Bishop Robinson (police commissioner)

Infobox police officer
name = Bishop L. Robinson


caption =
born =
badgenumber =
placeofbirth = Baltimore, Maryland
nickname =
department = Baltimore Police Department
service = United States
serviceyears = 1952-1987
rank = Commissioner
awards =
relations =
laterwork =

Bishop L. Robinson was the first African American police commissioner of Baltimore, Maryland who was Commissioner of the Department between 1984 and 1987.

Biography

A graduate of Douglass High School, Coppin State University and the University of Baltimore school of law, [ University of Baltimore School of Law alumnicite web | title="When it’s Broken, You’ve Got to Fix It" | url=http://law.ubalt.edu/notabene/robinson.html] Robinson joined the department in 1952, was a sergeant during the Baltimore riot of 1968 (during which he was one of the BPD's few ranking black officers) [ cite web |title="'68 The fire last time, part 3"|url=http://publicbroadcasting.net/wypr/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1254081] , was a Captain in the Department's Eastern District in 1972, ["EVER ON THE WATCH" THE HISTORY OF THE BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT by W.M.Hackleycite web | title="Eastern District"| url=http://mysite.verizon.net/vzesdp09/baltimorepolicehistorybywmhackley2/id86.html] represented the Baltimore Police Department in the founding of NOBLE, a national organization of African American police officers from various American cities in 1976, [ NOBLE National cite web | title="Founding Members of NOBLE" | url=http://www.noblenational.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=211] and rose to the rank of commissioner in 1984. [ WJZ News Online cite web | title="Baltimore Renames City Police Headquarters" | url=http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_073173236.html] For Robinson's first 14 years in the department until 1966, African American officers were quarantined in rank, not allowed to patrol in white neighborhoods, and barred from the use of squad cars [cite book |last=Simon |first=David |title= |origyear=1991 |edition=4th |year=2006 |publisher=Owl Books |isbn=0-8050-8075-9 |page=111 |chapter= two |quote= "black officers were still prohibited from riding in radio cars-legally prohibited.... limited in rank, then quarantined on foot posts in the slums or used in the fledging narcotics unit. On the street, they endured the silence of white colleagues; in the station house they were insulted by racial remarks at roll calls and shift changes."] during a time period where the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, and Black Power movements took place. Robinson was elevated to the command of Commissioner in a department long dominated by Irish American officers and briefly dominated by Italian American officers [cite book |last=Simon |first=David |title= |origyear=1991 |edition=4th |year=2006 |publisher=Owl Books |isbn=0-8050-8075-9 |page=39 |chapter=One |quote=D'Addario is one of the last survivors of the Italian caliphate that briefly ruled the department after a long Irish dynasty.....But the Holy Roman Empire lasted less than four years.] as a means of giving African American officers control of the department as Baltimore City became solidly Majority African American. [cite book |last=Simon |first=David |title= |origyear=1991 |edition=4th |year=2006 |publisher=Owl Books |isbn=0-8050-8075-9 |pages=29-30 |chapter=One |quote=the mayor acknowledged the city's changing demographics by dragging Battaglia into a well paid consultant position and giving the black community a firm lock on the upper tiers of the police department.]

External links

* [http://www.baltimorepolice.org/ | Baltimore Police Department]

References