Bishop Lee Robinson (January 16, 1927 – January 6, 2014), was the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department. He was the police commissioner from 1984 until 1987.

Biography

A graduate of Douglass High School,

Coppin State University Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Coppin State Univer ...

and the

University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt consists of four colleges in applied arts and sciences, Robert G. Merrick School of Bu ...

school of law, Robinson joined the department in 1952, earned the rank of sergeant in 1964, Lieutenant in 1969, Captain in 1971, Major in 1973, Lt. Colonel in 1974, Colonel in 1975, Deputy Commissioner of Operations in 1978 and Commissioner in 1984. Robinson also represented the

Baltimore Police Department The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is the municipal police department of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Dating back to 1784, the BPD, consisting of 2,935 employees in 2020, is organized into nine districts covering of land and of waterw ...

in the founding of

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, a national organization of

police officers from various American cities in 1976, and rose to the rank of commissioner in 1984. For Robinson's first 14 years in the department until 1966,

officers were quarantined in rank, not allowed to patrol in white neighborhoods, and barred from the use of squad cars during a time period where the Civil Rights Movement,

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, and

Black Power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...

movements took place. Robinson was elevated to the command of Commissioner in a department long dominated by

Irish American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

officers and briefly dominated by

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officers as a means of giving

officers control of the department as Baltimore City became solidly Majority

. Following his service as Baltimore Police Commissioner, he served as Secretary of the

Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

from 1987 to 1997 in the Cabinet of Governors

William Donald Schaefer William Donald Schaefer (November 2, 1921 – April 18, 2011) was an American politician who served in public office for 50 years at both the state and local level in Maryland. As a Democrat, he was the 45th mayor of Baltimore from December 197 ...

and

Parris Glendening Parris Nelson Glendening (born June 11, 1942) is an American politician and academic who served as the 59th governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. He previously served as the county executive of Prince George's County, Maryland from 1982 to 19 ...

. Despite the urging of Schaefer, Robinson opted not to run for

Mayor of Baltimore The mayor of Baltimore is the head of the executive branch of the government of the City of Baltimore, Maryland. The Mayor has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills, ordinances, or resolutions passed by th ...

in the 1999 mayoral election. He subsequently served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice in the Cabinet of Governor Glendenning from 2000 to 2003.Bishop L. Robinson-Maryland State Archives
/ref> Robinson died on January 6, 2014, at the age of 86. He had developed

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

disease.

References

External links

Baltimore Police Department
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Bishop 1927 births 2014 deaths Law enforcement officials from Baltimore Coppin State University alumni University of Baltimore School of Law alumni African-American police officers African-American state cabinet secretaries Commissioners of the Baltimore Police Department State cabinet secretaries of Maryland Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Maryland 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians