A graduate of
Douglass High School,
Coppin State University and the
University of Baltimore school of law, Robinson joined the department in 1952, earned the rank of sergeant in 1964, Lieutenant in 1969, Captain in 1971, Major in 1973, Lt. Colonel in 1974, Colonel in 1975, Deputy Commissioner of Operations in 1978 and Commissioner in 1984. Robinson also represented the
Baltimore Police Department in the founding of
NOBLE, a national organization of
African American police officers from various American cities in 1976, and rose to the rank of commissioner in 1984. For Robinson's first 14 years in the department until 1966,
African American officers were quarantined in rank, not allowed to patrol in white neighborhoods, and barred from the use of squad cars during a time period where the
Civil Rights Movement,
Vietnam War, and
Black Power movements took place. Robinson was elevated to the command of Commissioner in a department long dominated by
Irish American officers and briefly dominated by
Italian American officers as a means of giving
African American officers control of the department as Baltimore City became solidly Majority
African American. Following his service as Baltimore Police Commissioner, he served as Secretary of the
Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services from 1987 to 1997 in the Cabinet of Governors
William Donald Schaefer and
Parris Glendening. Despite the urging of Schaefer, Robinson opted not to run for
Mayor of Baltimore in the
1999 mayoral election. He subsequently served as Secretary of the
Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice in the Cabinet of Governor Glendenning from 2000 to 2003. Robinson died on January 6, 2014, at the age of 86. He had developed
Alzheimer's disease. ==References==