Jason Cates, 55, of Ooltewah, is on a mission to preserve the stories of men and women in blue.
So far, Cates has posted more than 40 YouTube videos containing interviews with retired law enforcement officers from New Jersey t0 California. He calls the not-for-profit project “My Journey With the Badge.”
“Every cop has a couple of good stories,” Cates said in a telephone interview. “When they leave the force, the stories are lost to time.”
Through stories told to him during video interviews, Cates is collecting oral histories from former police officers who, in some cases, have been on America’s streets for 30 to 40 years.