Newark police efforts to recruit more women among sworn officers reaches milestone
NEWARK -- The Newark Police Department is breaking barriers when it comes to its staffing, reaching an unprecedented national goal to have 30% of its sworn officers be women.
"I don't think I sought out law enforcement, and it wasn't really something I had planned along the way, but I think it found me," said Newark Police Capt. Jolie Macias, one of the women making the agency one of the most diverse in the country.
She's been serving for 18 years.
"Something was just meant to be," Macias said. "I was picked up pretty quick. They put me in the police academy. One thing led to another. I just think I was meant to do it."
Police Chief Gina Anderson is the woman leading the department. She and Macias share similar reasons for getting into law enforcement. Anderson says this has a purpose -- every day she can go out and serve a community and have a positive impact on someone.
"One person every day. One person every day for the better part of 30 years," said Anderson. "If I can make those kinds of improvements for people, I felt that was a purpose for me."
But Anderson's path hasn't come without its obstacles.
"There was a stereotype of a person that was capable of being a police officer, generally larger men," she said.
So she worked even harder.
"It was a matter of ensuring that I wasn't just meeting the minimum standard, but that I was excelling beyond half of them," Anderson said.
And throughout her journey, she's been driven by a singular belief.
"If a young woman wants to be a police officer and is willing to put the work in, they can accomplish anything they want to accomplish," said Anderson. "And they shouldn't be held back. In my organization they won't be."
According to the 30x30 Initiative, women make up only 12% of sworn officers and 3% of police leadership in the U.S. The goal of the initiative is for 30% of recruits to be women by 2030.
But the Newark Police Department has reached that goal more than seven years early. As of August, 15 of the 50 sworn officers are women.
"My goal for the Newark Police Department is to have 50/50 representation," said Macias. "That's what the general population here is that we serve. Why not have our staff be of that same percentage representation?"
Representation is a big part of it. And so is building trust with the community. According to the 30x30 Initiative, research suggests that women officers use less force.
"The most important skill for a police officer today is the ability to resolve conflict," said Anderson. "The ability to do that, merely by talking with people, convincing them of how they accomplish the most positive outcome for themselves. And women can do that, and they do that really easily."
So how does a police department get more women to join its workforce?
"When I first entered the profession, all the badges in my department said 'policeman,' and I remember that immediately being a trigger," Anderson said. "I am not a policeman, I am a police officer. So small changes like that."
The department's headquarters at City Hall is built with such changes in mind. There's a lactation room for mothers, and the women's locker room has a wall that can be moved, so more lockers can be added.
"I would love to see the locker room get pushed, but I will only push that wall if I'm hiring qualified capable women that want to work and serve the Newark community specifically," Anderson said. "I won't push that wall just to push it."
Building trust with the community is essential, and so is building it within the agency.
"This is difficult for me to talk about, and it shouldn't be," Anderson said. "I started my career in '92 and at that time it was not acceptable to be a gay person in the profession or anywhere."
So she had a professional life and a personal one -- keeping them separate. But that changed. Opening up meant building bridges.
"When it comes to developing trust in the chief, the executives in my organization, the staff, they need to know you in order to trust you and know that you care about them. And in order to build those bridges, it's incumbent upon the person in leadership position to take that first step, to be the first person to share," Anderson said. "But I also have to show I'm a real person in my community."
The Newark Police Department has an impressive number of women. But it's more than that. They have powerful women with different backgrounds and ethnicities who are role models.
"That's my goal for the rest of my career is to make sure that I'm helping others who want to be in my seat get there and every other seat along the way," Anderson said.
