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

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department Since 1920, the Baltimore Police Department has been led by a single commissioner. Prior to this, it was led by a multi-member board of commissioners. Commissioners of the Baltimore Police Department Presidents of the Board of Police Commissioner ...

. 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. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In terms of demographics, the Coppin State stu ...

and the

University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt's schools and colleges provide education in business, law, public affairs, and the applied arts and sc ...

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 in the founding of

NOBLE A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

, 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 The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

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

Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

officers and briefly dominated by

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

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 The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is a government agency of the State of Maryland that performs a number of functions, including the operation of state prisons. It has its headquarters in Towson, Maryland, ...

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 1 ...

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 January 18, 1995, to January 15, 2003. Previously, he was the County Executive of Prince George's County, Mary ...

. Despite the urging of Schaefer, Robinson opted not to run for Mayor of Baltimore in the 1999 mayoral election. He subsequently served as Secretary of the

Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) is a state agency of Maryland, headquartered in One Center Plaza, Downtown Baltimore. DJS operates juvenile correctional facilities. History The agency currently known as the Maryland Department o ...

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 been suffering from

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

disease.

References

External links

Baltimore Police Department
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Bishop 1927 births 2014 deaths People 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 Neurological disease deaths in Maryland Deaths from Alzheimer's disease 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people