This one-hour special shares the perspectives and insights of officers who find themselves balancing their identity as Black Americans with their roles on St. Louis-area police forces. According to a 2018 Washington University in St. Louis study, black victims of fatal police shootings are seven times as likely to be unarmed as their white peers. Although 29% of St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers were black that same year, outranking the national average, the number is still disproportionate to the city they serve, which is 49% black.
In a time when the conversation about race and police community relations is front page news in America, the five officers profiled in Of Black and Blue work to affect positive change in their own communities.
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Visit our Of Black and Blue page for more information, including a chapter guide, officer bios & more.