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Preferred term

women in state and local policing  

Definition

  • The official recognition of women in policing in the United States is usually associated with the appointment of Alice Stebbins Wells to the Los Angeles Police Department in 1910 as the first woman to be called a “policewoman.” Wells's employment set in motion a movement for policewomen that, despite setbacks, culminated in the late 1960s and early 1970s with women winning the right to equal employment in policing. However, women had served both officially and unofficially as matrons in prisons and jails, and as sheriffs’ deputies, since the late 1880s. [Source: Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement; Women in Policing, State and Local]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/women_in_state_and_local_policing

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