Harris County Deputy Sheriff and Constable Perry Wooten passed away on May 1st, 2026. I met Perry Wooten at a community activist meeting in the fall of (1977) concerning the issue of just/equitable policing in the Black community, and presently the issue remains the same. At that time, Perry was a Deputy Sheriff in the Harris County Sheriff ’s department, as well as the President of the Black Deputy Sheriff’s Association. Like many law enforcement organizations across America, in the 1970’s, the Harris County Sheriff’s Department had more than its fair share of racial and ethnic tensions, especially as it related to personnel complaints, and equal enforcement of the law. To a large degree, Perry’s advocacy activities for just law enforcement placed a “bull’s-eye” on his back; especially since he was a founding member, as well as President of the African American Deputy Association.
No doubt about it, challenging institutionalized policing authority invariably places a bull’s eye on your back, that is in harm’s way. We all know why police constabularies exist: (1) to serve Whites and to protect their private property rights, and (2) keeping minorities checkmated; especially Blacks through intimidation and murder. Of course, recent encounters are indicative of this historic fact. For example, the brutal police killing of George Floyd. In fact, the Black Lives Matter Movement grew out of historic police abuse of their authority. Perry championed accountable policing rooted in social justice. In 1998, following several years of collaborative pastoral work with prominent leaders and active involvement in the National Baptist Convention, Perry’s deepened spiritual awareness and faith prompted him to formally accept a calling to the pastoral ministry.
us, for several decades, Perry served under the esteemed pastoral leadership of Pastor J. J. Roberson and Pastor Max Miller at Mt. Hebron Missionary Baptist Church. Perry’s close pastoral friendships taught him two valuable spiritual lessons: (a) there is a monumental difference between knowing Caesar’s Laws and (b) knowing the Spiritual Laws of e Divine Lawgiver, expressed in the Two Great Commandments of Jesus Christ. In 2000, Perry ran for the Office of Constable in Precinct Seven in Harris County. The Constable at that time was a beloved Law Enforcement Legend, A. B. Chambers. Many Prominent pastoral and community leaders urged Perry not to challenge Constable Chambers. However, Perry chose to go against the civic and political grain. Perry built a strong political, organizational structure, and an equally strong get-out-the- vote (GOTV) strategy, and consequently he defeated a law enforcement legend Perry believed that the “SOUL” of law enforcement was influenced by the so-called “Blue-Code”, which in turn, was the propensity of law enforcement officers to defend each other whether right or wrong.
Perry was a Law Enforcement Officer for over thirty years; serving in various capacities, including Constable PCT. # 7. During his professional career Perry saw the good, bad, as well as the ugly side of the law enforcement equation. When Perry saw the bad and ugly side of law enforcement injustice, he sought to correct the injustice. Perry always let his law enforcement light shine righteously bright. During his career, Perry wrote a timely book about his law enforcement career, seeking to universalize the character of law enforcement, entitled: “From Hell to Glory”. The social commentary in Perry’s book sheds spiritual light on what God demands of law enforcement officials, because God is the Divine Lawgiver. Perry had the moral courage to put in written book form what most Americans, especially Black Americans already knew to be true as nothing but the whole truth, and the brutal murder of George Floyd is the eternal testament. Hence, this editorial is memorial recognition
of a pioneering Law Enforcement Leader as well as friend, whose absence will be felt by the writer and the Covenant Glen Methodist Church Family, especially Senior Pastor Dr. Robert Earl Childress. Glory to God!
