Close gender gap, female leaders say
More women in public-safety jobs improves service, they say
There’s a significant gender gap in the public-safety industry, and some local leaders want to change that.
Nationally, women make up about 12 percent of law enforcement, according to a 2013 study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. In firefighting, only about 4.6 percent of fire professionals are female, according to the most recent numbers from the National Fire Protection Association.
To help bridge the difference, six local female public-safety leaders spoke to about 30 women interested in public safety careers during a recruiting event Thursday at Orlando Police headquarters.
As the highest-ranking female officer at the Orlando Police Department, Capt. Cheri Saez said women bring an added skill set to public safety professions. The department’s female officer ratio is higher than average: Nearly 17 percent of the 738 officers are women.
“[Police] don’t want to use any of this stuff on our belt,” Saez said, referring to the pistol and other weapons she carries. “Our nurturing aspect helps to basically sweet talk [offenders] into the back of our cars and into handcuffs.”
Orange County Corrections Chief Cornita A. Riley agreed, saying that strength is especially beneficial in a jail environment where officers are not allowed to carry guns: “In corrections, you have to have skilled communicators to get the compliance that the weaponry is not going to get for us.”
Orlando Fire Department Assistant Chief Dawn Sumter said she is only the second woman to reach her rank at OFD, which she said is about 3.9 percent female.
“It’s not easy. At every promotional test, there were a lot of naysayers … but I scored No. 1 in each component.” she told the women. “Don’t let people tell you what you can do. You decide what you can do.”
At Orange County Corrections, the gender divide isn’t as wide. Riley said about 50 percent of her 1,700 sworn and civilian employees are women.
She’s worked her way up from probation officer to the top position in her agency during her 36-year career.
“I really fell in love with prisons — I know that’s a strange thing to say,” Riley said. “We work up close and personal with offenders, and if they wanted to get better and do better, we had resources for that.”
She said her agency is diverse, so the staff population re-