North Texas Law Enforcement Leaders Encourage Women To Join
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SOUTHLAKE (CBSDFW.COM) - Women may make up more than half of the population in the country, but not when it comes to the police force.
Now, a group of North Texas law enforcement leaders are trying to change that one woman at a time. For many of them, patrolling the streets as a woman in blue is a lonely profession.
"Being a woman in policing, you are the minority. You feel so isolated," said Senior police officer Tammie Cooper with the Cedar Hill police department.
In fact, only 12 percent of law enforcement officers are female. But in Southlake, a whopping 60 percent of the police department's command staff are women.
"I think what we do is we give whoever is the best person for the job that job. We don't look at gender," said Leah Lewis with the Southlake police department.
Now they're applying their recipe for success to a larger audience.
"There's an opportunity for us to grow," said Lewis. "Women in law enforcement are more prevalent these days. So we want to take this opportunity to train them and give them the tools to be the best leaders that they can be."
The 2nd Annual Women In Law Enforcement conference is a place for officers to learn both leadership and tactical skills.
"Just being able to talk and share those experiences, just having that camaraderie of sisterhood… it really means a lot," said officer Cooper.
They are learning from some of the most acclaimed officers and best sharp shooters in the nation. But the purpose there is larger.
"The main thing we're teaching them is they can," said Lewis.
The conference sold out all 150 spots quickly. It will move to a larger facility in Fort Worth next year.
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