EP 61: Actual Mask-Wearing Superheroes
Superheroes exist. Yes, in real life. Just like in the comics, they wear masks and uniforms, they nab bad guys, and they spread peace across the city. On this episode, we talk to a couple of them, and their stories are absolutely amazing. Thanks to Sgt. Clint Ferguson and Officer Damon Cole for making this happen. Sgt. Clint Ferguson and Deadpool https://www.policeone.com/chiefs-sheriffs/articles/480045006-NC-cop-uses-Marvel-costume-to-connect-with-teens-community/ Officer Damon Cole http://www.heroesandcopsagainstchildhoodcancer.org/what-we-do.html 2020 Census news update https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/689237309/census-bureau-conducts-massive-recruiting-effort-for-2020-head-count
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Transcript
On this episode of Municipal Equation. The Marvel community, the comic book community is huge right now. I've actually since purchased a real Batmobile. Some people will say, hey, aren't aren't you the dead fool cop? He goes, well, you don't sound like that, man. I go, well, I sound like that, but I'm funny, Clyde. The kid lost his mind. They couldn't believe that a cop could be into something that they would be into. We've all heard the phrase hero cop, but here's a totally different take on the concept of an officer in uniform. This episode is about cops who suit up in superhero costumes to enhance their community policing. Some amazing stories ahead. My name is Ben Brown and this is Municipal Equation. A podcast about cities and towns in the face of change. From the North Carolina League of Municipalities. Episode 61.
Hello?
Hey, Joey. Yeah. Hey, Ben. Yeah. How's it going? It's going alright, man. How you doing? Good, man. This is Joey Robinson. We used to work together at a fantastic newspaper in Southeast North Carolina. He does graphic design there. He's a super talented artist. I got a question, since you know more about comic books than anybody else I know.
Okay.
Does Batman count as a superhero,
you know, since he doesn't have Superpowers. I mean, is is that a debate in the comic book world? Yeah. I mean, it's it's kind of an old thing. I mean, everybody generally agrees he's a superhero, though, because, I mean, this guy is the pinnacle of human perfection. You know? He's he's superhuman in every way except 1% that would put him completely out of bounds. You know? So he's he's technically not a superhero, I guess, but I think everybody agrees that he's called a superhero, you know, with with no issues.
So I I I know this is off the top of your head, but can you think of of other comic book heroes who work as law enforcement officers by day or anything like that?
Yeah. I you know, speaking of Batman, I mean, Dick Grayson, his first Robin, you know, ends up becoming a police officer. After he moves on and becomes Nightwing, he moves to a nearby city, you know, city near Gotham called Bludhaven, and he ends up getting a job as a a cop. Now he's still, you know, in the same boat as Batman. He's pushing the, the limits of of what a human can do, you know, and still be called a human, but, you know, he's he's a cop working a day job as a cop. And then, you know, there are other guys that worked as cops that became superheroes. I think I've mentioned the Spectre to you. The Martian Manhunter became a a detective. You know, he shape shifted into a human detective after he came to Earth. So Nightwing, the Spectre, Martian Manhunter, others we identified.
The Flash's public persona worked as a police chemist. Dragon was a Chicago cop. Hawkman and Hawkgirl were law enforcement. Renee Montoya of the Batman universe, same thing. Police officer Jim Harper became the guardian. Judge Dredd was a judge of sorts. Lots of varying examples without having to rely on Dick Tracy. What we're coming to in talking with Joey is I've run into a few police officers in the course of doing episodes on law enforcement who were really into comic book heroes and have gone to pretty impressive lengths to incorporate that into their police work and using it to connect with people,
meaning, essentially, real crime fighting superheroes, you could say. And that's something I wanted to explore. I can't tell you how many guys I've ran into how many cops I've ran into that are huge comic book fans. And, you know, I had an incident a few years ago where a cop came to a, IHOP I was having breakfast in, you know, to break up a fight. And the whole time he was interviewing me, he was staring at my T shirt, which was a, you know, T shirt from a T shirt from HeroesCon that year, and he just kept staring at it. And he asked all the right questions and everything. But as soon as he was done, he said, where'd you get that shirt? You know? And he just started talking. He was a huge comic book fan. And, he'd actually been to Heroes Con plenty of times. I know when I'm in the comic shops, I'm I I run into guys that are cops all the time that you just love these stories. And, you know, I I don't know, man. I think it, you know, it does inform that, I guess. It's a pretty straight line, I think, to to watch these guys doling out this pretty simple version of justice and maybe growing up and thinking, heck, I could do something like that, you know, in a different way, obviously. But I guess, there's nobody other actually trying to do it with a cape. And, actually, I think there are a few guys doing that, come to think of it. We're about to talk to a couple real ones, starting with Batman,
otherwise known as officer Damon Cole of the Fort Worth, Texas Police Department. And our story picks up at a local Walmart where officer Cole was making an appearance as Batman.
And the manager called me and was like, hey. Could you dress up? We're doing a a child safety event. Could you, you know, dress up as superheroes? Like, absolutely. So it was on a Saturday. I dressed up as Batman, and we had some police officers there, police cars and all that. And I was walking in, one of the entrances for Walmart dressed as Batman. Well, this guy is making a beeline out the door, and he went out so quickly. He didn't pay any mind to me. Well, the door greeter, it was an older lady. He was trying to stop him, and he just went past her and ignored her. And so she was freaking out, and I was like, did he just take something? She's like, he did. He did. I was like, I will get him. I'm so used to being in my uniform that I forgot I wasn't in my uniform. So I was actually dressed as Batman, so I went out and stopped this gentleman in the parking lot, identified myself, as a police officer. And I had at the time, I had my badge actually put on my Batman suit. So at first, the guy was, like, in shock when he was looking at me, and then I go, I was like, did you just take something from inside the store? And he was like, no. I I I didn't take nothing. And I said, look, man. Walmart is like a casino. Entire place is covered in video cameras. So if you took something, just throw it up to it so we can deal with it and move forward. I said it's sitting here lying to me. He's not gonna do any good. So he he paused for a minute, and then he looks at me and goes, yeah. I took some movies. I said, okay. Where are the movies at? In Texas, if it's under a $100, we're able to issue you a citation if you've never been to jail, for example, before. Mhmm. So I said, let's go inside the store and see how much the movies are, and they came out to, like, $99, so it was right on the threshold. Wow. And he had never been arrested for that before, so he was still in four movies, and one of them happened to be Lego Batman. And I I remember looking at him, and I'm like, you can't steal my movie. And the guy actually started laughing. So we dealt with it. We issued him a citation, and it was pretty comical. It's just very end of the the encounter. He goes, officer Cole, do you mind taking a selfie with me? He goes, it's not every day I get arrested by bad mouth. Why not? So we took a selfie, and we released them. That's definitely one of the, highlights of my career
because, I mean, you just can't make that story up. We'll come back to officer Colin in a bit to learn more about him. Let's talk to another superhero,
Deadpool. To a lot of people, that's the first thing they ask me. Where'd you get your costume? My name is Clint Ferguson, Clint like Eastwood. And I'm a patrol sergeant, and I'm with the town of Granite Falls. It's basically about forty five minutes north of Charlotte.
How, how long have you worked with that, police department? Are are you a native to the area too? Yes. I've been here about nine years working with the police department,
and I've also yes. I've been a native. I grew up here my whole life. I'm 41 years old now, so I I think of it as my town. So I really take pride in what I do. And what he does, in addition to patrolling in his police issued uniform, is make appearances as the popular comic book hero, Deadpool.
A tiny bit of information on who Deadpool is. He's a Marvel Comics creation. There have been two Deadpool movies in the theaters so far. You've probably at least heard of him. He's got this red and black costume with a with a mask that covers his entire head and the eyes are totally white. So there's no way to identify him by any distinct human features. And it's important to point out that when sergeant Ferguson goes out in his Deadpool costume, it's not some cheap thing he bought at the Halloween store. It's a legit Hollywood caliber costume. Expensive. And, no, the police department didn't buy it for him. This is something that started from personal interest.
Well, as a kid, that's where it began. My favorite holiday or time of year was always Halloween. Yeah. I was prepping for Halloween starting November 1. I mean, I was ready for the next Halloween season. I just couldn't wait to put a costume together. Even as a kid, I would try to make my own costumes. So I think it really stemmed from Halloween. And I also started mainly within the horror genre of movies. That's where it sort of began as far as the characters I first originally started doing, and then it just went into the Marvel characters. Of course, they call it cosplay, which means costume play. And anything from Spider Man. I've even done Star Wars characters.
And so you playing heroes, did that influence your interest in law enforcement? Or Well, I think as a kid, every kid, you know,
dreams of being a hero. That's why I think they're drawn into, say, comic books, for example. Every kid wanted to be Captain America Yeah. Or Spider Man. And I think I don't know if one, I would say, influenced the other. I've had a love of both, and I've always felt I wanted to be in law enforcement or as a kid. I wanna be a cop when I grow up. And I just got to a point in my life where I felt, you know, I was ready to take that step, and I just carried over my interests in the comic book field into that. And I tried to figure out a way to where I can work it
into my job to, say, reach out here and connect with these kids. Sergeant Ferguson said it wasn't immediate. It wasn't like he was on his first day as a cop and showed up to work dressed as Deadpool.
He was doing the police thing, responding to calls, making the difference. You know, I would go to some of these calls. I would respond to calls whether it's domestic or a parent just having issues with their child, and the parent can't get through to their kid. And the the child is kinda shut off, and they're being real quiet, and they're not wanting to, you know, talk to anybody. And then I'm when when I'm in these people's houses, I'm looking around, and there's just usually comic book heroes everywhere, toys, posters, movies, books. They're wearing t shirts with Captain America. And then the light bulb. I bet you if I could talk to these kids and say, hey. You know, I'm into the same thing you are. You know, this is my hero. This is who I am. I think it would sorta break a barrier, and it would make them see that I'm, you know, just not just a policeman, but I'm also just like they are. I'm no different than them, and they might be more apt to open up to me. Do you remember the first time you did that and and what, what costume you were wearing at the time? Well, here recently, it's always been the Deadpool costume. Mhmm. And I would just I remember specifically, I had dealt with some kids that were just hanging around the square here in town. It was after hours, and somebody had called, And I went and spoke with them. They weren't I think they were playing Pokemon Go, believe it or not. They were playing Pokemon Go, I remember. While speaking with them, one of them was on their phone, and they were watching something that had to do with comic books. And I was and I showed them a picture of me dressed up as Deadpool. And I said, you know who that is? And they said, well, yeah, Deadpool. I said, well, yeah, it is, but it's me. And it just blew their mind. One of them specifically said, you know, I can't just wrap my head around it. I mean, I'm talking to you. You're wearing a badge, but it's just I can't believe that's you too. I mean, I can't believe, you know, you're a cop and you do that. Yeah. You know? And I told them my hobby is no different to what you may do, and it just blew their mind. They couldn't believe that a cop could be into something that they would be into.
So so how often are are you going out with the the Deadpool suit? I try to go as often as I can. It's important to point out that Deadpool is not a g rated character. If you've seen the movies or read the books, you know what I mean. Not rated g, but his edginess and what some people might call his flaws
make him fun to connect with. But Sergeant Ferguson does keep it 100% clean so he can represent his department the best way possible. You'd be surprised. Even kids, obviously the kids haven't seen the movie, you know, but they still know the character. Yeah. And they just love it. They come up to me and give me high fives all the time, and I'm just glad it worked. I didn't know it would be on such a grand scale of things. I thought it'd be just locally. And I'm there's I know there's other people out there in the world that's probably doing the exact same thing. And I'm actually I connect with some of them on Instagram. Some of them are firefighters. Some of them are in law enforcement,
and they do the same type of thing. I was as a police officer, you deal with every walk of life, and I got tired of going into people's homes and seeing children scared of us. Back to officer Damon Cole, the Batman who busted the shoplifter. His origin story has a lot of similar elements to that of sergeant Ferguson. So I was trying to think of a way that I could help bridge that gap. So I didn't I don't like kids looking at the police and being intimidated or scared of us. So what I did is I was staying outside the box. I already carried stickers with me. I already carried teddy bears, but I was like, no. I need something different. So I ended up doing I'm a big superhero fan myself. So took the Superman logo, and I had it sewn on my bulletproof vest. So whenever I'd interact with a kid on a call, I'd be like, hey, I'll tell you a secret, but you gotta promise me you won't tell anybody. The kid looks at me all serious and very intense. And then I would unzip my shirt exposing my bulletproof vest, and, yeah, they could see the Superman logo. But we have a metal plate in our bulletproof vest. It's called a trauma plate. I would tap that. He would the kid would hear the metal. They'd be like, oh my god. You're Superman? Mhmm. Where where is your cape? I'm like, well, I can't wear my uniform. It'll get wrinkled. So from that moment on, kids would see me out and about, and they would always remember me in a positive light after that experience. I remember being in Walmart one time in my regular clothes, and I had a kid yell across the store to his mom. My mama, look. Dad's Superman. And I'm like, man, you can't tell everybody.
So officer Cole, realizing the potential here, ended up doing a lot with kids, playing various superhero roles and making connections, setting new perspectives, and then came some heavy experiences that changed everything.
So never knew child kids got sick or any of that, and I learned of a little boy named Bryce. He was seven years old, and he lived in Smithton, Illinois. And, I saw that he loved Superman, and he loved first responders. So what I did is, I reached out to the family. I saw Superman. We'd seen him in the hospital, but it was got a cheap cost. I'm like, oh, no. We can do better than that. So I reached out to the family, got their blessing, took three days off from work, and I drove twelve hours to Smith in Illinois to see Bryce as Superman. And, actually set some up with the local police department there. And I actually went to his school first because the whole town had rallied behind this little boy. So I went to school as Ironman, saw the kid there. Bryce was not able to attend school because he was on chemo, and his immune system is too low so he can't be around in public places. Mhmm. Yeah. So I then went to his home as Superman, then I dressed up as Ironman for him. And the kid really he really believed I was Superman and Ironman. And once I saw the impact I had on him, I ended up spending, like, four hours with him. We played video games, and it changed my life. Because at that time, I have a daughter who is now 11 years old. She was his age, and it really hit close to home. And I'm like, man, I could be back here. Wow. And that's what started it all. And I've since been to 22 states, and I've seen over thousands and thousands of children stick it as their favorite superhero.
This isn't anything he's being paid to do. His police salary is for his direct work as a police officer. When he goes to visit children in hospitals, it's on his own dime and with vacation time. His department is, of course, totally cool with what he's doing. I have a take home
police car. So in my police car, I have a Superman cape hanging from the back rear window. Mhmm. And then also in the back window, I have an Ironman helmet, a Deadpool mask, and my Captain America helmet. And then my passenger seat headrest, I took it off, and I actually have a Batman mask and a Spider Man mask there. I do that because when we were kids, they had D. A. R, and D. A. R. E. R. Was real popular back then. They don't have that anymore. Yeah. And I do this. There's a way I get so many people that wanna come up and look at the car just because of the stuff I have on. Mhmm. And it's just a way to to help interact with people and to show people. Because people, if they don't know a police officer and they've never really had any dealings with us, people truly forget that we're no different than anybody else. Sergeant Ferguson. You know, they
everybody thinks we're robots. We come in to work, we get in our car, we go write tickets, and we go home. That's not what we do all day. We go out here and talk to people. That's what I think my my strong point sometimes is just, you know, talking to people and just connecting with them, not in the typical
way a cop would, you know. So did did you make the costume yourself, or is it something you had to purchase?
Unfortunately, no. I'm not that talented. There is a guy in California that does a phenomenal job on this. It's actually a team up, and his name is on Instagram is l Fett Mhmm. Like Bubba Fett from Star Wars. Yeah. Yeah. There's another outfit called professional cosplay, and they actually made
the suit and mask. You you have a whole community out here called cosplay where people make and build stuff that is just unbelievable. So I will not wear a costume unless it looks authentic because kids do not have a filter, and they will call you out. You best you best look the part. So I I do 16 different superheroes. And arms, I have all the superheroes I dressed up as tattooed on my arms. And we're able to show our tattoos at my police department. So kids will always ask me, especially when I go see sick kids, they'll be like, well, how are you Batman, Iron Man, Superman? Like, perfect example, I was in, Jackson, Mississippi, and I was Batman at the children's hospital there. Mhmm. Little boy walks up to me, probably 12 years old, and, you know, at that age, they have no filter. And once somebody goes, you're not the real bad man. Where's the weapons on your belt? And I go, do you play with weapons? He goes, no. I said, exactly. I knew I was gonna come see you, so I left them in the back cave. He goes, well, you don't sound like that, man. I go, holy sound like that, but I'm fine.
The kid lost his mind. I think we've made the point pretty well by now that, you know, just doing something different can have an impact. Officer Cole said when word got out about what he's doing, people from all over the place started reaching out, wanting him to make an appearance or be the superhero that kids need him to be. And some of these are really tough situations.
It's become so popular. I can't even keep up with my social media as far as families reaching out to me. So, like, I don't charge anybody. Everything I do is by reputation. That's how my name has gotten out. And, so when I tell people, if they want me to go see their sick kid, all they gotta do is email me at batmannamemccole@gmail.com. And we will set something up, and I will see him. I will see if the kid is terminal. I am fixing to go to Phoenix, Arizona to see a gentleman reach out to me about his little girl that is terminal. She loves Batman. So I'm trying to put together something to do something for her as Batman, and I'm gonna go see her and spend the day with her. But, I've actually since, purchased a real Batmobile, and I'm gonna build a bat cave locally in the Dallas Fort area. If you if you Google, if you go to any of my social media pages, you'll see the the Batmobile. Yeah. So I'm gonna put that inside the bat cave, and my goal is to have Sam be able to bring sick kids to me and let them spend the day in the back cave. But I still will travel, but I'm gonna I'm gonna start doing that. And what inspired me to do that was there was a little girl named Bella. Her intestines don't work, so she has a colostomy bag. And I learned about her about a year ago, and she was only given three weeks to live. Well, I just got back on one of my cross country trips because what I do is I take two weeks vacation, and I usually will hit, like, 10 states going to children's hospitals or seeing individual kids. Well, on that trip, my, my car started overheat, And I have a very custom car. It's got Batman and Superman destroying the word cancer on it. So what ended up happening is I was leaving Jackson, Mississippi, and it started overheating on me. And I called my dealer. My dealer was like, you need to come out. But I had promised this little boy in Houston that was having a heart surgery. I had to go see him as Captain America. So I was like, you know what? Houston's only four hours from Fort Worth. That's no big deal. I can do that. So I made to Houston, saw him, left Houston, and my car broke down on me in Downtown Houston. What normally would take me four hours to get back to Fort Worth took me twelve because my car kept overheating. I probably spent $350 in corn just on that trip home just to get my car back. Well, I was just sure my engine end up blowing up. I I really screwed up my engine driving back like that. So a lot of my followers on social media reached out to me like, man, do a GoFundMe so we can help you. So I'm also sure I'm open to GoFundMe. I'm so we can help you. So I lost her short open to GoFundMe and was able to raise $5,000 in a matter of weeks for her to replace my engine. Well, that's when I learned of Bella, and she lived in Midland, Texas. So I was like, I was talking to the mom, setting up arrangements to go see her, and they were telling me they were gonna go on one last family vacation. And they'd already even had to make a wish, but they just didn't have the money. They didn't they wanna ask them for it. They were just telling me this so we could plan the visit. And when I was up when I was on the phone with their god came to me and says, give her your go fund me money. So I end up raising total of $7,000 and I gave that to the family to send them to Disneyland. And I rented them a beach house in LA so Bella could actually play in the sand. She never played in the sand before. And and I rented them an RV because it was hard for them to fly. And just off of that event, it changed my outlook. That, like, that was the best money I ever spent because I gave all of my GoFundMe, and then I gave $2 out of my own pocket to make that trip happen for that family. That was the best billing ever. So I was like, you know what? We're gonna we're gonna do this here locally so I can bring sick kids to me, make their day, let them spend the day in the bat cave, and just blow their mind.
I mean, I I'm I'm trying really hard not to get choked up. I mean, that that's that that is just so amazing of you. And I'm I'm mentioning the GoFundMe work. I mean, is there a a continued way that people can can support you? I mean, you are Yes, sir. Investing a lot. So
Well, I've I've since started a nonprofit, and people can go to my website. Right now, it's you can just Google the easiest way is just Google officer Damon Cole superhero, and my website will come up. And it's, euros andcopsagainstchildhoodcancer.org. And there is a donation button on there through PayPal if people wish to donate. I I I usually don't I've never come out and actually solicited for donations. I was just not raised that way. My dad raised me that if I want something, I need to get off my butt to work for it. And so I pick up a lot of extra jobs working off duty and security jobs, and that's what's paid for majority of my stuff. Now I have had people donate, and usually that goes to me buying toys and gifts and capes and stuff like that, give to the kids, or it helps me purchase, goes towards a a new suit or a costume. Like, my Deadpool that I currently have, it cost me $6,000, but it's it's like just what's in what Ryan Reynolds wears in the movie. And, like, my Batman suit, it cost me $3,000.
Your story could because, you know, it could easily inspire other police officers who have a a similar interest as you, and they recognize they have they have the ability to help, whether it's just putting a good face in the police department or helping out families in need or, I mean, so many tie ins. Are are you aware of other, police officers who do something similar to you? I mean, is there any sort of, like,
national forum where people like you interact? Or You know, I've had a few officers inquire about it, but, sadly, the officer that was inquiring about it, I'm not gonna say what state he was from. I was trying to do it for the media attention, and I'm like, that's because the ex had reached out to me going, how do I get the media to cover what I'm doing? And I'm like, you don't. I'm like, that's not why we do it. Right. And that shouldn't be why you do it. Like, I don't ever call the media when I go see any kid. And I've actually had the media ask me about that. I'm like, because it's not about me. You know, when I was driving to Midland to see Matthew, it kinda went viral on social media, and I actually had the news call me wanting to do an interview with me. And I'm like, you need to call the family. That's not up to me. That's up to the family. The family declined. And, you know, that's it's whatever the family wants, and, your heart has to be in the right place. You know, I do it because of my daughter. That is my motivation. That's what inspired me to continue and do what I do, and then seeing the impact I've had on these kids. You know, I don't have the heart to ever tell anybody no, and so I always I always volunteer for overtime assignments at work. So what it is is we can get what's called comp time. That way, I don't actually touch my vacation time. Comp time is where you build up this time, and you can use it to take time off later by working overtime. And so and luckily at Fort Worth, we're able to bank two hundred and forty hours. So I always keep that fully stocked. So whenever I need to make a trip, I give it approved to my command staff and then take off and go do what I need to do. It wears on you, scans the kids, and seeing dying kids. And I'd be lying if I told you it didn't wear on me, but it does. But I don't focus on that. Like, I had a family reach out to me on a Friday, about going to see a little boy as Ironman, and they lived in Orlando. So I reached out to the family friend that was traveled to it, Robert Downey Junior, to come. And so I reached out to the fam the the family friend. I was like, hey, I'm no Robert Downey Junior, but I do do Ironman. And they're like, well, can you come tonight? I'm like, well, unfortunately, I'm not local. It's gonna take me, like, sixteen hours to drive there. And I'm like, I'm not off till Monday. And she was like, I don't think we have till Monday. So I I met with my supervisor. I got his approval. I took off Saturday. I actually flew to Orlando. Stall, his name was Cole Sinclair, and he had brain stem cancer. And I flew there. I saw him as Ironman, and then I I flew back that night because I had to be at work on Sunday, Exactly twenty four hours after I had returned and was on duty, the family called me to say that Cole had passed away. Oh. And it broke my heart. But I'll never forget what the dad told me. The dad goes when he dropped me off at the airport, he goes, you have no idea how much it paid you out of my son. Keep in mind, his son had brainstem cancer and was not able to talk anymore Mhmm. Or basically show any facial expression. So I asked the dad, I'm like, well, how do you know I had that impact on? And he goes, Cole could barely open his eyes. And if you look at the picture of you holding his hand dressed as Ironman, both his eyes are wide open. That's how I know you impacted my son, and I'll never forget that. And so I've since on my custom car, all these kids that I've seen that have passed away, I have put their name on my car and the date they passed away. And above their name, it says real heroes because they are the real heroes. It's not me. I just dress up as one. And just because I'm a cop it make me a hero. These kids and these families that get up and fight this battle every day. They keep fighting for their life. They're the real heroes.
So that was heavy, and I didn't know any of that stuff before we scheduled this interview. I gotta say, I was not successful in keeping my eyes dry there. But the big picture is that these are stories we don't always hear. And it goes to show how far a seemingly playful or relatable hobby can go. Pretty far. And when you bring that into the public sector, you know, some different things can happen. I asked Sergeant Ferguson if he asked his boss, the police chief, you know, if there will be any issues with bringing his Deadpool persona into his public service, into his police work. And he said he was worried that the boss wouldn't go for it. He did. He did go for it. And here's a quote that police chief Chris Jenkins of the Granite Falls Police Department gave me. I love to see our officers connecting with the community outside of work. It's an opportunity to show others who we are as a person. I want the community to know us in that way. So if you follow comics in any way or if you're just a news consumer, you you know that Stan Lee passed away, in 2018. I wanna read a quote from him. We'll we'll just leave it sort of, I I guess, in Stan Lee's memory, with the Stan Lee quote. He says, another definition of hero is someone who is concerned about other people's well-being and will go out of his or her way to help them. Even if there is no chance of a reward, that person who helps others simply because it should or must be done and because it is the right thing to do is indeed without a doubt a real superhero. Stan
Lee.
Alright. So we're wrapping up here, but before we go, I had to ask Joey Robinson from the beginning of the episode. One last question about a certain cop from comic book history. Is is Dick Tracy, by the way, is he considered I mean, is he kind of hip is the wrong word, but I I don't I don't I I always feel like my impression of Dick Tracy is the Warren Beatty movie, and
you know how that went. He's got his fans, man. You know? In fact, it's weird. There's a there's a big Tracy series out right now. The first one I've seen in many years, but, yeah, it's out. I think it's maybe been the second or third issue. And, you know, he he's he's an interesting character. This story is they weren't my favorite, but they definitely did a lot of things right. I I don't know if he's considered fit, you know, like you say. And he's a pretty old character, and he was a comic strip character. So, there's always a divide between the comic strip and the comic books, you know, when you get right down to it with some of the fans. But but, yeah. He's definitely got plenty of good stories out there. You know, anything that endurance for that long has done something right.
Thanks for listening. I'll have links in the show notes to a variety of things this episode touched on, including a news article about Sergeant Ferguson as Deadpool and the website of officer Cole. What's your feedback to all this? Is there a superhero cop in your town who I need to highlight? Is there some other twist on this that would make for a good follow-up episode? Let me know. Bbrownnclm dot org is my email. Muniequation on Twitter. A little catch up from the last episode about the twenty twenty census. There is a development. You'll recall that we talked about the citizenship question and the potential participation problems that that may present, according to a number of experts. Well, since that episode aired, a federal judge did order that question be set aside. That story isn't over. There are a number of lawsuits about this, but I'll have a a news story linked in the show notes with some of the latest info, including a hiring call from the Census Bureau for temporary workers as we get closer to the 2020 Census. Again, thanks for listening. This podcast comes to you from the North Carolina League of Municipalities. Because we enjoy exploring ideas and things happening on the ground in cities and in local government. All past episodes at nclm.0rg/municipalequation. And thanks for listening. More ahead. This is Ben Brown.
