Mary Shanley

Mary Shanley (1896-1989) was a police officer and detective in the New York Police Department. She joined the department in 1931 and by 1939 was the fourth woman to achieve the rank of first-grade detective in the NYPD.[1] She is credited with over a thousand arrests during her career.[2] She was perhaps the first policewoman in New York City to use her gun in the arrest of a suspect.[3]

Biography

Mary Shanley was born in 1896.

Shanley was on the pickpocket detective squad in the NYPD. She was a minor celebrity in New York City news, appearing in articles chasing down and arresting thieves and pickpockets. She favored using her gun while on the job, earning her the moniker "Dead Shot Mary."[4] Of her, the New York Times wrote in 1938:

In more than seven years on the police force Miss Shanley has had considerable experience with man-catching. Sometimes she has had to use her .32-caliber revolver. Once she used her leather pocketbook to knock down her quarry. ... Mayor La Guardia once praised her for demonstrating "not only keen intelligence and fine police work but also courage at a moment when courage was needed."[5]

In 1941, Shanley shot her gun while she was off-duty and intoxicated at a bar in Jackson Heights, Queens. She was demoted from first-grade detective to policewoman and placed under suspension, but returned to duty after only a month.[6] She was promoted to detective again later.

She died in 1989.[3]

Further reading

New York Times

Brooklyn Daily Eagle appearances

Others

References

  1. ↑ "Policewoman Advanced: Miss Mary Shanley Attains Rank of First-Grade Detective". New York Times. 9 Aug 1939. p. 3.
  2. ↑ Lardner, James; Thomas Reppetto (2001). NYPD: A City and Its Police. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co. p. 223. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Dead Shot Mary, Pistol-Packing Trailblazer, Returns in One-Policewoman Show". New York Times. September 21, 2016.
  4. ↑ Settle, Melissa A. (2006). Police: Then and Now. Teacher Created Materials. p. 17.
  5. ↑ "Footnotes on Headliners". New York Times. 25 Dec 1938. p. 42.
  6. ↑ "Mary Shanley on Duty; Decision Is Reserved in Police Trial on Shooting Charge". New York Times. 30 Apr 1941. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
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