LJ

SWAT Operations

==All about men==

  • 40000 NTOA (National Tactical Officers Association) Membership
    • 17 are women
  • Male Assignment
    • Rarely an opening
    • Women are ostracized
    • Elite membership
    • Physical standards
    • Negotiators and K-9
  • Masculine Symbolism
    • Militarism
    • Warriors
    • Hyper-masculine

==Should women be on SWAT? Study case==

Male officers

  • Mean Age = 40
  • Experience = 15 years

Women on SWAT

  • 58% Yes
  • 37% Yes-but
  • 5% No

Female officers

Mean age = 39

Experience = 13 years

Want to be on SWAT

  • 58 % yes
  • 50% physically able

==Female perspective: It’s all about gender==

  • “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”

==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”

==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

==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”

==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”

==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”

==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.