Leading with integrity: Remembering the first black police chief
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on February 25, 2017 11:53 PM
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Chester Hill, the first African-American police chief in the Goldsboro Police Department, poses for a photo in the early 1990's. Hill became chief in 1992, and served until health problems forced him to retire in 1999.
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Chester Hill, the first African-American police chief in the Goldsboro Police Department, is photographed in uniform in the early 1970's. A beat patrol officer at the time, Hill would eventually work all the way to the top of the department over the course of his 30-year career. Hill passed away in 2009.
When Chester Hill, the first African-American police chief in Goldsboro, set out to do something, there was no "easy way." Only the right way.
This is how his wife, Delores Artis Hill, remembers him now, nearly eight years since his death. A "hard, conscientious worker," as she called him, who gave his best to everything and worked his way up from very little to reach the top of the organization he put 30 years of his life in to.
Born in Wayne County on Feb. 12, 1944, Hill came from humble beginnings. One of four children born to Roscoe and Rosie Hill, he was forced to learn self-sufficiency at an early age after his mother died when he was 14.
After attending school in Belfast and Pikeville, Hill joined the police force as a patrol officer in 1968.
He and Mrs. Hill met in 1972, when she moved to Wayne County, and married in 1974. Both had grown up poor - Mrs. Hill in Wilson County - and they were determined to make life better for themselves and for their three children.
Determination was a central point of everything Hill did, Mrs. Hill said.
"He was a very motivated person," she said. "After he joined the police department, he just wanted to move up. He wanted to get to the top."
For Hill, race was not something he paid too much attention to, Mrs. Hill said. However, that didn't mean he never ran in to discrimination.
"When he first started as a beat cop, he didn't get a car like some of the other officers did," she said. "So whenever they would arrest someone, they'd have to call for someone else to come with a car."
That did not stop him from working his way up the ranks. He was first promoted to captain in 1981. He moved up to major of support services a year later.
In 1987, Hill was promoted to assistant chief of police, a position which no longer exists.
Despite his hard work to advance, when the time came that Hill was asked to accept the position of chief, he was hesitant. The position carried a lot of responsibility, especially for the first African-American to hold it.
Mrs. Hill said that Hill did not focus on the racial aspect of the challenge. He decided to accept the position, and formally became the chief in 1992.
While on the force, Hill developed a reputation for the sharp, commanding image he presented, as well as his by-the-book approach to police work.
"He was very responsible," Mrs. Hill said. "And he expected everyone else to be responsible as well."
Hill spent seven years as chief, before his failing health forced him to retire in 1999. After 30 years as a police officer, down time was difficult for him, Mrs. Hill said.
"It was depressing for him, very depressing," she said. "He wanted to be a part of things, to be active. He took pride in the things he did, and he tried to keep up with things as best as he could."
Among his accomplishments while on the force, Hill was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 1999. He also spearheaded the creation of the police resource center, a program which provided constant police presence in the public housing community. The center featured school and employment resources, as well as legal aid and other general services.
In the end, Hill was a man of consistency and values, Mrs. Hill said.
"He came from a family that, they didn't have much, but they had values and tried to do the right thing," she said. "He brought that with him, and he tried to pass that on to his children."