Standing on the shoulders

This story comes from an oral history regarding the first female officers on the Cape Girardeau police force. Alice Ireland, president of the Cape Girardeau County Historical Society, brought this story to me while doing some research for Judy Correll Sander of Texas, and it was confirmed by David Giles, a retired administrator for the Cape Girardeau School District.

It will soon be 50 years since the City of Cape Girardeau hired its first female officers. The year was 1975, and police chief Henry H. Gerecke was preparing to introduce female police officers to the department and to the City of Cape Girardeau by recruiting women into the Auxiliary Police. The Auxiliary Police was organized in the mid-1950s from the Civil Defense unit. The group ranged between 50 to 75 volunteers through the 1970s and evolved into the Police Reserve. Decreasing numbers of volunteers eventually put an end to the program around 1980.

Judy Correll was teaching third grade at the Southeast Missouri State University Lab School, when a non-traditional student, David Giles, who was her student teacher, asked her about joining the Auxiliary Police. David was head of that program. Judy wanted to give back to the community and accepted David's invitation to apply. David's friend and former Auxiliary Police officer, now patrolman, Robert Sander, recruited his friend Kathy Mattes. Two other women were also recruited, chief Gerecke's wife, Millie, and Carolyn Moore, wife of Lt. Al Moore.

The women went through the same training as police officers and, when the time came for the written and weapons' exams, the four women placed second, third, fourth and fifth in the rankings. First place was taken by a retired Missouri State Highway Patrolman. Judy said in her interview with chief Gerecke, he mentioned it would take some time for people to adjust to seeing women in police uniforms, but it was not costing the department any money since they were volunteers. Some male officers were concerned the women may not be able to "have their backs" in a bad situation, and another drawback was about the two single women riding with married officers. Gerecke quickly changed the arrangement to single women riding with single officers. Judy worked weekends and some days while continuing her work at SEMO.

Changing the riding arrangement worked out well for Judy and Robert Sander, her new riding partner, who were married in 1976. Judy resigned as a volunteer in 1976, because of the marriage and pursuing doctorate at Southern Illinois University. She retired from Texas A&M, where she was professor of education. Robert continued his career in law enforcement, and Judy and Kathy have remained friends over the years.

We all stand on the backs of those who came before us to pave the way. Also, in 1975, Gerecke hired the first Black patrolman and Black female civilian dispatcher. Thanks to a progressive police chief and an accepting city, these early minority hires led to continued support of hiring minorities throughout the history of today's police department in Cape Girardeau.