XIV
COMMANDANT DAMER DAWSON, MRS. CARDEN, AND THE WOMEN POLICE AND PATROLS
Theemployment of women for police service, in vogue for some years on the Continent and in the United States of America, has been developed in this country only by the outbreak of the war. Women in uniform are so frequent nowadays that the passer-by scarcely spares a glance for a hard “bowler” kind of hat, plain blue clothes, and a blue armlet with white letters on it. The wearers of this uniform seem to be peculiarly unobtrusive people, anxious to avoid, rather than to attract, attention. For all that, among the innumerable women who are taking on the new work which the times have entailed, the women police are by no means the least valuable, brave, and steadfast.
CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT M. S. ALLEN INSPECTOR GOLDINGHAMCOMMANDANT DAMER DAWSONBarrattTo face page75
CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT M. S. ALLEN INSPECTOR GOLDINGHAMCOMMANDANT DAMER DAWSON
Barratt
To face page75
The names of three pioneers are impressed on the memory of those who have watched the development of this movement in Great Britain: Commandant Damer Dawson, Superintendent M. S. Allen, and Inspector Goldingham. It is largely through their tireless efforts that the Women Police Service, the association that they originated, has now at its command one of the finest bodies of women in the country. The influx of the Belgian refugees inAugust, 1914, became the starting-point of the movement. While aiding forlorn exiles lost in London byways in the small hours of the night, it was borne in upon Miss Damer Dawson how much work in the streets could be done by an organised band of trained women, armed with authority. The idea took root in her mind and grew with her work. She was soon joined by Miss M. S. Allen and Miss Goldingham, and from that period the Women Police Service may be said to have originated. These pioneers obtained the necessary training and soon set to work in the organisation of a voluntary corps. Recruits flocked in, undertook necessary training in drill, practical and theoretical instruction, and soon obtained positions as officially appointed policewomen. In this capacity they undertake such work as patrolling the streets, attendance at police courts, domiciliary visiting, the supervision of music-halls, cinemas, and public dancing-halls, and the inspection of common lodging-houses.
The need for their services grew steadily. In the summer of 1916 it was found necessary to obtain further control and supervision of the women employees in munition factories, and Sir Edward Henry, the Chief Commissioner of Police, recommended that the Ministry of Munitions should apply to the Women Police Service for a supply of trained women. This request has now created an extensive development, and a new department of the Women Police Service is at present working at high pressure under the Ministry of Munitions. Recruits are streaming in, and are receiving a special training, on completion of which they are drafted to the munition factories. There they undertake multifariousduties, including checking the entry of women into the factory; examining passports; searching for such contraband as matches, cigarettes, and alcohol; dealing with complaints of petty offences; assisting the magistrate at the police court; and patrolling the neighbourhood of the factory with a view to the protection of the women employees. In the case of misunderstandings amongst the women employees, the services of the women police have been remarkable, and there are many recorded instances where they have averted strikes in the munition factories, and thus saved the nation from ill effects on output.
In many such ways the women police have proved themselves a valuable national asset. When the war is over, Commandant Damer Dawson and her colleagues will doubtless find that the service they helped to introduce as an emergency measure has become a recognised institution of a new social order.
A further service, that of Women’s Patrols for the protection of girls in the streets, has originated with the problems connected with the war. Reports from various quarters having reached the National Union of Women Workers as to the dangers caused by the presence of numbers of young girls in the neighbourhood of military camps, it was resolved to organise a body of women of mature age and experience to aid the police in maintaining order. Here again the names of three outstanding women are associated with this work: Mrs. Carden, the hon. secretary to the movement; Mrs. Creighton, widow of the late Bishop of London; and Lady Codrington, chairman of the London Committee of Women’s Patrols. To these pioneers the work owes its initiationand development. A scheme was formulated, welcomed at once by the Home Secretary and the Chief Commissioner of Police, and by November 1914 the Women’s Patrols were in working order. Branches were quickly established throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, and there are now over 2000 women working in this connection in different parts of the country. In its initial stages the work was entirely voluntary; but since its efficiency has been established and noted by the authorities, women’s patrols have been appointed in various districts and paid at the same rate as men constables.
The main duty of the patrols is to enter into kindly relationship with girls loitering in vicinities where soldiers congregate. Their mission is not to the vicious, or to the “fallen,” but to the thoughtless girls, led astray mainly through their excitement at the unaccustomed presence of so many soldiers and by patriotic emotions of admiration and gratitude to the nation’s young defenders. The women on patrol aim at getting into touch with such girls and helping them to a healthy employment of their leisure hours. In numerous cases the Patrol Committee have organised clubs in the neighbourhood of the military quarters, these meeting-places being either for girls alone, or “mixed clubs,” where the soldiers may bring their girl friends. In the latter case, most careful vigilance and supervision from the patrols are required and given, and success is in most instances attained. This work has been warmly welcomed both by the military authorities and the police, and it is impossible to estimate the unhappiness and suffering that have been prevented bythis provision of healthy recreation in a moral danger zone.
Reports both from the Metropolitan area (where over 400 patrols are now working) and from provincial towns give some measure of the success of the movement. It is significant that during the Irish disturbances of 1916 the Women’s Patrols were enabled to pursue their customary tasks, being “passed through” both by the Revolutionary party and by the soldiers.