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| Female Cops and Force |
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Here's the good news...as a female police officer, you can get away with
a lot more when it comes to the use of force than male police officers.
I'm not talking about indiscriminate use of deadly force or anything
that is obviously excessive force.
But...obvious is the key word. To a whole lot of people, any use of force
by a police officer is obvious excessive force. To a whole lot of other
people, any force used by a female police officer against a male suspect
is reasonable and justified even if the justification needs to be stretched
a bit.
The feminists spend a lot of time complaining about how female police
officers are viewed and treated differently from male police officers.
However, the feminist view is always selective, and it always dwells on
negative, or perceived negative, treatment of female police officers by
their male coworkers and supervisors. When it comes to the very
serious question of force, the feminist view would have you believe that,
as a female police officer, you'll rarely find the need to use any kind of
force since your conflict resolution skills are far superior to those of
men. This is the view most often cited to confront any criticism
regarding a woman's ability to physically confront and subdue male
suspects.
Let's put aside all the back and forth by people who simply have no idea
what use of force is all about. Whether you're female or male, you
should always view any level of force as a last resort. The improvement
of your ability to calmly, rationally, and effectively communicate with
people under stressful circumstances should be a goal pursued
continuously throughout your career. Never the less, you must realize
that your use of force is inevitable. The number of times you use force
will be dictated only by the amount of time you remain in a position
where your duties are enforcement oriented.
As a young woman contemplating a police career, you might feel that
the women who pioneered entry into police departments before you were
born made the way smoother for you. As a man who got to see women
in police work from the beginning to the present, I see something just
the opposite. When women first entered police departments to perform
the same duties as men, those women didn't have the word "VICTIM"
stamped across their foreheads. Can anyone seriously argue that, in
today's society, women are not continually portrayed as victims, for any
number of physical outrages, at the hands of men? Factual or not, this
societal image of women does not benefit a female police officer.
Here's the bad news. All men, barring those with significant physical
disability, believe they're physically superior to any woman when it
comes to the question of which can physically subdue the other.
Whether the outcome of a particular physical confrontation proves or
disproves this belief is irrelevant since it remains a psychological
advantage for a bad man, and a psychological disadvantage for a female
police officer.
In 2005, the rate of assaults on police officers was 11.9 per 100 sworn
officers - breakdown by sex is not available. In 2005, fifty-five police
officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty. Of those 55 killed,
only one was a female police officer. From 1996 to 2005, 575 police
officers were feloniously killed. Of that number, 29 were female.
I looked at the total number of assaults reported for 2005. The law
enforcement agencies that reported assault data to the FBI employed
485,048 sworn officers. Depending on where you look, females comprise
10 to 14 percent of the nation's police officers. Let's spilt the difference
at 12%. Now we have 58,206 female officers and 426,842 male officers
Since information on male/female police officer assaults is not available,
it's impossible to know if female officers are assaulted at a greater or
lesser rate than male officers.
So...we're pretty much left with beliefs and perceptions when it comes to
your ability as a female police officer to exert force against a group
which will be predominantly male. However, the only belief that
matters is your belief in your ability to exert force just a effectively as
most men. You'll soon learn that few male police officers can get
handcuffs on another man who doesn't want to be cuffed when it's a one
on one use of force.
There's no question that physical size has a lot to do with any police
officer's ability to exert force or effectively defend oneself whether the
officer is male or female:
A lot of criticism was heard regarding the fact that a female deputy was
escorting such a big, dangerous man. There's little doubt that a male
deputy the same age and size as the female deputy would have fared any
better. Nichols' subsequent violence showed he had a plan indicating to
some that even a male deputy equal in size and strength wouldn't have
changed anything. But...by crediting him with a plan, one must assume
he gave considerable thought to the certainty that he could disarm the
deputy. If the deputy had been equal in size and strength, one must
wonder if Nichols would have delayed his plan; until, a target of more
certainty presented itself.
One needs to understand how men think:
I've talked a lot about the man's psychological edge, but there are so
many other factors when a man contemplates resisting any police
officer's use of force against him. Any man, aside from a true mental
case, always considers the possibility, or to some the certainty, of
retribution:
While retribution does not occur with the regularity as it once did, bad
guys still believe it does. Police departments are constantly in the
process of projecting a kinder, gentler image, but let's hope the bad
guys never buy into that image.
In my book, and on this site, I talk a lot about self-sufficiency.
However, use of force is one area where no police officer can succeed in
achieving total self-sufficiency. Police officers quickly learn that their
safety, and indeed their very survival, depends on their fellow police
officers.
Feminists and others are very disappointed that women don't comprise a
larger percentage of police departments. Whatever the reasons, it's no
coincidence that height and proportionate weight requirements for
police officers were abandoned at the same time women entered police
work as police officers. While your height and weight won't be
discriminating factors against your employment as a police officer, you
should make a personal and honest assessment of your physical abilities
to exert force and defend yourself.
a lot more when it comes to the use of force than male police officers.
I'm not talking about indiscriminate use of deadly force or anything
that is obviously excessive force.
But...obvious is the key word. To a whole lot of people, any use of force
by a police officer is obvious excessive force. To a whole lot of other
people, any force used by a female police officer against a male suspect
is reasonable and justified even if the justification needs to be stretched
a bit.
The feminists spend a lot of time complaining about how female police
officers are viewed and treated differently from male police officers.
However, the feminist view is always selective, and it always dwells on
negative, or perceived negative, treatment of female police officers by
their male coworkers and supervisors. When it comes to the very
serious question of force, the feminist view would have you believe that,
as a female police officer, you'll rarely find the need to use any kind of
force since your conflict resolution skills are far superior to those of
men. This is the view most often cited to confront any criticism
regarding a woman's ability to physically confront and subdue male
suspects.
Let's put aside all the back and forth by people who simply have no idea
what use of force is all about. Whether you're female or male, you
should always view any level of force as a last resort. The improvement
of your ability to calmly, rationally, and effectively communicate with
people under stressful circumstances should be a goal pursued
continuously throughout your career. Never the less, you must realize
that your use of force is inevitable. The number of times you use force
will be dictated only by the amount of time you remain in a position
where your duties are enforcement oriented.
As a young woman contemplating a police career, you might feel that
the women who pioneered entry into police departments before you were
born made the way smoother for you. As a man who got to see women
in police work from the beginning to the present, I see something just
the opposite. When women first entered police departments to perform
the same duties as men, those women didn't have the word "VICTIM"
stamped across their foreheads. Can anyone seriously argue that, in
today's society, women are not continually portrayed as victims, for any
number of physical outrages, at the hands of men? Factual or not, this
societal image of women does not benefit a female police officer.
Here's the bad news. All men, barring those with significant physical
disability, believe they're physically superior to any woman when it
comes to the question of which can physically subdue the other.
Whether the outcome of a particular physical confrontation proves or
disproves this belief is irrelevant since it remains a psychological
advantage for a bad man, and a psychological disadvantage for a female
police officer.
In 2005, the rate of assaults on police officers was 11.9 per 100 sworn
officers - breakdown by sex is not available. In 2005, fifty-five police
officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty. Of those 55 killed,
only one was a female police officer. From 1996 to 2005, 575 police
officers were feloniously killed. Of that number, 29 were female.
I looked at the total number of assaults reported for 2005. The law
enforcement agencies that reported assault data to the FBI employed
485,048 sworn officers. Depending on where you look, females comprise
10 to 14 percent of the nation's police officers. Let's spilt the difference
at 12%. Now we have 58,206 female officers and 426,842 male officers
Since information on male/female police officer assaults is not available,
it's impossible to know if female officers are assaulted at a greater or
lesser rate than male officers.
So...we're pretty much left with beliefs and perceptions when it comes to
your ability as a female police officer to exert force against a group
which will be predominantly male. However, the only belief that
matters is your belief in your ability to exert force just a effectively as
most men. You'll soon learn that few male police officers can get
handcuffs on another man who doesn't want to be cuffed when it's a one
on one use of force.
There's no question that physical size has a lot to do with any police
officer's ability to exert force or effectively defend oneself whether the
officer is male or female:
A lot of criticism was heard regarding the fact that a female deputy was
escorting such a big, dangerous man. There's little doubt that a male
deputy the same age and size as the female deputy would have fared any
better. Nichols' subsequent violence showed he had a plan indicating to
some that even a male deputy equal in size and strength wouldn't have
changed anything. But...by crediting him with a plan, one must assume
he gave considerable thought to the certainty that he could disarm the
deputy. If the deputy had been equal in size and strength, one must
wonder if Nichols would have delayed his plan; until, a target of more
certainty presented itself.
One needs to understand how men think:
I've talked a lot about the man's psychological edge, but there are so
many other factors when a man contemplates resisting any police
officer's use of force against him. Any man, aside from a true mental
case, always considers the possibility, or to some the certainty, of
retribution:
While retribution does not occur with the regularity as it once did, bad
guys still believe it does. Police departments are constantly in the
process of projecting a kinder, gentler image, but let's hope the bad
guys never buy into that image.
In my book, and on this site, I talk a lot about self-sufficiency.
However, use of force is one area where no police officer can succeed in
achieving total self-sufficiency. Police officers quickly learn that their
safety, and indeed their very survival, depends on their fellow police
officers.
Feminists and others are very disappointed that women don't comprise a
larger percentage of police departments. Whatever the reasons, it's no
coincidence that height and proportionate weight requirements for
police officers were abandoned at the same time women entered police
work as police officers. While your height and weight won't be
discriminating factors against your employment as a police officer, you
should make a personal and honest assessment of your physical abilities
to exert force and defend yourself.
On March 11, 2005, Brian Nichols, 33, was being escorted by a
51 year old female sheriff's deputy to his rape trial inside an
Atlanta Courthouse. Nichols disarmed and seriously injured
the deputy, who was half his size, before entering the
courtroom and shooting the judge and court reporter to death
with the deputy's gun. He would murder another sheriff's
deputy on his escape from the courthouse as well as an off
duty federal agent, at the agent's home, as he eluded capture.
51 year old female sheriff's deputy to his rape trial inside an
Atlanta Courthouse. Nichols disarmed and seriously injured
the deputy, who was half his size, before entering the
courtroom and shooting the judge and court reporter to death
with the deputy's gun. He would murder another sheriff's
deputy on his escape from the courthouse as well as an off
duty federal agent, at the agent's home, as he eluded capture.
When I was a brand new police officer, I worked with an
officer who was amazing when it came to use of force. He was
only of medium height, but he was all muscle. He never
looked that big, because his uniform never fit that well. His
winter coat sort of just hung on him making him look
somewhat frail.
On a number of occasions, he and I confronted suspects who
were definite candidates for use of force. I was considerably
taller, and in every instance, these bad guys focused on my
shorter partner.
Not one of those guys ever got past the first offensive gesture,
because that first move was always met with one devastating
knock out punch. The officer could take a punch as well. As
we placed one of the officer's semi-conscious would be sparring
partners into the paddy wagon, the suspect kicked the officer
squarely on his chin. He stumbled back a couple of steps,
shook his head, and he went back to subduing the suspect.
officer who was amazing when it came to use of force. He was
only of medium height, but he was all muscle. He never
looked that big, because his uniform never fit that well. His
winter coat sort of just hung on him making him look
somewhat frail.
On a number of occasions, he and I confronted suspects who
were definite candidates for use of force. I was considerably
taller, and in every instance, these bad guys focused on my
shorter partner.
Not one of those guys ever got past the first offensive gesture,
because that first move was always met with one devastating
knock out punch. The officer could take a punch as well. As
we placed one of the officer's semi-conscious would be sparring
partners into the paddy wagon, the suspect kicked the officer
squarely on his chin. He stumbled back a couple of steps,
shook his head, and he went back to subduing the suspect.
I was still really new when I became involved in a particularly
violent altercation with a suspect my size. I was very relieved
when I heard radios and saw hands reaching down to separate
us.
After I checked by torn uniform, counted by various bumps
and bruises, and generally put myself back together, I walked
over to where the suspect had been placed inside the wagon. I
noticed the suspect had a laceration to his lip which I did not
recall seeing when I was pulled off of him. I also noticed a
line of police officers trying to get past the wagon man and
into the back of the wagon.
The wagon man was one of the old guys, and he was having
none of it. The sergeant soon arrived, and the wagon man had
his ear. I then saw the sergeant grab on to an officer who was
even newer than I and put him inside the wagon with the
prisoner for the ride to the station.
violent altercation with a suspect my size. I was very relieved
when I heard radios and saw hands reaching down to separate
us.
After I checked by torn uniform, counted by various bumps
and bruises, and generally put myself back together, I walked
over to where the suspect had been placed inside the wagon. I
noticed the suspect had a laceration to his lip which I did not
recall seeing when I was pulled off of him. I also noticed a
line of police officers trying to get past the wagon man and
into the back of the wagon.
The wagon man was one of the old guys, and he was having
none of it. The sergeant soon arrived, and the wagon man had
his ear. I then saw the sergeant grab on to an officer who was
even newer than I and put him inside the wagon with the
prisoner for the ride to the station.
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