Oral history interview with Deatra Y. Fuller, 2016.

Biographical Note

Deatra Fuller was born and raised in Harlem in the Grant projects during the 1950s and 1960s. During the late 1980s and early 1990s she worked as a Police Administrative Aide for the New York City Housing Authority Police and for the New York City Police Department. She briefly joined the Guardians Association, but eventually withdrew because the organization was not geared toward civilian staff. After nearly ten years as a Police Administrative Aide, she became frustrated with the department and sought other employment

Scope and Contents

Deatra Fuller discusses her time as a Police Administrative Aide for the New York City Housing Authority Police and for the New York City Police Department in the 1980s and 1990s. Her perspective on the internal operations of a few different Housing Police Service Areas, and New York City Police Precincts, led her to be very distrusting of police, and the New York City Police Department especially. She shares stories of police misconduct, sexism and social pressures in the work place, and the wrongful arrest of her son. Her friendships with members of her union, AFSCME DC37, and with members of the Guardians Association, were positive sources of support. However, after ten years as a Police Administrative Aide she stopped working for police and never went back. Also described in this interview, is her life in Harlem during the 1960s, and her views on current tensions between police and communities of color, as of 2016

Subjects

• African American police--New York (State)--New York.
• Discrimination in law enforcement--New York (State)--New York.
• Fuller, Deatra--Interviews.
• Harlem (New York, N.Y.)
• Interviews.
• NYPD Guardians Association.
• New York (N.Y.). Police Department--History.
• New York City Housing Authority. Police Department.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Police administration--New York (State)--New York.
• Police misconduct--New York (State)--New York.
• Strong, Liz, interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2016