Durham Police working to add more women officers through national recruiting program

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Most of the 389 police officers in Durham are men, but now the department, led by Chief Patrice Andrews, is participating in a nationwide effort to add more women to the 65 currently on duty in the Bull City.

Lieutenant Bree Butler's a recruiter for the DPD's Women LEED https://www.durhamnc.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=3679 (Law Enforcement Education Day) program. She told ABC11 women officers can make a difference when police respond to potentially sensitive situations involving civilian women.

"We use our words. We talk through the situation, or we maybe take more advantage of time and distance, which are all de-escalation techniques that are being taught," she said. "You don't have to just rush in and go hands on. I think overall women are naturally more inclined to do that because we're not always the fastest or strongest person out there. I also don't think, I think sometimes women also can get pigeonholed into just those roles. And I have seen a few times in my recruiting experience where women coming into the profession, they don't want to just do the softer side of policing. But not all women want to serve in those roles."

That said, the DPD's trying to increase the number of sworn women officers from the current 16% to 30% by 2030. Applicants must be at least 16, with no age limits for older potential recruits.

"When you have women in the workforce, in the law enforcement workforce, you have people who are going to be able to relate to those women and in all sorts of aspects regardless of what their background is. It's the same thing with education level. We want a diverse background in terms of education because people bring different skills and sets and knowledge from those areas, and it just makes the department and the city as a whole better," said Butler.

The DPD's planned recruitment effort scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. will give potential recruits exposure to the challenges as well as potential benefits of a law enforcement career.

"There's a physical component to being a police officer. The state has a police officer's physical abilities test that you have to be able to perform, specific exercises in a specific way by a certain time. So knowing what those exercises are and knowing what those expectations are is going to be a benefit. You can start working out now. You don't have to wait till you're 20 years old to start working out, getting your body, your mind and your emotions right. You can start now and we're going to cover all of that on Saturday." she said.

"At the end of the day, our academy is focused on running, push ups and sit ups. And so we tell potential recruits your goal is to be able to run two miles in 20 minutes, which is about a ten minute per mile pace. They must be able to do 25 continuous push ups and to do 25 unassisted sit ups and if you can get to that point, those are all exercises that you can do at home, around your neighborhood."

Potential recruits must preregister online, where there's more information about the Women LEED program https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:va6c2:d2580785-a4a3-4e5e-8759-57fdd72c92c6.