A Legend Departs Us

Bunk Harper was a legend.

A man among men. A trailblazer.

He was the city's first black police officer, its's first black Captain and the first black Chief of Police.

Lawrence Harper dropped out of Mansfield Senior High School and enlisted in the Marines on D-Day, 1944. After completing his 4-year enlistment and coming home, Chief Harper finished high school...and became a policeman for the City of Mansfield in 1948. Bunk Harper walked a beat in the city's north end which, back then, was a pretty rough section of town. From what I've been told over the years, Bunk kept order on his beat, one way or another and by whatever means necessary.

Retired Mansfield Police Chief Lawrence 'Bunk' Harper passed away Thursday, December 22nd, in a Galion nursing home, having spent fifty-four years of his working life wearing a badge. He was 90 years old.

I cannot imagine, in this day and age, a city police officer lasting over five decades on the job.

'Bunk' was a Major when I was sworn in at MPD in 1984, and I'll never forget meeting him; even at his then-age of 57, I knew he was an old-school cop; a man who commanded respect, who had a presence about him I hadn't experienced since I was a cadet/dispatcher at post 70 with the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The man I worked for back then was Lt. J.D. 'Jack' Moore who was, simply, the best cop I ever knew.

Not long after I started at MPD I had occasion to run into Major Harper on the city building elevator. I was about as nervous as a man dressed in a steak suit walking into a lion's den; I think he sensed it.

"How's it going, Clark?"

He remembered my name! I was stunned.

I don't recall how I answered him, but I knew simply having him remember who I was cleared a hurdle with Major Harper; there were some officers who'd worked at MPD for years longer than I whose names he didn't know. Even years after he retired I ran into him a couple of times, and I'd always get that same question: "How's it going, Clark?"

During my years at Mansfield PD, Major...and then Chief...Harper would prove to be a steady, thoughtful commander of his police officers, a real leader who stood up for his people...whether they liked it or not. I'll readily acknowledge that some of his decisions didn't always resonate within the ranks of the police department but, looking back, its easy to see that Chief Harper always had the best interests of the city's residents at heart.

I respected him immensely.

I remember working many a midnight shift and seeing Lawrence Harper, dressed in sweats, jogging the city's darkened streets. He'd run for miles, no matter the weather...rain, snow...it didn't matter. He was a common sight for us graveyard-shifters, slogging along and throwing up a hand when he'd see us pass by.

That was Chief Harper.

And now he has left us.

Heaven's streets are a little bit safer with Bunk Harper, retired street cop and Marine, walking a beat.