A survey of the nation's top 100 police departments -- city, county, and state -- reveals that women's entry into the police force is glacially slow, growing to just 13.3% in 1997, from 10.6% in 1990, according to the Feminist Majority Foundation's National Center for Women and Policing. However, when police departments are under court-ordered consent decrees to hire more women, the numbers of women go up more rapidly.

The Pittsburgh Police Department leads the way with 25% women in their the police force. However, Pittsburgh's percentage of women has dropped precipitously since 1993, when the department had 33% women. In 1993 Pittsburgh's court-ordered consent decree was challenged by white male officers and thrown out in court. Since then Pittsburgh has hired 245 men and only 21 women.

Besides Pittsburgh, the top ten agencies with the highest percentage of women are: Washington, DC (24.8%); Philadelphia (21.6%); Detroit, MI (21.6%); Miami-Dade (20.9%); Toledo, OH (20%); Chicago (19.2%); Buffalo, NY (18.4%); Hillsborough County Sheriff, FL (18.2%); and Montgomery County, MD (18.1%). All but three of these police departments have been under court-ordered consent decrees to hire more women.

These consent decrees are the result of sex discrimination cases brought by women and supported by women's rights organizations such as the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority.

"What surprised me the most about this survey was the lack of women in top command positions at some of the largest police departments," said Penny Harrington, Director of the National Center for Women and Policing. "Chicago has only 3% women in top command positions, and 20% of the agencies that responded had absolutely no women in top command." Overall, the survey found that women hold only 6.5% of top command positions and 9.2% of supervisory positions. Women of color hold only 2.2% of top command positions and 3.5% of supervisory positions.

Harrington also points out that the 14 departments with the lowest percentage of women are all state police agencies, such as state highway patrol departments. "State agencies don't have a community that they serve, so there's no way to focus community attention on them. They have escaped public scrutiny."

The National Center for Women and Policing has mailed copies of the survey to chiefs of police, sheriffs, domestic violence coalitions, and the media. "We want to get people to ask the question, why aren't there more women?" said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "We want to educate the public about the artificial barriers to women in policing, such as entry tests and recruitment policies that favor men, and discrimination against women on the job. We also want people to know that more women police officers means less police brutality and a better response to domestic violence calls, which often make up half of all 911 calls."

Attendance at the National Cente for Women and Policing's 1998 conference in Las Vegas doubled from the 1997 conference, according to Director Penny Harrington, mainly because of the issues discussed. "Dealing with domestic violence in police families was a main topic, and that's a major issue right now because of the new federal law that prohibits anyone who's been convicted of domestic violence from owning a gun," said Harrington.

Next year's conference will be in Orlando, Florida, and will cover new strategies for increasing women in policing, stalking in domestic violence cases, and sexual assault.