Summary
"This study documents the clear positive effect that consent decrees have on the
representation of women within sworn law enforcement. The findings are therefore consistent
with existing research indicating that affirmative action programs have significantly increased
the representation of sworn women. For example, Susan Martin conducted a survey in 1986
with 446 police agencies. Her results confirmed that affirmative action programs substantially
increased the number of sworn women, and this was particularly pronounced for those
programs that were court-ordered rather than voluntary. Specifically, agencies with consent
decrees had 10.1% female officers, compared with 8.3% in departments with voluntary
affirmative action programs and 6.1% in departments without any affirmative action policy.
Affirmative action programs also significantly increased the percentage of female applicants and
the proportion of female applicants who were selected to be recruits. Although affirmative
action programs therefore had a very positive effect on the number of women police officers, no
statistically significant effect was seen on their promotion to higher levels within the
organization".--Page 7.