DENVER — The Denver Police Museum recently honored retired Denver Police Chief Robert White with their African American Trailblazer Award. The award recognizes Black officers who were the first to achieve a milestone in their careers.
White was appointed chief of the Denver Police Department in 2011. He was the first Black person to hold the position of chief in the department’s 164-year history.
“I’m honored to have gotten the opportunity to be their chief and the first Black chief,” White said. “It’s a great honor and it's very significant, but equally important is what are you going to do with it.”
White started thinking about a career in law enforcement when he was a young boy growing up in Richmond, Virginia. He said he got the idea one day after he and his mother saw a little girl who looked lost.
“I was downtown with my mother and there was this little girl that looked like she was lost and there was a police officer that was talking to her,” White said. “And I said, ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up.'”
Former Denver Police chief honored
In 1972, White was appointed as an officer with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., where he faced challenges due to discrimination. That’s where, he said, he saw the opportunity to make a change.
“In the '70s in Washington D.C., the police department was majority white and the city used to be called Chocolate City,” White said. “And the police management was majority white.”
White’s career had taken him all around the country -- working in law enforcement in D.C., Greensboro, North Carolina and Louisville, Kentucky. In 2011, he was named Chief of Police for the Denver Police Department by then-Mayor Michael Hancock. He was the first Black chief in the department’s history, and was instrumental in recruiting not only people of color but cadets from a wide variety of backgrounds.
“I’ve always been interested in people who have diversity of thought,” White said. “Because you can work in any part of this city and communicate and respect all individuals regardless of their station in life.”
White said his philosophy of helping others didn’t change throughout his career. He opened doors for other Denver police chiefs of color to follow in his footsteps, like retired DPD Chief Paul Pazen and current DPD Chief Ron Thomas.
Thomas spoke at the ceremony and thanked White for the strong foundation he built.
“I think a lot about what you have done for this department,” Thomas said. “I am incredibly honored to be here for this special occasion, not just because you were the first Black chief in the Denver Police Department history, but because you were my chief, and beyond that, you were my mentor.”
Former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock was also on hand at the ceremony. Hancock said it was a tough decision to appoint White, but he is glad he made the choice.
“He was bold in his decisions. He was bold in his leadership. He made calls in the department that have never been made before,” Hancock said. “I’m proud you took one of my toughest decisions and you helped make it one of the best as mayor.”
White retired from the Denver Police Department in 2018. He now works as a consultant for a California-based gunshot detection software company. He and his wife Valerie still live in Denver. He said he’s happy he’s been able to live out his dream of helping others.
“For me it’s always been about helping people,” White said. “I’m maybe one of the few individuals that got to live a dream throughout his or her entire life of something that they wanted to do.”
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