Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

STRAIGHT TIE, CLIP-ON

Date Range From

1980

Date Range To

2005

Materials

POLYESTER, METAL

No. Pieces

1

Height

2.75

Length

37

Width

6

Description

DARK BLUE POLYESTER STRAIGHT TIE WITH METAL CLIP AT BACK OF KNOT. BOTTOM END IS FOLDED INTO A POINT. VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

CLOTHING-ACCESSORY

Historical Association

SAFETY SERVICES

History

THIS TIE WAS WORN BY THE DONOR, RET. CONSTABLE PAULETTE DECOSTE, AS PART OF HER DAILY SERVICE UNIFORM DURING HER CAREER WITH THE LETHBRIDGE POLICE FORCE. DECOSTE AND DARCIE JAMES WERE BOTH GRADUATES OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM AT LETHBRIDGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND WERE HIRED IN DECEMBER 1980 AS THE CITY’S FIRST TWO POLICEWOMEN. ON MARCH 19, 2014, GALT INTERN CELINA OSBORNE INTERVIEWED DECOSTE ABOUT HER CAREER WITH THE LETHBRIDGE POLICE FORCE. DECOSTE SAID: “I WAS 25 WHEN I GOT HIRED ON [WITH THE POLICE SERVICE]. IT WAS ALL FOREIGN TO ME, THE LANGUAGE WE USED. . . WHAT PROTOCOLS WERE. . . RESPECT FOR RANK… WHAT YOU WERE FACED WITH ON THE STREET … WE DID DISPATCHING AND WALKED THE BEAT. WE [GOT] MEALS FOR PRISONERS [AND] ANSWERED CALLS TO SERVICE… IT WAS NEW TO THE COMMUNITY TO HAVE FEMALE OFFICERS, AND BEING LOOKED AT IN THE SAME LIGHT AS A MALE OFFICER… DIDN’T ALWAYS HAPPEN. SO THAT WAS CHALLENGING… AND THAT WAS OUTSIDE AND THEN SOMETIMES INSIDE. NOT EVERYBODY WAS PRO ‘WOMEN FOR POLICING’ AT ALL, AND THAT CHALLENGE WAS HARDER THAN THE ONE ON THE STREET.” DECOSTE CONTINUED: “[DARCIE JAMES AND I] WERE KIND OF LIKE FIXTURES, WE WERE GOING TO BE THERE, AND WE WEREN’T GOING AWAY… SOME OF THE MEMBERS, STILL TO THIS DAY, DON’T LIKE FEMALES IN THEIR DEPARTMENT. AND THAT’S PROBABLY NORMAL IN A LOT OF CASES… WE USED TO WEAR THE MEN’S UNIFORMS OF COURSE, AND THEN DARCIE AND I DID GET FLOWN TO CALGARY TO BE SIZED BY THE CALGARY POLICE SERVICE. I THINK WE ONLY GOT TWO PAIRS OF PANTS, A SKIRT, AND A TUNIC. SO WE USED TO WEAR THE MEN’S PANTS [AND] TAKE THEM TO THE SEAMSTRESS … THE ONLY THING THE MEN DIDN’T HAVE WAS THE SKIRT, AND WE NEVER REALLY WORE THOSE… WE WERE ALSO ISSUED A PURSE AND I DON’T KNOW WHY BECAUSE WE NEVER CARRIED A PURSE, I MEAN, WHY? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO PUT IN IT?... WE DIDN’T HAVE A CHANGE ROOM TO BEGIN WITH; IT WAS A BATHROOM THAT WE HAD TO SHARE… BECAUSE SOME OF THE OTHER MEMBERS COULD HAVE CARED LESS THAT WE WERE THERE OR NOT… SO, I’D COME TO WORK IN MY UNIFORM, BECAUSE I WASN’T GOING TO CHANGE IN THE HALLWAY, OR THE BATHROOM, IF SOMEONE WAS IN THERE.” DECOSTE CONCLUDED: “[I WAS ON THE FORCE] 25 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS AND 16 DAYS… THE WAY HAS BEEN PAVED IN MANY ASPECTS, AND AT THE END OF THE DAY, AS LONG AS THE PERSON IS QUALIFIED, THEN GENDER SHOULD NOT MATTER AT ALL AND THEY SHOULDN’T LOWER STANDARDS OR RAISE THEM – JUST TREAT EVERYBODY FAIRLY… WE’RE HERE, AND WE’RE HERE TO STAY, AND WE CAN DO THE JOB. I WAS NEVER TREATED WITH KID GLOVES OR HAD ANY SPECIAL TREATMENT AT ALL, NEVER, THROUGHOUT MY CAREER… YOU HAVE TO EARN RESPECT.” ON MARCH 5, 2014, GALT INTERN CELINA OSBORNE INTERVIEWED STAFF SERGEANT DARCIE JAMES ABOUT HER CAREER WITH THE LETHBRIDGE POLICE FORCE IN CONJUNCTION WITH JAMES’ DONATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS TO GALT ARCHIVES. JAMES SAID: “AFTER GOING THROUGH THE LAW ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM, I WAS VERY INTRIGUED, AND THEN I KNEW WHAT MY PASSION WAS… [WHEN I WAS HIRED TO THE FORCE] THEY GAVE US A TRAINING BOOK, AND WE HAD TO ACHIEVE NUMEROUS PORTIONS OF THE BOOK, SO THEY ASSIGNED YOU TO A TRAINER [AND] YOU WERE WITH THIS TRAINER FOR 3-6 MONTHS AND THEN YOU HAD TO ACHIEVE. [THE INSTRUCTORS] WERE SENIOR MEMBERS OF THE POLICE SERVICE… DAVE HASTIE [MY TRAINER] CHALLENGED ME THE WHOLE TIME. FOR 3 MONTHS I WOULD GO HOME AND I WOULD SAY ‘IS THIS FOR ME’? THEN WE FORMED A FRIENDSHIP [AND] I WAS VERY FORTUNATE… PAULETTE AND I WERE THE ONLY WOMEN FOR ABOUT 5 YEARS, SO WE SORT OF SET THE STANDARD AT THAT TIME AND WE HAD TO ACHIEVE… THEN THEY STARTED BRINGING ON MORE FEMALE MEMBERS… WE HAD TO WORK A BIT HARDER TO GET NOTICED [AND] IF A FEMALE MEMBER MESSED UP, THEY WOULD REFER TO IT AS ‘OK, WELL ALL WOMEN ARE GOING TO BE THAT WAY’. PAULETTE AND I RECOGNIZED THAT RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING, SO WE WERE EACH OTHER’S SUPPORT BECAUSE WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE… THERE’S STILL THAT OLD STIGMA THAT MAYBE WE’RE IN A MAN’S ROLE AND WE’RE NOT [AS] SUCCESSFUL IN IT… IT’S CHANGED A LOT BUT THAT PERCEPTION IS STILL THERE. BUT WE’VE PROVEN [OURSELVES] OVER TIME.” SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR FULL TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW, AND COPIES OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES, EMPLOYMENT HISTORIES, AND INTERNAL MEMORANDI ON DECOSTE AND JAMES.

Catalogue Number

P20140008002

Acquisition Date

2014-04

Collection

Museum

Less detail