Sergeant Michael Nunez has been with the Chicago Police Department for 38 years working for a variety of specialized units. Sgt. Nunez discusses his career path, the importance of camaraderie among officers, and offers advice for new recruits.
Episode 6 Michael Nunez
Michael (00:00)
You're listening to their phones and you're like, these people are evil. ⁓ fortunately, we put them all away and we continued to do that.
Mariam (00:08)
That's Chicago Police Sergeant Michael Nunez explaining what his job entails. This is Roll Call. I'm Mariam Sobh. How long have you been with CPD? 38 years. That's a long time. Why are you here this long? ⁓
Michael (00:18)
38 years.
I'm not ready to retire and I still love the job.
Mariam (00:28)
What about the job do you like?
Michael (00:30)
Well, I've been very fortunate. I work in a specialized unit where I get to do the type of work I love, and I get to hang around with some very, very great people who are very, good friends of mine.
Mariam (00:44)
your first day with the police department. What was that like?
Michael (00:49)
The department to me was always ⁓ something, a profession that I admired. So I was actually very excited my first day in the academy, my first day on the street because ⁓ I always believed this job was a noble job and you're here to help people and I love being a part of that.
Mariam (01:10)
Was there anyone in your family who was part of the police department or someone who influenced your decision to join?
Michael (01:18)
I always say I'm first generation good guy. ⁓ I grew up in a very, very poor and rough neighborhood and just seeing the police in our neighborhood, ⁓ they always made me feel safe as a kid and I always looked up to them and I always wanted to be like them.
Mariam (01:31)
These days, it seems harder to hear from kids that would reflect that and say, like, you know, I want to grow up to be a policeman or a fireman, maybe when they're really little. But as they get older, ⁓ it seems harder to find people that are excited about it. What do you think the cause of that is? Or, I mean, maybe I'm just overthinking it and that's not the
Michael (01:51)
In the civilian world, I think people still look at this job as a good paycheck. Where we're hearing a lot of negative things is from ⁓ generational police, like grandfathers and fathers who were on this job maybe discouraging their kids from taking this job because they see the change in it and they see how our law enforcement is being treated these days. So I think we're losing a lot of generational policing. Like we're losing
sons and daughters of policemen who are on the job now and been on the job.
Mariam (02:24)
Did you ever want to be anything else?
Michael (02:27)
Well, I came on this job very, very young, again, I was fortunate to come on very young. I was working in a factory before this, so this job was a much, much better step up.
Mariam (02:38)
Do you remember the first call you ever took or something that was your favorite moment that stands out to you?
Michael (02:45)
I got a million favorites, but when I first came on the job, ⁓ in the academy they teach you about culture shock. ⁓ You're brought up this way and then you're exposed to other cultures and they try to prepare you for it, but I came on the streets and ⁓ one of our first calls, we went to a call of maybe a disturbance or something, but we're driving through the housing projects on Roosevelt Road.
I could see the building we're headed to is probably a block or two into the projects and we get within 30 feet of the housing project so we got a hand waiver. My veteran partner is dealing with it. We resolve that. We drive another quarter block and we get another hand waiver. a hand waiver is, it's a citizen waving you down needing help or having a problem rather than calling 911. We call them hand waivers.
Mariam (03:34)
Can you tell us what is a hand wave?
Michael (03:45)
We're on our second hand waiver within a block. I could see the building we're going to is another block or two away. And the culture shock kicked in and I'm thinking, we're never gonna get out of here. There are so many people with problems here. We're just gonna spend our whole day here. that was one of my first memories of the job being on the street.
Mariam (04:07)
That's super interesting because I never even thought about that. Sometimes you hear about people saying, well, nobody's getting here fast enough, but if people are waving you down on the way, you can't ignore them. OK, so your favorite moment on the job.
Michael (04:19)
Some of my best stories would be, ⁓ you know, we're doing something physical as a group of officers and we accomplish that goal, whether it's catching a bad guy or something. And then that arrest and that investigation makes some citizens happy. that's probably the best story. I don't have anything specific now, but that's the most rewarding stuff. When you're out there working as a team and you accomplish something, you you catch three bad guys, you recover people's property or you...
You save someone from some danger and you have the bad guy in custody and the citizens are happy.
Mariam (04:54)
Nearly four decades on the job, have you seen any changes during this time span?
Michael (05:00)
Well, of course.
I've learned some stuff recently in the years that I really like the way the department's going with trying to prepare us better financially, trying to teach us some things that they didn't teach us back then. I see good things and I see some bad things. I think we're losing camaraderie. the camaraderie? Mm-hmm. I think a big effect on it was when we went to straight watches. We used to rotate around the clock. You would have to change your hours every 28 days. You would go from days to afternoons to midnights. And I think...
Mariam (05:15)
Can you elaborate on that?
Michael (05:29)
We just got to know each other more, where now it's, everyone's on a straight watch. And you know, there's early cars and late cars, different start times. Now I see, you could be on days together, but if you start at say two o'clock in the afternoon, you might not even know the people that started three o'clock. Whereas before the whole district knew each other. We were very, very tight and we kind of lost that when we went to straight watches.
Mariam (05:55)
You want to bring back the switcheroo?
Michael (05:58)
I didn't mind it at all. didn't mind it at all. I thought it was fair to everybody because everybody had to work every shift and you really got to know everyone. It was really a tight group.
Mariam (06:08)
What are some areas you've had the opportunity to work in? think right now you do something with wire tapping. Yeah. Are you wearing a wire right now?
Michael (06:20)
No. Nobody would want to listen to me.
Mariam (06:23)
Well, maybe you're trying to record me. ⁓ that's what I'm worried about
Michael (06:26)
I worked in a few districts. I went to gangs in organized crime. Then I went to narcotics for a few years. I went to intelligence for a couple of years. And I went back to gangs where I'm at now for a few years. I was a very, very good patrolman. I loved patrol. So I was very into it. I tried to learn everything I could and then...
I go to OCD and they just show me all these tools and I just fell in love being there. You can hunt some really bad people there and it's good, rewarding work.
Mariam (07:06)
Do you ever fear for your safety with the work that you do? I can imagine that criminals have become very sophisticated and often may figure out who's after them.
Michael (07:17)
We've come across some really, really dangerous people and fortunately, they're gonna be out way after I'm gone. They got some lengthy sentences. I work with some good, tough guys. ⁓ I feel safe out there. There's always times you're scared, but I feel safe out there. We have come across some guys where you're listening to their phones and you're like, these people are evil. ⁓
Fortunately, we put them all away and we continued to do that.
Mariam (07:52)
for folks listening, mean they should realize that a lot of the work that you guys are doing that they may not see is preventing things from even happening, correct?
Michael (08:01)
Yes, yes, ⁓ there's some really bad people out there.
Mariam (08:06)
Some people might not feel that Chicago is a safe place. ⁓ Every now and then there are headline grabbing situations. How safe are we?
Michael (08:17)
Chicago's a beautiful city. We have some dangerous areas, but overall we have a beautiful city. Like any big city, there's gonna be rough areas, there's gonna be beautiful areas. You gotta be careful everywhere you go, ⁓ our city is wonderful and beautiful, but there's danger in here.
Mariam (08:37)
Do you think some of that is because of just the changes in the way policing is done or is it just societally, you know, there's a lot of influence online, people kind of hype each other up to do bad things.
Michael (08:51)
I really think our judicial system has a lot to do with it. When I came on, we were never partners with the state's attorneys and the judges. We were never buddy buddies, but, but,
We were actually all there for the victims. It seems like we're too much now worried about the bad guy rather than the victims. If a policeman tells a story at court, if he's lying, he's gonna go to jail. So I don't understand why we have no credibility there the way we used to. ⁓ If you're driving down the street with your body camera on and you see ⁓ something to your right, it's not gonna be on video. But now the state's attorney's office and the judges, they all think, well, if something's not on video, it didn't happen or.
We can't take your word for it. So I think we have to go back to victims are our real reason we're out here instead of the bad guys.
Mariam (09:45)
Any advice for new recruits?
Michael (09:48)
I think they have to obviously follow their training and the guidance from the officers on the street. But the thing that we're not gonna be able to teach them that they have to learn on their own is their social media accounts. It really bothers me. I see all the young officers around me. They're showing me accounts of officers out in the field and officers I don't know, but some of the stuff just, it's just unnecessary. They really have to.
be more aware of their social media accounts. I always think you should treat your social media account like a vice. Like say ⁓ drinking or online gambling. It's legal, but you should do it in moderation. They're putting too much out there and they think sometimes it's fun or cute, but it really, it sets a bad light on the department and every officer coming onto the street should realize.
They're gonna be right in the middle of several civil suits and all of that is brought into court and it just makes you look terrible and they just beat you up with that stuff so I think you should be smarter on your social media and you know just share it with your family. The whole world doesn't have to see what you're doing. The whole world doesn't have to see you get dressed for work and it's just some of it's really nonsense.
Mariam (11:09)
In terms of advice for maybe, you know, more veteran officers or people who may be feeling kind of at a point where they're just like, I don't know if I want to work this job anymore. Too many changes are taking place. There's too much liability for everything.
Michael (11:27)
Stay upbeat for the younger officers until they do leave and just try to prepare for retirement.
Mariam (11:33)
This
job carries with it a high stress level and exposure to negative events. How do you handle that day to day?
Michael (11:41)
I have two great support systems. have my family at home and I have my work family. My wife has set up our home where there is absolutely no drama there. If there's an issue that comes up, we sit down and fix it before we go to sleep. There's no drama in our house, so it's a very, very relaxing place. And then at work, we are a very, very tight-knit group.
We're kind of in tune with each other and we're going through the same thing each day together. So we talk about it. We make sure we know what's going on in each other's lives personally and professionally. And we don't let things stew. know, whether we're there to give somebody an ear, a shoulder, or a wallet, we're there for each other. And we kind of talk it through and joke it out. And it's okay for me. I'm in a very, very good environment.
You know, us being someone's worst day, that's been going on for 150 years. ⁓ Most of the time when we leave though, they feel better. Just, you know, the person that doesn't want us there, it's opposite of the person who called us there, so.
Mariam (12:55)
What about when it comes to negativity on the job? What do you think the solution is for low morale?
Michael (13:02)
I've been saying this for quite a few years. ⁓ The camaraderie on this job, it's the responsibility to build through the supervisors. They have to try to get our guys together, whether it's after work or on a couple days off or get our guys together because the younger generation, tend to have different hobbies than we had before.
It was very easy to get guys together, say a few years ago where now is everyone seems to be off in little packs and you know, I really think it's our supervisors jobs. if your boss asks you, hey, let's go bowling after work today or, you know, let's go have a little softball game in the park across the street, guys will come. And I really think it falls on us.
Mariam (13:58)
And that was Sergeant Michael Nunez. You're listening to Roll Call, a production of the Chicago Police Department's Bureau of Patrol. Find us wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to subscribe and never miss an episode.