First female office to retire

First a
female I

S M, M, PTM-- ( (A>P.

officer

^ovr-.\ )-

to retire

• Sumpter Township
trailblazer elects to follow
chief into retirement.

BY MARJORIE KAUTi' ••" "• •-' A y

MFU/C CPmAl OFPflOTFI? <*

NEWS SPECIAL REPORTER

SUMPTER TOWNSHIP - It's
within her grasp, but Sumpter
Township Police Lt. Wanda Elden
will not go for the brass ring and be-
come one of the few women police
chiefs, replacing Sumpter Town-
. ship W > "' ' r r-'i ..'on Brown,

Instead, Elden, 57, announced
Monday that she also will retire

"I could be (police chief). I c
think I would have any problem
with that," Elden said during a
press conference. "Many people
have told me to go for it. iust for the
title, but it has never b oai

El'' - i..;,i t.nt>. coking forward
to sp slh her mother
and grandchildren, as well as trav-
eling.

She was the first full-time female
officer hired '" S'T'r'pt-'"'. ^he offi-
cially becarr , "er in
1981, although she passed a test to
become a police officer in 1975. The
township refused to send her to the
police academy at that time. So El-
den attended a reserve police acad-
emy at Schoolcraft College and
graduated in 1977.

Her title between 1975 and 1981
was police matron.

Even in 1981, after graduating
from the Detroit Metropolitan Po-
lice Academy, her appointment as
an officer was controversial.

"I was one of two people who vot-
ed against (Elden)," said Sumpter
Township Trustee John Morgan at
-. the press conference. - -—a_-

"We were tight on money at that
time," he said. "I thought if we were
going to spend money on a police of-
ficer, let's get a man. It doesn't
make sense now ... (and) it would
have been the worst mistake."

Elden said it was difficult to deal
with the discrimination. However,
she said the fact that she never had
a dream of becoming a police offi-
cer as a child but rather grew into
the position after working as a sec-
retary and dispatcher in the depart-
ment helped her deal with it.

She started working in Sumpter
Township as a part-time deputy
clerk in 1972. Then she worked as a
part-time secretary to Township
Supervisor Robert Marble. At that
time, she only wanted part-time
work because her four children
were not in school.

In 1974, she became Police Chief
T, , ns' secretary, her first
; . lion.

Later, when the department ac-
quired its Own rariin frpniipnpv F1L

den became a s
secretary.

The departure of both Brown and
Elden leaves a sem-'. )id in the
department. The ni ,est rank-
ing officer is Detective Bob
McCloud. There are no sergeants
or corporals in the department. The
department has 12 full-time and five
part-time officers.

The township has begun a search
for a new police chief, posting the
po 'n newspapers and trade

lOlirnaLs, , .