Abstract

Gender shapes policing in multiple ways. As actors, police officers are affected by many variables in determining their actions – most notable among these is the situational circumstance in which they find themselves – but they may also be affected by their own personal beliefs, attitudes, and gender (Martin, 1979; Miller, 1999; Worden, 1993). Individual differences between officers, along with the department culture in which the officers work, help to define each police officer’s style of policing. In turn, these operational styles (sometimes referred to as the police officer’s “working personality”) drive the types of decisions made by officers in the course of their day-to-day work (Muir, 1977; Skolnick, 1994; Wilson, 1968).