Mary D. Diehl

Mary D. Diehl
Mary D. Diehl, 1913
Known for	One of the first women police officers employed by the city of Philadelphia
Police career
Department	Philadelphia Police Department
Service years	Early 1900s
Status	Deceased
Other work	Travelers' Aid Society agent; assisted police with human trafficking cases

Mary D. Diehl was one of the first female police officers to work in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[1][2]

She had previously collaborated with L. M. Gillespie to improve the quality of life for more than two thousand women and girls who had become human trafficking victims.^[3][4][5]

Biography

Before their hiring as police officers by the city of Philadelphia, Diehl and L. M. Gillespie were employed as agents of the Travelers' Aid Society, on behalf of which they attempted to help distraught Philadelphia area visitors, including women and girls who had been kidnapped and held by "white slavers."^[6][7][8]

Subsequently employed by the city's police force, which had previously only ever recruited women police officers for department store work, Diehl and Gillespie were immediately given the authority to detain and arrest suspected criminals they encountered within Philadelphia's two major railroad hubs—the Reading Terminal and the Broad Street Station. It was the first time in the city's history that women were assigned to more patrols.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]}

The two policewomen were equipped with the same tools given to all other city police officers, including badges, black-jacks, revolvers, and single-wrist handcuffs known as "nippers."^[15][16][17]

Diehl and Gillespie were assigned to "'split shifts' on their beats," and were then required to be “'on reserve' at their homes during the night."^[18]

Legacy

It subsequently took more than a half a century after their hiring for Philadelphia to allow women to be awarded the most dangerous police work—walking the city's neighborhood street beats, a right that was granted in 1976.^[19]

See also

• Women in policing in the United States
• History of contemporary slavery in the United States
• Travelers Aid International

Gallery

• 
  Diehl and Gillespie wearing their police badges, 1913

References

1. "Philadelphia Has Two Policewomen. They are Mrs. Diehl and Miss L. M. Gillespie". Oswego Daily Times. May 2, 1913.
2. "Women Doing Good Work: On Police Duty With Masher Hunting Her Specialty." Grand Island, Nebraska: The Grand Island Daily Independent, May 2, 1913, p. 2 (subscription required).
3. "Mrs. Mary Diehl." Oakland, California: Oakland Tribune, June 22, 1913, p. 30 (subscription required).
4. "Lady Copper On Job Now in Philadelphia: She Appears In The Regulation Blue Uniform Used By All The Policemen." Fort Wayne, Indiana: The Fort Wayne Daily News, May 2, 1913, p. 8 (subscription required).
5. "These Women Are On The Police Force." Des Moines, Iowa: The Des Moines Evening Tribune, June 10, 1913, p. 7 (subscription required).
6. "Mrs. Mary Diehl," Oakland Tribune, June 22, 1913.
7. "Lady Copper On Job Now in Philadelphia: She Appears In The Regulation Blue Uniform Used By All The Policemen," The Fort Wayne Daily News, May 2, 1913.
8. "These Women Are On The Police Force," The Des Moines Evening Tribune, June 10, 1913.
9. "Mrs. Mary D. Diehl, New Policewoman of Philadelphia." Fall River, Massachusetts: Fall River Daily Globe, April 22, 1913, p. 1 (subscription required).
10. "Women Policemen Added to Philadelphia's Force." Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Post, April 18, 1913 p. 1 (subscription required).
11. "Philadelphia Has Two Policewomen." Binghamton, New York: Binghamton Press and Leader, April 17, 1913, p. 1 (subscription required).
12. "Women Doing Good Work: On Police Duty With Masher Hunting Her Specialty," The Grand Island Daily Independent, May 2, 1913.
13. "Lady Copper On Job Now in Philadelphia: She Appears In The Regulation Blue Uniform Used By All The Policemen," The Fort Wayne Daily News, May 2, 1913.
14. "These Women Are On The Police Force," The Des Moines Evening Tribune, June 10, 1913.
15. American Police Equipment: a guide to early restraints, clubs and lanterns, By Matthew G. Forte (2000), p. 113.
16. "Women Doing Good Work: On Police Duty With Masher Hunting Her Specialty," The Grand Island Daily Independent, May 2, 1913.
17. "Lady Copper On Job Now in Philadelphia: She Appears In The Regulation Blue Uniform Used By All The Policemen," The Fort Wayne Daily News, May 2, 1913.
18. "Large Woman in Blue Uniform Attracts Attention." Arkansas City, Kansas: The Arkansas City Daily News, May 2, 1913, p. 3 (subscription required).
19. "56 Women Officers Are First To Patrol Philadelphia Streets". United Press International in the New York Times. September 28, 1976. Retrieved 2009-08-04. Women police officers are patrolling the streets of Philadelphia for the first time.