Nikki Brown didn鈥檛 plan on being a civil rights activist.
She鈥檚 a cop.
鈥淢y parents walked out of school so I didn鈥檛 have to,鈥 she says.
Brown grew up in East 狐狸视频, and for the past 10 years she鈥檚 been an officer with the 狐狸视频 County Police Department. Sunday was her last day in the department. She鈥檚 joining another department because after years of seeking support for changing a culture of racial and sexual bias 鈥 particularly at the county鈥檚 police academy 鈥 she鈥檚 had enough.
After complaining about racist and sexist comments through the chain of command a couple of years ago, Brown said she started to become isolated by the department. She couldn鈥檛 get into the training classes she needed. Despite excellent reviews she couldn鈥檛 get promoted. Eventually, she filed an equal employment opportunity complaint with the . She鈥檚 received a 鈥渞ight to sue鈥 letter from the commission.
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Brown doesn鈥檛 want to file a lawsuit. She wants to see the department change.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 even admit you have a problem with the culture,鈥 she says, 鈥測ou鈥檙e not ever going to get better.鈥
For Brown, the problems started in October 2015 after she was assigned to the police academy. According to her complaint, she was denied access to the training she needed to teach some of the classes she was assigned. A colleague loudly talked of 鈥渟kinning coons鈥 and made off-color comments about , the teen who was fatally shot by a white Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9, 2014.
Brown says she took her complaints up the chain of command, but nothing happened. During much of her time at the academy she was the only black instructor, and one of only two women. Recruits would tell her, she said, of other instructors bad-mouthing her and telling recruits they didn鈥檛 have to listen to her.
In December of 2017, she wrote a letter to Chief Jon Belmar to outline the issues. That month, the department鈥檚 Bureau of Professional Services, or internal affairs division, began an investigation.
It is ongoing, says Sgt. Shawn McGuire, a department spokesman.
Brown is leaving at a time that the department鈥檚 issues with race are attracting attention.
This summer, the Ethical Society of Police, an association that was founded in 1972 to battle discrimination in the 狐狸视频 Metropolitan Police Department, police officers as well.
Brown鈥檚 lament is that none of this should be happening.
Her experience since she criticized her colleagues has been similar to many other officers who have raised a voice of dissent, be they black or white.
Dan O鈥橬eil. Keith Wildhaber. Jennifer Williams.
Each brought complaints about some sort of inappropriate or unprofessional behavior through the chain of command and was later punished or retaliated against in some fashion.
鈥淎nybody who tries to stand up against them gets crushed,鈥 says O鈥橬eil.
For O鈥橬eil it was being shifted to a different precinct after on a supervisor allegedly targeting blacks for arrests in south 狐狸视频 County. He is suing the department. So is Wildhaber, over discrimination after a police board member allegedly told him to 鈥渢one down your gayness鈥 when he asked why he wasn鈥檛 getting promoted. Williams was removed from a position teaching swimming in the Police Athletic League unit after complaining about a hiring process that she found inappropriate. A federal arbitrator returned Williams to her position after she filed a grievance.
For Brown, she found that once she sought to improve her working environment, things were never the same. She was left out of meetings. People stopped talking to her. She couldn鈥檛 access teaching materials.
At least one other instructor saw what was happening:
鈥淚 had not seen this type of treatment during my term at the academy,鈥 wrote the instructor in a statement to investigators obtained by the Post-Dispatch. 鈥淣ikki Brown was treated in a manner unlike others before her.鈥
Now she鈥檚 gone, on to another department, but speaking her mind on the way out, hoping 狐狸视频 County can learn from its mistakes so that some of the young recruits she helped mentor don鈥檛 find themselves in the same position Brown does 10 years into their careers.
鈥淚 did what I was supposed to do and found myself in the penalty box,鈥 Brown says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the 1960s. Why am I still fighting some of the same battles as my parents?鈥