Female Officers Are a Minority Embraced By Male Colleagues

Females are still a minority in law enforcement, but face much fewer obstacles than they did two decades ago, the Northwest Herald reports.

The story quotes several veteran female officers in Illinois saying that fellow male officers treat their female collegues as equals.

"Times have changed," the story quotes Laura Waller, a D.A.R.E. officer with the Marengo Police Department. "It doesn't matter if you are male or female, we all do the same job."

The story provides data on the trend:

Nationally, 12.7 percent of all sworn law enforcement positions were filled by women in large agencies with 100 or more officers, according to 2001 statistics from the National Center for Women and Policing. That's up nearly 4 percent from the 9 percent in 1990.

Read the full story.