The Danny and Park Novels Good News Podcast

 Today’s guest is Henrico police Chief Eric English. Chief English has been Henrico’s Chief for just over a year, and before that he was the chief in Harrisonburg, Virginia. And before THAT, he was with the Richmond Police Department from 1989 until 2018, where he retired as a Deputy Chief. 

Chief English and I talk about his experiences with the three police agencies, his views on George Floyd in Minneapolis and his advice for people who may be considering law enforcement as a career choice.

We also talk about race relations, though not just between police officers and the community they’ve sworn to protect. Chief English talks about why he thinks people of the same race may choose to congregate with people who look like they do.

I hope you enjoy the interview.

Today’s guest is Joi Fultz. Joi works for local tv station WTVR and is the daughter of retired Richmond Homicide detective Joe Fultz. In today’s somewhat divided political and media climate, Joi’s in the unique position of working for the media AND being a cop’s daughter.

Joi and I talk about her growing up as a cop’s kid, working for the local media and what she loves about Richmond and it’s citizens.

Take a listen to our interview and let me know what you think.

Today’s guest is retired Richmond Police Homicide detective Joe Fultz. Joe was with the Richmond Police Department for over 30yrs and worked many different assignments before landing in Homicide. Joe was one of my mentors when I got transferred to Homicide and he’s one of my favorite people in the world.

Joe's also a character in one of the upcoming novels, hence the 'Papa Bear' in this podcast's title.


 I hope you enjoy our interview.

Welcome back to the podcast. Today’s guest is Shayna Perlstein, a drill sergeant and police officer. Shayna and I talk about her military service as well as the two police agencies that she’s worked for, as well as her views on police relationships with the community and with her experiences as a female police officer. Take a listen to her interview and let me know what you think.

Welcome back to the podcast. Today’s guest is RPD officer Chris Saunders. Chris works midnight shifts in Richmond’s 4th Precinct and has been with the department for (7) years. He’s active on Facebook and Twitter, with a personal page and a department page. I asked Chris to come on the podcast because of a photo he posted kneeling beside his patrol car before a shift.

As we all know, kneeling has become a controversial flashpoint within the last few years. However the reason Chris is kneeling has been a constant for centuries; he’s kneeling in  prayer.

As a disclaimer, I’m not advocating for or against religion, nor am I putting one religion in front of another.

This is simply one officer’s story.

I hope you enjoy the podcast.

And remember, ignore the wicked people who want to drive us apart. We’re better than they are. We always have been and always will be.

Take care of one another.

Thanks for listening.

Today’s guest is Vaughan Jones, a defense attorney and lifelong Richmond resident. Vaughan and I met twenty years ago when he did a three year stint as a prosecutor in the Richmond Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.

Recently, Vaughan posted something on Facebook which I replied to in the comments section of his post. We didn’t see eye to eye and went back and forth a couple times, online. I asked him if he wanted to continue the discussion through this podcast and he said he would. So here he is. Listen to our discussion and let me know what you think.

Welcome back to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today’s guest is Lynne Hughes of Comfort Zone Camp. My friend Anthony Jackson reached out to me and said that he thought Lynne would be interested in being on the podcast and talking about Comfort Zone Camp. He gave me her number, I reached out to her and bam! Got her on the podcast. I’m going to let Lynne describe what Comfort Zone Camp does and I bet you’ll be amazed at the number of kids that this wonderful program has helped.

Before our interview begins, though,  programming note. Toward the end of the interview, my phone dies and, obviously the call drops. So, there may be a small break in the conversation, but the phone reboots and the interview continues. 

For some reason, I always seem to have technical difficulties at the end of my interviews. Regardless, I really enjoyed talking to Lynne and I hope you enjoy the interview.

Welcome back to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today’s guest is author, mother and wife Kristine Blevins. Kristine is one of the authors I follow on Instagram and I have a link to her book on my website. Recently, Kristine posted a few paragraphs on her page about women’s body positivity and sexuality. I reached out to her to see if she’d be willing to do a podcast episode to talk about her post and even though she said she was nervous, she agreed. Take a listen to our interview and let me know what you think.

     Welcome back to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today I’m talking to Brendan and Carl, two Richmond police officers and the president and vice-president, respectively of RCOP. RCOP is the Richmond Coalition of Police and they exist to speak up for the fair treatment of Richmond’s police officers, as well as to give officers a voice when it comes to expressing their concerns for safety and pay. I asked Brendan and Carl to come on the podcast so that they could speak about what’s going on with the rank and file of the police department. As you’ll be able to tell from the interview, both officers are proud to be Richmond police officers and want what’s best for the members of the police department, but also what’s best for the residents of the city. 

     I’d like to thank Brendan and Carl for being on the podcast and for giving the officers of Richmond a voice. As Carl mentioned, the morale within the department has been on a slow decline for years, but the events of 2020 accelerated the loss of morale. How ridiculous is it that a City of Richmond officer makes less than that of a college campus police officer and that college campus is in the heart of the city? And that’s not a dig at the campus police officers; they are absolutely some of the finest officers I’ve ever met. Carl also mentioned that it would take (9) years for a Richmond police officer just coming out of the academy to make as much as the starting pay for a Henrico officer. Unbelievable. 

The bottom line is that Richmond officers, generally, face more calls for sexual assaults, shootings, stabbings and homicides than their suburban counterparts. Not to mention the amount of property crimes that occur in the city on a daily basis. Yet the city officers are payed far less than nearly every other jurisdiction. 

But, both officers are hanging in there because they have hope for the department and hope for the city. That’s what it’s all about. I’m proud of them and every other officer who stays with the department and believes that being a police officer in the city is the most noble professions there is. 

Look out for one another and spread peace,  not hate. 

Together, we can cake a difference.

Thanks for listening.

 Thanks for listening to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today’s guest is Nikki Bailey. I came across Nikki on Instagram because she followed some of the same people I followed. I actually used one of her Instagram photos on the Danny and Park website. I reached out to her to see if she’d be willing to be a guest on the podcast and she agreed. Prior to the episode, I asked her if she was a Richmond resident and she said that she was, so I figured that she’d be a great addition to the ‘Hope for Richmond’ series. She also said that she’d worked as a Richmond Police Dispatcher, so that was a bonus; I’m a big fan of dispatchers. As we began to talk, I recognized her voice within minutes. I’m sure that we’ve communicated many times over the police radio, but I never associated her full name with the person on the other end of the radio. She probably did the same with me; I was simply Detective Baynes with a unit number. 

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what this interview would be about or where it would lead, but that’s part of the fun of this podcast; just chatting with people. 

I hope you enjoy the interview.