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Stress in Policing

Using data over 4,000 agencies, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of community, organization, and economic factors on the representation of women in law enforcement. The results highlight the influence that police executives and community leaders have on gender diversity by way of creating a greater demand for women in the profession. Higher levels of female officer representation were associated with organizations that emphasize community policing; have higher education requirements, more incentives and benefits, no physical fitness screening criteria, and no collective bargaining rights; belong to the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies; and serve larger and more racially and ethnical diverse communities.

Female representation in law enforcement: The influence of screening, unions, incentives, community policing, CALEA, and size.

This article examines the relevance of a number of factors presumed to be associated with the employment of female police officers in U.S. municipal law enforcement agencies. Female officer representation is investigated with respect to three primary race/ethnic groups in mind: Caucasians, African Americans, and Hispanics. This study utilizespanel data collected during the period from 1993 to 2000 on a representative sample of police departments serving populations of 25,000+ residents distributed across the United States. A noteworthy increase in the number of female officers did occur during the decade of the 1990s, and both internal departmental and external environmental influences on the hiring of female police officers were investigated. The major finding observed is that different sets of external and internal features have an influence on the hiring of women officers in each race/ethnic group.

Pursuing Gender Diversity in Police Organizations in the 1990s: A Longitudinal Analysis of Factors Associated With the Hiring of Female Officers

This article examines factors hypothesized to be associated with the employment of female police officers in US municipal law enforcement agencies. Female officer representation is investigated within three primary racial or ethnic groups—Caucasians, African Americans, and Hispanics. This study utilizes data collected from a representative sample of police departments serving populations over 25,000 residents across the US during the period of 1993 to 1996. The primary findings of the research suggest that a small but noteworthy increase in the number of female officers occurred during this three-year period. In addition, it was found that variation in the proportion of female police officers hired in each racial or ethnic group was influenced by different sets of external and internal explanatory variables. Previous research treating female officer representation as a single aggregate group is misleading to the extent that it hides the observed cross-racial and ethnic differences observed here.

Race, Ethnicity and the Female Cop: Differential Patterns of Representation

Despite numerous reasons that have been hypothesized, recruitment of African Americans and other ethnic minorities would seem to have much to do with the methodologies and marketing practices used ...

Identifying barriers to diversity in law enforcement agencies

In this study of police departments in southern California we examine the joint effects of race and gender on hiring practices. Although we find some similarities between the employment patterns of African-American and Hispanic officers, our most noteworthy findings involve the sharp differences between the factors which affect the hiring of different groups of individuals for sworn officer positions. The research presented here also improves on previous studies by showing the impact of violent crime rates on police hiring practices.

Nicole Vanderhorst

Papers

The Joint Impact of Race and Gender on Police Department Employment Practices