I'm putting things into context. The police are basically a bunch of jocks and they have a team comradery mentality. Every group which engages in physically dangerous work is like that, be it police, military, logging, fishing, or construction.  They're hyper masculine because of that, and because they need to reassure themselves they're special - which, in some ways, they are.  I wouldn't say it is no place for a woman. There are certain areas where women are very useful in policing. But I would say that the average female police officer is not capable of exerting physical force when its needed like the average male officer can. So if your 'backup' is a woman in such a circumstance you're probably not going to have the same degree of confidence in her.  That being said, the police do need to be disciplined, mature, and well-trained. And I think this is often lacking in North America.