Louise Smith | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Connecticut State Trooper |
Known for | Being the first female black state police officer |
Louise Smith is a retired trooper with the Connecticut State Police from Durham, Connecticut. She is the first black woman to serve in a state police force in the United States.
At the time of her commissioning she resided in Durham, Connecticut. [1] She claims to have received support to continue with her career as a law enforcement officer from the 1970s television show Get Christie Love , which featured a black woman working as a detective in Los Angeles. [2]
She graduated the police academy and took her oath of office in 1968. [3] She was the first black woman to join a state police force in Connecticut, [4] and in fact she was the first to do so in the nation. She did not know at the time of her graduation that she was making national history, an article in Connecticut about the graduation simply remarked that “another woman” had graduated. [2] She followed in the footsteps of Albert Washington of Branford who became the first black Connecticut state trooper in 1964. [1]
Acceptance of her presence by existing state troopers was mixed, with some treating her as a sister and others refusing to even speak to her. Many in the public were also uncomfortable interacting with a black female law enforcement officer. [2]
During the trial of Black Panther activist Angela Davis she was assigned to escort Davis from the courtroom to her cell; deputies mistakenly locked up Smith with Davis before realizing their mistake. [2]
Patricia Ann McGowan Wald was an American lawyer and jurist who served as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1986 until 1991. She was the Court's first female chief judge and its first woman to be elevated, having been appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. From 1999 to 2001, Wald was a Justice of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for law enforcement and vehicle regulation across the state. As of 2024, it has 2,500 sworn troopers and 611 civilian support staff for a total of 3,111 personnel, making it the largest law enforcement agency in New England. The MSP is headed by Colonel Geoffrey Noble, the first colonel to not come from State Police ranks.
The Connecticut State Police (CSP) is the state police and highway patrol of the U.S. state of Connecticut, responsible for statewide traffic regulation and law enforcement, especially in areas not served by municipal police. It is a division of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. The CSP currently has about 875 troopers as of June 28, 2022 and is headquartered in Middletown, Connecticut. The Connecticut State Police is also responsible for protecting the Governor of Connecticut, Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, and their families.
The Alaska State Troopers, officially the Division of Alaska State Troopers (AST), is the state police agency of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS). The AST is a full-service law enforcement agency that handles both traffic and criminal law enforcement. The AST is also involved in apprehending fugitives as part of the Alaska Fugitive Task Force, an inter-agency collaborative of Alaska police departments that cooperates with police agencies throughout the United States and less commonly with Interpol in apprehending wanted men and women. Unlike many lower 48 states, the AST also serves as Alaska’s primary environmental law enforcement agency; troopers assigned to the AST’s Division of Alaska Wildlife Troopers are known as "Alaska Wildlife Troopers" and primarily serve as game wardens, although they retain the same powers as other Alaskan state troopers.
The Vermont State Police (VSP) is the state police agency for the U.S. state of Vermont. The force has jurisdiction throughout the entire state. The Vermont Public Safety Commission directs policy and selects the commander. The commander is Colonel Matthew Birmingham. The Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Safety is Michael Schirling. There are 332 sworn state troopers.
Get Christie Love! is an American crime drama TV series starring Teresa Graves as an undercover female detective which originally aired on ABC from January 22, 1974, until April 5, 1975. The starring television role made Graves the second black female lead in a non-stereotypical role for a U.S. weekly series, after Diahann Carroll in Julia. The series is based on Dorothy Uhnak's crime-thriller novel The Ledger.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol (SCHP) is the highway patrol agency for South Carolina, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state except for federal or military installations. The Highway Patrol was created in 1930 and is an organization with a rank structure similar to the armed forces. The mission of the South Carolina Highway Patrol includes enforcing the rules and regulations in order to ensure road way safety and reducing crime as outlined by South Carolina law. The Highway Patrol is the largest division of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety and its headquarters is located in Blythewood. This department also includes the South Carolina State Transport Police Division, and the South Carolina Bureau of Protective Services.
The Kentucky State Police (KSP) is a department of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, and the official State Police force of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, responsible for statewide law enforcement. The department was founded in 1948 and replaced the Kentucky Highway Patrol. The department's sworn personnel hold the title State Trooper, and its nickname is The Thin Gray Line.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol is the highway patrol and acting state police agency for the U.S. state of Mississippi, and has law enforcement jurisdiction over the majority of the state.
In the United States, the state police is a police body unique to each U.S. state, having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. In general, state police officers or highway patrol officers, known as state troopers, perform functions that do not fall within the jurisdiction of a county’s sheriff, such as enforcing traffic laws on state highways and interstates, overseeing security of state capitol complexes, protecting governors, training new officers for local police forces too small to operate an academy and providing technological and scientific services. They also support local police and help to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity in serious or complicated cases in states that grant full police powers statewide.
On October 3, 2013, in Washington, D.C., Miriam Carey, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Connecticut, was shot and killed by law enforcement officers after attempting to drive through a White House security checkpoint in her black Infiniti G37 coupe. She struck a U.S. Secret Service officer and was chased by the Secret Service to the United States Capitol where she was shot five times in the back, including one shot which hit the left side of the back of her head. A young child, Carey's daughter, was found unharmed in the car.
The integration of women into law enforcement positions can be considered a large social change. A century ago, there were few jobs open to women in law enforcement. A small number of women worked as correctional officers, and their assignments were usually limited to peripheral tasks. Women traditionally worked in juvenile facilities, handled crimes involving female offenders, or performed clerical tasks. In these early days, women were not considered as capable as men in law enforcement. Recently, many options have opened up, creating new possible careers.
Jean Frances Howard is an American law enforcement officer. She was the first female state trooper in Alaska and the "first unrestricted state officer in the United States". In 2009, she was named to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.
Sandra Annette Bland was a 28-year-old African-American woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas, on July 13, 2015, three days after being arrested during a traffic stop. Officials found her death to be a suicide. There were protests against her arrest, disputing the cause of death, and alleging racial violence against her.
Women began working as police officers in the United States as early as the 1890s. Women made up 12.6% of all U.S. sworn police officers in 2018. Employed largely as prison matrons in the 19th century, women took on more and increasingly diverse roles in the latter half of the 20th century. They face a particular set of challenges given the history of their entry into the profession, their low rates of participation, and the complex identities they negotiate in the work place. Women who work in law enforcement have struggled for years to gain acceptance in their workplace. Some of their biggest challenges are their lack of representation, stereotypes around women, and intersectionality. Despite these challenges, women have proven to be more calm and use less force. Women go into situations more level-headed than males, and are able to deescalate situations better.
Georgia Ann Robinson was an American police officer and community worker who was the first African American woman to be appointed a police officer at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD); she was also one of the first Black policewomen to be hired in the country. She joined the force in 1916 as a volunteer jail matron and was appointed an officer in 1919. She worked on juvenile and homicide cases, as well as cases with black women. She often referred the people she came in contact with to social agencies. Her police career ended when she permanently lost her sight after being injured by a prisoner. Robinson was also an activist who founded the Sojourner Truth Home, a shelter for women and girls, while working on the force. After retiring, Robinson continued her community activism, working with the NAACP, volunteering in shelters, and campaigning to desegregate schools and beaches. She was married to Morgan Robinson, and had a daughter, Marian. She died in Los Angeles at the age of 82.
Regina Rush-Kittle is an American law enforcement officer, soldier, and public administrator. She has held trailblazing leadership roles in the Connecticut State Police, the US Army Reserve, and the Connecticut State Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. She was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 2017.
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