1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,240 Hello! Welcome to the Career for Kids podcast for kids learn careers. This is Maxwell Valencia. 2 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:17,720 And this is Henry Morisson. And today we have Jillian Cabana from the police department. 3 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:22,920 Hello Miss Cabana. Thank you for spending your time to be on Career for Kids. We hope we 4 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:28,560 have a great interview. Now let's get started. 5 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:33,520 Thanks for having me guys. Tell us what you currently do. 6 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:40,080 So I am currently the detective bureau commander for the Westport Police Department. So I oversee 7 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:48,260 six detectives, a detective sergeant and kind of falling under him. He oversees the school 8 00:00:48,260 --> 00:00:55,160 security officer and well five school security officers in the SRO. So I also oversee that 9 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:56,160 division as well. 10 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:01,240 That's pretty cool. So tell us a bit more about your career and how you got to this 11 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:02,240 position. 12 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,240 So right now with my current duty, they don't investigate cases like I used to background 13 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:11,360 as a detective, but I kind of manage what the detectives do. I read every case that 14 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,600 comes into the detective bureau, actually every case that comes into the police department 15 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,640 and I decide whether or not there's enough solvability factors for detectives to follow 16 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:26,140 up on to see if there's any leads that could be viable. And I sign it to them and I approve 17 00:01:26,140 --> 00:01:32,760 all their reports, search warrants and arrest warrants. But I started out as a regular patrol 18 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:37,000 officer driving around in a black and white car as you see all over town. And then I got 19 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:42,880 promoted to detective a few years later, sergeant a few years after that, lieutenant after that. 20 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,640 And I've been a lieutenant now for almost 10 years here. 21 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:46,640 Wow. 22 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:51,200 10. I've been here 18 years next month. Been a long time. 23 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,720 Do you enjoy it? 24 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:54,720 I love it. 25 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,080 I like it. 26 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,120 So you know, every day is a little bit different. You never know what you're walking into. Some 27 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:04,880 days are kind of slow and you're waiting to get information back from banks or stuff. 28 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,040 And people are waiting to hear, you know, something for a break on a case. And then 29 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:13,520 other days something big happens in town and it's all hands on deck and our whole detective 30 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:19,000 bureau is busy and you know, we could have a crime scene, we could have a bad accident. 31 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,880 So it goes from zero to 60 very fast in the police department. 32 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:29,680 I know. And what part of your job do you enjoy the most and dislike the most? 33 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:35,380 In particular, my job, I love the team that I get to work with in the detective bureau. 34 00:02:35,380 --> 00:02:41,680 They are like experts in their field. They are so advanced. They're really top notch. 35 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:47,240 Westport's very lucky to have them. I dislike the fact that I'm essentially on call 24 hours 36 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,600 a day unless I'm traveling. So my phone rings in the middle of the night. 37 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,600 So you don't get to sleep. 38 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:58,720 Yeah, weekends, birthdays, holidays. If it rings, I have to pick up. Usually I just have 39 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,960 to call a detective to come in. But sometimes if it's a major case, I also have to come 40 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:03,960 in too. 41 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:10,320 Yeah, definitely got it. Sometimes it can be difficult just taking away. Like I can 42 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:15,080 see that they can take away time from other things. But I mean, if you're doing what you 43 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,880 love, I mean, but it still can get in the way, you know, to a certain extent where you 44 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:26,880 just, you know, so what's just the dream job you imagine yourself doing when you were a 45 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:27,880 kid? 46 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:34,440 Yes and no. So I'm going to date myself a little bit. But when I was in high school, 47 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:39,600 that was when the original CSI show came out. And I wanted to be a crime scene person. I 48 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:44,040 wanted to go to school for forensic science and be a crime scene tech. And I did. But 49 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:49,280 then I learned very quickly that if you want to do crime scenes in Connecticut, unless 50 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,920 you really have to be a police officer first and then a detective. So unless you go to 51 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,800 a major metropolitan area, they don't really have civilians that do that. You have to be 52 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:02,560 a police officer first. So I went to the police. I got hired by Westport 10 days before I graduated 53 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:08,120 college and went to the police academy. And I've been doing it ever since. And I loved 54 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:15,040 being a detective. It was awesome. But I also really liked being a cop out on the street. 55 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,360 So like when you're young, it doesn't have to be someone related to the police. But who 56 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:21,360 were your main idols? 57 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:28,960 Probably my grandmother. She had eight kids. And somehow, like I only have two kids and 58 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:33,680 have this job and I can barely hold it together. She had eight kids. She always had two jobs 59 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:40,680 and somehow she made it work and made it look easy. Yeah. So probably my grandmother and 60 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:45,880 my friends. Detective, he recently retired but now he works at the Connecticut Forensic 61 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,440 Lab. Detective John Burnetti from West Haven. I interned with him when I was in college 62 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:55,840 and he just gave me a love for detective work and he was amazing. 63 00:04:55,840 --> 00:05:00,400 So why did you pay this check? What made you do this? I mean, other than like CSI. 64 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:07,480 CSI made this have interesting. I've always loved science. But also I was torn between 65 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:14,680 being a chef or being a cop. And I don't know, I just kind of fell into this and it worked 66 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:15,680 out. 67 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:24,760 So from out of your entire career, what was the biggest highlight? 68 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:29,920 Biggest highlight? I don't know. What is the age of your usual viewers here? 69 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:38,080 I like pretty much everything. But go ahead, if there's something too graphic, I'll add 70 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,080 it to that. 71 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:45,880 Probably over 10 years ago now, we had a really serious case in Westport. We had a murder 72 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:53,280 at a jewelry store and the complete stranger murder. It wasn't, you know, a lot of times 73 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:57,120 it's people are killed by people that they know and that are close to them. This was 74 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:04,200 not the case. It was a stranger from states away that came to town, stole a bunch of diamonds. 75 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,440 And we, it was the first case I worked with a lot of different agencies at the same time. 76 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:13,160 So state police came down and assisted. And when we have anything like that, they'll process 77 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:18,360 the crime scene, but we work the investigation. But with this case, the tips were coming in 78 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:22,800 left and right that they gave us detectives for weeks to help answer the phones and run 79 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:30,120 down leads. And we got a break with a phone number and ended up identifying this man. 80 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:34,240 And we found out that he had been going to a lot of different jewelry stores prior. And 81 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:40,000 you know, a lot of times he didn't get what he wanted. So no one was hurt. But unfortunately 82 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:45,200 Westport it was, it was just, he fled the country to a different country. It was, it 83 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:50,360 was the stuff that you kind of watch movies and read about. So it was just very interesting 84 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:51,360 to see something. 85 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,640 So I'm using a question. 86 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:58,000 Yeah. So what are the biggest challenges that you think can be solved by our generation 87 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,000 that he wants to solve for you? 88 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:07,880 Biggest challenges? Well, I think that your generation was a little bit smarter with cell 89 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,920 phone usage and the things that you guys do with them. There'd be a lot less cases in 90 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,280 Westport that we deal with. So 91 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,520 Like what are some, like, can you give us some examples? 92 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:24,840 Bullying through the cell phones, you know, kind of harassment, threatening people. Like 93 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:29,560 you might not mean it, but the people that get the text message or picture or whatever 94 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:32,440 don't know that. And then they show it to somebody else. So 95 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,400 Hard to understand that stuff. 96 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:40,280 Yeah, there's no context with it. So that makes a lot of work, especially for our detective 97 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:45,480 bureau, you know, and sending inappropriate pictures and things like that. So we see a 98 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:50,600 lot of that. So just being smarter about how you use your devices and really understanding 99 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:56,240 that once something's out there on the internet or around school, around Snapchat, it never 100 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:58,040 really goes away. 101 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:02,280 Like you can socialize because socializing in person. 102 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:06,440 This is nice to actually being in a room with you guys and not doing this over Zoom or something. 103 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,600 Yeah, sometimes we do it over Zoom. I say about half of our episodes we've done over 104 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:15,800 Zoom and we're trying to continue more and more doing it in person because one, it's more fun. 105 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,400 Two, you actually get to know the person much better. 106 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:19,400 Uh huh. 107 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:21,520 So yeah, Maxwell's another push. 108 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:27,760 So if someone wants to follow in your footsteps in your careers, what would you tell them? 109 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:34,560 I would say definitely go to college. Either way, so to be a cop on Westport, you either 110 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:39,640 have to go to the military first or you have to at least get 60 college credits, which 111 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:44,640 is an associate's degree. But you know, myself, most people here have bachelor's degrees or 112 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:51,320 military experience. I have a master's and a graduate certificate and something else, 113 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,920 but I would say it doesn't have to be for criminal justice. So diversify a little bit. 114 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:59,040 You might try and be a police officer and decide this isn't for me. At least you have 115 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:04,120 education in a different field. So you have other options. And also being a police officer, 116 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:09,400 you can retire in 20 years. So if you get hired like I did at 21, you still can have 117 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,840 a whole nother career after doing something completely different. So I say definitely, 118 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:18,280 you know, get an education first, get good grades and stay out of trouble because if 119 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:22,920 you get a lot of trouble too, you can't really be a police officer either. So I have a question 120 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:28,080 for you. Is this like the interview room? This is the interview room. So this is where 121 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:35,200 you like interviews and suspects and victims and witnesses. You know, it's important to 122 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,560 interview everybody, especially witnesses. We interview them separately too for a number 123 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:43,680 of reasons, but this is where we do that. Sometimes it's out in a car, sometimes it's 124 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:49,560 at people's houses. But if we can, we prefer to interview people in the interview room. 125 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:56,520 So what is your main life advice overall for kids listening to this podcast? Try and find 126 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:02,120 a good work life balance. Work is important. It's important to do what you love and have 127 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,600 a career you find fulfilling. But the most important people in your life aren't within 128 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:12,920 the school walls or at home. So don't miss out on that. I can understand why. Thank you 129 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:18,720 so much Ms. Cabana for the longest interview. I'm sure many more kids will be inspired by 130 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:28,400 this interview. Thank you guys. To whoever's listening, thanks for listening to the careers 131 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,560 for kids podcast. We hope you enjoyed the episode and we'll see you in the next one. 132 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:36,760 Bye.