Policewomen on patrol

Peter B. Bloch

Detailed results of a one year study of Washington, dc policewomen's performance as compared with an equal number of male officers. As 86 women entered the Washington, D.C. Police Department, they were matched (for the purposes of this study) with an equal number of men hired at the same time. Both groups were given patrol assignments and were noted to have comparable qualifications, education and background. Because there is great diversity of opinion about what constitutes good police performance, a wide variety of performance measurements was used in the evaluation. The measures include supervisory ratings, patrol observation by trained observers, opinions of citizens who observed the police in action, and arrest statistics. Male and female officers responded to similar types of calls for police service while on patrol and encountered similar proportions of citizens who were dangerous, angry, upset, drunk or violent. Both men and women officers were observed to obtain similar results in handling angry or violent citizens. There were no reported incidents which cast serious doubt on the ability of women to perform patrol work satisfactorily, and in fact this study includes reports of some incidents in which individual women performed quite well in difficult circumstances. Detailed findings on performance and citizen and police attitudes toward women and patrol are presented in narrative and tabular form. [source unknown].