Bulwell sergeant shares story of being a black man in policing

Sgy Jerone Taylor shares his story of being a black man in policing for Black History Month

Transcript

00:00 Yeah, so when I originally joined policing, some friends, some family members were a little

00:06 bit sceptical about me joining, you know, almost thinking that it wasn't a career for

00:11 black people. My grandparents were part of the Windrush generation coming to England

00:17 in the early 1960s. I know first hand the challenges they faced and unfortunately I

00:26 know black people are still facing some challenges today. I'm not an honest born and bred, so

00:32 it's really passionate that I actually police this area, so I know it really well. My karate

00:37 instructor was a police officer, taught me karate for eight years from the age of eight

00:43 through to sixteen. So yeah, he often used to come round and see me in his police car,

00:49 turn the sirens on, pretend to the neighbours that he was arresting me, so that kind of

00:53 gave me the insight and inspiration to want to join. I'm not going to stand here and say

00:59 policing is perfect, it's not, but which organisation is. And what I will say is that being a police

01:06 officer now for over seventeen years, the majority of times have been fun, been really

01:12 entertaining, been rewarding. I'd just like to say that policing is for everyone. I know

01:17 Nottinghamshire Police are working really hard to build bridges with the black community.

01:21 Yeah, I'd definitely recommend policing as a career. It's a great wide ranging profession,

01:29 so whatever your interests are, whether you're more of a hands on type person or you're more

01:35 of an investigative mindset, then give us a try really. What is there to lose? Like

01:41 myself, if you give us that opportunity, I think you'll really enjoy it.

01:46 [Music]