The Indianapolis Police Department’s recruit class which was appointed Oct. 21, 1968 had a large number of male and female members. When the scores for accuracy with a .38 pistol on the firing range were calculated, Gracie Bickel, a 22-year-old former beautician, had the highest score – 275 out of a possible 300. She was the first female police officer in Indianapolis history to achieve this distinction. She had never handled firearms prior to applying to IPD.
“I just did what I was told and practiced a lot,” Officer Bickel said. Having 20-20 vision was apparently part of her skill set. The graduate of Central Beauty College began shooting at the bull’s eye but soon was targeting the center of the chest on the male figure on the cardboard target. Officer Bickel also became skilled at skeet shooting with a shotgun. Her male classmates all came up to congratulate her after she finished first.
When her class graduated on Jan. 25, 1969, Officer Bickel received a special trophy in recognition of her marksmanship. Most of the 20 women in her class, including Officer Bickel, became the first female dispatchers in IPD history after graduation.
Officer Bickel was in charge of the IPD Indoor Range later in her career and, from 1978 on, she was in the Missing Persons Bureau. She resigned on March 9, 1980 to raise a child. She married Patrolman Robert Layton of the Indianapolis Police Department (and later the Marion County Crime Laboratory). They reside in central Indiana.
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Originally Posted by Mr. Goodtimes
