I Did 4 Years in Prison - Then Became a Cop | Ameer Williams

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 745 Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2026

⏱️ 91 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ameer Williams greets you with a smile and a badge but behind that badge are 13 felonies and 4 years in prison. He went from hustling and selling drugs on the streets to becoming a police sergeant in Connecticut, and in this episode he pulls back the curtain on how the system let him through, what prison really did to him, and what it feels like to wear a uniform in the same world that once locked him up. This is an honest conversation about second chances, broken justice, and the thin line between criminal and cop...... and if you think you know what a police officer looks like, you haven’t heard this story. _____________________________________________ #IanBick #LockedIn #TrueCrime #Prison #PrisonStories #PoliceOfficer #FelonToCop #redemptionstory _____________________________________________ Thanks to 300 LETTERS for sponsoring this episode: Visit https://300letters.org/ to learn more or get support. Your donation to 300 Letters is an investment in safer neighborhoods & healthier families. _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ 00:00 Ameer: From Felon to Police Officer 03:00 Growing Up in New Haven’s Rough Neighborhoods 06:00 Early Influences & Slipping Into the Street Life 09:00 First Felony Arrest & Walking Into Prison 13:00 Inside Prison Walls: Politics, Survival & Reality 17:00 Ameer’s Views on Cops After Getting Out 21:00 Life After Prison & Fighting for a Second Chance 26:00 Turned Away Everywhere: Job Hunting as a Felon 31:00 Reentry & Recidivism: Why So Many End Up Back Inside 36:00 Breaking the “Felon” Label & Rebuilding a Name 39:00 From Ex-Felon to Police Officer: How Amir Got Hired 44:00 First Years in Uniform: Learning Policing on the Streets 49:00 Wearing a Badge With a Record: Stigma & Earning Respect 54:00 Giving Back: Serving the Same Community He Once Hurt 01:00:00 From Rookie to Sergeant: Learning to Lead Cops 01:06:00 Inside Police Culture: Pushing for Change From Within 01:11:00 Ameer’s Advice to Young People Before It’s Too Late 01:17:00 Moving Up the Ranks & Hard Lessons From Both Sides 01:23:00 Owning His Past While Wearing the Badge 01:27:00 Ameer's Book, Legacy & Final Reflections Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Philly Cheese Stack is back at McDonald's and it's still intensely cheesy.
0:04.0	Imagine the cheesiest thing ever. Now cover it in cheese. Add two beef patties, cheddar cheese sauce, crispy onions and even more cheese. The Philly Cheese Stack. Did we mention it's cheesy? Available until the 16th of March, 2026 from 11 AM. Fees applied to delivery orders. Price and participation may varyjects to availability. I walked into the police department one time with my field training officer.
0:23.2	I'm at the front desk and one of the veterans comes down and he's like, hey, you know this guy? Williams. I'm standing right there. He doesn't know it was me. He went to prison before or whatever it may be. What the hell? What type of people are they hiring or whatever it may be? and my FTO's like trying to give him the idea that is being, but he does never catch on whatever it would be.
0:38.9	So they were talking about me, and it's like they were trying to shame me. I'm not ashamed of my past. I've never been ashamed of my past. I never came there with an hourly person, like, oh, I'm a hi-dis. If you guys want to go looking for it and you found it, that's what you did. My guest today is Amir Williams who did four years in prison with 13 felonies on his record,
0:55.7	and somehow ended up wearing a badge. My guest today is Amir Williams who did four years in prison with 13 felonies on his record
0:55.7	and somehow ended up wearing a badge. Today he's a police sergeant in the same system that once locked him up.
1:02.8	This isn't a motivational story. It's a look at how close any of us can get to crossing that line
1:08.3	and how the justice system really works on the inside.
1:14.4	Where'd you grow up?
1:15.7	Newhovel, New Haven, Connecticut. Well, not actually New Haven. I grew up before New
1:20.7	O'Ovo, Fair Haven, in New Haven, but another part, another neighborhood. And then I moved to
1:27.3	Newhavel about 8th and 9th grade.
1:29.7	What was your childhood like?
1:31.1	My mother was a single mother.
1:34.1	My father was a drug addict.
1:36.3	You know, sometimes I hate to say it, but sometimes he's a drug addict to this day.
1:40.5	So he never was really in my life.
1:43.2	He's been a drug addict since my mother knows
1:44.8	since I was three years old. So he made it rough for her. He was physically and emotionally abusive
1:50.3	to her. She's a small age. She's 4-11. And he's my hype, but he was a bodybuilder at one time.
1:56.7	So he used to hit on her and things like that. So it wasn't really a good thing growing up, watching that, seeing that.
2:03.6	I don't remember a lot of it because I was younger.
	...

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