Louise Smith is a retired trooper with the
Connecticut State Police
The Connecticut State Police (CSP) is a division of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the state of Connecticut, especially in areas not served by ...
from
Durham, Connecticut
Durham is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Durham is a former farming village on the Coginchaug River in central Connecticut. The population was 7,152 at the 2020 United Stat ...
. She is the first black woman to serve in a
state police
State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...
force in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Personal life
At the time of her commissioning she resided in Durham, Connecticut.
She claims to have received support to continue with her career as a law enforcement officer from the 1970s television show ''
Get Christie Love
''Get Christie Love!'' is an American crime drama TV series starring Teresa Graves as an undercover African-American female detective which originally aired on ABC from January 22, 1974, until April 5, 1975. The starring television role made Gra ...
'', which featured a black woman working as a detective in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
Career
She graduated the police academy and took her oath of office in 1968. She was the first black woman to join a state police force in Connecticut,
and in fact she was the first to do so in the nation. She did not know at the time of her graduation that she was making national history, an article in Connecticut about the graduation simply remarked that “another woman” had graduated.
She followed in the footsteps of Albert Washington of Branford who became the first black Connecticut state trooper in 1964.
Acceptance of her presence by existing state troopers was mixed, with some treating her as a sister and others refusing to even speak to her. Many in the public were also uncomfortable interacting with a black female law enforcement officer.
During the trial of Black Panther activist
Angela Davis she was assigned to escort Davis from the courtroom to her cell; deputies mistakenly locked up Smith with Davis before realizing their mistake.
See also
*
Women in law enforcement in the United States
Women in policing in the United States, colloquially known as women police or female cop, began as early as the 1890s. Women make up 12.6% of all U.S. sworn police officers in 2018. Employed largely as prison matrons in the 19th century, women t ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Louise
Living people
Law enforcement in Connecticut
African Americans in law enforcement
Women in law enforcement
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century African-American people