Is Being a Female Cop Unfeminine?

June 10, 2009

Oh brother, that question will bring in a lot of comments, and that’s fine because that is what Police Ready is all about – a policing community here to help everyone realize their dream of being a cop and realistically tackling the issues we all face. One of the issues that women face, well there is more than just one issue, is whether they are trying to be “guys” and take control because they want to be a cop.

Without putting too fine a point on it, femininity has sweet tweet to do with being a good police officer. That is an attitude from back when the dinosaurs walked the land. Women are people, and have always been. The fact that they wear a skirt now and then has nothing to do with whether or not they are capable of policing.

Women in policing have come a long way since the early 1800’s when women were first hired in New York jails to be matrons. Actually many police women who pull holding cell duty these days are still called matrons, but their role is vastly different than what it used to be way back then.

The women police officers of today are every bit as capable, competent, caring and courageous as their male counterparts. They are able to shoot, run and drive like demons when the need arises and don’t take guff handed out by suspects any more than their male partners do. The one area they do shine in is communicating with suspects. It’s been proven that most men about to be arrested by a male cop will calm down when talking to a female cop.

If statistics doesn’t convince you, then real life examples would. If you are a female officer, you will find those examples the minute you hit the streets and start dealing with people in your community. In fact, you will already have been the voice of reasonable communication in action during your police-training course when dealing with male classmates. It’s a gift that many women seem to have – the ability to negotiate and to bring some semblance of order to a nasty situation.