[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 14 (Thursday, February 14, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S851]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO STAMFORD'S FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN POLICE OFFICER

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, James Foreman, a distinguished 
citizen of Stamford, CT, celebrated his 90th birthday on February 12. 
Raised in Stamford and a World War II Army veteran, James Foreman was 
the first full-time African-American police officer hired by the City 
of Stamford Police Department. Prior to his official hiring in 1947, 
Jim had served as a ``special hire,'' or auxiliary officer, for 12 
years. As a police officer, he served with great courage, often in the 
most difficult areas of the city. Jim retired as a patrolman from the 
Stamford Police Department in 1977, with a total of 42 years of 
service. Since his 1977 retirement from the police force, Jim Foreman 
has remained very active and dedicated to public service in the 
community. He is a Justice of the Peace for the City of Stamford, and 
he volunteers in service to other senior citizens. Jim is well 
respected and greatly admired in the City of Stamford. I remember him 
with fondness and respect from the years of my youth, and after, in 
Stamford.
  I am delighted to join with the current and past members of the 
Stamford Police Department, the citizens of Stamford, and Jim Foreman's 
family and friends in honoring him on his 90th birthday. We are 
eternally grateful to him for all the years he put his life on the line 
to enforce the law and protect the citizens of Stamford regardless of 
their race or creed. We are grateful, too, for all Jim Foreman 
accomplished through his long and dedicated service to help break down 
racial barriers in the department and throughout my home town of 
Stamford.

                          ____________________