Eric McCants

My daily happiest consists of waking up at 4:00 a.m., going to the gym to lift weights and listen to motivational speeches, checking in on my family, and getting my mind right before heading out to serve the country as a law enforcement officer.
 
Transcript: "What are the daily habits you have to remain grounded and also happy? My daily habits consist of waking up at 4 o'clock in the morning, make sure I go hit the gym at 5 a.m. I'm really big into weight lifting. I know that's part of the purpose of being a law enforcement, and to make sure you stay physically fit to handle those things. Additionally, while I'm at the gym, one of the biggest things I do is listen to motivational speeches. Some of the best people I listen to is Les Brown, T.D. Jakes, Eric Thomas, David Goggins. Those are people that help me get my mind right for the day that's coming. Once I get home, I make sure I talk to my family, make sure they're good to go for the day, and then make sure I have my head straight on for when I'm back to encounter as far as work. Like I said, working law enforcement, you never know what you're going to encounter, so you got to make sure your mind's right. Make sure you go out there with a bad attitude. Things can escalate really quickly. Just make sure I wake up every morning, go to the gym, get my motivational speeches going, like I say, David Goggins, Les Brown, Eric Thomas, those people like that, and then make sure my family's okay before they head out the door, and make sure my mind's together before I head out the door and go protect and serve the country."

I was transporting a burglary suspect and he took off running. I chased him for 120 yards but eventually the other officers were able to catch up and take him back into custody. It was a funny story at the time but it wasn't funny while I was chasing him!
 
Transcript: "Do you have a favorite story from your career? I have plenty of good stories I could tell you but I'll tell you this one that happened a couple years ago Like I was working on the crime suppression team and one of my lieutenants was interviewing an individual for Berkeley So I was the person I was put on transport the guy back to jail So the guy was a handcuffs with handcuffs in front of him and I was walking him out the door of our office And I had him by like this car heart jacket and while doing so my lieutenant called me And so I look back and you know basically said, you know what you need and at that time the guy was gone He took off running. So we're running we jump a couple of fences. Well, he jumps over the fence. I run through him I'm a pretty big guy and at the time I kind of screamed out so the other guys can hear me and you know At there about 120 yards. I was running out of gas So the guys hurt me and then eventually the other officers were able to catch up to us and take the guy back in custody But uh, that's just one story that I have like say it's kind of funny at the time It wasn't because I was tired. I thought I was gonna lose this guy That was our in custody for burglary, but that's just one story for my career"

Officers are taught to leave their fingerprints by touching the back of the car in case an incident occurs. Additionally, it is done to make sure that the hood is closed and the driver doesn't try to ambush the officer.
 
Transcript: "Why do law enforcement officers really touch the back of the car as they approach it? Well, I'd say in academies and some places across the United States, officers are taught to touch the back of a vehicle just to leave their fingerprints. That's just in case they get into an incident with a person that's in a vehicle. Basically, they get into a fight or they get murdered or anything like that. They have their fingerprint on the vehicle and they feel that if they find a vehicle, they can find fingerprints that will leave evidence of the crime. So that's why a lot of people touch the back of the vehicle when they're approaching it as officers. Additionally, we touch it just to make sure the hood is closed so nobody won't surprise you as you approach the front of the vehicle to talk to the driver. No one will try to ambush you from in the trunk. So those are the reasons that I know of that we touch the back of the vehicles when we're approaching them."

Yes, I have experience in public speaking as a result of completing my law enforcement instructor certification. I also have had the opportunity to speak to the public and address certain topics that I am knowledgeable about. I look forward to more opportunities for public speaking in the future.
 
Transcript: "Has your job put you in a position of public speaking in the past? Well, yes, just recently last year I completed my law enforcement instructor certification where you go around the state of Georgia, you get your certificate to be able to instruct a law enforcement officer. So that's part of public speaking. Additionally, like I said, I'm part of the LinkedIn community. And I say many people on my LinkedIn network have their own podcast and they have asked me to be a special guest on many of their podcasts. So that's been part of the public speaking. And additionally, I say my sheriff's really big mentor of mine. And also he gives me the opportunity occasionally to speak to the public and address them on certain topics that I have knowledge in. So I have had experience in public speaking and access being law enforcement officer. You need to be well versed in basically the laws that you're applying and enforcing and also how to keep the community safe and building that rapport with them. So, yes, I have had experience in the past of public speaking and I look forward to having more experience in the future with public speaking. Thank you."

When selecting a police department to work for, beyond pay and benefits, officers should consider the rapport between the community and the police department, the rapport between admin staff and lower ranking officers, the time it would take to advance in the department, educational pay and night time differential, and other benefits.
 
Transcript: "What should brand new officers consider, ask, look for when selecting a police department to work for beyond pay and benefits? The rapport between the community and the police department is going to be a really important thing to look for. Also, the rapport between the admin staff and the law-enraking officers in that department. You want to make sure that the admin cares for you and they care for the public that they serve. Additionally, you want to know about the different specialized divisions and how long it would take for you to be able to go over there. Is it going to be two years, five years, ten years? What all would be needed to go over there? How willing are they to let you go to different classes to get more training for the job? Additionally, you want to know about educational pay and do you want to know if they do nighttime differential? There's a couple more things you want to know about, like say, the benefits of some things you need to know about and how well they take care of the officers. But those are the main things you need to look for when selecting a department."

No, I have not experienced racism while working as a law enforcement officer.
 
Transcript: "As an African-American deputy, have you ever experienced racism within your department or any other agency on or off duty? Me personally, I haven't. I've heard the stories about it, but like I said, I haven't had that happen to me while I've been working on or off duty. I can say I'm probably fortunate. I mean, I know things like this happens and that happens on both sides of the spectrum, but like I said, I've just been fortunate enough to work for good agencies my whole career and I've also been around good individuals my whole career. I'm not saying that doesn't happen. I just haven't had that experience being in law enforcement of dealing with racism."