Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Help! I am a 27 year old woman and I want to be a cop. I live in the Dallas area and I recently wenty thru my first real physical agility test and formal oral interview. I passed the physical but the oral interview was a nightmare. In so many words, I was told I was a "barbie doll" and the force did not feel confident I could patrol alone without a man! I have red hair, blue eyes, 5'8" and about 140lbs. I don't understand what looks have to do with it.

All of my friends are very supportive, but they said I should come in looking more like a man. Pull my hair back, no makeup and a "fumpy" outfit. Are police forces this biased? I was so shocked I didn't no what to say to the comments being made. I want to be a cop more than anything...please any suggestions!

Welcome to RP, and welcome to oral boards. SO, they easily found which button to press with you?

Part of the purpose of an oral board is to discover how you react under pressure. They intentionally probe until they discover your "hot button" then they stick it to ya.

It appears they were successful. Try to anticipate these types of tactics, and practice staying calm and giving well-considered responses.

BTW, was the agency DPD?

Don't forget "attitude". If you want this job, be professional and don't let anything they say/do back you down. If you work hard, you deserve this just as much as anyone else.
Buck up and take it. Just because he called you a girl.......don't back down!!!! You march right back in their and spit your chew on his boot. LOL. Just kidding.

Good luck in making it on the force. I wish you the best, keep us posted.

I agree with Tx and Island Girl concerning the oral board pressing your hot buttons. It is true law enforcement is viewed as a male "only" profession.

That is why less than one half of one percent of our Uniform Officers and Special Agents are females. We are trying very hard to recurit females into the ranks of law enforcement.

If you have a good support system of friends and family who are behind you then, and you have the will to be successful, then you can achieve anything in this professsion.

Many agencies have a pre-concieved notion of what a female officer should look like? How you should act, talk, dress, etc.

The bias are based on those agencies still accepting females as officers.

If want to be a Police officer, then let nothing stand in your way, remember you are going to experience hurdles, bias statements, resentment, and even have your secuality challenged because you are a women.

Achieve great things.

Pookster,

I can only speak for police recruitment in the Uk. I am appalled that the recruitment officer has said such a thing to you, there is currently a massive under representation of women in the police here and forces go out of their way to encourage women to apply so as to better reflect the diversity of the community.

If you were genuinely told that ur looks were the only barrier to entry then i am shocked.

im not sure how things are run over there but the way political correctness has gone in the UK, ud easily make 000s in a compensation claim for unlawful discrimination. I think they would have a very hard time indeed backing up that the only reason you could not fulfill your ambition to be a police officer was because of your physical appearance.

I wouldnt back down on this one.......seek some kind of legal advice, hopefully someone here on the board will be able to advise further.

Regards,

Chris

red hair, blue eyes, 5'8" and about 140lbs

Are you married?

Just kidding. Sounds like they found out what gets you flustered and ran with it. It's all a test. I bombed my first two oral's because I let them get me nervous, then I realized it's all a game and thousands upon thousands before me have made it through alive and gotten hired.

Don't sweat it next time, and come up with answers to the basic questions that everybody likes to ask...ie-why do you want to do this? What makes you more qualified than the other applicants? What have you done to prepare for this posistion etc...

Good luck.

ps-don't go in looking more masculine lol.

I am going to tell you how it is. I know my "better half" is...as I refer to him...a neanderthal. There are up sides and downs sides to this. The up being that he will always want to be my hero and I am never expected to mow the lawn. The down side being that I have to fight to be seen as an equal in any given situation. We all know, especially I, that a woman in this day and age can take care of herself and others if she wants to. Thats why we make such good mothers...ever try to cross a mother with her child..yeah???!! But, Men and I have found paticularly in the police force, because testerone runs wild in this industry and well as it should, they have a tendency to be more chauvinistic. Joe says he does not want a female partner or one on the force because it would distract him from his job. Not because she is pretty, but the need to "watch out" for her, because he says he knows he has been in situations where he could barely handle himself and he would have to be very sure of her brute strength in times of crisis to ever trust that she could handle it. Becareful of these attitudes that you run into. I love Joe and I know he means well...but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Some will try to tell you no for your own good..bottom line, do what YOU want and what YOU are capable of...but you will have to be mentally stronger than your opponents because if they can beat you mentally...they will not hire you because policemen on the job are not babysitters for other policemen or policewomen. They look out for one another, but they look at it like a chain, so don't be a weak link in a mental or physical sense. The guy giving you a hard time verbally across the table wants to make sure you can handle the job of looking out for his brother in blue, if you want it, then rise to the challenge and take it.

KM, do you realize that this thread was started in April of 2003 ?? A post in July ,one in Jan of 2004. Stick a fork in this one, it was done a long time ago :)

oral boards are supposed to be tuff.that is their purpose.like said before they found the right button to push with you. in the field you will have that and much worse things said to you.i retired with 25 years due to a back injury.i had a female partner for almost 6 years.i stayed hurt most of the time due to having to bail her out of things.criminals were always trying her and they would win until i came to help her.for the physical part i would prefer a man everyday.on the other hand the female officers have more patience .does this outweigh the loss of physical ability?does anyone remember the movie about the dalls officer,"thin blue line".a male office was talking to a traffice stop while the female partner stayed in the car.he was shot and killed and she hid in the floorboard.this will not always happen but it is something we can not ignore.