The continued efforts of these women’s organizations are largely responsible for the rapid increase in the number of cities employing women officers. Police officials have questioned the wisdom of such a change in their organizations and there is still no general agreement among them in favor of the idea. In those cities where competent women officers are doing satisfactory work, the officials consider them as necessary members of the police force and would not wish to do without them. In other cities where the women have not been wisely chosen, they have failed at tasks which they were unfitted to perform. This has caused the officials in those cities to question the value of any women officers as a factor in police work.

Those who have studied the situation feel that there is need for women officers in every police department. It is agreed that while most of the problems coming to the attention of the police can be handled best by men officers, there are some cases where this is not true. Those problems which have to do with women and children can, without question, be better taken care of by women officers.

In order that the women officers may do their work well and make their contribution to an improved police service, it is important that they should be very carefully selected. It is necessary that they be qualified by personality, training and experience to carry out the very specialized work which will be required of them in the police department. It is equally important that these women have the sympathetic cooperation of the police officials in all their efforts.

Growth of Movement in the United States

In general, two groups of women have been employed in police departments in the United States. The one group consists of civilian employees designated as matrons who are employed to supervise and attend women held in custody. The other group consists of those sworn in as police officers, assigned to regular police duties. Theoretically, the functions of these two groups are very distinct and in the larger cities, where the work is well organized, the division of duties is clear. In smaller cities there is much less distinction and consequent overlapping. One finds many examples to indicate that women sworn in as officers are occupied with administering to the physical well-being of women prisoners, and other examples of women employed as matrons functioning as police officers. This situation makes it difficult to obtain accurate information in regard to the number of cities employing women officers and in regard to the number of women officers employed.

Matrons were first appointed in the United States in 1845 in New York City. Since then the plan of appointing matrons to be responsible for women who are held in custody by public departments has become part of established procedure. The first appointment of a woman officer functioning at regular police duties was in 1905 in Portland, Oregon. The appointment of women officers, as we have already stated, is not so generally accepted. Information in regard to the progress which has been made in the appointment of women officers is offered from facts obtained through three questionnaires. The first questionnaire on this subject, which is a matter of record, was sent out in 1919 and in 1920 by Lieutenant Mina C. Van Winkle, Director of the Woman’s Bureau, Washington, District of Columbia. A later one, giving partially comparable information, was sent out by the Bureau of Social Hygiene of New York City in 1924. This particular questionnaire was sent out to obtain information for the book "Women Police" under preparation by the Bureau at that time. The third was sent out in March of 1929 by Commissioner William P. Rutledge of the Detroit Police Department.

One hundred and forty-six cities replied to Lieutenant Van Winkle’s questionnaire. 56 cities reported that they employed 175 women in their police departments; 26 states are represented by these 56 cities.

Two hundred and sixty-eight cities replied to the Bureau of Social Hygiene questionnaire. 210 employ women in the following capacities: 71 employ both matrons and women police; 65 employ matrons only; 52 employ women police only; 22 employ one person as both matron and policewoman; 58 employ no women in their police departments.

Of the one hundred largest cities in the United States, ninety-two employ women in their police departments; 56 employ both matrons and women police; 24 employ matrons only; 10 employ women police only; 2 employ one person as matron and policewoman.

Two hundred and two cities replied to Commissioner Rutledge’s questionnaire. 164 employ women in the following capacities; 77 employ women police only; 48 employ both matrons and women police; 39 employ matrons only; 38 employ no women in their police departments.

This cites employ four hundred and sixty-five women officers and two hundred and ninety-four matrons.

Eighty-nine cities replied to the question regarding date of appointment: 4 appointed women officers before 1910; 37 appointed women officers between 1910 and 1920; 48 appointed women officers after 1920.

The best information available indicates we have today about two hundred cities in the United States employing women officers. The work which is being done by these women officers naturally varies greatly in different cities. The reason for this is clear when we realize that out of forty cities replying to Commissioner Rutledge’s questionnaire as employing just one officer: 7 cities gave population as under 25,000; 14 cities gave population from 25,000 to 50,000; 8 cities gave population from 50,000 to 100,000; 11 cities gave population from 100,000 to 500,000.

The Policewoman’s Tasks

Since the earliest appointments, it has been the practice for women officers to work almost entirely on complaints made to the police department having to do with women and children. In some cities there are enough women officers to take care of all such complaints. In other cities, because of lack of women officers, many of these complaints must be taken care of by men. In certain cities, in addition to the work on complaints which come to the department, the women officers are occupied with investigating community conditions that make for delinquency, supervising commercial recreation open to women and children seeking to make contact with girls who may need protections. This work is designated as protective patrol and in cities where it is being done it is considered a very important part of the work of the women officers.

We have several times referred to the complaints received concerning women and children and will therefore go on to give some details of the different problems represented by these complaints. First, there are complaints on lost children, children who are problems because of bad family situations, dependent and neglected children and little girls who by truancy from home or school, petty larceny or waywardness, come to the attentions of the police. There are also complaints made about adolescent girls, leaders of gangs, girls who take what does not belong to them and those who are immoral; complaints made about older girls who present the same problems intensified by longer experience, less parental influence and greater economic independence. Other complaints have to do with adults. These present problems of domestic difficulty, dependency and immorality, complicated because of these women are often the mothers of little children.

Complaints are also received in regard to missing persons of any age, distinguished from runaways by the fact that there is no evidence of premeditation. The runaways are either children, young girls or women. The children run away because of maladjustment in the home, lack of sympathy and understanding poverty, very strict or abusive parents, or school problems. The young girl runs away for the same reason that children run ways but in addition there may be infatuation for some man or the desire for adventure. Women run away because of difficulties with their husbands, interest in another man or, sometimes, just to get away from the overwhelming problems cause by many children and little money.

There are also complaints in regard to community conditions-suspected blind-pigs, suspected disorderly houses unlicensed places of amusement, gang rendezvous, or complaints of unlawful practices in certain apartment houses or hotels. Another group of complaints has to do with cases in which crimes have been committed against girls or little children. Most often these crimes have been committed by strangers but sometimes they are committed by a member of the household which complicates the problem. Still other complaints are of crimes committed by women and girls. Many of these cases are store larcenies. The individuals involved in these cases range from the young girls or even children who are found stealing trinkets in the five-and-ten-cent stores to the cases of confirmed shoplifters and pickpockets. Other cases involving women are those concerned with the violation of prohibition and drug laws.

Consideration of the facts underlying these various complaints brings one into agreement with those individuals who, after studying the situation, are of the opinion that an adequate number of women officers should be provided in each police department to handle these complaints.

Protective Patrol Work

We have said that in certain cities women officers, in addition to the work which they do on complaints which come to the police department, are engaged in what is known as protective patrol.

The patrol work of women officers had its origin in the war-time work of the Commission on Training Camp Activities of the Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board. The representatives of this organization, working in the camp towns, demonstrated very clearly that real protection could be afforded boys and girls by providing decent recreation and by eliminating vicious individuals and undesirable places. They also proved the value of making early contact with girls who were in need of counsel and assistance by going out into the streets and public places to look for them.

As a basis for estimating the field of service, we may consider that the woman patrol officer will concern herself with any situation arising in a place open to the public which might be considered as potentially harmful to women and children. She will give attention to downtown streets, depots, docks, parks, public restrooms, burlesque theaters, moving picture houses, amusement parks, tourists camps, employment agencies for unskilled and semi-skilled workers, questionable hotels, rooming houses, dance halls, cabarets, barbecues, suspected beer-flats, suspected blind-pigs and suspected disorderly houses. She will look for truants from home and school, unemployed girls, men looking for pick-ups, girls soliciting for prostitution, drug peddlers, procurers, other underworld characters, obscene posters and salacious literature. The officers are also looking for intoxicated girls, children engaged in street trades, and disorderly conduct in parked cars. Generally speaking, these are the duties as outlined for the woman officer on patrol work. Specifically, however, she studies the district in which she is working and develops a plan of work which meets the need of that particular district.

Recently there has been some experimentation in assigning women officers to work which has to do with women but which is not protective in its nature. I refer to the assigning of women officers to work in the detective bureau, the narcotic squad, the homicide squad and other crime detection divisions. These efforts are still very experimental. There is little doubt that in the future women officers will be placed at work in many squads of the crime detection divisions of the police department, but at present the few efforts that have been made do not justify any general conclusions as to their usefulness or as to the peculiar qualifications required for success in such work.

Policewomen and Police Matrons

A discussion of the duties of women officers is not complete without mention of their work, in some cities, with women held in custody by the police and of their relation to police matrons. We have previously mentioned the difficulty in obtaining information which differentiates between the policewomen and the police matrons, and called attention to the fact that especially in the smaller cities there is overlapping of duties. There is an ever increasing feeling in favor of the centralization of women held in custody by the police in so far as the local conditions permit. Where there are well organized woman’s bureaus, the plan of making the administration of the detention quarters for women an activity of the woman’s bureau has been successfully worked out over a period of years. In these cities the matrons are made responsible to a woman officer who is in charge of the detention quarters. The general opinion is that matrons are not fitted by training or experience to do the work or to take the responsibilities which are required of policewomen either in the detention quarters or in other police work. They are usually women of good character with limited educational background, often having no experience outside of their own homes before appointment. The work of matrons in ministering to the well-being of the women held in custody and of accompanying them when it is necessary for a prisoner to leave the detention quarters while held there, is a necessary and important part of the work of the police department. It is, however, quite distinct from the work of the policewoman. Since the matrons in many cities were the first women appointed in the police department there has been a tendency to promote them by appointing them as women officers when such positions have been created, or of combining duties. It is this situation which has brought about the confusion between policewomen and police matrons, and which has in many cities been responsible for the fact that expected results have not been obtained after the appointment of women officers.

Organization of Work

There is much variation in the form of organization under which women police operate in different cities. Three general forms of organization have been followed. Under the first form, women officers are placed at work under precinct commanders, heads of detective bureaus, or chief inspectors. The women are assigned to do whatever work is detailed to them by the commanding officer. There are no special records under this form of organization, the reports of the women officers being absorbed into the general records of the police department. In the second form of organization, certain of the women officers are assigned to work in a woman’s bureau, while other women officers are assigned to work as in the first plan, that is, under men officers in detective bureaus or precinct stations. The third plan is designated as the "Unit Plan." Under this form of organization the women officers operate in a separate bureau with a commanding officer who is responsible to the chief of police for the work of the officers and for the accomplishment of the bureau.

The appointment of women officers is in most police departments a first step in crime preventions work. The type of service introduced by these officers is therefore not familiar to the men officers. A large percentage of the cases coming to the attention of women officers will present problems which they will themselves adjust. This situation carries with it a great responsibility. The fact that the women officers are the only social workers making contact with such a large number of individuals makes it very important that their disposition be based on correct diagnosis. It is not to be expected that men officers will be able to direct this work which requires not only that the individual be a good police officer but that he be an experienced worker with problem girls. For this reason, it is advocated by those having given close study to the problem, that women executives be appointed as directors of women’s bureaus. These women should be given rank in the police department and be made responsible directly to the chief of police.

Where there are enough women officers the work of the bureau has been divided so that different officers are occupied at patrol, at making search for missing girls or at investigation of crimes. These different activities are supervised by officers who have rank in the department lower than that of the director. In cities where there are not enough officers so that there can be specialization, the women are required to work on any complaints assigned to them.

Even where there are only a few officers the unit form of organization is considered desirable - once officer being given rank in the department and made responsible for the work of the other officers. Where there is only one officer it has still been found advantageous to consider her a special bureau, and, even when she does not have rank in the department, make her directly responsible to the chief of police.

The Woman’s Bureau

Those who advocate the unit form of organization for women officers argue that it assures that all complaints will be dealt with in a uniform way, that the special record system of the woman’s bureau will build up a fund of information in regard to problem girls in the community, that duplication will be avoided and that by pooling information in regard to trouble girls, valuable data are obtained in regard to community problems and needs which point the way to an improved service. As far as is known, the women officers in cities where there are women’s bureaus operate, with one exception, from a central office. In this one city a branch office has been established in connection with the offices of the Juvenile Court where complaints which have to do with boys under ten years and with girls under seventeen years are received. In several cities there are indications that, from point of time, it is considered disadvantageous for the officers of the women’s bureaus to work out of a central office. Plans are now under way in one city to have certain of the officers of the woman’s bureau stationed at precincts. These women would remain a part of the woman’s bureau, the supervision of their work would be from the central office through reports which would be filed as part of the records of women’s bureau. The officers would, however, receive their assignments from and report on cases to the officer in chare of the precinct. All problems of discipline and responsibility for accomplishment would remain with the central office. This plan is similar to that under which detectives in some cities are assigned to precinct work.

Standards of Appointment

Students of police problems are everywhere giving consideration to ways and means of improving the personnel of the departments. It is recognized that if police officers are to meet adequately the problems with which they are required to deal, it is necessary that applicants from appointment be very carefully considered and that minimum standards be adopted which will tend to assure the appointment competent candidates. This is especially true in the case of women officers who have been brought into the police department to do a special service. In 1916, the International Association of Policewomen first advocated certain minimum standards for policewomen. These early educational requirements were further defined and standardized at the Twenty-ninth Annual Convention of the Chiefs of Police in San Francisco in 1922, where they were unanimously adopted as a basis fro the appointment of women officers. Unfortunately the adoption of these minimum standards by the chiefs of police has not resulted in appointments actually being made on this basis. Instead, there is the greatest lack of uniformity in the methods used to select women officers. It is estimated that about half of the cities of the United States have civil service examinations for their police officers. In many cities, women officers take the same examination that is given to men officers. There are certain exceptions to this procedure and in several cities much time and thought have been given to working out suitable examinations for women applicants. Even though the emphasis in civil service examinations is on physical qualifications, general information, principally of a local type, and problems of simple police duty, it may be said that the situation in cities where there is civil service is relatively better than in cities where there are no minimum requirements. Here and there one encounters cities where, without the help of civil service, efforts are being made to standardize minimum requirements and where, in addition to this, individuals considered for appointment are carefully selected with regard to their possible adaptability to police work. As a part of the applicant’s examination in once of these cities, women officers are required to take a psychiatric examination. This examination includes an extensive inquire into family and personal history, a neurological examination and a standard psychometric test. The latter gives the intelligence rating - a definite limit is set in which an applicant is not considered - auditory and visual memory, powers of observation, comprehension and judgment and ability to make simple and complex associations. They are also tested for ability to detect absurdities, capacity for reasoning, academic achievement, ability to adjust to new situations and emotional stability. The opinion of the psychiatrist, with the report of the examining physician, is considered by the director of the bureau in recommending appointments.

Experience and Training

We have said that certain minimum requirements were approved by the chiefs of police. In addition to educational requirements there are certain experience qualifications. It is felt that experience in social case work is most desirable for a woman police officer. Teaching and public health nursing are next in order of desirability. Women whose only experience has been in the commercial field may prove very valuable, especially if they show a high mental age and other exceptional personal qualifications, but ordinarily this field of experience is considered as being least desirable. It is the general practice in the United States to require that police officers be residents of the city and of the state in which they are employed. For this reason it is difficult, even with an increasingly large number of trained experienced women officers available, to secure the appointment in a particular locality of women who have had actual experience in police work. This is most unfortunate, because, however well fitted by training and experience in a related field a woman may be, it takes actual experience in a police department to make a good officer. Few police departments have schools in which their officers receive instruction before being sent out to work. Where there are such schools it is considered necessary that women officers attend as well as men officers. In police departments where there are no training schools, instructions of women officers is administered in a haphazard way by superiors or fellow officers, unless there is a woman’s bureau in which case instruction fro the new officers is provided by the director of the bureau. In addition to instruction in police procedure, interdepartmental relations, and legislation, which should be obtained in class work with men officers is possible, the new woman officer should be taught the principles of interviewing and of investigation, special psychology and professional ethics. She should also be instructed in the local program of protective work with girls and be made familiar with the work of cooperating social agencies. Class instruction should be followed by a period of training on duty during which the new officer will work under the direction of a more experienced member of the staff.

Salaries and Legal Status

Women officers are regular officers in the police department and it is expected that whatever may be required of an officer in the performance of his duty will be rendered by the woman officer on the cases which are assigned to her. In no city are requirements for appointment as a woman officer lower than the requirements for appointment as a man officer, and in many cities the requirements for the women officers are very much higher. This being the case it is the general opinion that the salaries of women officers should be the same as the salaries of men officers and that the woman officer should be entitled to privileges of pension on retirement on the same basis as men officers. No actual statistics have been obtained, but the best available information indicates that about one half of the cities in the United States employing women officers are paying them the same salaries as those of their men officers and that, in most other cities, they are paid less. A few cities having only one policewoman are known to be paying her a larger salary than is paid the men officers in the department.

The appointment of women officers in many cities is provided for by some legislative measure. This provision is considered necessary because there are records of cities where a well-organized service of policewomen has been entirely wiped out, or at least rendered impotent, by a changing city administration. The measures adopted providing for women officers take the form of city ordinances, city charter amendments or state laws. The form is sometimes very simple, being nothing more than a provision that there be a minimum number of women police officers in the police department. In other cases very detailed measures have been enacted providing for the organization and functioning of the women officers. It is not possible to say at this time which, if any, of the present plans of procedure is most desirable.

Position in Police Department

The appointment of women officers creates many problems in police departments. These problems are due, first, to the fact that it has been difficult to fit women into a well-organized military system developed for and by men, and second, to the fact that the appointment of women officers in a police department has, in almost every case, been a first step in preventative protective work. Thus the difficulty of bringing women into a men’s organization has been aggravated by the new type of service which they have introduced. The chief of police as the commanding officer of the police department holds the key to the situation. In cities where the chief is not favorably disposed to preventive protective work and is antagonistic toward women officers, the opposite is the ease and the efforts which very capable women have made have not succeeded in changing this attitude. In cities where a satisfactory relationship has been established, the men and the women have learned from each other. From an appreciation, on the part of each group, of the contribution which the other group offers has come mutual respect and an improved police service.

Relations with Social Service Agencies

Having discussed the position of women officers in the police department, it is essential, in view of the protective nature of their work, to discuss their relationship with other social protective agencies. In their relationship with these organizations the situation again differs greatly in different cities. In those cities where there are well organized women’s bureaus, functioning under a woman director, who is an experienced worker with problems of girls, the woman’s bureau takes an important place in the community program of protection work. This is also the case in cities where one or more women who have been appointed as officers are by training and experience qualified to work out plans for cooperative procedure with other agencies. In other cities, partially trained or untrained women appointed as officers have failed to make a place for themselves in the program of work of protective agencies. In these cities there is lack of cooperation and overlapping of services. Where this situation exists there is general dissatisfaction with the work of women officers on the part of the social workers. In those cities where the work of women officers has been most satisfactorily developed they are considered as agents of contact and diagnosis. In their relation to other social agencies working with girls, they serve as the largest single source of cases referred for treatment. At the same time, by their supervision of commercial recreation, their general community patrol work and their prosecution of individuals who commit crimes against girls and women, they make the rehabilitation efforts of the treatment worker easier. In cities where there are well-organized social agencies it is not considered necessary for the women officers to do treatment work. In other cities where there are no such agencies the women officers find it necessary to do the work themselves. In order that the woman officer may be free to do the work which we have outlined as being logically the work of a police officer, it is considered desirable that, whenever possible, she avoid making herself responsible for treatment.

Lack of Data for Evaluating Work

Although much progress has been made in the number of cities employing women officers, it is evident that little has been done to estimate their usefulness, either in the police department or in the general plan of protective work. Little study has been made of the results of the efforts of the women officers in the city. The women themselves are so busy with the problems which come to them each day that they have not had time for research. It is hoped that in the next few years studies will be made from the cases on which women officers are working and that much helpful information will be brought out. It is also expected that police departments, in which the women officers are now accepted as useful members of the force will employ more women each year. The increased number of women in these cities will make it possible to extend the work into other branches of service. Those who are desirous of having every city offer its citizens the service of women officers will watch these studies and these experiments with much interest.

It has been most difficult to cover the various aspects of the work of women police officers in so short an articles and the result must seem unsatisfactory to those who are interested in obtaining detailed information in regard to the methods by which the women officers do their work. For the benefit of such persons, the writer wishes to say that, through the courtesy of the Bureau of Social Hygiene, Commissioner William P. Rutledge of the Detroit Police Department is now having prepared a manual on the work of policewomen. This manual will give complete information about the work of women officers and will be available through the Bureau of Social Hygiene some time during the coming winter.