Tommy Norman

Last updated

Tommy Norman (born August 22, 1972, in the Levy section of North Little Rock, Arkansas) is a longtime patrolman/officer who has worked for the North Little Rock Police Department since 1998.[ citation needed ] Norman has received national attention for his actions concerning the people of his community, most notably his charitable actions toward the youth within his jurisdiction.[ citation needed ]On October 15, 2021, it was announced that President Joe Biden will be presenting Officer Norman with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, a highly honorable award given to those who give back to their communities through volunteerism. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Norman was born to parents Modena and Dean Norman, and he graduated from Ole Main High School in 1990.[ citation needed ] Between 1991 and 1998, he worked many jobs in the nursing and mental health field.[ citation needed ] He worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant at Riley's Oak Hill Manor Nursing Home.[ citation needed ] Norman was also a mental health worker at Pinnacle Point Hospital.[ citation needed ]

Norman has three children and eight siblings.[ citation needed ]

Career

Norman is known for positive community policing. Norman's unorthodox approach to policing includes thousands of video posts, pictures and daily interactive engagement at the Boys & Girls Clubs and the Police Athletic League with those that he protects and serves.[ citation needed ] He is credited for doing things like presenting 50 NLRSD students with backpacks and $50 gift cards from Shoe Carnival in August[ year needed ] to purchase shoes, starting the “Shop with a Cop” program to help financially struggling students or just dancing with the children. [2]

National reception

Norman has gained national and international attention for his unconventional methods of law enforcement.[ citation needed ] The national and international exposé of Tommy Norman came from a televised CNN News cable program on May 10, 2015, during an interview on Newsroom with its host Brooke Baldwin and her guest Atlanta activist and rapper Killer Mike. Killer Mike professed that Norman is "doing something right" and that is connecting with inner city youth, in particular minority communities of color. [3]

He was also featured on The Today Show on November 8, 2015. This report featured some of the day-to-day activities he does with the neighborhood and specifically how he is well liked by children. Reporter Kerry Sanders has coined the term “Social Media Cop” for him. [4]

Related Research Articles

Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of rap music that conveys the culture and values typical of urban gangs, reality of the world and street hustlers. Emerging in the late 1980s, gangsta rap's pioneers include Schoolly D of Philadelphia and Ice-T of Los Angeles, later expanding in California with artists such as N.W.A and Tupac Shakur. In 1992, via record producer and rapper Dr. Dre, rapper Snoop Dogg, and their G-funk sound, gangster rap broadened to mainstream popularity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice-T</span> American rapper and actor (born 1958)

Tracy Lauren Marrow, better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop and heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays. The following year, he founded the record label Rhyme $yndicate Records and released another album, Power (1988), which would go platinum. He also released several other albums that went gold, including The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say! (1989), O.G. Original Gangster (1991) and Home Invasion (1993).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Little Rock, Arkansas</span> City in Arkansas, USA

North Little Rock is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States. Located on the north side of the Arkansas River, it is the twin city of Little Rock. In the late nineteenth century, it was annexed by Little Rock for a period, but regained its independence in the early 20th century. The population was 64,591 at the 2020 Census, making it the seventh-most populous city in Arkansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Body Count (band)</span> American heavy metal band

Body Count is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1990. The group is fronted by Ice-T, who first established himself as a rapper but co-founded the group with lead guitarist Ernie C out of their interest in heavy metal music. Ice-T took on the role of vocalist and writing the lyrics for most of Body Count's songs, while Ernie C has been responsible for writing the group's music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Huckabee</span> Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007

Michael Dale Huckabee is an American political commentator, Baptist minister, and former politician who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomination in both 2008 and 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Hilfiger</span> American fashion designer

Thomas Jacob Hilfiger is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide by cop</span> Someone provoking law enforcement to kill them

Suicide by cop, also known as suicide by police or law-enforcement-assisted suicide, is a suicide method in which a suicidal individual deliberately behaves in a threatening manner with intent to provoke a lethal response from a public safety or law enforcement officer to end their own life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta murders of 1979–1981</span> Series of at least 28 murders, mostly of children, in Atlanta, Georgia

The Atlanta murders of 1979–1981, sometimes called the Atlanta child murders, are a series of murders committed in Atlanta, Georgia, between July 1979 and May 1981. Over the two-year period, at least 28 children, adolescents, and adults were killed. Wayne Williams, an Atlanta native who was 23 years old at the time of the last murder, was arrested, tried, and convicted of two of the adult murders and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wayne Glover</span> English-Australian serial killer

John Wayne Glover was an English-Australian serial killer convicted of the murders of six elderly women, over a period of 14 months from 1989 to 1990. The victims included Winifreda, Lady Ashton, widow of the English-Australian impressionist painter Sir Will Ashton, in suburbs located in Sydney's North Shore. Given the advanced age of his victims, after Glover was arrested in 1990, the press nicknamed him The Granny Killer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia Police Department</span> Police agency in Philadelphia, US

The Philadelphia Police Department is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the County and City of Philadelphia. The PPD is one of the oldest municipal police agencies, fourth-largest police force and sixth-largest non-federal law enforcement agency in the United States. Since records were first kept in 1828, at least 289 PPD officers have died in the line of duty.

<i>Body Count</i> (album) 1992 studio album by Body Count

Body Count is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Body Count, released on March 10, 1992, by Sire Records. The album's material focuses on various social and political issues ranging from police brutality to drug abuse. It also presents a turning point in the career of Ice-T, who co-wrote the album's songs with lead guitarist Ernie C and performed as the band's lead singer. Previously known only as a rapper, Ice-T's work with the band helped establish a crossover audience with rock music fans. The album produced the single "There Goes the Neighborhood".

On October 2, 2006, a shooting occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township, Pennsylvania. Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls, killing six, before committing suicide in the schoolhouse. The emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation in the Amish community's response was widely discussed by the national media. The West Nickel Mines School was later demolished, and a new one-room schoolhouse, the New Hope School, was built at another location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas State Police</span> State police agency in Arkansas, U.S.

The Arkansas State Police is a state police division of the Arkansas Department of Public Safety and the "premier" law enforcement agency in the State of Arkansas. The Arkansas State Police is responsible for enforcing motor vehicle laws, traffic laws, and criminal laws. The Arkansas State Police serves as an assisting agency to local law enforcement agencies within the State of Arkansas and has statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities, criminal investigations, and crimes against children investigations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafael Pérez (police officer)</span> Former Los Angeles Police officer and convicted criminal

Ray Lopez is an American former police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the central figure in the LAPD Rampart scandal. An officer with the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) task force, Pérez was involved in numerous crimes and corruption, notably the shooting and framing of Javier Ovando, in addition to the theft and resale of at least $800,000 of cocaine from LAPD evidence lockers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Lakewood shooting</span> 2009 murder of four Lakewood police officers in Parkland, Washington, U.S.

On November 29, 2009, four police officers of Lakewood, Washington were fatally shot at the Forza coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the Parkland unincorporated area of Pierce County, Washington, near Tacoma. A gunman, later identified as Maurice Clemmons, entered the shop, shot the officers while they worked on laptops, and fled the scene with a single gunshot wound in his torso. After a massive two-day manhunt that spanned several nearby cities, an officer recognized Clemmons near a stalled car in south Seattle. When he refused orders to stop, he was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer.

<i>Little Cop</i> 1989 Hong Kong film

Little Cop is a 1989 Hong Kong comedy film directed by Eric Tsang, starring Tsang and Natalis Chan. The film also features cameo appearances from many Hong Kong celebrities such as Andy Lau, Max Mok, Alan Tam, Anthony Chan, Cheung Kwok-keung, Jacky Cheung and Maggie Cheung.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Sotomayor</span> American film producer

Thomas Jerome Harris is an American radio and internet talk show host, YouTube personality, conservative political commentator, men's rights activist, and film producer.

The murder of Darren Goforth refers to the shooting death of a ten-year deputy sheriff of the Harris County Sheriff's Office on August 28, 2015. Goforth, who was in uniform at the time, was killed by Shannon Miles, a repeat offender with a history of mental illness, who shot Goforth repeatedly in the back of the head with a .40 caliber handgun while Goforth was fueling his car. Miles' mother provided an alibi, but the police found the murder weapon in his garage, and he pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty; he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in September 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killer Mike</span> American rapper and activist (born 1975)

Michael Santiago Render, better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American rapper and activist. He made his recording debut on Outkast's fourth album Stankonia (2000), and guest appeared on the duo's Grammy Award-winning single "The Whole World" from their greatest hits album Big Boi and Dre Present... Outkast (2001). He signed with Big Boi's Purple Ribbon Records and Columbia Records to release his debut studio album Monster (2003), which was met with critical acclaim and peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200. He parted ways with the label and released two albums—I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind (2006) and I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II (2008)—before signing with T.I.'s Grand Hustle to release his fourth album, Pledge (2011), and later Williams Street to release his fifth album, R.A.P. Music (2012). His sixth album, Michael (2023), was met with continued acclaim and won three awards at 66th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album.

References

  1. "North Little Rock officer to be honored with Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award". KARK. 2021-10-15. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-11-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Rapper: Why this cop is doing it right - CNN Video". CNN .
  4. "Meet the family behind the 2015 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree".