Review: Gender and Policing: Sex, Power and Police Culture
| Date | 01 April 2002 |
| Author | Chris Harvey |
| Published date | 01 April 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X0207500210 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
does not have Wolchover's extensive range of publications on its
shelves or reading lists. This book will be no exception. How-
ever, although the book is primarily pitched both at lawyers in
criminal practice and law students, police investigators, too, will
find it equally useful in devising strategies to deal with the
questioning of suspects to what they would see as their own
advantage.
GENDER AND POLICING: SEX, POWER AND
POLICE CULTURE
Louise Westmarland
Willan Publishing, 2001
ISBN 1-903240-70-0 (hardback); 224pp;
price UK £30.00 / US $55.00
Reviewed by Chris Harvey
Overall the author has focused this study on police culture as it
manifests itself in front-line operational policing. She explores
the often complex relationship between gender and police work
in some detail. Police attitudes and beliefs are examined and
shown to reinforce traditional notions of what 'men and women'
can and cannot do. Indeed it is argued that these attitudes and
beliefs hold together the structures which enable the subtle and
covert domination of women through recognised traditions and
practices.
Through the six chapters the central theme is the exploration
of how the police service is organisationally gendered, and how,
within that organisation, the gendering process is perpetuated in
many areas. Certainly the author makes a solid case that special-
ist departments are structurally gendered. The key elements
which support this theme are the areas where it appears that the
police are trying to ensure that they operate within equal-
opportunity legislation. The criteria for selection to certain
departments appear to be neutral but in practice identify 'tradi-
tional female characteristics' and reinforce gendered post selec-
tion. Another element that supports the overall theme is the value
given to notions of strength and assumptions of ability through
'high-profile' arrests. These often require the ability to run after
and to catch and restrain offenders which, it is argued, is a core
function and a central means of maintaining the fight against
crime. This 'toughness code' is an informal assessment criterion
of how to be a good cop. These informal, but traditional,
practices of performance measurement reinforce notions of gen-
der ability and gender roles.
The Police Journal. Volume 75 (2002) 189
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