17 North Beach Street
Nantucket, MA 02554
(508) 228-1515
LADIES OF THE LAW
Meet the women of the Nantucket Police Department.
When Suzanne Gale joined the Nantucket Police Department as a full-time officer in 2003, she was one of only three female cops on the force. The South Water Street police station didn’t even have a female locker room at the time, and Gale said she had to work twice as hard to get the opportunity compared to some of her male counterparts.
Twenty years later, Gale is still with the department, but now she is one of eight female officers with the NPD—a group that now makes up a full quarter of the island’s police force. The number of women working as full-time officers with the NPD has grown significantly over the past two decades, and today, they serve as sergeants, detectives, school resource officers, motorcycle officers and as members of the department’s SWAT team.
“I remember there was a time when there were no females in the department,” said Gale, who worked as a dispatcher and special officer before attending the police academy and getting her shot to become a full-time officer. “Having females on every shift helps. Some people just like talking to females better than males. Sometimes we just think outside the box, and we have different ideas on how to get things done.”
For Gale and Sgt. Janine Mauldin, who has been with the NPD as a full-time officer since 2005, witnessing the growing number of female colleagues joining the ranks of the depart- ment over the years has been gratifying—and a little surprising to them. As the department’s two longest-serving women, they have a unique perspective.
“Honestly, it’s almost a shock to have eight females on the department,” Mauldin said. “I thought four was a lot at one time, but it’s nice to have such a diverse group of females. Each of us brings our own personality and niche to the profession, which shows in all the different positions we hold in the department. We are all doing our own thing at times and don’t have an opportunity for all of us to see each other on a consistent basis, but there is a silent bond. I don’t want to get into specifics, but there have been times if one of us needed something, we would look out for our sister.”
For the women of the NPD, working as females in the traditionally male-dominated field of law enforcement generally hasn’t been an issue within the department. They are treated as equals by their male colleagues, they said. But in some cases, it is interactions with the public where they notice a difference between the responses to a male officer versus a female officer. And those differences can be both positive and negative.
“Most times we are generally treated the same way when responding to calls or amongst the public,” said Detective Amanda Schwenk. “However, sometimes I have experienced not always being shown the same respect as my male co-workers. I have been referred to as ‘honey’ or ‘sweet- heart’ instead of ‘officer.’ There have also been times where people simply just don’t respect you as a female and only want to talk to the male officer on scene. I have had sexually derogatory comments made by either people passing by while patrolling or individuals we are dealing with more times than I can count. I have been asked why I am a police officer and usually followed up with ‘Aren’t you scared?’ or “How do you handle the calls?’
The negativity is easily outweighed by the positive interactions and being able to simply brush off the negative comments or ignore them,” she continued. “The positives have been that sometimes there is a different reaction with a female officer on scene depending on the calls. Having a woman there during a call with female victims or females in need of assistance can help bring some ease and maybe they are more comfortable to open up and talk.”
While they may not always get to work together on the same shift or even get to see each other as a group within the department on a day-to-day basis, the camaraderie among the NPD’s eight female officers was clearly evident when they came together for the photo on the previous page. The banter, nicknames and inside jokes revealed a tight-knit group of women that bring different talents and perspectives to the job, along with a universal respect for the profession, the island community, their department and each other.
“We as a whole [women] can always count on each other to lift each other up and be our biggest cheerleaders,” said Cassie Thompson, who serves as the department’s school resource officer. “There are already so many people/factors that want to tear down women—not only in policing but in general—and we, as women, should be lifting each other up. I think the women of NPD do that. Our banter during the photo shoot gave you a glimpse into our little ‘club,’ and having the ability to surround yourself with like-minded, career-driven, confident women is a privilege.”
The first full-time female police officer hired by the NPD was Donna Mayo, who earned that distinction in 1981 at the age of 21. Mayo had worked her way up from being a meter maid to a dispatcher and then a special police officer.
Before Gale and Mauldin joined the force, there were other women who served with the NPD, including Christine Ladner, who became a full-time officer in 1995 and was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2003. There was also Kathy Fougere Gallant, whose nephew Nicholas Gallant now works for the NPD as a patrol officer. But up until the last few years, the number of female officers on the island police force at any given time could usually be counted on one hand.
For NPD Lt. Angus MacVicar, who has had a hand in hiring almost all of the women currently on the force, the goal was never to hire more female officers. It was always, he said, simply to hire the best police officers. Even so, seeing the eight female officers assembled together for a photo was striking, MacVicar said, and a point of pride for the department.
“You don’t really view them as female or male; you see them as being a police officer,” MacVicar said. “We have really good police officers here. Some have more experience or a different skill set. But I don’t ever think of whether they’re a female or a male. We truly hire the most qualified candidate through the application process.”
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