NSW Police are celebrating a centenary of women in policing and Orange police have set up banners and are planning a large celebration to take place later this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mounted police, bicycle police, traffic and highway patrol cars, a police Porche and PolAir will converge on the city on Friday, May 22 for a police exhibition at Orange north court and a baton relay.
Canobolas Local Area Command relieving crime manager Detective Acting Inspector Yonneka Hill said the command has 37 sworn and unsworn female staff, accounting for about a third of the staff attached to the command.
She said policing has changed a lot for women since the first female officers Lillian Armfield who retired in 1949 after 33 years service and Maude Rhodes who retired in 1920 and joined in 1915.
Before the main celebrations, mounted police and their horses will arrive in Orange from Sydney on Thursday, May 21 and will visit residents at Wontama and Orange High School that afternoon.
However, the highlight will be Friday’s public events starting with the relay that will leave the station at 10am and go up Byng Street to Woodward Street and down Summer Street before ending at the north court for the exhibition and celebration.
Orange’s first female police officer, North Shore Detective Superintendent Doreen Cruickshank, who started at the station in 1976, will be the guest speaker.
“Ma’am Cruickshank will be a great speaker, she’s the longest currently serving female officer, she’s been in the police for 44 years this year,” Acting Inspector Hill said.
Along with speeches and vehicle displays, there will be a historical display, a crime prevention stall, PCYC bus and the winners of a colouring-in competition for Orange children will be announced.
Some colouring-in entries have come in already but it is not too late to take part. For more information visit the Canobolas Local Area Command - NSW Police Force Facebook page.
