Blue Canary: For Cops By a Cop

Steve Kellams
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Who approaches the scene first risking their lives for the safety of others? We do. The blue canaries, law enforcement. We allow others to tell our stories. It's time for us to tell our own stories. Blue Canary is a show for cops by a cop, retired Captain Steven Kellams. In each episode, Steve goes behind the scenes of a police department. Giving you real-world insight into why decisions are made, what obstacles are ahead, and how the answers to your questions aren’t always found in the news. It’s unfiltered, it’s relevant and it’s for anyone brave enough to wear a badge.

  1. The Thin Line Rock Station

    7 JAN · BONUS

    The Thin Line Rock Station

    Send us a text https://www.thethinlinerockstation.com/ In October of 2025, I got an email that made me pause for a second. It was from James Hathaway who said that he was one of the owners of The Thin Line Rock Station, an online radio station that was specifically designed for public safety. He had heard my podcast and thought I would have a great voice for their station and would I be interested in being a DJ. I started doing a little digging and when I typed in The Thin Line Rock Station to my web browser it popped right up. I hit play and found myself listening to a real radio station. Commercials, ads, and DJ’s playing some really good music. A great mix of rock and country. So, I responded and a week or so later, I was on the air, DJ’ing my first show. Now for those of you that are hearing about this for the first time you really should take a minute and check it out. The Thin Line Rock Station is a radio station, like any other regular radio station you might listen to, but it’s streamed over the internet. You can listen to it from your computer browser or you can download the app and listen to it from any device. To explain where the station came from and how it came about here’s a little background straight from the station.

    9 min
  2. The Wooden Policeman

    12/11/2025

    The Wooden Policeman

    Send us a text We find ourselves once again at the end of a season. This caps off Season 6 of Blue Canary and it’s been very interesting. I had been thinking about retirement for a couple of years. Once the greatness of it started to settle and the things you missed started to creep back in past the walls you built telling yourself it was the greatest decision you ever made, reality raised it’s ugly head. Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy I am retired. But there are things I miss. I mean really miss. I miss the people. The officers I got to work with every day. The ones who came to me for guidance. The ones who came to me with problems. And even the ones that came to me when they had screwed up. I miss the work. Serving the community everyday was fulfilling. I knew what I was doing mattered, even when it didn’t seem like it at the time. I miss the challenges, having to be sharp, fit, strong, and quick. Pitting yourself against bad guys and trying to solve problems on the fly. I miss the adrenaline. Sure, that’s the thing you’re not supposed to talk about, but it’s there. They way your heart hammered in your chest when the Oh Shit button got pushed. The feeling you had at the end when you had won. I miss the identity. I miss being a cop. And everything that comes with that. When I settled on retirement for this season’s focus it was because I wanted to talk about that thing that had been weighing on me. The lack of support. I had chatted with fellow retired officers who said they didn’t feel supported. I chatted with my military friends who had vastly different experiences upon retiring. And I did my research, looking for programs, communities, and people to help. What I found just made it worse. On a positive note, I am doing the DJ thing every Friday form 8am - Noon on the Thin Line Rock Station. Check it out. https://www.thethinlinerockstation.com/

    12 min
  3. The Hollow Call

    29/10/2025

    The Hollow Call

    Send us a text “The Hollow Call” a Halloween Special. Let’s just add a little more spook to an already spooky tail.  I received this email from a user who went by Mallory98. The email didn’t have anything in it but this attached story. I tried several times to reach out and get more information, but every time I sent an email it bounced back as an invalid address. Every time. Through every email provider So, I just decided to share it in its entirety. We will call this one, "The Hollow Call"

    6 min
  4. Next Shift with Jessica Flores

    15/10/2025

    Next Shift with Jessica Flores

    Send us a text Jessica Flores served as a police officer and detective in the Kansas City Missouri area, but was forced to retire early due to medical issues. That left her struggling to find purpose and meaning in the post law enforcement world. That all stopped one day when she realized she could help other officers find their purpose after law enforcement. That’s how Next Shift was founded. Today Jess runs Next Shift to help coach officers leaving the profession to help them find purpose and community after law enforcement. Jess was gracious enough to sit down and chat with me for a few minutes about her own experiences and Next Shift.

    32 min
  5. Where Is All The Support?

    01/10/2025

    Where Is All The Support?

    Send us a text When an officer retires, whether it’s after 20, 25, or 30 years, there’s often a handshake, a plaque, maybe a party. Then the uniform goes in the closet, and that’s it. After decades of service—after countless nights on patrol, after seeing humanity at its worst and sometimes at its best—suddenly, you’re just… done. There’s no transition program. No debrief. No structured counseling. No real roadmap for what comes next. Contrast that with the military: service members who retire or separate are connected with the VA, with veteran service organizations, with peer support programs. They’re eligible for medical and mental health services for the long term. Whether or not the system is perfect, there is a system. For cops? Not so much. When it comes to support for retired officers, it’s really a mixed bag.

    15 min
  6. Mental Health with Zachary Saenz

    17/09/2025

    Mental Health with Zachary Saenz

    Send us a text Every day’s a Saturday. That’s one of those great retirement sayings. What it means is you get to do what you want, when you want. After thirty years of being told where to be, when to be, and how to be, it’s very liberating. My wife was at work and I had finished all of the little chores I wanted to get done around the house. I sat down and fired up the streaming services. I was looking for a little movie I could put on and probably take a nap. My search stopped on “The Fastest Woman on Earth” That put a twist in my afternoon plans. “The Fastest Woman on Earth” is a 2022 documentary about Jesse Combs, her quest to break the woman’s land speed record, and her ultimate death. I was familiar with Jesse Combs, I had watched her in a number of television shows over the years, specifically “Overhaulin” and “Mythbusters”. I also enjoy documentaries so clicking play was a no brainer. I started crying about 5 minutes into the film and couldn’t stop crying the rest of the afternoon. As cops we get very good at compartmentalizing trauma. When we deal with all of those horrible thing’s day in and day out, we put them behind a door, lock it tight, and throw away the key. Something in that movie opened one of those doors for me and let it all out. It was a rough afternoon But it would have been rougher if I didn’t understand what was going on with me. [Insert Intro] Mental Health for Law Enforcement is an issue that we still fight today. Even though we should know better, we still stigmatize getting help. We still want to portray ourselves and our profession as stoic, strong, and above those emotions. We are not. I wanted to talk to an officer who had experience dealing with mental health issues, someone who understood the problem and was willing to deal with it head on. That’s when I connected with Zachary Saenz. Zachary has over 8 years in law enforcement and has served as a patrol officer, field training officer, and now is a patrol sergeant.  He is an advocate for mental health in law enforcement and his story is an important one to hear.

    40 min
  7. They Pull Me Back In

    03/09/2025

    They Pull Me Back In

    Send us a text When I retired from the Bloomington Police Department, I was done. I knew that, walking out the door. There was no way I was going to go back to the department and work for them again. I was moving on with my life. But, to be fair, it was easy for me. I had prepared for retirement. I had followed the Dave Ramsey financial plan and was debt free save for my home mortgage. I had a substantial emergency fund and I had a job, teaching. I started traveling the country and teaching right away, and I have to say being my own boss was a massive benefit. But most officers when they retire aren’t in the same position. Many of them haven’t prepared for the possibility of retirement. They haven’t put away any money. They have no idea what they are going to do. And that hurts. When you combine the challenges of financial needs, the lack of social interaction, boredom and the loss of identity of being a cop, going back to the job is easy to understand. Let’s take a moment and look at each of those reasons for going back to the job.

    12 min
  8. Drones with Matt Rowland

    20/08/2025

    Drones with Matt Rowland

    Send us a text Police Helicopters are quickly becoming a thing of the past. When the helicopters themselves cost anywhere from 500,000 to 3 Million dollars to purchase and have operating costs around 400 bucks per hour to fly nobody can afford them anymore. Not that anyone outside of a handful of major metropolitan police departments ever could.  But that doesn’t take away the fact that having eyes in the sky can and does offer incredible advantages when it comes to public safety. In 2025 that means drones. Over the last decade we have seen drone use increase among police department across the US. Starting with search and rescue functions the use of drones has continued to grow just as the technology has improved and today we have full time drone pilots in agencies all over the US. I had the pleasure to speak with Matt Rowland. Since 2017 Matt has been a member of the Unmanned Air Support Unit with the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is currently a full-time drone pilot and an advocate of the technology.

    34 min
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About

Who approaches the scene first risking their lives for the safety of others? We do. The blue canaries, law enforcement. We allow others to tell our stories. It's time for us to tell our own stories. Blue Canary is a show for cops by a cop, retired Captain Steven Kellams. In each episode, Steve goes behind the scenes of a police department. Giving you real-world insight into why decisions are made, what obstacles are ahead, and how the answers to your questions aren’t always found in the news. It’s unfiltered, it’s relevant and it’s for anyone brave enough to wear a badge.

Information

  • Creator
    Steve Kellams
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    81
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Blue Canary: For Cops By a Cop
  • Show Website
    Blue Canary: For Cops By a Cop