As we all know, female police are a beautiful landscape in the police systems of all countries in the world, so do you know when female police officers in the United Kingdom appeared? Today, we will give a brief introduction to the century-old history of British policewomen.
Historically, British policewomen were created around 1914 and have been around 100 years old. After the creation of British policewomen, they gradually developed from in-house tasks to being able to perform on the streets to fight bullies, scammers and thieves. However, at that time, the general public in Britain would laugh at the policewomen, although they did not dare to provoke them. Senior male police officers also discriminate against these female police officers, who believe that women should stay in the kitchen at home.
Joan Lock (WPC rank, 302C), a British police writer who wrote the book "British Policewoman : A History of Women in the Police Force," argues that the female police officers of 1914 were pioneers and that their achievements should be recognized by future generations. Indeed, there are currently around 36,000 female police officers in the UK, representing 20 per cent of the police force, including an additional 5 female police chiefs (the highest rank in local police stations).
British policewomen first appeared in London, and because thousands of British men went to the battlefield during the First World War, the shortage of new police officers in the police station began to be forced to accept the "female police" by the senior male officers, but the London Metropolitan Police Department did not allow female police patrols, and their main task was to help take care of children or bring prostitutes into their cells. In addition, the policewoman had to manage the fleeing women from the European continent so that they would not fall into the clutches of pimps.
Photo note: British policewoman in 1920
On November 27, 1914, female police officers in Grantham, Lincolnshire, began patrolling the streets. Three policewomen braved the pouring rain to be on duty at the station, and when they walked into town, they were followed by a crowd of onlookers. The three policewomen are middle-class feminists who have confronted the police for women's suffrage.
Mary Allen, 25, once threw a brick into the interior ministry window and was once arrested and jailed 3 times, where she went on a hunger strike and was subjected to forced eating. Ellen Harburn, 50, from a wealthy family in Manchester, was a former school manager and a friend of feminist leader Emily Pankhurst. Margaret Damer Dawson, 39, nicknamed "Tomahawk," wears a commander's pointed hat.
Photo note: British policewoman in 1949
Grantham had about 30,000 troops at the time, and the town resembled the barren West of the United States, full of drunks and prostitutes, and policewomen were told to "keep an eye out for alleys, courtyards, and passageways" on duty. The chief of police said he didn't care what they did, as long as they didn't get in his way, and they could become policewomen only because one of Margaret Damer Dawson's relatives was the camp commander.
These policewomen are not paid because, as cultured ladies, they will not receive their salaries under any circumstances. But they are actively involved in police work, entering filthy houses to rescue children in danger and into crowded bars to confront drunks and hostile bosses.
Photo note: British policewoman in 2009
The following year, Grantham appointed Smith, the first policewoman with arrest powers. Soon, female police officers began to appear in cities and towns across the country. In 1916, the British enacted the Police Act, which gave them legal status. After the end of World War I in 1918, the Metropolitan Police Department of London tried to disband the female police, but this did not happen. By the end of the 1920s, there were 48 full-time female police officers (WPCs) in London.
During World War II, the number of female police officers multiplied. Between 1954 and 1960, when writer Joan Locke was in office, policewomen were able to handle all sorts of policing tasks and became respected members of the Force.
Photo note: Bulletproof bra issued by a German policewoman
Rose Prizeman, 20, joined the Force in 1930 and became Britain's first female senior inspector in 1940, with the force still dominated by men, when there were only 50 women in the Metropolitan Police. Sislin Fay Allen became Britain's first black policewoman and joined the Metropolitan Police Department in London in 1968. In 2012, Cressida Dick became the first female assistant police inspector general. Now, the British equipment is also more and more professional, the front-line policewomen are equipped with bulletproof bras, the same as the female police of the German Federal Police.