Houston's oldest police officer remembered

Officer Edward Thomas, died at the age of 95. He was the first African-American to build an eminent career with the Houston Police Department. He served for a total of 63 years. When he retired, he had experienced the full compass of 20th-century race relations. When he joined  HPD in 1948, he could not report for work through the front door or eat in the department cafeteria or arrest a white suspect. He could not drive a squad car. He had to walk his beat and once disciplined for talking to a white meter maid. In 2011, when he retired with the rank of senior police officer, he was the most revered and respected officer within the Houston Police Department. On July 27, two weeks before he died, the department renamed its headquarters in his honor.

Officer Edward Thomas a trailblazer and  pioneering figure