Exhibit Salutes Women of Sheriff’s Department

Consider the headlines of the day in 1972 when the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department became the first in the nation to assign female deputies to patrol duties: “Didn’t Like Housework.” “Arrest Could Be Pleasant.” “If Pinched, Deputy Will Pinch Back.”

The first dozen women assigned to full-time patrol had to face a lot of silliness. Of course they could do the job as well as men--once they were allowed to ditch the tight skirts and the purses.

The pioneers who blazed new career paths for women in law enforcement--and convinced then-Sheriff Peter J. Pitchess to let them carry their guns and handcuffs on the belts of trousers--are the focus of a commemorative exhibit at the Sheriff’s Museum in Whittier.

“Women in Patrol” marks the 24th anniversary of the pilot program that first trained women to do more than support functions and eventually became the patrol school that every Los Angeles County sheriff’s recruit attends.

“The prevalent view was that after a couple of weeks we’d beg to come back to our desk jobs, sobbing and crying, ‘Oh, it’s awful,’ ” recalled Cmdr. Carole Freeman, 53, one of four of the original “Dirty Dozen” still with the department.

“But that didn’t happen,” she said.

Today, the Sheriff’s Department has more than 900 female deputies trained in firearms, patrol procedures, communications, emergency vehicle operations, investigation and practical field problems. Among them are 83 sergeants, 21 lieutenants, four captains, three commanders and one chief.

Yet, in 1972, even with about 400 female deputies in “soft jobs,” the department had a tough time finding 20 volunteers for a “study program” created in response to pressure from the federal government.

Freeman, a deputy at Sybil Brand Institute for Women, signed up immediately. After weeks of intense training, the women started patrolling the streets of West Hollywood, Cerritos, East Los Angeles, Altadena, Bellflower and Lakewood. And still the men argued, deciding that “the ladies” should not be allowed to respond to “hot calls.”

“We got so incensed and told Sheriff Pitchess, ‘You can’t put us out there and then put caveats on us that restrict us while we’re trying to prove ourselves,’ ” Freeman said.

One by one, they confronted the obstacles--the skirts, the heels, the guns in the purses, the less-than-gracious male colleagues--and did their jobs. One female deputy, Lovette Caples, even did it with an especially ambitious hairdo: a beehive.