Lucile Abreu
She forced HPD to
By Mary Adamski
promote women
Star-BulletinUNTIL a feisty policewoman got angry that there was no promotion possible for her, the Honolulu Police Department was a tall man's world.
The federal discrimination suit that Lucile Abreu won forced all island law enforcement agencies to open their ranks to women and to throw out height requirements that effectively discriminated against men of some ethnic groups.
Abreu was a middle-aged matron with 22 years' experience as an officer when she made her stand in 1972. She and a half-dozen others were hired for the separate lower-paid civil service category of policewoman. They went through the same training as policemen but their assignment was limited to juvenile crime cases.
She watched men from her recruit class rise through the ranks to major and assistant chief while she frequently passed the sergeant exam but was not promoted.
Following the 1960s civil-rights movement, federal lawmakers had banned discrimination in employment on the basis of race, creed or sex.
Abreu's complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission was expanded into a class-action suit. Three years later, faced with threatened loss of federal funds, the city agreed to a settlement that included opening police officer recruitment to women and abolishing the 5-foot 8-inch height requirement.
The 5-foot-2-inch mother of five was promoted to detective in 1975. She eventually collected retroactive pay at detective grade back to 1972. She retired in 1978 after three years' assignment in the detective division sex crimes unit.
Despite the historical significance of her case, Abreu was not mentioned nor asked to speak in police recruit classes.
Abreu was honored for her trail-blazing effort in April 1996 at the YWCA Leader Luncheon. She died five months later at 78. Two of her sons and two grandsons became police officers.
Women make up about 10 percent of the Honolulu Police Department today. The highest ranking is Assistant Chief Barbara Uphouse Wong.
