Extra: "Behind The Badge" Of A Veteran LAPD Officer, Bomb Technician
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The call to enlist may look a little different to each American. Retired Staff Sergeant Johnny "Joey" Jones remembers he and many from his generation enlisted right after the September 11th terror attacks. In Jones' new book, Behind the Badge, he spoke with retired Marine, bomb tech, and former LAPD officer Steve Hennigan about the catalyst for his becoming a Marine: the 1983 Beirut bombings.

Jones and Hennigan spoke again about his service and sacrifice on the Fox News Rundown earlier this week. We made some edits for time and thought you might want to hear the entire interview. Here now is that full conversation on the Fox News Rundown Extra. ♪

Well, brother, thanks so much for joining me. I'm so proud to know you. I call you a friend. I know a lot about your career, but I don't know everything. And I think you're exactly what the term proud American and the idea of someone who's selfless and service and sacrifice is definitive in their life. And I'd love to just introduce you to the audience and share

Obviously, you're Marine Corps and then Los Angeles Police Department, and then you became a bomb tech. But before all that, you know, tell me what got you started. What pointed you towards the Marine Corps? Well, the Marine Corps came about, I was going to junior college at the time in Fresno, California. And I was on, sorry to say it, but I was on academic probation.

Because I was working a full-time job and trying to study and it just wasn't working. That's another thing we have in common there. Yeah. And a buddy of mine from football, from high school football team, he joined the Marine Corps and he was home on leave between boot camp and infantry training school.

And he came to visit me at my job and started telling me about his experiences in Marine Corps boot camp. And he said it was just like being on a football team all over again. And so I was like, hey, it sounds like it's for me. And at that time, also, there was the Beirut bombing in 1983 of October that kind of pushed me over the edge also to do something for my country. And that's why I joined the Marine Corps then.

I want to talk about Beirut for a second. A lot of people don't know the story. They might have been reminded as we've – if they're into the political scene, they might have been reminded in recent days with everything in Israel and Iran. But what made – go over Beirut and what the emotional reaction you had in the time period was.

I just remember, like I said, it was October of 83. I was up late at night, just came from a friend's house, and I had the TV on. And, you know, back in the day, now I'm dating myself. At about 2 a.m., they would always end their broadcast with the national anthem. But this one night in the morning, it all changed, and they came on live and said that they –

And so.

For those that aren't aware, that was a quote-unquote peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon because Israel had invaded to get out what they called the – I think it was called the Islamic – I can't remember. Some sort of Islamic jihad. It was one of the first iterations of a terrorist group. So we're like, hey, we'll go in and we'll keep peace so Israel can pull out and make everybody happy. And what ensued was really a civil war in Lebanon. But the reason why I bring it up is it seems like here we are.

What that was in the 80s. So, I mean, 40 years later and the same place has the same problems. How does that make you feel? Oh, it's kind of wild. I mean, that's part of me the other day when it when we entered into Iran and bombed their nuclear facilities. It was kind of like retribution paid back for what are now my brothers at the time. You know, I wasn't a Marine yet. So, yeah.

Once I became one, obviously we were all brothers. And, you know, it felt good to me in a way that, you know, America finally got back, you know, in their memory,

if you will, you know, for that. Man, I didn't know. We're not really, this isn't really what the, the reason why I thought we'd get on the, on the call today or on this topic, but that is so true. I mean, we had no retribution for what was, what was really the, the largest loss of Marines experience.

since World War II and the largest loss of American troops since Vietnam. One single incident, right? Yeah. And, and like, you know, as much as I love Reagan and the memory of Reagan, I was born in 86. We really didn't do much in response to that. Yeah, there was, I mean, to hold the people responsible. I mean, cause you know, at the time,

I think it was Hezbollah that was involved with that, which is also a proxy of Iran. And, you know, we've pretty much been at war with Iran if we all look back at it since 1979 when they captured the U.S. embassy and paraded, again, Marine brothers that were there on embassy duty blindfolded through the streets of Tehran. And it's, you know, it's just all of it's just coming all back, which is, you know, which is kind of a trip, like you said, 40 plus years later.

So fast forward, you joined the Marine Corps. Did you know when you joined the Marine Corps that you eventually wanted to become a police officer? Yes, that was my thought because, like I said, academic probation, I always wanted to be a police officer. And I knew that if I kept at it, that I needed to make myself more marketable. And, you know, the Marine Corps all just, you know, fell into place. And, you know, a lot of police officers and my uncle was a Sacramento cop.

Uh, he also said it would be a great thing cause he was a, uh, a Coast Guard veteran and it helped him get on Sacramento PD back in the sixties because he had four years of, uh, continued service and, and, and a history if you will for, for that. And, and, and that's true. LAPD hired me right away, uh, out of the Marine Corps. I was still in when I was testing. So, um, it helped. Did you, uh, did you join LAPD before or after the Rodney King incident?

Oh, way before I joined LAPD. My, I started the academy May 2nd, 1988. Yeah. So it was way before the Rodney King incident. And I, I just happened to work on probation for a year and a half at Foothill division where the incident happened after I left. And so I knew a few of the people that were involved. I'd love your reflection on that. What was life as a Los Angeles police officer like before and after?

- Well, I'll tell you, before the Rodney King incident, I would think that we pretty much, we had the streets under control to where, meaning that our presence alone

Just in the street and being proactive policing. And, you know, there's there's also critics of that, too. Sure. That, you know, being proactive, you know, in the broken window program back then in the 80s, you know, it helped curtail the crime in the city of Los Angeles. Of course, you know, the gangs were a major issue back when I started. That's I was an initial push back.

of hiring a bunch of officers because of the gang problem. So that was a whole nother, you know, sister fighting itself was, was with the street gangs that were there. But after the Rodney King incident, yeah, it kind of,

That's when I could tell, you know, people were more afraid or not afraid, but more people were hesitant to do their job because they didn't want to be judged. And that's pretty much when the judging of police came about, because obviously we know that was a videotaped incident. It was shown thousands and thousands of times in the city and local stations of L.A. and quite frankly, all throughout the United States.

You know, when you look at that incident, I mean, honestly, if you see the videotape, of course they went perhaps too far. I don't know. They were eventually acquitted. So I don't know. But it does look bad. Is that an incident where getting the snapshot of something really made life so much more difficult for all the police officers that were working hard to do things the right way?

Yeah, I think so. And, you know, looking at it videotaped and, you know, yeah, it did look bad. But, you know, police work was all videotaped and how a lot of it is today. It still does look bad because, you know, everybody's used to sanitary looks of, you know, back in the 70s, 60s and 70s of Muhammad Ali and his boxing matches, you know.

People really didn't see a level of force or violence on TV back then. And because that's now that videos and cell phones are about, people see it all the time now. So it is different, definitely different since then.

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You know, moving on through your career, you're a police officer for a while before you became a bomb tech. Tell me about that. Tell me about, you know, did you did you take pride in that work? Was it difficult? I mean, most of us that aren't in Los Angeles probably think of like, you know, fast and furious when we think about Los Angeles. Yeah. So underbelly of crime or corruption or, you know, just adrenaline junkies. Like there's a lot of things I think of when I think of being a police officer in L.A.

Well, yeah, I took pride in my work. I did the whole time. You know, I used to put myself...

on the outside looking in, meaning that, hey, if this was my neighborhood and where I lived, I would want the police to make sure there was no crime going on. So, yeah, I took pride in every area that I worked to do my part so that the people of Los Angeles and the places that I worked, that they could go to work, come home from work, raise their family and not be accosted by gang members or street thugs or, you know, or for them just to go for a walk at night.

I mean, unfortunately, some of the neighborhoods were taken over by criminals and gangsters to where they couldn't do that. So that's where I took pride in going out there on my shifts and trying to do the best I can to get those people off the streets. So those people of citizens of Los Angeles could could go about their and have a normal life, you know, without crime plaguing them in their in their neighborhoods.

You're a police officer during those riots in L.A., post-Rodney King, and for a long time after that, you've seen the turmoil and the successes through the 90s and 2000s. Then we see the riots that just took place in response to immigration issues.

Do those parallel for you? It's a different generation of people. It's a slightly different issue. We talked about how the Beirut incident and then what's happened in Israel brought back memories. How did those riots in L.A. over immigration, how did that affect you?

Well, you know, the riots of 92 and the riots of 2020 and the riots of just a couple of weeks ago, the riots of 2020 and the riots a couple of weeks ago were more skirmish lines. And, you know, officers physically engaging with people in front of them was a lot different in 92. The 92 riots were.

It's hard to explain. It's, uh, the best way I can explain it is, is literally a combat zone of 92 because there was fires happening. Uh, there weren't protesters on the street going toe to toe with the police. They were shooting at us. They were throwing stuff at us. Uh, they were lighting buildings on fire. There was a lot of people that were killed in their cars just because they were driving down the street. Um,

It was a lot different, I think, personally. Going toe-to-toe in riot gear with people that are protesting was a lot different than the 92 riots. That's the only way I can explain it. It was pretty kinetic and pretty intense, if you will. You're in my book, Behind the Badge. You're someone that I've known for over a decade now through our shared experiences in EOD or volunteer work.

But when I invited you into the book, I invited you under the auspice of LAPD Bomb Squad. And then I learned that you had this whole career before you became an EOD tech, uh,

And so it's kind of exciting as we did the book and I learned more of your story. It was kind of exciting to learn that you were connected to the Beirut bombings and you became a Marine that way and connected to the L.A. riots. One issue we didn't broach that I think is I always find interesting is the rooftop Koreans. Do you remember that? And tell us about that.

Yeah, that was the area that I worked. That was Wilshire division. And I knew a lot of those Korean business people that was that happened along Western Boulevard. And, you know, I knew him because they were whether they were business owners, restaurant owners. And, you know, we would frequent those places, you know, places to eat and just talking to the

A lot of them were victims of crimes because the Koreans back then in Los Angeles didn't trust the bank. So they were walking around with thousands and thousands of dollars in their pockets and hidden in their houses because they didn't trust the bank. So they were victims of crime quite a bit. So knowing that they take pride in their business, they weren't going to let anything happen to it. So they did. They armed themselves.

When the riots started, I was one week into being a motorcycle officer for the city of Los Angeles. And my very first assignment on motors, one week after I graduated motor school, was in South Central LA. That's where I was assigned. So I literally got...

thrown into the end of the fire, if you will, when that happened. And but yeah, seeing seeing the business owners on there, you know, taking control of their area so they didn't burn, you know, was was pretty amazing. And, and it worked, you know, so they were just they took pride in their community. A lot of those people went through hell just to get to the United States and start a business there in Los Angeles. And they didn't want anything to happen to that or their or their families. So you I don't blame them. And

There was talking rumors that there was off duty officers up there helping him out, but I can't, I can't confirm that. But there was always rumors on LAPD that there were guys up there helping him out.

You know, I think that's something, I mean, just that one thing broaches so many issues. You talk about immigration, legal immigration, you know, a community of people felt left behind by their local government. The idea that, you know, it would sound insane if people in L.A. were using their Second Amendment right to defend themselves today just because of the politics and the laws in California. But it's the most constitutionally correct.

obvious right you have, you know, or at least one of. And it just seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. But I don't know that that could happen today. I don't know that that would even exist today.

Yeah, there's a lot of rules and laws changed at California. That's one reason why when I retired, I got the heck out of that state and moved away as soon as I could and brought, you know, my whole family. We did, except for my sisters and mom are still there, a couple of uncles and aunts and cousins. But, you know, that's one reason that why I wanted to leave this is because of that, you

It's such a weird thing that even police officers get a background check to buy ammunition when they're already vetted and they're active officers on their departments. Police officers, if you want to buy a gun out there, you still got to wait 15 days. It's crazy. It's just nuts. And I feel sorry for the people still living there because a lot of them can't exercise their Second Amendment and buy what they want or what they need to defend themselves and their families.

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to deploying the latest AI technology. This is a new era of American innovation. Find out more at g.co slash American innovation. What made you decide, okay, well, I'm already a police officer and I'm putting my life on the line and

In the book, you told a couple of stories that are just kind of unbelievable because you use discernment and kind of put yourself in more danger because you had an instinct that the person who was suspected to be the perpetrator had some humanity left in them. And in many cases, many stories you explained, it turned out that way. But what made you decide, hey, I'm already putting my life on the line. Let me go be a bomb tech, too.

Yeah, you know, I don't know. Maybe it's maybe it's the Marine Corps. Maybe it was always in me. I knew ever since I was a kid and my family reminds me of it quite often that I always thought I wanted to be a police officer since I was like three years old, I think three or five. My mom was saying. But, you know, one thing I can attribute, you know, to my career is my wife. You know, I met my wife. She's an emergency room nurse right out of the academy.

And there's one thing my wife never said to me in my career every time I came to her and said, hey, I was thinking about doing this. She never said no. She's like, hey, if that makes you happy, you know, it makes you happy. And it does. It's, you know, getting exposed in the Marine Corps to the explosives in infantry training school. I think that's where I first got the bug of wanting to be in the bomb squad. But I knew just like everything else, it takes time. And, you know, you had to be on at the time a certain amount of years on the department before the bomb squad even look at you.

So that's, you know, something that I just set myself up and set goals for, you know, to achieve that goal to be in the bomb squad. And it's, you know, something my dad always told me, you know, set goals for yourself and do what you can to best position yourself for your goals to come true. And that's what I did. And, you know, the danger part, never thought about it.

I think it was more dangerous being a motorcycle officer in the streets of LA than a bond technician. Cause you know, as a bond technician, we have somewhat control over our destiny, I think. But on a motorcycle, you could just be cruising down the street, stopped at a red light and get rear-ended by somebody doing 70 miles an hour and killed, which happened a couple of my friends or just, you know, enforcing the laws and somebody pulling out in front of you and you crashing and losing your life. So, and that happened to a lot of guys that I knew. Yeah.

that died in the line of duty in LA. But yeah, so at least I thought as a bomb technician, you know, if I have the good training and do everything I'm taught to do, then, you know, the odds are in my favor to come out on top.

No, I understand that. I understand that completely. I always felt safer walking down on an IED than getting shot at. Yeah, right. I have some control over that IED. I don't have any control over those bullets coming at me. Exactly. I guess a lot of people think we're crazy, but maybe we are. Maybe we're just the only ones that are sane. But, you know, like I said, I guess I bring that up to say,

Probably not the most interesting thing about you or your career is that you at one point took bombs apart. I think it's more so just kind of what you just touched on. That's like, I mean, I think you've mentioned a couple of times now about, you know, others that you served with losing their life in the line of duty or being in bad situations. How do you experience that and then put the uniform on and go back out the next day?

Um, you know what, I don't know if it's something you don't think about. I mean, but it is actually something I thought about. And it's, you know, one one reason why I, you know, fell in love with my wife was obviously she had a career, you know, not just not a job. And she had a career that I knew something was to happen to me. And we were to have kids in our life, which we ended up having three. And it was a morbid thought. But it's like, I thought, okay, if I get killed in the line of duty, at least she can still carry on and take care of the family.

and provide for the family in a way that I did. But, you know, and that's another mantra that I always used to say to myself, too. There's no way in hell I'm dying on the streets of L.A. And, you know, I take pride in that. So you would always try to do things right tactically, you know, whether you're in a tactical situation or, you know, taking bombs apart or whatever, is that, you know, hey, I'm going to do everything right.

Probably if somebody had me mic'd up, they'd think I was crazy talking to myself. But it was something I'd always keep saying to myself, do it right, do it right. Do how you were told and how you were trained, and things will be good. So I think it worked for me that way. I'm sure it did. I can identify with that a little bit.

Um, so, you know, now you've retired, you've moved, you're, you're still involved in EOD work, uh, kind of helping others learn and train, uh, looking back on this career, a lifetime of, of working to serve your community. Um, do you have any regrets and what are you most proud of? Um, I, you know what, looking back, I, I don't, I don't have any regrets. I don't think, I mean, I, I think I had a great career to where, um,

The people I worked with were great people, men and women. Being a bomb technician, that was probably the best part of my career, I would say, because I got to get back into the brotherhood of the Marine Corps, if you think about it. I know you and I have discussed this before, is that being a bomb tech and being able to train with Marine EOD, and when I met you before you got deployed in 2010, you

you know, and, and doing cross training and stuff that made me a better person and a better bond technician and a better officer, I think, because, you know, just, just dealing with, with Marines still, uh, like I said, it was a great experience. And I always said, I got the best of both worlds because I got to still, you know, hang out with my brother Marines and be a police officer and, uh, and, and both careers, you know, crossing over to each other to making me a better person and a better bond tech, I think. And, um,

And I do that right now by helping out in contract teaching with the ATF and explosive related courses for civilian bond techs and military bond techs. So I take pride in that. And I think that's what I'm most proud of is that, you know, I was able to continue in retirement.

And giving knowledge or helping people with the knowledge that I know that's not all stuck in my head and that I'm able to get it out. And hopefully, and I always hope that it saves people or helps people in their career. And if I could just do that, that's one thing that I am proud of.

Well, Steve, I hope people read more of your story in the book because I think you just really exemplify what it means to carry the responsibility and the authority, but also continue with the empathy and the heart and the love for people. And I think that's something that really shines when you tell the details of your story. I can't thank you enough, not just for being a friend and for helping train us to get ready to go out into Afghanistan, but

But for sharing your story and continuing to serve that way, here's to a couple more decades of doing what you've always done, which is protecting your community and continuing to contribute. And man, I just thank you for joining us. And I appreciate everything you've done, Triple J, because, you know, you brought a voice to the community.

to the law enforcement first responders that we don't get to get out that often because there's not people out there like you that are willing to tell that story. And I appreciate it. And I could probably say, you know, speaking for other people that I know, first responders, that they appreciate it also. And I want to thank you for that too. Yes, sir. I appreciate you, brother. Yep. Appreciate you too, man. Semper Fi. Semper Fi.

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