Women in law enforcement face a myriad of challenges and barriers as they rise in the ranks. When serving in a male-dominated profession such as law enforcement, women often find tremendous value in the support and encouragement they receive from women who have experienced or are currently experiencing similar challenges. Through the IACP Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI), women and men, sworn and civilian, collectively participate in an academically rigorous one-week course that is rooted in leadership theories and concepts with a focus on the distinct challenges faced by women in law enforcement.
WLI supports women as they are promoted into leadership positions in public safety organizations. Since the program’s inception in 2013, the IACP has conducted 36 WLI trainings across the United States and Canada. In June 2016 and June 2017, the IACP brought this renowned program to Kathmandu, Nepal, and Cape Town, South Africa, respectively, with sponsorship from the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, U. S. Department of Justice. Participants included 43 women from the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, and Office of the Attorney General, and 49 women from six South African metropolitan police departments. For some of the women who attended WLIs, it is their first professional development opportunity, as similar programs in those regions are open only to men.
WLI participants see the program as a rare occasion to learn from and with a large group of other women in their profession. With an enormous amount of demographic diversity, various ranks, and all agency sizes represented, participants have the opportunity to learn from a broad base of colleagues. An especially common theme among attendees’ comments is an appreciation for the incredible networking that takes place during and after each WLI session. Participants leave the course with a number of new resources, human and academic, for ongoing reference. Wendy Rich-Goldschmidt, a WLI instructor and chief of staff at the Miami Beach, Florida, Police Department adds,
It is incredibly rare to have a large group of women represented in any law enforcement training class. WLI has filled a long-standing void, providing hundreds of women with an amazing forum and network for professional growth. Having the opportunity to work with women from all over the world as they traverse their leadership journey, has been one of the highlights in my career.1
The WLI program encourages participants to visualize what success looks like and how to forge their own winning path. By tapping the expertise of instructors and alumni who have navigated similar challenges, participants see themselves in a position to overcome obstacles, achieve their goals, and serve as positive role models in their organizations. Participants also find validation in knowing they are among colleagues who have faced many of the same challenges and leave the course with a new network of law enforcement contacts they can access for guidance in the future.
The WLI curriculum encourages leadership through many avenues, including motivation. The program recognizes that change, in any part of life, might be met with resistance. Through group dialogue and discussion, participants share personal stories illustrating examples of resistance that they encountered in their professional lives and how they were motivated or able to motivate others to work through the situation to achieve the best outcome.
Multiple participants have agreed that, the benefits of WLI participation include a heightened self-confidence and strategic plans for their careers. All participants create and share strategic plans detailing the next steps of their career path. Participants stated that they felt reassured by information they learned or discussed with fellow attendees. They noted that they thought they were doing the right thing, but they had questioned their decisions or actions. Through guided instruction and course discussions, participants often discover that the way they handled the situation was appropriate. This is often a powerful lesson that leads to improved self-awareness, validation, and increased confidence.
Over the course of the week, participants also learn about other core key WLI concepts: followership, implicit bias, leading high-performing teams and change, effective communication and counseling, personal financial planning, and wellness.
In addition to a rigorous curriculum, the WLI features two panel discussions: the Specialized Units Panel and the Chiefs Panel. The Specialized Units Panel features women from assignments such as K9, special weapons and tactics (SWAT), detectives, marine, aviation, and homicide, so that participants can learn about other developmental opportunities that may be available to them or their colleagues, depending on their agencies. The Chiefs Panel is a panel in which high-ranking local women discuss the inevitable mistakes that they have made along their careers and, most importantly, what and how they have learned from those setbacks. The week-long course culminates with a mentoring session, which allows participants the opportunity to speak with a female leader who offers guidance, insight, and advice designed to catapult the participant’s career.
Johannesburg Police Department’s Superintendent Thembi Kumalo, who participated in the Cape Town WLI course, stated that women should not belittle themselves or feel too paralyzed to move. She encouraged women to leave their “comfort zone” and strive for what they believe in. She urged her fellow participants to “not wait for someone to do something for us, rather we need to create opportunities for ourselves and other women!”2
Participants often describe feeling a sense of empowerment when sitting in a room with so many women as it is a rare opportunity to be able to express oneself freely without the fear of judgement. It helps remove the trepidation of asking for help. WLI alumni continue to share the information they learned at the WLI as part of their professional and personal lives.
WLI attendee Cape Town Metro Police Department’s Superintendent Raquel Paulsen stated, “We, as women, need to lift each other up.”3 To make a difference in the lives of current and future female law enforcement leaders and to learn how an agency can host or be part of a Women’s Leadership Institute, please visit the website at www.theIACP.org/WLI or contact us at WLITeam@theIACP.org.
Notes:
1Wendy Rich-Goldschmidt (chief of staff, Miami Beach Police Department, and WLI instructor), email, September 15, 2017.
2Thembi Kumalo (superintendent, Johannesburg Police Department, and WLI attendee), interview, June 30, 2017.
3Raquel Paulsen (superintendent, Cape Town Metro Police Department, and WLI attendee), interview, June 30, 2017.
Please cite as
Aimee M. Gallagher, “Forging Ahead: IACP’s Leadership Course for Women in Law Enforcement,” IACP Working For You, The Police Chief (November 2017): 78–80.
