I hate this. This is my pet peeve. I created an account just to comment on this.
Cops will do this all the time, but, of course, cops are not well-educated people.
The word "female," unless you're writing in a scientific or biological context, is an adjective, not a noun.
But...the dictionary says "female" can be used as either a noun or an adjective.
fe·male {fee-meyl}
–noun
1. a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts, and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman.
2. an organism of the sex or sexual phase that normally produces egg cells.
3. Botany. a pistillate plant.
–adjective
4. of, pertaining to, or being a female animal or plant.
5. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a female person; feminine: female suffrage; female charm.
6. composed of females: a female readership.
7. Botany.
a. designating or pertaining to a plant or its reproductive structure that produces or contains elements requiring fertilization.
b. (of seed plants) pistillate.
8. Machinery. being or having a recessed part into which a corresponding part fits: a female plug. Compare male (def. 5).
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/femaleI'm pretty sure definition 1 fits in this case.