Kenneth Gregory named St. Louis County Police Department's first Black chief

For the first time in its 66-year history, the St. Louis County Police Department has a Black chief.

The county’s Board of Police Commissioners voted Tuesday to remove the acting chief title from Col. Kenneth Gregory. He had been serving as acting chief since Mary Barton retired from the department in July.

“I never would have thought that I’d be standing here as the chief of this police department,” Gregory said after his promotion was announced. “Forty-two years ago, no one would have given this department a look at to see that a man that looks like me would be the chief.”

Gregory has been with the department since December 1979. He spent most of his early career in north St. Louis County, including patrolling the cities of Kinloch and Wellston, which were at the time part of the West County Precinct. He later commanded the North Precinct, the Division of Special Operations and the Division of Patrol and served as acting commander of the Berkeley Police Department for two weeks in June 1998.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2022-01-25/kenneth-gregory-named-st-louis-county-police-departments-first-black-chief