Diversity, Gender Balance and Inclusivity in Law Enforcement – Women in Police Leadership Share Their Stories Part I
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By Pamela Antil, Assistant City Administrator, Santa Barbara, CA
Over 50 percent of employees in local and state government are women, yet represent less than 20 percent of the most senior executive level positions in government. That number is even less when it comes to women in policing. Only about 13 percent of the total of sworn officers in the U.S are women and less than 2 percent are chiefs.
While women have made progress in the workplace, there is still much to be done to move the needle forward to increase the number of female sworn officers and chiefs in the United States. Although we don’t know all of the reasons why women are underrepresented, we do know education, training and development are the keys to increasing diversity of all kinds in organizations. Further, we know from research that gender balanced and inclusive organizations are more financially sound, innovative and successful.
In addition to formal education and training, the sharing of the experiences of women who have reached the top positions in law enforcement are helpful to women coming up through the ranks and to women who may be contemplating a career in policing. To that end the League of Women in Government has partnered with the BJA Executive Session on Police Leadership and the National Research Center (NRC) to create a series of videos that may be used by law enforcement agencies across the country as they work towards increasing the number of women within the police ranks.
The videos were produced by Angelica Wedell, NRC Marketing Director and we are pleased to be able to share them here. The videos may be used by law enforcement agencies across the country to recruit and showcase not only the female police executives themselves as examples for women to follow, but to highlight issues and insight related to all types of diversity in law enforcement including gender.
For more information on the work the League is doing with the BJA Executive Session on Police Leadership, email the League at INFO@LeagueOfWomenInGovernment.org.
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NRC Marketing Director Angelica Wedell has worked in multimedia communications for the last ten years and is an Online Marketing Certified Professional (OMCP). She enjoys leading the digital communications efforts and strategies of National Research Center, Inc. (NRC), networking and speaking professionally at conferences across the country, writing popular guest articles for syndicates, contributing to and editing NRC’s monthly newsletter, The Civil Review. Angelica demonstrates a strong passion for storytelling and journalistic integrity in her writing. She plans to continue creating quality content in the form of video production, photography and web writing. “NRC has given me the highly sought yet seldom found opportunity to get paid to do what I truly love,” Angelica said. “By telling the world about NRC’s services, I feel like I’m helping communities become better places to live. I staunchly believe that these surveys and evaluative services are absolutely needed, especially for local governments that value transparency, data-based decision-making and the quality of life of their everyday citizens.” You can connect with Angelica on LinkedIn and join her in the NRC Resource Group.
Pamela “Pam” W. Antil has over 25 years of experience directly managing and advising local government agencies across the country including small and large cities such as San Jose, CA, Ann Arbor, MI and Palo Alto, CA. Currently, she is the Assistant City Administrator for the City of Santa Barbara, CA.
Ms. Antil has been recognized for her published articles and papers on a variety of topics including advancing women in local government; the future of policing in the United States; business networking; innovation and design thinking; post-merger/operational due diligence in the private sector; and use of social media by local government. An avid networker herself and early adopter of social media in government, Ms. Antil founded the Municipal Managers group on LinkedIn in 2007, which has over 12,000 members today and the League of Women in Government in 2015, supporting the advancement of women in local government.
Pam is an active member of the International City/County Management Association, Cal-ICMA, Alliance for Innovation, Municipal Management Assistants of Northern & Southern California, BJA Executive Session on Police Leadership, Emerging Local Government Leaders as well as serves as a Board Member for Women Leading Government CA and the (unpaid) CAO of the League of Women in Government. Pam has a Bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University and a Master of Public Administration degree from California State University. She is the mother of two children, Sydney and Peyton, and she resides in Santa Barbara, California.
