Many of us get excited to hear it is the month of March since that means spring is right around the corner. Plus, this is the month that brings us Daylight Savings Time (March 13), when we set our clocks forward and gain an extra hour of daylight. These are good enough reasons to love the third month of the year, but if you need a more momentous justification, consider this: March is Women’s History Month.
Women’s History Month is a time to celebrate women’s contributions to arts, culture, history, entertainment, law, politics, sports, and many other fields. Women’s History Month honors some of the most famous women in history, including Harriet Tubman, Jane Cooke Wright, Susan B. Anthony, Maggie Lena Walker, Mary Tape, and Amelia Earhart, just to name a few.
Here at K.D. National Force Security, we see things through the lens of law enforcement, so we are celebrating Women’s History Month by examining the role women have played in shaping the law enforcement profession.
Women have served in law enforcement for nearly 170 years in the United States. The earliest recorded instance of women working in such roles dates to 1845 when they began working as “matrons” in New York City jails.
In an article appearing at police1.com, author Betsy Brantner Smith explains how in the 1960s, as police departments increasingly battled prostitution and illegal drug sales, agencies developed an expanded need for women crimefighters to serve undercover in vice squads. In 1968, Elizabeth Robison and Betty Blankenship became the nation’s first female patrol officers when they were assigned to a squad car by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
In 1972, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act outlawed gender discrimination in public agencies — including police departments — and expanding opportunities for women in law enforcement. Despite this landmark legislation and the growing number of women working in law enforcement, there has always been a gender gap in the criminal justice field.
Ivonne Roman, a former chief of police with the Newark, NJ, Police Department, points out in Police Chief Magazine that a persistent hiring deficit exists for women in law enforcement, despite decades of research documenting the unique benefits of women in policing.
“Women are consistently rated as trusted by their communities and, importantly, are motivated to serve communities in an era of decreased police legitimacy. Women have high levels of interpersonal communication skills, which translates into more effective practices in the field. Women are found to have a calming effect on male partners in high-stress and dangerous assignments, resulting in fewer police deaths. Higher levels of female representation are associated with organizations that emphasize community policing. Female police officers have a positive influence on the perceived job performance, trustworthiness, and fairness of a police agency, perhaps increasing the public’s willingness to cooperate in the production of positive public safety outcomes.”
The field of law enforcement has been positively impacted by many notable female figures in criminal justice. Among the most notable female pioneers in the field are:
- Elizabeth Robinson and Betty Blankenship – The first females to become patrol officers in the United States
- Beverly J. Harvard – She became the first African-American female police chief of the Atlanta Police Department
- Mary Sullivan – The first female homicide detective for New York Police Department
- Georgia Ann Robinson – The first African-American female police officer to work for the Los Angeles Police Department
- Heather Fong – First woman to lead the San Francisco Police Department and first Asian-American woman to head a major city police force
- Sonia Sotomayor – The first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, and the third woman to be an associate justice
Women have played a critical role in the development of the criminal justice field for nearly two centuries. At first, they worked behind the scenes, assisting police departments in social-work capacities. Now some of them are running the show. The increase of women in the field brings with it a different perspective that is beneficial to the communities they serve.
At KD National Force Security, we are thankful for all the women who assist, protect, and serve our country.
