THE POLICEWOMAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 11

THE POLICEWOMAN.

HSR WORK IN WASHINGTON. SHE PROVES HER VALUE. I Some of the services that are performed by policemeA in Washington, who work in plain clothes, are described in an interview by Mrs. Mina Van Winkle, ( head of the Women's Bureau of the Metropolitan Police Department of that city. The Washington Bureau, Mrs. Van Winkle explained, was formed five years ago, after the chief of police had studied the system in London. "It was the only one in the United States at that time," she said, "which was voluntarily established by the local municipal authority, and on the suggestion of the chief of police himself, who believed it would add to the efficiency of the department. Policewomen in other cities—and there are three hundred cities now where they have them —have been appointed as the result of the efforts of the women's clubs and organisations to get their services accepted by the municipal governments. "In Washington our work is very largely preventive and protective. We have the same powers of arrest that men have, and we are their equals in everything; we have to accept the same discipline, and we enjoy the same privileges." To illustrate how the women work with tho men, she mentioned an instance where she was herself the highest officer at a raid on a cabaret, being in charge of two other policewomen and eight or ten policemen. They went in and "cleaned the place up." SHOPLIFTING. There are now twenty policewomen in Washington, who not only patrol the streets with the object of preventing and detecting crime, but also have charge of a house of detention for offenders awaiting trial. One of their duties also is to put women in the shops to arrest shoplifters. Last year as many as four hundred were arrested, including a large number of girls. The alluring way In which the shops display their goods is to some extent, one gathered, responsible for offences on this considerable scale, but they have a more lenient way in: Washington with ladies who _o to the : sales and steal the goods than that which is adopted in many other cities. There they are allowed, without the ordeal of a trial in court, to make complete restitution and are placed on voluntary probation. This method is so successful th*at it is a very rare thing to find any repetition of "the offence. Many of these shoplifters are members of first-class families. The case was mentioned of a girl who stole six pairs of long white gloves, at twelve dollars a pair, who could quite well have bought them, and also that of a woman who has entertained diplomatists, but stole little things from a shop for servants' wear. OFFENCES AGAINST CHILDREN. The work, perhaps, of the greatest value that has been performed by the Washington policewomen is that of projecting; children from men with evil intentions. Women can devote more time to work of this delicate and imnortant character than men, Mrs. Van Winkle pointed out. and her experience shows that the children themselves will not give men the information they give to women. "And that," she said, "works in two ways: it works for the conviction of the man who ill-uses a child and it works for the reformation- of the child herself." One man who was brought to justice throu-h the efforts of the policewomen of Washington has been sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment for offences ac-ainst a child, and another Is in prison for ten years. The number of 'policewomen throughout America to-day exceeds a thousand, -ne demand i- growing so rapidly." it wa« gtated. "that it is difficult to prov.d f women who h-v e the necessary training for the work. And it is not ZV Mro ?' a \ wh ° •« «P»ble of doing good work who regards the position of a policewoman -- the most allurin, in akeZs mon. 0 """ *"" W °" M - ***"*«" taice leg- money in some other service H _!* ! hi - k -*---- - n I* 0 "™ -ervi-rHes* opportunity for tS J& a poHcewoman %J_T£. W„ give Information. But then *-*!_._ thl "_f -* »*••■"»-■ sdo thai unless I.VS'jS