UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Union Township Police Department publicly thanked the four women on its staff Saturday, marking National Police Women’s Day with a Facebook tribute calling their “daily service” essential to keeping the community safe.
“We thank all women in law enforcement across the nation for their hard work,” the department said in the post. “A special thank you goes to the four amazing women at our own department. Your daily service keeps our community safe and guides the next generation. We are proud and lucky to have you on our team.”
National Police Women’s Day is observed each year on Sept. 12, marking the anniversary of Alice Stebbins Wells’ 1910 appointment to the Los Angeles Police Department, when she became the first American-born policewoman granted arrest powers. A former social worker, Wells went on to found the International Association of Women Police and spent decades advocating for departments nationwide to hire more women, helping launch what became a national movement toward gender integration in policing.
Union Township Police Department has grown considerably since it was founded in 1965 with a single part-time officer. It is now a 60-member, full-service agency accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, according to the department. Chief Anthony Rees, who has spent 25 years in law enforcement and rose through the ranks as a patrol officer, investigator and sergeant, has led the department since the Union Township Board of Trustees unanimously appointed him chief in March 2023.
Women remain a minority in law enforcement nationally. They account for about 13% of sworn officers at state and local agencies across the country, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics data cited by the 30×30 Initiative, a coalition of police leaders, researchers and professional organizations working to raise that share to 30% by 2030. Roughly 40% of the nation’s approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies employ no full-time women officers at all, the coalition says.
The information contained in this story was obtained from Union Township Police Department, Clermont County.