Female Officers’ Workplace Perceptions and the Importance of an Inside-Out Approach to Police Recruitment

• In Event: Police Organization: Gender, Recruitment and Representation

Abstract

Police agencies across the country report difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified candidates, and this is particularly true with respect to women. Despite targeted efforts to increase gender diversity in policing, the proportion of women in police departments nationwide remains stagnated at between 10-15%. Since endorsements and referrals from current law enforcement professionals serve as an important recruitment tool, this study explores how women’s perceptions and experiences of the internal workplace environment affect their willingness to recommend policing as a career for young women. Using quantitative and qualitative data from a metropolitan police department in the Eastern U.S., this study reveals women’s deep ambivalence not only regarding their gendered position within the department, but also regarding their own career and whether they would recommend the profession to other women. It further examines the source of this ambivalence and illustrates how a failure to improve women’s workplace experiences can have harmful effects not only on currrent law enforcement personnel, but also on police departments’ recruitment efforts.

Authors

• Katharina Neissl, SUNY Brockport

• Lisa Barao, University of Pennsylvania