There are lots of reasons why many police executives want to hire more women officers. Here's one more: Dollar for dollar, women officers cost substantially less than men in terms of excessive force payouts. This article describes research documenting that male officers cost on average over five and a half times more than female officers for court judgments and settlements involving excessive use of force. Data will also be reviewed from three major U.S. police departments and three civilian oversight boards revealing that women are significantly under-represented in both civilian complaints and sustained allegations of excessive force.

This under-representation takes into account the fact that women currently comprise approximately 13% of sworn law enforcement in large agencies across the country. Therefore, we would expect -- statistically speaking -- that female officers would also constitute 13% of the citizen complaints, sustained allegations, and payouts for excessive force. Yet the data indicate that women represent approximately 5% of citizen complaints, 2% of sustained allegations, and 4% of the dollars paid out in court judgments and settlements for excessive force. In other words, the average male officer costs over five and a half times more than the average female officer in payouts, he is over eight and a half times more likely to have an allegation of excessive force sustained against him, and he is two to three times more likely to have a citizen name him in a complaint of excessive force. These data are simply too striking for police executives to ignore.

Documents obtained from the Los Angeles City Council reveal that $63.4 million was paid out during the ten-year period from 1990 to 1999 for judgments or settlements involving excessive force by a male officer on the LAPD. In contrast, only $2.8 million was paid out for excessive force cases involving female LAPD officers. At a time when male officers outnumbered female officers on patrol at a rate of 4:1, the payouts involving excessive use of force by male officers exceeded those for female officers at a rate of 23:1. In other words, the average male officer cost over five and a half times more than the average female officer in terms of excessive force payouts. When payouts for just assault and battery are examined, the ratio increases to 32:1. If only killings are considered, it skyrockets to 43:1. Data on the specific breakdown of payouts are provided in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Of course, payouts are not the best measure of excessive force used by officers. Judgments are likely made only in the most egregious cases, and settlements do not necessarily indicate guilt of the officer(s) involved. To further explore this question, ongoing research is therefore being conducted to determine whether women officers are also under-represented among allegations of excessive force that are sustained by their departments. Nine major U.S. police departments were contacted and asked to provide data on the breakdown of sustained allegations by officer gender. Of these, three departments have voluntarily provided the information and they deserve special recognition for their contribution to this important research.

Figure 2 presents the breakdown of sustained allegations by officer gender, for the three police departments providing data. To protect the confidentiality of information provided by these departments, the data are collapsed for presentation. However, it is important to note that the pattern was identical for all three police agencies. When data from departments are considered together, only 2% of the allegations of excessive force were sustained against female officers. Yet these three departments have an average of 17.4.% female representation among their sworn personnel. This pattern thus mirrors that for payouts, suggesting that male officers are over eight and a half times more likely than their female counterparts to have an allegation of excessive force sustained against them.

Figure 2

Because it is so difficult to accurately measure the extent of excessive force, it is necessary to use as many alternative means as possible. Therefore, we also collected data on citizen complaints of excessive force, in addition to sustained allegations and payouts as already described. While each of these measures individually could be seen as flawed, the fact that all three measures document exactly the same pattern instills confidence that the phenomenon is consistent. That is, results from all three sources uniformly support the conclusion that female officers are less likely to use excessive force in comparison with their male colleagues.

Data were provided by three organizations that provide civilian oversight to a major U.S. police department. Of these, two were able to break down the excessive force complaints by officer gender. Consistent with the sustained allegations and payouts, these data indicate that male officers are two to three times more likely than their female peers to receive a citizen complaint for excessive force. Specifically, the Independent Police Auditor received a total of 664 complaints of excessive force against officers on the San Jose Police Department between 1996 and 2001. Of these, only 2.9% named female officers, although 8.7% of their sworn personnel are women. Similarly, the Office of Citizen Complaints received a total of 5,488 complaints against officers on the San Francisco Police Department between 1986 and 2001. Of these, only 6.8% named a female officer, although 16% of sworn personnel are women. Data are provided in Figure 3

Although the focus of this article is on excessive force, it is interesting to hat women are also under-represented -- although less dramatically -- among citizen complaints overall (see Figure 4). For example, the Office of Citizen Complaints received a total of 46,486 complaints against San Francisco police officers between 1986 and 2001. Of these, 9.8% named female officers, which is just over half their representation (16%) among sworn personnel.⁵ Similarly, the Citizen Complaint Review Board received a total of 370 complaints against officers on the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (DCMPD) during fiscal year 2001. Of these, 13.2% named female officers, although women comprise 25% of sworn personnel on the DCMPD. Again, this figure for citizen complaints is just under half that of women's representation on the department. According to these data, therefore, female officers are about half as likely as their male counterparts to be the subject of a citizen complaint of any kind.

Clearly, the research presented here suggests that female officers are substantially less likely than their male colleagues to use excessive force. Whether citizen complaints, sustained allegations, or payouts are examined, the pattern is the same -- the average woman on patrol is less likely to use excessive force than the average man, and she exposes the department to less civil liability.

This research on excessive force must be understood, however, in the context of other studies on police use of force more generally. At least five major studies have been conducted in the last few decades to examine the use of force by officer gender. Two of these studies reported a gender difference and two did not, and this can be explained entirely by the different type of methodology used for the research. When the results are interpreted in the context of these different methodologies, they suggest that there is no difference in the level of force used by male verses female officers during the course of routine professional duties. However, when more serious instances of force -- including excessive force -- are examined, a clear gender difference emerges.

For example, the National Institute of Justice funded two studies in the 1990's which were designed to analyze the full extent of force used in the course of routine patrol duties. Both of these studies examined multiple departments and used a similar and very rigorous scientific methodology. Researchers collected data on the use of force involved in every single arrest made by officers during a set period of time. Not surprisingly, the results indicated no difference between the routine use of force by male and female officers.

However, other studies that examine more serious instances of force do find a gender difference. The first of these was conducted by Sean Grennan in 1987, and it documented that female officers were less likely than their male colleagues on the New York Police Department to discharge a firearm. A second study was conducted in 1991 to compare the use of excessive force by male and female officers. This research was conducted by the Christopher Commission, in the wake of the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles. The commission examined all of the use of force reports, citizen's complaints, and lawsuits involving excessive force against the Los Angeles Police Department. They concluded that "virtually every indicator examined by the Commission establishes that female LAPD officers are involved in excessive use of force at rates substantially below those of male officers."

The most recent example of research in this area is the ongoing data collection conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). These data are provided voluntarily by a large number of law enforcement agencies, and they can reasonably be considered to include more serious instances of force than those analyzed in the NIJ research. In the period of 1995 to 2000, a total of 129,963 instances of force were reported in the IACP database. Of these, 7.8% involved a female officer. Although the percentage of women on these reporting departments is unknown, this figure can be compared to the national average of 13%. On this basis, it is reasonable to conclude that female officers are under-represented to some extent in more serious use of force, relative to their proportion among sworn law enforcement.

Assuming this representation of 13%, moreover, female officers are also under-represented in every single category of force examined by the IACP. The proportion of incidents involving female officers ranged from a low of 0% for electronic weapons and 1.9% for firearms to 8.3% for chemical weapons. Statistically, we would expect female officers to represent 13% of each category if they used force at a similar rate as their male counterparts. The pattern of the research is therefore clear, and perhaps best summed up by the Christopher Commission in their 1991 report: "Female officers are not reluctant to use force but they are not nearly as likely to be involved in use of excessive force."

Advantages of Women Police

There is now a voluminous body of research documenting that female officers are less likely than their male colleagues to use excessive force. Although men and women use force at comparable levels during the course of their routine patrol duties, female officers are on average less likely to use excessive force and therefore expose their departments to less civil liability. This is likely because female officers tend to utilize a style of policing that relies on communication skills rather than physical force. Women officers from around the country describe how they prefer to use words rather than their fists, to de-escalate situations that might otherwise become violent.

This could also explain why fewer women are killed in the line of duty. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund indicates that women constitute only 4.7% of the 1,699 officers killed in the line of duty from 1990 to 2000. Once again, we would expect this figure to be 13% if women were killed at a rate that was proportionate to their representation among sworn law enforcement.

Yet there are even more advantages that women bring to the field of law enforcement. For example, female officers are less cynical in their view of citizens, and they report greater support for the principles of community policing in comparison with their male colleagues. Female officers also respond more effectively to cases of domestic violence, which represent up to half of all violent crime calls. Increasing the number of women can even transform the very climate of a law enforcement agency and reduce the prevalence of gender discrimination and sexual harassment. These are all important advantages that police executives would be remiss to ignore, especially in an era where agencies are seeking a greater number of qualified personnel to recruit. Clearly, a big part of the solution to the current "recruitment crisis" is to better recruit and retain women.

The most obvious implication of all this research is that police executives must do a better job of recruiting and retaining women. Fortunately, there is now an effective tool to assist in that process. The National Center for Women & Policing has recently published a comprehensive document entitled "Recruiting and Retaining Women: A Self Assessment Guide for Law Enforcement." Developed with funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, this Self Assessment Guide provides hundreds of concrete suggestions for police executives to audit their agency's policies and procedures and implement recommendations. With chapters on everything from recruiting and training to performance evaluations and sexual harassment, the Self Assessment Guide is an invaluable resource for police executives seeking to increase their recruitment and retention of women, and improve the quality of police service provided to the community. Best of all, it's free. The Self Assessment Guide can be ordered from the National Criminal Justice Service or downloaded directly from their website at http://www.ncjrs.org

More generally, the research also raises the question of whether men can be taught to police more like women. Or, more accurately, whether all sworn personnel can be taught the skills to de-escalate potentially violent situations and effectively police with less reliance on physical force. Some police executives have seriously engaged this question and found that substantial improvement can be seen in a short amount of time. For example, Chief William Moulder of the Des Moines Police Department implemented a number of measure to decrease the use of force while still effectively providing police services. Training now places greater emphasis on the continuum of force available to officers, and less-than-lethal options such as pepper spray. In addition, heavy metal flashlights are no longer issued which were often used to subdue suspects. As a result of these efforts, the number of instances in which force used declined from 486 in 1998 to 256 in 2000.

This research also underscores the importance of early warning systems and civilian oversight. As human beings, we are usually not the best ones to see or correct our own flaws. The same is true for police agencies. Especially in this era of escalating civil litigation, it is critical for executives in large police agencies to implement some kind of early warning system to detect potential "problem officers" and correct their behavior. For small agencies, such "early warning systems" are likely to be informal, but problem behaviors and corrective actions must nonetheless be meticulously documented. Only with such a system can departments avoid the problems faced by the Denver Police Department, which was sued several times for excessive force committed by officers with numerous past violations.

For both large and small agencies, it is also critically important to have some structural form of civilian oversight. No one likes to have "outsiders" scrutinizing their behavior, but communities deserve -- and increasingly demand -- to serve as watchdogs to help the police to police themselves. The fact is that despite the initial discomfort caused by implementing civilian oversight, the benefits to a police agency are substantial. By providing the public with access to information and a voice in departmental policies, police executives can significantly increase the level of trust and cooperation between the department and community. It also provides a feedback loop for improving the department's functioning. Small problems can be identified and corrected before they become big problems -- or even big lawsuits. And the burden of difficult or unpopular decisions can be shared between members of the police department and the public.

Finally, police executives can contribute to our understanding of this issue by making data available to researchers such as the National Center for Women & Policing. Although police departments are often reluctant to release data on issues as sensitive as excessive force, we will only understand problems and glimpse solutions when such information is widely available. In this area, as in so many others, knowledge truly is power -- the power to reform contemporary policing to better protect and serve not only the public but also the police themselves.