BLACK OFFICER SLAIN IN 1923 GETS HIS DUE.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Correcting the history books on the role of minorities in Los Angeles, Mayor Richard Riordan dedicated a monument Wednesday to police Officer Charles P. Williams, who officials now say was the first African-American LAPD officer killed in the line of duty when he was shot in 1923.

In dedicating a headstone at the grave of Williams, Riordan, Police Chief Bernard Parks and others acknowledged that a mistake was made that obscured the role African-Americans played in the city's law enforcement history.

``After 75 years, it is time to set the record straight,'' Riordan said. ``Officer Williams will finally receive the honor and recognition he deserves. As the first African-American police officer to give his life in the line of duty, Officer Williams made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of Angelenos.''

Williams was a vice officer in the Central Area on Jan. 13, 1923, when he was shot to death by a man who had been threatening people in front of a brothel.

However, there were two officers in the department with the same name and the photo of the other officer, who was white, was mistakenly included in material on the slain officer.

As a result, written history on the LAPD has said that the first African-American police officer killed on duty was Oscar Joel Bryant, who was slain in 1968.

The mistake was discovered recently by John Thomas, a 14-year veteran of the LAPD who determined that Williams was African-American while going through old newspapers at the library.