FORT SMITH, Ark. — On this final day of Black History Month, the Fort Smith Police Department (FSPD) is celebrating the history of Black officers in the city.
FSPD Captain Wendall Sampson led a presentation on how Black history month began and the lineage of Black officers in the city.
"The pride I feel as law enforcement officers, uniquely mine I think I was kind of born to serve like a lot of the people that we profiled today," Sampson said.
While it hasn’t always been easy, he says that pride intensifies knowing only ten Black officers came in the century before he was hired. The first, Officer Bynum Colbert, was hired in 1884.
"There was an article that profiled the Black African American officers who started the Fort Smith Police Department. And near the very bottom of it, my name was mentioned as in that line. I didn't realize what the African American community really thought of us as African American officers, until I had that article," Sampson said. "Once you get that ownership and someone takes you as their own, it says we recognize you. It puts extra weight on you to represent."
Sampson and his fellow officers have since moved the needle. Now, there are more than ten officers of color on the staff. Chief Danny Baker says hearing each other's stories is an important part of dismantling implicit bias.
"The perspective that Captain Sampson gave on some of the scrutiny that he felt like he was under, as the only black police officer in the department for a number of years, I'd never thought of that before," Baker said. "So having that kind of knowledge as a leader and a police chief, it's invaluable."
Chief Baker says there is still more work to be done, saying "We can't ever think that we've arrived and give up. We're going to continue to push for diversity within the department."
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