I began by expressing my understanding that many honorable people with integrity choose to become police officers. I applauded them for their consideration of this career, given the potential personal risks involved and the relatively modest pay. We then showed the video of Dwight and me talking about Leslie. This was followed by the PowerPoint presentation. Next was the question-and-answer period. I will admit that I dreaded this last part because I had experienced so much negativity from the Chattanooga Police Department. I felt that I was perceived as the enemy, the evil mother of Leslie Vaughn Prater. Regardless of those feelings of anxiety, I still invited their questions.
I asked, “Are there any questions?” I looked from one side of the room to the other. My glances were met with silence. I was about to move on to my closing activities when a young white man stood up slowly at the back of the room. He was very tall and physically imposing. My heart sank because I immediately thought, “Well, here it is. He is going to blast me.” I was shocked by his words. He thanked me for the presentation and stated, “I knew your son Leslie, and he was just as you described him.” I was practically mesmerized. He continued by sharing that Leslie was a wonderful person. He said that Leslie was very kind, was well liked, and had a lot of friends. He didn’t know of anyone who had any negative interactions with Leslie. According to this recruit, he had gone to school with Leslie and was shocked and could not believe that this had happened to him. He gave such a positive tribute to Leslie’s memory that I could not help but wonder, “How could God have known that I needed that?” My other thought was “Does this young man know how brave he is, to stand up before this audience and say such positive things about Leslie?”
I then identified some of the other materials I had brought and discussed the significance of each. These included the books Driving While Black by Kenneth Meeks;2 Both Sides of the Fence by Bob Martin;3 and a copy of Norm Stamper’s book Breaking Rank.4 Before retirement, Mr. Stamper had served as the police chief of San Diego, California, and Seattle, Washington. In his book, he was very open about his knowledge of accounts of police brutality. His writings confirmed my belief that unwarranted acts of police misconduct represent reality for countless victims.
I then passed out the scholarship information and discussed its value to the awardees to assist in completing a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. One recruit, who had displayed body language that seemed to indicate his lack of interest in anything I had to say, suddenly seemed somewhat attentive when I talked about the scholarship. Rather than just pick up the information from his place on the table, he slowly slid the paper closer and carefully turned it over to read. Other recruits had immediately begun to read the information after they received the handouts, whereas he had left his copy facedown, until I suppose his curiosity overwhelmed him.
The statement on the handout read as follows:
Leslie Vaughn Prater was born on December 24, 1966, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was the son of Dwight and Loretta Prater, and the brother of Stefan Prater. He was a graduate of Tyner High School, where he was selected as a Senior Superlative of his 1985 graduating class. He had a very charismatic personality and strong leadership qualities. During his teenage years, Leslie developed a strong interest in the arts, particularly painting and drawing. Leslie attended Tennessee State University and the Art Institute of Atlanta. While living in Atlanta, he held a position as an illustrator and post-production manager with Medical Legal Illustrations. Eventually, he returned to Chattanooga where he resided until his tragic and untimely death on January 2, 2004, at the age of thirty-seven. Although his glowing smile and personality are no longer here to brighten the days of those who knew and loved him, his love of life and passion for helping people will live on through this scholarship. It is the family’s sincere hope that the recipients of this scholarship will embrace justice and embark on a successful professional career to ensure that justice is enjoyed by all.
At the end of our session, Dwight and I were packing up our materials while the recruits were leaving the room for another break. One academy participant approached me. He stated his name, and I immediately recognized it, even before he continued by saying, “I am the first recipient of the Leslie Vaughn Prater Memorial Scholarship.” Without any warning from either of us, we embraced and fought back tears. To me, it almost seemed as though Leslie was in the room. We talked for several minutes, mostly about his plans for the future and my congratulating him on graduating. I told him how much I appreciated his letter to thank us for the scholarship. In that correspondence, he had stated that it had been a financial struggle for him to stay in school and that the scholarship allowed him to continue enrollment toward completing his degree. He was going to be the first one in his family to graduate from college. I was surprised that he was pursuing employment in Chattanooga. In his letter, he had mentioned his plans to work in Nashville. He also shared that he believed that law enforcement would be a good fit for his strengths of thinking on his feet, interacting well with people, and helping others with problem solving. After initially reading his letter, I had a yearning to meet him, but I had accepted the reality that it was unlikely that we would ever meet. My meeting him was a miracle, in my opinion.
I stopped in the hallway to talk to the young man who had given the unsolicited testimony confirming my description of Leslie as a wonderful person. I told him how much we appreciated what he said and that I was sincerely moved by his kindness. I also conversed with a police officer whom I had taught when he was in high school. I had no idea that he would be at the training center that day. He was the same officer I had seen at the Bessie Smith Strut, but we acted as though we didn’t know each other. Because of all of the local publicity surrounding our case, he had to know about the lawsuit conclusion and why I was there.
It had been approximately twenty-five years since our last communication. We had mutual fond memories of our former student-teacher relationship. We hugged and he starting talking to me about his life since high school. He had married, and he proudly showed me a picture of his toddler, who looked exactly like him. I talked about my career since teaching family life education at Hixson High School. I can definitely say that although I entered the building with sadness and anxiety, I left with joy and a smile. Divine intervention is powerful.
The second and third presentations to academy recruits in Chattanooga were generally duplicates of the first one. As with the first one, a police administrator contacted me to discuss the academy’s schedule and to see what date would best fit my schedule. It was important for me to have adequate advance notice because Dwight and I had to request vacation days from work to travel to Chattanooga. I always tried to schedule a Monday morning presentation, so we could have the weekend to travel and only needed to use one vacation day. As a longtime educator, I was aware that every class was different, even if it was the same course, using the same textbook, audiovisuals, and class assignments, because the students bring their own dynamics. Unlike my secondary school or university classroom presentations, however, there was little difference between the first and successive classes at the academy. Participant demographics were similar, and cadets were required to be there. We used the same instructional materials for each session. The training officers were always cooperative and cordial. Presentations were taped, with a copy of the video remaining with the department and one provided for us.
My discussion in the PowerPoint presentation did vary somewhat with each workshop. Because Dwight and I participated in ongoing activities, there was always something additional to say about police brutality. Nationwide, new cases of police misconduct occurred, and I would mention those situations that received media attention, to provide current information. With each presentation, my confidence grew, and anxiety became almost nonexistent. It never became easy to read Stefan’s poem or show Leslie gravesite, but I managed to maintain a professional presence.
The third workshop satisfied the lawsui
t agreement, but I knew that sensitivity training was still needed at the academy. I attended a city council meeting to publicly request permission to continue this service. I was told that Chief Cooper would make the decision. Subsequently, I contacted him, and he told me I could continue to conduct the workshops as long as I wanted. However, budget constraints prohibited the initiation of another academy for some months. Chief Cooper retired at the end of March 2011, before there was another training session scheduled. When the next class of cadets was formed, I contacted the new police chief and asked about scheduling the sensitivity training. He reminded me that the department had satisfied the directive in the lawsuit agreement. I responded that I had offered my service indefinitely and the previous chief had accepted the offer, but, as previously mentioned, I was not allowed to do any presentations during his tenure or during the tenure of his successor. Throughout the years after Chief Cooper’s retirement, Chattanooga residents kept asking, “Why did you stop giving the presentations?” My response was “They won’t let me.”
My motive was to save lives, theirs and others, and increase mutual respect and trust among police officers and citizens. For years, various chiefs of police in Chattanooga were always implying that a major goal was to increase trust between the community and the department. Accepting my offer would have contributed to an establishment of trust, especially among Chattanoogans who wanted me to continue the workshops. Department personnel were probably still angry that our family had settled a wrongful death lawsuit against them and decided to never allow me to address their recruits again. On May 8, 2017, an article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on the need to create trust between the community and the Chattanooga Police Department. Apparently, the department continues to struggle with that issue.
In addition to the academy sessions previously described, the second sensitivity training in Cape Girardeau had another component. Connie, the mother of Derek Hale, and I were co-presenters. Derek’s death confirms what I have been redundant in stating: “This can happen to anyone.” Although research consistently reports that men of color are usually the victims of these incidences, white families are also impacted. Police brutality is not an issue only for black people but an issue of human rights for all people. I have stated that I am an angry black woman. Connie is an angry white woman. Collectively, we are angry mothers. I believe that Connie’s presence in the academy presentation gave more validity to the claim that all people are vulnerable. Many black people believe that society doesn’t care about the life of young black males. Her son, who had served his country, was confronted by a rogue police officer. Maybe this officer was trigger happy. Who knows why he chose to end Derek’s life? In these tragic situations of unarmed people being killed by police officers, when there is no apparent danger to the officers, and even sometimes when the victims are running away from the police, I believe that the officers had a choice.
Connie and I were only two mothers among many who had to bury a child because of police brutality. I had spoken to several other mothers as well, and I felt a need to share with the recruits some comments from a few others. I will refer to them as Mother 1, Mother 2, and Mother 3.
Mother 1: I resent that my life has been changed forever and that I didn’t have anything to do with it. I fight bitterness every day and I don’t like the person I have become.
Mother 2: My son was killed ten years ago. I went to trial and won, but the police appealed. My life is shattered. Every day, I drive by the place where he was killed. I am considering moving to another city.
Mother 3: My son was killed four years ago. I am still in the process of a lawsuit. His body may have to be exhumed. I cry every day and the family is torn apart.
Often, speakers will leave an audience with a few takeaways. I followed that pattern and provided the recruits with three statements to ponder. I hope recruits will recall my three messages:
Take the job seriously, more seriously than any other job you have ever had.
You will have power over life and death.
Look inside of yourself and think about how you would have handled these issues presented to you today. Ask yourself if you have a racial bias that would impact your behavior.
Before completing this chapter, I wanted to share with you some of the results of the research question “Why did you want to become a police officer?” Five groups participated in the research. I didn’t distinguish between responses from Chattanooga recruits versus those from Cape Girardeau. The identity of each person’s response remained anonymous. This summary will give you a sense of the motivation expressed by cadets planning a career in law enforcement. From my review of ninety-four responses, I felt encouraged that there were many potentially effective law enforcement professionals among those recruits. Many of the statements were very similar, and common themes emerged. I must admit concern, however, when persons equate community policing with the same actions practiced during their former military life. Responses seemed clustered within the themes of helping people and the community, desiring to get criminals off the street, a connection to the family or former military life, or satisfying a lifelong dream. Collectively, the majority of the responses included the word “help.” The feedback listed below is exactly as written, without any editing.
I want to be a police officer because I believe it is a noble profession that needs people who care about the community, the citizens and upholding the law.
To help people, bring communities together and put criminals in jail.
I am interested in people. Whenever I am in a position to help someone, I do! This is a position I do not feel will bore me in the future. I am willing to put my life on the line for others, so I feel there is no better way to do so other than be a police officer.
I was in foster care for most of my life and have been around a lot of things. I currently work with teens in foster care and I also am a mentor to these teens. So I choose this field to help others mainly children from taking the wrong path.
I chose law enforcement because I want to serve the community and do good works in my savior’s name. Because of growing up in the slums of Chicago, I didn’t think that I was “man of cloth” material because of some worldly attributes I have from the world.
To help others; to be the “friendly” folksy type cop; help protect my family and others and drive a 500 up car.
The community I live in doesn’t have very good police officers that will do their job and do it right. So, I decided to become a police officer to help my community and do my part in protecting them from crime and criminals.
I worked as a Deputy Sheriff in the early 90’s. However, due to the low pay, I had to quit for a better paying job. Now that I have my family raised, I want to return to the law enforcement field because I have always felt a calling to law enforcement and have always wanted to help others in their time of need and crisis.
It is the job that is most like what I did in the military.
To help the small town to take control of the drug and alcohol. To protect people so they can feel safe in their own homes and make it a better place for my grandchildren to grow in.
Get drug addicts and sellers and crooks off the streets.
I want to be a police officer because I want to fight crime, corruption, vice and violence. I’m here to fight it and I want to enforce it.
To help those in need. To help to protect the innocent and get those who believe they are above the law off the streets.
To help and protect my family and community and to educate young people and tell them that they should not be afraid of the police.
I chose a career in law enforcement because I’m a third generation cop and I enjoy helping others.
The reason I became a police officer was my mom and uncle tried awhile ago to become one and did not make it. I guess I am fulfilling their dream. I like the image that it pro
jects. It has always been a dream of mine.
My father is a police officer. I’ve been around police officers my entire life. The nobility, discipline, and camaraderie enticed me into making this choice.
Crime in my family has been a constant and I have seen the effects on, not only them, but millions of people worldwide. I would like to do my part to help minimize that environment.
There have been some bad things happen in my family and this is the way I feel I can contribute to the solution, instead of the problem.
To aide in keeping the community safe, for the sake of my children.
I would like to be a police officer because of people who abuse women and children, especially those who sexually assault children. I was sexually assaulted when I was younger and I do not want anyone else to go through that.
As a kid growing up it was something that I wanted to be. As I grew older, it called for me.
Something I’ve always wanted; goes along with military background; protect the weak and innocent.
I was raised in a military home. I always wanted to serve my country in the armed services, but due to a medical condition I cannot get into the military. So, this is the best way for me to serve my country.
I would like to be a police officer because I like to fellowship with people and try to keep people honest. It’s not about beating up people or being mean to people. Maybe you could be at the right place at the right moment to change a person’s life to keep them from doing something wrong. I want to try to help people and keep people safe.
The placement of the last response is deliberate. When I read that one, I thought, “He or she really gets it.” As a researcher, one is always thinking about how one research project causes one to ask other questions. I would love to have been able to conduct a longitudinal study with those persons. For those who completed the academy and became full-time police officers, I would love to know if their anticipations were realized. I wish I could ask each, “Now that you have been a police officer, based on why you selected law enforcement as a career, were your expectations realized, and if not, what was different?”
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