First Woman in Law Enforcement - Alice Stebbins Wells - Research Paper Example

Alice Stebbins Wells Introduction Women have played crucial roles in the criminal justice system. Prior to the dawn of the 20th century, very few women were involved with the law enforcement agencies. The few who were involved with the local policing agencies were neither sworn in officers nor did they possess the powers to carry out an arrest. Their duties were more of a social worker. They did not have similar status as the men who worked as police officers. There was need for the official recognition of the notion that women could also handle law breakers and put them in police custody. Through the 1800s the professional police departments grew around the country but women continued to hold very few positions. However, the women endeavored to have that opportunity to join the ranks of a career in law enforcement. The women were motivated to make a positive contribution by applying a feminine approach to addressing the society ills. Most of the women endeavored to join the police force, a field that was dominated by men. In the 1900s, a determined woman took notice of the lack of women in the police department. She was an experienced community worker who wanted to take her profession to the law enforcement agencies. To that effect, the paper will discuss the journey of Alice Stebbin Wells and the manner in which her actions impacted on the criminal justice system in the United States. Discussion Early life Alice Stebbins Wells was born on June 13, 1873 in Manhattan and became the first police woman of American descent in the United States. She was sworn in as an officer in 1910 and rose to the rank of a sergeant by 1934 (Champion, 2001). Prior to joining the police force in 1910, Alice was of the opinion that the society was changing and there was an absolute need for women to present in the police department. She argued that women and children were often being sexually assaulted and abused and they required a female police officer that they could confide in. Wells illustrated that the victims were extremely uncomfortable in reporting the crimes to the male officers. The women often worked as prison workers who took care of the female inmates. Alice petitioned the city of Los Angeles for a new ordinance to permit the employment of female law enforcement agents (Dempsey & Forst, 2015). Appointment as a Policewoman Eventually, on September 12, 1910, Alice Stebbins Wells was appointed as America’s first female police officer with arrest powers by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) (Nicolao, 2011). She was given a rule book, a badge, and Gamewell key. Snow (2010) notes that a Gamewell was a collection of call boxes that were strategically situated in the city. The boxes had various levers that could be pulled, thus sending different signals to the police headquarters for varied types of assistance. It is equally important to note that Alice designed and tailored her own uniforms. Roles as a policewoman As cited by Buchanan (2009), Stebbins’ first duties comprised of enforcing laws that were related to skating, rinks, dance halls, penny arcades, and picture shows, in addition to other similar places of public recreation. More to the point, she was also assigned the division of missing persons, cross-examine the female figures who were detained by the Los Angeles Police Department. To that effect, the LAPD issued a directive that no young girl would be questioned by a male law enforcement agent. The work solely delegated to the policewomen. Alice was assigned to work with Officer Marden, LAPD’s first juvenile officer (Segrave, 2014). Therefore, its Wells’ efforts that even today the female offenders are interrogated by female police officers. Due to the feminine intuition and sympathy, both the officer and offender can be able to gain confidence each other. She was also to give information to issues regarding the women in the department. By October 1912, two other women were added to the staff of the LAPD. Correspondingly, the appointment of Wells generated great attention nationally. Six years later, as a result of Stebbins Wells’ advocacy efforts, sixteen other cities had hired female police officers. In other words, if Alice had not endeavored to join the police force by 1916 there would be no women police officers. By 1937, there were about 39 policewomen and 5 reserves that were employed by the LAPD (Nicolao, 2011). Currently, according to the department’s statistics, of the 10, 272 officers 2,145 are women. Even though is proportionately low as compared to men, this is 20% in contrast to 1% in the 19th century and 3.6% in the 20th century (Dempsey & Forst, 2015). Alice set the trend for more policewomen to be employed by the local police departments across the U.S. Advocacy efforts Mrs. Alice Stebbins Wells championed for reforms in the police department. Being a representative of the Prison Reform League, Wells criticized the police system for being overzealous in making arrests (Segrave, 2014). Her continued attacks on the police department made the LAPD draft her in their police system. She was only five feet tall. In 1910, the idea of a female police officer was totally novel in America. Alice took a leave of six months from the LAPD to traverse the United States and talk to the city administrators as well as other people of authority in the counties to try and increase the number of women in their police departments. In the process she delivered about 136 lectures in seventy three cities (Dempsey & Forst, 2015). In spite of Wells’ success in the LAPD, no other woman apart from Alice had similar status as the men who were working as law enforcement agents. With the help of Alice and other influential people in the society, the women started to push for more opportunities in the career of policing. Their efforts started to make in-roads in the law enforcement departments (Snow, 2010). If it were not for Alice’s efforts, the International Association of Police Women would not have been founded. The woman would not have found a base to support those women who wanted a career in law enforcement. Today, the organization has more than 3,000 members. Besides that, she is also credited for founding the Women Peace Officers Association in California. In 1928, she was named the first president of this organization. Since then numerous feminine police organizations have been formed: Women in Federal Law Enforcement, The National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, and The National Center for Women and Policing. These organizations have been at the forefront championing for the rights of female police officers. Equally important, these organizations seek to educate the general public, police administrators, politicians, and media on the significance of increasing the number of women in law enforcement (Dempsey & Forst, 2015). Throughout the 1910 and 1920s, the Americans started to accept that women had inherent nurturing qualities that could be used to fix problems that are associated with moral weakness. As a consequence, many bureaus for women were started across the nation in police stations. These bureaus tackled the cases that were related to children and women, including shoplifting, rape, runaways, and prostitution. In the mid-1930s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I) was formed. This period saw a change in the role of the police officers from agents of social change or moral decline to fixing all problems that affected the society (National Center for Women and Policing, 2013). By the late 1950s, the number of women in the police departments in America had doubled. Even though the overall number of women who comprised of the police force remained comparatively low, the year witnessed a significant increase in the number of female police officers. By the early 1960s, there was a push to integrate the women with the men. Young working class women started to work with men in similar departments as the men; the men and women did the same work. It is during this period that the International Association of Women Police was formed. It enhanced the interest for the career in law enforcement by the women from that of a social worker. These changes resulted in greater demands for equal opportunities for the female law enforcement agents. To that effect, in 1968 two policewomen were permitted to go on patrol as the men did (National Center for Women and Policing, 2013). To date, Alice together with these feminine organizations are credited for the gender balance in our police departments today. Currently, the ratio of male to female police officers is 3 to 1 as opposed to the earlier years where it was 13 to 1 (Dempsey & Forst, 2015). Dempsey further asserts that the number of police officers in the whole of the U.S has markedly increased over the years with 40% being women. This is a significant improvement as compared to 9% in the 20th century. Even today, there is pressure from the women groups to hire more women police officers. Furthermore, the duties of the policewomen have increased tremendously. The female police officers go for patrol and carry out criminal investigations, in addition to other numerous duties at the police department (Snow, 2010). Education of female police officers Proceeding further, she also played a significant role in the career development of the female officers. By 1918, Alice Stebbins Wells convinced the University of California in Los Angeles to start offering a course that designed particularly for the female law enforcement agents (Steverson, 2008). Currently, the institution offers numerous programs for the law enforcement agents together with other police training institutions. If Wells had not played a major role in the policewoman education, today there would be no colleges that would be offering classes on the work of the female police officers both for the new as well as prospective recruits in the University of California at the Criminology Department. This demonstrates the manner in which Alice Linked the criminal justice system with education system. If it were not for Alice and her counterparts, there would have no change in policies that led to the dramatic rise of employing policewomen across the United States. It is through Wells’ efforts that women are now able to have equal roles in the various aspects of law enforcement, including command positions, patrol, promoting and demoting, and hiring officers. Final times In 1934, Wells was appointed the first historian for the Los Angeles Police Department a position she held until her retirement. Dempsey and Forst (2015) argues that even though there has been debate on who should be the first woman to be a policewoman; most historians have come to a conclusion that Alice Stebbins Wells was the first female police officer due to her job descriptions. Being the first policewoman to be sworn in the U.S, after three decades of service, Alice Wells retired from the police service in 1940 and died on August 17, 1957 aged 84. For historical purposes, the presented her first uniform that she made herself as a female police officer to the archives. Her outfits are displayed at the Los Angeles Police Historical Society Museum; a floor-length dress and jacket (Buchanan, 2009; Segrave, 2014). She is best remembered for introducing the concept of women performing protective as well as preventive work among female and juvenile criminals in policing (LAPD, 2015). Conclusion In summary, Alice Stebbins Wells played a very significant role in the American justice system. Wells is the first woman to be called a policewoman. She had a long and distinguished career in the police force. She was not only assigned the duties of taking care of female offenders, but also other duties that were equally performed by the men. Wells was successful in laying the groundwork for today’s women working side-by-side with their male colleagues in the police force. If it were not the efforts of Alice Wells, the women would have struggled to gain entry into the police department and carry out duties as their male counterparts. She advocated for other sixteen cities to employ female police officers. She also played a significant role when she petitioned the University of California to start offering courses, specifically for female police officers. Wells linked the criminal justice and education systems. Also, the duties of the policewomen have expanded from patrol, administration, and to even criminal investigations. The accomplishments of Alice Stebbins Wells are a strong testament of the perseverance and courage that women have demonstrated throughout history in the American criminal justice system, especially in policing. She forever changed the face of police work. References Buchanan, P. D. (2009). American Womens Rights Movement: A Chronology of Events. New York: Branden Books. Champion, D. (2001). Police misconduct in America: A reference handbook. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Dempsey, J., & Forst, L. (2015). An Introduction to Policing. New York: Cengage Learning. Los Angeles Police Department. (2015). Women in the LAPD. Accessed April 28, 2015 from http://www.lapdonline.org/history_of_the_lapd/content_basic_view/833 National Center for Women and Policing. (2013). A History of Women in Policing. Accessed April 28, 2015, from http://womenandpolicing.com/history/historytext.htm Nicolao, H. C. (2011). Alice Stebbins Wells. Los Angeles: Sage. Segrave, K. (2014). Policewomen: A History, 2d ed. Boston: McFarland. Snow, R. (2010). Policewomen Who Made History: Breaking through the Ranks. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. Steverson, L. (2008). Policing in America: A Reference Hnadbook. New York: Routledge. Read More