Kristal Turner-Childs served as a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper for 25 years. She was the first African-American female Deputy Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police. She has also distinguished herself as the first African-American female to command a troop and the second African-American female to obtain the rank of Major in the history of the Pennsylvania State Police.
Kristal Turner-Childs earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Elizabethtown College and a master’s degree from Central Penn College. She is also a graduate of the Northwestern School of Police Staff and Command and the FBI National Academy.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, which include an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Central Penn College, the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and CREDC Athena Award, the NCBW Trailblazer Award, and the Greater Harrisburg YWCA Woman of Excellence Award.
A motivational speaker and community health advocate, Kristal is described as “passion with a purpose!”.
Key themes emerging out of our conversation:
- Women need to advocate for one another
- Prejudging and making false assumptions
- Treating others how we want to be treated
- Winning people over through emotional intelligence
- Acknowledging and respecting diverse leadership styles
- Being intentional about the impression one leaves on others
- Importance of communication skills in prisons, where there are no weapons
- What women lack in physical strength, they make up for in their mental abilities
- Removing egos from interactions and seeking to understand different perspectives
- Personal trauma and the lack of recognition, even by adults. Moving past the trauma
- First African American woman Lieutenant Colonel in the department's 116-year history
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