Laina Stevens, the first African-American woman to join the Upper Darby police force has hit a new milestone as Upper Darby’s first African American female police sergeant,  writes Kevin Tustin for the Daily Times.

“This is all surreal, really. When I started my career as a police officer I never thought that I would be promoted to sergeant so I’m very grateful to be here in this position,” said Stevens Tuesday night during a promotion ceremony.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said the promotion of persons of color in the department is long overdue, especially in a diverse community like Upper Darby.

She was initially assigned to the narcotics division, then to the third squad patrol division. She participates in the department’s fifth grade mentoring program and is a guest speaker at Beverly Hills Middle School.

Another historic moment of Tuesday night’s ceremony was Rob Bennett’s promotion to sergeant, the first time an openly gay officer reached that rank in the department. Bennett was been with Upper Darby since 2008 serving as a patrol officer, detective and, at present, an officer with the K9 unit.

Four other officers were also promoted on Tuesday.

Read more about these historic promotions here.

[uam_ad id=”62465″]