Detective Mary \u201cMae\u201d Foley<\/a> Way in Long Island City in honor of the pioneering female police officer who patrolled the Big Apple in the 1920s and 1930s.<\/p>\nThe street sign was erected at 5th Street and 50th Avenue in front of Foley\u2019s grandson, Bob Carr, other family members, residents and police officers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Det. Mary \u201cMae\u201d Foley\u2019s grandson attended the street renaming ceremony. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n
Deputy Chief Raymond Porteus spoke to the crowd and called Foley a \u201ctrue pioneer and trail blazer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Mae first raised her right hand in 1923 and took the oath, she stepped into unchartered territory,\u201d said Porteus, a Brooklyn chief who previously served in Queens. \u201cIn an era where few police women wore the badge she chose not only to wear it but to wear it with honor, determination and grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foley started her NYPD training in 1923 and joined the \u201cMasher Squad,\u201d a unit dedicated to protecting women from the unwanted attention of predatory men.<\/p>\n
Det. Mary \u201cMae\u201d Foley has a street named in her honor. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n
She eventually became a detective in the homicide division in Queens, investigating killers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMae did deescalation before there was even a word in the dictionary, and when necessary she could defend herself,\u201d Porteus said. \u201cMake one mistake and you might find yourself in a kimura, a jiu-jitsu move.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Later in her career, she was instrumental in the successful conviction of Italian-born gangster Luciano and in exposing the secrets of the pro-Nazi organization, the German American Bund, while working with Manhattan District Attorney Thomas Dewey, according to the 2023 book \u201cThe Girls Who Fought Crime: The Untold True Story of the Country\u2019s First Female Investigator and Her Crime Fighting Squad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foley, who raised two children, retired from the NYPD in 1941 but continued supporting police officers. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n
Even after her 1941 retirement, Foley dedicated her life to the police, becoming an advocate for officers and their families, fighting for better pay and benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Foley had two daughters and a husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe proved that strength and compassion aren\u2019t opposites,\u201d said Porteus, who led the effort to erect the sign after reading a book about Foley. \u201cThey are partners.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fearless female detective who investigated killers and helped lock up famed mobster Charles \u2018Lucky\u2019 Luciano has been…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":242530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,51161,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5257,4413,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,16966],"class_list":{"0":"post-242529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dea","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-nypd","18":"tag-queens","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-us-news","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-women"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115239140966227518","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}