Chapter 0099 - 452R - H Ver of SB1164

House Engrossed

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Forty-fifth Legislature

Second Regular Session

2002

HOUSE RESOLUTION 2007

A RESOLUTION

To commemorate the death of Charles P. thomas, Former Phoenix Chief of POlice.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Former Phoenix Chief of Police, Charles P. "Charlie" Thomas died on June 18, 2001 at the age of eighty-nine. A life-long Democrat, Charlie Thomas was a remarkable man who led an extraordinary life. As Chief of Police, his legacy of courage, integrity and vision shaped the Phoenix Police Department.

In 1940, Charlie Thomas began a police career that would challenge and empower law enforcement in Arizona through four decades. He rose through the ranks - with time off to serve in World War II - and was a good cop in a department that was trying to live down its reputation for rough‑and‑tumble street corner justice and corruption.

Charlie Thomas was promoted to Chief of Police in 1952, skipping several ranks. He took the job reluctantly at a time when the Chief's office had a swinging door and men came, and went, every few months. It was a tough job, but Charlie was up to it. Within weeks, he served notice that it wouldn't be business as usual. He modeled himself on his former partner and mentor, Lefty Mofford, the husband of former governor Rose Mofford, and for the next eleven years, he blazed the trail to give Phoenix a tough, but fair, professional, but compassionate, police department.

In 1953, when Phoenix was deeply segregated, Charlie Thomas stunned the force and the city by issuing a directive that clearly and forcefully called for improved minority relations. The directive stated, "In dealing with minority groups, police officers should be governed by a respect for civil rights…civil rights are nothing more or less than human rights". This was a simple, strong statement that changed the way police did their jobs forever. Charlie also backed up the policy with tough, no-nonsense training and monitoring.

The list of Charlie Thomas' innovations goes on. Today, he would be called an ordinary good cop. In 1952, he was an extraordinary agent for change, professionalism and justice for all. In a demonstration of compassion and audacity that we now know as visionary, he integrated the department and appointed the first African-American sergeant. He put a black officer on a beat in a white neighborhood, then stood beside him through the public criticism and death threats made to both of them.

In 1956, he took the visionary step of moving women from "meter maids" status and put seven regular, sworn female officers on walking beats in downtown Phoenix.

Being a graduate of Northwestern University and a lifelong advocate of continuing education, Charlie Thomas encouraged higher education for the force and instituted the Police Academy. Charlie expected his officers and patrolmen to be intellectually as well as physically fit.

Charlie Thomas helped to change Phoenix and he ended the corruption that had plagued the Phoenix Police Department for years. After retiring as police chief in 1963, he went on to serve as the chief deputy to the Maricopa county sheriff, as a probation officer to the Maricopa county courts and as a federal commissioner. But most importantly, he was the much loved and much missed patriarch of his family. In fact, when asked what his most memorable experience was during his days as police chief, Charlie replied, "Well, I became a grandfather". Charlie Thomas was born in Phoenix, Arizona Territory, in 1911. He graduated from Phoenix Union High School, where he met his wife of fifty-seven years, Betty Turner. Betty died in 1987. Charlie is survived by two daughters, Betty Bucey and Carol Thomas, seven grandchildren, Steven Brotherton, Vicki Brotherton Lamphear, John Brotherton, Bill Brotherton, Bob Brotherton, Kelly Bucey and Dana Clayton, and nine great-grandchildren.

Therefore

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona:

That the Members of the House of Representatives commemorate the anniversary of the passing of Charles P. "Charlie" Thomas and extend sincere sympathies to his family and friends.