Today, Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) celebrated 50 years of women in its ranks, honoring the first class of female state troopers.
On July 7, 1972, fourteen women graduated from the 31st Cadet Class of Pennsylvania State Police Academy, making it the first to admit female cadets in the state of Pennsylvania. Surviving members of the 31st Cadet Class were invited to a ceremony in their honor at the academy in Hershey.
“These women were motivated to enlist by a sense of duty and a genuine interest in police work,” said Colonel Robert Evanchick, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police. “We owe them a debt of gratitude for their roles in breaking barriers and blazing trails that have helped make this Department what it is today.”
Women of the 31st Cadet Class include Kathryn Doutt, Lucinda Hammond, Regina Adams, Jill Bairhalter, Romaine Engle, Judith Galloway, Nancy Lightner, Judith McCarr, Ann Metcalf, Patricia Moe, Kathryn Neville, Mary Connie Rossetti, Doris Sott, and Barbara Wharrey.
Two standouts from the 31st Cadet Class were Kathryn (Hosmer) Doutt and Lucinda Hammond (Hawkins). In 1990 Doutt became PSP’s first female troop commander when she was assigned to head Troop K, Philadelphia. Five years later, Doutt was promoted to major and assigned to serve as director of the Bureau of Patrol, becoming the first woman in the department’s history to head a bureau. In 1989, Hammond and another trooper risked their lives after a fiery tractor-trailer crash, pulling a trapped occupant out of the truck just before it exploded. Due to her bravery, Hammond became the first female trooper to receive the Pennsylvania State Police Commendation Medal.
PSP was the nation’s first state police agency to fully integrate female troopers into the regular command structure. The women of the 31st Cadet Class took on jobs exclusive to men throughout the department’s 67-year history, setting a high bar for female troopers who followed in their footsteps.
