The Fraternal Order of Police:
“The Voice of Law Enforcement Professionals” 
The Fraternal Order of Police is the world’s largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers, with more than 330,000 members in more than 2,200 lodges. We are the voice of those who dedicate their lives to protecting and serving our communities. We are committed to improving the working conditions of law enforcement officers and the safety of those we serve through education, legislation, information, community involvement, and employee representation. No one knows the dangers and the difficulties faced by today’s police officers better than another officer, and no one knows police officers better than the FOP.
Founded in 1915, we are still “Building on a Proud Tradition.”
Pitt Greenville Lodge #69
Greenville, one of the fastest growing cities in the State of North Carolina, is the county seat of Pitt County, and is the principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. Like most cities and/or counties that have experienced rapid growth, Greenville and Pitt County have seen crime statistics grow, which required more of a law enforcement presence county wide. Greenville Police Department and the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office have grown proportionately as the populations of the City and County have grown.
In late August 1997, a meeting was held in Greenville with officers of the Executive Board, NCFOP to discuss chartering a Lodge in Greenville. The Charter was opened approximately two weeks later in September and was closed in October 1997 thus forming Pitt-Greenville Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #69.
For almost a quarter century, Pitt-Greenville Lodge alongside the State and National FOP have actively been involved in political endorsements to better represent our membership. We work to elect public officials that have law enforcement officers in mind when making decisions and laws that affect our safety and livelihood.
Pitt-Greenville Lodge serves more than 50 members representing virtually every police department in Pitt County, along with the Sheriff’s Office and several state and federal agencies. Pitt-Greenville Lodge also serves members from Greene, Wilson, Beaufort, Martin, Bertie and Chowan Counties. We are proud to say retired local, state and federal members are members in the Lodge. Our organization is driven by the membership and all members are encouraged to attend our monthly meetings to set the direction of our Lodge.
We are proud to continue the efforts begun in 1915 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and continued by the men and women in Asheville, North Carolina in 1954, when North Carolina’s first Lodge, the Harold C. Enloe Lodge #1 was chartered. North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police is proud to have over 6,000 members in 50 Lodges across this great state.
A Brief History of the Fraternal Order of Police
In 1915, the life of a policeman was bleak. In many communities they were forced to work 12 hour days, 365 days a year. Police officers didn’t like it, but there was little they could do to change their working conditions. There were no organizations to make their voices heard; no other means to make their grievances known.
This soon changed, thanks to the courage and wisdom of two Pittsburgh patrol officers. Martin Toole and Delbert Nagle knew they must first organize police officers, like other labor interests, if they were to be successful in making life better for themselves and their fellow police officers. They and 21 others “who were willing to take a chance” met on May 14, 1915, and held the first meeting of the Fraternal Order of Police. They formed Fort Pitt Lodge #1. They decided on this name due to the anti-union sentiment of the time. However, there was no mistaking their intentions. As they told their city mayor, Joe Armstrong, the FOP would be the means “to bring our aggrievances before the Mayor or Council and have many things adjusted that we are unable to present in any other way…we could get many things through our legislature that our Council will not, or cannot give us.”
And so it began, a tradition of police officers representing police officers. The Fraternal Order of Police was given life by two dedicated police officers determined to better their profession and those who choose to protect and serve our communities, our states, and our country. It was not long afterward that Mayor Armstrong was congratulating the Fraternal Order of Police for their “strong influence in the legislatures in various states,…their considerate and charitable efforts” on behalf of the officers in need and for the FOP’s “efforts at increasing the public confidence toward the police to the benefit of the peace, as well as the public.”
From that small beginning the Fraternal Order of Police began growing steadily. In 1915, the idea of a National Organization of Police Officers came about. Today, the tradition that was first envisioned 106 years ago lives on with more than 2,100 local lodges and more than 355,000 members in the United States with Affiliate Lodges in Canada and the United Kingdom. The Fraternal Order of Police has become the largest professional police organization in the country. The FOP continues to grow because we have been true to the tradition and continued to build on it. The Fraternal Order of Police are proud professionals working on behalf of law enforcement officers from all ranks and levels of government.
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