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The Natural and Applied Sciences Lens
The issue of diversity in law enforcement is essential and relevant in the modern world. This issue can be analyzed through the lens of the natural and applied sciences because police officers are usually hired based on their physical appearance and health condition. Although it may seem that judging a person by their physical status is discrimination against that person, physical qualifications are crucial for police officers.
Police departments impose strict physical features on those who want to serve in law enforcement. Thus, from the perspective of the natural sciences, height and weight ratio, as well as vision and hearing qualifications, flexibility, and other health conditions, are of high importance for the effective performance of police workers. According to Evans (2018), a police department may require a person to stand 5 feet, 7 inches tall and “weigh at least 140 pounds but no more than 180 pounds” (para. 7). Frequently, such demands differ for men and women, and physical requirements for opposite sexes will also be diverse.
However, women are usually disproportionally disadvantaged by physical test requirements. Nowadays, most of these tests are based on upper body strength, thus supporting men (U.S. Department of Justice, 2019, p. 16). Female officers argue that many of these physical qualifications are not needed for performing their job. For example, one woman officer said, “I’ve made more than 1,000 arrests and not once did I have to do 24 push-ups before putting handcuffs on someone. I’ve never run a mile and a half after a suspect” (U.S. Department of Justice, 2019, p. 16). One can see that natural sciences may help change the existing physical exams, adapting them to men and women to reflect physical differences more accurately.
The applied sciences can also help comment on the current issue of law enforcement diversity. Thus, the statistics show that in 2019, only 12.8 percent of full-time police officers were women, while 87.2 percent were men (Duffin, 2020, para. 1). Quantitative research helps better comprehend the situation of gender and racial divide in law enforcement. Moreover, technological advancements can also be utilized in police to reduce the workload of officers and attract more workers into law enforcement (Harrar et al., 2021, para. 10). Online communities can be used to gather complaints, thus decreasing the amount of office work and enabling police officers to work on real cases (Wall & Williams, 2007, p. 402). One can see that the applied sciences may have a positive impact on law enforcement diversity, controlling statistics and reducing the workload in police departments.
The Lens of the Social Sciences
The social sciences deal with the relationships between people and society. Law enforcement diversity is directly interrelated with the social sciences and impacts such social issues as public safety and security. Thus, female officers better interact with offenders and victims, are less likely to use physical force, and create a positive image of a police department for the community (Fritsvold, 2021, para. 7). In addition, women tend to report sexual assault and domestic violence to a woman officer rather than a man (Newman, 2018, para. 1). Research showed that many women fail to report sexual harassment to male officers because of the fear of being judged, as well as the lack of assurance that their claims will remain confidential (U.S. Department of Justice, 2019, p. 25). When the number of female officers in a particular district increases, the percentage of crime reported by female assault victims rises respectively (Newman, 2018, para. 3). Consequently, police departments and society will benefit if more women work as police officers.
At the same time, the lens of the social sciences helps better understand why women and racial minorities often refuse to work in law enforcement. First, women are often told that they will be fired if they get pregnant. Society should not accept such norms because pregnancy is a natural part of life, and one should not lose a job because of it. Moreover, women are often perceived as weak and unable to express power and rudeness to offenders (U.S. Department of Justice, 2019, p. 21). Sexual and verbal harassment at work are other reasons why women feel uncomfortable while joining law enforcement. From the perspective of racial minorities, white police officers are more likely to stop black people on the street just because they look suspicious than their black colleagues (Desilver et al., 2020, para. 3). All these factors demonstrate that women and racial minorities perceive law enforcement negatively, which leads to their refusal to apply for a job there. Understanding these issues may help change the current situation and diversify the police forces in the future.
Having analyzed the issue of law enforcement diversity, one can conclude that society and social relations play an important role in a diversifying process. On the one hand, positive social experiences may attract women and ethnic minorities to the police department. On the other hand, if social experiences are negative, these groups will turn away from the perspective of working as police officers.
References
Desilver, D., Lipka, M., & Fahmy, D. (2020). 10 things we know about race and policing in the U.S. Pew Research Center. Web.
Duffin, E. (2020). Gender distribution of full-time U.S. law enforcement employees 2019. Statista. Web.
Evans, M. (2018).Physical qualifications to be a police officer. Career Trend. Web.
Fritsvold, E. (2021).We need more women working in law enforcement. Here’s why. The University of San Diego. Web.
Harrar, P., Sandhu, P., Odle, P., Jarman, R., Mahil, M., & Coaten, N. (2021). Delivering diversity and inclusion in policing. TechUK. Web.
Newman, C. (2018). Study: Hiring female police officers helps women report violence and sexual assault.UVA Today. Web.
U.S. Department of Justice. (2019). National institute of justice special report: Women in policing: breaking barriers and blazing a path. Web.
Wall, D. S., & Williams, M. (2007). Policing diversity in the digital age: Maintaining order in virtual communities. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 7(4), 391-415. Web.
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