History in Blue

160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers

By: Allan T. Duffin

Narrated by: Denise Washington Blomberg

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1893, Chicago's mayor gave Marie Owens the title of "patrolman", even though she had no authority to walk a beat. She did "women's work" and was a patrolman in name only. Throughout her 30 years of service, she was never allowed to wear a uniform. It would take nearly a century for women to be able to join the police ranks as full-fledged officers. Even today, women comprise just 15 percent of the nation's nearly one million law enforcement officers.

Spanning 160 years, History in Blue is the first book to tell the riveting story of the uphill struggle for respect and recognition sustained by women in the modern police force. Featuring rare photographs and original interviews with pioneering female officers, this fascinating book chronicles the ongoing fight for equality in the world of law enforcement. In this vivid and remarkable history, Allan T. Duffin tells of the extraordinary women who broke down the barriers of gender so that they - and many generations of successors - could do the work they loved most.

©2012 Duffin Creative (P)2014 Duffin Creative

PARTIAL HISTORY

There is so much history in this book that I found interesting. But on the other side so much missing I was disappointed.
I started out being trained for store security at Macy's Herald Square in Manhattan. Wow, was that interesting as I was very
young and from So. CA. Worked at the Queens store and moved back to CA. Worked for a large dept. store in the S.D. area,
then at a Navy base store. So had an interesting few years before joining the L.A. County Sheriffs Department for the next
twenty one years. I was very disappointed in how this book didn't bother to explore LASD and write about it. In 1969 we
had about 400 women officers from Deputies to Captains with full authority and pay. Soon after women were put in patrol cars and filled just about every job available including the first female in Aero Bureau as a pilot of a helicopter.
The book mentions one wonderful Lt. we had and that's it. I was surprised to learn how many departments all over the country were employing females. I was also surprised to learn how badly a lot of men treated the women. I had though it was just my perception all these years. Quite an eye opener for me and also gave me some peace. I didn't like the readers as her voice/accent and reading style seemed strange to me.