Summary
Research from seven major U.S. police agencies has documented what many police and
community leaders have known for a long time: women officers are substantially less
likely than their male counterparts to be involved in problems of excessive force.
Whether citizen complaints, sustained allegations, or civil liability payouts are used as the
measure, women officers are dramatically under-represented in excessive force incidents.
Given that women currently comprise 12.7% of sworn personnel in big city police
agencies, we would expect that female officers in these agencies should be involved in
approximately 12.7% of the citizen complaints, sustained allegations, or payouts for excessive
force. Yet the data indicate that only 5% of the citizen complaints for excessive force and 2% of
the sustained allegations of excessive force in large agencies involve female officers. Women
also account for only 6% of the dollars that are paid out in court judgments and settlements for
excessive force among these large agencies.
These data are simply too striking for police executives and community leaders to ignore. They
illuminate the differences in the way in which men and women perform their policing duties, and
highlight the importance of hiring more women as a strategy to reduce problems with excessive
force. The costs of police brutality are high, both in financial and in human terms. By better
understanding the gender dimensions of excessive force, police executives and community
leaders can strive toward hiring more women officers who will be less likely to engage in
brutality.