Number of women in Corridor police departments remains small

Investigating child and sex abuse may not be most people's idea of a dream job, but it's all Marion Police Cpl. Andrea Wilson ever wanted in her career.

'I love it,' Wilson said. 'This is where I've always wanted to be ...

. These are the cases I've always wanted to work.'

In the world of law enforcement, Wilson is a bit of a rarity. According to a 2008 Department of Justice report, women make up less than 15 percent of police departments with more than 100 sworn officers and less than 9 percent in departments of 11 to 100 sworn officers.

But what makes Wilson even unique — at least in the Corridor — is her role in the department. Out of the Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha police departments and the Linn County Sheriff's Office, there are only four women — including Wilson — working in investigations.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department has the other three.

The Department of Justice does not appear to keep statistics on female detectives.

In Johnson County, home to the Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty police departments, University of Iowa Department of Public Safety and the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, only Iowa City has a woman currently working in investigations.

Based on their rosters, local law enforcement agencies don't seem to be holding women back. Nearly every agency in Linn and Johnson counties has at least one promoted woman.

Additionally, the North Liberty Police Department and University of Iowa Department of Public Safety have women chiefs.

Attracted to the challenge

Department leaders said they are aware of the scarcity of women investigators, but it's also not a problem that can be easily addressed. A variety of factors — including a lack of qualified applicants, a lack of interest, small investigative units, departmental policies regarding promotions and the difficulty of attracting women to law enforcement — all contribute to the issue.

'I'm well aware of it,' Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said. 'Obviously I'd like to change it at some point in time. The opportunity has not come up.'

In January, Iowa City police officer Ashley Hamblin was given a one-year tryout in the department's investigative unit. While most investigators in the department have five-year rotations, Iowa City maintains a one-year rotation to give officers a chance to try out investigations without the five-year commitment.

Before this year, officer Jenny Clarahan had served in investigations for 10 of the previous 11 years, said Lt. Mike Brotherton. Clarahan is on a one-year patrol rotation required of investigators between their five-year stints.

Hamblin said she was attracted to the challenge of investigations. While predominantly looking into burglaries, Hamblin said she has worked a variety of cases, including sexual assaults, arson and robberies.

'You get handed a case and you get to see it through,' she said.

Brotherton said women serve a vital role in the department's investigative unit. Clarahan has been an active child and sex abuse investigator, and her extensive experience means there's a 'high likelihood' she'll be in investigations again next year.

Generally speaking, women bring skills and assets to the table that men sometimes can't, Brotherton said.

'We find it particularly useful when we might do some sort of covert or surveillance operation,' he said. 'There are certain times when a female is better suited in being in an undercover or surveillance role than a man would be.

'Sometimes, it's just good to have some diversity in interviewing techniques ...

. Sometimes, a woman suspect will relate better to a male interrogator and vice versa. You always want to keep your options open.'

While Iowa City's system of rotations in investigation means opportunities for women come up more frequently, other departments do not use such a system. Coralville Police Chief Barry Bedford said his department does not do planned rotations in investigations.

'There's not a lot of openings back there,' Bedford said. 'When there is, we always look at everybody and what the needs are.'

While two women who have served as community relations officers in the past also have done part-time investigative work, Bedford said there has not been a full-time female investigator in his 26 years as chief. Similarly, Pulkrabek has not had a female detective in his 10 years as sheriff.

Numbers

Part of the issue is a numbers — Coralville's investigative unit only has four detectives, three working general crime and a fourth who is a member of the drug task force.

The department also employs three women. One is a lieutenant running the patrol division, the second is a sergeant on patrol and the third is a patrol officer.

Bedford said just finding female applicants for the police department is difficult.

'We don't have near the female applicants we'd like to see,' he said. 'I think bringing women into the department is extremely important. Oftentimes, we don't have a lot of women to choose from.'

The North Liberty and Hiawatha police departments only employ one investigator each. Johnson County has four.

'Those openings back in the day didn't used to happen very often,' Pulkrabek said. 'We've had a few of them happen since I took over.

'I don't recall anybody having that much time under their belts to put in for investigations.'

With the Johnson and Linn County sheriff's offices, departmental policies mean becoming a detective is more difficult for men and women. Both departments start all new hires out in the jail, and those hires are told to expect to work in the jail for at least five to seven years before being given a shot at patrol.

'As we typically do, we start that sergeant in the jail to gain supervisory experience,' Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said. 'Because of that environment, it teaches you how to be a supervisor more quickly.'

Investigations isn't for everyone, men and women included. University of Iowa Department of Public Safety Chief Lucy Wiederholt said she can't speak for other women in law enforcement, but early in her career she wanted to work patrol.

'For me, I felt like I need to prove myself as an officer and be out there showing I could do that job,' she said.

Wiederholt eventually took a position in investigations but later decided it wasn't for her.

'I was taking the cases too personally and it was affecting me emotionally,' she recalls. 'Crimes against people, sexual assaults — I was carrying those around too much.'

However, Wiederholt said she'd love to find a way to attract more women to law enforcement.

'If I could figure out the magic formula to attract more minorities, all minorities, to law enforcement, I would be tickled,' she said. 'That's probably a struggle for all departments.'

That's not to say that victims of crimes don't have the option of speaking with a women. Every department leader said that if a victim — particularly victims of sex crimes — expressed a preference to speak with woman, steps would be taken to comply with that request.

'We always ask — we don't tell — 'What would you prefer, what would you like?'' Brotherton said. 'A lot of times, they say, 'It doesn't matter to me.' A lot of times, they say, 'I'd feel more comfortable if I had a female detective talk to me.''

No longer a novelty

In cases of sexual assault, the department's also rely on sexual assault response teams, which include nurses and victim advocates.

'We use the victim advocates quite a bit,' North Liberty Police Chief Diane Venenga said. 'They respond any time there's a sexual assault.

'There's also the Domestic Violence Intervention Program. These victim advocates are there on behalf of the victim.'

Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman can recall a time when some viewed women police officers as a 'novelty.' Now, in addition to having three women in working in investigations, Jerman said the Cedar Rapids Police Department has women in other specialty positions, such as SWAT.

He said that when he evaluates officers, he looks at their skills and capabilities, not their gender.

'It was unfortunate and, really I feel, an insult, that women had to prove themselves a number of years ago,' Jerman said. 'I think what they continue to show ...

is that they are very capable, as are males, in performing the jobs required of a police officer. I thought it was really an injustice when I say they were looked at as a novelty because they weren't seen as a uniformed police officer.'

For Hamblin — the lone female investigator in Iowa City — she isn't surprised by the scarcity of women detectives, just based on the numbers. She's not concerned about it, either.

'The women in the county do an awesome job,' she said. 'I don't think anyone should be pushed into it.'

'We'll get there.'