Because only 8% of the nation's police officers are women, The Feminist Majority Foundation in February launched the National Center for Women and Policing in a groundbreaking effort to significantly increase the numbers of women at all ranks of law enforcement in the United States. The Center is the first nationwide resource for women police, law enforcement agencies, and public officials seeking to increase the numbers of women police in their communities, raise awareness about the benefits women bring to policing, and improve police response to violence against women.National and international research show conclusively that increasing the numbers of women in police departments measurably reduces police excessive use of force and improves police response to domestic violence incidents, which account for up to half of all emergency phone calls to police.
The National Center is an outgrowth of the Feminist Majority's successful efforts to secure gender-balance hiring goals for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the wake of the Rodney King beating. The LAPD is currently under a directive from the Los Angeles City Council to recruit 44% women in every police academy class.
Retired Portland, Oregon Police Chief Penny Harrington will head the National Center for Women and Policing. Harrington was the first woman chief of police of a major U.S. city. She worked her way up the ranks of the Portland Police Department, filing 42 sex discrimination complaints and a national precedent-setting class-action lawsuit on her way to becoming chief.
"Women in policing everywhere will benefit from this new Center," says Harrington. "The Center's training, research, and educational and action programs will break down barriers that women face in law enforcement. We aim to change the face of policing in this country."
The Center's programs will focus on three major areas:
- Educational campaigns to raise awareness among decision-makers and the general public about the benefits of increasing the numbers of women in policing;
- Innovative leadership training programs for women in policing and advocacy programs to increase the numbers of women in policing and policy-making positions; and,
- Promoting specialized Family Violence Response Units within law enforcement agencies for more effective police response to family violence crimes.
The Center has established an Advisory Board of distinguished law enforcement and community leaders, high-ranking women police, criminal justice experts and women's and civil rights attorneys to help guide the Center's programs and outreach. (See sidebar for the complete Advisory Board).
For more information about the National Center for Women and Policing, call the Feminist Majority Foundation's West Coast office at (213) 651-0495.
Advisory Board of the National Center for Women and Policing
- Penny Harrington, Director of National Center for Women and Policing-Retired Police Chief, Portland, Oregon
- Eleanor Smeal - President, Feminist Majority Foundation
- Katherine Spillar - National Coordinator, Feminist Majority Foundation
- Lt. Carol Aborn - Los Angeles Police Department
- JoAnne Belknap - Dept. of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati
- L. Gale Buckner - Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Georgia Bureau of Investigation
- Hon. Theresa Fay-Bustillos - Administrative Law Judge, State of California
- Deputy U.S. Marshal Linda Cherry -
- President, International Association of Women Police
- Commander Gwendolyn Elliott - Pittsburgh Bureau of Police
- Lieutenant Barbara Frost - Chicago Police Department
- Linda Greigo - President and CEO, Rebuild LA
- Chief Beverly Harvard - Atlanta Police Department
- U.S. Marshal Phylliss Henry - Head Marshal, Southern District of Iowa
- Jenifer McKenna - California Women's Law Center
- Andrea Sheridan Ordin, Esq. - Commissioner, Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Dept.
- Chief Nicholas Pastore - New Haven Department Of Police Services
- Acting Chief Roberta Reddick (Retired) - Compton Police Department
- Constance Rice, Esq. - Western Regional Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- Elsie L. Scott, PhD - Deputy Commissioner, New York Police Department
- Steven J. Stanard, PhD - CEO, Stanard & Associates, Inc.
- Assistant Chief Robert Webber - Portland Police Bureau