A gender balance is required for a high quality of police services, since women bring special skills and characteristics to policing. Yet in European police agencies, women are typically relegated to the lowest supporting ranks and positions. An active, innovative policy is needed to change the minority position of women. First, police managers must "break the silence" surrounding the unequal opportunities facing women in policing. The disadvantages faced by policewomen must be acknowledged and openly addressed. Second, this should be followed by the establishment of a project group or advisory panel that involves various ranks of an organization in addressing the problem. This group researches and defines the problem and develops policies designed to resolve the problem. Following the development of a plan to make career opportunities for women equal to those of men in the police agency, the plan must be implemented, which includes the monitoring and assessment of progress in achieving the goals of the equal-opportunity plan. Police managers must assume the responsibility for change within the agency, but police women should be involved in helping achieve the change, both as individual officers and as an organized group. 2 figures and 7 notes
Breaking the Silence: Equal Opportunities Policy Within the European Police Services (From Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Comparing Firsthand Knowledge With Experience From the West, P 653-660, 1996, Milan Pagon, ed. -- See NCJ-170291)
NCJ Number
170348
Date Published
1996
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews the status of policewomen in European police agencies, discusses the importance to policing of having women fully integrated into a department, and suggests steps for police managers to follow in improving equal employment opportunities for women in policing.
Abstract