Black and a Cop: Detective Says ‘We’ve All Got Work to Do’

In the aftermath of the deadly attack on Dallas officers, the city’s police chief issued an appeal to blacks: If you want to change law enforcement, join us. Apply to become a cop.

Chelsea Whitaker, former point guard from Baylor University and now a detective with the Dallas Police Department, poses for a portrait in Dallas on July 13, 2016. AP Photo/Lisa Marie Pane

DALLAS—In the aftermath of the deadly attack on Dallas officers, the city’s police chief issued an appeal to blacks: If you want to change law enforcement, join us. Apply to become a cop.

Chelsea Whitaker heeded that call nearly a decade ago, long before the fatal police shootings in Ferguson, Missouri, and North Charleston, South Carolina, and elsewhere that energized the Black Lives Matter movement.

If you want to change law enforcement, join us.

— Dallas Police Officer Chelsea Whitaker