Male/Female Differences in Behavioural Indicators of Police Integrity

This chapter reviews studies on male/female differences across diverse measures of officer conduct in the area of integrity, focusing on the indicator of public complaints. The large majority of studies reported that female officers attract substantially fewer complaints than males, especially in regard to allegations of excessive force. Female officers were also under-represented in litigation against police, shootings and fatal encounters. Judicial inquiries have at times highlighted the dominance of male officers in corruption cases. Some observation studies have found that women are less likely to provoke or escalate conflict. The chapter concludes by addressing the issue of the appropriateness of employing women for the purposes of more ethical policing, suggesting that, while equity should be the dominant rationale, improved conduct makes for a strong additional rationale given the ubiquitous problems of police corruption and violence and resistance to gender equity.