New Millennium: Women in Policing in the Twenty-First Century (From Visions for Change: Crime and Justice in the Twenty-First Century, Third Edition, P 480-497, 2002, Roslyn Muraskin and Albert R. Roberts, eds. -- See NCJ-192962)

• NCJ Number: 192979
• Author(s): Donna C. Hale Ph.D.; Mark M. Lanier Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Prentice Hall Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter envisions the role of women in 21st-century policing, in part by examining the perceptions of undergraduate and graduate criminal justice students.

Abstract

One of the authors, who instructed undergraduate students in two sections of "Police Operations and Management," asked students to list problems or issues that women encountered when they first entered patrol work in 1972. Students were also asked to think about the entry of women into patrol work in the context of people who settled the American West. Further, students were asked to consider how leaders/managers facilitated the entry of women into patrol during the last 40 years. Another of the authors used a graduate law enforcement course to solicit information on the future role of women in policing. The class was required to read and critically assess an article that presented typologies of female police officers. Students viewed women on patrol from 1981 to 1988 as experiencing the problems of "pioneers," in that they experienced lack of support from family and friends, faced resentment and sexual harassment from male officers, and had their physical abilities to use force and firearms questioned. They had to work twice as hard to prove themselves. In the period 1989-1997, students still viewed police women as experiencing harassment, discrimination, and lack of male officers' confidence in their ability to perform their job as well as males. For this period, students did indicate that younger officers with college degrees might have less resentment toward women police; however, the dominant atmosphere for policewomen was still viewed by students as discriminatory and harassing, with few women being promoted to management positions. This chapter offers recommendations for ways in which women can continue to advance and receive increasing acceptance and respect in policing, with attention to coalitions of advocacy, the content of public education, the efforts of criminal justice programs, and targeted political action. 45 references