Top black cops: African-American chiefs take the helm in metropolitan America

The new superintendent and his wife, Dorothy, a school counselor, have been married for 28 years and have two children--a daughter, Terri Lee, a senior at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a son, Dana, a freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The superintendent doesn't have much free time, but when he can take a minute to relax, he enjoys spending time with his family and reading, he says.

Hillard, the son of a railroad cook, was born in South Fulton, Tenn., and was one of 10 children. The family moved to Chicago when he was a boy. He credits his "tough" mother with bringing him back to Chicago when he first got out of the Marines. "She told me, `You've been gone from home for four years, bring your butt back home and take the Chicago police exam.'" He came home and later received an associate of arts degree from Chicago's Loop Junior College and a bachelor of science and master of science degrees from Chicago State University. "I never in my wildest dreams figured that I'd be superintendent," he says. "I only wanted to be a gang specialist...It's amazing; I look up one day and here I am in an office that's larger than the house where I grew up in South Fulton."

No less interesting are the other superintendents, who, like Hillard, overcame major obstacles in their rise to the top. Los Angeles Chief of Police Bernard C. Parks began his career as a police officer and moved up through the ranks, holding a number of executive positions, including deputy chief and assistant chief. Parks succeeded Los Angeles' first Black chief, Willie L. Williams. Parks oversees the operations of one of the largest municipal law enforcement agencies in the United States with some 9,600 sworn and 3,000 civilian employees and an annual budget in excess of $1.3 billion. "We must demand a new LAPD," he says, "an upbeat department, one that's compassionate for the people it serves, but also one that's rigorous in the application of the law."

Atlanta's Police Chief Beverly J. Harvard is another trailblazer. A 22-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department, she began her career as a patrol officer and moved up the ranks. In 1990 she assumed command as acting police chief after former chief Eldrin Bell retired. Chief Harvard, who directs a department of 1,600 employees with a $100 million budget, wants to be remembered as "the greatest police chief that the Atlanta Police Department ever had." The key to effective department leadership, she says, is good communication, flexibility and participatory management.

Charles Herbert Ramsey, the new Washington, D.C., police chief, was a top contender for the Chicago superintendent's post. He joined the Chicago force at the age of 18 and created the nationally acclaimed Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) program.

Ramsey's five-year contract means he will lead the 3,700 police officials and 640 civilian employees of the Washington, D.C., police department into the next century. Ramsey has promised "a new beginning" and says is goal is to make the Metropolitan Police Department, "the best in the country, bar none." His innovative leadership style and strategies have made national headlines several times since his appointment.