In recognition of Women’s History Month, it is fitting to pause and reflect on the women whose service shaped the course of law enforcement in South Carolina. Long before female officers were common in patrol cars, investigative divisions, or command staff meetings, a small number of women stepped into a profession that did not yet expect them and carried its responsibilities with discipline and resolve.

She Stepped Forward When No One Expected Her To

In August 1935, a mother of five walked into the Marion County Sheriff’s Office under circumstances no one would choose.

Mae Gasque had just lost her husband, Sheriff E. Clark Gasque, who was killed in an automobile accident while responding to assist a deputy during a manhunt. At 41 years old, she was appointed to complete his term.

There were no recruitment campaigns encouraging women into policing. There were no discussions about representation. There was simply a vacancy, a responsibility, and a community that still needed law enforcement leadership.

Sheriff Gasque carried out the duties of the office from 1935 to 1936. She worked alongside deputies, participated in enforcement activity, and fulfilled the obligations of the badge during a period when rural policing demanded resilience and resolve. She did not seek reelection. She did not campaign to make history.

But history marked her service nonetheless.

Decades would pass before women were formally welcomed into South Carolina law enforcement agencies.

When the Profession Opened Its Doors

In September 1972, Adell Harris walked into the Charleston Police Department as the first female trained police officer in South Carolina and the first African American woman in the state to wear the badge.

The invitation for women to apply had appeared in a newspaper advertisement. Few expected it to lead to a 35-year career that would quietly reshape expectations across the profession.

Early assignments came with restrictions. Certain patrol areas were off limits. Equipment and uniforms were not designed with women in mind. Some questioned whether a woman could provide effective backup.

Those doubts did not last.

Harris served as a patrol officer and later as a crisis intervention officer. She led the department’s truancy and school resource divisions. Long before the term community policing became standard language, she focused on consistent presence in schools and relationship-based engagement with students. In 1993, she was inducted into the South Carolina Criminal Justice Hall of Fame for breaking barriers and demonstrating that policing ability is defined by performance, not gender.

One year after Harris entered the profession, Letty Whitehead joined the North Charleston Police Department as its first female officer.

Whitehead’s career traced the path of structural change. She became the first female detective in Charleston County. She rose to become the first female corporal, sergeant, and lieutenant in South Carolina. A graduate in criminology and a former Marine Corps captain, she later became the first female officer from South Carolina to graduate from the FBI National Academy.

Each promotion carried significance, but more importantly, it carried responsibility. Advancement meant proving that leadership capacity had no gender qualifier.

Her recent passing closed a chapter in that history, but her impact remains embedded in the profession she helped expand.

In Columbia, Ethel M. Dike became the first woman officer of the Columbia Police Department in September 1973. Across the state, departments were beginning to reflect a broader understanding of who could serve.

Leadership Without Limitation

By 2001, Patty Jaye Garrett Patterson became the first female Chief of Police for a metropolitan city in South Carolina. The progression from restricted patrol assignments in the early 1970s to executive command within a generation illustrates how quickly standards can evolve when competence is recognized.

Within the South Carolina Highway Patrol, women advanced steadily through the ranks. In 2017, forty years after the agency welcomed its first female troopers, Major Tara Craig became the first woman promoted to the rank of Captain in the South Carolina Highway Patrol. What once required extraordinary explanation had become a matter of merit.

These developments did not occur through rhetoric. They occurred through steady, disciplined service.

Commanding a Statewide Agency

Colonel Anna Amos did not set out to be “the first.” She set out to serve.

Born in Charleston in 1958, she began her law enforcement career in 1983 with the South Carolina Public Service Commission, where she became the first woman hired as a commercial vehicle safety regulator. After the Government Restructuring Act of 1993 created the State Transport Police within the Department of Public Safety, Amos transitioned into the new division and quickly rose through the ranks.

Promoted to Captain in 1996 and Lieutenant Colonel in 1999, she was elevated in November 2000 to Colonel of the State Transport Police. With that appointment, she became the first woman and the first African American to lead any of the three law enforcement divisions of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, and the first woman to head a statewide law enforcement division in South Carolina.

She advocated for resources and staffing during periods of budget constraint and established specialized units within STP, including the Special Operations Unit, the Commercial Vehicle Investigations Team, the HazMat Team, the Strategic Traffic Alcohol and Radar Team, and the agency’s Canine Unit.

She retired in 2008 after 25 years of service and later continued her work at the federal level with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration until her death in 2014. Ten years after her passing, she became the first State Transport Police officer inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame.

Leadership on Campus and in Community

For more than three decades, Major Dorothy Simmons carried responsibility for safety on the Medical University of South Carolina campus.

She joined MUSC in 1988 as a state security officer and rose through the ranks to patrol commander in 2014, becoming the first woman in the department’s history to reach a command-level rank.

Her leadership spanned Hurricane Hugo, September 11, the Emanuel AME tragedy, national accreditation, Clery Act compliance, and the COVID-19 pandemic. She emphasized mentorship, officer wellness, and interagency cooperation while expanding opportunities for women within campus law enforcement.

Leading on the Highway and Beyond

Major Tara Craig entered the South Carolina Highway Patrol in 1994 after witnessing a trooper calmly protect a child during a collision response. She rose through the ranks and in 2017 became the first woman promoted to Captain within the Highway Patrol.

She later advanced to Major within the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Strategic Services and Planning, overseeing employee wellness, development, and retention strategies. Her leadership reflects the profession’s evolution toward both operational excellence and officer wellbeing.

Breaking Ground in County Leadership

In Dorchester County, Major Joli Tumbleston became the first woman in the Sheriff’s Office’s history to hold the rank and position of Major after 25 years of service.

Beginning her career as a cadet, she advanced steadily through the ranks and became a mentor to younger deputies. Her promotion reflects both individual achievement and broader institutional growth within county law enforcement.

Commitment Beyond the Badge

Professional advancement within agencies was mirrored by commitment within professional associations.

Melda Scott of Midlands Lodge #1 and Joyce Kephart-Todd of Tri-County Lodge #3 joined the Fraternal Order of Police when their lodges were first established. For fifty years, they have supported the mission of the FOP and contributed to the professional strength of law enforcement in South Carolina.

A Foundation That Changed the Profession

From a sheriff appointed in 1935 to the integration of patrol divisions in the 1970s, the advancement of women into command roles, and leadership across municipal, county, campus, highway, and statewide divisions, the arc of South Carolina law enforcement includes women who stepped into responsibility without assurance of acceptance.

They did not enter a redesigned profession. They helped redesign it.

The authority they carried was not symbolic. It was operational. The respect they earned was not granted in advance. It was built call by call, shift by shift, year by year.

The history of South Carolina law enforcement is inseparable from the women who chose to serve when the path was narrow and the expectations were limited. Their work established a professional foundation that continues to shape the badge today.