence and far more uh hectic type of situations than most person will ever experience, you know, in at all ever. Um so I think those are just important things to keep in mind. The other thing that I always leave them with is do not ever budget yourself off of an overtime paycheck. Ensure that you are constantly budgeting yourself off of a 40-hour paycheck, an 80-hour paycheck. Um, if you budget yourself and your finances off of an 80-hour paycheck, you're never gonna be, you're never gonna have to try to sell uh your big ass lifted truck because all of a sudden the chief came in and said, no more overtime, overtime's cut off. Um these are things that I wish would have been talked about, you know, a little bit more when I was younger. Uh so I think those are a couple of very important things. You know, number one, always ensure that you're you have uh something that you're involving yourself with, be it be it spirituality, and I'm not saying that it has to be this the same kind of spirituality that I uh believe in or I move forward with. I mean, if there's something you find that you believe in that carries you, man, stick with it and do that. If you like to go play co-ed basketball in your in your city league team, go do it. If you like to you know sit there and and and you're an avid, you know, uh bird watcher, go do that, man. I don't don't ever allow your job to be so cumbersome or so all-encompassed that you forget those things who made you who you were to begin with. Because before you ever put that badge on, before you ever swore that oath of office, you were somebody else. Don't ever forget who that person was before you decided to take that badge and take that oath.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Yeah. You know, I remember when I was teaching in the academy before I left, that was probably the iceberg of what I was trying to share, but I didn't even have enough experience in valuing my family time the way I do now, now that I'm out. And I think you uh being through the seasons of law enforcement and having this realization and still being there, you have a lot of experience to spread that message to them. And you know, I can remember being a rookie and hearing all of these officers telling me in the academy, you know, don't do this, don't do that. But there is one thing I remember very clearly, and I can't I want to say that it was um I honestly don't remember who it was. Somebody told me you need to watch out for the name on your on your on your badge, like your name. That's who you need to watch out for. And at first I was like, what do you mean? Myself? I didn't understand. And now it makes so much more sense because it's not just yourself in the job, it's it's how you are out of the job and your life outside of what it is that you're doing for a living. And um, it's great that you're putting that message out there for your family. Uh, what would you say is some good advice for listeners who have families in law enforcement that maybe might be struggling trying to find that balance,

Family Communication And Mental Health

SPEAKER_00 40:55

you know, between work and family life. What is your best uh suggestion for them?

SPEAKER_01 41:01

You know, I would say that uh one of the things that has worked for me, and not everything that works for someone is going to work for everyone, but I would I would, you know, big time say one of the things that has worked for me is uh understanding that communication is the key and the foundation that a healthy relationship is built on. Um, I'm not saying to dive into the gruesome details of what you experienced in your day, but don't be so quick to shut your family out. Don't be so quick to shut your wife or your husband out and not talk to them at all. Uh, giving them a little bit of information, a little bit of insight into what you've you know dealt with during the day is gonna do volumes for them understanding on how to cope with you coming home and and what kind of uh uh you know mode or mood or attitude that sets, you know, for you just being able to come home, period. You know, and if you if if you're the kind of person that needs an hour to decompress when you come home, communicate that to your spouse. Say, hey, look, I I appreciate that you're here and I love that you want to be involved in what's going on with me, but it's usually so much so that when I get home, I really just need an hour. I know I've been gone from you all day, and it doesn't mean that I want to be gone from you more or I want to neglect you at all, or or or or the kids, or whatever the case may be. I just need 45 minutes. Give me 60 minutes by myself to decompress, and I promise you the rest of the night I'm yours. The rest of the morning I'm yours, whatever that looks like with whatever shift you're working on or whatever. Um, but communicate, man. If you cannot communicate with the person that you're with, and in my opinion, I think you've got some bigger problems than just uh what's going on with work and not at work. I mean, I think uh I can't I can't harp on communication enough. I think uh that you know we we leave our families and meet people and and marry people and our spouses and and you know enter into these uh these lovely live lifetime bonds that we want to have that can be you know just decimated in a moment by lack of communication or by not letting someone into our lives. We a lot of us are protectors, and that's just how we feel. We want to shield our spouses and our kids from these lives that we live outside, you know, with all of these uh we we deal with the most horrible things that you can imagine. So the last thing we want to do is come home and expose our family to that horrific event that we just dealt with. Uh so like I said, I'm I'm not I'm not advocating to tell your spouse, you know, everything that's gone on or the nitty-gritty details, but you know, throw them a bone, so to speak. Give them something, give them something to understand where your mental space is at, where your head's at, and what you're dealing with, because you cannot expect your spouse to understand what you're dealing with if you never tell them what you're dealing with. That is a disservice to your spouse in and of itself. If you expect them to be able to handle you at your worst without them ever knowing or understanding what you're going through, then you are wrong. You as a person are wrong and you are. Doing your family a disservice by expecting that from them without giving them that, you know, that information that they need to be able to be a healthy outlet for you as a police officer.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

Yeah, that's great. You know, most people are curious. And I would say that all cops are curious. So whenever, for example, you're driving by uh an accident, you know, an accident with injuries, most people are gonna slow down because they're curious. They want to see, they want to see what's going on, they want to see the body, they want to see just whatever they want to see. And one thing that I'm not saying all spouses are like this, but most people have a curiosity that they want to meet. And if that is something that you can talk about without being so gruesome, and you know, your spouse is like, well, what happened? You know, and they want to hear something and you can talk about it and just kind of let it out, you know, if that's something that's gonna stick with you, I feel like that's a great outlet. I mean, I would do that with my husband, not that it ever stuck with me, but he's a curious person, you know, he's like, Hey, what happened? Like, what did what did you see? What happened? So for me, I think that it was a support that I had. And most spouses, I want to say, would probably be okay with that as long as you're sparing the gruesome details, unless they're asking at the hope that they wouldn't, but they most of the time I would say they want to know. I don't know how you know for sure.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

And I think it's no, I agree, and I and I think that's like some some of the ways that I mitigate those types of conversations is like, you know what, uh, I have a teenage daughter now, and she's she's getting ready to start driving. And it's it's as simple as, you know what, baby, I I work, daddy worked a really bad accident today. And uh, you know how I always harp on how important it is for you to wear your seatbelt. These are some of the reasons why I'm so hard on you about wearing your seatbelt. These are some of the reasons on why I'm so hard about wanting to know where you're at and who you're with, is because things can go so wrong so quickly. This is something that I dealt with today. And you know, you're minimizing what you dealt with by maximizing your opportunity to have a coachable moment with your child, you know what I mean? Or or or or with your spouse or with whoever you're talking with. I think, you know, you minimize the tragedy that you've been exposed to by maximizing the opportunity to have a coachable moment with your loved one.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Right. All right. Well, we you know that the podcast uh really does focus on mental health. And we did talk a little bit about um how to deal with that, but what is something that you've done in your experience that's helped you? And it doesn't mean that you've struggled with it, but if there is anything that you've done to help you get through hard times or hard moments, what is it that worked for you?

SPEAKER_01 46:31

Honestly, uh the biggest part is probably the just the communication aspect I have with my wife and being able to talk with her and and have her understand, you know, the things that we go through aren't normal. Uh the things that we go through as a law enforcement officer aren't normal. Um, this isn't the normal stuff that, and then no disrespect to people who work jobs that are that are so vastly needed, you know, like in banking and stuff like that. Because I was going to use the the example of like, it's not the same as being a banker and going to work at the bank and and stuff like that. I'm sure they have their own stresses and their own issues that they deal with in their own right. I'm not minimizing that. Um, but it's very different what we deal with. And so being able to have that open line of communication to say, you know, to tell my wife, if I'm coming home and I say, give me a glass of scotch in 60 minutes, man, and I'm good. You know what I mean? Uh I'm also not I'm not advocating, you know, to to drink to to cope with your issues, but um if you can healthily, you know, if if you have a healthy uh uh relationship with, you know, um with your loved ones and you're able to communicate with them on what it is that you as a person need. And I think that's and I think that boils down to to the nitty-gritty of it. You as a person not being able, not being afraid to express what you need as a person to cope with stuff. It's not so much of what what can I tell someone on how to deal with the situation that they're that they're facing, it's what can you as a person openly communicate to someone that you need to deal with a situation? Because we're all different. We all we all cope with things you know differently. I I'll I'll sit down and grab my guitar and and you know, you know, pluck some strings, maybe hum hum a few tunes or something. Um that's not gonna work for everybody. Hell, not everybody can play the guitar, you know what I mean? So that that's not gonna work for everyone. So I think the biggest part isn't me being able to tell someone how to cope with what they're feeling. I think the biggest thing is us being strong enough, and I say us collectively, because I'm in that same boat, I think it's us being strong enough to be able to admit what it is that we need to be successful as people, you know, uh what we need to assist us in coping with, you know, difficult situations. It if we can't voice that and take that step towards our own, you know, advocating for our own mental health, we can't expect somebody else to.

SPEAKER_00 48:55

Yeah, of course. So I have a uh one last question for you. Uh, what does retirement look like for you? What do you plan to do? When do you retire? And what do you want to do when you retire?

SPEAKER_01 49:05

You know, so it's it's coming up pretty quick, and I'm I'm eligible before too terribly long, actually. So and that's another that's another thing that I talk about is um I could have retired, what are we at? 2025, 2002, 22, three years ago. Uh I could have retired three years ago, but I made a mistake when I was very young and I pulled my retirement thinking I was never gonna return to corrections or anything like that. And so that's another thing that I that I talked to uh cadets about is you know that that financial responsibility and securing their future and what it looks like for them because I believe now they're on a 25-year retirement. Excuse me, I'm still under the 20-year. I came in under the 20-year, so uh retirement's not that far off for me, but you know, I really am enjoying what I'm doing right now. Um, I'm I'm still healthy, I'm still able, I'm still capable of doing the job, and I still feel like I'm making a difference. Uh and I think that's big for me is still knowing that I'm contributing, right? Uh, I think once I get to a point where I'm self-aware enough to know this

Retirement Mindset And Staying Whole

SPEAKER_01 50:13

is a young man's game. And I'm self-aware enough to know that there's gonna come a point where I can no longer, you know, compete in these capacities without you know creating a burden for potential teammates or or or other people that I'm working with. Um, but I'm prepared. I am prepared for retirement. Uh what it looks like for me is, you know, a lot more music, continuing on with music. And that's the thing. I think that, you know, establishing your identity as somebody other than a police officer is paramount. Um, understanding that who you are after you turn your badge in, uh, after they, you know, put it in loose sight and give it to you with a nice plaque, uh, understanding that you're still a valid contributor of society, you know, who you were as a police officer doesn't define who you were going, who you are going to be as a person post you know, retirement. Um, I think there's opportunities for all of us to remain successful and tied into the to the community. And um, we just have to understand that it's ever evolving and it's a young man's game. And at some point we're all gonna be faced with the reality that we're no longer that person who is in authority. And as long as we could start preparing ourselves now to cope with that and put things you know in our lives, as far as you know, hobbies and stuff like we've been speaking about, uh, I think it's gonna take some of that sting off a little bit when we move into civilianhood, right? What does it look like when I'm no longer a police officer? What does civilian life look like for me? Oh, well, it looks great because I've cultivated this environment outside of police work where I'm still gonna have my same friends because we're, you know, there none of them have anything to do with law enforcement, or I have this hobby that I've grown to love where I'm still going to be able to continue because it has nothing to do with law enforcement. You know what I mean? Um, so I think uh retirement for me looks very healthy and uh I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_00 51:55

Good. I'm happy to hear that. Um, so the listeners, more than likely, they may have questions for you, but we discussed earlier. If you guys have any questions that you'd like to ask Justin, you can feel free to message me on social media or through the email contact, and I can get you guys in contact with him. Um, one last thing, Justin, if there's one piece of advice that you want to leave with the listeners, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 52:22

Yeah, so I think the thing that I always talk to the uh the cadets in the academy about, and it and this goes forward to even seasoned veteran officers, uh, while you're out there working, always put yourself in the most advantageous position to win. And that doesn't just mean any tactical advantage or any any type of uh encounter with a bad guy that you're talking about. I'm talking about with your family, uh with your friends, with your future, with your career. Always put yourself in the most tactical advantage to win. Uh always make sure that you're putting yourself in the most advantageous position to win whatever it is that you're facing, be it uh job-wise, family-wise, uh financial wise. Um, we are we're we're the keepers of ourselves. And as long as we're making sure that we're putting ourselves in the most advantageous position to win whatever we encounter, I think we're doing ourselves a great service. Um, I think uh also one of the things that I wanted to say that I forgot to say early on is I know I mentioned specifically, you know, where where I work and where I'm associated with, you know, every everything that I've talked about in this podcast. And and again, thank you so much for the opportunity in the platform to be able to speak. But all of this is, you know, sold and and and separate my opinions and and my take on things and not not associated with my agency at all. This is all me uh talking about things as how I see them and what I've seen as as a police officer for for some for several years. Uh, this is no reflection of my administration or my judicial district or anything like that. This is me, uh, you know, uh Justin Dominguez and what I believe and how I feel. Uh I wanted to just take some time to get on here and speak a little bit and try to help those young cats or even some of the more veteran people who who uh any of our brothers and sisters who may be listening, man. Uh, thank you so much for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

Yeah, well, thank you for making time to jump on, Justin. Um, I do think that's an important message because a lot of people who are active right now are apprehensive of wanting to be on a podcast and to share, you know, their thoughts or whatever it is that they're going through. But it's really important that other people know that they're not alone and what they're going through or what they see, what they feel, and whatever it is that they're going through. Um, I think it's an important message. But thank you so much for joining me today. Uh, for the listeners, as always, uh, you guys stay safe and we'll see you on the next one. Thank you again, Justin. Thank you for joining me on Chapter Blue. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to follow and tag me on social media and share with your friends and fellow officers. If you're interested in joining an episode, I'd love for you to be a part of the conversation. Until next time, stay safe, take care of yourself, and remember you're never alone in this journey.