How Stories Can Protect Us

I’m nine and living in a wonderful residential neighborhood in southern California.

And someone has just broken into our house while I was at school and my Dad and Step Mom were at work!

As I watch the police interview my parents outside, I know what I have to do.

I go into my Dad’s tool shed and look around until I find it: the caulking gun. I then traverse my backyard and cover everything I can see--the bushes, the furniture, all of it--with white caulking paste.

Why does nine-year-old me do this? Because in my mind, I know that when the robbers come back, their feet will stick in this gluey paste and I’ll catch ‘em!

Except that’s not exactly what happens...

Annie, our golden retriever, is not aware of my plan and finds herself covered in this thick white sticky paste after innocently wandering into the backyard. After multiple baths for her and deep breaths from my Dad, he suggests, “We leave the police work to the professionals.”

My special guest on the Storytelling School Podcast this week, Pete James, is one of those professionals. Plus he takes it up a notch by protecting the people who protect us.

In this episode, you’ll hear him tell some shocking stories involving law enforcement, judges, and others (though not in the way you’re probably thinking) and get answers to questions like:

What’s one thing that can change the trajectory of your story without you even being aware of it? And how can you ensure control of your story before some harmful, unforeseen circumstance influences it?

• Why you want to keep certain details of your personal story hidden from public view
• How certain private story details get exposed for everyone to see in the first place
• Why scrubbing your personal information online isn’t a one-time thing

Pete James is a former member of the U.S. Navy. He served on an aircraft carrier as an Intelligence Specialist. Then he moved on to a career in law enforcement where he worked for 25 years and rose to the rank of Lieutenant.

As a skilled Open-Source Intelligence analyst and computer forensics expert, Pete has experience in investigating thousands of criminal, civil, and corporate cases and has testified in state, federal, and civil trials. His passion involves the protection of those who protect us. To that end, he combined his law enforcement experience and online investigative skills to create his company Officer Privacy. The business protects law enforcement officers, celebrities, and regular citizens by removing their private information from the Internet so that they and their families feel safe from criminals and others who want revenge.