This NYPD detective had a secret: Her past

Katrina Cooke Brownlee was spending one other night time out on the streets of New York Metropolis. That is what she wished and what she skilled for. Katrina was an undercover NYPD police officer. However the drug sellers and pimps she interacted with — and secretly recorded — did not know that. Neither did the prostitutes that Katrina, in disguise, met on the streets.

Whereas undercover posing as a prostitute, Katrina’s mission was to arrest pimps and people soliciting prostitution. Nevertheless, she shortly felt a reference to the ladies she encountered.

“Being on the market within the streets, doing undercover work with the younger women, you be taught that everyone has a narrative and all people’s story is completely different,” says Katrina. “However all people come[s] from the identical ache.”

Katrina’s ache started greater than a decade earlier and a world away. She was a struggling 18-year-old single mother residing in Brooklyn when she met Alex Irvin, a New York Metropolis Correction Officer, who she says had all the trimmings of success: a flowery automotive, a profession and a gun. They quickly moved in collectively and had a daughter. 

“So, after I get into this relationship with this particular person, it is a approach out,” Katrina tells “CBS Saturday Morning” correspondent Michelle Miller for “Katrina Brownlee: The Good Cop,” an all-new “48 Hours” airing Saturday at 10/9c on CBS and Paramount+. “I used to be in survival mode.”

However Katrina nearly did not survive her relationship with Irvin, who she says repeatedly beat her. Katrina says she known as 911 a number of occasions, however that Irvin would use what she calls “the blue wall of silence” towards her.

“He would flash that badge,” says Katrina. “And each time he flashed that badge, they’d stroll away. … That badge was way more essential than my life.”

On January 9, 1993, Katrina nearly misplaced her life when – after leaving Irvin and taking her kids to dwell in a motel – Katrina says she returned to their Medford, Lengthy Island, house for garments. That is when Katrina says she walked right into a lure.

“He pointed a gun to me and mentioned, ‘That is the day you die, bitch,'” Katrina remembers. “And he shot me in my abdomen. After which he shot me once more.”

Over the course of an hour-and-a-half, the correction officer emptied his service revolver two occasions on the mom of two.

As Katrina lay bleeding on the ground, a pal of Irvin’s household visited unexpectedly. That household pal picked Katrina up and took her to the hospital.  She was rushed into surgical procedure, however medical doctors have been unable to take away six of the bullets that had entered her physique, says Katrina.

When she awoke, Katrina says the physician delivered some grim information.

“He got here and informed me that I used to be shot 10 occasions, that I might by no means stroll once more … and would not dwell a standard life,” Katrina remembers. “And he started to inform me that it should be one thing that I’ve to be taught to dwell with.”

Despite the prognosis, Katrina discovered the power and can to make a full restoration. Although she might finally stroll once more, Katrina then grew to become homeless and needed to dwell in a shelter on the Decrease East Aspect.  Together with her two younger daughters in tow, Katrina says they usually needed to wash up in a close-by McDonald’s. 

As Katrina made a approach out of the darkness, she determined to develop into what she says she wanted all these years in the past earlier than she was shot: a superb cop.

“Why not?” asks Katrina. “Why would not I need to assist defend and serve? Simply because I did not obtain it, it doesn’t suggest that I should not need to assist others.”

When requested what makes a “good cop,” Katrina mentioned: “You’ve gotten integrity, you’ve morals, you’ve empathy, you’ve sympathy, you’ve respect. You deal with folks the way in which that you really want your self to be handled, the way in which you need your loved ones to be handled. That is what a superb cop is.”

In July 2001, Katrina was employed by the New York Metropolis Police Division and have become one in every of 1,600 new recruits sworn in on the NYPD Police Academy. It had been eight-and-a-half years since her brutal assault, however Katrina did not inform any of her fellow police cadets her secret.

As Katrina moved up the ranks, she says she determined to by no means inform anybody about her painful previous for worry that it might damage her profession. She nervous that some on the NYPD would query if she was match to serve, “feeling that I used to be possibly scarred or possibly would not be capable of deal with the job or I am carrying a firearm,” mentioned Katrina. “Additionally, it was one other legislation enforcement person who had dedicated a criminal offense towards me. It was simply a variety of layers of issues, and I simply didn’t really feel comfy with sharing it.”

Regardless of her issues, Katrina continued to excel, even turning into a detective first-grade, the NYPD’s highest investigative rank. She completed her profession as an elite member of the New York Metropolis mayor’s safety element – one of many few Black ladies in NYPD historical past to take action.

In 2021, Katrina retired from the NYPD after 20 years on the drive — and 20 years of holding in her secret previous. She is now able to unburden herself and share her story.