Women and Minorities in Law Enforcement Response

Throughout policing history the role of women and minorities has been a long and hard fought battle. Discrimination had been very prevalent fifty or sixty years ago when women were hired to become matrons doing office work or helping with women and children of sexual abuse. Minorities were forbidden to become police officer until the Nixon Administration era, when the federal government encouraged employers to employ women and minorities and keep track of their progress in what is known today as affirmative action programs. Minorities were hired to police their own neighborhoods, since white officers were afraid to go there. Some would say that affirmative action is a form of reverse discrimination and such laws will only stir-up racial hatred. I think we have overcome that hurdle, because I see that there is a multitude of races among the police force today, women and minorities are actually qualifying for top positions within the departments. Discrimination will always exist mostly behind the scenes. Today, women and minorities’ roles have changed for the better, they are able to move up in rank as high as chief of police, and can patrol any area, and it is all based on tenure and performance instead of gender or race. Once looked upon as a joke, women are now getting the respect from their fellow officers, and separate locker rooms.
The comparison between men and women recruits is that they have to perform the same qualifications no matter how hard, to prove they are capable of doing the job. Once a female prove that she is capable of doing the job once held by men, she should have no