SHARON, Pa. - Kaillie Marshall will join the Sharon Police Department as the first female officer in 20 years and the second female in history. 

The swearing in ceremony will be held at the council meeting on Thursday at 6:30 pm at city hall council chambers.

Judge Dennis Songer will be presiding. 

"It has been a goal of mine to transform our department into a more diverse and community-oriented law enforcement agency," said Sharon Police Chief Gerald Smith.

There are approximately 177 police officers in Mercer County, not including state police, with only five females.

"In the past 10 years, we gave approximately five tests, and several times only one female was on the list. By the time we got around to hiring, she was either hired by a larger department or the Pennsylvania State Police," said Chief Smith.

Chief Smith said before he gave the test to Marshall, he visited the Mercyhurst Police Academy to spark some interest in his department. He found there were seven females out of the 32 cadets in the class, three of those females made our list and Kaillie Marshall was one of them. 

"The Pennsylvania State Police have done a tremendous job in recruiting female troopers. In fact here in Mercer County, the Troop D Station Commander is a woman. Her name is Sgt. Lisa Jobe," said Chief Smith. 

The Chief said he is passionate about transforming the face of law enforcement to the community policing model, and recruiting females and minorities are one of the keys to do that.