Chief John Bigbee – Cranston Police
04/24/2021 by
Chief John Bigbee
Cranston’s first Chief of Police.
1886 – 1908
Chief John Bigbee was Cranston’s first Chief of Police. He came to Cranston in 1868, and was appointed a police constable in 1878. In 1880 he was elected Town Sergeant. In 1886 he was elected Chief of Police, and served in both positions until his death in 1908. He died as a result of an injury he received while fighting a fire near Cranston Street and Gansett Avenue. The injury led to blood poisoning and he passed away on December 11, 1908. He’s buried in St. Ann’s Cemetery.
He is also the first (known) Cranston police officer to die in the line of duty.
Rest in peace.
Officer Charles H. Smith – Cranston Police
04/24/2021 by
Ptl. Charles H. Smith
Badge No. 9
Patrolman Charles H. Smith was appointed a police constable in 1896. When Cranston incorporated as a city in June of 1910 and formally established a full-time police department, he was one of the first ten permanent patrolmen appointed. He passed away on September 10, 1916 and is buried at the Pocasset Cemetery in Cranston.
The Evening Times
(Pawtucket, R. I.)
September 11, 1916, pg. 9
Rest in peace.
Officer William H. Stone – Cranston Police
04/24/2021 by
Ptl. William H. Stone
Patrolman William H. Stone, (85), passed away at his daughter’s home on March 30, 1930. He was born in Cranston in 1845, and appointed a police constable in 1885, and served as a police officer for more than 30 years. When the city established its first full-time police department in 1910, Officer Stone was one of the original ten patrolmen. It was also in 1910 that he had the distinction of being the first police officer in Rhode Island, and perhaps New England, to utilize an automobile for police patrol duties. Besides his daughter, he was survived by a son, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. He’s buried in Pocassett Cemetery on Dyer Ave.
Rest in peace
Officer Henry R. Johnson – Cranston Police
04/24/2021 by
Ptl. Henry R. Johnson
Patrolman Henry R. Johnson, “Mike” to his friends and family, was appointed to the CPD in the 1920s and served as a motorcycle officer in the Edgewood area. On the night of August 12, 1930, he was shot while questioning a suspicious man who’d appeared from between two vacant houses on Arnold Ave. He was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Providence where he died two days later at the age of 32. His assailant was captured and died in prison in 1952. Patrolman Johnson had survived another shooting in 1928 when he surprised two men robbing a private home.
He was survived by his wife and young son, and is buried in the Pocasset Cemetery in Cranston.
Rest in peace.
Ptl. Henry R. Johnson – 1929
Cranston News
August 15, 1930