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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.
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.
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.
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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