The Windsor Police Service is celebrating black history month by honouring former officers who paved the way for a more diverse force.
Sergeant Wren Dosant lead a presentation at Giles Campus French Immersion Public School on Thursday.
"To show the community that the Windsor Police [Service] was progressive in the hiring of black officers some 18 years before Toronto and 20-something years before Montreal," he explains.
Students watched a video, highlighting the careers of Charles Peterson, who was a Windsor police officer in the 1930s through to the 1950s; Howard Watkins, who served in the 50s; and Canada's first black detective, Alton C Parker.
Dosant says he wants students to feel that they can grow up to become police officers no matter what they look like.
Diversifying Windsor's police force has been a goal of Chief Al Frederick's for years, and Dosant feels like it's going well, but it's taking time because the vetting and hiring process is so intense for new officers.
