‘More equitable and just.’ Richland police promise to work on recruiting women

Richland police officials made a big promise to add more women to their department.

The department joined more than 275 agencies across the country in a promise to have 30 percent of the officers recruited in 2030 be women.

“We believe that a highly qualified, diverse workforce not only benefits our department but also strengthens our relationship with the community we serve,” Chief Brigit Clary said in a release announcing the department signing the 30x30 Pledge.

With committing to the initiative, she is hoping to create “a more equitable and just law enforcement system for all,” she said in the release.

Clary is the first woman to head Richland’s police department.

Right now, the Richland Police Department has 60 commissioned officers and of that just 6% are women, Commander Jon Schwarder told the Herald.

This is lagging behind the national average of 12%, but is not out of ordinary for Tri-Cities agencies. Kennewick has the same percentage of women with a badge.

Pasco is slightly ahead of their neighbors. About 8% of the department’s 83 officers are women.

All of the agencies are looking to hire additional officers.

Richland hasn’t shared the details of how they plan to meet the goal, but Schwarder told the Herald that the department has a history of recruiting a “varied, skilled, knowledgeable and versatile pool of candidates for police officers.”

“In recent years, we have made earnest efforts to retain our committed workforce and recently began introducing programs that prioritize officer well-being,” Schwarder said.

“The 30x30 initiative is not only committed to cultivating a diverse workforce that mirrors our community, but also encourages participating agencies to collaborate and identify successful recruitment strategies and areas that require attention.”

Problems facing women

The 30x30 Initiative is based on research showing women are less likely to use excessive force, fire their duty weapons and less likely to have citizen complaints filed against them, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

They’re also better able to engage with diverse cultural groups.

The initiative was based on a 2019 National Institute of Justice report that aimed to address the largely stagnant level of women in policing. The researchers heard from the first woman police chief to head a major American department during a summit.

Retired Portland Chief Penny Harrington said when she started in 1964 there were only 12 women in the department, according to the report. She faced “widespread challenges” during her career ranging from harassment to not having equipment fit.

“Although many of the challenges that Harrington and other women faced still exist, her remarks illuminated some of the progress that women in policing have made over the past few decades,” the report said.

While the summit attendees were heartened by the news, they said they still are fighting the same battle she fought, according to the report. This includes a “boy’s club” atmosphere where they face explicit or subtle harassment and sexism, skewed physical fitness assessments and a lack of support and opportunity.

They are also battling a larger societal issues. One officer in the report said citizens would ask when the “real police” were going to show up when she and her partner would respond to calls.

Next steps

The researchers also collected information on what works to recruit women and keep them working at departments. The 30x30 pledge lays out a road map for departments to follow and turn over to initiative leaders.

It starts with collecting information, and making hiring, retaining and promoting qualified women a strategic priority for the agency and vocalizing it in public statements and internal orders.

They also suggest making sure mothers have flexibility in their schedules and provide a place for nursing mothers that isn’t a bathroom or a police cruiser.

Then over the next year, the initiative lays out a series of data they suggest the department collects, including how many applicants become sworn officers, details about officer promotions and information about the officers leaving.

The initiative suggests looking at the data to determine if there are any underlying biases in the hiring and promotions. If more women are leaving than men, they suggest looking at why that is.

Washington State Patrol

Richland is the second Tri-Cities agency to take on the initiative. The Washington State Patrol signed on to the initiative in May 2021.

“We are honored to be among the first in the nation to take this pledge and make this commitment,” state patrol Chief John Batiste said in a release at the time. “This agency and this state have proud histories of women in key positions of leadership and impact.”

Chris Loftis, the state patrol’s communication’s director, said the agency has made significant progress towards the goal of having 30 percent of the 2030 recruiting class to be women.

He pointed out that 50% of the April 2022 class of troopers were made up by underrepresented communities.

It’s unclear how many of those were women, but the agency has taken several steps in the effort to hire more women. This includes engaging a national research firm to survey and analyze the perspective of women officers.

“From this analysis, we will design outreach campaigns,” he said. “This analysis will give us information related to age range, geography and career goals of the survey respondents and career goals of the survey respondents and this will direct outreach.”

On a local scale, the agency has partnered with the Northwest Collegiate Athletic Conferences that have regional reach across Washington, Idaho Oregon and British Columbia to market Washington State Patrol during championships.

They are also working with the state superintendent’s office for some long range planning to promote first responder careers for all students, especially young women looking for impacting careers, Loftis said.

This story was originally published April 10, 2023 at 5:00 AM.