GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Green Bay Police Officer AJ Walker’s story starts in the early 90’s on Chicago’s near west side: the infamous Henry Horner project homes.
“I was born and raised [there],” Walker recounted. “It was one of those desolate, crime ridden places… just a horrible place in general.”
It was there, as a young teenager, growing up in a rough neighborhood, where AJ Walker had the encounter that would change the course of his life: a run in with a Chicago police officer.
It wasn’t a good one.
“I had to be either 13 or 14 when I had my first real encounter with a police officer, a Chicago police officer. He kind of roughed me up a bit,” Walker told WTAQ. “You know how we always look back on things in our youth and think; ‘oh, maybe I was just kind of ridiculous’? When I look back on it, he was just kind of a terrible person. I caught the brunt of his anger.”
Listen to this story:
The officer put his boot in Walker’s face…but it didn’t fill Walker with anger. He took a different approach: the best revenge is a life well lived.
“That was the point in my life where I told myself that I could do a better job [as a police officer] than that guy,” Walker said Monday. “Since then, I’ve kind of been on a bit of a war path to get to this point where I am right now.”
Officer Walker is currently a school resource officer for the Green Bay Police Department, assigned to West High School and Franklin Middle School. He’s been with the department for five years–but his career as an officer hasn’t been a cake walk.
In 2016, the Green Bay Police night shift was rocked by scandal after an internal investigation found several officers engaged in sexual harassment and bullying of a female coworker…and making racist remarks towards Officer Walker. He almost quit.
“It was honestly the first real, unfiltered racism that I had ever experienced in my life,” Walker said of the incident. “It left a real sour taste in my mouth for about a year, but ended up only strengthening my resolve, the resolve that started this process.”
Three officers resigned in the wake of that investigation, including the shift’s Lieutenant, who was accused of using racial slurs and making “monkey noises” behind the backs of black officers. Six others were disciplined, but remained with the department.
His life has given Walker a sense of perspective unique among police officers, and he says he wants to use it to make a difference.
“I felt that I could come into law enforcement and make real change,” Walker said. “Changes in how black communities are policed, changes in training, retention, and recruitment.”
But change, Walker adds, isn’t a one way street.
“It’s a two-party conversation,” he said. “I know there are people who want this to be an issue that police fix by ourselves, but the community has to have buy-in.”
In his time with the department, Walker has been on the wrong side of racist and derogatory words from people on the streets–but that’s part of night shift, he says.
“On night shift, I had to deal with people who were at their worst,” said Walker.
Overall, however, he says Green Bay has been an accepting community that he’s happy to call home.
“In terms of feeling like this is my community?” said Walker “I’ve never had an issue.”
As for the future, it’s not clear what it holds, but Officer AJ Walker has hope.
“I don’t know how we find our way back from where we are today, but, man, I believe in people.”
“It’s going to be a long, hard road, but we have to find our way back somehow, right?”
Comments