LAFAYETTE PARISH — The first two African-American police officers to serve at the Lafayette Police Department were remembered Friday, February 16th.
Officers James Benoit and Johnny Mitchell were memorialized with a plaque that now hangs in the hallway of the Lafayette Police Department. Both of their families were on hand for the ceremony. Benoit's son, Oscar, said their fathers paved the way for others to follow in their footsteps, "It took this long but it's Black History Month and I'm very proud to be able to give this to this community to recognize and give a little history to them."
Officers Benoit and Mitchell started working at LPD on June 5, 1953. Mitchell's son, Bill, told me times were a lot different back then, "They had to walk to work and they would walk to work together you know and take the train tracks because they weren't allowed in the public with their guns even though they were policeman." His older son, Pascal, said they were only assigned to serve a specific demographic. They were working in the McComb-Veazey, Fightingville area on the block and all of those places because they only assigned them to a certain area to serve the black community," said Pascal.
Despite all of the hurdles they faced, Mitchell's sons tell these two friends always had each other's six, "They were good friends. They always had each other's back. Everywhere they'd go," said Bill.
Nearly 71 years later, there's now 61 black police officers at LPD. Benoit's son, Oscar, has served in law enforcement for 42 years. His father's dedication to service inspired him and the next generation in their family to work in law enforcement, "I named my first son after him, too. He's a trooper now and James, I believe about four years ago, I kind of inspired him to take the police chief test and the story goes that he did. On first, he didn't want to. I told him you gotta realize that when your grandfather came, he couldn't take the test and that was very meaningful that after x amount of years, James Benoit, took the police chief test and passed it."
This memorial was donated by five different organizations. A piece of history that will remain for future generations to see.
