Tall order to reach dream

Editorial: Danielle Ford

Photography: Michael Teychenne

Fifty-five years after she applied to join Victoria Police, Sadie ‘Lassie’ Mahoney has finally experienced a taste of life as an officer.

In 1964, a then 27-year-old Lassie had applied to join Victoria’s policing ranks, something she said had been a long-time dream. “

I don't exactly know why it was always a dream; I think it was a sense of authority and maybe the uniform,” Lassie said. But having had her initial application knocked back as she did not meet the height requirement of 5 feet 4 inches (162.5cm), the ever-tenacious Lassie made the trip from Warrnambool to Melbourne to challenge the decision, eventually taking her case all the way to the Chief Commissioner.

“I applied and I first got a letter straight back saying ‘We can’t consider your application because you’re only 5 feet 3 inches (160cm)’,” Lassie said.

“But I was talking to another girl who was a policewoman and she said ‘We’ll see about that’. So we went down to the barracks on St Kilda Road and went in and saw the guy at the desk.

“But he just wouldn’t even consider me because I wasn’t 5 feet 4 inches.”

Undeterred, Lassie returned home and penned a letter to the Chief Commissioner – but it was to no avail.

“I got the same sort of letter back saying even though there was only a small number of policewomen and they needed more, they couldn’t take me because of the standards set by the government,” Lassie recalled.

In a last-ditch bid to reach the required height, Lassie sent away for a stretching device she saw advertised in a magazine.

“You hung it over the door and you did these stretching exercises with these rope things, but unfortunately it didn’t help, I didn’t gain any height.”

Images: Living a dream You couldn’t wipe the smile off Sadie ‘Lassie’ Mahoney’s face when she finally got her chance to experience a day at a police station.

More than five decades on, it was the rejection letters Lassie received that ultimately brought about the chance for her to live out her policing dream earlier this year.

After Lassie recently came across the old letters her nephew Detective Senior Constable Gary Greene showed them to some of his female colleagues at Warrnambool Police Station.

Wanting to help Lassie live out her policing dream, they invited her and her sister Mary Greene into the station, where they met with local officers, along with Western Region Assistant Commissioner Cindy Millen.

The tour was conducted by Inspector Di Thomson and Leading Senior Constable Fiona McIntyre and gave Lassie a look at the side of a police station she was never able to know.

She visited the family violence and criminal investigation units, viewed the police cells through live CCTV footage and tried on a police vest equipped with all the gear.

“I would have arrested a lot of people, you know,” Lassie quipped during her visit.

Over the years Lassie’s interest in policing never faded.

When her nephew, Det Sen Const Greene, joined Victoria Police in 2001 she attended his graduation and has followed his career closely, as well as the advancement of women in the force.

Lassie said she was thrilled to see more women in Victoria Police in modern times, even though she admits feeling a bit jealous when she sees police shorter than her wearing the uniform.

These days there is no minimum height requirement to join Victoria Police, but rather a weight to height ratio assessment.

Insp Thomson said meeting Lassie provided a great opportunity to reflect on how far Victoria Police had come and how it has changed over the years to allow more people the opportunity to join.

“I think as gatekeepers of the past we have to acknowledge that was how it was and I’m grateful to know that’s not how it is now,” Insp Thomson said.

“What I like to think now is that the organisation is at the point where it can recognise the tenacity and attributes of human beings and not just the physical attributes.

“So the people with the tenacity of Lassie can come in through the doors and be graduating from the police academy regularly and often.”

Sen Const Gary Greene, Supt Glenn Owen, Ldg Sen Const Fiona McIntyre and AC Cindy Millen welcomed Lassie and her sister Mary Greene to Warrnambool station.

AC Millen said she made the trip to Warrnambool to thank Lassie for the part she played in opening Victoria Police up to more women.

“You probably underestimate the important part you’ve played in the history of police,” AC Millen told Lassie.

“When you tried to join there was only 1.5 per cent females, when I graduated there was about 13-14 per cent and now we are up to about 28 per cent, so we’ve come a long way.”

AC Millen presented Lassie with a copy of Colleen Woolley's book Arresting Women: Celebrating 100 years of Women in the Victoria Police.

Lassie also received an engraved gold retirement watch from The Police Association Victoria and a plaque and Constable T Bear from Warrnambool police.