Retirement nears for Louisville Police Chief, a legend in law enforcement

LOUISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Four decades of serving and protecting the public are coming to a close for Louisville’s Police Chief.

Chief L.M. Claiborne’s retirement date is set for the end of June.

Claiborne has been legendary in law enforcement.

He’s served several roles in a number of agencies.

Now, his nearly 40-year career is coming to an end, where it all began.

“Everything has a beginning and an end. It’s one of those humbling life experiences when you get to the point when you realize that, you know, I’m not the 23-year-old that started this journey. I’m 62 1/2 and I’m about to be a 63-year-old.”

Chief L.M. Claiborne is a man of many roles and firsts.

He got his start in law enforcement in 1980, as a Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper.

He was given a badge number and a map and was assigned to work Winston County, the place that became his home.

A year and a half into the job, his career started taking off.

“I trained the Cadets from 1982 to 2004. I’d say every trooper that went through MHP Patrol School I had some part in it. I knew all of the troopers in the state, knew their families, you know, just lived with them and worked with him for that first part of training.”

During his MHP career, Claiborne rose through the ranks, filling several roles.

From trooper to captain to colonel, then to Director of Mississippi Highway Patrol and Assistant Commissioner of Public Safety, the first African American to serve in that position.

“I always felt kind of like I didn’t have the formal education that some of my peers had because I did not have the college degree and the other things, so I tried to make it up by taking all of the work-related training courses. There was one time that there was not a class available at the Regional Counterdrug Training Academy in Meridian, or at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy that I had not been through.”

On top of serving in almost every MHP position, Claiborne also held a leadership role in the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Homeland Security.

Claiborne was also serving his country.

The state trooper is also a retired Cavalry Trooper and Desert Storm Veteran.

“After I had served four years active duty, I joined Troop A98 Calvary, which is a part of the 155th Armored Brigade, here in Louisville, so I also went there from Private to Private First Class, to Staff Sergeant and Sergeant First Class.”

Claiborne retired from the Military in 2001.

He retired from MHP in 2004.

In 2006, he became Louisville’s first African American Police Chief.

Now, his time there is nearing an end.

Thirteen years later he’s getting ready to retire, for the third time.

“I would like to pursue some hobbies and maybe some travel and most of all, I want to spend more time being in service to my Maker and Creator. Whatever that entails is yet to be unfolded.”

Claiborne also served as the 2009-2010 President of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police.