NYPD veteran reflects on women’s evolving role in policing

‘We have to initiate,’ says Myle Cleveland, after decades on midnight patrol

For 23 years, Lethimyle “Myle” Cleveland worked the midnight tour in Brooklyn — patrolling in the darkness, answering radio calls and responding to emergencies until the early morning hours.

Those long nights on patrol helped shape a career that would eventually lead her to union leadership as the first woman elected citywide trustee of the Police Benevolent Association, representing rank-and-file officers across all five boroughs and serving on the union’s executive board.