New women's police union aims to change law enforcement culture
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas) - A Dallas police officer says a new women's police association is "kind of shaking up the boys' club a little."
Officer Jennifer Atherton is the president of a newly formed Dallas Police Women's Association. It's a group that took nearly a decade to form.
The idea first came to Atherton and others when they watched the movie "The Heat" with Sandra Bullock.
Atherton says the line "it's hard being a woman in law enforcement" hit home with them. The lack of representation for women officers made many feel like their voices were not being heard or taken seriously, prompting the formation of the group.
They first banded together as an informal group called the "Sisters of DPD". Their first challenge was the lack of lactation rooms in substations.
"Women were sitting at substations on the toilet, which is, I mean… there are laws about this, right?" Atherton said.
Female officers found empty rooms that were unused at substations and cleaned them, painted them and had furniture donated. However, getting some male members of the command staff to adjust to the idea took a little longer.
"What do we call it? And I would say, well, it's a lactation room," Atherton said. "'Oh, I don't want to call it that. I don't want to call it that.' This was in 2018, 2019."
The group also asked the department for bulletproof vests designed to fit women. They found that the vests were uncomfortable and didn't fit correctly.
Now that the group is officially a union, Atherton has set her sights on an even bigger goal: changing the culture. A poll of women working for the Dallas Police Department found that nearly everyone had faced some sort of discrimination or harassment in their careers.
Atherton says this is not just a Dallas police problem, but one that is present in policing nationwide.
While she is not sure if her union will succeed in changing anything, she believes that she has to try. "My only goal is to make this place better for the women and the women who are coming behind us," said Atherton.