Mary Shanley

Mary Agnes Shanley (March 14, 1896 – July 3, 1989)^[1] was an American police officer and detective in the New York Police Department. She joined the department in 1931 and by 1939 was the fourth woman to achieve the rank of first-grade detective in the NYPD.^[2] She is credited with over a thousand arrests during her career.^[3] She was perhaps the first policewoman in New York City to use her gun in the arrest of a suspect.^[4]

Biography

Mary Shanley was born into an Irish-American family and grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Her father was born in New York while her mother, Anna, was emigrated from County Leitrim.^[5]

Shanley was on the pickpocket detective squad in the NYPD. She was a minor celebrity in New York City news, appearing in articles chasing down and arresting thieves and pickpockets. She favored using her gun while on the job, earning her the moniker "Dead Shot Mary".^[6] Of her, The New York Times wrote in 1938:

In more than seven years on the police force Miss Shanley has had considerable experience with man-catching. Sometimes she has had to use her .32-caliber revolver. Once she used her leather pocketbook to knock down her quarry. ... Mayor La Guardia once praised her for demonstrating "not only keen intelligence and fine police work but also courage at a moment when courage was needed."^[7]

In 1941, Shanley shot her gun while she was off-duty and intoxicated at a bar in Jackson Heights, Queens. She was demoted from first-grade detective to policewoman and placed under suspension, but returned to duty after only a month.^[8] She was promoted to detective again later.

She retired in 1957.^[5] She never married or had children, and died in 1989.

Legacy

Her great-nephew Patrick Mullins produced a documentary about her, Sleuthing Mary Shanley in 2006. In 2016, actress Rachel McPhee put on a one-woman show devoted to her, Dead Shot Mary, at the Bridge Theater in New York City.^[9]

References

^ Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. Social Security Administration.
^ "Policewoman Advanced: Miss Mary Shanley Attains Rank of First-Grade Detective". The New York Times. 9 Aug 1939. p. 3.
^ Lardner, James; Thomas Reppetto (2001). NYPD: A City and Its Police. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co. p. 223. ISBN 9780805055788. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
^ "Dead Shot Mary, Pistol-Packing Trailblazer, Returns in One-Policewoman Show". The New York Times. September 21, 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Dead-Shop Mary to Quit The Force; Mrs. Shanley, 61, Nemesis Of 1,000 Criminals, Will Retire to Log Cabin". The New York Times. September 13, 1957. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
^ Settle, Melissa A. (2006). Police: Then and Now. Teacher Created Materials. p. 17.
^ "Footnotes on Headliners". The New York Times. 25 December 1938. p. 42.
^ "Mary Shanley on Duty; Decision Is Reserved in Police Trial on Shooting Charge". The New York Times. 30 Apr 1941. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
^ Kilgannon, Corey (September 21, 2016). "Dead Shot Mary, Pistol-Packing Trailblazer, Returns in One-Policewoman Show". The New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2017.