LANSING, MI (WTVB) – They’ve found “a few good women,” as the saying goes – and Michigan State Police (MSP) say they’re looking for even more as they continue to work to increase the number of women and people of color in their ranks. Trooper Marjorie Richardson has been with the MSP for 26 years, and says women now make up about 10 percent of the force, slightly below the national average. But she adds the numbers are beginning to inch up as more women realize police work is not wholly about brute strength.
She says women can hold authority in a manner without it having it come off like a standoff. More information is online at Michigan.gov. In the past, trooper candidates needed to be between the ages of 21 and 35, but the MSP no longer has a maximum age for applicants. Richardson, who raised three kids while serving on the force, says she believes life experience is a good thing for a cop to have. Now more than ever, Richardson says she’s convinced a police force needs to reflect the community it serves. While Michigan lags behind the national average in the number of female state troopers, Colonel Kriste Etue , a former commander of the Coldwater State Police Post, became the department’s first female director when she was appointed to the position in 2011.
