Photo: Courtesy New York City Police Museum

1891: New York City
Hires Its First Police Matrons

In 1887, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Women’s Prison Association began pressuring urban police departments to employ women. In 1891, the New York Police Department hired its first four “police matrons” to oversee women who had been arrested. By 1896, the NYPD employed 30 women, with one working days and one working nights, in each of its 15 precincts. Their uniform was a long skirt, modest shirt and a corset. In 1918, the NYPD appointed the first six “policewomen,” paying them $1,200 a year. In 1973, the Bureau of Policewomen disbanded, and policewomen became official police officers, taking the same test, wearing the same uniform and shield, receiving the same assignments, and getting the same titles as their male counterparts. A police matron is shown here with a group of policemen in an undated photo.

–Cynthia Blair