Brief introduction to Women Police Officers during and after World War II

 

During World War II, as with many previously male-dominated fields, the number of women police officers (WPCs) increased from 282 in 1940 to 418 in 1945. With many of the able-bodied men of working age conscripted to fight in the war, jobs previously held by men needed to be filled, and women often took on these roles. A women’s auxillary police corps was established — under pressure — and throughout the war, women took on a greater responsibility and more roles than they had between the two wars.

One of the roles that women police officers had to take on was that of “protecting young women from being led astray” by the increasing numbers of servicemen from overseas who were stationed at military camps in Britain. In an act of astounding xenophobia; American, Canadian, and European servicemen were considered to be “over-sexed and over-paid with too much time on their hands” and therefore a “threat” to the young women of Britain. The police also wanted to discourage any sex work that might take place on these military bases or, if they couldn’t discourage, catch and arrest people in the act.

So, as well as following up on complaints of criminal behaviour directed at women from servicemen, WPCs also found themselves doing proactive or preventative work with a view to discourage women pursuing attention from soldiers and patrolling to prevent sex workers from providing services on the military camps.

As an aside: there are also records of how some gay men visited military camps but the British police did not assign much police time to this. This wasn’t because of any sort of open-mindedness, since homosexuality was still illegal at the time and the police would certainly arrest (and beat) gay men they found in various degrees of intimacy; it was because gay men who were victims of crimes perpetrated by the servicemen in the camps were, firstly, less likely to report the crimes, and secondly, perceived by the police to be “getting what they had coming”.

Many male police officers did not approve of women being in the police and, in many parts of the country, women were restricted to clerical or administrative roles away from what was deemed “real” police work, even during the war. One chief constable was recorded as arguing that they already had enough trouble from the Germans without having to be “pestered by females” too.

There was always an expectation — as there had been during World War I — that the women would step down and return to “the home” once the war was over. This idea was reinforced by a country-wide push, instigated by government and reinforced by the media, trying to push through the importance of “traditional family values and roles”. (It is likely the fear-mongering regarding lesbians/wlw during the war and their “threat” to the stability of the country also played some role in this).

However, despite these expectations, many women didn’t return to their original roles and the police was no different in this regard. Post-war, the number of women in the police increased. There were a lot of restrictions on WPCs initially, not just on their work but their lives as well, but these began to reduce over the years. The requirements that they be unmarried and resign upon marriage was dropped, as were working restrictions that they couldn’t leave the station on a night shift without a male escort or driver.  In many constabularies, though, their work remained administrative in nature or their only involvement was in cases involving women or children where a women’s “sensitive touch” was deemed an asset.

 

Notes taken primarily from:

“The Great British Bobby: A History of British Policing from the 18th Century to the Present”

History of Women in Policing, Greater Manchester Police Museum and Archive (https://www.open.edu/openlearn/society-politics-law/law/lesbianism-and-the-criminal-law-england-and-wales)