Wilson Sweet was a supporting character on the television series In the Heat of the Night. Portrayed by Geoffrey Thorne, he became a member of the Sparta, Mississippi Police Department in late 1988 after having graduated from the academy.
Sweet had grown up in the area and had a number of friends and family living in the area. His grandfather had been murdered a number of years ago in Sparta.
He was the second African-Amercian to join the force after Virgil Tibbs. Even though his attitude at times got under the skin of Bill Gillespie and others in the department, Sweet soon became a valuable member of the force.
Sweet was well aware of the racial issues present in Sparta and the wider area. In "Prisoners" he arrested a friend for robbery after this friend held up a store. This friend begged Sweet not to arrest him because he had escaped from the Butler County Jail and he would be killed if the Sparta police sent him back there. After this friend was booked into the Sparta jail Sheriff Ed Thompson of Butler County arrived and took the prisoner back to his jail, where the prisoner soon died. (Thompson claimed it had been an unfortunate accident). Feeling that no one was doing anything to actually gather proof Thompson was beating his prisoners, Sweet decided to gather proof for himself. Managing to get himself arrested, he provoked Thompson into severely beating him before Gillespie, Tibbs, and Bubba Skinner arrived to have him released into their custody. Finding him severely beaten, Gillespie had Skinner rush Sweet to the nearest hospital.
Since that incident, the other officers were more willing to listen to him, but Sweet still tested the patience of Gillespie and his superiors. At one point Gillespie threatened to suspend or even terminate him because of Sweet's insubordination.
As his long term career goals, Sweet wanted to advance in law enforcement, and even envisioned himself becoming a chief of police. He once told Tibbs that a long term goal of his was to become Sparta's first black police chief. Sweet engaged in a friendly rivalry with Parker Williams, hoping to show Tibbs that he had what it took to become a detective. Sweet did move ahead in law enforcement, becoming a Sargent in the sixth season. However, sometime in 1993 Sweet left the department - audiences were not informed of the circumstances of his departure.
Trivia[]
- By 1993, Geoffrey Thorne wanted to focus on his writing career and declined to return for the seventh season of the series. As a result he was dropped after the end of the sixth season.