What happens when the people sworn to enforce the law are treated as the problem?

In this episode of Heroes Behind the Badge, we sit down with Chuck Marino, a former Secret Service agent and senior Department of Homeland Security official, for a clear-eyed conversation about a moment many people feel but struggle to explain.

This is not an argument.

It’s not a rally.

And it’s not a soundbite episode.

It’s a conversation about what changes when enforcement is confused with policy and when political rhetoric turns the men and women doing the job into targets.

We talk about:

• Why law enforcement officers do not make the laws they are asked to enforce
• How rhetoric and pressure can escalate real-world risk
• What it feels like inside federal law enforcement right now
• The difference between protest, politics, and responsibility
• Why clarity matters when consequences are real

This episode isn’t designed to tell you what to think.

It’s designed to slow the moment down so you can see it more clearly.

If you wear the badge, this conversation is for you.

If you don’t, it may help you understand what’s being carried, often silently, by those who do.

• https://citizensbehindthebadge.org
• Listen to more episodes of Heroes Behind the Badge.
• Like, Subscribe, and Share to support the men and women who serve behind the badge.

In this episode of Heroes Behind the Badge, we sit down with Rich Stanek for a candid conversation about policing in the age of viral video—and what happens when the same footage produces radically different interpretations.

• This is not a breakdown of one incident.
• It’s a discussion about power, perception, and trust.
• Why do viral videos shape public opinion so quickly?
• How do leaders respond when emotion, politics, and public pressure collide?
• And what gets lost when nuance disappears from the conversation?

Rich shares his perspective on responsibility, leadership, and the difficulty of thinking clearly in moments charged with emotion. The conversation moves deliberately, leaving space for uncertainty instead of easy answers.

Learn more or get involved: https://citizensbehindthebadge.org

Listen to more episodes of Heroes Behind the Badge.

Like, Subscribe, and Share to support the men and women who serve behind the badge.

Most people think the Beltway Sniper case ended with a dramatic takedown.

It didn’t.

It ended with a quiet rest stop, two officers, and a decision that sounds backwards: don’t rush in.

Retired Maryland State Police Lieutenant Dave Reichenbaugh was there, the on-scene commander during the capture of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. In this episode, he explains the real friction inside the manhunt:

• Why the public wasn’t just “panicking”… they were the missing asset
• The Fed vs. State vs. Local disagreement that changed the entire play
• The moment forensics confirmed it was one gun (fast) and why that made it worse
• The clue that shattered the terrorism theory: a tarot card that said “Call me God”
• And the chilling detail that still follows him: the last bullet “twirling… and the tinkle on pavement.”

This isn’t a retelling. It’s a firsthand account from the person standing at the edge of the decision.

If you thought you knew the Beltway Sniper case… you knew the headlines.

This is what happened between them.

Guest: Dave Reichenbaugh, retired Maryland State Police Lieutenant

Topic: The Beltway Sniper arrest, the I-70 rest stop standoff, and the “last bullet” moment

Editorial Note: A statement made by the guest regarding John Allen Muhammad’s ideological influences reflects his personal perspective and is presented as commentary, not as a conclusively established fact.

Learn more or get involved: https://citizensbehindthebadge.org

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Like, Subscribe, and Share to support the men and women who serve behind the badge.

On January 6, 2021, the failure wasn’t a lack of warning.

It wasn’t a lack of experience.

It was a failure of permission.

In this episode of Heroes Behind the Badge, former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund takes listeners inside the command center as the attack on the Capitol unfolded—minute by minute, decision by decision.

Chief Sund explains what he saw in real time, why requests for reinforcements were delayed, and how structural and legal constraints prevented immediate action while officers were being overrun. He walks through what has since changed, what has not, and where accountability still remains unclear.

The conversation also examines the aftermath: political fallout, scapegoating, nondisclosure agreements, unanswered questions about intelligence and response, and the personal cost of being reduced to a single day in history.

This is not a partisan argument or a retrospective built on hindsight. It is a sober, first-hand account of leadership under constraint—and a candid discussion about what happens when responsibility is assigned without authority.

By the end of this episode, the listener is left with a clearer understanding of how fragile public safety becomes when systems fail, and what leaders must do to protect both their people and the truth when the pressure is highest.

Learn more or get involved:

• https://citizensbehindthebadge.org
• Listen to more episodes of Heroes Behind the Badge.

Like, Subscribe, and Share to support the men and women who serve behind the badge.

This episode reflects the first-hand experience, perspective, and professional judgment of former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, as shared during this recorded conversation.

Where topics involve ongoing debate, unresolved investigations, or contested interpretations, the discussion distinguishes between what is personally observed, what is documented, and what remains unanswered. This episode is not intended to serve as a comprehensive investigative record, nor does it assert conclusions beyond the speaker’s direct knowledge and publicly available information at the time of recording.

The views expressed are those of the participants and are presented in the interest of understanding leadership, accountability, and decision-making under extreme institutional constraint.

In this Episode 1 of Heroes Behind the Badge, former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund joins the conversation to take viewers inside one of the most scrutinized moments in modern American law enforcement - and the deeper leadership failures surrounding it.

Steven Sund shares firsthand insight into:

1. what really happened before January 6
2. systemic breakdowns in leadership and accountability
3. how decision-making failures compound under pressure
4. the personal and professional toll on leaders in uniform
5. why surface-level explanations often miss the real problem

This episode is not about soundbites or politics - it’s about how institutions fail, how responsibility gets blurred, and what law enforcement leaders face when clarity, authority, and trust collapse at the same time.

You’ll hear Steven reflect on command responsibility, communication breakdowns, and what the public often misunderstands about crisis leadership inside large government systems.

Episode 2 will go deeper examining structural reform, leadership lessons, and what must change if trust and operational clarity are to be restored.

If you care about accountability, leadership under pressure, and the human cost of institutional failure, this is a conversation worth hearing.

Learn more or get involved: https://citizensbehindthebadge.org

Listen to more episodes of Heroes Behind the Badge.

Like, Subscribe, and Share to support the men and women who serve behind the badge.

"Three years. That's all it took for my shooter to get away with it."

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**EDITOR'S NOTE:** This is Part 2 of Tom Weitzel's story, originally released on YouTube in December 2025. We're now making it available on all audio platforms.

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In Part 1, Tom Weitzel told us how he survived a gang ambush during a traffic stop in 1987. Part 2 is about what happened when the justice system failed him.

When ATF agents finally identified Tom's shooter years later, Illinois law said it was too late to prosecute. The statute of limitations for attempted murder of a police officer? Three years. For writing a bad check? Forever.

Tom went to Springfield and got that law changed. But he didn't stop there.

Now, as three of his own sons serve in law enforcement, Tom is fighting for something bigger: making line-of-duty deaths federal crimes—with federal investigation, federal prosecution, and the death penalty in all 50 states.

In this episode:

• Why the current system fails officer families
• What's happening at the ICE facility near Chicago
• Tom's federal crime proposal that the Biden administration ignored
• His collaboration with Citizens Behind the Badge to take it to Congress

If Part 1 was about survival, Part 2 is about making sure other officers don't face the same injustice.

Haven't listened to Part 1 yet? Find it in your podcast feed from December 16, 2025.

In August 1987, Riverside, Illinois Police Officer Tom Weitzel stepped out of his squad car to check a suspicious vehicle parked on the wrong side of the street - no plates, dark tinted windows, door cracked open. Seconds later, a gang member rolled out of the back seat, racked a pump shotgun, and shot Tom at point-blank range.

Tom’s portable radio was cut in half by the blast. He crawled back to his squad, called for help on the in-car radio, and survived... largely because of a bullet-resistant vest his wife had purchased.

But what happened after the shooting would shape the rest of his career: the investigation, the shocking legal loopholes of the time, and the early signs of a system that often fails the very people it asks to run toward danger.

This is Part 1 of Tom Weitzel’s story. Part 2 picks up with the fight for justice and the advocacy Tom took all the way to state lawmakers.

👍 If you support law enforcement stories told with honesty and context, like, subscribe, and share.

🔔 Turn on notifications so you don’t miss Part 2: “Fighting for Justice.”

In this powerful episode of Heroes Behind the Badge, Executive Director of the National Black Sheriffs Association, Anthony Amerson, shares the extraordinary story of his father - Lucius Amerson - the first Black sheriff elected in the South since Reconstruction.

Anthony takes us inside the struggles, courage, and legacy of his father’s service, while also confronting today’s biggest challenges in law enforcement:

• recruitment and retention
• defund-the-police impacts
• mental health and wellness
• the rise of AI and automation in policing
• strained budgets in rural America
• the need for community resilience
• the future of sheriffs’ offices nationwide

You’ll also hear deeply personal moments: a near-fatal car chase, a jailhouse shootout, handwritten letters from across the country, and the creation of the Black Sheriffs Memorial in Washington, D.C.

If you believe in supporting the men and women behind the badge, this is a story worth hearing.

Learn more or get involved: https://citizensbehindthebadge.org

Support the National Black Sheriffs Association: https://blacksheriffs.com/

Listen to more episodes of Heroes Behind the Badge.

Like, Subscribe, and Share to support law enforcement across the country.