Denver Police Department has a history of hiring black officers dating back to the late 1800’s

(9News.com) — Information about Denver’s first black police officer, Isaac Brown, has Denver Police Department Sergeant Dean Christopherson scratching his head. “Isaac Brown was elected in April 15 of 1880, which was something relatively new that you had to be elected to the office of police officer,” Christopherson said. “At the early turn of the last century, there were fires at City Hall around 1900, there were various floods from Cherry Creek which wiped out records and a lot of them were just discarded because you can’t keep everything forever.” Christopherson is the President of the Denver Police Museum and preserving the station’s history has taught him a lesson about the department’s nearly 160 years of integration.“When you go back and you delve into history and you see the stories of some of these men and women that came up through and blazed a path for a lot of the modern officers we have today,” Christopherson said.

Brown served as an officer for 10 years in what, at the time, was a relatively small department. With the population changing post-civil war, emancipated slaves came out to the great west. For more on this story, click here.