More women on the job in local police departments
Some local female police officers dismiss gender as an obstacle
PHOTOS BY FARRAH MAFFAI Patrolwoman Susan Gerdes has worked the midnight shift for the South Brunswick Police Department for nearly four years.
You see them on television. Their hair is tied back into neat braids or pony-tails, their makeup is minimal, and their attitude notably determined and hard.
And often there is only one of them among a group of predominantly male officers.
In reality — that is, in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties — the number of female police officers is on the rise, and their influence is being felt in various areas of a police department’s reach.
According to statistics from the state’s Uniform Crime Report, prepared by the New Jersey State Police, in the three counties served by Greater Media Newspapers, there were 30 female police officers added to municipal police departments from 1996 through 2000, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Seventeen of those female officers were added to these departments in the most recent three-year period.
Nancy Arraial pushes herself to the limit. With help from her roommate, Catriona Beauchamp, Arraial trains in her North Brunswick home to become a police officer.
In 2000, Middlesex County had 49 females out of a total of 1,556 police officers, or about 3.1 percent; Monmouth County had 40 females among 1,386 officers, roughly 2.9 percent; and Ocean County had 22 females out of 979 total, or approximately 2.3 percent.
While the percentages appear low for the counties, they are not below average for the state as a whole, according to the report. Only seven counties out of the state’s 21 had more female police officers in 2000 than Middlesex and Monmouth counties. About 12 counties had more female police officers in 2000 than Ocean County.
Reasons for the low numbers are uncertain.
While it’s possible that many women feel the career of law enforcement is inundated with men, the desire to become a police officer reaches far beyond the gender issue.
"Being a female wasn’t really an issue for me," said Tara Fiandaca, a patrolwoman in South Brunswick, Middlesex County. As one of only two females in the police department, Fiandaca said that no one has ever made an issue of her being a woman.
At the age of 26, and with more than four years’ experience in the department, Fiandaca said her gender hasn’t made the job any better or any worse.
Fiandaca became interested in a career in law enforcement while taking criminal justice courses at the former Trenton State College, now The College of New Jersey, Ewing. Her uncle was also a police officer in Trenton, Fiandaca said. She said that although she wanted to continue on the path of criminal justice, she wasn’t interested in being a lawyer or sitting behind a desk. However, many of her criminal justice peers were divided, she said, with males wanting to be police officers, and females taking different routes.
"It just might not appeal to them," Fiandaca said, referring to the women who were not attracted to law enforcement.
The police departments themselves are very receptive to women entering the field, Fiandaca said. Although South Brunswick has only two female officers, the department is trying to increase its diversity altogether, she said.
The other female officer in South Brunswick, Patrolwoman Susan Gerdes, said she sees no difference in being a female officer or a male officer.
"I think male or female, you have to have the desire or the want to help people," Gerdes said.
Gerdes, 27, became interested in being a police officer while studying criminal justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She completed a double-major at the school, earning degrees in psychology and criminal justice. Her internships with the Woodbridge and Dover Township police departments also increased her desire to become an officer, she said.
After four years with the South Brunswick police department, Gerdes said she has experienced the same type of response from the public as the department’s male officers see. One difference, though, is her finding that women in domestic violence disputes often feel more inclined to speak with a female officer than a male, Gerdes said.
Getting started
as a police officer
According to Recruiting and Retaining Women: A Self-Assessment Guide for Law Enforcement, published in 2000 by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Center for Women and Policing (NCWP), men and women are equally qualified for careers in law enforcement.
"Research conducted in the United States and internationally demonstrates that women police officers utilize a style of policing that relies less on physical force, are better at defusing potentially violent confrontations and less likely to become involved in use of excessive force, and respond more effectively to violence against women," the NCWP reported.
One reason the guide gives to explain the low number of female police officers on the job, as compared to the number male officers, could be the lack of role models.
"Because women comprise only 14 percent of sworn law enforcement officers nationwide, they are less visible to the community," the guide said. "In many communities, women never have the opportunity to see women officers as role models.
"For this reason, policing as a career is often not considered by most college-age women," according to the guide.
Although this assessment could be true for many officers, it is not the case for 27-year-old Nancy Arraial, who is hoping to become an officer — something she has wanted to do since she was very young.
"I had a good experience with an officer when I was young," she said, explaining how officers with the Sayreville Police Department helped her mother after she discovered nails had been driven into her car’s tires. She said it’s the first time she remembers seeing her mother scared.
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rider University, Lawrenceville, Arraial said she began working on a master’s degree and, toward that end, is finishing courses in counseling psychology at Rutgers.
Arraial took on the studies in order to help her future career in law enforcement. Although the police academy will teach her the law, she said her education will help with other aspects of the job.
"They don’t teach how to talk to people who are very anxious or may have mental problems," Arraial said.
She began the process of applying to different police departments last March. While some departments have told her there were no positions available, Arraial said she has completed several steps of the application and interviewing processes with both the West Windsor and Highland Park police departments.
She said she has passed the written chief’s examination, a one-on-one interview and a physical exam with the West Windsor Police Department, and is currently waiting to hear more from them. With the Highland Park Police Department, she completed a written, physical and oral exam, and was scheduled to take another oral exam last week, she said.
Arraial said she has developed a friendship with South Brunswick Police Detective Jim Ryan and he has given her valuable insight into the hiring process. Arraial said she learned it is important to apply for many different departments "to get used to the process." She has also applied to the New York Police Department and is awaiting a response after taking the written test in November.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 haven’t reduced her desire to become a police officer. In fact, since that day, Arraial said she’s had more of a desire to help.
And it also does not bother Arraial that law enforcement is more or less a male-dominated field.
"Most other people are more concerned with that than I am," she said.
She feels that the relationship between male and female officers is more of a brotherly-sisterly type, rather than a man-woman relationship, Arraial said.
"The gender thing never had any weight on my mind," she said.
Finding a niche
in law enforcement
Marlboro Police Detective Linda Melchionna said a person’s gender does not get in the way of how they perform the job. However, she said, women do need to understand the differences between a job in law enforcement and another type of career.
"It’s not necessarily more difficult (for women to be police officers), but you have to really want to do the job," Melchionna said. The thing that makes police officers want to do their jobs has to be rooted inside that person, whether male or female, she said.
"You have to have that determination to go out there," the detective said.
Melchionna, 42, joined the Marlboro police force in 1985 after working as a special police officer in Middletown. She served as a police officer in Marlboro for 10 years and later worked undercover for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office for 18 months. Upon her return to Marlboro, she entered the Detective Bureau, where she worked in the narcotics and juvenile bureaus.
Presently, Mel-chionna serves as the school resource officer at Marlboro High School. Although she never thought she’d be working in a school, she said her idea of the position has changed since she came to the school more than a year ago.
"If I can help a kid get through to graduation, it’s a big plus," Melchionna said.
This type of position may not be what one thinks of when he or she contemplates a career in law enforcement, but it is a large part of community policing and aids in opening up the scope of a police department.
According to the guide published by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Center for Women and Policing, community policing is a service-oriented style of policing that places a greater emphasis on communication and cooperation.
"Police training instructors indicated that female officers have an advantage over their male peers in several areas, including empathy toward others and interacting in a way that is not designed to ‘prove’ something," according to a study quoted in the guide.
Melchionna said that although she is not always involved in "actual police work," she has a greater role in the school as a law enforcement officer, a teacher and a counselor. She gives lectures in classes such as business law and also helps students with personal or school problems, and even with homework, Melchionna said.
Many children she meets at the school need direction, she said, and she tries to work with them and guide them.
A career in law enforcement initially intrigued Melchionna because of the variety of situations that police officers are able to deal with on a daily basis, she said. She also liked the aspect of being given a problem to solve and seeing a situation through to its resolution.
And like the other women in police interviewed, Melchionna said that, overall, she still views her career as she did when she began — as a way to help people.