A Washington state police officer was recently interviewed by The News Tribune and spoke about her experience working in law enforcement. Helen Stieben says she knew she wanted to work in law enforcement since she saw a female police officer in the third-grader at Fawcett Elementary in Tacoma, Washington. At the time Stieben said there weren’t many police officers who were women.
“That was it,” said Stieben. “Everyone knew from that point on that’s what I was going to do, and I didn’t even talk to her. The influence that (police officers) have is huge.”
Stieben who works for the Tacoma Police Department is using her position as an officer to make a change in light of protests across the country over police brutality. Stieben, who is Black, received attention last month after she helped lead the charge to remove the Thin Blue Line flags from patrol cars according to the news outlet. The 55-year-old was one of three officers whose TikTok videos were being investigated by the department after allegations that officers were violating department standards.
Stieben told the news outlet, her reason for advocating for the flag’s removal, and experience as a Black officer. “As police officers, we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Stieben said. “We have to work with our communities.”
“I think home-grown cops are the way to go,” Stieben said. “When you are born and raised in your city, and you know your city, and you know the people, and you go to calls and they recognize you — it makes things so much easier.”
Once Stieben saw the video of George Floyd being murdered in police custody in late May she said something was sparked something inside of her.
“It’s hard being a Black police officer because you feel like you either have to be on one side or the other and for a long time I was on the law enforcement side,” Stieben said. “… All of a sudden it hit me. I thought you know what? When I take off this uniform, I’m a member of this community. And I’m a Black member of this community.”
“It’s not just that people are dying in police custody. It’s that every day, Black people have to think about what they do and how it’s going to affect people. And it becomes second nature” she added.
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