Published on | General
October marks Black History Month, and this year’s theme is ‘Honouring our Communities’.
Over the next four weeks, we will be honouring the West Midlands Police community by showcasing the stories and achievements of some of the Black officers who have been part of our history. For week two of these features, we turn the spotlight onto Herman Lokey, the first Black officer to volunteer for our Special Constabulary.
On 29 June 1968, 39-year-old British Rail signalman Herman Lokey was sworn in as a Special Constable at Victoria Law Courts in Birmingham and given the collar number C32.
Herman was the region’s first Black member of the Special Constabulary and when he was interviewed by the Birmingham Evening Mail the following month, he said that he wanted to be a ‘member of an active and useful organisation, benefiting the community’. He spoke of his pride in being Birmingham’s first immigrant Special Constable and said that he would ‘do his best to uphold the fine traditions of the service’.
While reflecting on his time as a Special Constable, as part of an oral history with the WMP Heritage Team some years ago, Herman was asked if his life in the Constabulary had been difficult. He responded that he had been treated terribly by some of his colleagues, telling the story of the day at which he had been attending a call, miles away from the station; the officers took the panda car and left him at the scene and he had no choice but to walk all the way back.
Herman said that this was not because of his ethnicity. He believed that he was treated like this by the other officers because of his status as a Special Constable!
Images and information courtesy of ‘The Future is Bright – the Future is BAPA Celebrating 50 Years of Black and Ethnic Minority Officers in the West Midlands and 20 Years of West Midlands Police Black and Asian Police Association’; Birmingham Daily Post Monday, 1 July 1968 and Birmingham Evening Mail Monday, 1 July 1968.