September 12, 1910 – Alice Stebbins Wells Becomes First Woman Police Officer with Arrest Powers in U.S.

Alice Stebbins Wells, born on June 13, 1873, was the nation’s first sworn policewoman with arrest powers, joining the Los Angeles Police Department in 1910. (The LAPD notes that In 1905, Lola Baldwin of the Portland, Oregon Police Department was authorized with police authority and oversaw a group of social workers. Unlike LAPD Officer Wells, however, Baldwin was not specifically designated a police officer.)

Alice, who was a graduate theology student and social worker, had petitioned the Los Angeles mayor and the city council to allow for women on the police force. Although many California cities had employed women as “matrons” or “workers” since 1890, these women took care of female prisoners and/or worked in city and county prisons and other penal institutions.

LAPD Online reports that Mrs. Wells was furnished with a man’s badge, but after being accused of misusing her husband’s identity, she was issued “Policewoman’s Badge Number One.”

Mrs. Wells was assigned to work with Officer Leo W. Marden, the Department’s first juvenile officer. Subsequent to her appointment, the following order was issued:

No young girl can be questioned by a male officer. Such work is delegated solely to policewomen, who, by their womanly sympathy and intuition, are able to gain the confidence of their younger sisters.”

Her first duties included supervision and enforcement of laws concerning “dance halls, skating rinks, penny arcades, picture shows, and other similar places of public recreation.” Among her activities were 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.”

Mrs. Wells felt strongly that women could make a contribution to policing. As the LAPD recounts, she argued that women were particularly well-qualified to perform protective and preventive work among juveniles and female criminals. She toured more than 100 cities in the U.S. and Canada to promote the cause of female officers.

In 1911, the position of women police officers in Los Angeles was placed under Civil Service control. By October 1912, there were three policewomen and three police matrons in the Department.

In 1915, Mrs. Wells was instrumental in organizing the International Policewomen’s Association. She also persuaded the University of California, Southern Division (now UCLA) in 1918 to offer the first course specifically focused on the work of women police officers.

Mrs. Wells was named the first president of the Women’s Peace Officers Association of California in 1928, a group she helped to create. In July 1934, she was appointed the Los Angeles Police Department historian, a post she held until her retirement on November 1, 1940. Wells died in 1957, and her funeral was attended by high-ranking officers from the LAPD, and a ten-woman honor guard.