Changing the Police: Charlie Walker's Plan

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4.7 • 12.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

Every four years, the Yonkers Police Department starts the process of hiring new officers. This time, the department is specifically recruiting people of color through a program known as "Be The Change." Of course in Yonkers, there are plenty of Black people who don't feel it's up to them to "change" a department that has a long history of misconduct. But there's also a strong community of Black officers who question whether reform is possible until the Yonkers Police more accurately reflect the community they serves. In this episode, Embedded, in partnership with the Marshall Project, explores why there are so few officers of color on the Yonkers police force and why even those who've made it onto the force often feel the odds are stacked against them.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Kelly McEvers, and this is Embedded from NPR.
0:04.7	To become a cop in Yonkers, you have to do a bunch of things.
0:08.4	First, you have to take a written test.
0:10.9	And then if you score high enough, you have to take some physical tests.
0:14.4	Push-ups, sit-ups, and running.
0:18.3	So it's May 2022, and about a dozen potential police recruits are on a track at a high school
0:23.3	in Yonkers.
0:24.3	It's kind of like a track meet for adults.
0:27.4	If the runners are black, 3-0, 3-0 white, family and friends have come to watch.
0:32.6	It's wet and cold, and the track is saturated from rain the night before.
0:38.0	The timekeeper gets the group ready and gives them the rules.
0:41.0	This track inside lane, 6 laps, right, from start to finish.
0:45.6	The goal is to do a mile and a half, and make it in a time determined by your age and
0:50.0	gender.
0:51.0	Ready, begin.
0:52.0	Go, feel it.
0:53.0	Go, feel it.
0:54.0	Go, feel it.
0:55.0	You can do this.
0:56.0	One of the people cheering the runners is Shannon Hogue.
0:59.3	Keep moving, keep moving, keep moving.
1:01.8	Let's go, young lady, let's go, keep moving, keep moving.
	...

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