John Kent

John Kent (1805 – 20 July 1886) was a British police constable at Maryport, then with the Carlisle City Police, and is reported to be the first black police officer in Britain. He served seven years in the office of constable at Carlisle before being dismissed from his role in 1844. He then became a court bailiff, then a Parish Constable at Longtown.

Until 2006, when a former officer of Cumbria Constabulary discovered Kent's employment records, it was thought that Britain's first black police officer was Norwell Roberts, who was an officer with the Metropolitan Police starting in 1966 (however Astley Lloyd Blair joined Gloucestershire Constabulary as a Special Constable in 1964). The discovery has been heralded by the UK National Black Police Association as having "huge significance" as well as being "totally unexpected".