“SWAT mainly enlists men and rarely has women on their team… women are not always welcome”
“women have heightened senses compared to men and this would be an asset to any SWAT team”
“There are no women on the SWAT so obviously they don’t fit”
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==Male perspective: it’s not about gender==
“I don’t think it has anything to do with gender, because there are guys in this job that can’t do the job - I don’t have a problem with that”
“I think its more a cultural thing more than anything else - they [women] don’t want to be part of the team”
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==Female perspective: Women are cops too==
“ A woman police officer tried out for the team and beat out the male officer in firearms and physically, but the man was selected for the team”
“Women can and do fit in with SWAT. it’s not whether women fit in or not, it is 'are you willing to accept and support women in SWAT?’”
Females and males can and od benefit each other on calls, dealing with people and diverse situations
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==The male perspective: Women are different ==
“ I think that very few of the women have that mindset, women are different than men”
“women would rather reason it out and take the time to work solutions out”
“Women don’t come with the killer instinct”
“you want to play with the big boys; you’re going to be expected to do what the big boys do”
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==The male perspective: Physical challenge==
“women would fit in fine if she was physically able”
“If she could pull my shattered back out of a kill zone or she could pick up the biggest guy and drag him out of a kill zone, I could respect that”
“once they see what we do, the demands that are out on guys, she’d want no part of it - after they get a taste of what we do”
==Female perspective: Physical challenge==
“qualifications are made for men who unfortunately have the upper body strength that women do not”
“it would be very challenging, but I felt I could not pass the qualifications”
“Physically, I could never equal male officer’s physical strengths and stamina since I’m 5’2” and weigh half of what they do”
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==Male perspective: Being politically correct==
“Some of the things that we say, it would be wise to keep your mouth shut. it would change a lot of things around here”
“it would mean minding your ps and qs”
“you’re down and dirty, things are being said. We’d need to watch out for tongues. it’s just too easy to work with a bunch of guys so that you can do virtually anything”
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==Boys will be boys==
None of the interviewed teams had active female technical members
agreed that women officers would be welcomed if they could meet the same physical standards
recognized that they would be forced to alter the current masculine environment to be more politically correct around women
argued that female officers lack the male, SWAT mentality.