MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A special birthday celebration for a South Florida hero was held on Friday.
George Gibson, the oldest living retired officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department, turned 99 years old.
Gibson became one of the county’s first Black cops at a time when he wasn’t even accepted in his own department.
His bravery opened doors for others like Stephanie Daniels, the department’s first Black female director.
After 42 years on the force, Gibson finally put down his badge and gun in 1993.
“Like I told the director on the day I retired, I did it my way,” Gibson said.
Gibson said his passion was policing and paying it forward.
“The most proud of my police department once again is being able to support Black female police officers in the department,” he said.
That support, his dream of being a Miami-Dade County cop, and bravery all pavied the way decades later for others.
Others like Daniels, who Gibson was able to meet just days before his 99th birthday.
“He most definitely paved the way,” she said. “And I have to say thank you.”
A full circle moment that seems almost unlikely considering the times in the 1950s when Miami-Dade was part of the segregated Deep South, yet Gibson was hired as one of the county’s first Black cops.
He was sworn in on October 1, 1956.
Gibson’s courageous choice had challenges, usually from his fellow white cops on the force.
“When you go out to patrol and come back the next day, most of the guys would find a pink slip in the box,” he recalled.
Three times the department chief suspended Gibson for breaking policy by arresting a white man.
“The chief of police knowing that I had made this arrest suspended me for 10 days,” he said.
At 6-foot-2 and more than 220 pounds, Gibson had an intimidating presence on patrol, but for his safety he still needed basic police gear and was denied.
“Like they had hand held radios, I would have to go the nearest phone to call the police stations,” he said.
He patrolled Perrine, Goulds, Redlands and areas around Homestead in the face of hate and danger, once having words with the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan right before a rally.
“I walked right up to the grand wizard and I told him I said look two words don’t make a right,” Gibson said. “And they did not march on Homestead that night. Believe it or not, the grand wizard became a friend of mine.”
After policing, Gibson took his talents to the pulpit, spending decades preaching, perhaps divinely chosen to do both works.
After all, Gibson’s real gift, it seemed, was giving back and never giving up.