Police presence at picket line

May 05, 1984 - Pretty faces of young policewomen appear at the picket line. In a saner world they might ease the mood of simmering violence. But these girls known they take the same risks as policemen and their presence merely makes more stark the ugly sight of a howling mob trying to get at fellow working men. Increasingly policewomen are sharing the toughest duties with their overworked male colleagues and yesterday they were in action on the front lines of Ravenscraig steelworks in Scotland to the port of Wivenhoe in Essex. If their presence can provide the gentle touch to calm tension and potential violence then they are happy. But if not, the mounted policewomen like Mary Glenn and Lorraine Hamilton at Ravenscraig will give a gentle touch of their own - to their horses flanks. Time and again yesterday they eased their horses forward to break up the walls of police to clear the way for lorries. The pickets in Lanarkshire know that pretty faces don't mean faint hearts. Four years ago this month a woman constable took part in the cavalry style baton charge at Hampden Park when mounted police broke up 1, 000 rampaging savages at the Rangers v Celtic cup final. In England mounted women police are rarely used in such flashpoint situations. But women share the action and danger of police on foot. Sometimes the women make the ultimate sacrifice. Yesterday Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Kenneth Newman remembered Woman Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher gunned down outside the Libyan Embassy, as he presented two other Women Police Constables with high commendations - Scotland Yard's top bravery Constable Janet Cranmer, 30, and Juliet Renton, 26, praised for the Cagney and Lacy style action when unarmed they defied shots to chase and arrest gunmen who stole £5, 000 from a London bank

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