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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: City hires first female police officer

From our archives,

100 years ago

The Spokane Police Department was entering a new era by hiring its first female police officer.

There had previously been jail matrons and the occasional special female operatives for undercover work, but not a true woman cop.

The editorial page of The Spokesman-Review seemed to applaud the move. It said the idea that policewomen are not practical is an outdated idea that “belongs to the obsolete theory that woman are somehow inferior to men.”

However, the editorial did attempt to crack a few jokes about the situation. It said the other policemen will soon be “polishing their footgear with unprecedented vigor” once their shoes are “subject to the more critical gaze of the feminine eye.” The editorial also laughed at the mayor’s statement that the new policewoman will eventually be eligible for an officer’s pension.

“Does any woman ever get old enough for a pension?” asked the editors, apparently cracking themselves up.

From the catastrophe file: Spokane city officials were offering a settlement of between $6,000 and $7,000 to the families of the people killed in the Division Street Bridge collapse a month earlier. This amount was “more generous” than the amount in the state industrial act, and the city was also proposing to pay attorney’s fees. The city estimated that the total would be between $50,000 and $75,000.