MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Saturday, a Memphis Police Department hiring expo is putting an extra emphasis on hiring more women officers, according to organizers.
The expo looks to also make a dent in the goal of adding a total of 500 new officers to get MPD back to its 2011 hiring peak.
While MPD now has the department's first ever woman chief in CJ Davis, currently just 18% on the force are women.
The local effort is supported by one national organization, which pointed to a slew of studies showing the benefits of hiring more women police officers.
"We are trying to ground all of our advocacy in research, so it's not our opinion," Ivonne Roman with the 30x30 Initiative said.
Roman - a former Newark, NJ police chief - is with the organization that looks to increase women officers nationwide from 12% in 2021 to 30% in 2030.
She supports MPD's push Saturday to hire more women officers.
MPD hopes there'll be similar successes, such as the 135th recruit class earlier this month, where 18 of the 43 graduates were women, a record high 42%.
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"I'm thrilled to hear that they are doing that. And I think that a lot of progressive agencies are honing in on women in policing because it's an avenue in producing outcomes in policing that hasn't really been tapped into historically," Roman added.
Roman's organization cites a 2019 National Institute of Justice report and other studies in recent years, which found, compared to men, women officers use less force and excessive force, are named in fewer complaints and lawsuits, get higher marks on citizen surveys, and get better outcomes for crime victims.
"Over and over again it shows that women produce better outcomes for police departments through their communication skills, through their interpersonal skills, the satisfaction from the citizens, less liability for the police agencies. There are just exponential benefits with bringing in women," Roman said.
While Roman concedes not every woman applying to be an officer would make an ideal candidate, she said the broader data paints a stronger picture.
"When you look at them as a whole and how they fall under the bell curve, they have better outcomes - the police agencies have better outcomes when they hire more women," Roman said.
The 18% of women currently serving with MPD is a slight improvement from a decade ago, when that percentage stood at 16%.
The hiring expo runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 170 N. Main St. Saturday, January 29, 2022. There will be free parking at the Mud Island parking garage at Poplar Avenue and Front Street.