Page 21 - March 2022

The women behind the badge
FOP BENEFITS
When asked to write a column in this issue ded- icated to women, three categories immediately came to mind. I’ve lived and experienced two of them with the extraordinary woman who was my mother.
The women who wear the badge
While the Chicago Police Department can be proud of hiring the first female police officer in the country — Marie Owens in 1891 — it hasn’t been an
easy road for women in law enforcement.
It wasn’t until 1974 that CPD assigned women as patrol offi-
cers. For 83 years before that date, female officers wore skirts and were given only specialized assignments.
Shortly after graduation from law school, I became a police lawyer, so I had a front-row seat to the early years of women on patrol. It was rough for women to break into a job reserved for men. They had to endure a lack of trust and plenty of resent- ment from male officers. It wasn’t pretty.
In a job and a city where politics often derail your legitimate qualifications for advancement, it was even more challenging in the ’70s and ’80s for female police officers to be awarded the promotions they deserved based on the work they did.
Today, I have represented countless women police officers, from patrol to the chief. I have the highest respect for who they are and the work they do, especially in light of what they have endured getting to where they are. It bears repeating the obvi- ous: Women are the real police.
The women behind the badge
Too often overlooked are the spouses of police officers. My mother was one. You cannot imagine how difficult it is for a spouse to say goodbye every day, not knowing whether your partner will come home.
One day, I was in a meeting with a client, and he said, “My wife is Irma Ruiz.” I didn’t know until that moment, and I will never forget how he said it. “Irma is still my wife. I miss her every day. Irma was in the youth division, so I thought she would be safe. I said goodbye to her that morning, and when I heard there was a shooting in a school at work and then a squad car pulled up to take me to the hospital, I just knew the worst.”
Policing is a job that comes with a culture of keeping it all in- side, brushing off its danger and dismissing the risks. You gotta be tough to be the police, and you have to be tough to be mar- ried to one. Living with uncertainty and fear is a hidden reality for many spouses. As my mother always said, “It ain’t easy, kid.” The single moms
In 2020, there were 15.5 million single mothers in the U.S. There are undoubtedly many single moms working as the po- lice.
My father was a detective on the West Side in Austin, where I was born. When I was 8 years old, one day he just didn’t come home and left the state. I didn’t see or hear from him for another 40 years.
When your dad is a cop, he is larger than life, and he is the ultimate protector of the household. I never had a chance to ask
him why he left. It could have been the toll the job took out of him or living up to the pressure of being the chief’s son. Maybe it was a little of both.
What I do know is that when my mother became a single mom, raising four young kids on her own, her job was unthink- ably hard. She worked her day job with the City and often a night job to make ends meet. I can only imagine how difficult that is for single-parent police officers, with their police work added to carrying all the responsibilities at home.
So if you know an officer who is a single mom or a single dad, every once in a while, give them a hand or an encouraging word. Being the police, they will never ask. Whether you are wearing the badge (especially as a single mom) or supporting your part- ner at home, you pay a heavy price. For me, it doesn’t go unap- preciated, and it never will.
Stay safe out there, come home and know you are appreci- ated.
Tom Tuohy is the founder of Tuohy Law Offices and the FOP Ben- efits Plan. He has been a police lawyer for over three decades. His father was a CPD detective, and his grandfather was CPD chief of major investigations. You can reach Tom at 312-559-8400 or tom@tuohylawoffices.com, or visit his office in Oakbrook Ter- race.
TOM TUOHY
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