Judith Gillespie PSNI 22 April 2010

Top Policewoman is the business! Comparing local policing to local business was the job today for the PSNI's highest ever ranking female officer. Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie was engagi ...

Friday 7 May 2010

Top Policewoman is the business!

Comparing local policing to local business was the job today for the PSNI's highest ever ranking female officer. Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie was engaging with local business leaders at the Women in Business networking convention in Belfast.

The event, funded by Invest Northern Ireland and attended by over 60 local businesswomen heard DCC Gillespie praise the changing attitudes to both female police officers and female entrepreneurs stating that both had made significant advances in a generation.

She also encouraged more Women to consider entrepreneurship as a viable career, outlining that almost half of today's police force is female but that the same cannot be said for business, so more work needs to be done. She praised the work being done by Women in Business, in particular their efforts in networking female–led businesses. She said "When I went into police training in Enniskillen, there were 90 people in the squad – eighty six men and four women and in the early days I was the only female officer on the shift, so I was quite isolated and it was lonely place at times. It can be similar for Female entrepreneurs although great strides are being made and the work that Women in Business are involved in is making a big difference".

Edel Doherty, Chair of Women in Business was delighted to host DCC Gillespie at the business networking event, saying; "Judith is an inspiration to us all. In the past, she was a pioneering policewoman and today we heard that a lot of her job is business related, whether it's staffing, planning, strategic management or public relations. At Women in Business we hope that we can help make a similar positive impact on the business sector that she has made on the police service".

Friday 7 May 2010