Podcasts News Reveal Behind the Blue Wall

Behind the Blue Wall

Published: March 5, 2022, 5 a.m.

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A nanny in Nashville was having a picnic on a bike path with the kids she was caring for when a man emerged from his house and started cursing at them. The woman began recording and threatened to call the police. But it turned out the angry man wasn\\u2019t afraid because he was part of the police \\u2013 a captain with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. The nanny\\u2019s video went viral. It put a cop in the spotlight, cracked a hole in the \\u201cblue wall of silence\\u201d and sparked a \\u201cMe Too\\u201d moment that inspired women in the force to speak up about the captain and other high-ranking officers.\\xa0

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Monica Blake-Beasley was one of the few Black women on the force and one of those who spoke out. When she came forward to report that another officer had sexually assaulted her, she says her colleagues closed ranks and protected not her, but the officer she had accused. Soon, Blake-Beasley began to feel like the department was retaliating against her. As Samantha Max of WPLN News reports, Nashville officers who dare to rock the boat are often disciplined, passed over for assignments or forced to leave altogether. Records show that Black female employees who were investigated for policy violations were suspended, demoted or terminated at more than twice the rate of White employees.

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