Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-16
LIEUT., VAN WDNKLE OUTLINES
CHIEF DUTY OF POLICEWOMEN
Rescue of Children From
Ways of Crime Is Held Spe-
ciaI Objective.
Psychiatrist Is Employed as
Aid in Solution of Vexing
Problems.
BY GRETCHEN S. SMITH.

A little girl of IL was brought to the
Detention House. The child was we'll
dressed and obviously came from nice
home Questioned by the policewoman
who had taken her into custody upon
complaint of a leading department
| store, the girl replied: yes, took the
! things. I don't know why. Just saw
! them lying there and 1t seemed so easy
TO take them"
No other reason When the child's
parents were summoned to the Deten-
ton House they were Mortified at what
| their daughter had done. She had been
well brought up, both home and relig-
ious training had been of the best and
the child was not only mentally alert,
but precociouS to the extent that, at IL
years of age, she led her class, the Sec
ond year of high school.
Difficult Problem Presented.
Yet she was being held in the House
of Detention on charges of Shoplifting
If taken before the Juvenile Court and
placed on probation it would ruin her
at school, The girl promised to BE
good" in the future. The store was
persuaded to withdraw the charges and
the child was sent home to her parents.
Two weeks later, in another Wash
ington store, the policewoman again
took this little girl into custody, caught
in the act of lifting" She was in no
need of what she had taken and ap-
parently had no excuse for doing so.
Was the girl an incorrigible thief? 1t
was for the women at the bureau" to
decide whether the child was just an
ordinary shoplifter, to be sent to the
reformatory, or whether 1t was a case
for a psychiatrist. The latter course
was decided upon, again the store was
induced to withdraw its charges and
the child was turned over for treat
ment to a leading psychiatrist.
Child's Rescue Accomplished.
A little more than a year passed. The
12-year-old girl was helped by the doc
tor to find herself. The second offense
OF shoplifting was never repeated and
the child, at IA years of age, is to grad
uate from high school with llonors.
Before the establishment of the
Women'S Bureau the 12-year-old girl
caught publicly stealing in a depart
ment store would have of necessity been
summoned before the Juvenile Court.
For the first offense she might have
been placed on probation. second Of.
tense would have been commitment to
reformatory.
The women who must discriminate as
how to best handle offenders and de-
llnquentS must have superior training
Theirs is not merely the work of max
ing arrests and haveing offenders
punished. 1t is their work to study
personalities, to distinguish between the
woman and child who is fundamentally
evll and lncorrigible and the one who,
with proper handling, can be corrected
and educated to occupy useful place
In society. The policewoman is not
only an ofdcer Of the law, but she is a
social worker, endeavoring to find the
good that is in the delinquent whom she
apprehends, and having found it to
work for the social rehabiliment of
each individual offender.
Years Of Training Needed.
Years of training are necessary for
this dihcult task. Among the % woman
members of the Women's Bureau of the
District of Columbia Metropolitan Po-
lice there are graduates of colleges and
unlversities-social welfare training
schools-school teachers and psy-
chlatristS. All of them have taken spe-
clal courses at George Washington Uni
VerslCy and many of them are now
taking courses in psychology at ST
Elizabeth's Hospital. The clerk of the
grand jury of the Supreme Court is now
giving instruction to members of the
Women's Bureau in District and Fed
eral laws. A former member of the
Washington Women's Bureau success.
fully passed the bar examinations and
with her husband is now practicing law
In Dallas, Tex. Another former mem
Der, graduate of the University of
California and student of law, is now
the commissioner of womens prisons
OF the State of California and is the
head of the international house of the
University of California.
Tine good which is ACCOMPLISHED hu