Blacks in the St. Paul Police and Fire Department 1885 - 1976

CHAPTER 2

Blacks in the Police Department

Around 1943, when the writer was a young officer on the force and with no thought of Black history on his mind, he came upon an old faded picture of five or six police officers. The men wore the old high hats and handlebar mustaches. Two of them were standing by the old type bicycles with the high front wheel and the low back wheel. The picture had no date and no names. One of the officers was a Black. An older police officer who had been a member of the Police Department since 1912 was with the writer, who sought information from him. The officer was unable to identify anyone on the picture, but thought it was taken in the 1880's. So while this name cannot be established, the writer thinks it can be safely said that there were Black officers in the St. Paul Police Department before 1892. (1)

On October 25, 1892, James H. Burrell, a former Pullman porter, was appointed to the St. Paul Police Department. (20 years before the first Black officer was appointed in New York City.) This was twenty-nine years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. As far as can be documented, Officer Burrell was the first Black officer on the police force. "From the time of his appointment he served continuously at the Rondo Sub-Station and won the respect and confidence of his colleagues and superior officers by his faithful and meritorious performance at all times." (2)

Officer James Burrell began a long line of Black officers from the rank of patrolman to deputy chief who served the City of St. Paul continuously from 1892 to 1976. This, however, has not been an easy task, as previously mentioned, due to bias and discrimination which created many obstacles and pitfalls.

Lewis Liverpool, a well known Black officer in the early part of this century, was appointed janitor at the Rondo Sub-Station in 1896 and later promoted to patrolman. He was assigned a beat in the Rice Street area. Many stories have been handed down orally about his tours of duty in this area, as Rice Street was known as a very tough section of the city with gangs of youths hanging around on street corners and terrorizing citizens. They were known also to harass police officers. Liverpool corrected this situation in about six months and eliminated all cause for complaints on his beat. An interesting incident involving him was a boxing exhibition with John L. Sullivan, former world's heavyweight champion. Because Liverpool had the reputation of being able to handle all comers, he was asked to go a few rounds with an unknown fellow. Purposely no one told him who the fellow was. This was to be a big joke by the men who plotted this event. During the first two rounds, Liverpool gave the champ a real going over, but at the end of the second round someone told him whom he was boxing. He then became frightened and lost all his confidence. Sullivan was then able to handle Liverpool with ease. (3)

James H. Loomis became a patrolman in 1900 and was assigned as municipal court bailiff. (The grandson of James Loomis, James E. Oliver, a retired U.S. postal superintendent, is a neighbor of the writer.)

After Loomis, there were Charles Grisim, 1905; Abraham Yeiser, 1908, who later transferred to the Fire Department in 1912; William Lewis, 1911; Joseph Black, 1912; James Quarles, 1914; James Mitchell in 1917; and others. It is impossible to list every Black officer who served, since records not always specified the officer as "Colored" or "Negro," the terms commonly used in those days. Some pictures are available and this helped, but when there are not it takes a great deal of research to establish their identities as Black officers. (During this research, the name of William Joyce was given to the writer as a man who was said to have been on the force prior to 1911, but no documentation is available to substantiate the claim.)

Officer Joseph Black was promoted to detective in 1914, (4) with James Quarles following in 1916. James Mitchell was appointed detective in 1917, never holding the rank of patrolman. He received his appointment from the Detective Civil Service list, which was possible in those days. Since 1918, it has been required that all police officers begin their careers on the force as patrolmen. Mitchell had the reputation of being a hard man, but a very good detective. He worked on many difficult cases, one of which was the famous unsolved Ruth Munson murder in the thirties. One daring incident involving him took place when he and two other detectives went to an upstairs address on Rondo Avenue to arrest an alleged murder suspect. When the officers knocked on the door and identified themselves as police officers, several shots were fired through the door, narrowly missing them. The suspect then opened the door, ran out and jumped down a flight of stairs in his desperate attempt to escape. Mitchell gave chase and apprehended the suspect single-handed an hour or two later. Detective Mitchell was sometimes detailed on burglary plants, a particularly nasty assignment, that on occasions lasted over a year. (See page 10)

The writer was told an interesting story by a long time officer, now deceased. His name was Marquette Smith, better known as Mark Smith. Toward the end of his career on the St. Paul Police Department he was assigned to the jail on a regular basis. Around 1948, on one occasion, the writer was detailed to the jail to work with Mark and was asked by Mark if he had ever heard of a Black officer named Quarles who had been a member of the Department years ago. He said Quarles had been an idol of his when he was a youngster growing up in St. Paul. The writer said he knew Quarles had been a member of the department and mentioned that his step-grandfather had been a pall bearer at his funeral. This remote connection the writer had with Quarles seemed to please Officer Smith and he began to tell of an incident he had witnessed as a young man. He had become acquainted with Quarles when the officer walked a beat in the vicinity of Acker and Jackson Streets, near Mark's home. This was before prohibition in the pre-World War I era. Quarles was well known to the area residents, having been on this assignment for about two years. He had the reputation of being a two-fisted, tough and aggressive officer who indulged in the taking of a little libation while on duty. The incident Mark referred to happened not too far from a saloon at the intersection of Acker and Jackson Streets. Quarles came out of the saloon and was striding up Jackson staggering a bit. Several tough youths saw him and began to harass him. Smith knew they were strangers in the neighborhood because it was well known by everyone that Officer Quarles was not a man to be trifled with. After a remark was made that "St. Paul must be in a sorry state to hire a nigger policeman," it took Quarles about three minutes to have the three flat on their backs and to have someone from the saloon call the patrol wagon.

From 1918 to 1921, with good times and much employment in St. Paul, there seemed to be no great problem for a few more Blacks to join the force. During this period, William Gaston, Charles Bright, Milton Noble Prior, William Wilson, Homer Goins, Fred Talbert and Robert Williams were added to the department. (Some very valuable advice was given the writer when he first jointed the force by Officer Robert Williams.)

The only type of discrimination prevalent from 1892 to 1930 was in the assignments. The majority of the men walked beats so there was no problem involving working with white officers. However, the Black officers were given the most undesirable and toughest beats, always in the lowest social, economic and educational areas. They also had more of their share of "plants." This term, previously used, might need a brief explanation.

When a series of holdups or burglaries have taken place, the pattern of the crime is studied and an officer assigned to the business place that is likely to be victimized. The officer is armed with a shotgun and he waits for any illegal entry or holdup that will be made by the burglar or holdup man. Holdup plants are usually considered not too difficult since they are in progress during business hours or early evening when there are people about. The prime concern here would be that no innocent person be injured when and if an attempt is made. The burglary plant is considered the worst type of plant. Usually it is at night. During the winter, the building might be unheated. There may be rats and other adverse conditions present. This is the most dreaded detail an officer can be given. In recent years, this type of assignment has been held to a minimum. But through the years, Black officers have gotten more than their share of these assignments including the writer.

Homer Goins was one of the more popular and well liked Black officers in the department during the twenties. The following is an interesting observation of him by a veteran police reporter.

"When I started out as a police reporter in the late twenties there were four sub-stations in St. Paul. They were Rondo, Rondo and Western; Ducas, South Robert and Delos; Prior, Prior and Oakley; and Margaret, located at Margaret and Cable.

"These sub-stations were little corrupt governments of their own with each having their own cells, bookings, wagon crews and a touring car manned by detectives and by anyone else who was around. All were in charge of captains who were the 'Kings' of their districts. These stations were abandoned when the police were motorized and the police radio went into effect.

"Of all the personnel at these stations, one man always stands out in my mind. He was Homer Goins of the Rondo sub-station. He was a big man, six foot one and weighed about two hundred pounds and all muscle. He served as jailor, desk officer, chauffeur for Captain Gates Gerber, bodyguard and general investigator. He was used on all 'heavy' cases. In my book, Homer was a first class gentleman at all times, never an aggressor, but woe to anyone who aroused him or got out of line. When 'downtown' had a big raid to arrest a number of 'heavies,' such as stickup men or yeggs (safe men) and there were doors to crash, Homer was always called. He was the first one to break down a door and also the first one to go in. He never lagged behind. Among the 'heavies' of that day, Homer was respected by them and no one ever tried any 'monkey business' with him because they knew they would come out second best. On one occasion he had to crash in a door and several suspects jumped him. He subdued them and brought them in. They were treated for broken ribs and later Homer bought them chicken and ribs to show there were no hard feelings.

"Another big score made by Homer was his arresting Bud Joyce, alias Bud Condon, out of Des Moines, Iowa. Joyce was a mobster and was alleged to have shot Officer Ed Hoeller, who, while waking a beat at 7th and Minnesota, surprised a gang of burglars looting the Shapiro Jewelry store on that corner. Ed Hoeller survived that shooting and later was promoted to Sergeant before he passed away years later. His son, Sergeant Ed Hoeller, Jr., is presently on the force." (5)

Fred Talbert served as a motorcycle officer in 1922 and was the only Black in the history of the department so assigned. This was considered a choice assignment. The department thereafter refused to assign any more Blacks to this duty.

On February 6, 1923 at Charles and Snelling, William Wilson was killed in a fatal auto accident while on duty. In the same accident was the brother of Clint Hackett, who was the Chief of Police when the writer joined the force in 1941. Thus, Officer Wilson became the only Black officer killed in the line of duty, a fact that is not very widely known. Probably only about ten officers presently on the job are aware of this.

In 1925, there was a total of eight Black officers serving on the force. This meant there were more Black officers per capita in St. Paul than in any city in the United States at that time as far as could be ascertained by the writer.

After 1928, the fortunes of Black officers made an about-face as the administration began to systematically eliminate them. As they died, retired or were forced to resign, no replacements were made. The Commissioner of Public Safety at that time went on record that no more Blacks would serve on the force while he was in office. In the early thirties, several discriminatory acts came to the attention of the public. Times were tough due to the depression. There was a layoff in the Police Department and the administration attempted to discharge Robert Williams on the basis that he had been too old when he was appointed. Officer Williams had to engage legal counsel and the issue was settled out of Court with the Minnesota Veterans Preference Act used as an instrument to retain his employment. (His widow still lives in their St. Anthony Avenue home and his three children, all college graduates, are gainfully employed in professional jobs.)

William Gaston was discriminated against by being refused an appointment of sergeant by the administration. He was passed over on the Civil Service examination list on the grounds it would not be in the best interest of the department to have a Negro sergeant. In spite of the protest from the liberal segment of the white community and the strong protest from the Black community, William Gaston never received the appointment. It is ironic that later Harry Gaston, his son, was a member of the St. Paul Civil Service Commission.

After January 1921, there was not a single Black officer appointed to the St. Paul Police Department for sixteen years until 1937 when Robert Turpin was appointed.

In 1939, a Civil Service examination was posted for the position of patrolman. The St. Paul Urban League, Executive Secretary Clarence Mitchell, now Washington representative for the N.A.A.C.P., confronted the Commissioner of Public Safety with the fact that only one Black officer had been appointed over the past eighteen years. The Commissioner told the League that since 1936 the policy of the Department was that no one would be passed over and no preference shown.

He furthermore stated that he would not pass over anyone just to appoint a Black to the job. With this promise, the Urban League held classes at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in order to help Black candidates pass the test. A recruitment drive by community leaders was made and over thirty Black candidates were included in fifteen hundred persons taking the test. This was the largest turnout in the history of the St. Paul Police Department up to the present time. Approximately seven Blacks passed the test and their names were placed on the list that was established August 8, 1939.

The city suffered financial troubles in 1939 and 1940 and no funds were available to hire any new patrolmen. Due to this condition, the eligibility list for new patrolmen was extended until August, 1941.

The first Black on the list was Walter Goins, nephew of former officer, Homer Goins. He chose to pass the opportunity to take a position in the post office. Victor Calloway failed the medical examination, (color blindness) Lewis Williams was appointed a reserve officer in March, 1941.

The writer was next on the list and ran into problems. He had to take the medical examination six times before he was finally passed. He was on both the Fire Department and the Police Department lists. The medical examination for the Fire Department came first and he was failed for such reasons as specific gravity of the urine too high, overlapping toe, and running a temperature. After returning several times for the test he was failed because the specific gravity of the urine was too low, there was albumen in the urine and for other inconsequential reasons. The Fire Department appointment date closed. The writer then went to his own doctor who told him he was in fine physical shape. By this time a call was made for patrolmen and his name was on the list.

The Black community was split on supporting the writer for the job. Several leaders of the community felt he was not the right person for the job. However, he did have some support and the situation was resolved by the action in his behalf by Axel Peterson, then Commissioner of Education, who had known him as a boy and as a playmate of his son, Axel, Jr. On August 6, 1941, the writer was appointed reserve patrolman bringing the number of Blacks on the job to four, including Robert Williams, Lewis Williams and Robert Turpin. Lewis Williams left the department to serve in World War 11 in 1942 and never returned to St. Paul. Robert Williams, detailed to plain clothes in the morals devision, retired in 1944, so this left only two Black officers on the force.

After the writer's appointment in 1941, he enjoyed no bed of roses. As stated before, the assignments were undesirable and were in the areas and locations previously mentioned.

While in recruit training there were a few problems. Most everyone was cordial and the writer made lasting friends. However, in the training group there was one recruit officer in particular who seemed to go out of his way to make things disagreeable. He was always making snide remarks that had racial overtones. The writer overlooked these issues for several weeks until one night the entire recruit group was sent on a special detail on the occasion the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were visiting the city. On this night this officer made several derogatory racial slurs. The writer had gone as far as he was going with these incidents and told the officer in front of the entire group that one more crack out of him and he would get the hell kicked out of him right then. The officer backed down and this ended that escapade. Later, almost the entire group agreed that the fellow had it coming and they were glad he had been told off.

The writer got along well with most of the men and incidents were at a minimum until about a year later when there was a slight confrontation with an older officer. It was necessary for the writer to straighten him out also. It didn't take long for the department to know that the writer would not tolerate any ridicule or derogatory racial remarks of any type. Incidentally, that first officer the writer had problems with became a good friend and has remained so to the present time.

A discriminatory process used in the thirties and forties was the unwritten rule that no Black be assigned to squad car duty with any white officer or be assigned motorcycle duty. The only time Black and white officers worked together was on special assignment, the jail or the patrol wagon. The Blacks had many plant details and walked beats in the out-of-way places such as Grove and Mississippi, 7th and Broadway, and Rice and Iglehart. A box was installed at Rice and Iglehart just for the two Black officers. Only on rare occasions was a white officer assigned this beat and never at night. Officer Turpin and the writer worked around the clock on that detail.

With the appointment of Chief Charlie Tierney in 1943, there was a slight improvement in the Blacks' working conditions. Better assignments, such as 7th and Wabasha and Snelling and University were given the Black officers.

Early in 1945, the writer enlisted in the U.S. Navy. This left Turpin the only active Black officer in the department. When the writer returned to work in June, 1946, the white-only assignment in Squad cars was still in effect. The two Blacks discussed this matter and decided that if there were no changes by July 1, 1946, they would confront the Chief concerning this situation. In the middle of June, the department held its first sensitivity training session, sponsored by the St. Paul Council of Human Relations in conjunction with the department. Former Chief Klucheski of the Milwaukee Police Department directed this mandatory training program. He recommended to the Chief that Black officers be assigned to squad car duty on the same basis as other officers. Chief Tierney concurred. At that time the department was using the one-man car system, so no problems were created when the writer was assigned squad car duty July 1, 1946. Officer Turpin received a like assignment a short time later.

Having resolved this squad car discrimination, the next issue was the service rating. This is the rating all officers receive every six months from their supervisors. The ratings count thirty percent on all promotional examinations. It was difficult for any Black officer to obtain a rating above average. Due to this service rating difficulty, it was thirteen years before the writer was allowed to take his first promotional examination.

An example of discrimination in service ratings came in September of 1949 when Allan Lee, a detective, was slain by a hold-up man. The writer was one of the men who volunteered to attempt to arrest the hold-up man who was hiding out in an old tenement building. The officers donned gas masks, entered the building and in the process of effecting his capture, the hold-up man was slain. The writer's action was hailed by the press, members of the department, and the majority of the Black community. However, he was subjected to a great deal of criticism from some segments of the Black community and by a white radical weekly newspaper. When the service ratings were released for that period following this incident, his rating remained the same. No adjustment had been made.

At this time a patrolman needed only a common school education to qualify for the entrance examination. The writer along with several other young policemen led the fight to have the St. Paul Police Mutual Association, the basic organization who represented the men, to request Civil Service to raise the educational requirement to a high school graduate. This, naturally, met with much opposition from the older men, but the younger men prevailed and in January, 1950 the basic education requirement was raised to high school graduation.

Many instances of racial bias were present at this time in off-the-job but department related activities. When the writer was a member of the St. Paul Police baseball team, he was not invited to the party after the inter-city baseball game played in Minneapolis. This was not done by the administration, but by a few men on the team over the objections of many of their team members. Mahlon Thomas, appointed to the department in 1949, was denied the opportunity to play in the police band. He had tried to join the band, made up of police officers and civilians, but was not even afforded the courtesy of a tryout.

In January of 1973, Officer Thomas died of cancer. Oliver Towne, a St. Paul Dispatch columnist who had been interested in Officer Thomas' career, led a fund drive among the officer's friends and business men on his downtown beat along St. Peter and Wabasha streets. The funds from this drive were used to erect a bronze plaque in Officer Thomas' memory. The plaque was placed on the outer wall of the Chickett Brothers restaurant, better known as "Mother Merrills" at 9th and St. Peter streets.

(Here the writer would like to digress briefly to point out that he has had many positive, prejudice-free experiences during his long career with the St. Paul Police Department. The writer was the coach and manager of the Public Safety American Legion Post basketball team, for example, and was the Americanism committee chairman for four years. Around this time the Public Safety Post #449 sponsored a Black youth, Jim Robinson, then seventeen, to the state American Legionville camp, where he was elected Mayor. Mr. Robinson is now director of the Loft Teen Center in the Summit-University area. The writer was also elected many times as a delegate to the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers' annual convention, was a charter member, vice-president and member of the board of trustees of the St. Paul Police Union, and is still on the board of trustees of the St. Paul Police Benevolent Association. The writer was the founder of the St. Paul Police scholarship fund, awarded annually to sons and daughters of police officers by the St. Paul Police Federation, the union's present name. Over the years, too, the writer was a member of the St. Paul Police Pistol Team and won many awards for shooting. He is a past treasurer of the St. Paul Police Pistol Club and past Secretary-Treasurer of the St. Paul Police Ranking Officers Association. He has been sent to Buffalo, Omaha, Indianapolis, Sprinfield, Missouri and Leavenworth, Kansas to transport state and federal prisoners. The writer was also the St. Paul Police represetnative sent to Michigan State University to attend the Police Community Relations Institute in 1963. During my years with the Police Department, I was also an interscholastic and intercollegiate basketball and football official and traveled the Midwest in that capacity.)

The first promotional examination the writer was eligible to take was that given in 1954 for the position of detective. His written score was 89.33, but due to his low service rating, he ended up thirty-third on the list before his veteran's preference and about twenty-fifth after preference. In 1955, he had the first opportunity to take the promotional examination for sergeant. Lieutenant Herbert Werner had assumed command of his platoon a year previous to this and almost immediately his service rating began to rise. His superior saw to it that the commendable work he had been doing was reflected in his rating. With a grade of 88.50 in the written part of the sergeant's examination and his improved service rating, the writer came out number seven on the list. The filing of his veteran's preference brought him up to number five. This caused some biased remarks to circulate around the department such as, "They will never make a nigger the boss around here," and "If you are behind Griffin on the sergeant's list, you will never be made." Apparently William Proetz, Chief of Police at that time, never made an issue of it and appointed the top six men on the list. This did bring about the problem of an assignment for the writer. One of the excuses administrators used on many occasions in the past when Blacks were denied supervisory promotions was that white men would not work under Black supervisors. The writer was assigned as desk sergeant, a job that has since been abolished, and he held this position for about eighteen months. This assignment did not call for direct supervision of the men.

Lieutenant Burton Pond, commander of the shift to which the writer was assigned, recommended rotating the desk sergeant with the patrol sergeant. His recommendation was accepted and the writer made the adjustment very quickly. From that time on he was assigned on the same basis as other sergeants.

As time passed, the department returned to the two-man squads and there was only token opposition from the white officers to working with the Blacks.

Like most policemen, the writer during his years as a patrolman and plainclothesman had countless routine experiences, but he also had his share of excitement. In September of 1949, for instance, he joined in a major manhunt by St. Paul Police over several blocks near the State Capitol. A bandit had held up a liquor store and then eluded police for several hours in a house-to-house gun battle, killing a detective. The futgitive was at last cornered in a tenement room, into which heavy charges of tear gas were pumped through a transom. The writer, though off duty, was one of two policemen who put on gas masks and went after the bandit, who was slain in the process.

Earlier in the 1940's when the writer and Turpin were plainclothesmen, we gave the song, "Lay That Pistol Down, Babe," a practical application, as one newspaper put it. On a St. Paul street one night we came upon and quickly disarmed a young woman of slight build who was thrusting a large pistol — a fully loaded .45 caliber army automatic — in the ribs of a male companion. Both were from Minneapolis. The woman said the man was a former fiance who had slapped her face in a St. Paul tavern when she refused to return to Minneapolis with him. She said the man pursued her when she ran out of the tavern and that she then pulled the gun from her bag. We arrested the woman and took the man to jail as a material witness.

On November 22, 1951 my partner, Hank Loe, and I arrested a party on the fugitive warrant issued by the State of Indiana. Coincidentally, about two years later on June 16, 1953, I traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana to serve a bench warrant on this party's brother and returned him to St. Paul to be charged with grand larceny.

On another occasion the writer managed to subdue an early morning fight between two men at a St. Paul restaurant. I arrested the man responsible for the brawl, but not before being hit over the head with a pop bottle and receiving a cut that required several stitches.

In February, 1954 shortly after a hold up of a gas station at Highways 61 and 96 near White Bear, Minnesota by two men, the two bandits fled to St. Paul. A description of the two men involved and the car was given out over the St. Paul police radio. Shortly afterwards, Officers James Griffin and Donald Lombard were driving South on Rice Street and when they reached Arlington Avenue they spotted a car with two men in it who fitted the description given over the radio. The officers arrested the two men and took them to Headquarters. The victim was brought to St. Paul where he identified the two men the officers had arrested as the men who held him up. Later the two men were convicted in Ramsey County District Court for armed robbery.

The writer had his amusing moments too as a squad car patrolman. One time, following the instructions of a police radio dispatcher, I picked up a South St. Paul woman who had alighted from a streetcar in St. Paul before she realized she had left her purse containing $140.00 where she had been sitting. I managed to overtake the trolley, and the woman got on it to look for her purse. She found it, much to her relief, on the seat where she had left it. Another time I was driving in a squad car when I was called to escort a truck whose trash in back had caught fire in a high wind at a dump. Unable to put out the fire, the driver stepped on the gas and with the writer's help raced to a fire station. There firemen doused the fire with chemicals before it could damage the truck itself.

Still another time, the writer was asked to guide a rookie St. Paul patrolman on his first tour of duty. His initial "case" was not covered by instructions in the police manual — we came upon a lost horse lumbering alone down the street. We solved the "case" by tying the horse to the squad car and driving very slowly for several blocks to the Animal Shelter. (The source of these various experiences are newspaper clippings in a scrapbook kept through the years by the writer.)

In January of 1957, James O. Mann was appointed to the department. He has proved to be one of the most controversial officers in the department. Officer Mann has been a most active participant in civic affairs in the city. He has been a candidate for such public offices as member of the school board, city council and the state legislature. He is past president of the Summit-University Federation and presently holds an elective position with Model Cities. He is the organizer of the National Conference of Minority Police and was the president of that organization. After a hold up at the Western State Bank on July 9, 1971, Officer Mann was active in the negotiation of the release of the two hostages being held by the bank bandits, and also in their surrender. This enabled the case to be brought to a close without further bloodshed and with the recovery of the money taken in the robbery. For this act, he was cited by the Police Department and the Associations of Commercial Clubs of St. Paul for outstanding police work.

In addition to police personnel, there were several professional and other positions available in the department. Doctor Alexander P. Abrams was appointed police ambulance surgeon in 1955 and Doctor Rodney England followed in 1957. Both of these doctors were Black. Today both of these physicians have highly successful medical practices in St. Paul. This position in the department has since been abolished.

There has been a dearth of Black clerical personnel in the department. Fred Weston was a clerk around 1948 and was later elected Clerk of District Court for Ramsey County by a landslide vote. Bradford G. Benner held the position of police stenographer for ten years beginning in 1955. Benner is now court reporter for the Ramsey County Juvenile Court. He was followed by clerical workers Wilma Young, Elnora Land, Helen Griffin, the writer's daughter, and Cornelius Benner, who was later appointed patrolman and is presently serving in that capacity.

Timothy Howard served for about five years on the St. Paul Police Study Committee starting in 1965 when George Vavoulis was Mayor and Lester McAuliffe the Police Chief. (Howard had also served as a Park Police officer in 1930. The Park Police had no connection with the City Police Department, however, until later.)

In August of 1959, when I held the rank of Sergeant, I was placed in command of a Tactical Unit. This assignment came after a riot situation developed at Kent and Rondo Avenue. To use a colloquial expression, "tensions in the community could have been cut with a knife." William Proetz, Chief of Police at that time, assigned me and twelve men to the problem area. With three months of hard work using practical police procedures, common sense, law and justice dispensed with compassion, the incident was closed to the satisfaction of the concerned neighborhood citizens and the Police Department. This was accomplished with the able assistance of the entire unit who were dedicated and sensitive to the community problems. Sergeant Griffin and the entire unit were given citations for a job well done. Also when this precarious and difficult detail was finally phased out, the men who had been assigned all came together and wrote a letter to Chief Proetz signed by each member of the detail commending Sergeant Griffin for outstanding leadership and attention to duty during the three-month tenure of the assignment.

From 1954 to 1965, a period of eleven years, no examination for the position of lieutenant was held. In 1965, the Civil Service Bureau posted an examination for the position of captain. Thirteen police sergeants then petitioned the Civil Service Bureau for the right to take the captain's examination. This action was based on the grounds that the normal progress of these thirteen men had been denied and also that according to Civil Service rules an eligible list for promotion should be available at all times within reason. On this basis, thirteen sergeants were allowed to take the examination for captain given in 1965 and again in 1969. The writer was one of the men in this group and went into the 1969 examination with a good service rating. Captain Leroy Tynan, his supervisor, was not a biased man and this reflected in the improved service rating as it had before under Lieutenant Werner. Incidentally, Captain Tynan was an old schoolmate of Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the N.A.A.C.P. The writer placed fourth on the list for promotions in 1969. The top five men on the list were promoted and the writer received his captaincy on March 2, 1970. At this time there were only 3 Blacks in the entire Department.

There had been a change in the department's personnel thinking with reference to promotions of Blacks since 1955. This is reflected in a remark made by a young officer, "If you are ahead of Griffin on the captain's list, you will be promoted because they will appoint everyone ahead of him just to get a Black." The writer brought to this officer's attention that indeed the department had come a long way since fourteen years ago, the philosophy on Blacks being promoted was just the opposite.

As a captain, I was placed in charge of a station where some amusing events occurred that brought out the non-malicious, unintentional racisms in our society. On occasion members of other police agencies or local citizens would come into the station commander's office, see me sitting there and say, "No one here? I'm looking for the Captain," and walk away. On one very busy night about 1:30 a.m., the desk officer told me a lady wished to speak to me. I replied I would talk to her as soon as I finished the case I was working on at that time. About forty five minutes later I stepped outside the office and seeing a lady sitting there asked her if I could be of assistance. She said no, so I returned to my office. An hour later the desk officer inquired when I was going to speak to the lady who was waiting to see me. I stepped out of the office to see the same lady still sitting there. I again asked if I could help and she again said no, that she was waiting to see the captain. I informed her she was speaking to the captain. When she recovered from her surprise, the captain was able to solve her problem and the lady left police headquarters satisfied.

During the period 1965 to 1967 there were large scale riots in Detroit, Michigan, Los Angeles, California and Newark, New Jersey. These riots caused millions of dollars in property damage and the loss of many lives. There were further smaller conflicts throughout the nation. A national commission on civil disorders was appointed by the President. This committee's findings were released and became known as the Kerner Report. One of the recommendations made by the committee was the employing of more minority police officers, especially in the inner city where the Blacks, Chicanos and Puerto Ricans live. This report brought awareness to the St. Paul Police Department of the need for more Black officers.

Earl Beed was appointed to the force in 1967 and within six months another discriminatory situation arose. A white officer with about twenty years on the job refused to work with Beed because Beed was Black. This discriminatory act was dealt with promptly by the administration. The officer who refused to work with Beed was suspended. This was a very positive and very necessary act by the administration. Had it not been dealt with in a positive manner, acts of this nature might have continued as they had in the past.

In 1971, the Park Police Department was absorbed by the St. Paul Police Department and Officer Donald McAdams joined the force. He had been a member of the Parks Department since 1960.

William Finney, Cornelius Benner III and Joseph Bloedoorn were appointed in the Spring of 1971. At the end of the academy training period, Benner was turned down with no clear explanation and was not allowed to be sworn in. However, he was told he could reenter the academy with the next class, which he did, and was added to the force in the Fall of 1971. To the Black community, this incident had racial overtones, but never became an issue.

The St. Paul Police Department requested a grant from the federal government in 1971 to create a Community Service Officer Program. The Kerner report, previously mentioned, had urged the addition of more minorities into the field of law enforcement. The Community Service Officer Program in St. Paul would train the men who were accepted in the program in order to improve their opportunity to pass the patrolman's examination. This was the first real commitment made by the St. Paul Police Department in the field of active minority recruitment.

The grant was approved and ten men were to be enrolled in the program for a period of thirty-nine months. The department was unable to recruit ten men, but seven were signed up and when the program was ready to start, six men agreed to participate. The six Black men were Sam Ballard, Mack Warren, Fletcher Comely, Samuel Stallings, Willie Hudson and Fred Bell.

A patrolman's examination was given about eighteen months after this program was started. Community Service Officer Willie Hudson passed the test and later was appointed to patrolman. The Community Service Officer Program was then cancelled twenty-one months prematurely, arousing the community. Furthermore, the men involved in the program complained of the manner in which the Civil Service test was administered. The test had one hundred questions and the examiner told the candidates that each question counted one point. However, before the results were released, adjustments were made in the method of scoring the test. Due to this scoring change, two Community Service Officers failed who otherwise would have passed, causing a great many hard feelings. On March 1, 1972, a discriminatory hiring practice suit was filed in Federal District Court in St. Paul against the St. Paul Police Department and the Civil Service Bureau by five of the candidates for patrolman. They were Mack Warren, Fred Bell, Sam Ballard, Frank Foster and Michael Benner. Benner dropped his part of the suit several days later on the grounds that he had not taken the test.

The following, taken from the St. Paul Dispatch, March 2, 1972, explains the suit:

"The suit claims Warren, Bell and Ballard had passed the other tests for patrolman and that their performance in police-related work was satisfactory. But they were fired February 4, 1972.

"The other two plaintiffs did not participate in the Community Service Officers Program. Foster and Benner both have had previous police-related experience.

"Foster failed the written Civil Service test, but his background included three years as a military policeman in the Army on an active duty, and ten years in reserve duty. He works part time as a sergeant in the Special Services Division of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office.

"Three of the five defendants, Warren, Bell and Ballard, having participated in the Community Service Officers Program, had successfully passed all qualifications for patrolman except the written examination, which was not required for that program. The program offering training to upgrade academic skills to help candidates pass the written test as well as giving participants practical police training.

"The pleadings states: 'These plaintiffs were told that the program would last two to three years and that they would be able to take the written Civil Service examination to become patrolmen as often as necessary to achieve a passing grade while staying in the program. They received some police training and academic education and did police-related work with the department.

"'In November, 1971,' the complaint continued, 'these plaintiffs were told that they had to pass the written Civil Service examination for patrolman to be given December 18, 1971, or lose their jobs. This was totally unexpected in view of the previous presentations that the program would last two to three years and they would have more than one opportunity to take and pass the written examination.

"Benner, too, is in the Special Services Division of the Sheriff's Department. He was a paratrooper in Korea. However, because of what he perceived as discriminatory hiring practices, he "has been discouraged from applying.

"Michael Wolf and Dolores Orey, Legal Assistance attorneys, said the class action on behalf of all potential Black police applicants is primarily a challenge of Civil Service tests which appear to have little to do with predictions of job performance. The pleadings in this case states: 'The written Civil Service examination is not related to the job of patrolman.'

"The written test relates to general academic knowledge and stresses formal language and reading skills, including grammar and vocabulary. The suit states: 'Many questions demand skills and knowledge which are foreign to members of the Black community, and require exposure to the culture and values of the white community . . . As a result, Black applicants have been denied employment as patrolmen with the St. Paul Police Department solely on the basis of their inability to pass such written Civil Service examinations and other screening procedures which are not job related and have not been validated. There are seven Black members of the St. Paul Police force, out of a total of 525." (6)

After the suit was filed, the St. Paul Police Department approved the remaining four men who had challenged the patrolmen's examination and they were allowed to attend the next academy. All but Bell accepted. After four weeks, Warren was unable to keep up-the pace in the academy and was dropped. Foster and Ballard completed the course and are now members of the Department subject to passing a court-approved test. The federal court ruled the examination should be job related and ordered the City to design a job related examination and submit it for court scrutiny.

After a great deal of mediation between the plaintiffs and defendant's attorneys, a plan was worked out to the satisfaction of all concerned parties subject to Federal Judge Miles Lord's certification. Judge Lord accepted the plan and ruled that out of the next fifty appointments to the St. Paul Police Department, twelve would have to be Black. The theory was to raise the percentage of Black Police Officers in the Police Department to the same ratio of Blacks in the total population of the City of St. Paul. At the time of Warren's complaint, seven members (1.4 percent) of the 525 Police Officers were Black, while Blacks comprised 3.5 percent of the City's population. The total minority population of St. Paul is 6 percent (Blacks, Mexican-Americans and Native Americans.)

The next step was to design an examination that would be nondiscriminatory but as fair and equitable as possible. There was a great deal of discussion over the type of test to be held. The Civil Service Bureau with the sanction of the Police Department, engaged Personnel Decisions, Incorporated, of Minneapolis to make up a test for the endorsement of the involved factions, plus the ratification of the Federal Court. In the Spring of 1974, after hours and hours of dialogue back and forth, the plaintiffs and the defendant's attorneys arrived at a settlement on the type of Police examination to be given. The Court gave their approval and a date of June 1, 1974 was set for the examination. The St. Paul Urban League and the St. Paul Human Rights Department were named as monitors by the Court to work in cooperation with the St. Paul Civil Service Bureau in staging of the test. These organizations were to advise and to assist in an all out effort to comply with Judge Miles Lord's Court Order which was that 12 of the next fifty persons appointed to the St. Paul Police were to be Black.

Following this action, Chief R. H. Rowan selected James S. Griffin, Deputy Chief of the Services Division, a Black Officer with over thirty years of Police experience to be in charge of the Police Minority Recruitment Program. This was not ordered by the Court, but was done to show good faith that the Police Department was supporting the minority program. The Department hoped to initiate an active and complete recruitment program to encourage qualified minority applicants to apply and to be appointed Police Officers. A goal of 60 male Black Applicants was set.

The program was initiated with a meeting between Griffin, Plaintiff Warren's attorneys, St. Paul Human Rights Department (Ron Jones) personnel and the St. Paul Urban League (Edgar Pillow) to discuss the possible application of Minneapolis' Civil Service format to minority recruitment.

Personnel Decisions, Incorporated, was also enlisted to help prepare potential applicants for the civil service examination to be given June 1, 1974. Meetings were arranged with all Black Officers employed by the Department and with William Black, of the St. Paul Civil Service. The first recruitment meeting addressed a delegation of Black students from Hamline University in an attempt to recruit some Black applicants for Police Officer positions.

After a meeting with the seven Black Police Officers on the St. Paul Police Force, the following format was proposed and accepted by the St. Paul city administration.

1. A budget was requested and made available.
2. Weekly meetings for discussion of ideas and to advise everyone of program progress were held.
3. Every Black church within the City of St. Paul was contacted.
4. Approximately 15 colleges within the Twin City area, plus the University of Minnesota was contacted.
5. All community centers and playgrounds frequented by minorities were visited.
6. Radio and television stations were contacted for promotional help which was received.
7. Leaflets were distributed door to door in the predominately Black community.
8. Posters in Spanish were placed in Spanish-speaking areas.
9. Recruitment materials with pictures were placed in predominantly Black and Spanish-speaking areas.
10. Displays were posted in business places, banks and other places frequently visited by the entire public.
11. A parade was held, led by the Elk Drum and Bugle Corps, and leaflets were again passed out.
12. Indian weekly newspapers and Indian organizations in the Twin City area were contacted.
13. A photo display created by Police artist Paul Johnson was placed at business and churches during the recruitment period.
14. Major newspapers in both Minneapolis and St. Paul and all daily and weekly papers in the community publicized the recruitment drive.
15. The cooperation of Carl Eller, all Pro end of the Minnesota Vikings, was obtained.

After laying a substantial base for the recruitment of minorities in the department and receiving department funding, Deputy Chief Griffin and the other Black Officers met with a committee from the Civil Service Board to discuss recruitment tactics which would best facilitate the recruitment goal of 60 Black male applicants.

Brochures, posters and informational meetings were used to contact the minority community. In addition, the Police Department also contacted Dr. James Witt, Executive Director of the Center of Criminal Justice and Minority Opportunity at Marquette Law School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who gave assistance in developing a plausible recruitment program. Mr. Gene Robinson of his office made several visits to St. Paul.

The St. Paul Police Department became totally committed to the recruiting of minority personnel and assigned the Police artist and the Public Relations Unit to assist in the recruitment process. The City government gave complete backing to the recruitment plan. Complete cooperation was also forthcoming from the newspapers and four major television stations within the City; and arrangements were made for public service spot announcements of the upcoming tests. Two television stations also prepared short programs to tie in with Police Week activities, and they outlined minority recruitment on these programs. Finally, through the active participation of the minority communities, the recruitment program became citywide.

Excellent cooperation and assistance was also received from the legal aid attorney for the plaintiff in the original suit against the City, St. Paul Civil Service Bureau, St. Paul Urban League (Edgar Pillow), and St. Paul Human Relations Department (Ron Jones).

Probably the major achievement of the committee for minority recruitment was the initiation of the following programs:

1. An oral-interview tutorial session for applicants which stressed typical questions asked of persons during this phase of the application process.
2. Physical training and preparation for the physical agility portion of the test (also available to the general public).
3. Written examination tutorials which included practical explanations of the nature of police work, typical tests, discussions and assistance in preparing for the mechanical administration of such tests (also available to the general public).
4. Appropriate radio and television news release interviews in spot announcement.
5. Press and community news releases and announcements including general news publications, civic and cultural center distribution, and community-disseminated brochures and flyers.
6. Meetings with interested groups including schools and colleges.
7. Support and cooperation from the Department's artist and from the Public Relations, Training, Identification and Photography Units.

I might add that on May 19, 1974, just previous to the date scheduled for the Police examination, the office of the Plaintiff's attorney was burglarized and the test stolen. The test had been in the Plaintiff's attorney's office during the discussion of its creditbility. This caused a great deal of distress and concern among all of the applicants. However, a validated test was secured from Chicago and the examination was held on schedule.

The results of this prospectus have been good. The documented statistics show the following:

1. 1126 persons signed up for the examination for Police Officer. This number included 60 Black males, the goal set, and 18 Black females, 25 Hispanic males and 6 Hispanic females, 4 Indian males, 3 other minorities, and over 250 white females.
2. 809 took the test, including 55 Black males, 13 Black females, 18 Hispanic males, 3 Hispanic females, 2 Native-American males and 3 other minority males, for a total of 94 minority members.
3. 53 minority persons passed the initial written examination.
4. The St. Paul Police Department started its recruitment academy September 8, 1975, with 9 Black males, I Black female (out of over 266 female applicants, the lone female survivor was Black), and 1 Hispanic male out of 43 recruits.

We have at present 532 sworn personnel in the St. Paul (Sept. 1975) Police Department, of which 25 are minority persons. However, we are six minority persons less than the 31 necessary to reflect the same percentage of minorities in the Police Department as there are in the total population of the City.

The progress to date has shown that the St. Paul Police Department is now taking a much more aggressive role in recruitment of minority personnel within its ranks and will continue to call upon this reservoir in the future.

After the LEAA-Marquette University Law School, Minority Opportunity Agency examined the Department's minority recruitment program, Executive Director Witt wrote to the Department July 22, 1974, that his assistant Gene Robinson regarded the Department's efforts as "a model for other Departments."

In a letter to Chief of Police Rowan, September 25, 1975, Bruce Beneke, of Legal Assistance of Ramsey County, Inc., stated:

As plaintiffs attorney in Warren v Schlect et al. I would like to thank you and the men and women of your department for the excellent cooperation and assistance they have provided in meeting the court order concerning police hiring. I compliment you on the firm but positive stand that you took regarding the court order and greatly appreciate the fact that you made resources of your department available to help make the city and department's affirmative action program a meaningful one. In this regard, I understand that the department's affirmative action program is now being considered as a model for the country and much of the credit belongs to you.

In July of 1972, the examination for deputy chief of police was given and when the results were posted, the writer received the highest grade on the written examination and was the number one on the Civil Service roster. William McCutcheon, the number two man on the list, was appointed to the position. The department's decision to pass over the first man on the list broke a thirty-year precedent of taking the first man on the list. The writer engaged the services of Mr. Douglas Thomson, one of St. Paul's leading attorneys, to contest the appointment. At this point of the challenge the writer stood alone. However, the issue soon became of interest to a great many citizens of St. Paul. Letters appeared in the Mail Bag of the local daily paper. The overwhelming majority were in support of the writer. Citizens and organizations including the St. Paul Police Federation, the St. Paul Urban League, the Urban Coalition and the NAACP rallied behind him. Friends and acquaintances telephoned and wrote letters of support, some of whom dated back from his days at Cathedral and McKinley elementary schools, Marshall Junior High School and Central High school. The issue finally was settled out of court by the reorganization of the Police Department to create a fourth deputy chief position for McCutcheon. The writer was appointed deputy chief of police on October 6, 1972. (See copies of newspaper clippings on the following pages.

The writer, by his promotions in the St. Paul Police Department, has the distinction of being the first Black in the State of Minnesota to hold the rank of Sergeant, Captain, and Deputy Chief of Police. All promotions were by competitive civil service examination.

As far as could be determined, at that time (1972) the writer held the highest competitive Civil Service rank held by any Black in any metropolitan police department in the United States. (7)

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1 When Oral historian Kate Cavett interviewed Griffin in 1998 he shared: "And, of course, we've had Black policemen since 1881. Lewis Thomas was the first Black policeman. He was appointed in June of 1881. Seventeen Black officers were appointed to the department from 1881 to 1921, but then we went from 1921 until 1937 and not a single Black was appointed to the police department. They had a Commissioner at that time — I can't remember his name, but he had gone on record. As long as he was commissioner, there'd be no more colored policemen."

Griffin also shared that Thomas' appointment was thirty years before any Black officer was appointed in New York City, ands seventeen years after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

(Lewis Thomas' career in the Saint Paul Police Department is documented in David Taylor's African Americans in Minnesota, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002)

2 Alix J. Muller, The History of the Police and Fire Departments of the Twin Cities, St. Paul, Mn: American Land & Title Register Assoc. 1899. P. 106.

3 Most of the information I have received about Lewis Liverpool is undocumented.

4 This will correct the error in an article published in the Minneapolis Tribune on June 16, 1970 which stated that a Black promoted in 1970 to detective in the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office was the first Black detective in the history of Minnesota. Also, J. D. Harding held the rank of Detective in the Minneapolis Police Department in 1913.

5 Observation written for the writer by the late Nate Bomberg, St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper reporter.

6 Don Ahern, "Five Blacks Sue Over Police Jobs" The St. Paul Dispatch, March 2, 1972, p. 1.

7 There are many Black chiefs of police and Black deputy chiefs of police in the United States, but they are appointive positions. These men were not selected by competitive examinations.