No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Promoting Women Police Officers: Does Exam Format Matter?
Abstract
Despite decades of calls to diversify policing, women continue to be underrepresented in the field, and this problem compounds when looking up the ranks. One explanation is that police organizations are “gendered” in that their structures, processes, and cultures support men’s career advancement over women’s. To investigate this possibility, we analyzed survey results from 685 women police officers to examine whether career advancement is influenced by the composition of an agency’s promotional process. Most agencies used a combination of testing components, with written exams being the most common, but also a heavy reliance on interviews, assessment centers, and career portfolios. Exam format had a limited impact on women’s career advancement, while agency type, age, and education level were all significant correlates of women’s interest in promotions and career advancement.
... In order to discover and unpack these gendered obstacles to advancement, the majority of existing literature has relied upon in-depth interviews with samples of female officers (Archbold and Schulz, 2008;Morabito and Shelley, 2018;Poleski, 2016;Todak et al., 2022). Further, while important empirical research estimating the impact of various factors on officers' promotional aspirations exists (see Archbold et al., 2010;Gau et al., 2013;Huff and Todak, 2023), it has been limited in its ability to assess gendered differences across a wide scope of officer characteristics and their views towards policing. ...
... To date, there has been limited scholarship that has focused on the promotional aspirations of female police officers Archbold and Hassell, 2009;Archbold and Schulz, 2008;Gau et al., 2013;Huff and Todak, 2023). Within the existing literature, researchers have sought to understand the challenges that female officers face in the workplace, and other issues that ultimately prevent them from pursing a promotion within their department. ...
... For instance, much of the literature on gender and policing to date has relied upon in-depth interviewing (see Archbold and Hassell, 2009;Archbold and Schulz, 2008;Murray, 2021;Todak et al., 2022), which opens the door for empirical testing of their qualitative findings. Others who have used survey data for their methodology have expressed limitations pertaining to an understandably low sample size of female officers, especially within studies that have focused on women who have been promoted (Hassell et al., 2011;Huff and Todak, 2023;Stitchman et al., 2010;Todak et al., 2022). Finally, rarely have male and female officers been directly compared to each other in relation to potential predictors of their promotional aspirations. ...
Women are vastly underrepresented among the police officers who work in supervisory and specialized unit capacities. While prior research has identified numerous potential barriers to the advancement of women within policing, there have been few direct comparisons of how these factors might differentially impact male and female officers when it comes to the importance they place on being promoted, moving to a specialized unit, and their expected rank at retirement. To help address these limitations, the current study draws on survey data from a sample of 565 patrol officers employed at a large metropolitan agency. Using a series of multivariate analyses, factors such as officer gender, race, tenure, and job satisfaction were all found to be consistently linked with the outcome variables. The gender-specific models also uncovered that while being a parent had a marginal negative association with female officers’ views towards the importance of moving to a specialized unit, having prior military experience was positively linked with specialized unit importance among women. Further, female officers were also more likely to choose detective as their expected rank at retirement when compared to males. With these findings in mind, this study closes with a discussion of several policy implications and areas for future research to expand.
... For female officers, the pathway to promotion is often constrained by structural organizational barriers (Cunningham and Ramshaw, 2022;Huff and Todak, 2023). This is heavily criticized in much of the policing literature examining the experience of female officers in policing (see Drew and Saunders, 2020;Morabito and O'Connor Shelley, 2018). ...
... For example, in 2018, the New South Wales Police Force employed female officers in commissioned roles across the organization, with female officers representing 17% of Inspectors, 4% of Chief Inspectors, 9% of Superintendents, and 19% of Assistant Commissioners (Drew and Archbold, 2023). Although there is no central Australian repository that captures supervisory or management positions by gender across all the Australian police organizations, female officers consistently face constraints regarding promotion (Cunningham and Ramshaw, 2022;Drew and Archbold, 2023;Huff and Todak, 2023). Many of these constraints are linked to negative aspects of police culture (such as workplace discrimination) and systemic factors relating to promotion systems (such as lack of recognition of achievement or lack of opportunity to rise to a required level of seniority) (Cunningham and Ramshaw, 2022;Drew and Saunders, 2020). ...
... But these criteria are easier to achieve for male officers than female officers (Cunningham and Ramshaw, 2022;Matusiak and Matusiak, 2018). Workplace disadvantage is frequently experienced by female officers as they negotiate childcare responsibilities, family, and care-giving roles, shift work, salary increases, operational leadership roles, and perceptions of competency (Beaton et al., 2022;Huff and Todak, 2023). When considering promotion, many senior female officers are cognizant of being viewed as a symbolic representative of gender in leadership (Shjarback and Todak, 2019), and this negatively associates police leadership as a tokenistic and illegitimate gesture by the police organization (Drew and Saunders, 2020;Morabito and O'Connor Shelley, 2018). ...
There is little research examining (collectively) recruitment, deployment, promotion, and attrition of female constables in policing, and how these issues affect organizational staffing, police practice. Presenting findings from semi-structured interviews with 46 male and female constables working in an Australian State and Territories police organization, this paper argues that exclusionary staffing practices start from the onset of recruitment because female applicants are singled-out by their sex. It argues that exclusionary staffing practices for female constables occur throughout initial recruit training, during placement within a police station or area of command, whilst being deployed or not deployed to police work, and during consideration or application of promotion related processes, which increases the probability that attrition rates of female constables will be high. Unless police organizations address these issues, it is likely that the number of female constables transitioning into senior roles will remain small; thereby reducing the likelihood that police organizations will implement or achieve equitable staffing principles. It will also diminish appropriate resources needed to run an organization and have a negative impact on staffing.
... Though women applicants value promotional opportunities (Raganella and White, 2004), they are severely underrepresented in police leadership (Goodison, 2022). Promotional processes vary widely across police agencies (Huff and Todak, 2022) and pose challenges for women. Promotional exams are typically developed by men based on their perspectives, and familial commitments can limit women's ability to study outside their working hours (PERF, 2023). ...
... These barriers may impact their decisions to promote. Hispanic women officers were 52% less likely to report pursuing a promotion compared with non-Hispanic White women (Huff and Todak, 2022), a notable concern given that prospective Hispanic officers want to improve police relations with Spanish-speaking communities . Increasing women in management is related to an agencies' commitment to positive reform; therefore, agencies should prioritize evidence-based policing, gender reform, and professionalism (Shjarback and Todak, 2018). ...
Despite persistent support for increasing gender diversity in US policing, women remain underrepresented. Yet, barriers to women in policing are not universal. Many police organizations in the USA and internationally have implemented promising gender-responsive approaches. The International and Nebraska Associations of Women Police (IAWP/NAWP) and UN Women convened a Gender-Responsive Policing Summit to share successful efforts to improve recruitment, retention, promotion, and wellness of women in policing. Researchers conducted systematic observations of Summit sessions, paying particular attention to solutions offered to advance gender-responsive policing. This instrumental case study summarizes lessons learned based on multistage inductive coding of Summit observation notes. Themes emerged around strategic planning and data use, leadership and promotion, health and wellness policies, associations, and support initiatives. This study provides real-world strategies police agencies can use to improve gender diversity, informed by police professionals committed to improving women’s experiences in policing on an international scale.
... Therefore, similar experiments in other cultures, languages, countries, and customs, would dramatically improve our collective understanding of police profanity. Further, the humor found in Table 1 is difficult to deny, and raises the potential that traditionally masculine traits such as competitiveness have been overemphasized in a policing profession that has for too long been dominated by men (Huff & Todak, 2022). The current study intentionally did not disclose the vignette officer's gender, and it may be that perceptions of how an officer uses profanity under the proposed target/intent model varies according to the speakers' gender identity. ...
This study focuses on police profanity, with a particular interest developing reasonable policy to regulate the use of the word "fuck." Officers employ "fuck" as a linguistic tool to accomplish a range of goals, such as establishing authority, fostering solidarity, and diffusing tension. However, "fuck" can also be used derogatorily, and negatively impact public assessments of police actions. Policy in this area is either absent, overly broad, or inappropriate to its intended use. Following brief, unstructured interviews with line and executive officers, I propose a novel policy theory of profanity, deriving target and intent. I test the theory with a pre-registered experiment administered to a national sample of police and human resources executives (n = 1492), with each respondent evaluating multiple vignettes (n = 5280 observations). Results support the proposed theory and generate useful recommendations for practitioners interested in strengthening the ability of agencies to constrain professionally inappropriate use of profanity in the police workplace.
... Schulze, 2011), failures to recruit women (e.g. Aiello, 2019), a lack of mentors (Lavender and Todak, 2022) and barriers to promotions (Huff and Todak, 2023;Morabito and Shelley, 2018). Each is a feature of a gendered organization that disproportionately limits women's success (Heidensohn, 1992). ...
Purpose
This study explores how police culture is experienced by women officers serving in positions where they are significantly underrepresented (i.e. leadership and elite specialty units) and the environmental factors that shape these experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative analysis of transcripts from interviews with 71 women serving in male-dominated roles was conducted ( N = 39 ranking women; N = 32 women on elite units).
Findings
Participants described five occupational, organizational and assignment-level factors that shaped their workplace experiences. While some contextual forces at play are similar for women working patrol (e.g. traditional police culture, the underrepresentation of women in law enforcement) unique position-level factors were also identified (e.g. the high-risk and consequential nature of the work).
Practical implications
While the cultural environment for women patrol officers has improved in the past few decades, the same cannot be said for women working in positions that are still dominated by men. More attention to this area of policing is needed to ensure gender diversity is achieved throughout organizations and not only in positions deemed suitable for women.
Originality/value
The study extends research on women in policing beyond the focus on patrol. Further, it explores the assignment- and rank-based perspectives of police culture, which are largely absent from the literature.
... Therefore, similar experiments in other cultures, languages, countries, and customs, would dramatically improve our collective understanding of police profanity. Further, the humor found in Table 1 is difficult to deny, and raises the potential that traditionally masculine traits such as competitiveness have been overemphasized in a policing profession that has for too long been dominated by men (Huff & Todak, 2022). The current study intentionally did not disclose the vignette officer's gender, and it may be that perceptions of how an officer uses profanity under the proposed target/intent model varies according to the speakers' gender identity. ...
... This includes structuring promotions and assignments in ways that limit opportunities for women (see, e.g. Huff and Todak, 2022) and encouraging the perception that only one "woman's spot" on any given team, rank level or unit. ...
Purpose
The paper explores the prevalence of mentorship opportunities for women police officers, the nature of mentorship relationships, and their perceived effect on women’s career advancement.
Design/methodology/approach
Data consist of online surveys ( N = 924) with women police officers working in the United States. A content analysis of emergent themes from one open ended survey question was conducted.
Findings
Findings underscore the central importance of mentorship in policing, the lack of mentorship among women due to in-group competition, and participants’ active participation in mentoring future generations of women officers.
Originality/value
Factors contributing to the lack of gender diversity and specifically the retention of women in policing, are not well understood. The underrepresentation of women in coveted specialty assignments and upper ranking positions is also of concern. A possible explanation is that women officers lack role models and networking opportunities that are more readily available to men in this male-dominated field, which could encourage women to remain in law enforcement and assist in their career advancement. As many agencies have or are beginning to establish mentorship programs for women, research focused on the need for and effectiveness of mentorship for women officers is needed.
In an effort to reduce gender disparities in policing and move beyond the current legitimacy crisis faced by the profession, there has been a renewed focus on increasing the recruitment and retention of female police officers. Beyond understanding why current female officers have remained in the field, it is important to understand why some have left the profession altogether. The current study employs deductive and inductive coding of a mixed-methods self-report survey from 154 current and former female officers in the Dallas Police Department (DPD). We sought to examine the advice that current and former female police officers would give to other women who might want to enter or promote within policing. Responses highlighted challenges related to the impact on family life, navigating the male-dominated culture, maintaining one’s sense of identity and integrity, and creating strong social support networks. Implications for the DPD and other agencies are discussed.
This report is part of a series of Lessons Learned Briefs from the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) Gender Responsive Policing Summit ‘Gender Diversity in US Policing – Progressing Words into Action’ (30 – 31 March 2023).
Women are significantly underrepresented among police supervisors, middle managers , and leaders in the United States. To investigate this problem, the current study examines challenges faced by women officers as they pursue promotions. Narrative data from 226 women who earned promotions in U.S. policing are analyzed using a content analysis of responses to an open-ended survey question. Emergent themes reflected gender bias within the promotions process and, more broadly, in the organizational culture of participants' agencies that impact promotions. Findings support the characterization of policing as a gendered occupation with a culture that views and supports men as more competent leaders.
With a focus on the implementation of women’s police stations (WPS), we posit that local policies that address violence against women can result in positive feedback effects on institutional legitimacy. We theorize that WPS increase police legitimacy among women by improving perceptions of personal safety and government responsiveness. To test our hypotheses, we rely on municipal and public opinion data from more than 100 municipalities in Brazil. The results of our multilevel analysis indicate that WPS produce positive feedback effects among women, resulting in higher trust in the police among women than men and closing the gender gap in perceptions of police effectiveness. Incorporating an instrumental variable in the analyses yields similar results, suggesting that these effects are not endogenous. Moreover, the results of our mediation models show that WPS’ positive effects on women’s views of police legitimacy are driven by improved perceptions of personal safety, and not perceptions of government responsiveness.
Increasing gender diversity in American policing has long been a focus of reform efforts since the 1960s. While the proportion of women in the profession improved initially and research has focused on the gender breakdown of police organizations in general, less scholarly and empirical attention has been directed to female representation in positions of power (i.e., supervisory and management roles). Using data from the 2013 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, the current study examined the prevalence as well as the organizational correlates of female representation in supervisory (e.g., sergeants), mid-level management (e.g., lieutenants) and chief executive roles in departments across the United States. The findings indicate a number of factors associated with female representation in supervisory and mid-level management positions, including the size and type of agencies, geographic region of the country, and potential indicators of professionalism. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Substantial research has examined both the barriers preventing women from entering and flourishing in policing and the coping mechanisms used to adapt to the gendered institution of policing. However, there is scant research that examines the mechanisms by which some women successfully navigate the police bureaucracy. Drawing from in-depth, semistructured interviews of 47 female officers from 30 law enforcement agencies across seven states, we apply Constrained Agency Theory as a means to identify and understand how women capitalize on conditions and opportunities to advance and/or gain promotion in gendered organizations. The purpose of our research is to explore the efficacy of this theoretical framework for the study of women in policing. Results suggest that Constrained Agency Theory offers a promising way of understanding how female officers experience and utilize opportunities and conditions for advancement across a variety of agencies, generations, and organizational cultures.
Traditional police culture (TPC) is a set of attitudes and values, developed as coping mechanisms for police work’s unique and inherent strains, that fosters distrust toward, and isolation from, citizens. An online survey of 781 American police officers from 48 U.S. states is used to assess: first, the individual, organizational, and contextual correlates of endorsement of TPC, and second, whether endorsement of TPC relates to support for the use of force and support for procedurally just tactics. Results indicate that, apart from supervisor status and supervisor race, individual-level officer characteristics are not related to endorsement of TPC. By contrast, organizational factors—agency size and type—relate to endorsement of TPC among line officers, but not supervisors. Results also indicate that support for use of force and support for procedural justice are strongly linked to TPC endorsement among both line officers and managers.
Recent studies show a clear link between women in government and reduced concerns about corruption. Until now, it remains unclear which underlying attitudes about women explain the perception that they will reduce corruption. Using a survey question about adding women to a police force, with an embedded experimental treatment, we examine three distinct stereotypes that might explain the power of women to reduce concerns about corruption: gender stereotypes of women as more ethical and honest, the perception of women as political outsiders, and beliefs that women are generally more risk averse. We find that people do perceive women as more effective at combating corruption, and these perceptions are greatly enhanced when information about women's outsider status and risk aversion is provided.
Despite the widely held goal of increasing diversity in policing, police organizations have struggled to diversify. Previous research highlights the role of civilian involvement in the process by illustrating the impact of mayors and city councils on diversity in police departments. This scholarship has overlooked the important role of municipal civil service commissions, which oversee public personnel policies and set hiring standards. Research has demonstrated that some of these hiring standards disproportionately impact minority applicants. As a result, civil service commissions may be a missing link in understanding how civilian oversight can promote or impede diversification in policing. This article presents an introduction to civil service commissions and processes and illustrates their potential impact on diversity in policing. Areas for future research are discussed.
This article considers the issue of gender diversity within policing. In so doing it reviews the broader ‘field’ within which
changes to diversity agendas has occurred. In drawing out the key external drivers of diversity over the past 15 years, it
explores the impact of external changes on the shape of diversity agendas within policing. Following a number of damning reports
into the conduct of policing and police officers and an increasing public attention of the role and capacity of the police
service, there is an observable and strong alignment between the idea that with greater gender diversity comes ‘difference’,
‘transformation’, and ‘improved’ policing. Alongside that, there has also been a growing rhetoric suggesting a qualitatively
different and improved landscape for women in policing and gender diversity more broadly. Against this powerful backdrop of
‘success’, this article critically considers the coexistence of regression and loss in a time of progress and gain for women
in policing.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine a police promotional process, in order to determine factors important for a sergeant to be promoted to lieutenant. To do this, written scores, assessment scores, and other demographic variables are used, thus providing a unique look into what it truly takes to promote to an important managerial rank in this large Texas metropolitan police department (LTMPD).
Design/methodology/approach
– This is an exploratory study utilizing data collected from departmental databases. The original data set was accessed through public information laws, and compiled by the lead author, a 21‐year police veteran and participant in this promotional process.
Findings
– Significant findings were both expected and unexpected. Of no surprise were the findings that an officer's written score and assessment score significantly affected the likelihood of promotion. Unexpected were past behavior patterns, age, and number of times tested significantly affected both assessment center performance score and promotion.
Originality/value
– This paper examines the promotional process within an LTMPD. It illustrates how promotions are made in a department that relies heavily on assessment center outcomes to decide who is promoted. Up to now, police promotional processes have received little attention. This current research is an exploratory analysis which seeks to fill the gap by examining the process by which police lieutenants are chosen.
Organizations benefit when employees are motivated and aspiring. Within policing, this is especially important given contemporary philosophies asking officers to take ownership and be proactive. A desire to ascend through the police ranks may inspire greater engagement in the police role. Extant research has noted that promotional aspirations vary among police officers, but unknown at this point are the factors that shape this variation. The current study helps fill this void by analyzing multiple-agency data assessing the impact of demographic, work environment, and organizational factors on patrol officers’ aspirations. The focus is on the importance officers place on being promoted to a higher rank (i.e., valence), as well as their long-term aspirations in terms of projected rank at retirement. The findings reveal that the most consistent predictors are gender, race, education, and experience; job satisfaction; and organizational size. The implications of these findings for police research and practice are considered.
The Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team may represent the last vestige of male dominance in law enforcement as an assignment that remains grounded in traditional masculine notions of policing. Although SWAT units have become a prominent feature of modern American policing, there are few female team members. In an attempt to develop some insight into why women rarely serve on SWAT teams, the present research examines the viewpoints of a sample of 30 male and 31 female police officers on the gendered aspects of SWAT assignment. This exploratory study represents the first qualitative attempt to uncover police officers’ perspectives and thoughts on the “fit” of women on SWAT teams. The results show that the majority of officers, whether implicitly or explicitly, and regardless of gender, agree that the presence of women on SWAT teams presents a variety of challenges.
Men are disproportionately represented in many institutions including law, politics, the academy, and the economy. Women have made great strides in increasing representation in many of these professions with the exception of policing; where police departments have had difficulty hiring, retaining, and promoting female officers. The available literature on women in policing, however, is largely atheoretical and does not thoroughly address advancement barriers and the retention of women. To address this gap in the literature, this article utilizes Acker’s theory of gendered institutions to provide a historical review of women’s experiences in law enforcement. Acker’s four gendered processes are used to organize the existing literature regarding women’s experiences as well as coping and adaptation strategies in the gendered institution of policing. Finally, implications are explored and an agenda for future research is discussed.
This article expands on the discussion of female police officers' response to tokenism in the workplace, as well as how perceived token status affects female police officers' decisions to participate in promotion. Using structured, face-to-face interviews with female police officers in a large Midwestern police agency, the current study produced some research findings that contrast with Kanter's original description of tokenism. This study found that most female police officers were strongly encouraged by their male supervisors to participate in the promotion process. This encouragement by male police supervisors actually dissuaded some of the female officers from participating in the promotion process. These findings suggest that tokenism in the workplace is more complex than focusing solely on the numerical representation of women in traditionally male-dominated professions.
The promotional process is a key component of the police personnel system, but has historically been problematic. Means of evaluating officers for promotion and the perceived relationship between pay and promotion compli cate the issue. Prior research examining promotion related to motivation indicated that promotions met some needs, but that salary was less likely to be met when compared to other needs. The current work builds on previous work by examining the relationship of actual promotion-seeking behavior and perceptions of the ability of promotions to satisfy employee needs. Findings indicate that promotion did not serve as a significant factor affecting employees' motivation.
Purpose
To examine the extent to which cultural fragmentation among police officers results in differences in searches of suspects and their surroundings during proactive traffic stops.
Design/methodology/approach
Cluster and multivariate analyses are performed utilizing survey and observational data collected as part of the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN).
Findings
Differences in search behavior among patrol officers are found as a result of variation in cultural alignments. That is, patrol officers that adhere to the culture (in varying degrees) from an attitudinal standpoint are more likely to engage in searches than those who most ardently resist cultural attitudes.
Research limitations/implications
Although the classification scheme captured many of the core attitudes associated with police culture, it did not measure all of them. Also, the departments studied would compare to most American municipal police organizations, but would make poor comparisons to very large urban or small rural agencies, where culture might operate in different ways.
Practical implications
Police administrators can use this information if they wished to alter the rate at which search behavior occurs.
Originality/value
This study fills a research void in policing by examining whether attitudinal variation in cultural commitment results in different behavioral patterns. This work also adds to a larger body of social science research by finding an attitude‐behavior relationship.
Purpose
Leadership plays a key role ensuring the achievement of desired outcomes in both formal and informal groups. Insufficient leadership in policing can result in significant negative consequences for agencies and their personnel. Despite the importance of effective leadership within police organizations little is known about the process of developing effective leaders and leadership behaviors. The paper contributes to the limited available empirical knowledge using data collected from police supervisors. The intent is to assess supervisors' perceptions of how leadership abilities might best be developed and to identify the barriers inhibiting such efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
Open‐ended surveys are administered to students attending the FBI's National Academy, a career development program for mid‐career police supervisors. Respondents report their experiences with and perceptions of leadership development. The purposive sample of respondents provides insights from supervisors representing police agencies of various sizes and types from around the world.
Findings
Respondents indicate leadership skills are best developed through a combination of education, experience, and mentorship. Developing more effective leadership is dependent on the ability to overcome barriers, both within the profession and within individual officers. Finite resources, macro and local aspects of police culture, and failures of leadership by current executives are all viewed as working against the growth of effective leadership practices.
Research limitations/implications
Given the dearth of empirical research considering dimensions of police leadership, myriad implications for future research are identified and discussed.
Originality/value
The findings provide important preliminary insights into the experiences and beliefs of police supervisors.
Do patrol sergeants' supervisory styles influence patrol officer behavior? This question is addressed by examining data collected for the Project on Policing Neighborhoods, a systematic observational study of patrol officers and first-line supervisors in two metropolitan police departments in 1996 and 1997. Using four distinct supervisory styles created through factor analysis of attitudinal constructs identified in the management and policing literatures, the influence of different supervisory styles over patrol officer behaviors—arrest, use of force, and issuing citations—is assessed. Findings show that at least one supervisory style has a significant influence over the likelihood that officers will use force against suspects. Furthermore, the presence of a supervisor (regardless of supervisory style) significantly increases the likelihood that officers will arrest. Implications for policy and future research are explored.
Purpose
This article aims to examine male and female police officers' perspectives concerning women participating on special weapons and tactical (SWAT) teams. The study seeks to explore differences in opinions on a woman's ability to gain entrance and perform in a traditionally male‐dominated subculture.
Design/methodology/approach
A self‐report survey was distributed to a purposive sample of 202 police officers in the US. Male SWAT officers and females from seven agencies responded to 13 Likert‐type items and provided demographic information on years of experience, rank, and race.
Findings
The results show that male SWAT members are somewhat receptive to a woman becoming a team member; however, they are more likely than women to believe that females lack the needed strength and skills. Female officers perceive themselves as competent and valuable additions to SWAT.
Research limitations/implications
Although the research is exploratory and the findings are difficult to generalize, the results suggest that law enforcement's militaristic nature and role specialization continue to impede integrating female officers into SWAT subcultures.
Originality/value
This study is the first to employ quantitative methods to explore police officers' attitudes and gender's role in SWAT assignments.
This study investigated the effects of interviewer race, candidate race, and racial composition of interview panels on interview ratings. Data were collected on 153 police officers applying for promotion. Results confirmed a same-race rating effect (i.e., candidates racially similar to interviewers received higher ratings) for Black and White interviewers on racially balanced panels. A majority-race rating effect (i.e., candidates racially similar to the majority race of panel interviewers received higher ratings) existed for Black and White interviewers on primarily White panels. Rating patterns of Black and White interviewers on primarily Black panels also suggested a majority-race rating effect. Racial composition of selection interview panels in combination with interviewer and candidate race were proposed as variables affecting candidates' ratings.
While research has identified four main police supervisory styles, it is unclear whether the framework accurately represents the supervisory styles of women. We explored the benefits of promoting women in policing and examined their supervisory styles, drawing on interviews with 38 ranking women. Participants attributed three benefits to promoting women – diversity, people-orientation, and conscientiousness. All 34 who described their supervisory style fell into one of the four previously identified categories. Most common was innovative (50%), then supportive (32%), traditional (12%), and active (6%). We link findings to calls for gender diversity up the ranks of law enforcement.
Elite police specialty units are almost exclusively the domains of men. While women have made strides on patrol in many agencies, elite units have not witnessed the same progress. In this study, we interviewed 32 policewomen from across the United States who defied the odds and cultural perceptions of “appropriate” roles for women by earning positions on elite specialty units (i.e., SWAT, K9, motorcycles, and bomb units). Most were the only women on their units and half were the first in their agencies’ histories to enter that space. Participants’ descriptions of department, community, and team members’ responses to their selection are analyzed. Our focus on women who have broken the most formidable gender barriers in law enforcement allows us to better understand the continued exclusion of women and offer recommendations for increasing gender diversity throughout policing.
Despite the significant progress made by women in policing in recent decades, elite specialty units are still almost exclusively dominated by men. Our sample of 32 policewomen who defied the odds by earning positions on elite units (K9, SWAT, motors, and bomb) described overworking, acting like one of the guys, refraining from complaining, and having a tough skin and/or a good sense of humor as keys to their success. At the same time, they created symbolic boundaries between themselves and women who were not respected, who they described as not dedicated to their work, focused on having children or sleeping around, and behaving in ways that made respected women in the agency look bad. While viewed by participants as vital for survival in a hypermasculine space where they are severely underrepresented, their tactics for earning respect and negative depictions of other women could negate the impact of gender diversity on police reform and help to preserve the status quo.
This chapter examines the downside of politically influenced police promotions. Also, it studies the importance (in police officers’ perceptions) of different policing skills and achievements, when evaluating a police member for the purpose of promotion. In sum, upon analyzing the input of 805 police officers to a relevant survey, it is found that police officers are profoundly frustrated with the current (unfair) promotion system. What is more, the system of promotions currently in place fuels a series of side effects, ranging from cultivating antipathy toward favored colleagues to being unproductive to seeking political help for securing a promotion.
Using national survey and interview data from women patrol officers in the United States, we assess whether women are underrepresented in the upper ranks of policing because they are self-selecting out of promotions. With only 42% of the survey sample reporting a desire to promote, we indeed find evidence that many policewomen are either delaying or forgoing promotions. The most common reason given for waiting to promote was the desire to gain more experience. Based on our findings, we offer recommendations for reducing gendered barriers to promotion and increasing gender diversity in the upper ranks of law enforcement.
Diversity in policing
In the wake of high-profile police shootings of Black Americans, it is important to know whether the race and gender of officers and civilians affect their interactions. Ba et al. overcame previous data constraints and found that Hispanic and Black officers make far fewer stops and arrests and use force less than white officers, especially against Black civilians. These differences are largest in majority-Black neighborhoods in the city of Chicago (see the Perspective by Goff). Female officers also use less force than male officers. These effects are supportive of the efficacy of increasing diversity in police forces.
Science , this issue p. 696 ; see also p. 677
Research indicates that women are still underrepresented in policing and that police culture is not fully accepting of its sisters in blue. As police organizations strive toward building an inclusive workforce, we must understand how women, already in the field, view their place and experiences within their jobs, organizations, and workgroups. Thus, in the current research, we use a comparative sample (n = 832) of male and female officers to examine perceptions of fit in the job, organization, and workgroup, and how these perceptions relate to reports of workplace incivilities. Findings indicate that women "fit in"with the job and the broader agency, but they are less likely than men to feel they belong within their workgroup. This relationship was partially mediated by workplace incivilities, indicating that women’s experience of subtle forms of discrimination partially explains their lower levels of fit in their workgroup.
Promotion systems form a fundamental pillar in the development of organisational leadership capability. Surprisingly, little empirical research focus has been directed towards the specific decision-making processes of officers that influence their participation and engagement in the police promotion system. Importantly, gender differences must be examined as female police now represent the biggest demographic change in the pool of potential police leaders. Based on a study of police officers employed in one Australian state police jurisdiction, the research concludes that similar factors are generally associated with engagement with the police promotion system regardless of gender. Notably, gender differences only exist for factors related to support of higher-ranking officers in the promotion application process, support of colleagues once promoted, confidence in readiness for promotion, increased work hours and child/elder care difficulties and change in remuneration. The research highlights that gender equity policies designed to encourage female participation/engagement may result in unintended, negative consequences. Almost 80% of male officers in this study strongly indicating that females are promoted based on gender rather than skills and experience. The research has significant implications for police agencies who seek to support female officers moving into leadership positions.
Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to offer a state-of-the-art review of the research on women of color in American policing. Directions for future research are also highlighted.
Design/methodology/approach-Using several online databases, a literature search was performed to collect all relevant empirical studies on the topic. The review includes only studies that examined research questions about minority women officers in their own right.
Findings-The review identified 12 studies focused on recruitment, hiring, retention and the on-the-job experiences of this population. Most studies focused on black policewomen. All data analyzed in these studies are at least 20 years old.
Originality/value-Research on minorities in policing tends to concentrate on either black men or white women. For decades, scholars have called for more research on policewomen of color, yet little progress has been made. The current study takes stock of the existing research and provides a much-needed agenda to fill this research gap.
This article drives forward a more critical insight into the position of women within policing. In focusing on women as police leaders, it problematizes taken for granted representations of gender and proposes an alternative reading of their experiences. Drawing on theoretical work on gendered organizations, the article argues that greater attention needs to be paid to the cultural and structural conditions that enable the “heroic male” to emerge as the “ideal” police leader. It also considers the recent introduction of Direct Entry for senior officers in England and Wales as a disruptive tool to the gendered order within policing.
Do female politicians serve as political role models? This paper is the first to employ panel data to examine whether the presence of non-presidential female candidates leads to an increased propensity for political engagement – specifically, discussion – among women. We hypothesize that younger people who are still learning and establishing political engagement habits will become more politically engaged when exposed to female role models. We do not find evidence of a role model effect overall or among co-partisans. We do find that younger women become significantly more likely to discuss politics when they experience a viable and new female candidate. Importantly, we only find this effect when the female candidate is not a current office holder, suggesting the novelty of female candidates may be key. We do not find a similar effect among older women.
A critical void in the research on women's underrepresentation in elective office is an analysis of the initial decision to run for office. Based on data from our Citizen Political Ambition Study, the first large-scale national survey of potential candidates, we examine the process by which women and men emerge as candidates for public office. We find that women who share the same personal characteristics and professional credentials as men express significantly lower levels of political ambition to hold elective office. Two factors explain this gender gap: first, women are far less likely than men to be encouraged to run for office; second, women are significantly less likely than men to view themselves as qualified to run. Our findings call into question the leading theoretical explanations for women's numeric underrepresentation and indicate that, because of vestiges of traditional sex-role socialization, prospects for gender parity in U.S. political institutions are less promising than conventional explanations suggest.
Through an analysis of data from one large Midwestern municipal police agency, this study examined some of the issues affecting the promotion of female police officers. Specifically, the issues examined are those influencing the decision about whether to enter the promotional process and, once a decision is made to enter the process, those factors influencing women during the process. Within the agency under study, the rate of promotion for females still lags behind that for males. The study found that personal ‘choices' constrained by impediments from both within and outside the organisation contributed to the lack of parity. Based on these findings, suggestions are made for strategies to increase the numbers of women, relative to men, in supervisory and managerial positions.
Many police organizations across the United States use traditional written assessments to promote individuals to first line supervisor positions. Written assessments are cost effective. Recent research has shown assessments have shown problems with validity. One specific issue is with attempting to predict a candidate's leadership abilities or behavior. Other research uncovers issues relating to the lack of leadership training for aspiring first line supervisors. First line supervisors have been traditionally viewed as managers rather than leaders. The process has deterred many from applying for promotion within the ranks. This metaanalysis offers insight to the improvement of police promotional process may improve the selection of the right candidate and overall organizational leadership, but also aid in succession planning as well.
Using data from 464 law enforcement agencies drawn from the Law Enforcement Administrative and Management Statistics survey, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the number of institutional rules and organisational structures an agency has in place to identify, collect and manage information on the use of force incidents explains the previously reported findings that greater levels of female officer representation is associated with more police use of force. Agencies reported receiving a total of 18,711 citizen complaints in 2003 and 22,146 complaints in 2007. Approximately 6.7% of the complaints were sustained in 2003 and 8% in 2007. In 2007, women made up approximately 11% of the sworn officers in the agencies under examination, ranging from 1.4% to 40.1%, up slightly from 2003 when the average was 10.1% Based on the disruption thesis, we hypothesise that increasing female representation in police organisations is a catalyst by which norms and practices become formalised and embedded in the organisation's institutional structure. The findings confirm this connection and suggest that the relationship between gender diversity and citizen's complaints of inappropriate use of force is a function of the number and quality of rules, policies and mechanisms designed to capture and quantify complaints. These results have implications for the increased representation of women in law enforcement. A more robust research agenda on women and policing is needed to explore ways to reduce the negative conflict associated with increasing gender diversity while maintaining a police force that accurately represents the diversity in modern society.
Using longitudinal time diary and survey data from a community sample of dual-earner couples across the transition to parenthood, the authors examined change in divisions of paid and unpaid work and assessed the accuracy of survey data for time use measurement. Mothers, according to the time diaries, shouldered the majority of child care and did not decrease their paid work hours. Furthermore, the gender gap was not present prebirth but emerged postbirth with women doing more than 2 hours of additional work per day compared to an additional 40 minutes for men. Moreover, the birth of a child magnified parents' overestimations of work in the survey data, and had the authors relied only on survey data, gender work inequalities would not have been apparent. The findings have important implications for (a) the state of the gender revolution among couples well positioned to obtain balanced workloads and (b) the utility of survey data to measure parents' division of labor.
This exploratory analysis seeks to determine the extent to which written exams are required by law for police and firefighters across the United States and whether, in fact, they are being used. The continued use of written exams has served as a major obstacle to the attainment of social equity based on race in these uniformed services. The study also explores the use and importance of nonconventional testing methods (e.g., assessment centers). The study finds that while civil service laws in most jurisdictions do not require the use of written exams, police and fire departments continue to rely on them in hiring and/or promotion. It further shows that nonconventional methods are used in some capacity, but written exams either supplement these methods or are integrated into them.
Qualitative data from 21 in-depth interviews with women in two metropolitan departments reveals how rank and tenure affected responses to negative coworker actions and attitudes. Most women abandoned putting up with harassment and bias after their earliest years in policing, but consistently felt compelled to respond to officers' tests of their abilities. High-rank women used coping strategies that provided some protections from assaults on their identities and negative treatment from coworkers. Certain coping strategies may enable some women to move up in rank. The power that comes with rank enabled women to take on unique approaches to addressing workplace discrimination and harassment.
This study examines minority and female integration in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from 2005 to 2011. The Lieberson index of diversity and disparity indices are applied to police force employment data from the NYPD to assess the degree to which White officers outnumber minorities and females. The findings show that the level of diversity within the police ranks declines precipitously and consistently after the rank of sergeant, and the disparity ratios reveal that the number of White officers exceeds the number of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and other minority group officers for all ranks with the exception of the rank of police officer. The findings also show that the number of female officers in general lags far behind those of males as well as of specific police ranks. The data show that among females entering the NYPD, more Hispanic females have been hired relative to White, Black, and Asian females. Despite progress in hiring minorities and females into the NYPD, the advances that minorities and females have made in regard to promotions within the NYPD have been marginal at best.
While the proportion of female officers in law enforcement is increasing, upper level administrative positions continue to be held overwhelmingly by male officers. This paper attempts to provide a fuller depiction of the barriers women may encounter within police departments resulting from the dynamics associated with the ‘tokenism’ phenomenon. It is concluded that tokenism-combined with factors such as family commitments and organizational structures-plays a large role in determining upward mobility, serving to reduce the frequency of the promotion of women to higher rank/supervisory positions in police departments.
This article explores reasons why the level of employment of women police in the United States is relatively low and no longer seems to be increasing. Surveys were administered to all women officers and all police chiefs in a three-county area of Pennsylvania where the proportion of women police is lower than the national average. The chiefs and women officers largely agreed about the impact of many components of the hiring process. Women officers perceived more shortcomings in recruitment practices than did the chiefs, though, and put much more emphasis on the male-dominated cultures of police academies and police organizations as obstacles to both recruitment and retention of women officers.
Is the cost of an assessment center worth it? This study demonstrates the economic utility of an assessment center as a part of a promotional examination to police sergeant. The total cost of the program to assess 208 candidates was 764 per candidate. Based on initial promotions of 22 sergeants, total utility was estimated to be at least 1995, and utility per selectee was estimated to be at least $18,861. Substantially higher estimates of utility were shown when alternative values of costs, validities of the assessment center, number of sergeants promoted over the life of the promotional list, and the benefits of selecting effective sergeants.
In this paper we look at the effects of the Fanchon Blake consent decree on the role of women in the Los Angeles Police Department. We begin by showing how the political environment, the attitudes of the Chief, the administrative structure of the department, the budgetary environment, and the culture of the department all worked against the full acceptance of women in the department. We argue that without the decree the role of women would have continued to be minor, and that even with it the environmental variables have led to implementation of the letter rather than the spirit of the decree. We present data to show that this is indeed what happened. Finally we look at how much of the progress made by women can be attributed to the decree, and conclude that the decree was a major force for progress.
Although police misconduct has interested policing scholars for many years, extant research has been largely atheoretical and has ignored the role of organizational justice in understanding the behavior. This study uses survey data from a random sample of 483 police officers employed in the Philadelphia Police Department to explore the role of organizational justice in police misconduct. Results indicate that officers who view their agency as fair and just in managerial practices are less likely to adhere to the code of silence or believe that police corruption in pursuit of a noble cause is justified. Furthermore, perceptions of organizational justice are associated with lower levels of engagement in several forms of police misconduct. The results suggest that organizational justice is a promising framework to understand police misconduct and may help guide police administrators in the implementation of effective management strategies to reduce the incidence of the behavior.
Proportions, that is, relative numbers of socially and culturally different people in a group, are seen as critical in shaping interaction dinamics, and four group types are identified in the basis of varying proportional compositions. "Skewed" groups contain a large preponderance of one type (the numerical "dominants") over another (the rare "tokens"). A framework is developed for conceptualizing the processes that occur between dominants and tokens. Three perceptual phenomena are associated with tokens: visibility (tokens capture a disproportionate awareness share), polarization (differences between tokens and dominants are exaggerated), and assimilation (tokens' attributes are distorted to fit preexisting generalizations about their social type). Visibility generates performance pressures; polarization leads dominants to heighten their group boundaries; and assimilation leads to the tokens' role entrapment. Illustrations are drawn from a field study in a large industrial corporation. Concepts are exten...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify whether officers who adhere to the aspects of the traditional police sub‐culture – authoritarianism, cynicism, and burnout – are more likely to use violence against their intimate partner. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is measured in terms of both physical assault and psychological violence.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was created using existing scales and was given to a sample of police officers from four departments in the southern United States. Both Tobit and logistic regression were utilized to examine the effects of the traditional police sub‐culture on the two types of intimate partner violence.
Findings
The results of the analyses partially supported the link between traditional police culture and police intimate partner violence. The results showed that two aspects of the traditional police sub‐culture, burnout and authoritarianism, were significantly related to psychological IPV. There was no significant relationship between traditional police culture and physical IPV
Research limitations/implications
There are a relatively small number of police officers in the convenience sample and it is not very diverse in its composition.
Originality/value
The results of this study indicate that those who adhere to the traditional police culture are at more risk for engaging in psychological domestic violence than those officers who do not. The research shows that traditional police sub‐culture has an effect on police intimate partner violence. This information is important in that it may provide police agencies with some direction in implementing domestic violence prevention efforts.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of policewomen to determine the extent to which female officers face resistance and obstacles to police work, to examine the coping mechanisms female officers utilized to overcome impediments encountered, and to establish common themes in female officers' success stories of acceptance and integration.
Design/methodology/approach
Owing to the difficulty in accessing female officers, the current research utilizes in‐depth qualitative interviews through snowball sampling. This methodology provided a rich sample of tenured female officers' experiences to explore resistance and integration.
Findings
The findings suggest despite early occupational experiences of sexual harassment, discrimination, and disrespect, after long tenures, female officers do achieve acceptance in police work. Female officers are holding high civil service ranks in police agencies and achieving new “firsts” every day, including breaking into stereotypically masculine assignments.
Practical implications
As police departments nationwide are having difficulties maintaining recruitment standards and full rosters, the current study can provide insight into the obstacles women face when joining police agencies and methods to alleviate these impediments, revealing an under‐recruited population for police agencies nationwide.
Originality/value
This study extends past literature by: examining female officers' experiences in a variety of agencies previously ignored in the literature; analyzing the tenure of the officers' careers to determine the onset and desistance of female officers' experiences with resistance and acceptance; and suggesting women do survive and, in some instances, thrive in an “all boys club.”
Significant difference emerges between the spirit of the recommendation system, (the idea to strictly prevent from redundancy, select genuine talents, and make up for the incompleteness in regulations involving personnel management, performance evaluation and seniority computation), and the reality. This paper is to analyze the activity of recommendation by taking the promotion system by recommendation applicable to the police officers above the middle class in Taiwan area as example. Its purpose is to explore the reliability of recommendation, find out the factors affecting promotion, and the conditions pertain to promoters and beyond them. Besides, it investigates into personnel's response to this system. The results will be of benefit to personnel managers and administrators, within these police and public department organization and business in provision of useful guidelines for human resource management.
This study investigated the use of force by and against women police officers using survey data from a large sample of female and male officers in six departments. Results suggested that female officers and same-gender female-female officer pairs used less force, and were less likely to use physical force, in police-citizen encounters when compared to their male counterparts. There was no evidence supporting the proposition that citizens used less force against female officers compared with male officers. In fact, the findings indicated that citizens used significantly more force against female officers relative to male officers in domestic calls. Although female officers were more likely to engage in underpredicted policing; that is, use less force than the situation would normally dictate, underpredicted policing was not related to an increase in the likelihood of officer injury. Implications for women officers, police use of force, and the institution of policing are discussed.
The assessment center process is one of the most widely used selection processes. It is particularly important in the public sector where a recent survey found 62% of cities of 50,000 or more population use the process for fire and police promotion purposes. As the process matures, additional research shows that there are problems, especially with validation of the current dimension-specific model. These concerns have begun to drive the process in new directions. This paper addresses one of these new directions—the measurement of performance in work-sample exercises (task-specific centers) rather than attempting to measure complex constructs such as leadership, judgment, etc. (dimension-specific centers). The paper describes the task-specific model and compares the two processes. It also offers suggestions for additional research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)