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Black officers historic part of city police department

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Today the Sun-Gazette offers the next installment in a weekly history series that tells the stories of those who came before us. This week we pay homage to Black History Month with a story on black police officers here.)

Black police officers have served the city of Williamsport working every street at every rank that the city needed before it even was considered a city.

Williamsport, when still a borough, hired its first police officer in 1850 after over four decades of constables policing each ward as a section, according to the city police department’s history.

After Williamsport was established as a city in 1866, it was decided that a regular police force was needed to fill the expanding city limits.

Since then, over 500 officers have worn the uniform of a Williamsport police officer, including 16 black citizens protecting their city and the people in it.

Among the first

Born into slavery in 1853, Thomas Hughes was appointed to the city police in 1885, joining the few of those first African-American police officers in the city.

He served the department for 21 years.

His career was cut short after he died nine days after being attacked by a mob while on duty.

Hughes was called to the Lycoming Opera House the night of Sept. 15, 1906, to confront a gang of drunken men, according to police records.

He arrested their leader and, while bringing the man to City Hall, the rest of the gang followed him and severely beat him in the streets.

Hughes held the man under arrest while being beaten until backup arrived.

Reports said he died nine days later from a condition that existed before the beating.

Inspired to serve

A police officer standing on the corner of a Harrisburg market was spinning a nightstick when a young boy walked up to him and said: “When I grow up, I want to be a sergeant just like you.”

That young boy, Curley Jett, fulfilled that desire and became a sergeant. Then he became the first black police chief in Williamsport’s history.

“Sgt. Lewis was a man at the top of his game and an honorable person,” Jett said of that officer in Harrisburg. “He inspired me.”

After training in Harrisburg, Jett began his career as a patrolman with the city police department in 1973.

From that year until 2001, he was an agent, a sergeant on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift for 14 years, captain, assistant chief and chief.

At one time, he was one of five black officers working in the department.

“At times, it was the greatest experience of my life,” Jett said of his career with the department. “It was such a joy to help people. Not just the community, but the other officers. And I wasn’t treated any differently.”

Legacy

Like Jett, Agent Jason Bolt had the goal of a career in law enforcement from a young age.

Bolt comes from a family of policemen, he said. His father is a retired detective in a major U.S. city.

“It’s in my blood,” Bolt said.

He joined the city police in 2004 as a patrolman until he was promoted to agent in 2016.

As an agent, he investigates major crimes in the city “ranging from check frauds to homicides and everything in between,” he said.

But he specializes in cellphone and computer forensics.

Bolt said it feels good, carrying on the legacy of other black officers who have worn the badge.

“I like to know that I am paying tribute to those before me,” he said.

He currently is the only African-American agent in the department, but he said race never has been an issue within the department or with the greater community he polices.

“I treat people based on what’s inside and not what they look like,” Bolt said. “Williamsport really isn’t what people perceive it to be. You get out what you put in.”

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