Update

On July 9, 1991, the Independent Commission issued its report. The Commission's findings on the relationship of police brutality to officer gender and the impacts of sex discrimination and sexism within the LAPD are compelling:

  • that no females were among the top 120 officers with the most use of force reports, and no females were among the top 132 officers with the most combined use of force reports, personnel complaints, and officer-involved shooting's;
  • that continued discrimination against female officers deprives the Department of specific skills, and contributes to the problem of excessive force;
  • that the sexual harassment in routine treatment of women officers and women victims of violence, most notably women beaten by male partners, is severe, including participation by male officers themselves in severe harassment and physical violence toward women officers and victims.

Nearly one year later, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a number of proposals initiated by the Feminist Majority to gender balance the LAPD and address the serious inappropriate police response to women victims of violence. The City's new Chief of Police quickly established a joint working group of command level officers and Department specialists to meet with feminist experts to develop a blueprint for implementation of the directives. That working group will make its report in May of 1993. For more information, contact the Feminist Majority at 8105 West Third Street, Suite 1, Los Angeles, California, 90048, (213) 651-0495.

A 1985 study by Homant and Kennedy found a strong correlation between police officer gender and the amount of "involvement" displayed by the officer reporting to a scene of domestic violence. Women police officers believed more strongly in the need to show sympathy and understanding in order to successfully handle the dispute. Additionally, women officers were more convinced of the importance of responding to family fights as a crucial police duty and less apt to think "that a certain amount of physical fighting between couples was to be expected" (11). Women officers expressed greater disagreement that marital rape should be legal. The Homant and Kennedy study concluded "that policewomen have a different set of values and goals for dealing with family fights." Battered women "who had had contact with policewomen had a more favorable evaluation of police in general, and policewomen in particular, than did those women without policewomen contact" (12).

Clearly, police officer attitude plays a pivotal role in how that officer approaches incidents of violence against women. Daniel Saunders and Patricia Size, in a 1986 study, report that:

Traditional views of women were associated with holding rape victims accountable for their rapes. ... Attitudes determine the extent of officer action, with stronger sexist attitudes and greater general approval of marital violence associated with a lessened tendency to arrest, counsel, or refer in domestic violence cases (13).

Sexist attitudes and approval of marital violence among police officers correlate with greater police violence: it should be noted that the same officers who beat Rodney King so severely referred to an earlier domestic violence call as a scene out of "Gorillas in the Mist."

Increasing the number of women in the police force will decrease the prevalence of anti-woman, victim-blaming attitudes which preclude the appropriate and critical handling of domestic violence and sexual assault cases. Women victims of violence will be less hesitant to report incidents of violence to police, as they will be more confident their pleas for help will be taken seriously. Women's stronger verbal mediation skills will also reduce the amount of force needed to resolve incidents of domestic violence.


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