it's a beautiful place to raise a family
and yet probably every block there's
someone on hell
I was sort of the face of law
enforcement in this County not mostly
just work drugs here I'm at work
you know lock people up and I'm coming
home and my daughter was a drug addict
she kind of felt like I was the enemy
I've been a conservative person my whole
life and I believed in my entire life
that arrest and incarceration was the
answer to this drug war drugs are
menacing our society they're killing our
children when Reagan took office I mean
he was a he was a great speaker you know
we got a win this world and drugs this
drugs is ruining our country and you
know I bought into it I loved it I mean
I love chasing guys down I loved when
they'd run
I loved tackling them I loved the rest
of them I mean I felt like I'm on the
frontlines of the drug war I mean I felt
good about it if they had a lot of crack
good if they had a little bit of crack
good if they just had a pipe you know at
the end of the night I wanted to have an
arrest I want to have a body
my daughter is very outgoing and she was
funny and she had jokes Brookes
childhood we her and I were
exceptionally tight when she was younger
I mean everywhere I went I pretty much
took Brooke with me and she wanted to be
with me
usually the life of the party even when
she was very young I'm Brooke stepmom so
but for me still Brookes mom around 12
13 years old middle school we noticed
that there was something wrong when she
went to high school that find cigarettes
vodka weed I'm a little naive when it
comes to certain things and of course
her father's you know kind of he's he
was a Narcotics Task Force agent so he
saw all of it
2013 the heroin epidemic started to take
off she was just turning 18 about that
same time she caused me in his summer
and says I need your help dead which is
something Brooke never said we went
Metro breakfast and that's where Brooke
told me that she was addicted to pills I
asked her how she was affording to have
it and she told me that she was selling
her body to get the money to buy pills
Brooke believed that I couldn't make it
go away that I could fix it probably
five or six or seven different rehabs
and halfway houses then that year when
she relapsed again she's out using I
knew she was staying in the trashiest
motel around I knew she was prostituting
I knew she was stealing I felt like if
she was prosecuted and she was giving
some time in jail that that might save
her life
I requested that she be prosecuted for
those charges yes four months in jail I
remember when she came in you could just
hear the whispers down the hallway it's
Brooks it's boxers that spoke simmers
because of who her dad her dad he had a
child that was committing the same sins
of the people that he had incarcerated
and he just couldn't get it he couldn't
get it and I related very well because I
was also struggling with how do you make
family members that do not have an
addiction understand we are not doing
this because we like it who likes this
misery who wants to do this first the
injection sites started to like erupt
then the skin would turn black I almost
lost both of my arms
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she was released from jail she had been
clean for months and months and she want
to get high when you've been playing
that long you can't take the same amount
that you did before you went in
she snuck out
she drove off and went parked him
crawled into the backseat of her little
red looks wagon and took a sweatshirt
folded it up in a little ball and used
it as a pillow
and she laid down and she died a locket
of Brookes hair that I took
here she over there sand dad when she
get out maybe if she wouldn't want to
wait for that for months maybe she
wouldn't ever - and Dad I did everything
wrong here mean I should have never
talked to the police about nothing
shouldn't have put her out should I just
stood by her and get her in there I
don't know I don't know what would have
worked I know what we did didn't did not
work in this drug business they say you
can love someone to death you can love
them to death I feel like I did that
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20 years ago most people felt that we
need to arrest more people but I think
most people were wrong and I think I was
wrong this epidemic was in the
african-american community for years we
did nothing about it
she's a pretty white girl lives in the
suburbs and I think that that could
possibly be what people were calling
this saying hey how can we help what we
want to help I now think the old drug
war is total [ __ ] when Brooke was
sober she said you know what she'd like
to have is she'd like to have a sober
living house for women so shortly after
she passed my wife and I sat down and
said you know we're gonna fulfill her
dream a halfway house just their
sanctuary yes a place of place for just
safety right
we're going to come out here and give it
have an honest chance of recovery
hey chief thanks for coming out and I
absolutely appreciate very much I would
like you to welcome you to the future
home of Brooks house so without further
ado my longtime friends and biggest
cheerleader
Kevin Zimmer I don't think anybody wants
to build a house and memory of their
daughter but this is her dream and we're
gonna do our best to fulfill her dream
and we're going to go ahead and take our
first groundbreaking here thank you
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you