Posted on 03/16/2005 3:57:24 PM PST by AZ_Cowboy
How many people have to die before the country stops humoring feminists? Last week, a defendant in a rape case, Brian Nichols, wrested a gun from a female deputy in an Atlanta courthouse and went on a murderous rampage. Liberals have proffered every possible explanation for this breakdown in security except the giant elephant in the room – who undoubtedly has an eating disorder and would appreciate a little support vis-à-vis her negative body image.
The New York Times said the problem was not enough government spending on courthouse security ("Budgets Can Affect Safety Inside Many Courthouses"). Yes, it was tax-cuts-for-the-rich that somehow enabled a 200-pound former linebacker to take a gun from a 5-foot-tall grandmother.
Atlanta court officials dispensed with any spending issues the next time Nichols entered the courtroom when he was escorted by 17 guards and two police helicopters. He looked like P. Diddy showing up for a casual dinner party.
I think I have an idea that would save money and lives: Have large men escort violent criminals. Admittedly, this approach would risk another wave of nausea and vomiting by female professors at Harvard. But there are also advantages to not pretending women are as strong as men, such as fewer dead people. Even a female math professor at Harvard should be able to run the numbers on this one.
Of course, it's suspiciously difficult to find any hard data about the performance of female cops. Not as hard as finding the study showing New Jersey state troopers aren't racist, but still pretty hard to find.
Mostly what you find on Lexis-Nexis are news stories quoting police chiefs who have been browbeaten into submission, all uttering the identical mantra after every public-safety disaster involving a girl cop. It seems that female officers compensate for a lack of strength with "other" abilities, such as cooperation, empathy and intuition.
There are lots of passing references to "studies" of uncertain provenance, but which always sound uncannily like a press release from the Feminist Majority Foundation. (Or maybe it was The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which recently released a study claiming that despite Memogate, "Fahrenheit 9/11," the Richard Clarke show and the jihad against the Swift Boat Veterans, the press is being soft on Bush.)
The anonymous "studies" about female officers invariably demonstrate that women make excellent cops – even better cops than men! One such study cited an episode of "She's the Sheriff," starring Suzanne Somers.
A 1993 news article in the Los Angeles Times, for example, referred to a "study" – cited by an ACLU attorney – allegedly proving that "female officers are more effective at making arrests without employing force because they are better at de-escalating confrontations with suspects." No, you can't see the study or have the name of the organization that performed it, and why would you ask?
There are roughly 118 million men in this country who would take exception to that notion. I wonder if women officers "de-escalate" by mentioning how much more money their last suspect made.
These aren't unascertainable facts, like Pinch Sulzberger's SAT scores. The U.S. Department of Justice regularly performs comprehensive surveys of state and local law enforcement agencies, collected in volumes called "Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics."
The inestimable economist John Lott has looked at the actual data. (And I'll give you the citation! John R. Lott Jr., "Does a Helping Hand Put Others at Risk? Affirmative Action, Police Departments and Crime," Economic Inquiry, April 1, 2000.)
It turns out that, far from "de-escalating force" through their superior listening skills, female law enforcement officers vastly are more likely to shoot civilians than their male counterparts. (Especially when perps won't reveal where they bought a particularly darling pair of shoes.)
Unable to use intermediate force, like a bop on the nose, female officers quickly go to fatal force. According to Lott's analysis, each 1 percent increase in the number of white female officers in a police force increases the number of shootings of civilians by 2.7 percent.
Adding males to a police force decreases the number of civilians accidentally shot by police. Adding black males decreases civilian shootings by police even more. By contrast, adding white female officers increases accidental shootings. (And for my Handgun Control Inc. readers: Private citizens are much less likely to accidentally shoot someone than are the police, presumably because they do not have to approach the suspect and make an arrest.)
In addition to accidentally shooting people, female law enforcement officers are also more likely to be assaulted than male officers – as the whole country saw in Atlanta last week. Lott says: "Increasing the number of female officers by 1 percentage point appears to increase the number of assaults on police by 15 percent to 19 percent."
In addition to the obvious explanations for why female cops are more likely to be assaulted and to accidentally shoot people – such as that our society encourages girls to play with dolls – there is also the fact that women are smaller and weaker than men.
In a study of public-safety officers – not even the general population – female officers were found to have 32 percent to 56 percent less upper body strength and 18 percent to 45 percent less lower body strength than male officers – although their outfits were 43 percent more coordinated. (Here's the cite! Frank J. Landy, "Alternatives to Chronological Age in Determining Standards of Suitability for Public Safety Jobs," Technical Report, Vol. 1, Jan. 31, 1992.)
Another study I've devised involves asking a woman to open a jar of pickles.
There is also the telling fact that feminists demand that strength tests be watered down so that women can pass them. Feminists simultaneously demand that no one suggest women are not as strong as men and then turn around and demand that all the strength tests be changed. It's one thing to waste everyone's time by allowing women to try out for police and fire departments under the same tests given to men. It's quite another to demand that the tests be brawned-down so no one ever has to tell female Harvard professors that women aren't as strong as men.
Acknowledging reality wouldn't be all bad for women. For one thing, they won't have to confront violent felons on methamphetamine. So that's good. Also, while a sane world would not employ 5-foot-tall grandmothers as law enforcement officers, a sane world would also not give full body-cavity searches to 5-foot-tall grandmothers at airports.
well, sure, why not? Takes brains not just muscle to defend yourself, and according to some studies and people, women often "prove" to be more intelligent than men. So, yeah, I do.
I agree with you completely. If you see my profile page, you will see that I am a former police officer and trained cadets in patrol procedures and mechanics of arrest for many years.
That woman should never have been alone with that guy.
well, I could agree with you there. I think men and women should BOTH by treated equal. And, if that means raising the requirements for women, that's fine. But, stereotyping isn't a good way to look at things. For Example..."She's a woman, she isn't strong" or "He's a man, he can't change a dirty diaper"
LOL bump
The scary thing is I don't think she was kidding.
Read later
I don't think women would really want to have to share gender neutral bathrooms with men. Some men don't worry too much about accuracy especially when there aren't enough urinals.
Pretty crappy title, I'll assume she didn't pick it.
That would be true only if you never learned anything as you age.
Another study I've devised involves asking a woman to open a jar of pickles.
As an aside, here's a tip for when even the man of the house can't open that stubborn pickle jar. Even a little old lady with osteoporosis can make this work. Slap a rubber band, preferably a wide one, around the circumference of the pickle jar (or any jar) lid before attempting to open it. Lids that wouldn't budge will open easily.
Gender Neutral Bathrooms... Are coming.... at least the discussion is on it's way....
There was an article yesterday about how transgenders don't know which bathroom to use when they are "between sexes".
I say - "Go before you leave the house and cross your legs until you get home."
But, that's just me.
Ping---great column.
bump for my website: link it!
Why can't there be more women like Ann....
Good point. "With age brings wisdom" (in most cases)
In my opinion, you're right until the last sentence. Then she wrecked it.
She changed the subject entirely and then made a gross misstatement of what happens at airports. Why couldn't she have stopped one sentence earlier without making a statement she could be ridiculed over?
Ok... more eye protection,but less clothing, it's hot at the range.... ;-)
The trouble is, we are often asked to account for disparities in ability. For example, Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard was asked to comment on why there aren't more women getting degrees in math and sciences. He suggested that maybe women aren't as good at math and science as men. BAM! He is now about to lose his job.
And there is absolutely no way to get liberals to debate this rationally -- because they know they will lose.
well, everyone is different physically and mentally, so i dont think any scientist or professor can absolutely prove anything as far as that goes.
In the following paragraphs I'm going to share a first hand experience of the problems with female officers in confrontational situations. It is long, but very supportive of this situation - and I will cite facts.
In February of 1994, I was the manager of a campus bar at the University of Illinois (Cochrane's for all you alum). Just before midnight on that night, a pushy and shoving match started on the dance floor. The situation erupted into an all out brawl with more than 15 men going at it. My staff of bouncers, including soon-to-be NFL players Kevin Hardy and Ken Dilger, got to the dance floor and spent several minutes breaking apart the men.
It took a lot of work and a few choice blows to finally regain control of the situation. At this point, three Champaign (IL) police officers showed up, two male and one female. The officers then ordered my staff to release the men (all 15 of them). The male officers grabbed two of the most violent - there were many of the suspects who were actively struggling to get free. The female cop then came up to a third struggling black male who was about 6'2" and had to weigh at least 220lbs. She demanded that my bouncer release the man. My bouncer told her that he was still fighting and that he will attack another patron if he let's go. Again the officer ordered my bouncer to let go, which he did.
The female officer then pulled out her hand-cuffs and began to cuff the suspect. The man then flung her to the floor and kicked her in the face - with a few choice words. The man, who was subdued by my staff - now went after one of the other fighters and the entire place erupted again. Our staff rushed back into the situation to help the officer. Meanwhile, the male officers saw the female officer was down and bleeding and immediately pepper sprayed the entire dance floor, including our bouncers.
This caused all of the bouncers to let go of all of the brawlers that they had just subdued and a hgue brawl erupted yet again. The two male officers went for the female officer and escorted her to safety outside of hte building - leaving the rest of us blinded by the spray and in the midst of an all out brawl. After two or three minutes, the officer returned with 6-8 additional male officers and began to beat down everyone in the melee, the fighters as well as those of us who were trying to resolve the situation.
Eventually, we were able to get all of the fighters outside of the bar where there were additional officers including female officers. Again, two of the female officers attempted to corral two separate suspects and were thrown to the ground and the suspects escaped.
The bottom line: We had gotten control of the situation, then a female police officer decided that she could handle a much larger and violent man. Maybe she needed to prove something to the other officers or maybe she thought criminals would have respect for a woman, or the badge. Regardless, her actions caused several of my men to be injured and all of my staff and many patrons to be pepper sprayed. The male officers then left a situation to assure her safety, then came back with excessive force against everyone in the vicinity - obviously being protective of their female counterpart.
Conclusion: Women, while probably more capable of talking to suspects who have respect for the law or for women in general, are not right for police work. They can be overpowered by even smaller men AND they create an emotional response from other officers. The male officers may tease their femal counterparts, but they will also go beyond the norms to protect and avenge them - creating many problems and potential abuses.
Not to mention killings in a courtroom.
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