Retired Waltham Cop's Insider Stories: Boston Bomber Hunt, SWAT Raids & Bizarre Calls
Things Police See: Firsthand Accounts
Steven D Gould
4.9 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 7 January 2026
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this gripping episode, retired Waltham, Massachusetts police sergeant Jim Vaglica shares raw, firsthand accounts from his 32-year career. With 16 years on the NEMLEC regional SWAT team, Jim was on the ground during the intense manhunt and capture of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Watertown — including the chaotic boat standoff, massive gunfire, and negotiations.
He reveals behind-the-scenes details on the 2013 events (inspired by films like Patriots Day), bizarre scenes (like intact brains ejected from shotgun wounds), heart-pounding SWAT entries against armed barricaded suspects, early adrenaline-fueled calls, and the unsolved Waltham triple murder linked to the older Tsarnaev brother.
Jim also discusses recruiting new cops, school resource officers, his time on reality TV shows, and why policing remains an honorable profession. A must-watch for true crime fans, law enforcement stories, and Boston Marathon bombing insights.
Contact Steve - steve@thingspolicesee.com
Support the TPS show by joining the Patreon community today! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=27353055
Follow Jim on X - https://x.com/JimVaglica
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Things Police See, first-hand accounts with your host, Steve Gold. |
| 0:08.6 | Welcome to the podcast at interviews active and retired police officers, |
| 0:11.7 | but their most intense, bizarre, and sometimes humorous moments on the Jorb. |
| 0:15.6 | It is I, old ginger face here with you as always. |
| 0:19.1 | Guys, I hope you had a great Christmas and a happy new year. |
| 0:22.0 | I'm glad to be back on the saddle, as they say. |
| 0:25.2 | I got a bunch of guests lined up and lined up. |
| 0:28.5 | And yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. |
| 0:30.2 | I'm going to throw a few probably a few cop movie reviews in there. |
| 0:34.4 | People said they thought that would be fun and cool. |
| 0:37.2 | Rest assured the |
| 0:38.1 | police interviews won't be going away. That's the whole purpose of the show. So if you know |
| 0:42.7 | anybody out there, if you are a copper, if you're on the job, we can use a pseudonym. Don't |
| 0:48.2 | have to talk about your department you work for. Or if you're retired, even better because |
| 0:51.9 | retired guys and gals kind of just say whatever they want, |
| 0:55.6 | which is preferable for the show. |
| 0:57.5 | Either way, I take guests any way I can get them. |
| 1:00.3 | So just reach out, Steve at things, please see.com, or go to things, please see.com, |
| 1:04.3 | scroll down and click on, click on be a guest. |
| 1:07.7 | Today's guest, very excited to have him on. |
| 1:13.7 | He's actually, he's from a town right near the town my mother grew up in where I spent a lot of time as a kid. It's seen a lot of |
| 1:18.4 | changes. He's retired after 32 years with Waltham Mass, police department, three years, street |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Steven D Gould, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Steven D Gould and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.