"Don't worry boys, I won't be stepping on your toes."
Embedded Files
Lola Green Baldwin told the all-male Portland police force when she became the nation’s first paid female police officer in 1908.
Baldwin began her vocational career as a teacher in New York State. As a teacher, she interacted with many students who were unwed mothers; had been sexually abused; or lived in a dysfunctional home environment. This keen interest in the welfare of children and woman, led Lola Baldwin to volunteer at many different social service agencies dealing with women.
She earned the reputation as a competent and compassionate social service investigator. Her objective: learn as much as possible about the girls and their situations in order to provide rehabilitation and guidance, often visiting their homes or workplaces.
When her husband LeGrand Baldwin transferred to Portland, in 1904, Oregon, Lola continued her voluntary social service work. That same year, National Travelers' Aid Association asked Portland’s YWCA to sponsor a vice-policing program for the Lewis and Clark Exposition to be held in Portland in 1905 June 1 through October 15. Proponents of the program claimed that innocent young women, visiting the fair or filling temporary fair jobs, would be targets for men involved in criminal activities.
Baldwin emphasized preventing crime by policing and regulating amusement parks, saloons, dance halls. Baldwin regularly battled founder and owner of the Crystal Montrose Ringler to keep women out of her place, Until her death in 1957, Lola G. Baldwin also championed women’s rights, especially women in police service.
Detective Baldwin supervised the officers of the Portland Police Department Women’s Protective Division from 1908 to 1922. She had a major impact on state and federal law enforcement and penology. She advised the Portland Vice Commission, championed the city’s Domestic Relations Court, and served as Oregon State Special Agent for vice control.
The YWCA hired Lola Baldwin to supervise its Travelers' Aid program during the Exposition. After helping more than 1,600 young women find suitable jobs and lodging during the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition, Baldwin appealed to Mayor Harry Lane and the Portland City Council to continue funding her vice-policing work with women under the police department's jurisdiction with half of the $6000 budget allocated to the dog pound. City Council said yes to the request, stipulating that Lola pass the civil service exam for police detective work.
I can’t help but wonder if the City Council–all men–demanded she take the exam because they didn’t think she would pass and the dog pound money would not be an issue. Lola fooled them. She became superintendent of the new Women's Protective Division, making her the nation's first municipal policewoman in 1909
Major Accomplishments:
1912, she pushed for the creation of the Hillcrest Oregon Industrial School for Girls near Salem.
1918 obtained federal funding for the Cedars Venereal Detention Facility for Women near Portland.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland commissioned Baldwin as an investigator for Immigration Bureau cases involving interstate prostitution.
During World War I, the Federal Commission on Training Camps appointed her its West Coast supervisor for vice control near military facilities.
1922 Baldwin retired but continued to serve numerous terms on the Oregon Parole Board and the National Board of Prisons and Prison Labor.
"I never wore my badge but always had it in my purse."
Lola G. Baldwin, badge number 33, we of the 33rd state, salute you.
LaGrand Baldwin, Lola's husband, opened first Woolworth's in Portland.
Traveler’s Aid hires Baldwin to protect innocent women from nefarious men lurking about the 1906 World Fair Exposition.
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