JERRY WOLKOWITZ Middletown police officers (l-r) Kimberly Best, Patricia Colangelo and Detective Kelly Godley review notes from a recent case at headquarters.
You see them on television. Their hair is tied back into neat braids or ponytails, their makeup is minimal and their attitude is 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.
PHOTOS BY FARRAH MAFFAI Detective Linda Melchionna in her office at Marlboro High School.
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.
Stereotypes — or the most minute implication of them — don’t sit well with Middletown Township Police Chief John Pollinger, whose department added a fifth female officer last year and plans to add a sixth this year.
In fact, to ask him how female police fare there is to hear an answer that resonates, "A cop is a cop; leave the gender out. These are police officers who happen to be female, not female police officers. We don’t hire based on gender. Hiring and promotions are based on abilities and accomplishments. Being an officer of the law in Middletown is not a matter of gender and never has been to anyone on this force.
"Distinguishing between officers by even calling one of my officers a female cop rather than just a police officer is implying that there’s an anomaly that should be singled out," he said.
Pollinger went on to espouse his belief that such singling out only causes people to hone in on an insignificant fact — in this case, gender.
Patrolwoman Susan Gerdes has worked the midnight shift for the South Brunswick Police Department for nearly four years.
His theory is that the less the focus, the more dealing with the real issue of whether or not a cop is a good cop or not will be. And that’s all that really matters, he says.
"To focus on a police officer’s ethnicity or gender just detracts from their qualifications. It’s degrading to highlight such things rather than pure skill and expertise," Pollinger reiterated.
Even the fact that a "male versus female cop on the job" motif even interests the media and its public bothers Pollinger. "Hopefully, some day, these types of stories won’t even interest people any longer because people will look more at others for who they are not what they are."
"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.
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.
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