The Struggle for a Police Matron
Seattle officials squabble over the emergency fund while debating the legal requirement to appoint a woman to oversee female prisoners.
At the regular monthly meeting of the police commissioners last evening, the appointment of a police matron was the principal subject of discussion. Incidentally, a conflict of opinion between Chief Jackson and Acting Mayor Sweeney relating to the pay of the proposed matron out of the emergency fund caused the latter to deliver a lecture, in which he informed the chief that he had no business with that fund, which was for the use of the mayor alone. At the conclusion of the general debate, a motion was passed asking the council to pass an ordinance agreeing in its provisions with the law passed by the state legislature, and fixing the salary of the matron. The matter was introduced by a petition from Mrs. Homer H. Hill and Mrs. C. M. Sheafe, asking that Mrs. Mary B. Reese be appointed.
“That emergency fund was in my hands, for my own use and I did not propose to have the police department meddle with it.”
This 1892 debate highlights the early institutional push for gendered oversight in the justice system, though it was framed through the lens of municipal budget power struggles. Today, the call for gender-responsive policing remains a relevant civic conversation, centered on the treatment of women within the carceral system.
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