[1] She claims to have received support to continue with her career as a law enforcement officer from the 1970s television show Get Christie Love, which featured a black woman working as a detective in Los Angeles.
[3] She was the first black woman to join a state police force in Connecticut,[4] and in fact she was the first to do so in the nation.
[2] She followed in the footsteps of Albert Washington of Branford who became the first black Connecticut state trooper in 1964.
[1] Acceptance of her presence by existing state troopers was mixed, with some treating her as a sister and others refusing to even speak to her.
Many in the public were also uncomfortable interacting with a black female law enforcement officer.