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Description
Inglewood Mayor James Butts shares one of his law enforcement origin stories at the USC Black Alumni Association & Safe Communities Institute event, "The Thin Line Between Black and Blue, a Black Law Enforcement Chiefs Panel Discussion", on becoming a police officer during a time when there were few to no officers of color working in the Inglewood Police Department.
Stay tuned for the full discussion video.
A
B
Up
in
77th
division
in
the
60s
okay,
and
that
means,
as
soon
as
you
start
driving
you
get
stopped
all
the
time
out
of
the
car
on
the
curb
hands.
This
search
that
never
it
would
never
cross
my
mind
to
think
that
I
would
be
a
police
officer.
I
wanted
to
do
two
things
from
the
age
of
seven
and
I
was
always
very
determined.
Type
I
wanted
to
be
a
corporate
attorney,
because
I
saw
on
a
news
broadcast
that
one
mate
370
thousand
a
year
in
1960
or
I
wanted
to
be
a
Los
Angeles
Laker.
A
B
A
very
good
student
had
a
very
high
SAT.
You
see
the
number
of
scholarship
offers
from
Ivy
League
institutions
because
they
were
trying
to
recruit
blacks.
At
that
time.
I
took
the
scholarship
to
Cal
State
Los
Angeles,
because
one
it
was
dual
I
got
money
for
academics
and
money
to
play
basketball
I'm
a
business
major
doing
well
in
school,
then
I
had
two
knee
surgery.
Couldn't
play
basketball
anymore,
need
to
pay
for
that
folks
way.
B
Somebody
comes
to
the
hospital
from
my
church
and
they
give
me
this
classified
ad
from
The
Herald
exam
I'm,
the
old
enough.
Remember
the
Herald
exam
right
and
it
talked
about
a
community
service
officer
position
in
the
city
of
Mingo.
It
it
paid
from
357
the
419
an
hour
in
1972
that
was
big
money
back
in
and
you
had
could
only
work
20
hours
a
week
and
you
had
to
have
a
full
load
in
college.
I
said:
that's
great
I
didn't
know
what
was
gonna
place.
B
A
B
A
natural,
okay
and
Sergeant
calls
me
in
my
first
day
he's
just,
but
you
need
a
haircut
and
I
said:
Sarge
I
I
want
to
cut
my
hair,
the
way
that
it
should
be
I
said
so.
I'm
gonna
get
the
manual
out
and
I
says.
Well,
it
says
that
you
can't
touch
your
collar.
I
said
my
hair
and
touching
my
collar.
That
says
your
sideburns
can't
go
past
the
mill
a
year.
I
said
my
sideburns,
my
past
bell
in
my
ear.
And
finally,
it
says
it's:
your
hair
can't
cover
your
ears.