Female police officers begin international conference with full-dress parade

Published 10:39 pm Sunday, September 20, 2009

SEATTLE — When Robin Ashley played cops and robbers with her sisters, she always had to be the cop.

Now an officer with the Everett Police Department, Ashley on Sunday morning joined about 500 other women from all over the world for a parade to mark the beginning of this week’s training conference for women in law enforcement.

“It’s a great chance for women to get together and share their goals with each other and embrace each other,” she said.

Dressed in their best uniforms, the women marched from the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle to the Town Hall building, where the opening ceremony took place.

The annual conference was organized by the International Association of Women Police, Ashley said. Seattle last hosted the event more than 30 years ago.

“We get to show off how great the Northwest is, and we get to show off the strides that women have made in law enforcement,” Ashley said.

Officers traveled from countries including China, Germany, Afghanistan and Uganda, said Kristina Kolerich, a spokeswoman for the organization. Some of them are among the first female officers commissioned in their home countries.

Before the opening ceremony, Seattle’s Town Hall filled with an array of colors as officers took their seats. Police Constable Sperkle Paul joined more than a dozen women in her delegation from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Paul’s dress uniform included a crisp white jacket with a thin black-and-white belt. On her head she wore a black bowler hat with a black-and-white ribbon.

Paul is a 13-year veteran of the police force. It was her first time participating in the conference.

“I’m excited about meeting all the different people,” she said.

Ashley said she wants to pay tribute to those female officers who came before her, and those overcoming great odds to serve in their home countries.

“I met a lot of women who have really paid their way,” she said. “To be able to see them and thank them means a lot.”

Ashley helped put together the training agenda for the conference. Topics include forensics, terrorism and human trafficking — a portion of the training that Ashley said she is especially interested in.

The issue is relevant in Washington and in her hometown of Everett, Ashley said. “It’s a very important topic right now, especially concerning runaway teens,” she said.

Ashley said she is looking forward to learning about the issues that affect her fellow officers in other countries. It’s how cops become better at what they do, Ashley said.

Ashley has been an officer in Everett, where she lives, for about five years now. She spent five years before that as a corrections officer.

“I feel I was born to do it and that there is nothing I can do better for my community,” she said. “I want everyone to enjoy their community and to feel safe.”

Ashley is in the department’s Honor Guard. She said she is glad to have another chance this week to honor her friend, Skagit County Sheriff’s deputy Anne Jackson, who was fatally shot last year while responding to a call near Alger.

Ashley knew Jackson from the police academy. The two grew close — a typical occurrence in a class with only a handful of women, Ashley said.

Jackson’s family, along with the family of fallen U.S. Forest Service officer Kris Fairbanks, are scheduled Wednesday to receive Medals of Valor. Fairbanks was killed in the line of duty near Sequim last year.

Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.