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Women began working as police officers in the United Kingdom as early as December 1915 amidst the First World War. [1] As with other countries, police forces in the UK were entirely male at the start of the 20th century. Their numbers were limited for many decades, but have gradually increased since the 1970s.
The Women's Police Service (WPS) in the UK was a national voluntary organization of women police officers that was active from 1914 until 1940. As the first uniformed women's police service in the UK, it made progress in gaining acceptance of women's role in police work.
The first women police officers were employed during the First World War. Hull and Southampton were two of the first to towns to employ women police, although Grantham was the first to have a warranted policewoman. [20] Since the 1940s, police forces in the United Kingdom have been merged and modernised.
Women did detective work on their own, mostly without recognition. [4] They covered a wide range of cases, from robberies to murder. These female detectives were the beginning of women’s acceptance into the police force. However, it wasn’t for another 150 years that women were employed by law enforcement agencies. [5]
Until 1998, women in the police had their rank prefixed with a letter W (for example, "WPC" for Constable). In March 2016, 28.6% of police officers in England and Wales were women. [25] This was an increase from 23.3% in 2007. [25] Notable women in the police include Cressida Dick, the former Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service.
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Before 2000, the Metropolitan Police was under the authority of the Home Secretary, the only British territorial police force to be administered by central government. The Metropolitan Police Office (MPO), although based at Scotland Yard, was a department of the Home Office created in 1829 and was responsible for the force's day-to-day ...
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