Puttin’ on the Sting: Women Police Officers' Perspectives on Reverse Prostitution Assignments

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Dodge ◽  
Donna Starr-Gimeno ◽  
Thomas Williams
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Women Police Officers ◽  
Exciting Opportunity ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
Women Police ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Female Officers

Reverse police prostitution stings, which target men by using female police officers as decoy prostitutes, are becoming a common method in some United States cities for controlling the problem of solicitation for prostitution. The role of policewomen as decoys has received scant attention by scholars, though critics and traditional feminists view the practice as further evidence of the subjection and degradation of women in law enforcement. This article presents participant field observations of how reverse prostitution operations are conducted in Aurora, Colorado Springs, and Denver, Colorado and qualitative interview data from 25 female police officers who discuss their experiences as prostitution decoys. The findings indicate that female officers view the decoy role as an exciting opportunity for undercover work, despite the negative connotations of acting like a whore. According to the officers who work as decoys, it adds excitement and variety and offers potential for other opportunities for advancement within the police department in contrast to the rather mundane duties often associated with patrol.

scholarly journals Comparative characteristics of requirements for physical training of female police officers in Russia and foreign countries

KANT ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-296
Author(s):  
Olga Panova ◽  
Sergey Struganov ◽  
Dmitry Gavrilov
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Physical Training ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Women Police Officers ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
Women Police ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Internal Affairs

This work is devoted to topical issues of physical training of female police officers in Russia. The work is devoted to the study of the main factors that contribute to the admission of female police officers to the service in the police Department of Russia and foreign countries. The features of training sessions for women police officers are revealed. The authors identified the main requirements for physical training of employees of internal Affairs agencies in Russia and foreign countries. A comprehensive analysis of the basic requirements for the level of physical training of police officers in Russia and foreign countries.

scholarly journals Twenty-three women officers’ experiences of policing in England: The same old story or a different story?

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-37
Author(s):  
Emma Cunningham ◽  
Pauline Ramshaw
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Women Officers ◽  
Women Police Officers ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Feminist Criminology ◽  
Women Police ◽  
A Site ◽  
Female Officers

Our research project was concerned primarily with using a feminist analysis to explore the lived reality of 23 women police officers in England and Wales. We undertook 23 qualitative interviews with our participants and our research straddles four decades of policing practice, which allowed us to explore changes that were seen to have taken place during this period. First, participants discussed their lived reality, which included banter, bullying and harassment for many. Second, and perhaps more surprisingly, at certain times of unrest, riots or threats, some of our participants were provided with opportunities, for example, during the IRA threat, the riot in Toxteth and the miners’ strike. We suggest that examples from our data capture an early disruption of the ‘ideal’ heroic male police officer that Silvestri examines [Silvestri M (2018) Disrupting the ‘heroic’ male within policing: a case of direct entry. Feminist Criminology 13(3): 309–328] whose removal from their normal role during periods of socio-political disorder allowed women officers to leave the gendered division of labour and undertake the heroic police constable role while the men were busy being ‘heroic’ at the source of threat and unrest. We sought to explore changes such as the uniform as a site of protest for some of our officers who challenged an uncomfortable and unfit uniform in the early days, and explained that there were still problems with the kit and design at times. Our findings illustrated that, on the whole, although massive changes had been made, it was a case of the same old story in terms of sexual harassment and banter for female officers and more was required to address these issues, which fits with reviews and studies in both England and Wales and in Australia. Finally, we noted using participants’ words how much many of these women had enjoyed their role within policing in spite of these challenges.

scholarly journals CARE OR CONTROL? THE METROPOLITAN WOMEN POLICE AND CHILD WELFARE, 1919–1969

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
LOUISE A. JACKSON
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Women Police Officers ◽  
Female Delinquency ◽  
Women Police ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship

The term ‘policing’ is often used to refer to a broad range of regulatory practices, which have been associated with the development of educative and social work frameworks in the modern state. The relationship between the concepts of ‘welfare’ and ‘penality’ (or ‘care’ and ‘control’) has been the subject of a number of recent studies of social intervention in twentieth-century Britain. However, the role of police officers themselves in the ‘policing of families’ has rarely been elaborated. From their initial appointment to London's Metropolitan Police in 1919 until their official integration on the same terms as male officers in the early 1970s, women police officers played a significant role in the detection and prevention of child abuse, neglect, and female delinquency. Through a case study of the work of the Metropolitan Women Police branch, this article considers the negotiation of a social work ethic within policing as well as the shifting configuration of the ‘care’/‘control’ nexus in welfare legislation and professional practice. The Metropolitan Women Police tended to see ‘care’ and ‘control’ as mutually reinforcing rather than conflicting concepts. Such a formulation was resonant with the rhetoric of social work and official legislation until the early 1960s. It also reflected the philosophy of crime prevention laid down as the principal object of policing, enabling women to justify involvement in child protection and welfare as an aspect of police work.

Sex differences in posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms in police officers following exposure to violence in Ferguson

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 623-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marin C. Beagley ◽  
Zoë D. Peterson ◽  
David R. Strasshofer ◽  
Tara E. Galovski
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Female Officers

PurposeWomen comprise a significant and growing proportion of the law enforcement population. Despite this, their potentially unique reactions to job-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and depression have been underrepresented in the relevant literature, particularly within the context of exposure to community violence. Also understudied is the role of empathy in the development of post-trauma reactions, which has been a risk factor for the development of posttraumatic distress in previous studies. With the recent endorsement of empathy training by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, it is important to examine ways in which empathy may contribute to differences in PTSS and depression for male and female officers. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachMale and female police officers (n=189) exposed to violence during the 2014 Ferguson protests completed a battery of measures designed to assess demographic information, prior trauma history, and mental health outcomes.FindingsModeration analyses showed that empathy moderated the relationships between exposure and PTSS and exposure and depression in female officers, such that exposure was associated with higher posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms only for female officers with high levels of empathy. These relationships were not found for men.Originality/valueThis study is the first to examine sex differences and the role of empathy in the mental health effects of law enforcement secondary to violence during community protests against policing.

Integrating a Victim Voice in Community Policing: A Feminist Critique

2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian ◽  
Edna Erez
Keyword(s):  
Women Victims ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Women Police Officers ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
Female Victims ◽  
Women Police

The article addresses the role of victim's voice in community policing of violence against women. Using Israel as a case study, with its minority Arab and majority Jewish communities, we show the paradoxes of adhering to community policing tenets in a highly collectivist community, and when divergence and conflict rather than congruence and consensus characterize the relations between the police, the minority community and its victims. The article juxtaposes and contrasts two databases relevant for understanding the role of victims in community policing in violence against women. Police officers' views about and perceptions of Arab female victims and their community are presented alongside the narratives of Arab female victims about their abuse, and their interaction with and perceptions of the police. The article concludes with discussing the risks and highlighting the advantages of community policing for violence against women victims in terms of victims' safety and empowerment, and the potential of community policing for improving the relation between minority communities and police.

Empowering Women in Blue Uniforms—Gender and Police in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanta Singh ◽  
Sultan Khan
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Work ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Police Culture ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Female Officers

Gender in the police force has received scant attention by researchers, although there are complex social dimensions at play in how male and female law enforcement officers relate to each other in the workplace. Given the fact that males predominate in the police force, their female counterparts are often marginalised due to their sexual orientation and certain stereotypes that prevail about their femininity. Male officers perceive female officers as physically weak individuals who cannot go about their duties as this is an area of work deemed more appropriate to men. Based on this perception, female officers are discriminated against in active policing and often confined to administrative duties. This study looks at how female police officers are discriminated against in the global police culture across the globe, the logic of sexism and women’s threat to police work, men’s opposition to female police work, gender representivity in the police force, and the integration and transformation of the South African Police Service to accommodate female police officers. The study highlights that although police officers are discriminated against globally, in the South African context positive steps have been taken to accommodate them through legislative reform.

Mainstream Superhero Comics and Gendered Representations of Social Control

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hope Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Women Police Officers ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Media Constructions ◽  
Women Police

In the context of increasing familiarity with mainstream superhero comics and their characters, a wide range of readers are being exposed to the values regarding gender and social control being communicated in this genre. Therefore, it is important to assess whether social control is signified differently for males and females in superhero comics. This presentation will begin with a discussion of why it is important to study comics and graphic novels. I will then outline the concept of social control and criminological theories centered on this idea before demonstrating why superheroes may be understood as agents of social control. This will bring me to a discussion of preliminary findings of a qualitative content analysis of issues of Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Ms Marvel, Justice League of America, and New Avengers comics released from May to October 2007. In examining the leadership positions, the formal and informal methods employed, those over whom social control is exercised, and relative success of each superhero in these issues, I am seeking to assess whether social control is portrayed as being exercised by male and female superheroes in different ways and to identify how this happens. The results of this content analysis will be compared with previous studies of women police officers to assess whether representations of female agents of social control in superhero comics are consistent with the experiences of real‐life criminal justice practitioners. Finally, the reasons for and implications of the nature of such media constructions will be briefly explored to encourage other students to study comics and graphic novels.

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