It’s her eyes that grab you. Not so much the constricting outfit, or the size of the woman filling it out. No, it’s something about her eyes that reaches out and takes hold of your attention. Looking into them, you know right away that she’s the boss.

		It’s a good thing this late-19th-century New York City prison matron is only a cardboard cutout, because she might not like the way you’re staring at her. The story of women in the New York City Police Department, which started with the prison matron, is told through memorabilia, news clippings, artifacts and videos at the “Women in Policing” exhibit at Downtown’s New York City Police Museum. Women first started working in the police department as jail matrons in 1891. They searched female prisoners (formerly done by male officers, their wives, widows of policemen or the maid at the station), supervised their care and looked after lost children. Their hours were long and they received one day off a month. Policewomen were slowly given added responsibilities. In 1943, all policewomen were issued a combination gun/shoulder bag that contained red lipstick, a powder compact and a case of dry rouge, as well as space for a .38 revolver. Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia sent New York’s policewomen out into the city, dressed in skirts and two-inch heels, with these words: “Use your gun as you would your lipstick—use it only when you need it, and use it intelligently. Don’t overdo either one.” Not surprisingly, women who joined the force quickly encountered a glass ceiling. Only able to be promoted in the detective division as undercover officers, they specialized in stings of drug dealers, fortunetellers and medical quacks, and made themselves the targets of would-be rapists. Det. Mary Shanley, a.k.a. Dead Shot Mary, who was assigned to the Pickpocket Squad in 1935, made more than 1000 arrests, most notably of the thieving Chinatown Charlie. Det. Laurette McDonnnell, an ex-model, worked on 200 cases that led to 500 arrests including the capture of the notorious Five Points Gang in Harlem.

In 1942, New York City policewomen faced a new barrier—they were required to hold a college degree. (Their male counterparts did not need college degrees until more than 40 years later.)

Finally, frustrated by the department’s refusal to let her take a promotion exam, Officer Felicia Shpritizer went to court .

After she won the case, 126 women took a sergeant’s make-up exam. Two years later, Shpritzer and Officer Gertrude Schimmel had to sue again to be appointed as sergeants. And another two years later—again only after long court cases—they became the first female lieutenants.

The ratification of the expanded Civil Rights Act in 1972 resulted in a flurry of firsts within the police department. Within six years, women made their debut as patrol officers, highway officers, bodyguards, bomb squad officers and precinct commanding officers.

The exhibit includes excerpts from Oxygen! Channel’s “Women & The Badge” series that focus on women officers in elite SWAT and hostage negotiation units, gang units and warrant squads and the stories of three married female officers. The divorce rate among female cops not married to cops, the commentary notes, is alarmingly high.

Lieutenant Susan Czubay of the Policewomen’s Endowment Association, which helped make the exhibit possible, said the exhibit was for police officers of the past and the present.

One of the most moving displays is the charred and mangled badge, gun belt and keys of Officer Moira A. Smith, the only female NYPD officer killed in the World Trade Center attack. Captain Kathy Mazza of the Port Authority of NY and NJ was the only other female officer to perish that day. “Women in Policing” Lt. Czubay said, wanted to honor these everyday police officers.

“A lot of the things that we have celebrated are women who were groundbreakers,” she said, but this exhibit was designed to go beyond past accomplishments. “We wanted to celebrate the women who were out there doing it every day.”

“Women in Policing” at the New York City Police Museum, 100 Old Slip, bet. Water and South Sts. Through June. Adults $5; Seniors $3; Children 6-18 $2. For information: 212-575-3100 or go to www.nycpolicemuseum.org.