NCJ Number
162111
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (1995) Pages: 149-165
Date Published
1995
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study examined differences in the perceptions of male and female police officers concerning the appropriateness of action taken on the job, apparent knowledge of police procedures, and how "professional" they appeared to conduct themselves in certain situations.
Abstract
The main hypothesis was that policewomen would be perceived as less "professional" than male police officers. The sample consisted of 194 persons: 150 graduate and undergraduate students at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and 44 police officers. Each respondent was given a package that contained a set of instructions and three different police reports, each with an attached response sheet. Contrary to previous similar studies, this study found that the female officer reports were consistently scored higher than male officer reports, although most of the differences in scores were not statistically significant. This may be an indication of acceptance of females in the role of law enforcement officers. This study has also shown that when evaluations of officer competence are based on professionalism dimensions rather than confrontational issues, bias against women is not evident, since the focus of the questions is not on violent situations an officer may encounter. These findings are an indication that existing perceptions of the police force can be changed through increased recruitment of women, gender sensitivity training provided at the academies, and higher levels of education. 6 tables and 15 references