Change and Reform in Law Enforcement

Old and New Efforts from Across the Globe

Scott W. Phillips, Dilip K. Das

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781315352183
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Criminal Law
• Index: Law

This book provides broad exposure to a variety of policing reforms that have not received adequate attention. It includes information and examples from different countries regarding efforts to change aspects of policing that are problematic or involve changes in the way crimes are committed. Some of the efforts to improve the police are relatively recent (i.e., using social media) and some areas of policing that seem to require frequent attention (i.e., working with the public).

Past and Contemporary Changes in Policing

III

Assessing the Current Status of Women in Policing The Presence of the Past

9

VENESSA GARCIA

Contents

Introduction

Women’s Entry into Policing

The Presence of the Past

Methodology

Participants

Resistance to Women in Policing

Changing Face of Resistance?

Racial Diversity Within the Police Organization

Conclusion

The Presence of the Past

Intersectionality of Doing Gender and Race

References

Introduction

Much of the research examines women police officers as different within the field of law enforcement (Bell, 1982; Haarr, 1997; Hamilton, 1924; Martin & Jurik, 2007; Miller, 1999; Schulz, 1995; Schuck, 2014; Woollacott, 1998). Research also stresses that difference, which is defined as a positive function, tends to work to keep women in a stigmatized place that stresses the status of “other” (Garcia, 2003). This “other” status is compared to the norm, the male norm. Examining the literature of the women’s movement into policing reveals the changing roles of women and their current status within the police organization. For example, research shows that community policing, juvenile justice, and domestic violence functions are defined as women’s work or, at least, as less than masculine work (Balkin, 1988; Garcia, 2008; Grennan, 2000; Heidensohn, 1992; Miller, 1999; Williams, 1998). Following these empirical examinations of the stigmatization of “nontraditional” policing activities, this research goes further by examining the current status of women and functions associated with femininity. Are women in policing still stigmatized within police culture? In one study, the research found that officers who were engaging in “women’s work” often did not feel that their status as “real” officers was challenged; however, the stigma that was attached to the work may not have been attached to the officer (Garcia, 2008). If this is the case, the question comes back to the rejection of the individual.

The abovementioned research gives rise to the current research. If we are to continue to claim that women are vastly rejected within the field of policing, we must revisit the initial question from time to time. Examining experiences of female criminal justice professionals over a 2-year period, this chapter explores the level of acceptance within this male-dominated profession. First, a background in the literature of women’s inroads into the police organization is detailed. The chapter then moves to a discussion of the rejection experienced by women police. Finally, these experiences are examined by time in the field and race. Two research questions are explored: Are women accepted as “real” officers within the police organization today? And has there been a change in the outlook of women employed in a “man’s world?” While these questions have great potential for hypothesis testing and policy implementation, due to a lack of current research, this chapter is an exploration of the current status of women in policing.

Women’s Entry into Policing

Women’s initial entry into policing reflected the gender roles valued by society at the time. The first woman hired in policing (1905, Portland, Oregon) was not a police officer but did have arrest powers (Barlow & Barlow, 2000). In 1910, the first sworn policewoman was hired to join the Los Angeles Police Department. While safety worker Lola Baldwin (1905) and policewoman Alice S. Wells (1910) did not hold the same rank, they did hold the same status. Neither woman was defined as a “real” police officer, that is, individuals with full police powers and masculine abilities. Furthermore, they, as well as many of the women who immediately followed these initial hires, did not desire to hold the same role as men. For women of the early twentieth century, their roles were characterized by nurturance, guidance, and motherhood (Woollacott, 1998). Women were viewed as beings of a higher morality and who should not get their hands dirty with the dregs of society. Instead, as mother figures, they served the police department doing what women do best, that is, taking care of and protecting children and other women, even from themselves. By stressing their inherent differences and their self-proclaimed higher morality, women were “doing gender” (Martin & Jurik, 2007). This activity of doing gender is what allowed women initial access to the police force. However, this same activity is what has kept women police officers stigmatized (Garcia, 2003).

As has been documented in numerous studies, women were not believed to want or to be able to handle the job of a “real” police officer, the job of a man (Barlow & Barlow, 2000; Bell, 1982; Hamilton, 1924; Heidensohn, 1992; Miller, 1999; Schulz, 1995; Silvestri, 2003). As a quasi-military, male-dominated profession, policing has been documented to be characterized by various masculine qualities (Herbert, 2001). A good police officer is one who is held to a male standard; one who is highly rational, aggressive, brave, and objective; and one who has the ability to be brutal if the situation calls for it (Charles, 1981; Garcia, 2003; Herbert, 2001; Miller, 1999). It thus stands to reason—using this type of rationale—that since men are “inherently” masculine and women are “inherently” feminine, then women are “inherently” incompetent to perform the role of a good police officer.

Has this extreme outlook on women in policing remained over time? The stages of women’s movement into the police organization have been outlined in various studies (Heidensohn, 1992; Martin, 1980; Schulz, 1995). In the first stage, known as the moral reform movement (1840–1910/1915), women played the role of the moral guide whose charges were female victims and inmates, prostitutes, juvenile delinquents, and the homeless. In the second stage (1910/1915–1930), women became specialists whose primary role was to protect women and children and in doing so were further isolated from the police organization with the establishment of women’s precincts or annexes. The third stage was the latent stage (1930–1945) in which women’s inroads slowed due to the Great Depression (Schulz, 1995). However, owing to the slow inroads that lasted into the 1970s, Martin (1980) identified the latent stage as lasting from 1930 to 1970; whereas Schultz identified 1945–1970 as a stage of informal expansion. In either case, the final stage (1972–present) can be identified as an era of gradual expansion. The specialist role was eliminated and replaced with one of full integration as women police (Barlow & Barlow, 2000).

Woollacott (1998) explored the changes in White, middle-class female professional authority during World War I. She argues that nineteenth-century women joined the public sphere under the justification that women have a higher moral authority. However, in the twentieth century, especially in policing and industrial welfare, women were motivated to prove their usefulness by some measurable outcome in order to gain professional authority. While women of the twentieth century needed to prove that they could do the job, they were also reluctant to give up feminine notions and so their activities involved proving their “special fit” rather than their professional fit (Woollacott, 1998, p. 101). Recent research revealed that women of color were most likely to emphasize gender differences within the policing profession (Morash & Haarr, 2012), although these findings are not generalizable. This chapter adds to Woollacott’s thesis in recognizing that as time passed, women in these male-dominated law enforcement positions shifted their measurement of usefulness and competence from usefulness as women to usefulness as police officers. While there is still some focus on women’s special fit to the profession (National Center for Women and Policing, 2002; Schuck, 2014), there is also emphasis on women’s ability to do the job as well as men and to prove this through individualism (Morash & Haarr, 2012), professionalism, and toughness, rather than on the special qualities of women. This expectation to be treated equal with the same authorities and capabilities as men still encounters a level of rejection. While early-twentieth-century female pioneers experienced resistance as a result of moving out of the private sphere and into the public, paid sphere, late-twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century women encountered rejection as a result of expecting the same treatment, authority, and confidence as men (Belknap, 2007; Martin & Jurik, 2007).

The Presence of the Past

Women’s current position within the police organization is one of a sworn police officer. Yet, there is still a need to examine whether women are fully accepted within the police organization or if they are still “valued” as different. As many social scientists have argued, within our patriarchal culture, we interact within gendered institutions in which symbols, practices, and distributions of power are based in gender and that the male is the standard by which we measure success (Acker, 1992; Belknap, 2007). We can continue to examine the history of women’s movements into the criminal justice field; however, this can be criticized as reminiscent. We must examine the current status of women in policing and ask—does the past exist in the present; in other words, has anything changed?

Looking to more recent examinations of women’s status in policing, we find that while there has been progress, much still needs to be done, “Just as the police role remains intact and unchallenged, the culture, climate, and value of police leadership remain untouched with a steadfast and unchanging perception of women as unsuitable leaders in policing” (Silvestri, 2003, p. 172). In the last comprehensive examination, the National Center for Women and Policing (2002) found that women made up 12.7% of sworn officers in large police departments in 2001, with only 7.3% of this figure holding top command positions. This overall representation is a decline from 13% in 2000 and 14.3% in 1999. Furthermore, women of color represented only 4.8% of this figure.

While we see that the numbers do not speak much of acceptance, we must also look to experience. Many of the barriers women have historically fought to break down in the attempt to enter policing have included discriminatory hiring practices, double standards, stereotypes of incompetence, discriminatory job assignments, isolation, and sexual harassment (Belknap, 2007). In a study conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (1998), it was found that women are still undul...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Prologue
• International Police Executive Symposium: Co-Publication Preface
• Editors
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Section I POLICE OFFICER EDUCATION
• Section II POLICING AND THE PUBLIC
• Section III PAST AND CONTEMPORARY CHANGES IN POLICING
• IPES Story
• IPES Institutional Supporters
• Index