Retired assistant chief of police Donald Stafford was the highest-ranked Black officer during most of his 31-year tenure with the Dallas Police Department.
Donald “Don” Stafford, the first Black officer to achieve a rank above lieutenant at the Dallas Police Department, died Sept. 16, according to an online obituary. He was 89.
Stafford was the 14th Black officer hired by the city’s police when he joined the department in August 1960, and roughly 22 years later, was named the first Black executive assistant chief of police. He was the highest ranking Black officer at DPD for nearly his entire career.during Black History Month in 2017, he spoke about memorable moments of his career, including being at Parkland Hospital when news broke that President John F.
“It makes me feel like I achieved something in life for somebody else other than just myself,” he said in the 2017 video. “Because I know there are many Blacks and browns in that department that have been overlooked in the past. It doesn’t matter how you come into the world, only how you live in it.”A file photo taken Jan. 15, 1993, shows retired Dallas Police Department assistant chief, Don Stafford, listening to testimony in Judge Thomas Jones justice of the peace court.
“Chief Donald A. Stafford will be remembered not only for his significant achievements but also for the love and joy he brought to the lives of those around him,” his obituary says. “His legacy of service and strength will continue to inspire future generations.”One of the Dallas police officers who was injured after being shot by a gunman in Oak Cliff on Aug. 29 was released from the hospital.
As Chief Eddie García prepares to leave for Austin, community members and officials have begun to look back on the changes, decisions and tests that proved pivotal after the chief arrived from San Jose, Calif.Lana Ferguson joined The Dallas Morning News after reporting in South Carolina's Lowcountry for The Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette newspapers. She graduated from the University of Mississippi where she studied journalism and Southern studies.
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