Interview with Tyrell Jenkins
InterviewerInterviewed by
Samariya Smith
Date2023 March 10
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 24 Minutes, 54 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
Description(a) Audio file of interview with Tyrell Jenkins. He was interviewed by Samariya Smith on 10 March 2023 in Hartford, Connecticut. (b) Photograph of Tyrell Jenkins taken at his interview. He was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Historical Society's Community History Project discussing his experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Tyrell Jenkins is a Sergeant in the Hartford Police Department. He recalled not being able to drop his children off at daycare at the beginning of lockdown.
The police department had to stop doing in-person visits to schools and events. They had to decide what could be done virtually and what had to be done outdoors. Responding to calls was more complicated because officers could not go into people’s houses or get close to people. Jenkins felt that the service police provided to people deteriorated during the pandemic. He recalled having to sanitize the inside of patrol cars between shifts. The changes and health concerns added extra stress to officers’ personal and professional lives. Due to officers being unable to work because of illness, there was mandated overtime for officers who were not sick.
Sergeant Jenkins disagreed with vaccine mandates, but agreed with mask mandates because they are less invasive.
He discussed the heightened sense of security at the police station caused by the United States Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
Sergeant Jenkins lost his sister to Covid. He noted the change in holiday and birthday celebrations throughout the pandemic. During covid he lost his connectivity with personal and professional peers. He found self-awareness.
His greatest lesson is cherish the opportunities you have and take advantage of them.
Tyrell Jenkins is a Sergeant in the Hartford Police Department. He recalled not being able to drop his children off at daycare at the beginning of lockdown.
The police department had to stop doing in-person visits to schools and events. They had to decide what could be done virtually and what had to be done outdoors. Responding to calls was more complicated because officers could not go into people’s houses or get close to people. Jenkins felt that the service police provided to people deteriorated during the pandemic. He recalled having to sanitize the inside of patrol cars between shifts. The changes and health concerns added extra stress to officers’ personal and professional lives. Due to officers being unable to work because of illness, there was mandated overtime for officers who were not sick.
Sergeant Jenkins disagreed with vaccine mandates, but agreed with mask mandates because they are less invasive.
He discussed the heightened sense of security at the police station caused by the United States Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
Sergeant Jenkins lost his sister to Covid. He noted the change in holiday and birthday celebrations throughout the pandemic. During covid he lost his connectivity with personal and professional peers. He found self-awareness.
His greatest lesson is cherish the opportunities you have and take advantage of them.
Object number2022.20.58a-b
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Historical Society’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the impact of Covid-19 on Connecticans, particularly on Black and Brown communities, funeral homes, and on nursing home and elder care populations.Cataloging Note: This cataloging project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-249472-OMS-21.
Subject Terms
- Hartford
- People of color
- Oral history
- Interviews
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
- Oral narratives
- Police
- Police vehicles
- Hartford Police Department
- Cops
- Police officers
- Family
- Black people
- Face masks
- Masks
- Social distancing (Public health)
- Health
- Social distancing (Public health)
- Mental health
- Cleaning
- COVID testing
- Stress
- Vaccine mandates
- Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021
- Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021
- Security
- Death
- Spanish Flu Epidemic, 1918-1919
- African Americans
- Law enforcement
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- Born Digital Audio
- Community History Project IMLS Museums for America Grant
- COVID-19 Pandemic Collection
Collections
- COVID-19 Pandemic Oral History Interviews (Community History Project), 2022-2023
On View
Not on view
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