Honoring local Black police officers

Reporter: Annette Montgomery
Published: Updated:
Black

A panel discussion was held at the Quality Life Center in Fort Myers to celebrate Black History Month and honor the contributions of Black police officers who have protected the community.

Charles Barnes, chairperson of the Lee County Black History Society and a former deputy and captain with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, reflected on the challenges faced by his father, a Fort Myers police officer.

His father was limited in his duties, unable to drive a police car or serve in white neighborhoods.

“Once I came to a house to deal with an incident, and they simply said that they wanted a white officer,” said Barnes.

Barnes recalls the injustices both he and his father encountered in their careers, which were dedicated to eliminating such disparities.

“My father became a police officer around 1953 in the city of Fort Myers, and during that time, Black officers were labeled as Black police officers for the community of Dunbar, which meant that he wasn’t a police officer for the entire city of Fort Myers, so my father only worked in this community. He only enforced the laws in this community. He only arrests whites for community crimes. He was denied the same equal pay. He was not given a police car to drive,” said Barnes.

The panel, featuring former and current Black law enforcement leaders, aimed to reflect on the past while envisioning a brighter future.

“It’s just important that we share our history. I think at a time when sometimes some things are being done to quiet us down. We just need to share our history and what we experienced,” said Barnes.

Barnes continued, “We know times have changed. Fort Myers Police Department has had two Black police chiefs, so that’s a great improvement from the early, early, early times of the 1952-53 time period.”

The event aligns with the current theme at the Williams Academy Black History Museum, “African Americans and Labor.”

Attendees can still participate in the panel and join a museum tour afterward at the Quality Life Center on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Fort Myers.

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