National police woman day is being observed today

National Police Woman Day is dedicated to all police officers that are women. The first police woman in the United States was most likely Marie Owens, who was hired by the Chicago Police Department in 1891. Although police matrons had worked in prisons in New York City prior to this, they did not have the authority to arrest as Owens did. Alice Wells was hired by the Los Angeles police department in 1910, and was the first American-born female police officer in the United States, as Owens had been born in Canada. Today roughly ten percent of the police force in the United States is women.