Scouting, Volume 74, Number 1, January-February 1986 Page: 24
58, E1-E24, [16] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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the house at 7:30, arrive at the Justice
Center at eight. They go their separate
ways, she to the 15th floor, just below
the penthouse, he to his job in person-
nel. Sometimes they lunch together, in
the downstairs deli where she has a
bowl of soup, or, if she feels like junk-
ing her diet, a pastrami sandwich.
She keeps a bottle of Vitamin C on
her oval desk. "I need it," she says.
And she sees a stream of people. Two
women ex-felons come in; one is a
former prostitute. What is Penny
going to do about prostitutes?
She looks straight at her visitors. "I
don't have a lot of ideas," she says.
"My emphasis is not on putting the
women in jail. I'll pay more attention
to the Johns. My solution is not just to
arrest, but to help divert women from
prostitution. You've been around that
block more than me. What do you
think?" They talk, she listens.
Next is a brief photo session. The
media have discovered Penny Har-
rington. The "Today Show." "Hour
Magazine." "CBS News Watch."
"Merv Griffin." "McNeil-Lehrer." Peo-
ple magazine.
Then she meets with attorneys, to
discuss school truancy. Many of Port-
land's burglaries occur in the middle
of the day; it is suspected the burglars
are often youngsters who have ditched
school. How can we keep the kids in
school, she wants to know? She sits at
a long table, six men and one woman.
One man shifts in his seat. She faces
him. "Looks like you've got a lot of
concerns over there," she says.
"A few," the man admits.
"O.K. Give them to me."
She is direct.
She rushes off to a radio interview.
The interviewer wants to talk about
burglary, prostitution, rapes. That's
O.K. with Penny, but she also wants to
talk about jail space. "Where do we put
these people if we arrest them, when
we don't have any jail space."
The problems of a police chief.
And when she can, she visits with
the Portland law enforcement
Explorer post. Post 701 works out of
the East Precinct, Penny Harrington's
old stomping grounds where she was
captain before she became chief.
Just a few days before, the post had
been asked to search a wooded area for
a man who'd been in an auto accident,
and had apparently walked off.
Nobody had been able to find him for a
week. The post spread out, found him,
dead, 300 yards inside the dense
woods, curled up to keep warm.
Now the Explorers have come to
their office at East Precinct to rap with
Penny Harrington. They ask about
hiring. With a tight city budget, will
there be any hiring of new personnel?
"We're going to be all right," she
says. "We're going to hire again."
One Explorer asks, "What kind of
education should young people have,
for police work?"
"I urge young people—you. any
young people—to go to college. Get a
four-year degree. In police work, you
have to deal with ditchdiggers, with
blue-collar workers, with Ph.D's. You
have to relate to all of them. This is a
people job. Take psychology courses,
sociology courses. Become a well-
rounded person. Get your basics
down."
And she talks about dreams.
"Dare to dream," she says. "Look
around with your eyes open. I didn't do
that when I was a young girl. I didn't
dare to dream. Legal secretary. That
was the absolute edge of the horizon of
my dream."
Terese Auker, 18, in the post for two
years, asks, "Are things going to be
easier for us?"
Penny Harrington leans forward as a
smile forms. "Oh," she breathes, "I
hope to shout, things will be easier."
The meeting breaks up. Everybody
leaves except the duty officers at East
Precinct. And Penny Harrington. She
sits deep in conversation with an
officer, in her old digs where she
was just one of the officers, until that
day the phone rang and the barriers
feii. a
Left, Chief Harringon is the
guest of a local radio sta-
tion's interview program.
Below, the chief meets with
Explorers from Portland's
law enforcement Post 701.
Her advice to young people:
Go to college, get a four-year
degree, and "dare to dream."
E24
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 74, Number 1, January-February 1986, periodical, January 1986; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353619/m1/54/: accessed July 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.