Women in Law Enforcement: Trailblazers Who Paved the Way
Updated September 16, 2026
Women have served in American law enforcement since 1908, when Lola Baldwin joined the Portland Police Department, and they’ve since reached its highest ranks, including police chief, U.S. Supreme Court justice, and the country’s youngest elected big-city prosecutor. Below you’ll meet eight trailblazers who broke through, plus organizations, conferences, and mentors for women building a career in the field.
Every field has its firsts, the people who show up when the door isn’t open yet and pry it open anyway. Law enforcement is no exception. The first women hired into police work in the mid-1800s weren’t handed patrol cars or badges. They were brought on as “matrons” to search and supervise female inmates — a narrow lane, and some of them refused to stay in it. What follows is a look at eight women who expanded that lane into everything from beat patrol to the Supreme Court, along with the organizations, conferences, and networks carrying that work forward today.
Below, you’ll meet the trailblazers first, then find resources, including professional organizations, social media communities, and events for women building a career in this field.
Trailblazers
The field of law enforcement wouldn’t be what it is without the women who blazed this trail. Every one of them faced prejudice, doubt, rejection, and discrimination, and served their communities anyway, proving they could do the job just as well as their male counterparts, sometimes better.
There’s no single agreed-upon “first female police officer.” A number of women broke crucial barriers in their own right, and here are eight of them, in the order they made history.
Lola Baldwin became one of the first policewomen in the United States when she started her career with the Portland Police Department in 1908. Her 14-year career was dedicated to helping other women in her community. She lobbied for laws that protected women and helped prostitutes and single mothers gain access to social services.
Alice Stebbins Wells, one of the first female police officers in the United States, was appointed to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 1910. Two other women joined the LAPD within two years of her appointment, and by 1915 she’d founded the International Policewomen’s Association, which is still active today. By the time she started that organization, sixteen other cities and countries had hired women because of her efforts.
Isabella Goodwin was the first female police officer to reach detective rank in the U.S., and it wasn’t an easy climb. After her husband died in 1896, she needed work to support her children and was hired as a jail matron by then-police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt. She stayed in that low-paying job for fifteen years. In 1912, a robbery case sat unsolved for months despite national news coverage and sixty detectives working it. Goodwin volunteered to go undercover, found the criminals, and cracked the case, launching her career as a first-grade detective for the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Georgia Ann Robinson was the first African American female police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, and possibly the first in the nation. She joined the LAPD as a volunteer in 1916, when the department was short-staffed during World War I, and was assigned to the force three years later. She worked to support women and African Americans in the city and to push back against the idea that they were naturally inclined toward crime. She also started a women’s shelter, the Sojourner Truth Home, named for another influential Black woman.
Penny Harrington became the first female police chief of a major U.S. city when she was elected to lead the Portland Police Bureau in 1985. She later co-founded the National Center for Women and Policing in 1995 with the vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, an organization built to support women and grow their numbers in law enforcement.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second female U.S. Supreme Court justice when she was appointed in 1993. Between Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement and Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment, she was the only woman among eight men on the court. She attended Harvard Law School and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1959, tied for first in her class. Beyond the bench, she worked as a law clerk, research associate, law professor, co-founder of the Women’s Rights Project, and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Heather Fong is the first woman to lead the San Francisco Police Department and the first Asian-American woman to head a major city police force. She became a police officer in 1977 and worked her way up before becoming chief of police in 2004. Shortly after graduating the academy in 1977, she was handed a case that would test her skills and launch her career, the infamous Golden Dragon massacre in Chinatown.
At 34, Marilyn Mosby became the youngest top prosecutor in a major U.S. city when she was elected state’s attorney of Baltimore in 2014, winning 94% of the vote in the general election. A Boston College Law School graduate, she made headlines only months into the job leading the prosecution against six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray.
Resources
Explore these organizations, blogs, websites, and events to build your knowledge and connect with other women in law enforcement.
Professional Organizations
- Women in Federal Law Enforcement: WIFLE works to increase equality among individuals at all levels through training, partnerships, mentoring programs, research, and professional relations.
- Mid-Atlantic INLETS: Jointly run by FBI field offices in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center (MCAC), and the D.C. InfraGard chapter, this group shares information on investigative techniques, threats, trends, and evaluations.
Social Media and Moral Support
- The Law Enforcement Magazine: Women in Law Enforcement: A blog featuring articles relevant to women in law enforcement, plus a networking community connecting officers across the country.
- Police Blogs: An extensive list of police blogs covering humor, day-in-the-life stories, professional advice, and work-life balance.
- Women Officers: A section dedicated to articles about how women are shaping the field.
Events
Attending events like these is a real way to meet people, learn skills, or sharpen what you already know. The following are recommended by the women in law enforcement they’re built for.
- Women in Law Enforcement Annual Conference
- Fort Worth, TX
- September
- This three-day event involves several keynote speakers and a variety of breakout sessions on topics such as firearm use, health and wellness, emergency medical training, and patrol response to tactical situations.
- National Association of Women in Law Enforcement Executives Annual Conference (NAWLEE)
- Providence, RI
- August
- The NAWLEE annual conference offers participants general and breakout sessions, an evening banquet, and keynote speakers. To end the multi-day event, participants are welcome to join the annual NAWLEE meeting.
- Women in Blue Luncheon
- San Diego, CA
- March
- The Women in Blue event is organized by the San Diego Police Foundation (SDPD). The luncheon focuses on the successes of women in law enforcement roles in the San Diego area.
- Women in Law Enforcement Conference
- Nashville, TN
- April
- This conference, located in Nashville, Tennessee, features influential speakers throughout this three-day event, addressing topics relating to the challenges women in law enforcement face, as well as how to overcome them.
- Leadership Training for Women in Law Enforcement
- Glynco, GA and Artesia, NM
- Ongoing
- This Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC)-led training program offers a five-day curriculum curated specifically for women in law enforcement consisting of the following topics: Understanding Human Behavior, Belief Systems and Motivators, Emotional Intelligence and Leadership, and Current Leadership Challenges for Women in LE.
- Rise: Women in Policing
- California
- September
- This training symposium hosted by WLLE offers participants numerous workshop opportunities to increase their skills and knowledge in relation to their roles in law enforcement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was the first female police officer in the United States?
There’s no single agreed-upon “first,” but Alice Stebbins Wells, appointed to the Los Angeles Police Department in 1910, is the officer most commonly credited with that title. Lola Baldwin, hired by Portland police in 1908 to work with women and children, predates her but held a role closer to a social worker than a sworn patrol officer.
When did women start working in law enforcement?
Women entered U.S. law enforcement in the mid-1800s as jail “matrons” supervising female inmates. The role expanded into sworn policing by 1908 to 1910, with Lola Baldwin and Alice Stebbins Wells among the first hired.
Who was the first female police chief of a major U.S. city?
Penny Harrington became the first female police chief of a major U.S. city in 1985, when she was elected to lead the Portland Police Bureau.
What organizations support women in law enforcement today?
Groups like Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE), Women in Homeland Security, and the National Association of Women in Law Enforcement Executives (NAWLEE) offer training, mentoring, and networking built specifically for women in the field.
Key Takeaways
- Women have served in official law enforcement roles since 1908 – starting as jail matrons and expanding into sworn patrol work within a few years.
- Progress didn’t stop at the beat – Harrington became a police chief in 1985, Ginsburg reached the Supreme Court in 1993, and Mosby became a big-city prosecutor at 34 in 2014.
- Support networks exist today – organizations like WIFLE, NAWLEE, and Women in Homeland Security offer mentoring, training, and events built specifically for women in the field.
If you’re weighing a career in this field yourself, the organizations and events above are the right place to start building connections, well before you ever fill out an application.