Episode 386 - Richard Hy

Summary

Episode Summary: Cleared Hot – Episode 386 with Richard "Rich" Hy

Introduction

In Episode 386 of Cleared Hot, host Andy Stumpf welcomes Richard "Rich" Hy, a seasoned SVU detective from Buffalo, New York. Rich is not only a dedicated law enforcement officer but also a prominent figure on YouTube and Twitter under the moniker "Angry Cops." This episode delves into Rich's courageous role as a whistleblower concerning the Buffalo School District's alarming underreporting of critical incidents involving student safety.

Background

Rich Hy brings a wealth of experience from his tenure in the Buffalo Police Department, specializing in Special Victims Unit (SVU) investigations. His active presence on social media platforms has amplified his voice, allowing him to spotlight issues that might otherwise remain obscured within institutional confines.

Whistleblowing on Buffalo School District

Rich Hy has recently emerged as a whistleblower, shedding light on the Buffalo School District's troubling pattern of intentionally misreporting significant incidents. Instead of addressing the root causes of safety concerns, the administration appeared to target Rich personally, aiming to discredit his findings and discourage further advocacy.

Incidents and Evidence

Rich uncovered nearly 20,000 incidents over the past five years, with a distressing portion involving severe misconduct. Notably:

• Dosing of Students: Over 50% of these incidents involved the administration relating to cases where students were dosed with high levels of THC-infused gummies by teachers.

  • Quote: “Nearly 20,000 incidents in the last five years, some of which over 50% being reported as school other in that how about scheduling two children who were dosed with very high dose THC gummies by one of their teachers.” [Timestamp: 04:35]

• Abduction Attempts: There were reports of potential abductions of two children, which were inadequately documented in official reports.

  • Quote: “Another case was the potential abduction of two children school other was that was was reported in their system.” [Timestamp: 07:00]

Rich emphasizes that such incidents were often mislabeled as "information only," a categorization that trivializes the severity of the events.

• Quote: “We would find them that say, like, information only. And. Which is like, you know, threw some dirt on your neighbor's lawn, and he didn't like it, and you guys have an issue with one another, so you call the police.” [Timestamp: 65:15]

Response from School District and Media

Upon Rich's exposure of these discrepancies, the initial reaction from the Buffalo School District was to target him instead of addressing the underlying issues. The local media, particularly Channel 7 News, opted to focus on Rich's controversial online presence rather than the substantive claims he presented.

• Quote: “The assistant district attorney finds out that there's a second victim that was attempted, that was nearly abducted in this attempt.” [Timestamp: 66:59]
• Quote: “They go after me first, which was something I was prepared for, but not expecting the amount at how they were, like, trying to force the story away from, you know, the kids and the. The abuse and the underreporting.” [Timestamp: 60:10]

The narrative spun by the media diverted attention from the critical issue of student safety to scrutinizing Rich's social media activities, painting him as a "bad cop" due to his online engagement.

• Quote: “As long as I'm not doing anything, but the first time I get in trouble, it's 20 days plus suspended without pay.” [Timestamp: 76:46]

Support from Community and Fellow Officers

Despite facing institutional pushback, Rich received overwhelming support from his colleagues and the police union. Fellow officers and friends rallied behind him, affirming the righteousness of his stance and providing moral backing during the backlash.

• Quote: “The guys rallied around me, the unsubbed guys. You know, Cody used to own an operator. Nick the Fat electrician, Eli Double Tap, Brandon Herrera, the AK guy, and the crew that surrounds them, too.” [Timestamp: 75:03]

Challenges and Obstacles

One of the primary challenges Rich highlights is the systemic reluctance within the school administration to report or accurately document incidents. This underreporting hampers effective law enforcement intervention and jeopardizes student safety.

• Quote: “The schools didn't tell me anything about that not even the school told us that we were waiting for you to call us.” [Timestamp: 84:59]

Additionally, Rich points out the formidable influence of teachers' unions, which can impede the initiation of proper investigations and protect administrators even in the face of clear evidence of misconduct.

• Quote: “I just need that for the hill I'm gonna die on.” [Timestamp: 155:24]

Call to Action for Listeners

Rich urges listeners to take proactive steps to address the systemic issues within the Buffalo School District and beyond:

1. Report and Share Information:

   • For those within Buffalo: “Email that. That's great.” [Timestamp: 65:54]
   • For those outside Buffalo: “Repost the story to any New York state politician, tag the FBI or any politician, tag the Attorney General's office.” [Timestamp: 90:20]

2. Engage with Authorities:

   • Tag relevant federal and state bodies on social media platforms to draw attention to the underreporting and mishandling of critical incidents.

3. Support Through Information Sharing:

   • Utilize the dedicated email account, [e-mail], for parents, students, teachers, and counselors to report incidents accurately.

Conclusion

Episode 386 of Cleared Hot presents a compelling narrative of systemic failure within the Buffalo School District and the courageous efforts of Detective Rich Hy to expose and address these critical issues. Rich's unwavering dedication to protecting children and ensuring accountability within educational institutions serves as a call to action for listeners to engage, report, and support meaningful change. Through his testimony, Rich underscores the importance of transparency, accurate reporting, and collective responsibility in safeguarding the well-being of students.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “Nearly 20,000 incidents in the last five years, some of which over 50% being reported as school other in that...” [04:35]

• “We would find them that say, like, information only. And. Which is like, you know, threw some dirt on your neighbor's lawn...” [65:15]

• “The assistant district attorney finds out that there's a second victim that was attempted...” [66:59]

• “We don't have a social media policy. But what you're doing could be bad and bring bad light on the department.” [76:46]

• “The union said positive things. They put out a statement supporting me.” [79:05]

• “The schools didn't tell me anything about that not even the school told us that we were waiting for you to call us.” [84:59]

• “All the parents talked.” [85:39]

• “The unsub video. There's two now. One's my. The original whistleblowing incident. One's the update...” [155:28]

Supporting Rich Hy's Mission

Listeners interested in supporting Rich Hy's efforts can:

• Subscribe and Follow:

  • Follow Rich on YouTube at "Angry Cops" to stay updated on his latest investigations and findings.

• Engage on Social Media:

  • Participate in the dialogue by tagging relevant authorities and sharing pertinent information on platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

• Direct Communication:

  • Parents and educators with firsthand information should reach out via the provided email ([e-mail]) to contribute to the investigation.

Rich Hy's dedication exemplifies the impactful role that individual courage and community support can play in confronting and rectifying institutional shortcomings. This episode serves as both an informative and motivational segment for those committed to fostering safer educational environments.

Transcript

[Rich High]

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[Andy Stumpf]

Good morning everybody. Welcome back. Monday Standby for an interesting episode. My guest today is Rich Richard High. He is a Buffalo, New York SVU detective, very prolific on YouTube and Twitter I would say or X Angry Cops is the name you may recognize. Those are one is his channel, the other one is his username. Very recently he has become a whistleblower about the Buffalo School district trying to in my words not necessarily his mask and under report very significant incidents that are occurring inside of the school district. And this is a very timely episode because this is still unwinding. Of course when this first happened, instead of actually going after what could potentially be the problem, they went after Rich which is not a good move. They've picked somebody who's not going to back down now. It's been interesting and I've been thinking about this episode since we filmed it almost a week ago. And I just cannot think of a single reason why a school district would do everything they could to obfuscate the safety or issues that are happening inside of that district. I get it. You know people want in power, want to be in power. I don't think there's a lot of money involved in this, but it's really weird. And finally it seems that Buffalo is starting to take a look at this and what did they find? I'm starting to seeing this on YouTube. Nearly 20,000 incidents in the last five years some of which over 50% being reported as school other in that were two children who were dosed with very high dose THC gummies by one of their teachers. And how about potential abduction of two children school other was that was was what was reported in their system. Really weird stuff not being able to call 911 without calling an administrator. Rich get in gets into it but like I said super timely. This is still ongoing. He has some suggestions for people listening if they want to get involved and can help apply some pressure to pierce this veil of Secrecy. It seems to be. And I'll let you guys follow that. So 386 is going to be with Mr. High himself, Mr. Angry Cops. Even though he's very nice and delightful. Before that. Give me two minutes. Let's pay the bills. This episode is brought to you by Montana Knife Company. You guys have heard me talk about this. Founded by Josh Smith, the youngest master bladesmith ever, right? Nerd alert. Total overachiever. What a dick. And just down the road in Missoula. Or near Frenchtown. But most people have heard of Missoula as opposed to Frenchtown. But that's where their new headquarters is going to be. American made. An amazing warranty associated with these knives. These things will cut you down to the bone. Super sharp right out of the box. Please be careful with that. Really hard to get. Let's go over to their website right now and see what they have. Actually one of the things they do have I appreciate as many brands do apparel to go with their core competencies which in this case is knives. So they have that rotating banner up on top. Here's the knives in stock. And let me tell you right now you need to practice checking out. They do drops every Saturday and Thursday. If you're not on top of it, you're going to have stuff stolen out of your cart. The demand for these is high. Their production is going through the roof. But they can only satisfy so much. So right now they do have some knives that are in stock. And if you're on a video platform, you can see this. I'm to going going to click the view all which should probably take us beyond what's just in stock. And I mean you can just scroll down, go to the middle here so it doesn't highlight anything and you can see everything that they have to offer. It's wild. And then here, like I said before, there's blade wax, there are flannels, there's hats. If you want to support a really cool brand. Born and bred in Montana, a global brand bringing jobs back into Montana. I'm not going to necessarily say in the US because I think they're only hiring us people. But it's really cool to see what they're doing. They're an awesome brand. I'm super stoked to be involved. Somewhere in that checkout portal they're going to ask you how you got there. Do me a favor, say cleared hot or Andy Stumpf. Www.montanaknifecompany.com Best blades I've ever had my hands on. Back to the Show.

[Rich High]

Okay, I got the red smoke, north and south.

[Andy Stumpf]

West of the smoke, west of the smoke.

[Rich High]

Okay, copy, west of the smoke.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm looking at danger close now.

[Rich High]

Come on with it, baby. Give it to me. I mean it.

[Andy Stumpf]

You're cleared hot.

[Rich High]

Campaign cleared hot.

[Andy Stumpf]

You ready to do this? What are you writing over there?

[Rich High]

A dissertation? I am just taking notes.

[Andy Stumpf]

This is.

[Rich High]

Both of these people are autistic.

[Andy Stumpf]

And one, that's the generation I already.

[Rich High]

Knew Andy was my generation. I'm younger than you. I'm just bald. 37. How old are you? 28? 23, 25. Oh, God. You have not aged well.

[Andy Stumpf]

Thank you. He has. They call that lettuce going on up top there.

[Rich High]

Yeah, he's got the Riz.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, no, Riz is your. Like the game.

[Rich High]

Yeah, he looks like he's got a little bit of Riz.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, my God.

[Rich High]

He's got the. Look, kid. Look at those low cut Nikes. What.

[Andy Stumpf]

How many. How much time do we have on the SIM card? Because I'm going to talk to you about how he doesn't have any Rizz whatsoever.

[Rich High]

That's okay. I don't know. Why are we talking about me right now? I play the numbers game. I just go up to everybody and say hello, and then eventually somebody goes hello back. Statistically, you're gonna get something. That exactly what I used to do. Yeah. You look like this. You got to try everything. Joe Rogan's like less charismatic, more hideous younger brother. Taller, though, with less of a chin. Well, more of a chin, if you think about it. Yeah. Two. Yeah, Double the chin.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you have Rogan's cash, though?

[Rich High]

No, but I can lie like I do. Nobody ever has that cash on them. Nobody's got let's go buy a jet plane money right now. Like, you just go out.

[Andy Stumpf]

Let's say he got 200 million for his Spotify deal, which is a number I'm making up.

[Rich High]

I'm not sure that was more than that, but okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

How much of that do you. People who are that wealthy, what do you think they keep liquid? What would even make sense to keep liquid?

[Rich High]

Well, I think you'd keep a large portion of it liquid, right? But in like one of those high, like, escrow accounts, whatever. Whatever it's called.

[Andy Stumpf]

If you went to an at, like you go to B of A and you throw the check card in there, like for shits and gigs.

[Rich High]

If you've got 200 million, I would have like 5 million, 10 million in the. In the checking. Easy, easy. But why, though? Why?

[Andy Stumpf]

Because just in case you need to write a five million dollar check.

[Rich High]

Well, I think it's because you could do. This is gonna sound like, like the stupidest, no, don't have money kind of thing ever is you could use your debit card to charter private flight like that, and you want to worry about it.

[Andy Stumpf]

You could use your black Amex, obviously.

[Rich High]

Correct, that's true. But you would still need to pay it, right? You still have to have that checking go directly into bill pay. And then there you go, right?

[Andy Stumpf]

Checking to bill pay.

[Rich High]

Joe Rogan probably has an accountant, right? But he's also probably got, like, online banking. You know, he's got like, I don't know, bank of America account for, like, him and the kids for, like, their normal money account. And he's like, yeah, you know, I got to. I got to buy new Jiu Jitsu shit.

[Andy Stumpf]

How dope would that be, though? You just log into your B of A app just for shits and gigs.

[Rich High]

Just to see 100 million in there?

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't think you would put 100 million in there. Aren't banks only insured for like 2 FDIC?

[Rich High]

FDIC is only $100,000. But that doesn't mean that you can't make. If you have something that big, like a Bank of America or whatever, you could store it in there. That's what I'm saying. Like the money mutual accounts or like the. The high escrow accounts where you put like $20 million in, and then every year, like, the interest gets you like $200,000. So then you're living off of that. Like, that's the generational wealth trick.

[Andy Stumpf]

That's what I'm gonna do with 20 million, too.

[Rich High]

Yeah. Sweet. Can't wait till we both get there.

[Andy Stumpf]

Just a touch short.

[Rich High]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, since you're gonna be out of a job soon, I mean, you're gonna have to be. You're gonna have to be looking for. Well, I'm gonna bet you probably. I don't know what a police officer makes, so I can estimate, but I feel like you probably do better on your other platforms and your other things than you do on your copay.

[Rich High]

Slightly.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Not much, though. It's not that bad. Like, my. You can check my pay on, like, See Through New York because I'm a public, what you call it? A public servant. And I think I made like 140 last year. Is that about average for police officer, our start? Well, I'm a detective, so I get. I get a boost in pay for that. And then obviously you Know when your overtime is time and a half, that bump adds to it. But there are patrol officers that have made more than me because they're overtime. Oh, yeah. Killing on overtime. You got like somebody that's got 10 years on the streets as a PO and they're probably one of the most senior like officers on that wheel.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. There are some guys here.

[Rich High]

Are we talking right now? Is this going? Oh, yeah, we're just. Okay. Love it. We're just going.

[Andy Stumpf]

We're going.

[Rich High]

Oh, shit.

[Andy Stumpf]

I got some buddies in the Elio world and I hate that.

[Rich High]

Don't say that.

[Andy Stumpf]

What?

[Rich High]

Don't do that. That's like. That's like this.

[Andy Stumpf]

What's that? Three fingers.

[Rich High]

I hate.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, no, My point is, I was going to talk about their ability to trade shifts and play that overtime game and how.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm not talking about. Don't know about law enforcement. I was actually going to ask you.

[Rich High]

I can tell you have a lot of illegal things just laying around.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do I? Yeah, that's fine.

[Rich High]

First of all, that dick. Sorry, Please. Out.

[Andy Stumpf]

Just because Michael has it out of his pants. He's just resting, Michael.

[Rich High]

Oh, you. You're like, see it? If it was out, put it back in his sleeve. Uncircumcised. Weird for around here.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich High]

European.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. No, their ability to. I have two different examples. Not in the same person. One has the ability somehow to take months off at a time. I think he's just playing schedule roulette. And the other one is he has to carry probably multiple EpiPens around because he's allergic to not doing overtime. And that dude is raking.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Firefighters two.

[Rich High]

My Lord. Dude. Firefighters.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's like, don't talk about basepay. Let's talk about the ot.

[Rich High]

Let's not even talk about that. Let's talk about the side business. The best part time job in the world. Best full time job. Part time job as a firefighter. Yeah. Because half the time you're sitting on your ass just like waiting. So all they do is like go on the Internet and figure out a side business.

[Andy Stumpf]

You're going to get messages. But I support what you're saying.

[Rich High]

Whatever. They're entrepreneurs. There's nothing wrong with that. Oh, no. Firemen are successful.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, the sitting on your ass part.

[Rich High]

Why do you think they buy recliners and have beds?

[Andy Stumpf]

For recovery.

[Rich High]

Yeah, for sitting on your ass in.

[Andy Stumpf]

Between being first responders. I have been told that they secure the scene for the black and whites.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And then they go up there and do their job.

[Rich High]

You're right. You're right. You know what?

[Andy Stumpf]

I've only been told that by firefighters, though.

[Rich High]

What's that?

[Andy Stumpf]

I've only been told that by firefighters.

[Rich High]

Well, the next time you want to put out the rape, call a firefighter.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, that's an interesting way to think about it. How do you teach somebody how to be a detective? And I ask this because I have a buddy here, deputy, who just became a detective, and I honestly think that crime is gonna go up in the Valley because he's dumb. Struggles to put the dots together sometimes on really. Like, he's not what I would call overly observant.

[Rich High]

Dumb. I said dumb. I don't know why you're.

[Andy Stumpf]

He's not dumb. He's smart. I don't know if he pays attention.

[Rich High]

He's one of those. He's a good guy.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's like, do we need to dust for Prince? Nah, let's just open the door with an ungloved hand.

[Rich High]

Who dusts for Prince? Really?

[Andy Stumpf]

CSI does.

[Rich High]

Yeah. Great, Great. One of those, huh? You're just gonna. Right? Yeah. It's not csi. Why don't you do it?

[Andy Stumpf]

You guys dust for prints sometimes.

[Rich High]

No.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yes, you do.

[Rich High]

No, we don't. Ever ask me how many times I've dusted for prints. Zero.

[Andy Stumpf]

It wouldn't be you. It'd be a crime scene technician.

[Rich High]

No, in one of our districts there, we had a fingerprint dusting kit, but I was never taught how to do it, and I never did it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, how do they jump you from what you were doing before? Detective to being a detective?

[Rich High]

You take. For the Buffalo Police Department. You take a written exam, and then you take. It's kind of like this. It's a board where you're in front of either cameras or people, and you're given about eight different scenarios, six of which you have, like, 45 minutes in total to kind of jot down some bullet points of what you might do. And then. Interesting two are called hot calls, which is you walk into the room, you've got a minute to look at the scenario, and then you have to belch out whatever it is that you would do.

[Andy Stumpf]

And then. Is it just OJT training past that?

[Rich High]

We don't. We have a really good. We have a fantastic chief of detectives at the Buffalo Police Department who I admire and look up to even when I was a patrolman. No, I do. He's fantastic. And since he became the chief of detectives, the training has skyrocketed. And it used to be you just went into the office with a suit and tie the next day, and you figured it out. So if you weren't a good beat cop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you weren't a good beat cop that knew how to, like, go and do their own work or motivate themselves, then you were sitting on your ass eating donuts with your feet up, you know, Chilling.

[Andy Stumpf]

Nobody wants to hear that.

[Rich High]

Nobody wants to hear that now. We've gotten a lot better. And I'm trying to get the one guy that taught me interview techniques. He's an old MI5 guy. He's not old, but. Well, he's older, but he's. He was an MI5 guy, and he's still using his trade to question Russian war criminals in Ukraine. Really? And then he comes back to the States and teaches us.

[Andy Stumpf]

I actually think my buddy went through that. He was talking about an interview course that he was going through.

[Rich High]

Science based training or Science based sbi. Science based interview. I think that's what it's called.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm sure it has. It cascades downstream. I'm sure he.

[Rich High]

I think the guy that I have is the. Is. I'm pretty sure he's the owner, but I think he's the only guy that teaches it. So he, like, he just flies across the United States and just teaches different departments how their detectives can use interview skills, which I really like. It's been phenomenal.

[Andy Stumpf]

That I would say, is his one strength. He knows everybody, and I swear to God, he could talk to this table for three hours and elicit. He could just. Yeah, his mouth is. He can use it for a variety of things, but when he. When it just.

[Rich High]

So he's definitely getting promoted.

[Andy Stumpf]

He's. He's working his way up the ladder. It's disarming, though.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

He's the kind of guy. And I've watched him do it where somebody's all huffy and puffy and two minutes later they're totally fine. He's just like, hey, man, what's going on?

[Rich High]

I got a mountain of a man that does that. He's £400. He's like 6, 4, 6, 6. And he's. You'd be like, huh? But he comes in, he talks to everybody with, like, kid gloves. He's amazing.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you guys use the tripods?

[Rich High]

Excessive force?

[Andy Stumpf]

No, no, not that. The tripods with lasers. So you can figure out the angles that the bullets came through.

[Rich High]

Who do you hear this shit from? You watch too much tv.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't watch too much, but I've.

[Rich High]

Watched some dude we Just got body cams. I still am trained on the baton, not an asp. So when I was on patrol three years ago, I would stick my baton in my vest and I would go up to calls by myself. Cause I was just like, I was like, what's up? You know, I'm alone, I'm the OG on the wheel, and I'm not going to be messed with. So I'm just going to go to calls with my baton on me. Since I'm a one man car. And I would rap on doors and I would, you know, knock on car windows with it. You know, like an old. What you doing? Bring it up over there.

[Andy Stumpf]

Are you talking about wood baton?

[Rich High]

Yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

So the old Chicago clowning wood shampoo. Just a little.

[Rich High]

Oh, yes, wood shampoo. I used that term before. Yep. We got blessed with hickory. Jesus. Yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Okay, what's better, the baton or the asp? Which you prefer? Is your department even allowed to have an asp?

[Rich High]

Oh, yes. Everybody's trained on an, on an asp now. They're a good impact weapon. The next day, like, if I hit you with an ass, you'd be like, ah, fuck. You know, and then you'd keep wrestling with me until you woke up, like.

[Andy Stumpf]

You said, completely black and blue.

[Rich High]

And then the next day, yeah, it was a St. Patrick's Day brawl and we were wrestling with a dude who threw something. I think he threw a glass bottle at us. And we're, I'm wrestling with him on the ground, we're getting his hands behind his back and he's, he does not want to go. And my buddy is hitting him with the asp and he hits me in the calf. And I was like, oh. And then I like rap like, man, you got me in the calf. Like three hours later, I was like, oh my God, I'm injured.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Two weeks later, still sore. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

You feel heartbeat in your calf?

[Rich High]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I do like videos where there are multiple officers and a taser is involved while they're on the ground. And it's, it doesn't quite hit the subject.

[Rich High]

I.

[Andy Stumpf]

It gets their buddy and they're like, son of a bitch, Carl.

[Rich High]

You want to hear, you want to hear an embarrassing story?

[Andy Stumpf]

Of course.

[Rich High]

I. So I used, you know what a jump out boy is?

[Andy Stumpf]

A what?

[Rich High]

A jump out boy.

[Andy Stumpf]

A jump out boy. No.

[Rich High]

Okay, so a jump out boy is a guy that jumps out on people on the corners to like scare them. No, to arrest them.

[Andy Stumpf]

What the fuck are we talking about?

[Rich High]

So if you're in like a high Gang area. And there's like a corner store on the corner. And there's. You have intelligence or you've been working in the area long enough that you know who the players are. Then you'll pull up to the corner and you'll see them, like literally grab their waistband where the burner is, and then you'll jump out on them. Jump out of the car. Jump out, boys. All right, so we were jump out first.

[Andy Stumpf]

Relatively sexist, but okay, show me a jump out, Gale. I don't work in law enforcement. That's on you.

[Rich High]

That's. And. And that's why you said that. Not that women can't do the job. They absolutely can.

[Andy Stumpf]

They would just be lighter and less strong.

[Rich High]

Science is hard. But anywho, embarrassing story. I. We were on the housing projects and we knew that they were selling out of this one high rise. And so we pulled up to it with a couple troopers. And we didn't have tasers, but the troopers did. Troopers were attached to us as like a part of like a. Everybody get together, go after gangs, guns and drugs. And so we pull up, we see the hand to hand couple of the guys run after the dealer into the project house. And I've got dude on the bicycle that just got like an eight ball in his hand and I'm just like, game on. So I guide him off of his bicycle. Yeah. And he throws his dope gently. Of course. I'm a gentleman.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

And he throws his dope and we're like wrestling with him and he's, you know. You ever wrestle the crackhead?

[Andy Stumpf]

No.

[Rich High]

Well, crackheads are very strong.

[Andy Stumpf]

They can be because of the crack. I've heard that about pcp Is that though.

[Rich High]

I haven't done pcp, so I wouldn't know.

[Andy Stumpf]

Have you encountered anybody who's in the throes of PCP though?

[Rich High]

No, it's. It's like a DC and like weird different cities. It's like. It's like chickenpox. It pops up in places, but it's not.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's like urban legend. They turn into the Hulk. They say like they don't feel.

[Rich High]

Yeah, they rip off their clothes. They don't feel pain. Yeah, you'll get that with cracks sometimes. But it's not. It's not PCP strength, but this guy had some crack strength. He's strung out and so he was like tussling with us. And one of the troopers, like, we're trying to get handcuffs on him. We're trying to pin him against the wall, and he's just not going down. And one of the troopers is like, you know, I'm gonna tase you if you don't fucking stop. And I was just like, taser. I've never seen a taser actually in the wild. Let's do it. So what did I like? And I'm a fucking cop with, like, over eight years on at this point. And I'm just. And I just do the most rookie basic television shit ever. And I just take my hands off and I go, taser, Taser, Taser. And they're just like, what? Because they were ready for it. Nobody was ready for it. And they were like, oh, if somebody screams taser, they're doing the taser. So we all just let go. And then he ran, and then he ended up getting tased like, 20ft later. But it was still, you know, still a good time.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm surprised you could actually get that close to them in their neighborhoods. Oh, dude, I would feel like that they would know you're coming.

[Rich High]

No, no, there's. There's techniques. There's just ways to go around it. One of its speed.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, well. And two, they're probably selling to a variety of. I guess you could. You could kind of hide in plain sight because they're. They're selling to whoever is willing to buy, I'm assuming.

[Rich High]

Yep. Or you get a crack rental. You can, like, tow a guy's car because he doesn't have a license, and then you use that for the rest of the day until you turn it into the impound. But that's not what I've ever done. I've heard stories about it. I haven't done it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay, fair enough. Do you guys get DNA results back in inside of the same hour? Because that happens a lot.

[Rich High]

An hour? Well. Oh, yeah, 60 minutes. I forgot. No, it's actually 24. All right.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay, well, the shows are 44 minutes because they gotta sell soap in between.

[Rich High]

Dude, not 24. 24 is 24 hours.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's 24 hours, but each episode is only 44 minutes.

[Rich High]

It's an hour, but there's your life.

[Andy Stumpf]

Correct. 16. Yeah, 44.

[Rich High]

You know, before, in the middle of saving the world from, like, a nuclear explosion, they've got to make sure that we learn a little bit more about tide.

[Andy Stumpf]

Tide. Or do you have eczema all over your body? Colgate, take this medicine that will cause explosive diarrhea.

[Rich High]

Side effects may cause suicidal thoughts.

[Andy Stumpf]

How fucked up is it that we are one of two countries in the world that allows advertising from pharmaceuticals?

[Rich High]

What is the issue, who cares?

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't think the issue is I.

[Rich High]

Want to know if something's right for me. I want to ask my doctor and know who cares.

[Andy Stumpf]

But do you know anyone who has ever gone in after watching a show and said, I saw the butterfly flying across the screen, I would like to know about this exact medicine?

[Rich High]

No, but I haven't had any of those, like, weird things that they talk about.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't care about it either. I think the reason they do it, though, is influence. They purchased the vast majority of the advertising space on all tv.

[Rich High]

Okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

Which if you want to be conspiratorial about it, they could threaten to pull or move that left, right, forward, back if, I don't know, said network was going to report on something they didn't like. That's the theory.

[Rich High]

They could do that. I mean, you got your influence. But then that's a theory.

[Andy Stumpf]

I've heard it actually has nothing to do with sales and everything to do with owning that ad buy space. So they can basically tell the network what to do.

[Rich High]

So then you can own the network. And then basically that's why nobody ever shits on, like, medical companies unless it's like some sort of weird investigative journalist thing.

[Andy Stumpf]

I could see it because I just don't see enough people watching a commercial like, fuck, I did have undiagnosed eczema on my face. And I do need that pill. And they run to the doctor. I could see it where they just want to control that monetary chunk and everything that comes down. Strain of that.

[Rich High]

It just doesn't affect me. So I don't really care, which is kind of selfish, but I just. I have too much to worry about.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm just saying it's weird that United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world.

[Rich High]

So then why aren't we yelling at you like, what's wrong with New Zealand then? Is New Zealand okay, let's let them take you. Do they have eczema? You brought up New Zealand.

[Andy Stumpf]

Those are the only two countries in the world that allow it.

[Rich High]

Yeah, but now you're saying, leave them alone. Now I'm bringing them into question because.

[Andy Stumpf]

We have to fix our own shit.

[Rich High]

Who are your sponsors on this show?

[Andy Stumpf]

Element is one of them salt water? Do you want some salty water?

[Rich High]

No, I don't.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's electrolytes, too. And magnesium.

[Rich High]

Does it make your body good? It's got what the body needs. What's it called? Slurm. No, Slurp. Ah, shit. What's it? Something something. It's got the. It's got what the body needs. Electrolytes. The idiocracy.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, I don't know.

[Rich High]

It's the green energy liquid.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's electrolytes. I know the guy who started the company.

[Rich High]

What the body needs. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't do any drug stuff. I don't, I won't do ads for.

[Rich High]

Are you the only retired Navy SEAL that doesn't do ayahuasca or some sort of mushroom?

[Andy Stumpf]

Zero experience with psychedelics?

[Rich High]

Me too. I'm freaked out by that. I'm already high energy and I can talk myself off of a glyph. Cocaine, mushrooms, anything that makes my senses even more heightened. I don't want to do that.

[Andy Stumpf]

There is an aspect of. And I don't know if it's reasonable. I'm scared of it to a degree as well. But also I. I do know some people who have gone who have had life changing experiences.

[Rich High]

Yeah, the guys that have PTSD and they do that. Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

There were also a lot of other compounding issues that they went into that with. And I think that, that from my understanding of the way that it works and the best way I've heard it is it's like snow falling on a tracked out run. It gives you the opportunity to go a different direction instead of always the same way. So you can find different ways to get to the same ends. You know what I mean? Like it, it just, it helps you refresh like.

[Rich High]

Oh yeah, I've heard that it like makes you deal with your shit and you kind of like come out unburdened by what has been.

[Andy Stumpf]

When it lays down some new snow. And this is. These are descriptions like in your brain. If you're only going down the same course, it lays down some new snow and suddenly you realize you might have some options. You can change your behavior. I also know people it hasn't worked for. I just don't feel like I'm also a great candidate for it. I don't feel like I'm super fucked up.

[Rich High]

Normal therapy works for me.

[Andy Stumpf]

Same. And I've done a good amount of it.

[Rich High]

Same. I'm doing some right now. Yeah, I started a new stint.

[Andy Stumpf]

People shit talk therapy and I don't think they should.

[Rich High]

I've never heard it talked. I've heard it talked. When Back in the day.

[Andy Stumpf]

You can't say you've never heard it talked and then say in the next breath I've heard it talked back in the day.

[Rich High]

Once. I apologize. I've heard it should talk once. Thanks dad. Always A contrarian. No, I, like, I had a friend that got therapy when he was younger, like a teenager in like high school and that like followed him for some reason, like, oh, he went to therapy one time and blah, blah, and that followed him and he's just like, I'll never go to therapy again just because I don't want to deal with any sort of like stigma for going and I don't want it to follow me. And I don't know, that's the only bad experience that I've heard about it.

[Andy Stumpf]

But if you don't have a good match with who you're talking to. I get that.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

People also think that it's gonna be real quick and maybe the therapist is gonna do the work.

[Rich High]

No, you gotta do all the talking. You gotta, you talk, they guide you and then you just blab for 20 minutes and then you go like, yeah, I should do the thing that I just said. And they're like, yeah, here's some homework.

[Andy Stumpf]

Go be better.

[Rich High]

Yep, that's exactly it.

[Andy Stumpf]

I know it, but it works and it sucks. Yeah. The number of times where I'll be trying to explain how somebody or something else is up to a therapist and it just nets back with, oh, maybe I'm the here. Yeah. And the therapist is just doesn't say anything. Just like, just. Yeah. The whole time just listening.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Probably on the off screen because I was doing a bunch during COVID too, going through divorce. I probably just playing clash of clans or just like, yeah, that's good.

[Rich High]

Oh.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Beneficial. I, I am scared of psychedelics and I don't know why.

[Rich High]

Just I, I just don't want to deal with it.

[Andy Stumpf]

And I've had, I've said that before and people will say, well, have you ever drank? I'm like, yeah, I casually drank. I drank a lot when I was younger. They're like, it's. That's a mind altering substance as well.

[Rich High]

Oh yeah. The same thing as mushrooms. It's really making me see different colors and talk to God.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, you understand the concept alcohol makes.

[Rich High]

You yourself and then your ex and make bad decisions on the road. It doesn't.

[Andy Stumpf]

Not in that order.

[Rich High]

Well, sometimes in that order. I mean, which, which way is better?

[Andy Stumpf]

Neither.

[Rich High]

Which way's the worst.

[Andy Stumpf]

If you were going to go text.

[Rich High]

The ex, if you were going to.

[Andy Stumpf]

Go fuck your ex, you might as well go with a full diaper.

[Rich High]

I said text, but yeah, we can go there.

[Andy Stumpf]

You said fuck your ex.

[Rich High]

Yeah, you're right. I mean, well, no, because if you went over to your ex with the full diaper. It had to be after because you go there with a full diaper and be like, I gotta use the bathroom. And you shower up.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, no. You're ruining her day, too.

[Rich High]

What's that?

[Andy Stumpf]

Just ruin her day, too? It's a journey of discovery.

[Rich High]

Well, I think we've discovered something new about you.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm just. I don't know, I'm thinking X as in poop play.

[Rich High]

Never thought you were a guy for into that.

[Andy Stumpf]

I am not. Okay, we both have deeply German last names, and I've heard some things.

[Rich High]

So have I. It's in our blood.

[Andy Stumpf]

Some Scheissen videos.

[Rich High]

Yeah, it's in our ass. It's just in us.

[Andy Stumpf]

God, I've never watched one.

[Rich High]

I did. I was like, 12 and I downloaded one. And, like, it traumatized me.

[Andy Stumpf]

This is why I'm glad I didn't grow up with the Internet.

[Rich High]

Yeah, I did. So it was like I was like 12 and I saw it. I was like, oh, my God. And then like six years later, maybe less, two girls, one cup came out and people were like, oh, my God, have you seen this? And my friends would try to be like, did you see this? And they'd show it to me and I'd be like, I saw that four years ago. And worse. And worse, because it was with three girls.

[Andy Stumpf]

God.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I remember the first time I saw anything pornographic. It was on a VHS video.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

That one of my friends had found, I think, in his dad's sock drawer. Waited till he left. Grainy. Like, I think we had to wait for it to rewind.

[Rich High]

I mean, Rubbermaid containers, dude. It's like, I found the stash. Rubbermaid containers filled with them. But now it was like my own blockbuster. I would take one and, like, swap it out whenever I would go to this location. I'm not going to blow up where I got them from. Still. Still. Listen, I'm just like, some secrets need to remain. Some friends need to just, you know, nobody's parents need to know.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think the barriers to those things. I wish there were the fact that that shit's a click away now.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And it's in your pocket at all times. It was like a. It was like a Mission Impossible 8, full operation to get this guy. For any of us to see this.

[Rich High]

I don't know why, but everybody from my generation before all had the story of finding porn in the woods. Every. Like, I found porn in the woods. Everybody found porn in the woods.

[Andy Stumpf]

You sound like Playboys.

[Rich High]

Box of Playboys. I found him underneath a bridge one time. Like, somebody's just like, all right, here. Here we go. And they were old. Like, they've been around for a while. So I feel like the tradition of leaving porn outside for, like, the next generation of men to discover is, like, some sort of thing.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't think it was a tradition. I think just people are going off into the woods.

[Rich High]

Oh. And just doing that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Just recentering with themselves.

[Rich High]

That makes sense, too.

[Andy Stumpf]

Under a bridge. Controversial.

[Rich High]

I don't see why.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't. I guess.

[Rich High]

I mean, you shoot heroin underneath a bridge and you make a song about it.

[Andy Stumpf]

You do. What song is that?

[Rich High]

What? Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[Andy Stumpf]

Not. I can't understand a single fucking word those guys say.

[Rich High]

You're a bad person on the inside, and I hope that one day God will find you and have you turned around.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm not saying I don't like their music.

[Rich High]

You don't like the Peppers?

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't know what the fuck they're seeing.

[Rich High]

You don't need to know what they're saying. Nobody knew what Nirvana was saying.

[Andy Stumpf]

Not a huge fan of them either.

[Rich High]

You're weird. You're a strange bird.

[Andy Stumpf]

I like Creed and Linkin Park.

[Rich High]

Okay, you can do that. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine.

[Andy Stumpf]

Michael, first off, do you know who the Red Hot Chili Peppers are?

[Rich High]

Yeah, of course he does. They have their T shirts at Target.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you know a single verse to any of their songs?

[Rich High]

Under the bridge Downtown, that's where I spill my blood.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is that what the fuck he was saying?

[Rich High]

Yes, it's called under the Bridge. That's literally why I brought this up.

[Andy Stumpf]

I didn't know that. All right.

[Rich High]

I mean, it was a horrible way of. I can't sing like him, so that was my best.

[Andy Stumpf]

I would say you better. Truly, I struggle. I struggle.

[Rich High]

That's it. That's it. That sounds right there. Truly, you do struggle.

[Andy Stumpf]

Have you seen the videos on Instagram where people take Pearl Jam songs and they mix them to LinkedIn profiles?

[Rich High]

I do, however, enjoy making up my own words for. For that. For, like, Eddie Vedder, you know, just, you know, walking around the house.

[Andy Stumpf]

They'll do full songs, and all it is is it keeps showing snapshots of people's faces and your fucking brain connects them. And it sounds like he's saying their name.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah, the Facebook ones where they, like, take things. Yeah, the Facebook profiles. That are names. Yes. Or LinkedIn profiles are names. I know what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Pearl Jam. There's a lot of those and I'm here for it.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Because my mind makes it sound like he's just saying their names because I don't know what the fuck he's saying.

[Rich High]

Same thing with Hooting the blowfish.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I do know. Totally. All right. We're dating ourself. Do you remember your first interaction with the Internet?

[Rich High]

It was about the same time as, like, the unfortunate, like, porn that I saw.

[Andy Stumpf]

How old were you, though?

[Rich High]

Was that.

[Andy Stumpf]

How old were you?

[Rich High]

Around like, 10, 11, 12?

[Andy Stumpf]

I took a computer high school. A high school computer class. It was the first time I ever logged on. And I remember my parents got the dial up mode of at the house. It was a struggle because I wanted to play games and they wanted to talk to people. And in that world they were chat room folk. No, I was, like, doing a flight simulator that basically looked like a fucking blind person. Coated Legos and I don't know, I'm flying like an F117 Blackhawk.

[Rich High]

Yeah, but I thought you said your parents wanted to talk to people.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, on the telephone. Oh, I was trying to play online.

[Rich High]

And they would pick it up and they would jack up your game.

[Andy Stumpf]

It just fucked me up. Yeah, I'd be like, just flying a perfect mission probably into Desert Storm Oon. And fucking. Just get hung up, Bob.

[Rich High]

God dang it. Watch your mouth. You're talking to your mother. Andrew. You know? Yeah, yeah, I can picture it.

[Andy Stumpf]

People in this era don't understand those struggles.

[Rich High]

Do you know how hard it is to, like, download a YouTube video on dial up?

[Andy Stumpf]

Is it even possible?

[Rich High]

It happened. I used to do it. I think I did it. I could be conflating two different times and eras of Internet history.

[Andy Stumpf]

What year did YouTube come out, Michael?

[Rich High]

2007.

[Andy Stumpf]

Was it?

[Rich High]

I don't know. Let me look it up.

[Andy Stumpf]

Were there other major competitors? Was like, Vimeo one of their major competitors.

[Rich High]

Vimeo came in later on to be one of their major competitors. And that was because it had, like, really high def.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

So artists, like musical artists would use Vimeo to post their stuff so it'd be high quality. Okay. Before YouTube got like 4K.

[Andy Stumpf]

Interesting.

[Rich High]

05.

[Andy Stumpf]

2005.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah. Dial up, baby. Knew it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay.

[Rich High]

Boom. Suck it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I was doing dial up in 90, 96. It was what you think it is. How long do you think the Internet was around before Eldor invented it?

[Rich High]

What? No.

[Andy Stumpf]

The first naked picture was sent. How many minutes do you think the Internet existed before somebody's like, hold on, hold on. We need to test so they're. They're.

[Rich High]

So we. We got to break this down because this is going to get deep. This is going to get deep. What do we consider a naked. A naked picture, right? Is it zeros and ones and dashes that make boobies? Or is it, like an actual photograph?

[Andy Stumpf]

Not talking hieroglyphs? I am talking an actual picture that probably would have been.0005 megapixels that was.

[Rich High]

Uploaded that was, like, a photo that they printed on paper, scanned, and then put on there.

[Andy Stumpf]

Who do you think sent the first dick pic?

[Rich High]

Bill Clinton.

[Andy Stumpf]

You think so?

[Rich High]

100% Oval Office just sitting there getting head, and he's just like, hey, Al, remember how you made that thing? He could send information and photos right away. Check out this. It's my little Jeb Bush. And hey was a horrible Clinton, but I tried.

[Andy Stumpf]

I would. I would say it was.

[Rich High]

It was Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden snuck in.

[Andy Stumpf]

I would say it was him within one week of it being created.

[Rich High]

So there's gonna be.

[Andy Stumpf]

Humans are fucking savage creatures.

[Rich High]

Well, men are just retards. We just like boobs and butts, and plain women are pretty savage. Women weren't allowed in the workplace back then. Let's be real. We're taking this seriously. It's an invention. What else have women invented besides life? That's about it. How to churn butter real good in slow motion. That's about it. Sorry. This is sexual, and it's just a joke.

[Andy Stumpf]

Michael could look that up, but he's over there. Oh, yeah. Hold on.

[Rich High]

Well, was it Curie? Madame Curie came up with, like. Well, she didn't really invent radiation, but she discovered, like, some things about it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Point is, women consume porn, too.

[Rich High]

I think Rosa Parks discovered the front of the bus.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Yep, yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

Actually, I think they knew the front of the bus existed. She was the first one who was like, fuck this. I'm sitting up there because that's where the door is. So to get on and off, they had to walk through.

[Rich High]

I can't say that joke anyway.

[Andy Stumpf]

Keep it on the rails. You're gonna get fired after this episode for things you've already done. Not things you'll do during the episode.

[Rich High]

Oh, no. Everything I say here is whatever. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Now, what do you think? Like, legitimately, a month before, somebody was like, hey, check out that email attachment, dude.

[Rich High]

It's close. Because it's a bunch of dudes. Like, a bunch of bros are in an office, and they're like, look at what I did. Oh, my gosh. Look what you did? The second that they could. They discovered that they could transfer a photograph. I want to say, like, so the Internet was invented, right? And then the Internet's like. We can transfer photographs, I would say, within the first month. Easy, easy. First month. There is some sort of nudity, man. Maybe even, like, the first week, because somebody's gonna have, like, a Playboy and they're gonna be like, scanning it to their. Dude, check out Dolly Parton's tits. This is great.

[Andy Stumpf]

You know where women hide their porn.

[Rich High]

Addiction in the sexy smut books.

[Andy Stumpf]

Vampire novels.

[Rich High]

Vampire novels, Yeah. I grew up with, like, sisters. I didn't. I didn't have a brother. So, yeah, I saw those harlequin novels around.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, there's. My wife was on. She was on a kick. It was somehow a kick.

[Rich High]

I need my. I need the horse stable. She demands shirtless and sweaty throws, you.

[Andy Stumpf]

Know, the headset in. And she's just doing stuff like. What do you listen to? There's, of course, there's this genre of authors that go deep on that stuff. No pun intended.

[Rich High]

But, hey, I mean, some of them go shallow. Two or three pumps.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. It was like, Abe Lincoln was a vampire, but it wasn't. It wasn't. No, but it was like it was adjacent to that. He had vampires working for him and all throughout history and all this stuff. And I'm just asking her, like, how often, though, are these vampires just fucking their way through space and time? And she's like, yeah, a lot.

[Rich High]

I mean, if you could float, you know.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, it's like a little vampire stuff, like. And then written. Deep sex stuff. Vampire sex stuff. Like, you guys are just hiding this in a different medium.

[Rich High]

Does she ever make you dress up as a vampire? No, I don't.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't.

[Rich High]

Good for you.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, first off, what does a vampire wear?

[Rich High]

I think it's pretty stereotypical. Cape, cape, teeth.

[Andy Stumpf]

They can't fly.

[Rich High]

What's that?

[Andy Stumpf]

They can't fly.

[Rich High]

They always wear a cape. They got the big cowl around them and then. And that's Dracula, which is the king of vampires.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, I do more with the. What's the one with Kate wins? Kate Beckinsale, the vampire one where there's all underworld. Yeah, it was just all, like, pleather and.

[Rich High]

God, I loved Kate Beckinsale.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, that was actually a good. Well, they lost the plot towards the tail end of that. I was a big fan of the third one. I think they're. They've now completely splintered off and they're doing, like, craven, whatever, hunter type shit. It's spun off.

[Rich High]

Oh, well, yeah, but the first one was. Where it was at.

[Andy Stumpf]

The first one was underworld one. Yeah.

[Rich High]

Mint?

[Andy Stumpf]

No, I don't. I don't own any.

[Rich High]

Pete Davidson got with that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you really?

[Rich High]

Yeah. So sad. It just ruined it for me.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay.

[Rich High]

I mean, good for him, but why.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you have to judge like that? Why does it have to ruin it for you?

[Rich High]

What? Would you go sleep with a girl after she slept with skinny Steve Buscemi? I wouldn't. I'd be like, oh, you don't have any self respect. Bye.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, it's not really any of your business.

[Rich High]

Yeah, it is.

[Andy Stumpf]

How so?

[Rich High]

What.

[Andy Stumpf]

What if it occurred before she met you?

[Rich High]

Oh, well, yeah, like, whatever. I'd still be like, ugh, right? Like you're telling me right now. Have you told your wife, like, look at all the women that I slept with. She wouldn't go to, like, one or two porkers and go, oh, God, Andrew, why?

[Andy Stumpf]

She's the only person I've ever been with that's.

[Rich High]

Oh, wow. Mmm. Yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

Except for my first wife.

[Rich High]

Okay, sure. This is great. You know, you're supposed to be open and honest when you're interviewing somebody. And this is just making me build up a wall. Interview technique number one.

[Andy Stumpf]

I thought your job was, I'm just.

[Rich High]

Gonna keep looking at the camera when I want to talk to it. Like, a person's here. I'm having fun with this.

[Andy Stumpf]

You should. Your job is to break down the walls.

[Rich High]

Fourth wall break.

[Andy Stumpf]

What's the hardest interview subject that you've ever encountered? What do you mean most difficult? Like, just wouldn't give you. If they just don't fucking talk. Is that the hardest interview subject?

[Rich High]

Yeah, I had one the other day where I fucked up. If I was paying, I was paying attention. But I failed to act. And basically what it was is person got is being charged with sexual assault. And they came over to headquarters and I interviewed them, and right off the rip, their back was to, like, the door. They were in their own world. They were like, in completely, fuck off, I'm not doing anything mode. And I read them the rights and we started talking for, like, man, 30 seconds. I gave him, like, a little bit of a spiel, like, hey, you know, just, you know, blah, blah, tell me why you're here. And his first questions were about having an attorney present. And it wasn't, I want a lawyer here. But it was like, something of like, should I get a lawyer? And right then and there, I should have started to guide the conversation. Instead, I Let him guide it. And then it was like it was three questions in a row. And by the third or fourth question that he asked me, it was, I'm not going to say anything unless I have a lawyer present. And I was like, well, there you go. And hindsight's 20 20.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. What should you say in that situation if they say to you as an officer, should I have a lawyer here?

[Rich High]

Well, what I would do is I would start guiding the conversation in whatever direction that I thought would be that I could get a response. So instead of just saying and answering your question, like, yes, you should, or you can have whatever you want, I would say, and I'm just making this up hypothetical, like, well, there's a 14 year old girl that's bleeding in the hospital right now that's telling my friends exactly what you did to her. If you don't want to say you're sorry, that's fine and we can go to jail or you can tell me what happened and we can try to iron this out so you don't look like a monster. Would you like to tell me what happened? That could be an avenue of approach.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. Okay. Do you get a lot of people who sit down across the table from you and they think that they're just gonna whip your ass in an interview, like they're gonna give you nothing and that's fine?

[Rich High]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I've won. The only guy that's beaten me is the guy that shut up right away. And even then he only beat me because I didn't act.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

And I should have. And like, my training that I got from the guy, that's phenomenal, Wayne. I, I immediately when it was done, I was like, oh my God, I know what I should have done. You know exactly what I should have done.

[Andy Stumpf]

You recognize why?

[Rich High]

And so. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Why does anybody talk to a law enforcement officer without a lawyer present?

[Rich High]

Because they think they're smart. They, they, so the, they're not all, it's not all cut and dry. Right. There's a bunch of different reasons, but like, one of them, you could have like the arrogant person that thinks that they're smarter than me. And that's fun. A lot of people want to quiz you. Right. So they don't. You don't know what I have on you, so you're gonna stick around and like kind of bullshit my answers and you're gonna ask a lot of questions.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well. Cause you're fishing.

[Rich High]

Yeah, they're gonna fish and try and get information from me. There's also like this thing with. When it comes to pedophiles where they just want to talk, it's like saying yes. They want to say the quiet thing out loud. They want to own up to it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do they really?

[Rich High]

Some of them, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is that because they're hoping they get caught? Because they can't stop.

[Rich High]

I don't know what the psychological thing is. They definitely don't want to get caught so they can stop.

[Andy Stumpf]

Why would they say the quiet thing out loud?

[Rich High]

Because it's the only time that they can just open up and let it all out.

[Andy Stumpf]

But then they get caught.

[Rich High]

I don't know. Why do guys cheat on their wives? Then they get caught.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Sometimes it just feels good in the moment. Sometimes you're not really thinking. Sometimes you just want to do.

[Andy Stumpf]

I do appreciate how pedophiles are treated in jail and prison.

[Rich High]

Well, I just had. I had a guy solve a case for me.

[Andy Stumpf]

What do you mean?

[Rich High]

Oh, I mean exactly what I mean.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think I get where you're going with that.

[Rich High]

Yeah, he's not around anymore.

[Andy Stumpf]

I was thinking I used to offer my services just like an hour alone with him in a potato peeler and just like leave me alone, you know, Everybody says that, but it's not, it's not enough. You know what I want?

[Rich High]

It's like, then fucking do it. Go do it.

[Andy Stumpf]

I can't.

[Rich High]

Then don't talk about it.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm just saying I want.

[Rich High]

I'm the guy that's trapped in the room with these pieces of shit and I can't do that.

[Andy Stumpf]

That's a choice.

[Rich High]

You have a choice too. Go fucking on the Internet and have a guy and pretend to be a 12 year old girl and then have a guy meet up in the park. And then you're 30 meters away with a fucking 300 blackout and you're just like fap in the head. Gone.

[Andy Stumpf]

Then I'm in jail.

[Rich High]

How? You're a 300 blackout. You've got one casing on the ground. There's no crime scene.

[Andy Stumpf]

Obviously I would pick it up.

[Rich High]

What's that? Yeah, it does.

[Andy Stumpf]

Because my fucking fingerprints are on it.

[Rich High]

Are on.

[Andy Stumpf]

Dust the casing.

[Rich High]

Nobody dusts the casing. No, but nobody does it. We'll get DNA from it, but we won't dust it.

[Andy Stumpf]

I actually don't think the potato peeler is good enough. I was thinking about this recently. I wish we could assemble a task force.

[Rich High]

To develop a task force peeler?

[Andy Stumpf]

No, to develop a cancer that you could inject into somebody. That would be a horrific, horrific end. Non transmissible, but it would be guaranteed to be fatal. Take one to three years daily. Just the worst horrendous pain of your fucking life. And that's what you get.

[Rich High]

Sure.

[Andy Stumpf]

And then you only feed them carbohydrates because that's what cancer likes.

[Rich High]

Yeah, but carbs are good, man. So now you're just feeding pasta every day. That's happy.

[Andy Stumpf]

They're not gonna really wanna eat. Cause of the cancer. They're gonna be in pain. But that's all they have to choose for.

[Rich High]

I mean, that's an interesting thing. You could just do shit that exists now to them and you don't have to think up some sort of weird, fantastical thing.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's not weird. I just. It's one of the most unifying things. I don't care what side of the aisle you are like, fuck you for this, fuck you for that. Pedophiles, Everybody's like, you know what? We agree on that one.

[Rich High]

You say that, but I'm kind of in a pickle right now because it turns out there's a lot of people that are like, wow, they're not so.

[Andy Stumpf]

Bad that that actually blows my mind. Yeah, the minor attractive person crowd that wants to try to change it and normalize the even just the phraseology of what it is.

[Rich High]

I never run into one of those weird, but like, I don't know, you can kind of get the vibe. You look at them, they're wearing like a Mickey Mouse T shirt and you're like, you're potentially one of them. That's a red flag.

[Andy Stumpf]

What does it feel like to sit in a room with somebody who abuses kids like that?

[Rich High]

It's weird.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do they outwardly seem normal often? I mean, obviously it's broad.

[Rich High]

The majority of them are exactly what you think they are. Sad, pathetic, gross, overweight, greasy.

[Andy Stumpf]

What about the accomplished ones? I've heard again from another guy who worked more violent crimes. He was saying a lot of predators, they usually don't get caught until about maybe 10 to 12 times of victimizing somebody. And you know, there's people out there who are very accomplished predators. So I'm just curious, does it for the ones who are more accomplished, do they seem a little bit more normal? Ability to slide under the radar?

[Rich High]

Yeah. I'm dealing with one right now that goes after like 12 and 14 year olds. And he's very intelligent, he's very cautious, handsome guy, fairly normal. Those are. The normal crowd will go, how do I say this? The normal looking male predator will. And when I say normal, I Mean like an average looking dude will go after younger women, so. Or young girls. Like, you know, you're. I'll just cast a wide net. Just say like 8 to 16, right? It's. The ones that go after boys are like the standout, weird, gross, creepy dudes hanging around by the baseball field. You know, at high school, you're like, who is that guy? Yeah, that guy looks exactly like what he is.

[Andy Stumpf]

It makes your hair come up. Yeah.

[Rich High]

So for when it comes to like the assaults of younger women, more normal looking dudes than when it comes to the assaults of young men.

[Andy Stumpf]

How the fuck did you get into the line of work you're doing, though?

[Rich High]

Oh, I was. I was a jump out boy and I wanted. Were you being the cop or being a detective? And that's you.

[Andy Stumpf]

What were you doing before you were a cop?

[Rich High]

I was getting deployed. Well, I'm still in the. I'm in the reserves now as a drill sergeant, but I was attached to it. Well, I was in civil affairs.

[Andy Stumpf]

So where'd you get to that point where you wanted to jump from big green to the thin blue line?

[Rich High]

Oh, oh, the big green weenie to the thin blue line. Yeah, my. A couple of my buddies were cops. One of. I was getting. I was going to school to be an English teacher, and my one buddy was a math teacher in the same unit, and he took the civil service. Civil service? Yeah, civil service exam to be a cop. And he was like, well, if I don't like it, I'll just go back to being a teacher. And he loved it. And then he was like, hi, you're gonna really enjoy this. You should. You're gonna be an English teacher, but you should try this. If you don't like it, go back to teaching. I was like, okay. So I had one semester left. It was the spring semester, and I was gonna have to do student teaching. And I would have gotten my English education bachelor's degree for seventh through 12th grade. And I got picked up by BPD and it was like a mini deployment every day. It was phenomenal. I get my own car. I get body armor right out of the gate. I get a pistol. Well, you go to the academy and then you go do that and you.

[Andy Stumpf]

Have to have an fto, I'm assuming.

[Rich High]

Yeah, I had a really good fto. He was nuts. He's nuts like me. So he was just like, Richard Hood. He would talk like that too. What's up, Reece? Richard. You are a hunter of men, Richard.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yes.

[Rich High]

And I was just like, yes, I am a Hunter of men. That's what I do. He's like, it's in your blood. It's in my blood. And he was right. It was in my blood. I love chasing people.

[Andy Stumpf]

This was day one in the car. First day as fto.

[Rich High]

Now, first day as fto, I had a female FTO officer that was. She would answer. She was a blanket. She would cover calls so somebody would get dispatched a call, and then she would go to it. So I would back up a lot of people on their calls and kind of learn how things went. But we weren't really the, you know, hard charging, creating our own incidents. But Reisi was always about jumping out on people and knowing good PC. To stop, you know, somebody that's on the sidewalk or hunt down people with warrants was a huge thing. Go in the detective's office, look at the pile of warrants that they have, make photocopies of them, stick them in your thing. Where do they live? Where do they know to go? We'll no tape that, and we'll hit those different. Different areas of the city and we'll jump out on them.

[Andy Stumpf]

How long until you were solo in your own car? Very quick.

[Rich High]

City of Buffaloes. Like, once you're done with your field training, which is when you're done with the academy. So there's like two field trainings you're supposed to go through. One is the academy field training, which is, you know, you're not a cop yet, but you kind of are. You know, you're still in the academy and training. You haven't graduated yet, and you have to pass that in order to become a member of your department, whichever department it is. And then there's more field training that's supposed to go after that. But at that moment, you're considered manpower. So they're like, you're on the road. So literally. So the summer, I think it was like June or July, we were doing field training. August, September, I was in a car, I think, alone and on a midnight wheel that was all rookies. A midnight wheel that every single person was from my academy class. It had three months of doing some police work.

[Andy Stumpf]

That sounds equally amazing and terrifying.

[Rich High]

Oh, it's great. Yeah. I look back at it and, like, the only. Ah, shucks moment that I had is there was a house party where a guy tried to fight us, and we didn't go in the house and rip it apart. We, like, let him stay in the house. We're like, all right, cool. We don't wanna fight him. We weren't really sure. And then he went to talk to our lieutenant and he was just like. He tried to fight you? And we're like, yeah. His friends were holding him back. He took swings at us over his friend's shoulders from inside the house. He's like, guys, the next time that happens, you arrest that guy and anybody else that tries to fight you, you arrest those people. You don't let them try to fight you. That's not how this works. And I was like, oh, okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

Who is in charge of the rookies out there?

[Rich High]

A very good lieutenant who shall not be named.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's like the senior rookie alphabetically. He graduated the class first.

[Rich High]

No, we were all just kind of looking around at each other, the guys. So I was in the nicer part of town in South Buffalo, which is kind of like suburbia, ish part of the city. And so the guys that I look to for a little bit more guidance were guys that were in like the hood. And then they got forced down there because their FTO was done. So we had. They had to go where the. Your low man on the totem pole. You go where you're where you're sent. So I worked with, like I said, that one guy that was an old time jump out boy and he taught me so I wasn't like afraid to do much. And then my one buddy who eventually became my partner, he went to the east side where it was a little more rough and we had two separate cars, but we'd meet up and we were kind of like bouncing things off of one another. And we talked to the guys on the wheel, gals on the wheel, and be like, what'd you do today? There was always like a pow wow before and after of us getting together, asking questions. What did you do? I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to do this. Can we do that? I don't know. We had to look this up. And then we'd ask our lieutenant if we didn't have an answer. We were the first group of people hired from that exam. So, you know, everybody that took the exam that got hired, like it was like a 92 or a 93 percentile. And up. And so we were all fairly intelligent. You would ask good questions, could problem solve. We still needed experience, you know, that was to come. But for, you know, what happened afterwards, you know, we were pretty good.

[Andy Stumpf]

Fuck. How long did it take you to feel like you had your feet underneath you?

[Rich High]

Five years, five, six years?

[Andy Stumpf]

Sounds about right in most careers.

[Rich High]

Yeah. Like if you put Me with somebody. Like, I had a really good partner when I started doing the jump out boy stuff and I could rely on him. Like if, if he said him, there was no question I would just go get that guy. Like, I would just go get him because I knew that he had saw something and that it was the PC was already there to make the stop, to affect, to detain the person. And so that took time from, you know, him just saying, go get him and me unquestionably just going and grabbing him and then getting him back and then us, you know, having that back and forth. What did you see? I saw this and met this level of articulating it. Yeah. So then. But after like at like five years, that's when I was comfortable with it. There were still some moments just like every cop has where you're like, shit, what do we do here? And you problem solve. But at five years, I was a very well rounded police officer.

[Andy Stumpf]

When did you transition over to being a detective?

[Rich High]

Two years ago.

[Andy Stumpf]

And then was there a job in between that? Because I know you worked essentially, I know you're an SVU detective now. Did you work ICAC before that or is that peripheral to the job you do now?

[Rich High]

What's icac?

[Andy Stumpf]

Internet Crimes Against Children.

[Rich High]

No, never did that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. That's a good thing. Those people work in a fucking world I can't even fathom. I just had a guy on recently. So they have to listen with the video off, then watch with the audio off to all the shit that they're going like child pornography.

[Rich High]

So that seeing the two at the same time is less horrific.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't know.

[Rich High]

That seems like a psychological trick that might just work. I'll tell you what though.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't want to speak for the guy.

[Rich High]

I heard a gang rape one time. I wasn't ready for it and I heard the sound of it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

And it was. I wasn't prepared if some would have been like, hey, we're going to play this real quick. And then I would have been like, oh, are you okay? Cool. Mentally prepared.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

But I was just typing away on my computer in the office and it was just like. And I just stopped and I got chills and I was like, I've. I know what that is. Oh my God, I know what that is. And it fucked me up for about a week.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. I don't want to speak for the guy, but he, he transferred out of that unit. He was doing some work with a counselor as well.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Got some advice. I don't know how Anybody does it for a long period of time, the shit that they're exposed to is unfucking believable.

[Rich High]

I pass off the porn to hsi. So if there's porn in it, I'm like, hsi give it to the Feds. Really? For two reasons. One, they usually run with it. They'll take it for the most part. And two, they have. They're more strict when it comes to prison time. New York State, statewide. This is just statewide in general. All different states, like, 5, 10 years for possession of it, you know, and they'll get like two years person, seven years probation. Feds are like 15 to 25. Time in the cell, period. That's it. Which one do you want? You want to go to trial and get 25 or you want to take the plea to 15? Which one is it? So I love giving it to hsi.

[Andy Stumpf]

That makes sense. I'm a fan of that. So you went from the street to the detective job?

[Rich High]

No, I was all over. Oh, man. I've hit. I've been in every district and every task force in my department, and then the academy, and then I got detective. I jumped around a lot.

[Andy Stumpf]

Which one was your favorite so far?

[Rich High]

Well, I really like being a detective.

[Andy Stumpf]

Stripping that one aside, if we took away.

[Rich High]

If we took away detective, my time in Jump Hop Away squads, the. It was a gang, guns and drugs unit, and then I transferred over because that one went away. Because it was just a task force that was. It had an expiration date, you know, and then there was a housing element, and so we were both kind of like sister units. We would always ride with one another. And then once that task force went away, I jumped over to the housing unit and just played in the projects.

[Andy Stumpf]

I really feel like you guys could find a better name than Jump Out Boy.

[Rich High]

You jump out of a car real fast.

[Andy Stumpf]

There'S just. It's not great.

[Rich High]

Pig. I mean, everybody calls us that. 5o.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's just like a C minus for that particular Jump Out Boy.

[Rich High]

It's great. You're just not a part of it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Correct.

[Rich High]

All right, frogman. You got flippers. Real cool.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm not a frogman.

[Rich High]

You don't ribbit. I thought you were. Weren't you a seal?

[Andy Stumpf]

Long time ago.

[Rich High]

Yeah. So, yeah. Frog guy. She got, like, frog tattoos. Nope. What's that? That looks like water.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's not water at all. This is actually a three quarter sleeve that is covering up my frog tattoos.

[Rich High]

Oh, look at you. Yeah. Has anybody said thank you for your service today?

[Andy Stumpf]

No.

[Rich High]

Good.

[Andy Stumpf]

No. That nerds a lot of people out.

[Rich High]

What's that?

[Andy Stumpf]

Being thanked for their service.

[Rich High]

Just suck it up. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. That's all you have to say?

[Andy Stumpf]

That's all I ever say, too. You're very welcome. 98 of it was kind of awesome. 2% of it was a real dong sucker.

[Rich High]

I really had a good time. I really enjoyed my. My tours.

[Andy Stumpf]

I did, too. I didn't like the bureaucracy.

[Rich High]

You were active. I was reserved. So once the tours were over, it was just a whole bunch of part timers being like, yeah, all right, get ready for the next one. Here's the training we're gonna do. Or not. Because it's stupid.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. I don't know anything about the reserves and the guard. You guys calculate retirement time in really weird ways.

[Rich High]

Yeah, I really don't know anything about it either. I just hope that the system works, which is a mistake, but whatever.

[Andy Stumpf]

That is a mistake for sure.

[Rich High]

I know my years are good. I know that I got enough time in each reserve year.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

That. That qualifies me for a good year under the pension system. But I'm just going to stay in because it's fun. I really don't do it for the money.

[Andy Stumpf]

What are you going to do after you get fired from being a cop?

[Rich High]

Well, I won't. Because when I'm amazing.

[Andy Stumpf]

No. I feel like it's right around the corner.

[Rich High]

Are you sure? I think people that stick up for, like, kids getting fired is really a bad look.

[Andy Stumpf]

I was shocked that the route was taken, that it was.

[Rich High]

I don't even know what that means. It was so vague. I don't know what you're talking about.

[Andy Stumpf]

That people wouldn't inherently side with protection of children.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah. They wanted to go. Yeah. The news went after me first, which was something I was prepared for, but not expecting the amount at how they were, like, trying to force the story away from, you know, the kids and the. The abuse and the underreporting and how they wanted to focus on me and my controversial career as a, you know, a YouTuber. Ooh. Because that's what makes a bad cop. Somebody making funny videos on the Internet.

[Andy Stumpf]

In your off time.

[Rich High]

In my off time? Yeah. How dare I?

[Andy Stumpf]

So, I mean, we might as well. What the fuck happened?

[Rich High]

You're okay. I'll give you a quick rundown for everybody that doesn't know. So I became a detective in SVU about two years ago. I spent some time away from it and came back. I got promoted to lieutenant, and then I was like, I want to be. I want to be. I want to get my hands dirty. So I went back to being a dick.

[Andy Stumpf]

What do SVU detectives focus on that other detectives don't?

[Rich High]

So we do crimes against children. Sexual and physical abuse. Again. Well, so, you know, sexual assaults, and then we also do domestic violence.

[Andy Stumpf]

So a little bit of a specialty inside of the.

[Rich High]

Yeah, it's a specialty. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. Okay.

[Rich High]

So been doing that on and off for the past two years. And even two years ago, when I got in, there was an issue with the schools. Schools, like, not reporting stuff or intentionally misreporting it. So then you couldn't find it. You know, like, it would be a sexual assault, but they would label it as, like, miscellaneous, which just means, like, a run of the mill, no real name for it.

[Andy Stumpf]

When you say they, who in the school is doing that labeling?

[Rich High]

Depends on who's there. It could be an administrator, could be a principal, it could be a teacher.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. Do Buffalo schools have SROs, School Resource Officers.

[Rich High]

Yes.

[Andy Stumpf]

Are they involved in that process in any way?

[Rich High]

The schools will have them come in and do reports.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay.

[Rich High]

But oftentimes it's the school telling the resource officer what to write down, just like it would be in any other 911 call. Okay, you call 911. I show up. You tell me what happens. I write it down.

[Andy Stumpf]

So how did it hit your radar that it was being underreported or things were being reported as something they weren't?

[Rich High]

I was finding cases like that, so I was.

[Andy Stumpf]

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[Rich High]

We were having. We've been having issues with them for so long that we would start looking we say we like the SVU unit would start looking at calls that came out at the address of the schools to try and see, like, what were some of the recent calls. And then we would find them that say, like, information only. And. Which is like, you, you know, threw some dirt on your neighbor's lawn, and he didn't like it, and you guys have an issue with one another, so you call the police. We notate it. And then if anything escalates, there's a history of it. Information only. No criminal actions. So we would find that, and it would be in the narrative. We would see, you know, child sexually abused by a couple of their friends, you know, in an.

[Andy Stumpf]

Information only.

[Rich High]

Yep. I have one of those cases. Like, right now, I have one of those cases.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm not even a cop. That's ridiculous.

[Rich High]

Yeah. It's kind of intentionally hiding sexual assault.

[Andy Stumpf]

Let's take the information and the information only and fucking translate that over to what it is. Which is a crime.

[Rich High]

Yep. Or the potential crime. Like, what's. Some of these things. Are kids, like, in really bad situations or they're embarrassed or their children. They haven't thought things through.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

So you'll investigate it. And sometimes it is criminal, and sometimes it's just not okay. Sometimes it's consensual, Sometimes it didn't happen. It's whatever. But that's my job. I investigate it. I'm supposed to. That's what I'm here for. So if I don't know about it, I can't. So they would do that. And I have one of those cases, and that's not anything new. And another case that I have is an individual who worked at a school, failed to report the physical abuse of a child twice. And then the third time, this kid came into school black and blue. And then the child was. There was an emergency removal from that parent's custody. But, like, that could have been prevented.

[Andy Stumpf]

Are teachers mandatory reporters?

[Rich High]

Yep. In New York state, they are.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. How much of this did you see before it got to the point where. Because online, you're being described as a whistleblower.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

How much of it did you have to see before you decided to come forward with it?

[Rich High]

Two years worth.

[Andy Stumpf]

What was your tipping point?

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah, the tipping point. So we, you know, you kind of hear about it when you're a PO or if you go there to, like, when you're a patrol officer. And if you go to the schools or, like, you. You hear from your PO Buddies, you're like, I had a call at the school, and they didn't want to tell me shit. Or they were really a Pain in the ass. They didn't want to give me anything and blah, blah, like how am I supposed to do my job? How am I supposed to protect these kids, right, if they don't give me anything? And this is an ongoing thing and there were some complaints that went forward from myself, from other people up the chain of command. And the straw that broke the camel's back was. Is a case that's now in the news. And that was a guy had broken into a school, was attached to our science museum, and he abducted, attempted to abduct two children. But that's not how the call came out or how the investigation went. The investigation went. Guy breaks into school, tries to abduct one child. There's no video of it. They arrest the guy and now it's like, okay, cool, let's try to figure out what went on during that process. And he's already charged. He got arrested for trying to abduct that one kid during the process. The assistant district attorney's office has somebody from the school say, hey, there was video. They deleted it, but I recorded it on the side somehow. I don't know how. Here's the video of the attempted abduction. The assistant district attorney finds out that there's a second child that was attempted, that was nearly abducted in this attempt.

[Andy Stumpf]

Was this guy just fucking grabbing whatever.

[Rich High]

He could, just grabbing two kids?

[Andy Stumpf]

Jesus.

[Rich High]

So the district, the assistant district attorney didn't know anything about that. Right. This is the first time that this has come to light because they didn't have any video because the schools didn't say there was a second child, even though there was.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is there even remotely a plausible explanation as to why they would delete that video? No, other than like, why would they do that? Other than self preservation?

[Rich High]

Because it's an ongoing case. I have an idea.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

It has to do with what happened, the in betweens in there. It's not illegal or anything shady like that. I have an idea. I just can't tell it to you in this recording.

[Andy Stumpf]

Gotcha.

[Rich High]

So anywho, they, the ADA like sees that there's a second victim and then in the middle of this, like not trial, but like prep, because the arrest is already made. You've already got the information, you've already done the investigation, so you thought she has to call up the, the kid's parents and be like, hey, you know, your kid was almost abducted the other day with the other student. And they're like, no, we didn't know anything about that. School didn't tell us anything about that not even the school told us that we were waiting for you to call us. School didn't tell us anything about that. Your kid goes to school, almost gets abducted, you're not notified. As the parent, we would have a problem. No shit. So I had enough. So that was it. I got really, really mad, and I was going to go on my buddy's podcast, like, a couple days later or a week later. And the point of it wasn't to whistleblow and bring all this up. The point of it was to go on the podcast, have a good time, be with my boys in Texas, and have some drinks and tell funny stories.

[Andy Stumpf]

Just the unsubscribe.

[Rich High]

Yeah, Just unsubscribe. Yeah. So. But, like, for five days beforehand, I was like, man, I was up at night and I was, like, really nervous and anxious and, like, I'm going to. I got to do this. Like, I've already. What more can you do? What more can I do? I've already done all the things. I've already talked to as many people as I can. Like, I'm stuck. And I was like, there's. It needs to change now. Like, this fuck it. Just literally. Which has been, like, a saying in my entire military and police career that has got me in some really good predicaments. You know, fuck it. Just. Just do it. Just do the right thing. Just fuck it. So I did. So I went on the podcast, and then they did the podcast, and we were about to do the after show, and I was trying to find the right time to put it into the podcast without taking a fun, jovial podcast and then taking it down a very dark corner.

[Andy Stumpf]

The metaphorical needle scratch on the record.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah. So we're about to do the, like, the day after show for their Patreon, and I was in. They're friends of mine. We've been friends for years. And I was like, hey, is it cool if I talk about something? And then I did.

[Andy Stumpf]

How rapidly did it catch fire?

[Rich High]

Well, dude, I went home and I was like, I feel good. Okay, man, that felt really good to get that off my chest. Like, I feel like I've done all I can do now. It's out of my hands. I've done everything I can do. Then I got anxious again because I was like, oh, fuck, when's it gonna come out?

[Andy Stumpf]

And so you did it on the Patreon behind the paywall?

[Rich High]

No, no, no. We just recorded it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

And it was supposed to be a segment for Patreon.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

You know, the after show. Yeah, but they were like, eli, specifically Eli Double Tap. He was like, this is. This needs to be its own thing.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

And we're not gonna make money off this. And the only way that we can get it to as many people is if we allow ads on YouTube. So let me edit this, and I'll send it to you, and I'll let you know. You know, tell me what you think. And I was like, nope, I don't want anything to do with it. I go, this. I go. What I said was what I said, and I can't alter it. I don't want to touch it. I want my hands off of it. So then nobody can point and say.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, it's clean, right? Yeah.

[Rich High]

So you told me it was gonna come out on a Wednesday. And I'm just like, sweet, it's coming out tomorrow. Then they weren't ready for it, so we're gonna put it out Thursday. And I'm like, all right. It's coming out tomorrow. It was coming out tomorrow. Man, I was fucked up. And.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, what did you think was gonna happen?

[Rich High]

I knew it was gonna light some fires. I knew that somebody was gonna get mad. I knew the schools were gonna get defensive. I knew the schools were probably gonna be like, he's a liar. Or. Well, I don't know if they'd say liar, but I knew that they would try to, you know, put up the walls. And I knew the local media was gonna try and twist it in some form or fashion to be, like, controversial, you know, Officer Detective, you know, Rich High, who's been suspended for his social media and all this shit. I'm like, I know it's gonna happen. I just didn't know how much. So I was waiting for it. I was at work when it came out. I got the email. It was like, Friday. Or the text message. It was Friday. I think it was Friday. And Eli was like, it's live. That's like, two. And I'm at work. I mean, I'm, you know, typing up shit before I, you know, do some other stuff and fly out to Boston to find missing children using, like, cyber cybercrime technology and bullshit. And. And then. And then it had, like, 300,000 views by midnight. So on live at two, 3,000 views at midnight. I was like, oh, people are listening. Yeah, yeah. And sharing. Like, this is good. Let's see what happens. And then Monday and Tuesday were fucking miserable because it was exactly what I thought was gonna happen in the negative side, plus some. You know, it was, like, way more. Look at the look at the messenger than look at the message.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. The ad hominem attack, going after the person.

[Rich High]

Yep. And so. Which really surprised me, considering. And this is what surprised me. Right. It was talking about my suspensions, talking about the investigations by my department in the Attorney General's office of New York State, and not about the specific cases that I brought up and who I was, like, that would know about these cases. You know, I'm not just some dude off the street. That finger blasted my butthole onto Channel 7 News. Right.

[Andy Stumpf]

That'd be an odd story.

[Rich High]

It would be an odd story, like, local hero finger, you know, on Onlyfans, you know? So it was very strange to, like, to live that moment. So we were. I say we. The guys rallied around me, the unsubbed guys. You know, Cody used to own an operator. Nick the Fat electrician, Eli Double Tap, Brandon Herrera, the AK guy, and the crew that surrounds them, too. They're just like, we're fucking. We're going in. Like, you're doing the right thing. We got you 100%. We're going in. This is strong, and you're doing the right thing, and we're gonna support you. And so after Tuesday or like, after Monday, when all the bullshit started, like, we started going ham, just middle fingers to the news, to the Buffalo Public Schools that said that what I said was untruths and. Yeah, started fucking firing back.

[Andy Stumpf]

How's it been from your department? What's their response been?

[Rich High]

No response is good response.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is it?

[Rich High]

Mm.

[Andy Stumpf]

Damn.

[Rich High]

I'm always used if I'm not suspended. What does that mean?

[Andy Stumpf]

They're working on the suspension?

[Rich High]

They're working on it because it hasn't happened yet, you know, Means that maybe they're doing an investigation, which is totally fine.

[Andy Stumpf]

Does the. What does your department think about your YouTube stuff? Do they give a shit as long as it's separate.

[Rich High]

It used to be an issue. We had an old. An old commissioner that, like, thought, like, Facebook was a fad, and he tried to get me fired. Actually, there. I'm the reason why we have a social media policy. It's nicknamed the Rich High Rule.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

And I was raked across the cold. There was no forgiveness. It was, hey, we don't have a social media policy. We can't tell you what not to do. But, like, what you're doing could be bad and bring bad light on the department. I was like, sweet, people know this story, actually. So I got brought in the office, and I wasn't scolded. I was just told, hey, we don't have a social media policy. But we, you know, you gotta be careful what you're doing because it could bring negative light on the department. And I asked the head of internal affairs and the deputy commissioner at the time who was there, because it was a commissioner's conference with everybody there, and I was like, what do you want me to do or not do? That won't get me in trouble. Like that is okay. And three times I asked it, and I wish I did it while it was in the recording, because I would love to have that recording. They were like, we don't have a social media policy. We can't tell you what not to do. And I'm like, sweet, just. Just talk to me like a man. Tell me what you don't like about what I'm doing so then I can pull back. Well, they didn't. They just made a social media policy, and then I interpreted it incorrectly, and I got suspended for 22 days unpaid, like that, which is like, in the world of Buffalo police, the first time you get in trouble for something, it's usually a smack on the wrist. They don't do that. Right. I didn't really get in trouble for the social media policy because we didn't have one. So the first time I get in trouble, it's 20 days plus suspended without pay. And everybody was like, what the fuck is going on? And then that continued with that commissioner. But after that commissioner, it's been. I've been left alone for the most part.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's interesting. They always leave out in the conversations that say, hey, you could bring bad light to the department. You also could bring a really incredible humanizing light to the apartment as well. Like, sure, the wrong person with a camera in front of them. Stand by may not be the best message. But somebody. I mean, your occupation is one that needs more humanization because people just like, oh, it's cops and cops and all this, and they're all the same. Like, my experience is completely different.

[Rich High]

Right.

[Andy Stumpf]

They're just people.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think there's more potential upside. Well, if it's the right person, there's more potential upside than downside. Okay, so your department's been quiet.

[Rich High]

My union said positive things. They put out a statement supporting me.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. I had a really interesting experience with a school district in San Diego that is not in line with the severity of things that you're talking about. But it makes me. I almost felt like the school district was very scared of the teachers union. I couldn't figure.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah. So teachers unions are Strong.

[Andy Stumpf]

So. And this is. I'll give you. I mean, again, this is nothing in comparison to probably the stuff that you're seeing. My son, my middle son, just say it's in San Diego, leave abroad. He. My ex wife and I notice that he is for the course of a week asking us, hey, do you want a massage? I'm like, what the are you talking.

[Rich High]

I already know where this is going. Okay. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And I'm like, no, I don't. I mean, what I didn't say was like, you're like eight and your massages was gonna suck anyway.

[Rich High]

So it's like, I don't know, those tiny little baby fingers. I know, reminds you of those deploy Thailand. I know what you're doing.

[Andy Stumpf]

So I'm like, but, you know, I didn't catch the first time he made the comment.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And then like the second or the third one. But eventually I remember talking with my ex, like, why the fuck does he keep asking us that? Then we hear through the rumor mill of parents that his teacher had been removed from the classroom for a few days, but that they had completed an investigation and she was going back into the classroom at this point. I remember going, what the fuck are you talking about? So down to the school. Let's have a little chat. Well, this teacher would sit there and read to the students, and she would pay them in classroom dollars. One child on each calf, one child on each thigh, one child on each shoulder, massaging her while she read. And the class bucks was like the currency of her classroom. They could buy stuff, you know what I mean? Like school supplies and all of bit. And the school district was like, you know, we did an investigation. We're good. So I started calling the local news.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And started doing some interviews. And it ended up at a school board meeting where I don't know how the news got invited, but they were there. It's hard to say. And. And I get up, and behind me is the principal and the principal's assistant with their laptop out, notating everything that I said. When I went up to the podium and I remember the school board, each person had five minutes. Yeah, I was not done at the five minute mark.

[Rich High]

Oh, okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

And this guy, you know, interrupted me and said, hey, just so you know, you're out of time. And I looked over and I don't remember exactly what I said, but it was along the lines of, if you think that anything on that fucking clock is more important than kids being taught how to be, you know, basically prostituted out in a classroom, then we have a bigger issue here. So that kind of shut that up. I finished like two minutes later. He could have just left me alone. Eventually. So she got pulled out of the classroom again and eventually got moved to another school district and then eventually was fired. And I could still never figure out where the fuck that power dynamic was between the school board and the teachers union and the principal. Because everybody was walking on eggshells.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And I don't know what the fuck was going on there because it was really clear. And then they talked to other teachers and yeah, it was weird. You know, in the external facing windows, you know, she would put a bunch of stuff up there so it was a little bit harder to see inside of the classroom. And other teachers were aware of it and never said a goddamn thing. Like, you're just gonna sit there and have, like, children rubbing you and massaging you and you're paying them like, what the fuck? Never reported. They tried to just put her back in the classroom without telling any of the parents. Like, I don't. I don't get it.

[Rich High]

I don't get it either.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't understand. I feel like as an adult, it is your job to take care of children.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Not take care of somebody because they're a part of a fucking union. And you're worried about a potential lawsuit because she got fired years later, years later after being bounced around.

[Rich High]

It's gonna say. It's gonna sound like a. Like I'm shoving it off. It's bad leadership. Right. But this is what the bad leadership does. Right? Bad leadership is this. It causes this. It's where the good teachers that see something don't want to say anything because what happens? They say something. The investigation's looked at by the school. Nothing really happens. Manic on the wrist. They're moved to a different school. Now everybody knows that you told. Nobody wants to be a snitch. Nobody wants. You know. And what happens if the investigation finds nothing? Whether there was something that happened or not? Right now you look like a bad egg. Now the administration's coming after you. Hey, why did you say this? Blah, blah, blah. Why did you call 911 here? This isn't a 911 call. Want to hear a new story that I just found out the other day? Got an email from.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, that's a rhetorical question.

[Rich High]

Preschool class. So four year olds, teachers putting them in the bathroom for timeout, turns off the lights.

[Andy Stumpf]

What?

[Rich High]

Puts their foot against the door so they can't get out. Removed from the preschool classroom, allowed to Teach in the school, just not for pre K anymore. Still in the same school. See those kids next year, I guess.

[Andy Stumpf]

How are they protected like that?

[Rich High]

I don't know.

[Andy Stumpf]

Like, I'm not an anti union person, you know, but I'm.

[Rich High]

I need my union, you know, any people come after cops all the time. We have to like stick together and like the amount of frivolous lawsuits from guys in jail that become jailhouse lawyers that sue me or the city or the department for an arrest because they've got nothing to do but time to kill. Yes, I 100% stand by police needing a union. Yes, 100%. Especially when like the city or maybe the administration changes and you get somebody that's so anti cop that they'll string somebody up or the DA or the AG's office that'll just start going after cops because they want to. So like I get it, I understand union you want to get taken care of. You want your work to matter. But at some point the teachers union, I'm just gonna say it has gotten so ridiculously strong that nobody will just stand up and say, hey, this guy's a piece of shit. Can we just get rid of him in this investigation? And one and done it like, I know we've gotta stand up for everybody, but if he obviously broke a rule, can we just go?

[Andy Stumpf]

I feel like in every organization, like it a bit of SEAL team, we all wear the same.

[Rich High]

Oh, were you a seal?

[Andy Stumpf]

Long time ago.

[Rich High]

Where's your book?

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't, I don't have a book.

[Rich High]

Oh, you're not a real seal.

[Andy Stumpf]

Correct. It comes out next year. Don't worry about it.

[Rich High]

Nice.

[Andy Stumpf]

Everybody wears the like dress whites inspection. Right? 200 people up there. People, they take, actually they take a picture, you know, for the commanding officer so he can take it with him and all that.

[Rich High]

You guys get the cool black bars over your eyes, like sunglasses or do they put them in after?

[Andy Stumpf]

No, we just probably put them on the Internet.

[Rich High]

Okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

Externally, somebody would look at that and be. They would be in awe. What a fantastic group of people. Internally, inside of those 200 people, everybody knows who the fucking weeds are.

[Rich High]

Oh yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And I find it almost impossible that the teachers unions don't know that as well. The problem comes when you don't do anything about the weeds. And the SEAL community is not great about it either. They'll eject people from time to time, but they at least in my time in were a fan of kicking the old can down the road as well. He's not working out great at team five. You know, let's let him just show for a bit. He'll pick up. The rotation cycle with team three doesn't fucking solve the problem. I can't fathom putting a student in a bathroom, closing the door and putting your foot on it. I can't.

[Rich High]

Lights out. Yeah. And you're a 4 year old and you're in the dark and you can't get out. That's not gonna fuck up your brain at all. We should keep that person around to teach kids.

[Andy Stumpf]

I just, I can't fathom why they would. And I also again, it falls back to. I don't feel like it's possible. I guess it's possible. I don't think it's probable that that union or the other teachers around that person didn't catch shades or a flavor that that type of shit was happening.

[Rich High]

Well, the investigation happened. There was an investigation.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

She was able to stay at the school, continue teaching. Just couldn't go in that classroom anymore.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Just see the kids in the hallways now.

[Rich High]

Now what are the. Now what are the people that made the complaint think? Oh sweet. So nothing happens. Why complain? Why get the spotlight on me? Nothing's going to change. I've got people that are like, we can't call 91 1. These are school like teachers, counselors, et cetera. They're not allowed to call 911 unless they call a school administrator first.

[Andy Stumpf]

What would be the logical reason to have that in place?

[Rich High]

To hide 911 calls to make it seem like the school doesn't get 911 calls as much. Which honestly I could give a.

[Andy Stumpf]

There's. But is that an optic thing? So the parents think that school is safer? Like yeah, it's play that one out. Like, I mean who's been bullshit optics.

[Rich High]

That's all that it is. It's. Oh, this number's less. So this school looks better. Which means nothing. You don't get paid more. You don't get paid less.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

If anything, if there's a massive issue at your school, you're probably going to get a lot more money from New York state to solve the issue.

[Andy Stumpf]

How widespread do you think it is?

[Rich High]

Oh, it's more than. Dude, I've gotten. We set up an email account. It's take the high road but highest spelt hy like my last name. I didn't think of it. The Internet did. We ran with it. Takethehigh [e-mail]. and that's for, that's for. Just for parents, students, teachers of The Buffalo Public Schools that might have had an issue or think that the Buffalo Public Schools mishandled something.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

That aside, just that going about Buffalo, I've received the on sub guys have received dozens and dozens of emails of people from across the nation. Ohio, Florida, where else? Texas, some other states that are like, we're having the same thing here. The pol. The police will go to a call in the school and the school will give them nothing. Or the school will intentionally Mislabel, misrepresent, not call 911 for something. So then it looks like the school is. Has less 911 calls. Like. Like I'm. What? I watch a bunch of different podcasts here and there about things that interest me. And what. We talked about this when we were walking up here. Like one of the ongoing, like, kind of topics is like, you know, human trafficking and kids being taken advantage of, you know, and trafficked and, you know, what do we do about it? And is it growing? And where is it?

[Andy Stumpf]

It's.

[Rich High]

It's here, it's there. It's all. It's everywhere. This is everywhere. There is. I mean, I don't. It's not. I don't want to say every school district, because that's impossible.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

But there are so many school districts or individual schools that are doing exactly what the Buffalo public school system is doing that I've had dozens and dozens of people email me about their specific problems, which mirror exactly what's going on in my town. But in theirs, what do you think.

[Andy Stumpf]

It would take to change that?

[Rich High]

Oh, heads rolling. So in a perfect. I'll give you my answer. In a perfect world, what I would like to see for my problem in the city of Buffalo at the Buffalo Public Schools, in a perfect world is I would like to see the FBI, the AG's office, US attorneys are kind of. Unless it's a slam dunk, they don't touch anything. I swear to God, it's so frustrating working with them. So really, the agause they care about.

[Andy Stumpf]

Their records so much. Wins and losses.

[Rich High]

Yeah. It's ridiculous. And like, they're just so difficult to work with. And it's not like we dot our I's and cross our T's. It's like, no. Like you've gotta have so much overwhelming evidence that it gets in the way of the investigation. And it's almost like you throw up your hands and say, what? What are we gonna. What more do you want? What more do you possibly want for this warrant? So anyway, in a perfect world, I would like The FBI or the AG's office to take over specifically. I really, really like the FBI to look into it. Why? Good question, Andy. Let me answer that for you. Because we've had. It's. There's so many departments already a part of this. You got the Buffalo Police Department, the AG's office, and potentially New York State Bar. Right? The lawyers. Because the lawyers for the school are definitely a part of this. Period. Full stop. They are a part of this. So how are you gonna get. You gotta get one single head in order to investigate those three different entities, right? And the highest. Right, you've got the DA's office, that's the highest law enforcement group. Elected official is the district attorney in the county. So you've gotta have somebody above the highest elected county official. Law enforcement. In law enforcement. So that's either the AG's office or you go federal and go with the FBI. Now, I love the FBI because when they would look at it, they have so many things available at their fingertips, also with funding, and then they can take that information and say, hey, remember how under the Obama administration, we went after every cop for everything that they did? And they were all about use of force. This administration, we're about the border and we're about protecting schools. So what we're gonna do is we're really gonna focus on some of these issues that are going to schools where they're not reporting abuse of children or intentionally being obstructionists to police investigations. I would love that. That is my dream goal.

[Andy Stumpf]

What do you think it would take to get that to happen?

[Rich High]

This, literally, this jumping on every fucking podcast that I can. Having every person tag, the FBI, the AG's office, not shutting up until it's. Till somebody. Somebody says, hey, we're looking into it. That's all I want. The second somebody says, I'm looking into it would be great. They don't even have to contact me. I mean, I've got a ton of fucking information. You want to start with somebody, I'm your guy. But you don't have to talk to me at all. Fuck me. I'm not. I'm not the guy. The schools, let's get care. Let's take care of the kids, let's investigate the schools. Whoever wants to start that, please do. I got nothing to hide. I got cases I can give you. You want a place to start, I gotcha.

[Andy Stumpf]

What's the worst case you've heard of that was brushed under the rug? The abduction one's pretty fucking gnarly.

[Rich High]

I can't talk about it because it's probably gonna lead to another investigation.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay.

[Rich High]

The abduction one is probably one of the worst. Yeah. The other one I can't talk about yet because I don't, I don't want to take something that is, that I haven't validated and then put it out there. I don't want to, I don't want to take anything away from what's going on right now. So I'm not going to put anything out there that I can't verify. Even though I've got a lot of, a lot of people telling me the same story, which is a clue, some would say. I just, I need something more.

[Andy Stumpf]

In the emails you're getting from parents and their own experiences, what are they describing when they do try to elevate it? Is it just a wall of shit they can't get past? I had unreceptive people are not willing to even look at it.

[Rich High]

Yeah. It's them getting threatened with their job. Don't talk to the police, you're gonna lose your job.

[Andy Stumpf]

Really?

[Rich High]

Oh yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Are you talking about from a teacher's perspective or the parents?

[Rich High]

I'm talking about from people that are employed by the school. Go against the administration, call 911 when you're not supposed to. You'll be moved elsewhere or we'll remove your position.

[Andy Stumpf]

But the emails you're getting that are from the parents that are parroting the experiences or similar in the experiences when they try to escalate it, is there just nobody willing to listen?

[Rich High]

So that's the thing, right. Unless you're motivated after you don't hear from the police for him a little while, what do you do?

[Andy Stumpf]

Follow up? No, a lot of people don't, I honestly think. And again, the situation with my son was very minor. It seems like in comparison they would have put her back in that classroom and hoped that nobody had ever fucking heard a thing.

[Rich High]

Oh yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

It wasn't until other parents and then the next thing you know, at the school board meeting there's a bunch of parents because it's not like the school sent out this message.

[Rich High]

All the parents talked.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh yeah, the parents talked through their own non structured, you know, room intelligence.

[Rich High]

It doesn't have to be. You're all kids are all going to the same school. You're supposed to talk to one another.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. And so then the crowd, the, the number of parents that kept showing up at these things was bigger and bigger and bigger. But I think they would have just put it right back in the classroom. I mean they tried To.

[Rich High]

So one of the issues that I'm not sure if you dealt with, but I feel like is going on here is we talked a little bit about it earlier is, like, the intentionally mislabeling things or not reporting things from the school.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Let's say you trust the school, Right. You probably did. You know, until.

[Andy Stumpf]

Until that point.

[Rich High]

Until that point, if you go as a parent and you say, hey, school, this happened with my kids. She's talking about this. Have you heard about this? And they're like, oh, yeah, we're gonna get a police report done on it. We're gonna look into it. Oh, God, thanks. Right. They never get back to you. Now what? Now what?

[Andy Stumpf]

Depends on the parents.

[Rich High]

Right? Or you trust the school. Like, oh, they looked into it. I don't. It didn't really. Susie was fine. She didn't really do it. It wasn't that big of a deal. Just something that she told us. Whatever.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, I would at least follow up once.

[Rich High]

Well, you're a good parent.

[Andy Stumpf]

Be like, hey, well, I mean, I just dropped my kids off at school. I'm already there. Might as well go fucking ruin somebody's day.

[Rich High]

How many. How many people drop off their kids and just go, all right, cool. Beat it. And then pick their kids up and they're just happy that they're jumping back in the car and that they're not running away?

[Andy Stumpf]

Probably more than I would care to admit.

[Rich High]

A lot. Yeah, a lot.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. God. Like I was saying on the walk over here, man, I mean, maybe I'm a victim of. You seek out particular types of conversations, and you. You get kind of immersed in that type of information, you know, like I was telling you, I've talked with same. Same type of groups. Human trafficking organizations.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And the large emphasis of that recently, or I guess leading up to the modern era was focusing on young women. It seems like the stats are changing now. Young men are getting targeted as much. A lot of it on gaming consoles, getting, you know, off platforming them and that type of stuff.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Then there's the tradition of sexual human trafficking or even just workers, you know, and then, you know, the Epstein shit is completely in the news still. And I just. It's tough to keep hearing about victims that have no justice for lack. It's fucking exhausting.

[Rich High]

Welcome to my world. Yeah. That's why I did what I did. I jumped. Like, I'm literally looking at cases where kids are getting abducted, attempted abductions, and the school's like, we'll only tell you about one and I'm like, fuck this.

[Andy Stumpf]

How can human being. How could anybody make that decision? Like, I don't understand that.

[Rich High]

Who deletes to video? Who says, I'm gonna delete the video of the entire incident happening to. To. For what?

[Andy Stumpf]

That should be uploaded to the cloud somewhere automatically. So people can't do that shit.

[Rich High]

Well, I'm really hoping that, like I said, the FBI gets involved, so then there's some sort of forensics that's done.

[Andy Stumpf]

I would love to put somebody, like, in a hot seat. Like, why did you. Why the fuck did you delete that video?

[Rich High]

Right.

[Andy Stumpf]

Give me a logical explanation as to how that was the right call. A necessary judgment call.

[Rich High]

So one of the school board people went on, got interviewed by one of the local news people, like, yesterday or today, and they're upset with me because I. Their standpoint is that, well, why didn't I go to the DA or the Buffalo police or file some sort of report or get something done? Why would I go on a podcast and talk about this? Because it did all that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Because I did as much as I could do for the appropriate channels. And even the appropriate channels were like, they're fucking over the da. They're not. They're not even answering. Summons is for the da and the DA is above the city of Buffalo. Like I said, the DA is the highest elected law enforcement official in the county.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Like, if they're not listening to the DA the fuck am I gonna do as a Buffalo cop or the city of Buffalo Police Department? So you gotta try and figure out, well, how do we do this?

[Andy Stumpf]

When do you go back to work?

[Rich High]

I'm taking the next week off. I need a. Dude, I need a fucking break.

[Andy Stumpf]

Pussy.

[Rich High]

Yeah, I know. So I'm taking. I'm taking this right now.

[Andy Stumpf]

Somebody's got a cardboard box at your desk just like that guy. Just stuffing things in there, bro.

[Rich High]

I'm. I'm sure I'm getting all the shittiest missing persons files that are like, you know, the. This. Yeah, the. Like the kid that ran away like 18 times in the past two months. Yeah, I'm sure I'm getting those files. But no, next week it'll be. It's not this week, but next week I'll be back. I'll be back in the office. I've got a. I gotta get a warrant signed for a pedo.

[Andy Stumpf]

Man, I feel like you're in a little bit of a David and Goliath situation.

[Rich High]

Yeah, but David won.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't know. That book was written a Long time ago.

[Rich High]

You gotta fact check the Bible.

[Andy Stumpf]

It would be impossible to do so. I mean, I wish there was more people out there like you than people who would be willing to delete security footage.

[Rich High]

I wish there were people like me in the news so they could just go, jeez, this guy's fucking right.

[Andy Stumpf]

Why would the news take the angle that they did? That's another thing I don't understand.

[Rich High]

I think sensationalism. Like, I've been the bad boy of Buffalo PD for like, eight years, so they go, all because of your YouTube shit. Yeah, well, in my internal affairs investigations, they focus on like three internal affairs investigations. One's where I got in a fight with a 17 year old off duty because he was dealing drugs with his friends outside my friend's house. And I said I had enough of it and he ended up swinging on me. And we got in a fistfight. And then they went fucking nuts. There's like, their group. And then they ended up getting tased and arrested. Well, so did I. Like three days later, they're like, hey, we're gonna put charges on you. I'm like, for what? Like, well, the drug dealer says that you hit him. And I'm like, the fucking drug dealer says I hit him? No shit, I did. He's a drug dealer. Well, since then he's been arrested like a dozen times for, like, breaking in people's cars and bullshit. So that's one. That's one thing I like bringing up. The other one is I got in a car accident. Guy took off on me, got in a car accident, trying to effect an arrest. Happens.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

The other one is, it was a juvenile. He was a part of a armed robbery. And I was Johnny on the spot for that armed robbery. And I ended up grabbing a couple people, including. And I got the gun. They tossed the gun, we got it, and I ran back to one of our patrol cars because they were still around it. And I was like, come here, fat boy. Because that was the physical description that I got from the person that was robbed.

[Andy Stumpf]

Given. Given the audience, depending on what they look like, it could be very telling.

[Rich High]

Yes. So he was the fat guy in the white shirt. And so I said, could be a fat boy. And so that's. They didn't like that. I called him a fat boy.

[Andy Stumpf]

You had an internal affairs investigation for that?

[Rich High]

I had the Attorney General's office investigate me for that. Now, out of all those investigations now, and here's the thing that I want to put out there, for the amount of times I have been Investigated. I should be investigated for every single one of them. If somebody makes a complaint against a cop, it should be investigated. I'm 100% okay with that. That's the way it should be.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

What they don't say is, they go. They don't say, oh, yeah, by the way, he was cleared from the department and by the AG's office, totally fine. Gets to keep his job. Not an issue. We just wish you wouldn't swear and call people fat anymore.

[Andy Stumpf]

What term would they have preferred you used?

[Rich High]

When I got. When I went to Internal Affairs, I used every other adjective that I absolutely could. I said obese youth. I said chunky young man. I said, like, hefty child.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I like that game.

[Rich High]

Yeah. I started using every adjective that I could.

[Andy Stumpf]

Fuck, man.

[Rich High]

So that. Yeah. So they. They try to turn it into, I'm the big bad guy. That's so controversial. And I don't know when, like, my city's a fucking blue collar town, man. Like, if you do something stupid at a bar, you get punched in the face. Cool act, right? That's why Buffalo doesn't have, like, a lot of these big problems that normal cities have. We still smack people around in the streets like neighbors do, you know? Andy, you did something.

[Andy Stumpf]

Tidying up the block.

[Rich High]

Tidying up the block. Just taking care of themselves. Hey, this is our neighborhood. What are you doing over here? You're acting stupid. Don't do that no more. And then they go, oh, well, if I'm gonna act stupid, I'm gonna go somewhere else. But if I stay here, I'm gonna not act stupid. And for some reason, getting in a fistfight with a drug dealer or a crazy guy that was flashing his dick and hitting people's skateboards is, like, an issue to the news.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, the news I would want to hear is that guy got rolled up and you know, sent away for whatever. Like, get that guy off of the streets.

[Rich High]

Oh, my gosh. It's like, that sounds. That sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? To, like, have the guy that's acting like an asshole get put in his place and then learns not to do that anymore so other people don't have to deal with this bullshit. I don't want my city to turn into New York City. I don't want crime all over the street and people pissing and shitting and, you know, molesting people on the subway. I want my neighbors to go pop a weird guy in the mouth because he's looking through their window and he's like, Yeah, I think that's totally fine. I think it's okay to beat up your local drug dealer. I think that's okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

This might be the part where they were worried about your YouTube Persona.

[Rich High]

Yeah, well, I mean, I can't do it. I can't do it. I have to use restraint. I'm a police officer. Well, I was when I was, you know, on the road. Now I'm a detective. But, like, I'm still held to a higher Standard with Article 35, use of deadly force and then use of physical force and the appropriate levels that New York State has. I think it's four or five. I forget which. I have to use restraint even when I'm off duty, because guess what happens when I'm off duty. Buffalo police officer does this.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Now you're a cop 24 7, whether or not you want to be.

[Rich High]

Yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

Same with firefighters, too. It's. You don't get to take the badge off. What do you think it's going to be like when you go back to work? Well, people kind of. I mean, is. Seems like it's almost nebulous at this point. Like, people are aware, but nobody really knows what's going on.

[Rich High]

I think that there's the amount of. The amount of support from people working on the job that have sent me, like, phone calls or, you know, text messages, et cetera, has been awesome. Yeah, awesome. I. And I'm not getting in everybody's business, so I feel like it's gonna be okay. You know, I. I've got a lot of. I mean, this has got a lot of attention.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

So I would understand if, like, for the next, like, week or so, people are like, rich, are you wired up? Are you okay? Are you gonna talk about my case? And I'm gonna be like, what did you say? Yeah. And I have. And I'm gonna have to reassure everybody. No, I did this on my own. I'm sorry you got involved in it. It was something I had to do. I'm not gonna talk about your case unless you wanna tell me about your case, and then I'll do it, and I'll take the heat, which I will absolutely do. Which I've had other officers be like, you should check out this call number. And I'm like, okay, cool.

[Andy Stumpf]

At some point, it'll get to a place where it can't be ignored.

[Rich High]

It's there already. It's there. Dude. We've got shit coming out from these emails that we've got.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

And we have an interview coming up. I can't talk. I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to pull that rabbit out the hat yet. But Nick the fat electrician has. Has gotten a hold of some people that want to do an interview.

[Andy Stumpf]

I was gonna say that might be the next move. Especially if it gets like it's out there.

[Rich High]

Yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

People are paying attention. If it lulls and it doesn't go anywhere, which I would imagine is what the school district probably wants.

[Rich High]

Yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is for it to go away.

[Rich High]

It ain't.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, I was gonna say it might be time to start opening the floodgates up a little bit of all of the other things that have come forward.

[Rich High]

So. And you're right. This first week, it's only been a week. This first week was first. We know. Put it out there. That was the weekend. Three days of it's out. Let people absorb it. Two days of defense just straight up, oh, you're coming after Rich for this defense. And now it's all offense. And it's. And in that offense is information gathering. Here's where you can email us. Here's a website you can go to. We want to know about this for our city, the city only. Here's some of the information that we would use or that we could use in order to help us. Dates, locations, the names of the people involved and what happened, obviously.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah. The move. It is interesting to see now how you can go outside the traditional means of media and do a podcast in Texas that all of a sudden a lot of people are paying attention to. And you can, you know, it takes away that whatever channel 7 news or whatever it is in Buffalo, they don't want to do the story. Well, when their fucking inbox is flooded with people who don't even live in this state but are just hammering the shit out of media. Like, why aren't you doing your job? Yeah, why aren't you covering this? I don't think they ever planned for that in their strategy.

[Rich High]

Nope, no, they did not, dude.

[Andy Stumpf]

And they can't be as nimble as you and I sitting down and just recording a conference. They just can't do it.

[Rich High]

I did a sit down with them. So Friday it came out. I think Friday I might have went and sit down and did an interview with Channel 7. And it was like, I told them, I go, I've never had an issue with you, Channel 7. You've actually been quite nice, fairly level headed when it comes to a whole bunch of different, you know, stories that you put out, including, you Know the buff beliefs, whether we're right or wrong. Very even keeled. I will do an interview with you. And I go, but I'm gonna bring my camera and I'm gonna record the whole thing. They're like, that's fine. I was like, all right, 27 minutes, 22 minutes of a recording. They only used like five, four minutes of it.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm surprised he's that much, to be honest.

[Rich High]

And I'm sitting here and it's. I'm like, why wouldn't you just take the entire interview and put it on YouTube? Like, yeah, you've got your five minute spiel of whatever's going on, you know, in the news. You gotta quickly get to the different things, you know, Bob with sports and Jenny with the weather. I get it. Why wouldn't you just take that and put it up on your YouTube channel that's got 10,000 followers and gets like 200 views a video? Why not just go, hey, by the way, here's the full, unedited version of what we did with this guy, in.

[Andy Stumpf]

Case you're interested in the subject matter. Do you have school age children? Did you ever have school age children? What were their experience? Because you understand YouTube better than they do, right?

[Rich High]

And some of them were insulted. Like the. This poor guy, Ed, God, he. He fucked up. He's actually like. He's in Channel 7. I like him. I think he's a good reporter. And he fucking stepped in it, dude. He opens up in the morning with his morning talk show that gets, like, live streamed onto Facebook. And he, like, looks at the questions and the comments from the people that are watching the live stream on Facebook so he can connect with the people from the city. Brilliant idea. You're literally having a conversation with the people that you're reporting to about your city. Great idea. Right? The first thing that he does when he talks about the story is how literally absolutely foul the podcast is because we burp and we have white claws in front of us. And that second one, and he's. And I know. And he's like, like, why would you go on a podcast and talk about it? Why would you. Why would you go on a podcast? Because I've got 37 minutes of me straight explaining myself. Not two minutes cut up to whatever you want to make it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

And it's got. It's got. It's got, like, I think 1.5 million views right now. Something like that. It's got more views than your entire network gets in a month. In six days. One episode. Yeah. So that's why I went on there. Maybe instead of shitting on it, you're already kind of there with, you know, using Facebook as like a way to communicate and connect. Why wouldn't you go, oh, I get it. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And the route you took is global too.

[Rich High]

That's true.

[Andy Stumpf]

You know that what they're doing. I, I think he's trying to definitely target the people that, where he lives. And I agree. It's a great strategy. It's basically doing a YouTube live. Dude, they can't, they can't adapt to the model.

[Rich High]

We're too fast.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, well. And it's grown. Honestly, a lot of people, and this is anecdotal, but I hear people talking about this often. The law, the lack or loss of faith in traditional media sources. Not that all podcasts should be taken.

[Rich High]

Right.

[Andy Stumpf]

Any podcast should be taken face value. Everything they say is the truth. Because I say some dumb sometimes.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah, so do I. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

So, you know, everything I say should be taken with a grain. But I'm also not, you know, purporting to be giving the news or subject matter expert.

[Rich High]

I'm like, hey, this is me bullshitting about some stuff. We're trying to figure something out. Yeah, yeah, let's talk about it. And then if you, if you're not sure about it or you go, that sounds off. Or I want to learn more. That sounds interesting. You can go and do that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, No, I don't know. I don't know how traditional media recovers.

[Rich High]

They won't, they'll try to figure some way to finagle into YouTube, but YouTube's bigger than them. YouTube's gonna tell them to kick rocks.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, that would be interesting because then I think the linchpin there would be.

[Rich High]

The ads, the ad dollars and like sensationalism. Right. Like, how are you gonna get. It's gonna be. You need, you need normal journalism because you need people to make an income by going out and getting to the stories. Right. You can't have every person be an independent YouTube journalist that can sing and do whatever they want. Right. There has to be some sort of check and balance and they have to be honest and there has to be an editor over them to be like, we can't say that. That looks kind of dumb. You know? You know, there's between, you know, uber racist and Alex Jones.

[Andy Stumpf]

You've gotta like, yeah, let's not do a week long expose into how the earth is flat.

[Rich High]

Right. We know it's flat. Maybe the people that believe it are interesting. Oh, I said we know it's flat. See, there we go. Dumb thing. We know. It's a globe. Sorry.

[Andy Stumpf]

I was gonna say, do you wanna go undercover at one of those conventions? Cause I kind of do.

[Rich High]

Yeah. I think we need to make, like, a hat that is also like a diorama. That way we can wear the hat and have the things go around us.

[Andy Stumpf]

God. I think for them, if you don't.

[Rich High]

Have a diorama of the earth being flat, like, do you even believe? Yeah. I would immediately think that you're just some sort of plant.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you even globe, bro?

[Rich High]

Do you even globe, bro? We don't globe around here.

[Andy Stumpf]

I feel like it's just a community of people that found each other. Maybe they were a little bit socially awkward. Whatever it is. Maybe there's some really smart people. I think it's more about the community than the belief that the fucking earth is flat.

[Rich High]

Yeah, I think it's that too. If I were to put my thumb on it, I think it would be something like. They found a group of people that enjoy making conspiracies and having fun and what if ing things that mean nothing to anybody else but themselves.

[Andy Stumpf]

Some conspiracies are fun.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Did Epstein kill himself?

[Rich High]

Somebody did.

[Andy Stumpf]

But was it him?

[Rich High]

Who cares? I want to know.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's a conspiracy.

[Rich High]

I don't care. He's dead. It doesn't matter who did it. It just we. I want to know what's going on behind the suicide.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you think we'll ever. Do you think anybody's ever going to get arrested?

[Rich High]

No, that is.

[Andy Stumpf]

That goes right back to the victim thing, man. Like, I am so tired of victims not being protected.

[Rich High]

I just goes back to our conversation. I mean, blackout from a couple hundred meters away.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, but then that person ends up in jail. You know, a cop would be right.

[Rich High]

It's so easy to get away with murder.

[Andy Stumpf]

Not when your fingerprints are on the casing there and the garage. You just pick it up.

[Rich High]

You pick it up.

[Andy Stumpf]

Then there's a second set, and then they'll dust it twice.

[Rich High]

You just. I'm not gonna tell you how to get away with murder, but it is not hard. I can't lick that. Detective goes on Andy Stump's podcast, tells everybody how to get away with murder.

[Andy Stumpf]

What you need to do is this. Yeah.

[Rich High]

First of all, you need a lot of horse cum. Cuz everybody's gonna be confused. What's this doing here? It's a red herring.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's true. No, let's say a cop rolls. Let's say you do go down that path and a cop rolls up on you, they're in their legal rights to fucking arrest you. Like, I get it. I do deeply want to kill those people. I'm not going to because I enjoy my family and I enjoy not being in prison.

[Rich High]

Yeah. There's a give and a take I.

[Andy Stumpf]

Would like to see. I mean, it's interesting to me, people's inability to judge both sides of the political aisle equally. I get that people have political bias. I have political bias. I have things I believe, things I think are ridiculous.

[Rich High]

I don't. I'm right and everybody else is wrong.

[Andy Stumpf]

Sure. That's a common sentiment.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I want the current administration to be successful.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

One of their running points was transparency. And we're releasing this fucking list. Let's see it, man. Let's fucking see it.

[Rich High]

I'm waiting to see what Cash does with the FBI. I'm excited to see that he hasn't.

[Andy Stumpf]

Hit the headlines recently. I wonder what that dude's up to.

[Rich High]

I know, right? I mean, I don't know. I don't want to say no news is good news, but he wanted to gut it and be like, sweet, we're going to focus on crimes now. Now it takes time. Yeah. You know, I'm not going to expect a massive, you know, swing in four months to. All of a sudden now he's arresting all of the cartels. Like, there. There has to be a transition of information to whatever he's focused on now. But I'm excited to see. I shouldn't say excited. I'm anticipating. I'm trying. I'd like to. I'm trying to anticipate maybe. I am excited to see where he goes and the results of that.

[Andy Stumpf]

How long do you think it will take to actually see the results? It's like steering an aircraft carrier.

[Rich High]

Yeah. I'm. I'm giving everything a year.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay.

[Rich High]

I'm giving the economy a year. I'm giving tariffs a year. I'm giving, you know, the world Trade a year. Border, FBI. January 7, 2026, or whatever it is is. January 7th is the election day, is it not? Something like that. 13th, 12th.

[Andy Stumpf]

God, we both sound like idiots right now.

[Rich High]

The first two weeks of January, whatever, you know, I know when it is. If. Yeah. So, yeah, whenever. It's. When January comes around again, when 2026 hits, I'll be like, okay, where did we. Where did they say they were going?

[Andy Stumpf]

Hold on. Isn't the inauguration in January?

[Rich High]

Correct. That's why I said January.

[Andy Stumpf]

You said when we Vote.

[Rich High]

I meant when. When is he put in power? Not when we vote in January. Correct. Okay. Yeah, yeah, sorry.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm just trying to say.

[Rich High]

My brain's going everywhere, man.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm just trying to save.

[Rich High]

I had one of your delicious espresso pieces of coffee from Black Rifle.

[Andy Stumpf]

Those are Evans.

[Rich High]

And now I'm. Now I'm jittery.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, that's what 300mgs will do for you, man. Yeah, I think a year is fair. What do you think about people? They're really up in arms about tariffs and the cost being listed on receipts.

[Rich High]

I'm off topic. On topic. I went to Starbucks this morning to like, grab some little egg bites and an orange juice. And I went to pay for it with my card. And I tapped the card right away and it was like $16. And I didn't notice that they had auto selected, like a $5 tip. And so I went. I went, boop. And I was like, $16 went to $21. And I was like, what? You're Starbucks. I went through the drive thru. You don't get a tip for that. You automatically put a tip into the. I was very upset for like, for $5 worth of fucking everybody over that goes through that drive through. Like, fuck you anyway.

[Andy Stumpf]

What'd you do about it, though?

[Rich High]

Nothing.

[Andy Stumpf]

Drove off in rage.

[Rich High]

Drove off. And I was. And I said, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna bring it up on the Cleared Hot podcast. Cause Starbucks out here swindling people. So the tariffs was it. Ronald Reagan said that they're not good long term and they're good short term. And it's meant to prove a point.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, people are freaking out that it's showing the price difference on the receipt.

[Rich High]

People might be doing that as a political thing to say, hey, is it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Political to show the cost difference and what it comes from? To me, I'm like, educate the consumer. Because if you see that crazy fucking.

[Rich High]

Number, yeah, I want to know where it came from.

[Andy Stumpf]

You're like, well, hold on. Okay. Clearly this comes from a country we have a tariff on. If I, as the consumer were looking at that before, I would check out. I'm assuming they would break it out for you, but maybe I'm gonna look for an alternative that would actually be something for me. If it was fucking ridiculous, I would look at it and go, can I source this elsewhere?

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Which is kind of the point. If you listen to him talk about.

[Rich High]

The tariffs, I'm with it. I'm on board with it.

[Andy Stumpf]

People like, it's being weaponized politically and like, just educate the consumer and let them make their own fucking mind up.

[Rich High]

Well, I'm also about it. I'm fine with it being used as a weapon. Like the thing that people skip over that I think is important in this entire conversation is we're doing trade with countries that have tariffs on our goods.

[Andy Stumpf]

Heavily.

[Rich High]

Yeah, heavily. Especially China. Was it like 120% or something like that?

[Andy Stumpf]

I'd have to look it up.

[Rich High]

But yeah, it's fairly high.

[Andy Stumpf]

There are many countries with an immense amount of tariffs and everybody, when we do the same thing. I know where you're going with this. If we do it, it's evil. But we ignore the fact that other countries have been doing that to our goods for quite some time.

[Rich High]

So I see nothing wrong with any administration saying, hey, if you've got a 50% tariff on our goods, we're going to reciprocate that. Or you can, you know, let our economies flourish a little bit better and we'll do free trade between the two of us, which I would love. Free trade between us. That's great. I don't want it to last forever. I don't expect them to. I see it as a tool and not a solution.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Like a permanent solution. I mean.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

So I'm just kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop to see who's going to cave first and is it going to lower prices. But that's why I'm like giving it a year. Right. You can't be like, here's a tariff for three weeks, then go, well, everybody's upset. I guess we're taking it away.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, yeah, you know, they're still selling through the inventory that's already in the U.S. that hasn't even.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think the one issue with the one year wait period, not that I.

[Rich High]

Disagree with that at all, that's just me spitballing.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, totally. And a lot of it is, let's bring manufacturing back to the U.S. well, that's going to take a lot of longer than a year.

[Rich High]

Yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, from an infrastructure, from a training perspective, finding the people, that's. That's a longer one than a year.

[Rich High]

Somebody made a really good point, and I forget which podcast it was that somebody much smarter than me said this and they were like, yes, we're the largest consumer, but if we don't make anything, we're. Because all that other country has to do when they were specifically talking about China is say, hey, we're not gonna make shit for you anymore. We are in a trade war. And then we're sitting here and we're like, but we've got all this money. We don't know what to do with it. Sweet. Does money feed your fucking family? Yeah, I can burn it to stay warm, but I need goods, and I need goods. I need actual things that I can work on. So manufacturing has to come back to the US in some form. Something.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think it will. I just. I wonder about the timeline. It's going to be a longer one. I think that one is. I'm also three to five years minimum.

[Rich High]

Another thing that I'm okay with, the tariffs with China is because they've stolen so much intellectual property.

[Andy Stumpf]

That's a rumor.

[Rich High]

It's a hell of a rumor.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't think.

[Rich High]

Well, I buy into it.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's never been proven Earth is flat.

[Rich High]

And China's not. Not screwing us over. So these two things are facts.

[Andy Stumpf]

Holy shit. I was. I was chatting with somebody on Twitter, which is fucking difficult to do. My God, these platforms are hard to actually have a good communication.

[Rich High]

My DMS are great. I DM people all the time. That's where you talk on Twitter. The comment section? Yeah, the comment section is how you let somebody know you want to talk to them, and then the DMS are how you have the conversation.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, he was talking about. He was a retailer on Ambit. Like, he specializes. His business is creating and then selling it on Amazon. And I'm going to completely up the. What he was describing because I'm gonna actually try to sit down and have an episode with him. But it was about how China interrupts that process and how quickly they can put up, basically, things that are shells and they're cutting and pasting, and they end up shipping different stuff. The way he was describing, I'm like, this is some perfect mind shit.

[Rich High]

Yeah, it's one of those things where. You'll see. Let's just say we're talking about scissors, right? Some unique pair of scissors. And you'll have the one company that actually made it and came out with it. Steve.

[Andy Stumpf]

Scissors.

[Rich High]

These are great. The best scissors you can get. Well, China will then copy that. And they'll have, you know, the weird company names, like just letters put in, like a word that doesn't even. That isn't English, you know, it's just a weird conglomeration of letters that's like, we. Wawa, woah, sing, zap, flarg. Come to flarg and see what you can get. Come to blap. Yeah, you want to get scissors from Blop and. And they're just pumping them out for like a third of the price of Steve's great scissors.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah, we see that all the time. They're doing it in Walmart too. The unsubbed boys had T shirts for sale that were supporting autism. All last month is Autism awareness month. And so they put out like a shirt and some shoes and some other things, and all the proceeds from those items will go towards a charity of their choosing. Sometimes it's a couple charities for autism awareness. And don't you know Walmart's got the same shirts on sale from Burp and Flarg.

[Andy Stumpf]

The way this guy was describing it, the velocity that they're able to do it, and it's everything from porting over different reviews and pictures and like, oh.

[Rich High]

They'Ll build a fake company in the matter of like a day. And it looks like it's been there for years.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. And again, how much of that does Amazon know about? How much of that does Amazon care about? Because that specifically was the portal that this person was talking about.

[Rich High]

Yeah. If they're getting money, what do they. What do they give a shit?

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

That's why we need to make stuff and that's why we need to. To quote one of the. My favorite quotes of all time. Donald Trump don't trust to China. China is asshole.

[Andy Stumpf]

Whose quote is that?

[Rich High]

I know some. Some guy in Taiwan that was protesting and it was during Trump's first administration. At one of my favorite Donald Trump, he's like, do you have anything to say to the United States? He's like, yeah, Donald Trump don't trust to China. China is asshole. And I'm like, that man, that man needs. He needs to stay where he's at because he's fighting for his country.

[Andy Stumpf]

God, he's a beacon of hope for us all. How long do you think you can keep doing what you do, doing the SVU stuff?

[Rich High]

My. Where I'd like to go is I'd like to go back to the FBI Safe Streets as a task force officer, which is, it's gangs, violent gangs. So I'm like the middleman between Buffalo Police Department and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force. And I take all the information that's gang related from my guys, pass it over to the FBI and the FBI. I was also like, hey, we're looking at these guys. Tell your guys to look into that and also do your own investigation and look into those guys. And while I was with them for I think like a six or nine month period, I had a blast. I got CIs. I was working with CIS was being a jump out boy, but with a gold badge and plain clothes. Awesome. I like the gold badge. Mean a detective or a lieutenant. So gold, silver. Silver's a patrol officer. So if you get a gold badge, then you're either a boss or you're a dick.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's pretty racist.

[Rich High]

But metallurgist.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's racist. It's race based.

[Rich High]

Okay, yeah, whatever. Dei yourself very elitist. Oh, well, yeah, I am better than. No, I'm kidding. That's all I need. You know what's funny is I've. I've said that to like every p and it's absolutely true is like without a good. It's like infantry. It. You know, the military revolves around infantry. Whatever you do, it's all about infantry and everything supports that. Policing is all about patrol and everything else supports that. If they're not on the ground giving me information and assisting me in something, I'm a one man show. That's not as effective. Yeah, but that's where I like to be, is I like getting guns and dope and talking to gang members. That's my jam. But I'm. I mean, a good spot. I do really like what I do because it feels instead of having a guy get arrested for guns and then having to be out the next day or be on probation for two, you know, years, and then on to the next one and on the next one, which is fun. The chase is fun. It is nice to be like, this guy's not gonna hurt anybody for 20 years because he's going to fed time.

[Andy Stumpf]

How do you let the victim stories not impact you or wear on you or. Is that why we're back talking to a counselor again?

[Rich High]

So we're talking. Well, we were talk. I was talking to the counselor again because I was bringing stress home from work.

[Andy Stumpf]

How could you not in your job?

[Rich High]

Yeah, well, I was. And I was like. I noticed that I was getting like, irritated with my wife and I was like. And then it was not her fault. You know what I mean? I'm like, what she's saying is normal and you're being a dick or you're about to be, so shut up.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Your reaction wasn't commensurate.

[Rich High]

Yeah, I'm like, in my head, I'm like, you need to shut up. And you're in a mood for some reason. And so after like a month or two of that, maybe more, I was like, all right, I already got counseling for ptsd. When I came back home when I was a kid, and I was like, you know what? I need to go see a shrink again. This is different. This isn't ptsd, or at least it's a different form of it. But I stay sane because I see it as a game. So if. If a kid comes in with a disclosure, because the kid stuff is really where it's kind of fucked up. If it's adults abusing adults, it's kind of normal to me.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's more tolerable.

[Rich High]

Right, More tolerable is a better word.

[Andy Stumpf]

The kid stuff just scrambles fucking people's eggs.

[Rich High]

So when I look at it as if a kid comes in and does not make a disclosure, meaning, you know, we're. Something happened at school, or somebody said this, and we're ringing little Timmy in for a forensic interview with the. With a specialist who interviewed children, and he doesn't make a disclosure, meaning little Timmy says, like, oh, no, nothing happened. Yeah, daddy touched me down there. But it was while it was a bath. And you're like, oh, sweet. That's a win. It's a win because nothing happened. The kid's gonna be okay. If it's the opposite and the kid makes a disclosure. Yeah, my uncle touched me and. Oh, I can't say that that's a real. That's a case I'm looking into now. But my uncle touched me in, you know, inappropriate ways. Yeah. Diddled me. Then I'm like, sweet, we're gonna fucking skin him. So it's like, it's a win. Win. Even though, like, one's obviously better than the other, it's a win because the kid. Either nothing happened to the kid or it's a win because now I'm gonna go after the guy that did it. And I'm like, I'm gonna remove this dude from society and lock him up. So that's how I kind of see it, as like a game.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, maybe that's a really healthy way to look at it.

[Rich High]

I'm pretty smart, you know, except for the whole flat earth thing that I'm really into.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, I don't think it's possible for you to do what you do and not take it home.

[Rich High]

I think.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think it would be dangerous for people to think that it. It doesn't impact them in some way, shape or form. I mean, you guys don't get called to birthday parties because people are stoked that, hey, it's. Hey, come to our quinceanera. It's their 15th birthday. It's an amazing Day you get called because, yeah, you know, there was shooting there, as opposed to a great day.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't think it's reasonable for people to think that they can not expose themselves to that and not be impacted.

[Rich High]

I. You know, I don't. I was never expected or I never really dealt with dead bodies poorly. And maybe it's because of my tour and I kind of knew how to compartmentalize that, but, like, if I was ever around a dead gang banger or just, you know, like a shooting, I was just kind of like, go to work if they were alive. And then, you know, if they weren't, you know, clear the scene, look at the body, and be like, wow, fucked up. Wow. Right through the mouth. That's weird. And it's a story to tell at a bar. Like, for some reason, death doesn't. Death doesn't do that to me. The frustration with, like, victims not like, which is. This is weird, right? Victims that I'll. I'll get in contact with and say, hey, come in for this interview on, you know, tomorrow or the day after. And then them ghosting me, just not coming in. Why make the report? Why waste my time? That three hours that I sat there with my thumb in my ass waiting for you, preparing this interview. It. It's gone now. That infuriates me. But the dead bodies don't.

[Andy Stumpf]

One's resolved and one's not.

[Rich High]

One dead body, me up. One dead body, me up. He. It was a suicide. He hung himself. It was the first time I saw a guy that had hung himself. I'd gone to calls but didn't go see the, you know, the person, the individual that. That did it. You know, I'd been around it, but I never saw it. And then the first time I saw it, it was this guy that looked just like me. Oh, phone's ringing. This guy that looked a lot like me. And. And I saw him hanging, and my brain tricked myself into seeing me. So, like, I saw, like, for a split second, you know, obviously it was a mind trick, whatever your psyche does. And I was just like. I saw me hanging, and I was like, that fucked me up for about a week.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I could see that now.

[Rich High]

I'm fine.

[Andy Stumpf]

Hangings are not an awesome one to find, though.

[Rich High]

Nothing's great to find when they sit there for a while and then they start decomposing. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. The dead body one doesn't bother me either.

[Rich High]

Fresh dead bodies don't bother me at all. Like, a fresh dead body, I'm just like, oh, shit, there he is. Especially his shooting.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, we have. Well, we have had exposure to particularly that.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And so maybe that's. I don't know. I mean, I guess I'm used to working with people or used to being around dead bodies and you're just getting your job done. I guess it could. It probably does nerd people out. I don't know. Michael, have you ever seen a dead body?

[Rich High]

No.

[Andy Stumpf]

See, we're.

[Rich High]

Why did it take so long for him to say no? Who have you put behind a woodshed and just been like, did you see a.

[Andy Stumpf]

Was. He was looking up at the ceiling, too.

[Rich High]

Yeah, he was remembering. He was just like, I can't tell him about this. They'll know who I am. His real name isn't Michael. This is something else. It's.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's Michael now.

[Rich High]

It's Lucifer. It's like he grew up in one of those.

[Andy Stumpf]

But he's the normal one. I mean, we probably Most people aren't around dead bodies that much.

[Rich High]

That's true.

[Andy Stumpf]

Who are the atypical ones in this particular situation?

[Rich High]

Yeah, I'll go with that. I mean, if you are around a lot of dead bodies as, like, a.

[Andy Stumpf]

Civilian, what's going on?

[Rich High]

What's your line of work? One and two, how we doing up there?

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, like, are you. Dude who goes into, like, Mortuary affairs, first off? It needs to be done. An important job.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Holy fuck, though.

[Rich High]

I mean, not even Mortuary Affairs. Right? You're talking about the military that sees, like, you know, dead soldiers and troops. Right. I'm just a normal funeral home.

[Andy Stumpf]

Funeral directors.

[Rich High]

You're just like, here's this dead slab of me.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, let's make sure he looks okay.

[Rich High]

I'm weirded out when it comes to, like, surgery videos.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, I can't watch this.

[Rich High]

I can't watch him either. I can put a tourniquet on a guy's arm. That's fucking gone, you know? And I'm just like, oh, that's really neat. But, like, watching, like, the scalpel cut the skin. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Hard pass. I can deal with it. If it surprises me. I cannot voluntarily go try to find that type of content. It nerds me out.

[Rich High]

Nightmare fuel was saw two or three, and it's when they, like, took the mattress. They removed the mattress from the floor, and it was a pit filled with hypodermic needles. And they threw the woman into it. Jesus. And she, like, was, like. Like, screaming, and they're all in her arms, and I'm just like. Everything in my body was just like. That's that's my fear. I've unlocked a fear of what I don't want to happen.

[Andy Stumpf]

Fuck. How'd you grow. How'd you get started on YouTube? Your channel is huge.

[Rich High]

Thank you. It's overcompensating for my small penis.

[Andy Stumpf]

That's an interesting. It's usually done with trucks, but I know.

[Rich High]

Well, I've got one, you know, but.

[Andy Stumpf]

What do you roll around in?

[Rich High]

I'm not telling you. What? Dude, I'm not telling you the make and model of my car. I've been around for a minute. People don't need to. We're like, do any of my shit.

[Andy Stumpf]

Assume it's an F150.

[Rich High]

Yeah, well, fuck off, man. The most popular truck in America? You bet your ass.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

So what was the question? What did I do?

[Andy Stumpf]

Your YouTube channel, how'd you get started?

[Rich High]

It started off with Twitter. I was in. We didn't have a social media policy. And I was like, everybody keeps. I was a rookie. It was very young in the department, and I was like, twitter's around. I was like, you know what? Be cool is if I kept, like a living diary of this stupid shit that went around. And I was like, well, what's a. It's a funny name. Like Angry Cops. Because I'm always angry at, like, the dumb shit that I see, you know, or like, irritating, like, what is going with this guy? What's up with airplane food? And I started off doing that, like a tweet here and there, nothing big. And then vine came around and I got to, like, act out little skits about what it's like to be a cop. To, like, show them the humor of.

[Andy Stumpf]

Like, it was vine, like an early TikTok or Snapchat.

[Rich High]

Correct. It was before. It was before everything. It was the first, like seven second videos you could post. Instagram, I don't think had videos at the time. And then vine came around and were like, we've got seven second videos. And Instagram was like, holy shit, we need to do that. We should do videos and pictures. So I did that and I found my outlet because I did stand up comedy and I had improv comedy before for a while, and I needed an outlet. So I was a cop and I couldn't do open mic nights and I couldn't do the improv comedy stuff anymore. It just clashed with the schedule. Yeah, the schedule. So I found my outlet. It was, you know, making funny jokes and making fun of the things that I know, which is policing and being in the military. And I was like, well, I'm already Angry Cops on Twitter, and I'm gonna be doing, you know, military and stuff. And I was like, maybe people think I'm an mp, you know, if it's, you know, Angry Cops and they see me in uniform, like, whatever. So I started doing that. Vine died, went away, and I just kind of moved over to, you know, Instagram and Facebook, the short form. And then I was like, well, why don't I just go to YouTube? And now I'll have all the video things covered. Maybe one will grow more than the other one did. And YouTube stuck. So I've been doing it for, like, eight years on YouTube.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. A huge channel, man.

[Rich High]

Thank you. Appreciate it. I'm surprised. I've been. I've been around this long. Like, I've. I've. I've started. It's like, I make jokes about this. Like, I'm the Norm MacDonald of, like, military YouTubers.

[Andy Stumpf]

Like, it's interesting.

[Rich High]

Like, I like, you know, if you are a military YouTuber, even policing as well, you know who I am, and I might have motivated you or to, like, do it on your own, or you were like, hey, that's. That's what I want to do, blah, blah, blah. And people have surpassed me. Obviously, I'm good for them. It's awesome. But people have surpassed me by hundreds of thousands, millions even. And they have come up to me and been like, oh, my God, dude, like, mad. I have, like, a lot of respect and like, that military slash police genre of social media, which is I. I appreciate, but, like, if you're outside of that, this is why I say I'm kind of like the Norm MacDonald. If you're on the outside of that world, like, if you're on the outside of comedy and you don't know Norm MacDonald, you don't know who he is, you could give a fuck. Yeah, right. So all the comedians who have grown up with Norm MacDonald and nor MacDonald being who he is, love him. He's like one of the godfathers of, like, comedy in, like, you know, social media form. And. And just being who he is. And that's kind of like a way that I am in that social media thing, where if you're in that scene, you kind of have a good idea of who I am. And if you're out of it, you don't. You don't give a shit.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you put it on any type of structure or you just create what you want to create?

[Rich High]

When I want to, I just do what I want. When I want. I usually don't have a video idea for more than two weeks. Like something. It's, it's the world we live in. Something happens every week that I can make a joke out of.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, I'm surprised you can make it through a fucking hour.

[Rich High]

I mean, if it was my full time job, I'd make a lot and people would probably get a lot more tired of me. But the once a week thing is usually pretty good.

[Andy Stumpf]

What, when did you have your first video kind of take off on you?

[Rich High]

That's a good question. I remember one that blew up. I had a following. I was, I was already doing well. I was, you know, I was growing. You know, there were some videos that did really well. Some videos that did.

[Andy Stumpf]

Eh.

[Rich High]

But like the. One of the first ones where I was like, holy shit, this one took off. There was this YouTuber who's a piece of shit and his name was Onision. Yeah, his name, I mean, like that's not his real name. It's just like it might have been his last name actually, but he was in the Air Force and he was, he was like supposed to be like a seer instructor. And he like failed out of being a seer instructor.

[Andy Stumpf]

And maybe never let that stop you from putting it in your bio, right?

[Rich High]

So he like failed out for being a seer instructor and then he like refused to train and he found like all these stupid excuses to not do it. And then he went and talked about it on like a little like vlog, like, this is why I don't like the military, this is why it's dumb. Or this is my experience. It was bad, it was bullshit. All these people were all against me. And I was a drill sergeant, still am. And I was like, bullseye. I've. What a perfect example of the me, me, me generation. It's not my fault it's somebody else's piece of shit soldiers. Well, true, he's an airman that, that needs to get called out for his bullshit. And so, I mean it was only like seven or eight minutes. I think it was one of my longer videos at the time. And I just fucking ripped him. I just went knee deep in his asshole and just called out his bullshit and it blew up. And it happened to be at a time where the Internet hated him. Like he was like, I forget what it's called. It's like a Lulz cow, which is basically. A lulz cow is an individual on the Internet in the social media sphere that is just so easy to beat up on that just beating up on that one person. Because they're such a turd the Internet loves to see. So you'll get, like a boost in views, some lingo for you and the kids. Yeah, so he was. That everybody was not liking him at this moment. There were some grooming allegations going on about him. And so I happened to put that video out of this guy and his. In a portion of his life that nobody knew about. Right. They're like, oh, he's a military guy, but nobody knows about the military shit. Yeah, well, I'm a military guy and I do. So they found a new way to dislike him. They were like, oh, see, we knew he was a piece of shit. Like, even this guy who's in the military called him out for being a piece of shit. He's a piece of shit in every part of his life, and he is. So. So that one took off. I think I got like 400,000 views or 500,000 views in, like, the matter of, like a couple of days, like maybe a week. And I just kept going up. I was like, holy. And I got a lot of followers during that time. It was like, I don't know, 20, 17, 18.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I'm a late adopter to all that stuff. I do enjoy doing what I do, and it's. I do it with no pressure whatsoever.

[Rich High]

I. I put a little bit of pressure on myself because a buddy of mine is like, he's been in social media for a long time, puts out a whole bunch of stuff. His name is Charlie. Classic. And he. He gets. He's sponsored by pornhub, so. So he meets a lot of the actresses.

[Andy Stumpf]

Talent.

[Rich High]

We'll go with that. So he meets a lot of talent and, like, these women will be like, how do you do it, Charlie? You know, like, blah, blah, blah. He's just like, listen, you've got umpteen hours in the day. You can make a quick little Snapchat and say thank you to your fans. You can do a quick little minute sketch that takes like 10 minutes to edit. You know, like, there's time in the day to do it. You just have to do it, no excuses. And I took that and I was like, there's no excuse why I can't do a video a week. There's no excuse why I can't sit down and, like, look at an article and go, that's kind of funny. And then, like, sketch out a couple of funny jokes about it and do a video and edit it. And there's no reason why I can't do that for a week. And so I Think I might have skipped a week here and there, but for the most part, I think for like the past, like five, six years, I've done a video a week just because there's no excuse not to. Even if it's a shitty, small, fast one. Yeah, there's no excuse not to put out a video of me poking fun at something stupid. And then just because I want to, just.

[Andy Stumpf]

Michael and I are gonna do a new series. I don't know what I'm gonna call it, but I'm gonna try to kill him. So.

[Rich High]

Go on.

[Andy Stumpf]

He's gonna go base jumping. He's gonna go skydiving. He's gonna get. He's gonna run from a dog in a bite suit and get bit. I'm working with the cops to see if I can get him pepper sprayed and tased.

[Rich High]

Oh, you're gonna fucking love that.

[Andy Stumpf]

He thinks he could land a commercial airliner next week. We're gonna do our first one. He's gonna try to fly a helicopter.

[Rich High]

Oh, cool.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think it's just gonna be like, Andy. I don't know what it's gonna be called. Andy tries to kill Michael or something. But yeah, I want to take him on some journeys from my own life.

[Rich High]

Bucket list. Death wish. Do you have any inside list? That'll be fun.

[Andy Stumpf]

We need to stop.

[Rich High]

This is the first I've heard of the pepper spray. And.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, don't worry, I have some other things lined up.

[Rich High]

You can't do them both at the same time. Well, you're not supposed to. Some of them are alcohol based and you'll set them on fire. That happened in New York City a couple of times. Pepper sprayed the dude and then they tased him and the ark turned him into toast.

[Andy Stumpf]

What about the woman who got lit on fire in the subway?

[Rich High]

Oh, what, the bro who just goes up to somebody and says, I'm gonna light their. Their jacket on fire with a lighter. And then how doped up was she or whatever she was out of it to be like, I guess I'm burning now. And not just like she just stood there.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think just pure shock just stood.

[Rich High]

There and was burning. It was just like, do. Yeah, I like, how do you not just go, how does not. This is hot.

[Andy Stumpf]

How does not everybody around there help? What the fuck?

[Rich High]

The same reason why the school teachers aren't doing shit because nobody wants to be sued. Everybody's afraid of doing the right thing and then being. And then being used as like some sort of scapegoat or being held accountable for doing the right thing, which is. Isn't that a new weird. It's like a weird new age thing. The people doing the right thing, but then they're held accountable for it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. You were looking up that video, weren't you, Michael?

[Rich High]

Yeah, I couldn't find it. It was all.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm actually okay with that. Watching that woman burned to death, standing at the door of a subway.

[Rich High]

So sad. It's etched in my memory. I can see it right now.

[Andy Stumpf]

I can, too. And you know what is etched in my memory is this super slow motion. The way she was just standing there. Insane. Your. Your state has a lot of problems.

[Rich High]

I mean, that's New York City, we.

[Andy Stumpf]

Which is the same thing as Buffalo.

[Rich High]

First of all, man, I think you could probably beat me up, but I would really. I'll still slap you. Like, I'll say, I'll be like, like, what happened? And you're like, I'm in, like, a full body cast. I'm like, I smacked the out of Andy. I was like, I'll lose this battle, but I'll leave a mark.

[Andy Stumpf]

Mark. Buffalo is very far from the city.

[Rich High]

It's actually got the opposite side of the state. Literally. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, my wife is from upstate and I finally.

[Rich High]

We're western New York. Yeah. Rochester. Buffalo is western New York. Upstate's like Albany and that. Weird.

[Andy Stumpf]

Isn't it up at the top of the state, though?

[Rich High]

Buffalo? No, it's like, shaped like a dog head. So if, like the top of the dog head, that's where Albany is. The nose is where Buffalo is west of the city. It's not.

[Andy Stumpf]

Isn't it in the northern part of the state? State, though.

[Rich High]

It's in the western part of the state. Like the northern west. Like, it's the furthest west you can get.

[Andy Stumpf]

And north west, because it's right by the border.

[Rich High]

Well, if border. So then downstate is down, right?

[Andy Stumpf]

Yes, of course.

[Rich High]

And then to the left of that, west of it would be left state, western New York.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. I'm not saying I'm super familiar with it.

[Rich High]

Well, I'm saying you're wrong, because I'm from there. And that's what it's called. And that's just what it is.

[Andy Stumpf]

Whatever. Look into it.

[Rich High]

All right. It's slap number two. Slap number two coming around.

[Andy Stumpf]

I've gotten to see the. Used to. I've only got to the city before now with my wife. I got to see a lot more outside of the city. It's a beautiful state.

[Rich High]

It is gorgeous. Like, New York City. Smells like you can get whatever you want there, though, which is kind of cool because it's the largest city in the United States. But yeah, New York's got a lot to offer besides New York State and really bad politics.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Do you guys be. Given your proximity to the northern border, do you guys deal with any illegal immigration coming from north to south?

[Rich High]

Oh, yeah, I arrested a guy that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Doesn'T hit the news often either. That's. It's the southern border, southern border, southern border.

[Rich High]

Oh, they're coming from the northern border. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

People are hesitant to believe that maybe and probably due to the volume of information they've heard about the southern border.

[Rich High]

I mean, it's easy to come up through the southern border because you get assistance from, you know, like cartels. But yeah, people come from the northern border all the time too.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

I mean, we're in Montana. That's bordering Canada.

[Andy Stumpf]

We have three CBP officers for the entire state. I'm making that figure up. Let's just say there's a lot of area of porous border.

[Rich High]

Yeah. I mean, if I was ever going to come into the United States illegally, I'd just go through Canada.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think I would do. I mean, take a backpack and a lunch and like a sleeping bag because you're going to walk for a bit. But.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I think I would too.

[Rich High]

Get an Uber.

[Andy Stumpf]

In the forest. Like a forest Uber.

[Rich High]

You're just going to appear in the forest that just would have you just in Canon. Canadian forest. No, you start off at a. You fly in through an airport. Get to the airport. You pick somewhere that's close to a border in the middle of bum. Nowhere.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Drop you off at a gas station.

[Rich High]

Drop it off at a gas station. You walk across the border, blah, blah. You get an Uber in button. Well, not buffalo, but in whatever bum town that you're in. Yeah. That's, you know, right here in the middle of Montana where it's miles and miles and miles of acreage of nothing, you know, except for one row and you're like, oh, hey, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And here you are.

[Rich High]

Yeah. You could just buy a bicycle and get a couple MREs in your backpack on a nice summer weekend.

[Andy Stumpf]

Be better than MREs.

[Rich High]

I mean, it's high caloric intake. You're just trying to make things do. Don't shit on my potential. Like illegal entry into the United States.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, it would work.

[Rich High]

Yeah, I know it would work. That's why I said it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. My. My plan is just better.

[Rich High]

Oh, the one that you didn't say that you waited for me to come.

[Andy Stumpf]

Up with first, I would have gotten a scooter.

[Rich High]

Yeah. An electric scooter.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Better than a bike.

[Rich High]

Okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

Backpack. I would have had mountains with a.

[Rich High]

GPS that probably stops at the border and then when. Then where?

[Andy Stumpf]

No, didn't think that through. Did you get somebody's backyard? It's not a rent.

[Rich High]

You should cover up your seal tattoos. A disgrace. You can't even get through with a fucking scooter.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, you could. I didn't say the pgps. It's not one of the rental scooters, which.

[Rich High]

So then how you're picking up. You know, you're going to like a scooter buying, but you're putting more steps.

[Andy Stumpf]

In the way of you theft along the way. You take somebody else's scooter.

[Rich High]

Oh, that makes sense. You're already there illegally. Why not?

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That scooter.

[Rich High]

How do you got to find a scooter to steal in Canada though?

[Andy Stumpf]

Everywhere it's a real scooter.

[Rich High]

Like, I'm not trying to on your dreams here, but I'm trying to be a realist.

[Andy Stumpf]

They're scooter folk. I don't know if you spent a lot of time up there.

[Rich High]

Scooter folk.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, they like them.

[Rich High]

I think you're finding a bike way easier than scooter folk.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't know. I don't. Maybe they ride one wheels up there. Do people ride those in Buffalo?

[Rich High]

No, no, we. No, our. No, no. We have people with common sense. Yeah, yeah. It's cold. It gets slushy. There's snow. We're a hearty people. We're very realistic. Yeah. The outside politics of the world doesn't usually affect us that much because we're just like, hey, you're my neighbor. Yeah. All right. And that's about it. Does this affect you? No. Affect you? No.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Live your life. Live and let live. What's the best way that can. People can support what you're doing with the school stuff?

[Rich High]

Only fans. I have a few now.

[Andy Stumpf]

Monetarily, perhaps. No, I mean, how can they put a vice on these school districts? What's the best way to leverage or pressure them?

[Rich High]

So there's a couple ways that are going to make significant strides in the right direction. One is if you're in the city of Buffalo and your kids go to the school or you're a teacher or an administrator and you want to give us information. Like when I say me and the boys from the unsub, we have that gmail the. Take the high road. High spelled H Y like my last name. Take the high. Roadmail.com. that's just for Buffalo. Just for people that know something happened because they were there, or their kid or a family member or their co worker told them, hey, this happened either first person or you found. You found out from the, from a first person source. This is what happened. Email that. That's great. If you're from an outside, outside the city, you don't have any sort of information you can share with us, the best thing you can do is repost the story to any New York state politician, tag the FBI or any politician, tag the Attorney General's office. It's. It's just literally just tag any dummy that has any sort of form of law enforcement that you think can handle it, like the Attorney General's office, the ag, Pam Bondi's ag, or the FBI.

[Andy Stumpf]

Until they pay attention.

[Rich High]

Until they pay attention. That's it. Which blows my mind that the second largest city in the state of New York and this is, this is what's happening in the schools, and my governor hasn't said shit about it in a week. Tag Heathy. Tag Kathy Hochul.

[Andy Stumpf]

How do you spell that last name?

[Rich High]

H O C, H E, L. She's from Buffalo. Which makes me sad considering that, you know, when you have somebody grow up around your people that you would be like, hey, when they make it big, they're not going to forget about us. Well, week and a half later, no word. Killing me.

[Andy Stumpf]

How would you know that the FBI was going to get involved if they.

[Rich High]

Said something, oh, man, I'm.

[Andy Stumpf]

Would that be an agent, though, or like a department? How would you actually know? How would you be notified?

[Rich High]

There would probably be a state. I mean, I don't, I don't need to be notified. If I'm notified, I'll shut the fuck up. If somebody goes, hey, we're looking into this. Shut the fuck up, Richard. I'll be like, hey, listen, mission accomplished. Everybody assist. If somebody comes and calls you and asks a question, do exactly what they want you to do. Thank you so much. We're forwarding this to another agency. That's the. I'm shutting up. I can't say who has it, but somebody's got it mellow right the other way. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet. Is the Erie County District Attorney's office or the FBI? That's local. In the city of Buffalo, there's a Buffalo office or the New York AG's office. If they just put out a tweet or a statement that said, we're looking into this. That's it. You don't say. You start an investigation, which even that's assumed. But we have heard and we're looking into this. That's it. I'll go out of the spotlight. I don't need to hear unless, you know, nothing happens for six months and then I'll pop up again and I'll be like, where the is this investigation going?

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. You don't seem like the kind of guy who's gonna put it down.

[Rich High]

Yeah, I can't. I kind of put all my chips in, you know?

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Rich High]

In. I'm all in. Either. Either.

[Andy Stumpf]

If I can't be all in, though, on protecting children and victims.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Fuck are you gonna be all in for?

[Rich High]

This is the hill I'm gonna die on. Like, I'm. If I get fired, I really don't want to get fired. I love being a cop, man. I really genuinely do. If it's so fucking fun. And I put pieces of shit in jail, it's amazing. I love it. Just like I love being a drill sergeant. I could retire. I've already got my 20 years in. I don't want to because I'm an old school nco and these kids need to fucking be taught the old school way. Even if I got to put kid gloves on sometimes. Like, I love what I do. I love what I do, and I don't want to stop doing what I love. But, like, I'm like, this is a hill I'll die on. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. I think it's bad when people don't report the sexual assault of kids. I think that's bad. So let's do something about it.

[Andy Stumpf]

I agree. What do you want to leave people with?

[Rich High]

Everything that I just said. The unsub video. There's two now. One's my. The original whistleblowing incident. One's the update where I have additional stories from school members and parents, teachers, counselors, etc. And I give an update. Share those. Tag every federal politician you can. Tag the FBI. Tag the New York State Attorney General's office. Tag the Erie county district Attorney's office. Tag every New York politician. I can't believe I haven't seen anything from any New York politician. Not even, like, local state representatives. Killing me. Killing me.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Yeah. If you can't step for the kids, it's like, I don't.

[Rich High]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't know what the fuck to say.

[Rich High]

Yeah. And if you want to find me because you think I'm funny or entertaining, then it's angry cops on YouTube.

[Andy Stumpf]

Fair enough. Thanks for making the trip out man. Yeah, I was like two and a half hours. Two hours 45 minutes.

[Rich High]

Cool. Yeah, I could talk for forever. It's not hard for me. I threw my phone over there so I want to look at it. Perfect. With T Mobile no trend spotter has to deal with trends body service because T Mobile helps keep you connected from.

[Andy Stumpf]

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[Rich High]

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