Laurie Pritchett

Laurie Pritchett (December 9, 1926 – November 13, 2000) is best known for his actions in 1961 and 1962 as the Chief of Police in Albany, Georgia in suppressing the city's civil rights demonstrations by the Albany Movement. He was notable for using non-brutal methods based on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s own tactics, which greatly differed from the way most police departments handled such demonstrations at the time.

Pritchett was born in Griffin, Georgia in 1926. He attended Auburn University and South Georgia College. He was an Army veteran and graduated from the National Academy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville. Pritchett worked in his hometown as a police officer for 12 years before he arrived in Albany as Chief of Police.

The Albany movement began in 1961 and was designed to eliminate segregation in the city of Albany by the use of non-violent protest. It started when three young members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—Charles Sherrod, Cordell Reagon, and Charles Jones—came to Albany for a voter-registration drive. They began encouraging the local people to challenge the city's policies of segregation on public transit, in public facilities such as libraries and hospitals, voting, and employment. The movement faced a great deal of resistance initially from white and conservative black citizens. The major civil rights organizations came together to form one cohesive group, called the Albany Movement. After this group formed, several demonstrations took take place. Consequently, tensions ran high in the community and the police department got involved to put an end to the marches, sit-ins, and other peaceful acts of defiance.

Previous movements in other cities had often relied on images of police brutality to be successful. Such images would be seen nationwide, showing violent actions being taken towards peaceful demonstrators. However, in Albany, the city's chief of police Laurie Pritchett had studied Martin Luther King Jr. and his non-violent strategies. He decided to use non-brutal methods of arresting protesters to avoid negative attention. Pritchett knew that if his police responded with violence, they would be criticized, only further fueling the movement. He also charged demonstrators with the crime of disturbing the peace rather than violating the laws of segregation. Many community members praised Pritchett's ability to maintain order in Albany.

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