Female Police in the United States

• NCJ Number: 79151
• Journal: Police Journal Volume: 54 Issue: 1 Dated: (January-March 1981) Pages: 22-33
• Author(s): B D Mishkin
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This article reviews the history of female police in the United States and presents case histories, court decisions, and changing practices of police departments to show that policewomen today are an effective and vital resource of police departments throughout the country.

Abstract

In 1854, the first police matrons were hired by New York City to search and guard female prisoners, but they were civilians with no law enforcement powers. From this beginning, women became encouraged to apply for similar positions in various parts of the United States. In 1910, the Los Angeles Police Department appointed the first regularly rated policewomen, Mrs. Alice Stebbins Wells. Her appointment refuted the popular notion of matrons as being masculine and not very bright, because she was a college graduate, a social worker, and had deliberately sought the position of police officer. Mrs. Wells soon became a pioneer in the national movement to have police departments hire women as officers. However, from the inception of this movement, women were hired by quotas and encountered discrimination, silent contempt, and double standards. Several court cases are discussed to illustrate the hurdles women had to fight to reach equality of employment in police agencies. These cases include Shpritzer v. Lang, Wells v. Civil Service Commission, and the Joanne Rossi case in Pennsylvania. The most far reaching case was the August 1971 class action suit brought by Veragene Hardy against the City of Oakland Civil Service Board, which asked a California State court to order the board to create a civil service classification for police officers with the Oakland Police Department that would be open to men and women on an equal basis. Today policewomen are involved in all aspects of police work. Cases in which policewomen have been prominent in various police departments are enumerated. One footnote and 15 references are provided.