Posted: 11/24/2004 10:29:54 AM EDT
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Hi all, First post here. I'm an LEO in CA and have been having an ongoing discussion with some guys at work for quite some time. I thought I would put it to the ladies of ARFCOM... Would you become an LEO? How would you weigh the risk of your job to the responsibility to your family? Do you think women are at a disadvantage in some areas? Do you think women are at an advantage? What are your opinions? Thanks in advance...  NorCal |
I do not have the right temperament to be an LEO. I prefer to avoid conflicts, so I'd make a lousy cop.  I also would not be able to justify the risk to my life when I have 2 children that are very much dependant on me. Obviously, most women are at a disadvantage physically. I know I am. Women in general are built for the responsibilities of birthing and raising children, not chasing down bad guys and bringing them to justice. Some women can do it, and I'm sure many do it very well, but not me. I don't consider it to be weak or unempowered to devote myself to my family. |
| Would I become a Leo....depends at one time I was considering it and started to take LE classes. Fast forward went in the Army not as an MP though. Met my husband who said he did not want me persuing that line of work. His father was police chief of the town we live in. Now my son is raised, it would be a maybe. I have thought about going back into dispatching. I did that for awhile. I actually liked that. In physical strength women are at a disadvantage, I'm sure with dealing with female suspects it's easier having a female officer. I am not sure what all the advantages and disadvantages would be. If my son was still young there is no way I would be a leo. |
| Understand this when you have to confront a suspect alone or with a group of officers that suspect is coming RIGHT AT YOU!!!!!! Cornered, scared, or aggressive people attack what they perceive as weakness rest assured as a female LEO that will be you. The only advantage a female LEO has is you can generally shoot the suspect a male officer would have to go hand-to-hand with. Not even considering your male counterparts natural protectiveness of you, men tend to do stupid things under stress to protect wemon, that is why Israelis do not use wemon in combat anymore. |
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For those who have the intelligence, build, stamina, and personality for the work...I say go for it. For me...it wasn't an interest. FWIW, I am opposed to a separate qualifying standard for men and women LEOs. One standard, meet it or don't. No exceptions. Gwen strict constructionist |
Actually, I WANT to be an LEO! I've already tried out for 2 departments and made it quite far in the process on my 2nd. In a way, I know I shouldn't since my daughter's father is an LEO and to put both her parents in harms way is a bit harsh, but I've worked in the field for the last 6 years and I love it. I'd want my daughter to understand that mommy loves her very very much and if anything happened to me she would see me as a good person for helping out the community. I think women are at a disadvantage in some areas as they are sometimes resented by the male officers. One city we have here the women wind up quitting within a year due to the harassment they receive. I know you have to have a thick skin, but apparently it borders on ridiculous over there. Women can be at an advantage based on the gender issues where they require so many females per department. I don't think a woman should do the job unless she can pass the same requirements and test better than the men they beat in the process. Women also face slightly better odds in physical combat with male prisoners. There are enough of them who really don't want to strike a woman, but you still run the risk of having to kick some ass should they attempt to kick yours. You shouldn't assume because you're female that you will not run into physical confrontation. |
I've been pulled over by the bitch of all female officers... She seen me coming from an area with a few bars, it was 2am and I had just dropped off lunch for MrGh at work. (Bars are across the street from the plant) well, said female officer stopped me for not making a complete stop, which I did since I knew I was driving on expired tags and knew she was behind me. She told me I didn't stop, my tags are expired (by 5 days) and asked me what I am doing out at this time of night. Told her dropping off lunch for hubby at work. Breathalized me, then got shitty cause I blew a 0. Proceeded to ask me how my hubby is going to feel in the morning when I come home with a ticket for not stopping and one for expired tags.. I smiled and told her calmly, "he won't give a shit, he's had much worse tickets". She adviced me to get my tags taken care of and drove off... no tickets for me that night! Just a bitch who thought she was something special. And me who complied with everything I was asked (told) to do, very kindly too I might add. To answer the question though. I would never want to be an female officer. A female (myself actually) has less physical strength then a man. I wouldn't want to trust the "men don't hit women" theory out on a criminal. Been hit by a man who wasn't a criminal, up until that swing that is, and it isn't pleasant. |
LOL... Um, yes. I would become an LEO. I would do as much as possible to train myself properly and take all necessary officer safety precautions. I believe that my children would be proud of my being an LEO and that it would enhance their values in some ways. Sure, woman are at a disadvantage in the area of handling big beefy drug induced menz (and womenz), but with proper training and equipment, and the fact that in most cases you will have quick access to backup, this disadvantage can be minimized. Even a man can have difficulties with such APs. There are no noticable areas where woman are at the advantage, but it's nice to have a female officer when there is a female victim, a child or when dealing with APs who may be willing to resolve an issue with verbalization. Women are great verbalizers and can multitask well. These things can "enhance" (please note I said enhance and not improve) the normally male dominated scenario especially when women and children are involved. My opinion is that its physically and mentally challenging and would be a great hobby for someone who was bored after spending over ten years being a dorky electrical engineer 
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Good points! It helps to get lots of scenario training to be ready for when they do come after you. It's a strange thing for anyone to have someone coming towards them to do them harm. Can't stress the value of training enough. Yes, another advantage to being female is that you can better articulate the need to use a higher level of force when confronted with the bad guy. If he is bigger than me, he is at a disadvantage as I can use a higher level of force against him than I could a person of the same stature. I have noticed that male APs do tend to be more friendly towards me than the male officers, and have noticed hesitation on their part when I confront them. I think having red hair helps too 
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I got my first speeding ticket from a female officer. I was 18, and in my work truck. Boss told me to haul a** and so I did. Got popped within 200 yards of the shops driveway.  It was daylight, and I had a clean record, but she was still a complete b*tch! Later when I went to pay the citation, the duty officer told me I should fight it cuz tickets like mine were like shooting fish in a barrell where I was tagged. I developed the attitude that females make bad cops, because they seemed to feel a need to compensate for years of perceived sexism (may or may not be true). Fast forward to 3 years later, and I gots me a shiney new badge on my chest. One of my training officers was a female, and she had her stuff squared away!!! And no... she didn't look like a man  I have to agree with previous posts about some folks preferring to deal with a female officer. Subjects would look at me and either think they could fight, or just clam up. With Sandy, they would be nice, polite, and compliant. Gee, not all wominz cops had something to prove  I think it's good to partner up guy and gal cops. Since nothing is 100%, it helps to stack the odds in the favor of peaceful resoultion. There were 3 women that were in my Academy class, two sued for sexual harrassment, and the other quit after working for her agency in the office for 4 years, but only 9 months as a sworn officer. I never heard the details though.  ETA: As someone that might be mistaken for a "non-compliant" subject at 0300 on the side of a rural interstate... I'd much rather be dealing with a female officer, and I don't mean that in an Eddie Haskel sort of way
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we have several female deputies in my dept. yes a few are worthless but there are just as many male dupties that are as well. I know of one who is rather small in frame but holy shit can she run. It's wild she takes off like a rocket. Only bad thing is once she catches up to a suspect she needs help. 5'3 125 lbs isn't much against a 6'3 270 lbs dirt bag. everyone has their purpose though. I think i prefer to work with the older female officers personally. We had a fresh batch of deputies first of this year and there was one who was just drop dead beautiful. Of course all the guys wanted to work her zone / shift. She started sleeping with some of them. one guy left his wife blah blah.. it was like high school with all the drama. that shit i can live without. never get your honey where you get your money. J |
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My only interaction w/female LEO was a traffic stop. The main disadvantage I say was a total lack of confidence, it was broad daylight in a quiet neighbohood and my infraction was very minor. She was scared shitless of me which was demonstrated by her every movement and action and was emphasized by the fact that she never took her hand off of her gun. This toatally freaked me out because I did nothing to warrent this type of response, I was cordial and complied with her every request, I never raised my voice or made sudden motions, and my hands were visible at all times. I am serious when I say that her lack of confidence made me fear for my life as I thought she was going to draw and blow me away at any time. I know this sounds like an over dramatization, but trust me you had to be there to understand, I was never so happy to get the ticket and be away from a cop before. I remember thinking at the time that she did not have the temperment for that type of job and how a real criminal could have used it against her. This was not ment to be a bash on women LEOs in general, but only an observation on this one....
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Women can also handle some disputes much better with negotiation than men can. They are less threatening, and many people respond better to their attempts to diffuse a situation. ETA: It does seem to me like there are some really mean female LEOs out there. I remember one, we caled her RoboBitch. That woman had a chip on both shoulders! And NONE of the afforementioned people skills. She couldn't hold a conversation with a bunch of HS students. |
If your directing that at me the two times I've encountered this thread it was on the active topics as I came onto the forum, both times I've responded. I train in Ju Jutsu with a large contingent of cops this has come up with them several times in conversation in class before because does'nt just apply to female LEO's it applies to wemons self defense as well. Wemon almost always have to cope with physical disadvantage, fact of life! |
It's not directed at you 
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Lemme guess, 5"1', bout 110lbs (with duty gear), blond hair and blue eyes? Having worked a full time gang unit for a year with the above partner, I think I can add a bit..... Some assignments should be based upon physical ability, plain and simple. I can't tell ya how many times my pucker factor went to 10 when it should have only been a 7 because my backup weighed 110lbs, but only after a good swim. I have made an observation officers that small (male or female), have to, on more occasions, escalate their "officer presence" just to make the BG's know who's running the show. A lot more than my fatass does. Conversely, I have seen instances, particularly with juvenile offenders and victims in general, a much better rapport being developed much sooner. Perhaps a result of the "mother effect"? |
Did I quote you dipshit? No! When I am speaking at you, you will know it! ETA: .45 vs you waving you arms at me...Hmmmm |
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I actually work with several Women Law Enforcement Officers, and I'm here to tell you that I would rely on alot more of them then some of the Men I work with. Doesn't matter the gender,Just the training and the Nerve to get the job done.he Feeling Froggy |
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Thanks for all the replies. I think SigZiggy stated it pretty well:
In my experience, it is nice to have a female officer on shift to put some of our victims/children at ease. Usually, a female officer is less imposing than a six foot-four gorilla with a badge.  Most of my female cop friends are pretty squared away, generally.As far as all female officers looking like Howie Long in lipstick, it is not true. We have a slew of hottie gals working for us. Granted, there are some rough characters on both sides of the gender fence but as a whole I think that myth is way overblown. As Aim4 said tho, don't get your meat where you make your bread. NorCal |
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I have had good responese with female officers. The only time I didn't was on a traffic stop where I guess she felt threatend. Coped a big attudude with me but that was quickly defused. I simply told her that this is just a simple stop nothing more. No reason to get all excited. Handed her my ID which pretty much calmed the waters. For me its been a err pleasent experenice if you can call getting pulled over pleasent. Funny thing was I ended up dating her for awhile.. I think it takes alot for a woman to go LEO, hell you couldn't pay me enough to do it so I have ALOT of respoect for those that do wolf edit spelling sucks sorry "bad day". |
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They should be home raising their kids so real cops don't have to bust them later. But if they have to play cop, they should be limited to social service work, school laison officers or records clerk. Parking enforcement is a good place for them too. Unless a female cop is big and butchy, she is more of a hinderance to the guys in a hot situation, especially where physical or command presence is important and, guys being guys, she'll detract from the focus of whats at hand just because some of the guys will be worried about her safety (espcially if shes small and cute, and has been tagged by some of the guys there already). If she is big and butchy, then the guys probabaly won't much give a crap, she'll be regarded as one of them.
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ive only had one experience with a female cop personally but know a few. i got pulled over for speeding and i could just tell by her tone and her actions that she acted like she was big and bad and was above me being an LEO. i got my ticket and went on my way, no big deal. the female LEOs that i know are, IMO, great cops. I believe that they do have to be on top of their game just because many people believe that females cant hack it as a cop. If she can do her job and get it done then why not let them be. ive known plenty of shitty male cops so i dont think that being an LEO is just for men... oh yea...please dont flame me ladies for being in your forum...i love you all |
I'm probably an hour late and a dollar short BUT I was a LEO for several years. It was before I had children and if I had to support my children and nothing else was available I would work in LEO again [I keep my certification up just in case]. I do think it's best though for Mom to stay at home. As an offer there were advantages and disavantages. First I worked in the late 80's when quota's where still very much an issue. Even though I was the only officer with a college degree and was the highest ranked recruit in our interviews it was common misconceptions that I was hired to fill a quota. I hated that! While I was working woman officers did do strip searches and this was diffinately an uncomforable situation for me. Even though I'm 6ft and was in good physical shape - I knew well that most male inmates could over take me. The thing I didn't like was in order to be a productive officer I litterally had to hate the inmates or 'criminals' I dealt with day in and day out. This goes against my maternal instincts and my christain. Patty |