Interview with Barbara McLellan – ca. 2006

In 1972, Mrs. Barbara McLellan became the first female uniformed police officer for the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She started working for the city as a meter maid and after the Equal Right Amendment passed in a few states, Mrs. McLellan decided that she wanted to be a uniformed officer in a patrol car. Up until that time, there were only two other women who worked with the police force and they were not uniformed—they covered shoplifting cases in Burdines and took the testimony of rape victims. For eight years, Mrs. McLellan worked for the City of Fort Lauderdale specializing in community relations and Larceny Division which culminated in her promotion as Director of the Organized Crime Division. She left the police department in 1980 and accepted a position with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), where she worked in the Crimes Against Children Division. FDLE assigned Mrs. McLellan to the Naples Field office making her the first female FDLE agent was of Tallahassee. In 1993, she retired from the force but Mrs. McLellan serves as a guardian ad litem.