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HANCOCK COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: BROOKS, Harry L.
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
September 19, 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 253-254
Hancock County
HARRY L. BROOKS. Under the modern conditions and or-
ganization the police department of a city like Weirton is
one of the most important in the municipal service, and its
management requires rare abilities of an executive nature,
good diplomaic powers in the handling of a force of men
so that the machine may run without retarding friction,
the bravery of a fearless soldier and the broad judgment
of an able general. All of these traits are possessed by
Harry L. Brooks, chief of police of Weirton and president
of the West Virginia Association of Police Chiefs.
Chief Brooks was born at Grafton, West Virginia, a son
of Richard Brooks, for over thirty years a locomotive engi-
neer on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, running out of
Clarksburg, West Virginia. He eventually retired, with a
splendid record, and died in 1921, at the age of seventy-two
years. He was also engaged in police work at Clarksburg,
and continued to give the merchants of that city protection
even after his son had become chief. A man of many ex-
cellent qualities, he had hosts of friends, and his loss was
widely mourned.
Harry L. Brooks was reared at Clarksburg, where he
received his education in the graded and high schools, and
in 1901 joined the police force. His promotion was rapid
and he soon advanced to the position of chief. In 1908, at
the solicitation of John C. Williams, general manager of
the Weirton Steel Corporation's Plant, the building of
which about that time brought the City of Weirton into
being, Chief Brooks resigned his post at Clarksburg and
came to Weirton to become the first chief of police of this
place, with a force of ten men, this constituting the De-
partment of Public Safety. His initial duties also included
those of welfare worker, he being placed in charge of all
public improvements and the social betterment of the mill
employes. The Weirton Police Department now consists
of fourteen men. Weirton also boasts of one of the most
modern homes for its police department of any town in
the state, a modern structure which cost about $35,000 and
which is excellently equipped with all the latest devices,
and includes private offices, a court room, etc.
Chief Brooks, who was elected nine times by vote of the
people, is known as "the ideal chief." Of powerful and
well proportioned physique, his mere presence is sufficient
to quell any ordinary disturbance, and he has long been
a terror to law-breakers, although a kind-hearted friend to
the unfortunate and a protector of the innocent. No third-
degree methods are tolerated in the Weirton Police Depart-
ment. cowardice and brutality are reasons for instant dis-
missal from the force, and merit is the basis of advance-
ment. Chief Brooks is at present president of the West
Virginia Association of Police Chiefs and a member of
the International Association of Police Chiefs, connections
which have proved beneficial to him in his quests as detec-
tive and police officer. In 1919. before the International As-
sociation of Police Chiefs, Chief Brooks was called upon for
an address, and his talk was one of the very few considered
worthy of publication, being reproduced in full in the
Washington Herald. Chief Brooks addressed the associa-
tion upon their duty to the Government, as to their share
in the raising of funds for patriotic purposes, and in regard
to the town of Weirton, which he stated had raised two and
one-half times its quota in Liberty Loans, Red Cross work
and the Y. M. C. A. drives.
Chief Brooks married Miss Calla Davis, daughter of
Evander Davia, who was formerly a teacher at Salem, West
Virginia. One son has been born to this union, Richard,
who at present is captain of a gun crew on the U. S. Battle-
ship "Idaho." U. S. N. Chief Brooks is a member of the
Knights of Pythias.
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