Black Police Recruit Hopes to ‘Effect Change’

Black Police Recruit Hopes to ‘Effect Change’
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy recruit Renata Phillip, third from right, listens to a lecture in a classroom at the Biscailuz Regional Training Center in Monterey Park, Calif. on July 19. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
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LOS ANGELES—Renata Phillip was 11 years into a satisfying teaching career when she shocked her friends and family last August by deciding to make a drastic career change: become a police officer.

Her decision came amid growing concern over police tactics in the wake of a number of deaths at the hands of officers of unarmed black men across the country. Most recently, the fatal police shooting of a black man who had a gun in his hand police sparked violent unrest in Milwaukee.

Phillip, a black woman who grew up in a mostly white, upper middle class neighborhood 30 miles east of Los Angeles, said she wasn’t motivated by race. But race is a motivation now as she completes her training to become a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.

“Everything that’s going on, it drives me to work a little harder,” the 36-year-old said during a break at the department’s grueling training academy.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy recruit Renata Phillip, top, trains with Robert Nichols during a defensive tactics class at the Biscailuz Regional Training Center in Monterey Park, Calif. on July 29. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy recruit Renata Phillip, top, trains with Robert Nichols during a defensive tactics class at the Biscailuz Regional Training Center in Monterey Park, Calif. on July 29. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong