New police officers take the oath of office during their graduation ceremony in New York

Photo credit:  Mary Altaffer / AP


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9 thoughts on “How many women do you see in this photo?

  1. I’m sure if there were more female applicants, there would be more female cops, as there is a quota in place. That said, whenever my (white, blond-haired) nephew gets stopped and frisked by the NYC cops, they get a female to shove her hand down his pants and feel his junk, since the men don’t like to do it…to other guys. The female cops are no less willing to abuse and humiliate the public than the men are. Why do you think they become cops?


    • Why does anyone become a cop? I would imagine that the reasons for that have drastically changed within the last couple of decades — really, since the drug war began.

      I don’t know about NYC cops, but here in Albuquerque, the police department began lowering its standards for employment many years ago — just like the military did for the wars in the Middle East. Some of the people who end up being employed by law enforcement and the military are suffering from undiagnosed mental health conditions, along with overblown egos, and in some cases, a history of abusive and violent behavior. And I would think that in many cases, a lot of people coming from an abusive and/or poverty-stricken background, are just looking for a place to call home — a roof over their heads, stable income, and a family who cares.

      Promises of elevating these people to positions of respect, strength, and fear within the community, with sign-on bonuses and other financial incentives and benefits, bring forth applicants who are only interested in those things, and not in what it takes to do the job. To do the right job.

      I wonder how much self-medicating goes on within law enforcement and the military? And how much legal medicating goes on, too. Do you think ISIS is the only army that promotes the use of stimulants and mind-altering drugs within its ranks? Does law enforcement and the military make better people or better soldiers?

      I would imagine that most women aren’t able to survive within law enforcement or the military unless they become just like the men they are surrounded by. That’s what happens with any job — you either go along with all of it, or you quit (if you can). Both the women and men who are bothered by bad behavior wouldn’t last very long within these boy’s clubs, and what’s left is blue and camouflage-colored circles of testosterone, privilege, and a little bit of crazy.

      The real question is whether these boy’s groups can change and be saved, even with an influx of the opposite sex. Seems to me that politics is in the same boat, as the only women interested in that kind of work are those like, say, Sarah Palin. If you want to make the world a better place for everyone, would you choose a job in law enforcement, the military, or politics? How does anyone survive being thrown into a volcano of corruption and come out smelling like roses?


  2. NYC has continually raised its eligibility requirements for cops, and you now must pass a psychological test and background check, and have either two years of military service or two years of college to become a cop.

    Despite this it seems like NYC cops are worse now then they ever were in the past. Many minorities claim black and Hispanic cops are way, way more abusive than the old beer-bellied, long-haired Irish cops of the 70s who were corrupt as hell but laid back and respectful when dealing with the community. White people say the same thing about the white cops. I’ve never seen any evidence that watering down the boys club with women, minorities or college boys makes a damn bit of difference. It certainly doesn’t in politics. Black Caucus politicians were among the leading advocates of Nixon’s drug war.

    The point being few people who become cops are naive about what the job involves, having witnessed the behavior of the police in their own neighborhoods, just as few people who join street gangs have any illusions about what gang membership entails. It is precisely that knowledge of the job that attracts a certain type of person who longs to have power and control over other people and maybe the chance to abuse and even kill people. A higher quality or different race/gender of bullying sociopath appears to make for a worse police force.

    I was once friends with a woman and her daughter, who was extremely intelligent and gifted academically. She was also one of the coldest people I ever met in my life. When her mother was in the hospital dying and I expressed my condolences, her response was “She’s old…old people die” and she seemed annoyed she wasn’t the center of attention anymore. When we went out to dinner she would get upset if I gave a generous tip to the waitress. She once told me she wanted to be a doctor so she could have a title and power over other people, and was impressed with the sense of power that driving in her boyfriend’s Hummer gave her over all the little people down below.

    I suspect a lot of our problems with the medical profession come from medical schools selecting from a candidate pool which may be high in IQ but very low in “emotional quotient.” I sometimes wonder if this is deliberate, given the sheer numbers of bullies and sociopaths I’ve encountered or heard of in the system. A corrupt system needs corrupt people to keep it running and the system may well select for this kind of person.

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