Female Police officers are often mistreated because of their gender. Barbara Raffel Price addresses some of these problems in her article FEMALE POLICE OFFICERS IN THE UNITED STATES.
Male police officers tend to be stricter when enforcing the law than females. According to Brian Rowe from the Federal Trade Commission. "In 2005, 10.8 percent of male drivers and 6.8 percent of female drivers that were stopped by police. The male driver were cited more than the female drivers." This simply means officers were biased when it came to who received a ticket and who did not. No matter how the law is broken, both male and female officers are biased when it comes down to law breaking.
Female law enforcement officers are different in their methods of law enforcement. Rather than give you a ticket and punish you for a minor offense, they may simply scold you and let you go on your way. In most cases they are weaker when it comes to physical strength than men, but however in most cases they have superior intellect. According to CMPD, "police officers are exposed to undesirable and sometimes traumatic situations. Compassion and empathy during those times serve the community well. Many of the interpersonal skills women traditionally possess are invaluable to effective policing." Which basically means, female police officers tend to think more rationally when confronted with a difficult situation. Usually females will get out of a ticket when the officer is a male, because they are attractive. However on the flip side, when the officer is a female, the law breaker has a higher chance of getting a ticket no matter who they are. Female and male officers have their strengths and weaknesses, but working together makes them stronger as a unit and helps each of them improve upon their weaknesses.
The number of female police officers compared to males is still relatively small, but every year there are more and more of them. According to Barbara Raffel Price in her article ," In 1970, only two percent of all police were women, but by 1991, nine percent of all police were women.Today, in the New York Police Department, 15% of all uniformed officers in the department are women, but only 9% are sergeants, 6% are lieutenants, 3% are captains and 4% are above the rank of captain Women are still having problems in escalating through law enforcement ranks, but through all their struggle and sacrifice they are making a difference, slowly but surely.
Even though women are acquiring positions in law enforcement, some people like it, some people don't. Research has shown that women in policing are not as easily accepted by their peers, their supervisors, or their own police department. Barbara Raffel Price stated in her article that "Woman are viewed with skepticism or worse by their male counterparts in spite of the fact that women have been doing police work for over one hundred years." However, she also stated that the public responded well to more law enforcement officers being female. "In the recent years acceptance by the public has grown as women police have been seen more frequently on the street on patrol and in uniform."
The next time your out and about and see a female police officer, talk to her. Ask her if people, whether; male, female, peers, or lawbreakers discriminate against her because of her gender. Get her opinion on things.
No comments:
Post a Comment