The first black police officer joined the Winston-Salem Police Department in 1941, but he did not wear a uniform and was assigned to work as a special officer with a concentration on juvenile delinquency among black youth.
Within five years, the late Officer John Joyce had joined the uniformed division and worked as a regular police officer, Police Chief Scott Cunningham said yesterday.
Joyce and two other early officers were honored yesterday afternoon at the first annual Winston-Salem Police Department celebration of Black History Month. The celebration was held at Carl Russell Recreation Center.
"Where we are today is a product of what our pioneers have put forth," Cunningham told an audience of about 100 people, who turned out for the event.
Cunningham and other speakers said that the early officers were conscious of the place they occupied in history, and that they preferred diplomacy and understanding to force.
In addition to Joyce, Cpl. Lillian Bonner, also deceased, was honored at the ceremony as the first black female police officer, and Cpl. George S. Redd Sr. was honored as the oldest living black police officer.
Redd was unable to attend because he is in the hospital, but family members said that they expect him to be released this week.
The department has not been able to find records on when Joyce retired, said Sgt. David Collins, who is with the police department and did research for yesterday's program.
Bonner, who joined the department in 1952, worked as an undercover officer and specialized in finding lost children in the early days, Cunningham said. She also helped with the integration of the local schools. She retired in 1982.
Bonner told a reporter before she retired that she believed in reason over strong-armed tactics.
"One thing I'll always say to the young officers coming on, ‘Don't go out there thinking that because you wear the badge and you wear the gun and you have the stick that you're in control all the time,'" she said.
"I think you ought to be able to try to control your situation, but don't let these things make you feel that other people are going to dance by your music."
Redd joined the force in 1951 as a patrol officer and retired in 1983. Despite being over six feet tall and physically imposing, Redd believed in talking first and arresting as a last resort.
"I found that if you learn the people and treat people like you wanted to be treated yourself, I didn't have a problem," he said during an interview soon after his retirement.
His son, George Redd Jr., described his father as a people person, who was happiest in a crowd.
When his father began working in the schools later in his career, his son was a little afraid that he might not adapt well to younger people and their ways, Redd said. But his father did so well that many children gave him the nickname Dad Redd.
Cunningham said that the early black officers had challenges above and beyond those of being police officers.
"Think of the burdens they had to bear, and they did it," he said, "with grace, with courtesy, with service."
mgiunca@wsjournal.com
727-4089
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement