Sheila WalshMedia 384Section001May 2, 2011Prof. Doris Cacailo

Female Force 2011 By Sheila Walsh

NEW YORK------Women

have made a lot of progress

in law enforcement but are

not a majority nor are they

always respected

by their male

Rosa Otero(left)

and partner Kimberly Ford.

colleagues, even in the 21st century. The male dominance in policing has created

professional obstacles for females to advance in their career and to be satisfied with being

on the force.

Female’s currently account for 13-14% employees in law enforcement in the United

States, 18% in the NYPD today, which does not represent the population in the United

States, which are 53% women. Men are still an overwhelming majority on the force.

When the police force was created in the United States in 1838, women were believed to

be unable to perform the duties of a police officer.

Before and well into the 20th century, an officer had to be well-above average height and

strength and this eliminated most women. The first woman to officially be sworn in as an

officer was not until 1910, the first female state trooper not until 1930, the first female

plain clothes detective was not sworn in until 1950 in Miami, and the FBI hired it’s first

female in 1972.

Allowance to work in law enforcement is not what female officers are asking. They ask

for equality, respect, acceptance, and the support of men and women alike to grow as a

human and in their field of choice. Such a thing can only come from better recruiting

strategies, the discussion of sexist behavior on the force and improved diversity,

stereotype, and sexual harassment training for the recruits.

In 1971, women comprised of only 1.4% of all police officers. It is clear women have

made progress since congress passed anti-sex discrimination laws in the 1970s.

However, women in the police force have not come far enough. The force is still largely

male dominated and according to the interviewee and research, women are not respected

enough, not communicated with enough, and not recruited enough which leads to a

shortage of females in high ranking positions, less female recruits, and a discouraging

work environment for all women working the force.

Rosa Otero, 48, currently a youth coordinator at the Wall Kill police department was

interviewed at her home in Middletown, New York on April 16th . Otero has worked 21

years on the force and retired recently as a third grade detective from the Bronx to work

in Wall Kill.

When asked about the changes she has seen in her 21 years concerning female officers

Otero said, “Being a Latin female police officer has changed because the first proved

themselves to be professional and that they could do the job as efficiently and effectively

as men. They opened the door for the rest of us Latin females in law enforcement.”

The opportunity for female officers like Otero have been

available for a while and women have slowly taken more

advantage of these opportunity, however, according to Otero,

sexual discrimination on the force has not yet stopped.

Rosa Otero(2nd on left) Otero is a head strong, tough

and intelligent Puerto Rican woman and mother of 8. How

she mothered eight children while officering Otero said,

“Was not without its difficulty.” Otero joined the force right

out of the military and said, “I was a single mother and I

needed money. I took the civil service exams and happily,

the police department called me first.”

When Otero was pregnant on the force in 1990, she

Rosa Otero of Wall Kill Police Dept. experienced harsh treatment

due to her sex, race and physical condition. Otero said, “At the 41st precinct not only

was I given a 4 a.m. to 12 p.m. schedule but I was assigned to work station house security

by my male superior, Lieutenant Cone.” Station

house security means that a police officer must

walk around outside the station to make sure that it is

secure and it is unheard of for a pregnant female

police officer to be assigned to such a post and to

such a schedule. 41st Precinct Longwood Bronx NY.

Otero knows that the treatment she received from Lieutenant Cone was not personal and

was sex related because several other pregnant female officers received just as harsh a

schedule by his command. None of which were Caucasian women. Lieutenant Cone,

who appointed these women, was known for being discriminative against women.

Especially, non-Caucasian females and he was never disciplined for his actions. Otero

also said that women of minority were sent into higher crime areas then white female

officers at the 41st precinct.

Otero also mentioned another

male superior who threatened

her and her other female partner

at the 42nd precinct

Rosa Otero (right)

because

they held the record in the Bronx

for the most gun arrests in 1991, 1992, and 1995-1997. “The male officers were jealous

that females held the record for so long, my superior took me and my partner off patrol

and put us on foot post so as to prevent us from making anymore gun arrests”, said Otero.

For a male, whom was given the title of superior and who was in charge of assigning

police officers where they can do there job most efficiently, to take the women off patrol

where they held the record for most gun arrest. It was not only unfortunate for the

borough to have such a superior but was unfortunate for the women who had to work

under him.

When asked about promotions Otero said, “Women can not be held back from

promotions because exams and your work effort determine whether the promotion is

deserved, however, men on the force tend to slander females.” How this slander affected

the promotion Otero said, “Males can degrade a female by saying that she got the

promotion really because she slept with a male superior and not because she worked

hard. And this kind of slander can prevent the female from joining the unit she wants and

give them a bad name where ever they work.”

Perhaps the slander serves the purpose of keeping women out of units that some female

officers called “male-only units.” According to Female Police Officers of the United

State, in a study of women in an urban police department, women accounted for 3.2% of

the mounting unit, 0.4% of the highway unit, and 3.2% of the harbor unit. All of these

units are considered “male-only units.”

Of women in high ranking positions within the force Otero said, “There just aren’t

enough of them.”

In 2000, according to Police Practices and Civil Rights in New York City, of the 472

captains promoted in the NYPD, only 22(4.7%) were women. In addition, the treatment

of those in a high-ranking position does not seem to bare witness to any progress made to

date. Otero witnessed many female superiors treated with little to no respect by men who

worked under them and by men in the same position as them. “There was a female

captain a couple of years ago, a Latin woman, and the ‘boys club’ as us women called

them didn’t respect her. They put her down and refused to communicate with her. Men

on the force have a problem listening to a female, especially one of high-rank”, said

Otero.

“And then the NYPD wonders why women are hesitant to join the police force”, Otero

said.

There have been several minority directed recruits through out the years, that were

suppose to convince women to join the force, that have failed because the process does

not recognize that fewer women are present not only because of lack of recruitment but

also because of actual and alleged misconduct of NYPD employees concerning

minorities and women. Sexual Harassment complaints are not rare in the police

department either. Due to such conduct, minorities and women believe the NYPD to be

an inhospitable establishment. Women and minorities in law enforcement in 2011 are

simple not given the respect an officer deserves.

The portrayal of women in law enforcement in the media, though more abundant, is still

not shown in a light that is

progressive. On the show that has

aired on TLC since 2009,

Policewomen of Broward County, four

women are followed both at

work and at home. Julie Bower, a

single Four women on The Police Women of Broward County. mom and female detective

in the show is assigned to work sex crimes, which women are assigned to often because it

is something women are believed to be more sensitive to. Shelunda Cooper is a rookie

assigned to road patrol and much of her airtime revolves around tending to her deputy

husband and watching her balance being a good wife and police officer.

On Policewomen of Broward County, Andrea Penoyer, is the only woman on South

Florida’s most effective anti-crime units. Being the only woman in this unit, she

constantly has to prove herself adequate on the show. Ana Murillo assigned to the

Strategic Enforcement Team realized she is in a world of men and like Penoyer, is

determined to prove herself just as tough as the next guy. However, even she is assigned

mostly to cases with women and children. What is positive about this show is that female

minorities make up two of the four women followed. Otero admitted that doing the job

as well as other men on the force never seemed to be enough and doing it better than

them was even more unacceptable.

On the BIO channel, the show Female Forces features powerful female police officers

and detectives from Chicago as they fight crime. On the show, Sergeant Betsy Bratner-

Smith, is serving on the elderly service team and the crisis intervention team, both teams

are believed to be more suitable for females. Also on the show, Officer Julie Lardino,

said of the most difficult thing being a female officer, “My male friends in college told

me I would never make it as a police officer because I was too feminine.”

Many males police officers believe this of women currently on the force, even though it

is part of there stereotype training before being sworn in. Moreover, this stereotype that

women are too feminine to be on the force, leads the women to believe they must

constantly prove themselves adequate, when all they really want to do is their job.

Otero has found herself adopting such an attitude because of sexual discrimination on the

force. “At first men did not want to work with me, until they saw I could take care of

myself and still the respect isn’t there”, said Otero.

The benefits of being a female member of law enforcement can sometimes be clouded by

the discouragingly low number of women in charge and the added level of sexual

discrimination from male counterparts.

The first female officer sworn in, Alice Wells, made a six-month national speaking tour

on the subject of women and law enforcement and it‘s lacking there of. This is a topic

that is not talked about enough today and it is a topic that

needs talking about. The subject of women in law

enforcement positions needs some airing out, if women

are to be encouraged to join and sexual discrimination

against them is to be minimized. Minimized because a

world without sexual Alice Well, first police

woman.

discrimination is an unlikely utopia.

In addition, the training of officers needs to be improved, if

women officers are ever to be received with respect and believed to be adequate members

of the force.