Sexual Harassment in Law Enforcement - Research Paper Example

eneral overview of the situation; analysis of existent barriers to female recruitment, employment and advancement in the field; the dynamics of sexual harassment in the field; and, the impacts that sexual harassment has on the health of officers subject to it. In June 2006 Scott Bushway (Deputy Chief of Police, Walpole, Massachusetts) presented an overview of the situation in the Police Department Disciplinary Bulletin. He characterized the gender-based issues confronting women in policing as threefold: “gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and the negative attitudes of fellow officers.

” He also opined that “the latter is probably most significant.” (Bushway, 2006, p. 1) He identified fear of sexual harassment as the principle recruiting problem for departments hoping to increase the proportion of female officers on their force. To counteract this he insists that more than lip-service must be paid to the issue and that annual distribution of sexual harassment policies is inadequate. He advocates an increased emphasis on sexual harassment during officer training. He also advocates regularly scheduled harassment interviews for male and female employees that “should be conducted by the command staff and should be documented and acknowledged by the employee.

” He also writes that these interviews should include direct questions about being the victim of sexual harassment and/or a perpetrator of sexual harassment. These are important, he argues, because sexual harassment, like sexual assault, is under reported because victims are embarrassed or lack confidence in the system in the system. (Bushway, 2006, p. 2) He also argues that a sexual harassment policy must be formulated and widely circulated. The policy must make plain that sexual harassment is an offense even if it is restricted to demeaning comments: Assault is sexual harassment but so are many other behaviors that male officers may perceive as minimal, such as dirty jokes or pinup posters.