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Editor’s Note: The Caprock Chronicles are edited by Jack Becker a retired Texas Tech librarian. He can be reached at jack.becker@ttu.edu. Today’s article is by Monte Monroe, Ph.D. He is an archivist at the Southwest/Special Collection Library on the campus of Texas Tech University.
On May 11, 2021, the mayor and city council officially recognized the Lubbock Police Department for 100 years of service, hosting a public exhibit in the lobby of Citizens Tower and by proclamation.
The LPD’s growth followed patterns of cities elsewhere during nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Sheriffs, night watchmen, and city marshals addressed law enforcement during the early years, as well as after Lubbock’s incorporation in 1909. City marshal’s duties ranged from maintaining peace and preventing accidents between automobiles and horses.
Lubbock ultimately faced challenges a single marshal could not handle. Consequently, on May 7, 1921, Mayor C. E. Parks and the city commission, hired C. S. Middleton as the first chief of police, officially establishing the Lubbock Police Department. By June, Wallace Hornsby became Lubbock’s first part-time traffic officer earning $4 per workday. Middleton resigned in August to be replaced by Chief G. C. Hufstedler. He hired four officers creating Lubbock’s first full-time police force.
By World War I, automobiles and bootleggers became ubiquitous. Petty crimes and juvenile infractions drew the ire of the Lubbock Avalanche and religious leaders. Then, on Feb. 25, 1921, three young men, supposedly in hock to professional gamblers, killed the Lubbock Santa Fe station telegraph operator. Members of the Law and Order Club arose to assist the police.
The 1920s and 30s brought the arrival of Texas Technological College and a population increase. Police services expanded to meet civic needs. With New Deal program dollars during the Great Depression city police participated in professional training, with some even attending FBI-sponsored schools in the nation’s capital. Prior to World War II the city constructed a new police station and equipped all their cars with the latest two-way radios.
World War II brought prosperity with the opening of two major Army Air Corps training bases. Mainly a quiet time for local law enforcement, but juvenile issues did arise. Police officials worked with park planners to find wholesome venues where the younger population could congregate. In 1948, police and firemen began operating under civil service regulations.
Sadly, however, in 1947 Special Police Officer Julio Herrera became the first in Lubbock killed in the line of duty. He would not be the last. Subsequent officers died in service, including: Detective Ralph C. White (1953), Detective Larry J. Stevens (1973), Sgt. Kenneth D. “K. D.” Fowler (1992), Officer Rodney Kendricks (2001), Sgt. Kevin Cox (2001), and most recently, Officer Nicholas L. Reyna (2020).
In the 1950s and 1960s the city expanded greatly prior to the 1970 Lubbock Tornado. During this period J. T. Alley became the longest serving chief during the first hundred years of LPD history (1957 to 1983). Alley retired as one of the longest serving chiefs in Texas and the nation, at a time when most chiefs served less than four years.
Alley started the training academy, increased the cruiser fleet, founded the K9 Corps, used helicopters, improved technology, and branding. His force played a crucial role during the 1970 Lubbock Tornado.
Following the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s additional changes came. Willie Britt became one of the first African American officers. Ultimately, Black officers, including Britt, future council member Floyd Price, and Fulton Berry, Jr. started a radio program, calling themselves the “Soul Patrol,” and recorded a song, “Don’t Knock the Cop,” bolstering community relations. Jeanelle Wadkins rose to become the first female LPD Captain.
Following Alley’s administration city leaders sought an outsider to “update” the department, hiring Tom Nichols from Tucson, Arizona as his replacement. Nichols updated policies, increased automation, hired more officers, increased canine and motorcycle training, among other changes.
As “big city” problems encroached, then LPD Lieutenant Tom Martin, a future San Angelo and Grapevine police chief, and later Lubbock council member and mayor, collaborated with DEA Taskforces in cracking down on drugs and gangs. Later chiefs, like Ken Walker, introduced body microphones, mobile recording cameras, computers in police cruisers, and pay increases.
The first quarter of the twenty-first century brought additional progress. Lubbock’s first African American Chief, Floyd Mitchell, became the 24th individual to hold the key LPD position and two Black sergeants were promoted. Thus, from humble beginnings in 1921, the LPD grew with the city, to encompass in 2021 over 500 officers and staff. From a 1921 budget of a bit over $300 dollars per month, grew to today’s budget of just over $73 million dollars, the LPD has thrived.
Although it has experienced criticisms during its first 100 years, the overwhelming majority of citizens support their police force. For their part, the LPD begins their second century following a motto of “Pride in the Past, Faith in the Future.”
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