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09/11/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/12/2024 03:09

BUPD Joins National Effort to Increase Women in Policing

BUPD Joins National Effort to Increase Women in Policing

Campaign aims to boost women's representation to 30 percent of recruits by 2030

BUPD officers Dianna D'Arcy (from left), Gisela Rodrigues, and Samantha Woods are among the 15 percent of women on the BU force. Chief Robert Lowe wants more.

University News

BUPD Joins National Effort to Increase Women in Policing

Campaign aims to boost women's representation to 30 percent of recruits by 2030

September 11, 2024
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Gisela Rodrigues came to Massachusetts from Cape Verde when she was 17 and first encountered the justice system a few years later as a domestic violence survivor.

"An officer came to that call, and it stuck with me for a very long time how he did his job when he responded to the call, how diligent, how empathetic he was, how helpful," says Rodrigues, now a BU Police Department officer. "That was my first direct encounter with a police officer. And I was surprised, because I had no idea of the duties or responsibilities of police officers other than the typical things you hear."

She was also befriended by a helpful staff member at the probation department. A college internship in the juvenile courts followed, and she made herself useful helping at-risk youth and assisting with translation (Rodrigues speaks four languages). Encouraged by her friends at the courthouse, she became a court officer, then a Suffolk University police officer, before joining the BUPD in 2023.

That first officer when she was a domestic violence survivor remains on her mind now that she wears the badge: "I said to myself, if I ever become a police officer, I want to be able to connect with people. I want to be able to go above and beyond and make sure that every encounter I have with someone is so impactful and helpful."

Officers like Rodrigues are one reason the Boston University Police Department is celebrating National Police Woman's Day today by joining the 30×30 Initiative, which seeks to increase the representation of women in policing to 30 percent of recruits by 2030. The initiative, a coalition of police leaders, researchers, and professional organizations, includes nearly 400 federal, state, local, and university police agencies in the United States and Canada.

Chief Robert Lowe's department has joined the national 30×30 Initiative to get more women on police forces nationwide. Photo by Cydney Scott

"It's critical that the police department reflects the community that it serves," BUPD Chief Robert Lowe says. "30×30 gives agencies a framework of what types of activities you should be looking at in terms of, how inclusive are our policies? How are we recruiting officers? How are we retaining [female] officers? How are we supporting them?"

Of the 48 sworn officers on the BUPD, 7 are women. That rounds up to 15 percent, and while that's better than the national figure of 12 percent cited by the 30×30 Initiative, Lowe is determined to do better.

The first step, he says, "will be an evaluation of where we are at this moment. And then, are there any ways that we can improve our recruiting? Is there any way that we can improve the way our policies are written, making sure that they're inclusive, making sure that all of our employees, their voices are heard, that every member feels valued?"

Basic equality is one reason to seek a better gender balance. Another is better policing.

According to 30×30, research shows that women officers use less force and less excessive force, are named in fewer complaints and lawsuits, and make fewer discretionary arrests, especially of non-white residents. Perhaps no surprise, then, that women officers are perceived by communities as being more honest and compassionate. And they also produce better outcomes for crime victims, especially in sexual assault cases.

Rodrigues and fellow officers Dianna D'Arcy, and Samantha Woods sat down recently to talk to BU Today about being a woman on the job.

"On the street, all three of these officersreflect that sort of value that women bring to the department," Lowe says. "As you know, we embrace the community policing philosophy. They embody those philosophies in building relationships with our community, in the way they interact with the community, and their dedication to the profession."

The officers all say the most important thing is: doing a good job comes first.

"When you love a profession and when you care and want to make a difference, it starts with you," Rodrigues says. "How you carry yourself, how well you understand the job, and also having a progressive mindset.

"We have a major responsibility, because [policing] starts with our initial encounter with individuals-that determines how things go and that's when training comes in, empathy comes in, knowledge of your job comes in."

To varying degrees, the three have experienced being treated differently during their careers because of their gender.

"I went to the academy in 2013 in New Hampshire, and it was a lot different than it is now," says D'Arcy, who joined the BUPD in 2015. "There were women in the field, not as many as there are right now. But there were times when you had to work a lot harder to prove yourself, for sure, especially because I was a lot smaller than even a lot of the other females."

People questioned her ability to handle the physical side of the job, but training gave her all the tools she needed, she says: using leverage and body mechanics to handle physical confrontations and good verbal skills to avoid them.

"The thing is, you can't let it get to you," D'Arcy says of having her abilities questioned. "You just have to show up and do your job. And I do feel like I had to work a lot harder because there was that perception. I just worked hard to be the best recruit I could be."

"I can be tough when I have to," Rodrigues says, noting that she has wide experience in the martial arts and always comes to work prepared physically and mentally for whatever might happen.

But all three say women on the force tend to be more likely to use their nurturing side and de-escalate a situation, in part because that's how they're socialized.

"I think instinctively, just growing up as a female you learn from a very young age what power your verbal skills can have on people before resorting to, you know, going hand-to-hand," D'Arcy says. "How you solve your problems, just in everyday life, you bring that out there with you."

And sometimes, all three say, having a woman officer on the scene can bring out a different side in a subject.

"I think when you walk into a room with a man who's 6'4" and 275 pounds, and he sees someone come in that's 5'2"," Woods says, "he's not going to treat you the same way he would a male cop [his size], where he's going to try and one-up them."

All three commend the atmosphere at the BUPD. "I always felt accepted here as a female," D'Arcy says, "and that as long as I worked hard, took care of myself, you know, kept up with my physical fitness and my laws, that I would get the same respect as any man out there."

I always felt accepted here as a female, and that as long as I worked hard, took care of myself, you know, kept up with my physical fitness and my laws, that I would get the same respect as any man out there
BUPD Officer Dianna D'Arcy

"I don't think that, walking in the front door just six months ago, I got treated any differently because I was a female or because I was smaller in size," says Woods, who joined BUPD earlier this year after serving at Boston Medical Center.

Still, they're eager to see more women in the field, and they have ideas for how to make that happen.

"I think targeting more criminal justice programs, doing a lot more outreach in terms of recruiting, because a lot of people don't naturally go about their lives thinking, oh, maybe I should be a police officer," says D'Arcy, who previously wore the badge in Marchester, N.H., and at the Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Joining the BUPD also means a large portion of their work involves dealing with people in their late teens and 20s, who may be more evolved on the question of gender roles. "I don't think they have that ignorance that people used to grow up with, that men were superior than women in policing," Woods says. "I think because they grew up in an age where their moms could have been cops, or their aunts or their sisters even. So I think that they're more open to it because they've seen it more."

For these three officers, the gender question "is not something that comes up in the day-to-day conversation," Woods says. "I think we just go about our day like anybody else does."

"It's still a male-dominant type of workforce, sure-however, it is evolving," Rodrigues says. "We are a different generation than before. When you talk to older [female] officers, and they tell you things like, 'Oh, we couldn't do this, we couldn't do that,' it makes you appreciate the opportunities you have now, and also influences you to make it better for the next generation to come."

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  • Joel Brown

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    Joel Brown is a staff writer at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. He's written more than 700 stories for the Boston Globe and has also written for the Boston Herald and the Greenfield Recorder. Profile

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    Jackie Ricciardi is a staff photojournalist at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. She has worked as a staff photographer at newspapers that include the Augusta Chronicle in Augusta, Ga., and at Seacoast Media Group in Portsmouth, N.H., where she was twice named New Hampshire Press Photographer of the Year. Profile

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