Centenary of women joining the police force in Scotland
It is a century since women first joined the police in Scotland. To mark the occasion, PC Ailsa Brough, Stirling Council Liaison Officer, reveals what it is like to be a female officer in 2015.
This week marks 100 years of women in Scottish Policing. As a constable in Forth Valley, I have only been a part of it for five and a half years but have already been exposed to a number of different roles and, in contrast to 100 years ago, there are many more on offer with all ranks accessible to female police officers.
Indeed, Jean Thomson, who is widely acknowledged to have been Scotland’s first female police officer, worked on the Volunteer Women’s Patrols in Dundee during the First World War and after the war was appointed as a ‘police sister’, working four hours a day in 1918.
She in fact worked full time, patrolling, interviewing and escorting women and girls and writing reports and visited pubs too - but always with a male officer. In 1922 however, the Chief Constable was to deny he had ever had a policewoman on his staff.
I started in the police as most do, on a response shift, based in Clackmannan before moving to rural policing in Balfron and am now the Local Authority Liaison Officer for Stirling Council. This is a varied and interesting role working with the safer communities team and many other agencies to enhance partnership working with the focus on reducing anti-social behaviour.
I work closely with the ASB team, the community wardens and the council solicitor, sharing information and working together on - for example anti- social behaviour orders for the Stirling area. These links are invaluable in the prevention and detection of crime as well as in promoting a holistic approach to safer communities in the Stirling area.
A recent example of this is our joint operation with Trading Standards which last week prevented an elderly female from paying out over £7000 to bogus workmen – bank staff were able to stop the cheque and contacted police as a result of these practices being highlighted on our visit to local banks.
Whilst the majority of police officers are still male, there are no barriers now to joining or to advancement in Police Scotland. Our Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick was appointed in 2012 and has overall responsibility for local policing across Scotland. We have two female Assistant Chief Constables in Police Scotland so we are relatively well represented in senior ranks here.
Starting at the bottom, I am about to embark on my diploma in Police Service, Leadership and Management, and having been accepted now in to the mounted unit one change I am grateful for is that we no longer have to wear skirts!