(BALTIMORE – February 3, 2025) – When you think about a modern-day sheriff, the visual that probably comes to mind is a man in a greenish-brown uniform, wearing a six-point star on his chest and sporting a beige hat with a stiff brim.
Sabrina Tapp-Harper is rewriting that image.
This Thursday, we’re honoring Baltimore’s highest-ranking woman in Sheriff’s Office history with the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Award—and she’s not stopping there. She’s running to become Baltimore City’s next Sheriff.
34 Years of Breaking Barriers
Dunbar High School. Coppin State University (Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice). Johns Hopkins (Master’s in Applied Behavioral Science). Baltimore City Police Department cadet to Major. Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office Assistant Sheriff—the first woman to ever hold that rank in the agency’s history.
“Although I’m the first, I will do everything in my power to ensure I’m not the last,” Tapp-Harper said when she was promoted in 2022. “That is really what career growth is about.”
But Sabrina didn’t just climb the ladder—she built new rungs.
In 2014, when the Sheriff’s Office created its Domestic Violence Unit, she was tapped to lead it. She immediately implemented tactical approaches to address citywide protective orders, removing a significant burden from the police department and bringing specialized expertise to a critical public safety issue.
Her work caught national attention. As an advocate for the Violence Against Women Act during the Obama Administration, she was invited to the White House. She served as a research fellow with the International Association of Chiefs of Police in 2008 and currently serves as the Region Three President of the National Black Police Association, which covers 20 states and addresses discriminatory issues in the criminal justice system nationwide.
“Law Enforcement is a Calling”
“You don’t necessarily choose it. It kind of chooses you,” Tapp-Harper says.
As a Black woman in law enforcement for over three decades, she knows what it means to be marginalized. “I take a no-nonsense approach to the issue of discrimination. I know how it feels to be marginalized, and I’m not afraid to speak up.”
That courage, combined with 34 years of experience commanding sex offense investigations, child abuse cases, executive protection, family crimes units, and domestic violence response, makes her one of the most qualified law enforcement leaders in Baltimore’s history.
Now She’s Running to Lead
On June 23, 2026, Baltimore voters will decide who leads the Sheriff’s Office. Sabrina Tapp-Harper is bringing her institutional knowledge, her track record of innovation, and her commitment to accountability to the race.
She knows the Sheriff’s Office intimately. She knows the courts. She knows the community. She knows what works—and what needs to change.
This Thursday, we celebrate her legacy and her future.
📅 Thursday, February 5, 2026 | 6-8 PM
📍 Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center | 1315 Division Street
🎟️ RSVP: donigloverlive.eventbrite.com
Black Wall Street isn’t just about building businesses. It’s about building institutions. Breaking barriers. Opening doors for those who come behind you.
Sabrina Tapp-Harper has spent 34 years doing exactly that.
Join us Thursday as we honor a trailblazer who’s still blazing trails.
#BlackWallStreet #SabrinaTappHarper #BaltimoreElections #Sheriff2026 #BMORENews
