You might have heard people say that all women are gifted communicators, and therefore all female cops are better at deescalating a tense situation on the job, but I don't buy it.

Have you ever heard the one about being in the woods with a hungry bear and not needing to be the fastest runner? You just need to not be the slowest runner. Sometimes this is what it feels like when you are a police officer. You don't need to have the best gift of gab; you just don't have to say the stupidest thing on the street.

I once heard a supervisor ask for a female officer because that supervisor stated a female officer could talk a suspect down better than a male officer could.  My thought was, What kind of stupid idea is that? This is making a lot of assumptions and you know what happens when you make assumptions.

I have met plenty of female officers with enough swear words in their vocabulary that my ears felt like they were going to bleed and dumb ideas to go with them. On the other hand, I have worked with many male officers who have shown me plain old human kindness and respect on how to treat people the way they deserve to be treated.

It has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with character and even I know I don't have to be the smartest cop on the street to figure that one out.