Nearly 40 years of service can leave people disinterested in their work. For Maureen Walter, an investigator with Montgomery County’s police pawn unit, some days feel like she’s only just begun.
“I don’t think there are too many people who can say they’ve been at the same job for 40 years and still love it,” said Walter.
Walter was hired by the police department out of high school in 1969, as a part of what she described as a pilot program to hire women as non-sworn officers. Walter was the first.
Her duties, Walter said, were to “do whatever they wanted you to do.” Many tasks could only be completed by a woman, such as strip searches of female suspects or criminal transports that required a female presence.
For 10 years, Walter served the department by performing these and various other odd jobs. Then, in 1979, she began working in the pawn investigation unit, where she can still be found today.
Walter started working with the pawn unit in its infancy, as laws were being formed within the county to regulate secondhand merchandise.
Walter said she loves the department’s “total commitment” to return stolen property.
“It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle,” said Walter of solving her cases. “Anybody who has their property stolen deserves to get it back.”
Walter has displayed her own commitment on many occasions. In 2007, she received the bronze medal of valor after alerting officials to a pawn shop that was being robbed while she was inside the store.
Even after 40 years, Walter said she still isn’t ready to quit.
“The department is so behind me in my work,” said Walter. “Montgomery County is such a great place.”
