Women in policing is a key to better policing. The growing percentage of female police officers offers changes in the way law enforcement conducts their business. Everyone benefits from this.
Women by nature are caretakers. They look to not instigate violence or create disagreements, but calm them. Women are known in their communities and have a strong tie to those people living there, doing business there and are aware of the problems the community has to face. They are motivated through this to find peaceful solutions. Women by nature have heightened interpersonal skills. This makes them far better negotiators, again staving off problems before they get out of hand. An article in the “Atlantic” refers to a study in which women police officers are far less inclined to pull their guns.
De-escalation
Women again by nature have a calming effect. This is true both on their partners in the police force and agitators which are causing a disturbance. They are less likely to perceive violence in retaliation to violence than male police officers. A very big benefit of having women police offices is the effect they have on domestic violence complaints and sexual assault issues. There are many cases in which the victim feels more comfortable dealing with a woman. Many times a woman will better understand their feelings.
There is a well-known example of the different ways women might carry out their jobs as opposed to their male counterparts. It involves Vera Bumpers, the first female chief and first African-American chief of Houston’s Metro Police Department. One of her first encounters involved a man making threats on a bus. He was significantly taller than she was (she’s 5’2”). Even the bus driver told her she was going to need back-up. There was none. She entered the bus anyway, the man was cursing at her and waving his arms like he was on something. He had no gun in his hands, and she asked him what was the problem. He seemed very upset about something and asked if they could talk about it. Shortly thereafter, he had exited the bus and was in handcuffs by the time other officers appeared on the scene.
Hopefully, all these attributes of women in policing will lead to a more positive influence on how police are viewed within the community. This should help us move forward the goal of the police co-existing with the community.
