Building up women in law enforcement

METRO DETROIT — Careers in law enforcement take a great amount of dedication and sacrifice.

According to the National Policing Institute, the number of women police officers has greatly increased since 1974, when there were only about 1,000 women police officers working in the United States. Now, it is estimated that there are about 96,000 women police officers. While the number has gone up significantly, only about 12% of police officers are women.

Local women recently shared their experiences and advice with C & G Newspapers on pursuing a career as a police officer.

Teresa Young is the executive lieutenant to the chief of police at the Southfield Police Department. She started her career as a 911 dispatcher in West Bloomfield and began rising in the ranks once she joined the Southfield Police Department in 2009.

While Young was in each position, she maximized her impact by taking on different roles and responsibilities throughout the department. For example, after she became a sworn officer in December 2009, she took the time to learn as much as she could. She worked the midnight shift and became an honor guard member, field training officer and evidence technician.

“I made it a point to diversify my career as much as I could so I could keep taking that next step. I’m always looking for what my next step is going to be,” Young said.

When Young was starting out, she said it took a long time to earn trust as a female officer.

“I think there was a perceived vulnerability that not just my coworkers, but even suspects out on the road underestimated me or targeted me just because I was a female. They thought that maybe I was weaker or easier to manipulate,” Young said.

Young said that being a woman in law enforcement, especially early on in a career, it can feel like “having a bad day” was not an option because it feels like everyone is looking at you.

“There are times where I came in with a chip on my shoulder, you know, I wanted to prove to everybody that I belonged here, and that I was going to go far in my career, and that no matter what was thrown at me, I was going to overcome it,” Young said.

Young urges women who are new to law enforcement to find a mentor. She adds that it is important for female officers to remember who they wanted to be in the field in the first place.

“You are going to have a unique set of challenges that your male counterparts don’t have to deal with. You’re going to be judged a little harder, you’re going to be maybe criticized a little harsher,” Young said. “I think it’s all about not losing sight of who you are.”

Detective L. McDonald is with the Farmington Hills Police Department’s Investigations Division.

McDonald started at the Farmington Hills Police Department in November 2011 as a police service aide, which is a civilian position with the department. After graduating from the Oakland Police Academy in December 2012, she applied for a police position at the department. She completed several months of training and about nine years of working road patrol before moving to her current position.

When she first started working in law enforcement, she said there were not nearly as many female officers at the department as there are today. The Farmington Hills Police Department currently has 16 female sworn officers.

They also have a program to recruit women police officers. “Blue, Red & You” is a workshop for women who are interested in becoming a first responder. This program was developed in 2022 in efforts to recruit more women for careers at the Farmington Hills Police and Fire departments.

“I wanted to succeed and do well so that I could show the other female officers here, ‘Look what you can accomplish,’ and just kind of be a mentor to the female officers that are coming in, just like I had mentors when I was coming in,” McDonald said.

Capt. Jennifer Miles is the commander of the Emergency Communications and Operations Division at the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. She started at the Sheriff’s Office in 1999 and has held several positions in her 25 years of service.

One of her many duties, which she began in 2009 and still does today, is a women’s self-defense program for civilian women throughout the county.

Miles is currently at the FBI National Academy to bring back skills in leadership, mindfulness and resilience to her agency.

“I think that we as women think and feel like every day you have to prove yourself that you belong there, and so every day is 100%. You don’t get to have a bad day,” Miles said.

Miles encourages anyone interested in law enforcement to come apply to make a difference in their community.

“We are the heart and soul of protection and making sure that everybody goes home to their family. So if there are things that are perceived injustices or just straight up injustices, come help us, from the inside, solve that,” Miles said.