Southampton Public Safety Department Celebrates Female Workers

Sometimes women do it better, or at least with more ease.

Southampton Town Animal Control Supervisor Cathy Antos remembered a call to a home where a huge pit bull had appeared on the caller’s front porch. She arrived to find four police cars on the street, the officers inside the cars, their windows rolled down and their hands on their guns.

“The dog comes over, I pat it on the head and put a leash on it, and they were all, like …” she recounted, mimicking their surprised expressions. “They were about to shoot this dog!”

She acknowledged that aggressive dogs do better with women than men, and women often have an easier time with stray animals.

But do they have an easy time working in male-dominated fields?

In recognition of Women’s History Month, this week Southampton Town Public Safety Administrator Ryan Murphy highlighted the work of female officers in his division. But, he emphasized, they weren’t hired or promoted to add gender diversity to the division — they were simply, he said, “the best candidates for the job.”

Courtney Idtensohn is one of the few female fire marshals in Suffolk County. “I think there are a total of three of them now,” she said, meaning just two others besides her.

She hasn’t run up against any discrimination in the typically male-dominated profession. Instead, the Southampton resident said once colleagues saw what she could do, she was encouraged.

She’s been a volunteer firefighter since she was 20, and, at 31, describes co-workers in the field as “very welcoming,” adding, “It’s all about how much you apply yourself.” She loves going to trainings, and when people see that she wants to get involved, “they don’t see I’m a female. I want to do the work and that’s all they care about.”

Idtensohn acknowledged receiving push-back at calls she’s responded to, but “I put my foot down and I kill them with kindness.”

While pursuing a degree in fire protection technology at Suffolk County Community College, Idtensohn interned with the town’s former chief fire marshal, Cheryl Kraft.

For her, the best part of the job is working with a tight-knit group. “Everyone’s always there to help each other out, just like in the fire department,” she said. “I truly love who I work with.”

Code Enforcement Officer Eva Aquino said she, too, never faced any gender discrimination from town colleagues. However, she said that when she arrives at a site, “I walk in and people are, like, ‘Oh, a woman!’ and I say, ‘Yeah, it’s me.’ They’re very surprised.” Then, the Flanders resident said, once they see the things she knows about the code and the process, “They’re pretty shocked when we’re finished. I give them tips for extra safety.”

While she hasn’t faced raised eyebrows in her town career, her previous job — she worked 12 years for her dad’s construction firm — elicited reactions. “The guys didn’t like it. They felt a woman couldn’t carry a bag of cement. And I was, like, ‘Just put it over my shoulder and let’s go.’”

The background in construction and her interest in how structures are built carries over into her work in Southampton. She said she particularly enjoys checking out the designs of houses she inspects.

Antos has been with the Animal Control Department for five years. She said that she, too, meets residents who react to her gender.

“If I’m getting a raccoon or a deer, they’re surprised. They’re always telling me, ‘Be careful.’”

Recently, she was called upon to rescue a cat from a deep window well. “The woman grabbed me and said, ‘Wait, aren’t you gonna put on some stuff, some protective stuff?’ and I’m, like, ‘No I have a pole and a carrier.’”

Her favorite part of her work is the opportunity to rescue animals — it’s satisfying to free an animal that’s trapped, she said.

Antos also appreciates figuring out how to help the animals she encounters. It’s sometimes a puzzle to solve. And she’s not afraid to get dirty — or wet.

Antos recalled a call regarding a deer stuck in the surf. It had gotten caught in a fence and broke its leg and was being tumbled in the surf. She went into the water after it and, “soaking wet, covered in sand,” sat holding the animal on the gate of a Marine Patrol truck as it bounced off the beach.

“I prefer the wild animals to the domestics because you don’t have to deal with people,” she joked. The deer calls are sad, she said, because they have to be euthanized if they break a leg.

All three of the “women of public safety” are moms, Idtensohn, the most recent. Her 5-month-old, Brooke, is a welcome visitor to the division’s headquarters in Hampton Bays. Aquino has a 9-year-old son, while Antos, of Sound Beach, has two adult daughters.

The trio expressed gratitude that Murphy has adopted a flex-time schedule that allows them to pop out for things like teacher conferences. “He’s been amazing,” said Idtensohn. “More than accommodating.”

Flex time and working remotely became popular during the COVID shutdown, Murphy pointed out. As long as operating hours are covered, he said, “We just work with it, scheduling as best we can with anybody who needs it.”

While Murphy never set out to hire women, he said, the ambition and experience top candidates evinced made them the clear choice. “The bonus is, you got women,”Aquino interjected.

Murphy noted that in some situations, a female responding can make for less tense interactions — a single woman resident can be wary of allowing a male officer into her house. “I feel like a female voice, in someone’s time of need, is more soothing. The female tone is huge,” Idtensohn said. “It’s a calming feature.”

Highlighting his female staff in traditionally male roles, Murphy believes could inspire other women to consider such careers.

“It takes exposure of people seeing there are women doing the job, that enjoy the job, that work fine with their colleagues and aren’t bullied out of the job to be able to encourage more people who might want to pursue it as a career path to even think about it,” he said. “It should presented that it’s an option.”

Idtensohn noted that following a recent presentation to Southampton Fire Department junior firefighters, she learned a girl told her uncle that day, “That would be a cool job to do. I see Courtney does that. I might want to do that one day.”