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Retired Montgomery County Police Officer Honored by the County’s Commission for Women

For Immediate Release: Friday, July 13, 2012

The Montgomery County Commission for Women (CFW) celebrated its 40th anniversary by honoring 10 distinguished Montgomery County women to include the first woman to be named Police Officer of the Year in Montgomery County, Ingrid U. McKee.  The ceremony was held on July 11 at the Rockville Hilton Hotel.

Retired Sergeant McKee joined the Department in 1966.  At that time, women did not work as uniformed officers on patrol.  She was assigned to the Department’s Youth Division where she worked with neglected and molested children, juvenile delinquents, and runaways.  In 1971, McKee, working as an undercover detective, helped to break up a prostitution ring in Silver Spring.  The illegal organization was preying on emotionally and financially vulnerable women.  It was this undercover work that led her to be named “Policeman of the Year” by the Knights of Columbus.

In 1972, women could become uniformed officers, and McKee became the first criminal investigator in the Department.  She was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1980 and worked in both the Police Training Academy and again in the Youth Division.  She helped establish a team of investigators who focused on child sexual abuse cases and a section in the Youth Division that specifically investigated pedophiles.  She retired from the Department in 1986.

Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger represented retired Sergeant McKee who was unable to attend the ceremony but provided her thoughts in a letter that was read at the ceremony.  She said, “I absolutely loved my 20 years with the Police Department. It was a career that perfectly coincided with the core beliefs of justice, empathy, and compassion, which I developed at a very young age while living in displaced persons camps in Germany. These basic tenets were further developed and served me well throughout my service in the department as well as in my life in general. Therefore, I am especially grateful for this honor. I accept it as an affirmation of being able to provide other women the support and advocacy which have been such great benefit to me.”

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Release ID: 12-158
Media Contact: mcpnews 
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