Crown Heights Corner to be Renamed After NYPD's First Black Officer Saturday

The corner of the NYPD's 77th Precinct will be re-named Moses P. Cobb Way in a ceremony tomorrow, Oct. 29, at 11 a.m. at the corner of Utica Avenue and Bergen Street.

Patrolman Moses P. Cobb (1856-1926) was the first African-American person to have a career as a New York City Police Officer. He was born into slavery in Kingston, NC, and escaped, walking all the way to New York. He joined the City of Brooklyn Police Department in 1892, six years before Brooklyn and Manhattan merged, according to a program for the event, according to the NYPD.

For the next two-and-a-half decades, Cobb patrolled an area now covered by the 77^th Precinct. Cobb was “highly decorated and respected” and a “trailblazer for racial equality,” according to a police program for the event.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelley,  Emma Spruill, Cobb’s granddaughter and Councilman Albert Vann are slated to speak, and the 77^th Precinct’s Officer Tania Salters will sing.

A reception will follow at M.S. 335, 130 Rochester Ave. at the corner of St. Marks Avenue.

Note that there will be no parking for several blocks around that corner all day Saturday, so make sure to move your car.