Cop stories from 24 years, picked apart across the table.
Host Kevin Buncher and a companion in the studio work through calls, cases and crack-house entries from 24 years in law enforcement. The stories get questioned as they are told, down to whether an officer radioed in before pulling over and whether a call needed two officers.
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I Barely Got Here Podcast is police storytelling done as conversation. Host Kevin Buncher draws on 24 years in law enforcement, and across these episodes Jay, Brian and Ross each take a seat across from him, so the stories get questioned and corrected as they unfold. The frame is part of the appeal. Episodes open with a parody of a rights advisement: the right to be disturbed, the right to disagree, a warning that sarcasm and dark humor come with everything, and a closing 'Do you understand your rights?' Then comes 'buckle up, buttercup', and the show goes '10-8'. The sign-off mirrors it, with a pair of call signs and '10-7'. Between those bookends, the material is the job itself. In 'Happy to be Here, Proud to Serve', a suspect in the back of a transport vehicle kicks at the door, knocks the officer to the ground and takes his gun. The conversation then turns into something close to a debrief. Did the officer call out his stop on the radio? Would anyone want to face a combative prisoner without a second person there? '3 Clicks' runs on the same instinct with Ross: a noise complaint at a run-down apartment complex, a gun thrown down and left in the open during a foot chase, and a mid-story correction over whether a second officer was ever dispatched to the call. 'Plata o Plomo' shifts to drug trafficking. The adversaries are described as very smart, and one shrugs off a seizure as the cost of doing business. A courier driving money from Atlanta to Phoenix stages a break-in that convinces nobody and ends up held hostage in Gilbert, which leads to the point that many such cases are collections rather than kidnappings. The two 'B Sucio' episodes, recorded with Brian, make a natural starting point for anyone who wants a story built across installments. In 'B Sucio, Part 1', the talk turns to crack houses, where dealers were armed against customers who might rob them more than against police, and where layered locks and reinforced hinges had to be defeated before anyone got inside. 'B Sucio, Part 2' follows a panicked phone call from a woman who believes everyone has been busted and wants to start over in Colorado, and a meeting at a Taco Bell arranged with an arrest in mind. The question of betrayal is asked out loud, and the answer is yes. 'End of Watch' is the most somber of the set, holding on to the memory of blood on a SWAT officer's gray camouflage pants and the need, whether a wounded man could be saved or not, to get him off the pavement. The language is rough and the detail graphic, exactly as the opening warns.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants police work told from the inside, with the procedural second-guessing left in, and who can handle graphic detail, rough language and dark humor.
What sets it apart: The stories are questioned as they are told: talk of radio calls, backup and split-second judgment can turn a war story into something close to a debrief. A mock rights reading at the top and a call-sign sign-off give the episodes a fixed frame.
"I Barely Got Here" is a collection of stories, conversation and commentary as told by a veteran 24 year police Sergeant. Just like the job, the episodes will be across the board - you'll laugh, cringe, cry, maybe even learn a little about public safety as you hear stories told in a way that only a cop on the street can tell them.
A Taco Bell pickup becomes an arrest; you hear the undercover cop's own misgivings.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A Tempe line-of-duty death becomes a grounded look at an on-the-road decision, radio updates, and agency-to-agency lag.
Happy to Be Here, Proud to Serve follows Kevin Buncher and Jay from an earlier discussion of Officer Snedeker's death into other Tempe line-of-duty deaths.
A blunt, unsentimental look at cartel cash, low-paid couriers, and the risks around greed.
Plata o Plomo uses the meaning of "silver or lead" as an entry point into a blunt discussion of Mexico, cartel operations, and the business logic that can form around drugs and cash.
A routine noise call becomes a three-click threat, a discarded gun, and a chase measured in seconds.
A routine loud-noise call turns into a tight look at how fast police work can become dangerous. Kevin Buncher and Ross revisit the moment a man ran, tried to fire three rounds, tossed the gun, and kept moving near an apartment complex.
A focused SWAT recollection about the images crisis leaves behind.
End of Watch puts Kevin Buncher's 24 years in law enforcement at the center, using that experience as the frame for Jay's questions. The episode turns on a SWAT operation and the details that still cut through: a diversionary device, an apartment being cleared, and the sight of…
An undercover promise of a fresh start in Colorado leads to an arrest at Taco Bell.
Part two of "Bay Sucio" settles into the uneasy space where undercover work starts to look like betrayal. Kevin Buncher and Brian first unpack the title as "dirty B" in Spanish, then Brian moves into a story from the job: a frightened woman calls, says everyone has been busted,…
Police work, after the call ends.
ABC Audio's Theranos fraud series that also introduces its other true-crime podcasts.
LA Times reporter Christopher Goffard traces con man John Meehan's fraud, abuse, and its Bravo TV adaptation.
Two Tempe line-of-duty deaths drive 'Happy to be Here, Proud to Serve,' as Kevin Buncher and Jay compare Bob Hawk's freeway death with John Bradshaw's transport shooting.
Kevin Buncher and Jay center `Plata o Plomo` on a Phoenix-area client who was kidnapped multiple times, including a case where his sister was taken while driving his car.
["Ross says a March 1998 loud-noise complaint at a small apartment complex turned dangerous when he heard three rapid clicks as a suspect pointed a gun at his chest.", "Kevin Buncher frames the story with Ross's shared history from In-N-Out and the police department, then brings in Rick, Mike, and Craig as the officers who shaped the account.", "The call starts with an RX-7, a woman holding a baby, and several people who cannot say whose car it is, before a man claiming he only borrowed tools breaks free and runs.", "Ross and Rick push the chase into a second complex, call for a perimeter and canine search, and end with Ross handing Mike the location of the gun still on the ground."]
I Barely Got Here Podcast's "End of Watch" has Kevin Buncher and Jay swapping roles to revisit a 1999 Tempe jewelry-store robbery and SWAT call-out.
Kevin Buncher and Brian return for part two of 'B Sucio' on I Barely Got Here, where Brian explains that 'Bay Sucio' means 'dirty B' and describes keeping a police car filthy enough for fleas to live on the floorboard.
I Barely Got Here host Kevin Buncher interviews former officer Brian about undercover narcotics work in Tempe, Mesa, and East Phoenix.
Kevin Buncher and Jay examine the fatal shooting of Dante Wright during a traffic stop involving an arrest warrant and a struggle beside a vehicle.
Kevin Buncher and Jay examine why brief news clips rarely provide enough information to assess police use-of-force incidents.
I Barely Got Here host Kevin Buncher interviews Greg about completing a 20-year police career before working 11 years in the fire department.
I Barely Got Here Podcast hosts Kevin Buncher and Jay explain what follows a burglary arrest, from county-jail booking and initial appearance to OR release or a financial bond.
A veteran police sergeant interviews a canine handler about his career, discussing how he became interested in K9 work and the effectiveness of police dogs.
A police sergeant recounts a night shift incident involving a blind call to a dive bar.
A veteran police sergeant and his former colleague share stories from their law enforcement careers, including SWAT team experiences.
A veteran police sergeant shares personal stories and reflections from his 24-year career in law enforcement.