About This Episode

Host Connor Kenaston interviews Patricia Flernoy, who served with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for 30 years before retiring.

“Amongst officers, the tension was probably there, but they wouldn’t necessarily say it. Having been African American, being female, police department, you start out and they say 'You can’t ride with African-American male officers,' because they see you as this sexualized character. I have ridden with officers who didn’t accept that I was there, that I’m Black and I’m a female, and in their mind I shouldn’t be there. I’ve been in situations where they say, 'In this office, we need to have an African American or we need a female. O.K. you fit the bill for African American and female.” Or you find out that they really do not want you there but they have no choice but they have no choices, that you have got to be there.”

In This Episode

2:34 Police Brutality, Police Reform and Tensions within the Department
4:50 Tension Between Other African Americans and Her as a Cop
8:20 How Faith Affected Life as a Police Officer
9:45 Life Within The Changing Ville Neighborhood in St. Louis