The first female police officer in the country with arrest powers, Alice Stebbins Wells, arrived in 1910 with the Los Angeles Police Department. By 1937, the department employed 39 policewomen. Women are serving in most areas of the department; they have yet to crack the elite SWAT unit, but a 2008 report led to 12 women being accepted into the training program that feeds the unit. These photos, which show several of the pioneering police women of the department, have been provided by the Los Angeles Police Historical Society .
Pioneering Women of the LAPD
A policewoman is seen with City Hall as a backdrop in 1948. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
A female police officer makes an arrest in the 1980s. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
A policewoman models the newly authorized uniform for a police commissioner and Police Chief Clarence Horrall in 1948. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
Women police officers are shown in front of Parker Center, the LAPD headquarters, during the 1980s. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
Police women conducting a booking interview at the Los Angeles City Main Jail circa 1950. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
Police women scale a wall during training at the Los Angeles Police Academy's obstacle course in 1948. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
In 1909, Alice Stebbins Wells petitioned Mayor George Alexander and the City Council to establish a Los Angeles Policewoman, according to the LAPD website. On the first day of her appointment, Sept. 12, 1910, Wells was issued a telephone call box key, a book of rules, a first-aid book and a policeman's badge. She was eventually issued Policewoman's Badge Number One. Her first duties included the "suppression of unwholesome billboard displays, searches for missing persons and the maintenance of a general information bureau for women seeking advice on matters within the scope of police departments."
Police women at the LAPD's pistol range in 1948. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
Police women of the LAPD's honor guard, circa 1950. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
These police women are wearing Class A uniforms at the Los Angeles Police Academy's gym in the 1960s. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.
A female police officer working patrol in the 1980s uses her two-way radio. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.