Opportunities for and barriers to the recruitment, progress, and retention of women in the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB)

Prue Hyman, Associate Professor of Economics and Women's Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
Report commissioned by National Crime Manager, New Zealand Police and Strategic Advisor, Human Resources: EEO.
July 2000

Recommendations

As is made clear in the findings of this report, barriers to women in CIB cannot be fully addressed by changes in the CIB alone. Many of the issues apply to the police overall. Hence some of these recommendations apply to the NZ Police in totality, while some are specific to CIB. In some cases, subsequent discussions on the recommendations will be needed to address whether they should go wider than CIB.

RECRUITMENT

Recommendation 1 That all recruitment to CIB be based on the Christchurch Pilot Model, whether using local or national advertising - subject to the following qualifications:

(a) All vacancies shall be open to both women and men, except that gender specific advertisements will be permitted in tightly prescribed situations within the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and case guidelines. This is more likely to allow women than men only advertisements, for example, when a squad has no women and needs one, or only one woman and needs two for operational reasons.

(b) Encouragement of officers thought suitable to apply for entry, promotion etc is acceptable and welcome, particularly in the case of groups currently under-represented. In order to ensure fairness, both perceived and actual, standard selection procedures must then be applied.

(c) There shall continue to be at least one woman on all panels, with best efforts made to ensure that all panel members are suitably qualified and appropriate for the particular vacancy.

(d) Use of earlier application forms with unacceptable questions to be discontinued immediately, with management reconsidering, in consultation with relevant expertise, including the EEO Office, the degree to which it is acceptable to ask questions related to family circumstances of all applicants.

FAMILY FRIENDLY WORKING PARTY

Recommendation 2 That a working party be established on matters relating to family friendly policies. This working party to involve a range of people with relevant experience from inside and outside the police.

This recommendation recognises that the numbers and proportion of people working FEO/part time in Police/CIB is very low by general workforce standards and that the difficulty of working part-time is leading to a loss of trained staff who would stay in the police if it was easier to do so. The setting up of the working party would involve:

(a) Detailed terms of reference, membership, and procedures (which include a submissions process), to be established by a steering group that includes senior management and WCC representation.

(b) Emphasis on improving flexibility and finding ways that it can be managed

(c) Scope to cover the Police overall in some areas, but with a particular emphasis on CIB

(d) Matters for consideration that include:

CHANGING THE CLIMATE TOWARDS GENDER INTEGRATION

Recommendation 3 That management objectives and practices to improve this climate be developed, extended, or carried out where they are already within current policy.

This recommendation recognises that the climate for women officers in the male dominated workplace and culture of the NZ Police/CIB is at times unwelcoming and one where mild gender harassment and workplace bullying is often tolerated. The management objectives and practices that need to be attended to cover the following areas

(a) Objectives

(b) Practices in line with these objectives and current EEO policies

OTHER HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Recommendation 4 That improvements to HRM practices be investigated to ensure a real commitment to EEO is demonstrated and carried through, including leadership from top and middle management that emphasises the importance of the matters covered in this report and attempts to remove barriers to gender (and ethnic) integration. These improvements to include:

(a) Promotions/appointments, with consideration given to the following.

(b) Management training and accountability, with consideration given to the following:

REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN CIB DECISION MAKING

Recommendation 5 That consideration be given by CIB management to the adequate representation of women in decision making positions and forums, including the annual conference.

Until this is achieved automatically by position by having more women in senior positions, other means will need to be used. These means could involve having two of the most senior women as representatives, or elected representatives, or delegates from regional women staff conferences to be held before the annual conference.

SUBMISSIONS/CONSULTATIONS ON THIS REPORT

Recommendation 6 That a process be established whereby submissions on this report and recommendations can be made by any CIB officer (and perhaps any police officer) anonymously or otherwise, for consideration by management. This process be handled as follows:

(a)Submissions on family friendly issues to go to that working party.

(b) Submissions on other issues to go to the group I suggest be established for this purpose.

This would encourage awareness of the issues raised in this report, recognise it is based on the input of a sample of officers only, and create a vehicle to make the best use of constructive ideas from all interested staff.

MAORI/PACIFIC ISLAND/OTHER MINORITY ETHNICITIES

Recommendation 7(a) That individuals and/or groups of officers who identify as Maori, Pacific Island, Asian etc be encouraged to make submissions on this report via the process suggested in recommendation 6, and be given the opportunity to develop parallel or different recommendations for removal of any barriers to their progress.

Recommendation 7(b) That networking and support mechanisms be encouraged and possibly developed or extended on an official basis for Maori, Pacific Island and if required, other minority ethnic groups - to be of mixed or single gender as the participants choose. Participation in such networks in work time to be seen as legitimate, and resistance to this as inappropriate behaviour

These recommendations recognise that this research dealt only peripherally with issues for ethnic minorities, and spoke to only one group of Maori/Pacific Island woman officers, and no corresponding group of men. Therefore, it is not appropriate to make many firm recommendations in this area. One based on suggestions from this focus group is included (7b).

A climate of non-discrimination, EEO awareness, and encouragement of under-represented groups in the police which the recommendations in this report are intended to bring about, should also help improve the position of Maori, Pacific Island and other minority ethnic groups in the police. Many of the recommendations, in addition to the statistical ones where ethnicity has been included, could be extended to cover ethnicity, but this was beyond the brief of the research.

GENERAL ISSUES IN CIB GIVING RISE TO SOME DISSATISFACTION

Recommendation 8 That consideration be given by CIB and police management to the general issues raised during this study with a view to policy changes where needed and better communication with staff. These issues include:

(a) Suggested inadequacy of post qualification education and training in CIB.

(b) Suggested inadequacy of feedback procedures and leadership, including appreciation of good work and general support.

(c) Suggested inadequacy of remuneration and allowance structures to ensure that there is an incentive to join and remain in CIB.

(d) Suggested inadequacy or lack of equity in time allowances for study for modules during training.

(e) Suggested inadequacy of staffing and other resources available to CIB in most or all districts.

(f) Suggested problems over inconsistency of conditions and policies between regions and districts, with the perceived need to review the working of devolution to examine the balance between national policies and local autonomy/flexibility, with a view to general adoption of best practices.

STATISTICS

Recommendation 9 That statistics in the area of gender and ethnicity be collected and publicised in more detail. These statistics to include:

(a) Police Numbers disaggregated by gender, ethnicity etc.
These figures to be made available annually, or preferably quarterly, with data on numbers of Police officers, separated into sworn and non sworn, by district, branch, and rank, disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and disability. It would be desirable to disaggregate further by functions within branches. Detailed guidelines be prepared by management with advice from the Strategic Advisor, Human Resources: EEO, to ensure that districts prepare these in the most appropriate form and on a consistent basis, allowing for the varied organisation of different districts.

(b) CIB Numbers disaggregated by gender, ethnicity etc.
Consistency in statistics in the investigative area to be achieved by separate specification of CIB officers, CIU, CCU, GDB officers attached to CIB, and any other investigative group, since districts are differently organised with respect to this work. Functions within and outside CIB to be specified separately to include heavily male areas such as Armed Offenders Squad and Dog Handling as well as such areas as Sexual Abuse Teams, Fraud, Intel etc.

(c)Applicants/successes for positions/promotion by gender, ethnicity
Statistics to be collected and published at least annually, and preferably quarterly, on numbers of applicants for positions and promotions by gender and, if possible, ethnicity, and to include the numbers successful in each category.

(d) Applicants/successes for FEO and numbers on FEO by gender, ethnicity
Statistics to be collected and published at least annually, and preferably quarterly, on numbers of applicants for FEO and numbers granted FEO by gender and, if possible, ethnicity and, if privacy issues do not prevent this, reason for application. Also numbers on FEO by branch, function, district, rank, and pattern of work.

(e) Monitoring and publicity for statistics
The statistics above to be monitored by the EEO Office and widely publicised.

(f) Benchmarking EEO progress
Use of the EEO Trust's EEO Index to benchmark progress on EEO to be investigated and implemented if feasible.

EEO IMPLEMENTATION AND RESOURCING

Recommendation 10 That the resources in EEO and HRM be substantially enhanced to allow for the extra work involved in implementing some or all of the recommendations of this report: these resource increments to include the following:

(a) Enhancement of the central EEO capacity of the NZ Police through increased staffing in the EEO Office.

(b) EEO resources and training materials within districts to be budgeted for by police management and to include attractive training packages with videos etc.

(c) Ongoing participation in the Australasian Women in Policing Advisory Committee, with a view to embodying best practice from Australasia and beyond, and publicising of the good examples.

(d) Extension of the functions of the Strategic Advisor, Human Resources, EEO and an enhanced EEO Unit in the Office of the Commissioner, to encompass both the current strategic role and additional operational roles in conjunction with districts and the Police College. These roles include leadership and monitoring of district activity, as relevant, in policy development, EEO training at all levels, monitoring, feedback, exit interviews, and accountability for EEO implementation.

(e) Enhancement of the resources in HRM, as needed.

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Executive summary

Statistics - women in police and CIB by rank

The report on this commissioned research first briefly examines the statistics on women in the CIB and in the police generally. It finds that the proportion in the police continues to rise, slowly but steadily, particularly if those on leave without pay are included. There are about the same number of women and men on leave without pay (about 100 of each), with the women probably largely taking that option for family reasons. Excluding that group, the proportion of all sworn officers who are female has risen from 2.37% in 1970, 4.23% in 1980, 6.89% in 1990, and 12.80% in 1995 to 15.28% in 2000, which increases to 16.1% if those on leave without pay are included.

Within CIB the proportion is lower, with women constituting about 11% of about one thousand officers in 1999, with a variation across districts from 4.4% to 19.0%. These figures need to be treated with some caution, as there are different ways of arranging investigative work, involving uniform staff attached to CIB and other arrangements.

Retention of women in the police is something of a problem, with the average age of women disengaging between 1990 and 1997 being 32.26, as against 39.06 for men, and their length of service correspondingly less, at 9.51 years as against 16.59. Nevertheless, the average age of female staff increased somewhat from 27.9 to 30.3 from 1990 to 1997, while the male average increased from 34.0 to 35.9 in this period.

Related to the relatively poor retention, few women reach high rank in the police. The most senior officer currently is at Superintendent level, with the top 27 officers all male, and only 3% of Inspectors, 2.4% of Senior Sergeants, and 5% of Sergeants are women. In CIB the woman with most senior rank recently was a Detective Senior Sergeant, who is just leaving the police. There are some ten women Detective Sergeants. It is clear that the most important factor in the issues of retention and lack of women at high rank is the extra problems in the police force, compared with most workplaces, of combining work and family responsibilities, due partly to the nature and time uncertainties of police work as currently organised, and the associated low level of part time work.

Low level of part time work

The Flexible Employment Option (FEO), which allows such part time work, is much appreciated by many with access to it, but is not widely used. Management in principle supports it strongly, being aware how part time staff in the labour market generally have high productivity. Nevertheless some women are reluctant to take it up, partly because they are made to feel, particularly in CIB, that they are not pulling their weight, for example if unavailable for callouts. Only 83 sworn police officers (79 women, 4 men) or 1.2% of the total and 7.2% of the female staff, are currently on FEO, a small fraction of the proportion in the labour force overall. Waikato and Wellington have the highest rates of FEO take-up currently. Most supervisors and many staff see difficulties in extending FEO widely in the main operational parts of CIB, especially in supervisory grades. Yet the Auckland district is using it more widely within CIB. While it may be easier in larger centres, innovative organisation could see it extended. There are 6 women in CIB on FEO, and a few others in related positions.

Nature of the empirical research

The empirical part of this research involved twelve focus groups covering female and male officers, mainly in CIB, but also some in the police and some who had left CIB. More women than men were included, as barriers to women were the main area for study, and the groups covered both Detective Constables and Sergeants. There were also twelve interviews conducted with senior managers and other key informants, and extensive quotes are included in the report.

Have the barriers to women disappeared?

Focus group discussions showed that a few women officers consider that there are now no barriers to their recruitment or advancement within CIB, and most consider that the problem of a heavily male culture was slowly improving as women become more accepted in Police and CIB, and are treated more as individuals and on merit. A number of male officers believe that there are, indeed, reverse barriers, with the management commitment to advancement of women and ethnic minorities in police in general and CIB in particular starting to disadvantage white male staff.

However, a majority of women officers consulted believe that their status as a small minority both in itself constitutes and also leads to a considerable degree of disadvantage, with the lack of role models and mentors, and the fact that women staff stand out and so receive more scrutiny than their male counterparts. Many women officers stressed the need to 'fit' and establish credibility within CIB, and felt that this was harder for women, with the need to perform better than one's male counterparts. Many believed that at times errors were both attributed to their gender and excused less than they would be for male officers. Individual relationships with male colleagues were generally good, but male group behaviour was often still a problem. Having two or more women in an office or on a squad was seen as making a major difference, avoiding isolation. The more even the gender balance, the less problems appear to exist.

EEO - commitment but deficiencies

There is an admirable degree of commitment expressed by senior management in the police/CIB to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and removal of gender/other barriers, together with a raft of policies and practices. However, a great deal of scepticism is expressed about the reality. Good policies and statements alone achieve little without a significant range of human resource management (HRM) practices, training, monitoring, and positive and negative incentives to achieve results. Training in EEO and HRM is seen as deficient at all levels, particularly in supervisory positions. Hence, gender and to a lesser extent sexual harassment remains a problem in police, including CIB, despite adequate policy frameworks and complaints procedures. Taking a personal grievance is seen as likely to lead to an adverse effect on the complainant's career even if it is justified, and it was felt that a blind eye is often turned to the behaviour of some male officers known to be a problem - it is very rare for police officers to lose their jobs.

A lack of equal opportunity to perform all roles within CIB was another major issue, with a tendency still to assign women to interview female complainants, as against offenders, for example, and to protect them in a way that was not considered appropriate. All women officers wished simply to be treated equally, receive no special treatment, and to achieve any promotion on merit - and considered that they had indeed fully deserved all the success they had achieved.

Gender bias in recruitment to CIB has been a problem in the past, but with current staff shortages in the main cities, this is less the case today except in a few smaller centres. Nevertheless, there is a need to ensure that all centres use proper gender neutral procedures. There was wide appreciation of the qualities women brought to CIB, in terms of diversity and a greater variety of approaches, and some specifics: courses with nearly equal numbers of women participants, for example, were regarded by instructors as much more successful, with women's teamwork praised. Some officers who had had women supervisors judged their communication skills and concern for staff to be above average. Combining work and family in the police

The issues of combining work and family, mentioned earlier, were extensively discussed. Some believed that it was simply a matter of choice that influences women's greater home responsibilities, and that police/CIB organisation could not bend any further than it had to accommodate the issues. More men emphasised individual choice whereas more women stressed structural issues and believed that organisational flexibility was necessary to allow combining home and family. Management expressed a desire to retain the skills of experienced women CIB officers and sought guidance as to how this can be done. This area is critical to the retention of female staff.

Issues for Maori and Pacific Island women officers

One focus group was held of Maori and Pacific Island women officers in police/CIB. Managers and staff saw ethnic minority male and female officers as an important and valuable resource, particularly in areas of the country where these groups are heavily concentrated in the population. The ability to speak Maori and Pacific Island languages, to communicate and establish some empathy with leaders in the community, complainants, witnesses and suspects of similar ethnic backgrounds, was widely appreciated.

However, a lack of appreciation of cultural differences and reactions to tragedy was noted in the focus group, particularly in the case of Pakeha male fellow officers. It was felt that there were insufficient numbers for the demands and for mutual support. In addition, the experience of seeing and stereotyping Maori and Pacific Islanders in the role of suspects may influence some Pakeha staff to handle the issue of these ethnic groups within the police by constructing their fellow officers as quite different from those they meet in the streets. Some resentment of supposed special treatment in recruitment of Maori and Pacific Island officers was voiced by a few male staff. The focus group resisted strongly and with good reason any feeling that they had had special treatment. As with women in general, noone wants this. It is not special treatment to take measures to attempt to attract minority groups into police or to encourage them to go as far as they can, provided that to pass the relevant tests or achieve the promotions, they have to meet the same standard as anyone else.

CIB - good and bad aspects for staff

Overwhelmingly, both male and female officers were enthusiastic about the nature of their jobs, with few regretting their own decision to enter CIB. The challenge of the work, the ability to see through a case and file from beginning to end, the degree of autonomy and scope for initiative combined with teamwork, and the high standard of ability of fellow officers were frequently referred to. Nevertheless, despite this enthusiasm, there is a high degree of disillusionment on a number of fronts. These include levels and structures of remuneration, allowances, and other conditions, incentives to enter and remain in CIB and gain promotion, perceived lack of appreciation of a job well done, inadequate time to study for modules, performance review, provision of training, performance of management, adequacy of available resources, issues of valuation of CIB/GDB/traffic branch, and implications of the recent review.

Towards recommendations for gender equity and integration

Finally on gender barriers in CIB, some argue that they have almost disappeared. However, while some aspects, particularly the male culture, are less of a problem than in the past, that overall conclusion is over optimistic.

Many incidents related are very recent, the family issues which are among the major inhibitors to women's progress are certainly all current, and the financial pressures, the lack of slack and flexibility, and the competitive individualistic environment of today may be leading to further barriers. These will not disappear without major changes in policies and practices, which are suggested in a lengthy set of recommendations.

These include improvements in statistical collection and analysis, training, monitoring, policy development, and accountability, which need adequate resourcing. The management commitment to this area requires an enhancement of both the central capacity of the NZ Police in this area, through more staffing in the EEO Office, and of the resources devoted to EEO within districts. The recommendations include a working party to consider how to make policies, practices, and organisation of work more 'family friendly', and an investigation of a large number of HRM policies with a view to improving gender equity and integration. The detailed working through of changes is the responsibility of management and requires an ongoing, not a one-off process. Police and other male dominated organisations throughout the world face similar problems and there are no magic wands. Instead there is patient and ongoing work throughout the organisation to develop policies, change behaviours, and change attitudes. This is a brief summary of an extensive 182 page report. The full flavour and nuances can only be gained from reading it in entirety.

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Table of contents

RECOMMENDATIONS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
STATISTICS ON WOMEN IN THE CIB (AND THE POLICE IN GENERAL)
FINDINGS FROM FOCUS GROUPS AND INTERVIEWS
Introduction
Contributions made by women's representation in CIB, as individuals and by their presence as a group
? ? Women as supervisors
Barriers, actual and perceived, to recruitment, retention, and promotion of women
The possibility that there are no barriers - or only those produced by women themselves
? ? Recruitment - and Reasons for Leaving
? ? Work environment - CIB in particular and NZ Police in general far from family friendly
? ? ? ? Child care
? ? ? ? Issues over call outs
? ? ? ? Issues over periods away from home
? ? ? ? The Flexible Employment Option
? ? ? ? Other issues and options with respect to family friendly policies
? ? Work environment - police culture
? ? Work environment - selection on merit
? ? Work environment - gender and sexual harassment
? ? Work environment - unequal treatment in assignment of roles
? ? Work environment - a lack of understanding of and training in EEO and human resource management
? ? Reverse barriers?
? ? Promotion
? ? Final reflections on barriers to women
Barriers to Maori, Pacific Island and other ethnic minority groups in the police/CIB
General issues
IMPLEMENTATION OF EEO AND GENDER INTEGRATION
FINAL COMMENTS ON THE STUDY
Appendix One: Background, Terms of Reference, Methodology and Acknowledgments
Appendix Two: Barriers to Gender Equity and EEO: Principles and Resources
Appendix Three: Legislative Framework, NZ Police/CIB Policies andm Practices, and Case Law on Discrimination, EEO, Sexual Harassment etc.
Appendix Four: Previous Research on Issues for Women in the NZ Police/CIB and Selected Relevant Overseas Research
Appendix Five: Statistical Material
Appendix Six: Supplementary Material/Discussion on (A) Recruitment Issues (B) The Flexible Employment Option
Appendix Seven: Acronyms used in the Report

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• Women in CIB - opportunities for and barriers to the recruitment, progress, and retention of women in the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB), July 2000
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