The Real Cop Behind Inspector Douglas Todd Law enforcement is a hot topic in American news and entertainment. Whether we’re captivated by true crime podcasts or fictional primetime dramas like CSI or Law and Order, there is nary a member of the American public that cannot name a pop culture cop. Many actors donning badges
Boston’s first Black Police Officer Who would have believed that Boston’s first Black officer was discovered and recruited to one of America’s oldest police forces while working as a janitor at the Globe Theater? It was while working as a janitor for the historic Boston landmark, when Horatio J. Homer met a group of influential
Our greatest trailblazers in law enforcement are often the heroes of our own communities who are currently leaving their mark on history. Zena Stephens is the recently re-elected sheriff of Jefferson County, Texas, and she remains one of the only two African American female sheriffs in the United States. Stephens began her law enforcement career
David O. Brown, Eric Carter, and Barbara West In January 2020, all three of the top officers in the Chicago (IL) Police Department were African American for the first time in its 185-year history. Superintendent David O. Brown was joined at the top of the department by First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter, a 28-year veteran
The First Black FBI Agent The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency with a history full of firsts, one of the most noteworthy being the appointment of the first Black federal agent, James Wormley Jones. Image Source James Wormley “Jack” Jones began his law enforcement career with the Washington (DC) Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
From a Case of Mistaken Identity Rises a Ruthless Chief In January 1995, Michael Cox was an up-and-coming Boston Police officer in the anti-gang violence unit. One night, while on-duty as a plain-clothes officer in pursuit of murder suspect Robert “Smut” Brown, he was mistaken for a gang member by a group of his colleagues
A Hero at the Capitol We saw the valiancy of the U.S. Capitol Police firsthand on January 6, 2021, when officers like Eugene Goodman acted courageously during the insurrection at the Capitol. But that was not the first instance where Capitol Police officers have gone above and beyond to protect one of the most sacred
Berkeley’s First Black Juris Doctor From the grandson of slaves to the first African American to receive a JD (Juris Doctor) degree from UC Berkeley’s School of Law, Walter A. Gordon is an exceptional figure in Black law enforcement history. Image Source Gordon was born in Atlanta, GA, in 1894 and at the age of
The Only Officer to Arrest a Sitting President In all of American history, only one president has ever been arrested while in office. The year was 1872 and President Ulysses S. Grant found himself caught on the wrong side of the law by William H. West—a young former slave and Civil War veteran who joined
DC Metro’s First Black Chief of Police Washington, D.C., is home to over two dozen federal and local law enforcement agencies that have encountered many historic firsts and influential figures. One of these history-makers is the first Black chief of DC’s Metropolitan Police Department, Charles H. Ramsey. Image source Chief Charles Ramsey started his career