Police pledge to recruit more female officers
The recruiting video on the University of Colorado Boulder Police Department’s website hits all of the requisite Boulder highlights: Sprawling campus shots, images of the Flatirons and a trip inside Folsom Field.
But then, when one might expect to hear a male voice extolling the virtues of a historically male-dominated profession, the voice of Officer Cassandra Yuma comes in instead.
“Is this somewhere I can see myself?” Yuma says in the video. “I want to be part of something.”
Reflecting on her starring role in the department’s message to possible recruits, Yuma told the Daily Camera she hopes that other women will see her in the video and think about whether they could see themselves in policing.
“I don’t typically see too many law enforcement agencies that use a female in that role, so for us having myself, a female, be that lead role in that video I think is really encouraging to other women out there,” Yuma said. “Traditionally, you would think you would see a man. But when you see a woman in that video, I think it’s really powerful.”
The new recruitment video is part of the department’s ongoing efforts to diversify its roster, as CU police joined other agencies at Pac-12 schools in signing on to the 30x30 initiative, which aims to get more women on the force by increasing the percentage of female police recruits to 30% by the year 2030.
“I just think right now when we’re really discussjokerst
ing police reform and moving policing to the next level, I think it’s much needed,” CU Boulder Police Chief Doreen Jokerst said. “The community deserves to have a department that is truly a reflection of and represents the community, and that includes gender diversity.”
Jokerst originally signed on to the initiative in March and has since campaigned to have the chiefs of other Pac-12 school departments join her. Now, every university in the conference with an active and permanent police chief has signed the 30x30 pledge.
“I just really think it’s an effort that allows police leaders to come together and advance and represent the experiences of women,” Jokerst said. “There’s a lot of strengths women bring to the police force.”
The national average for women in police departments is only 12%, and with CU just above that at 15%, there is a lot of work to be done.
In addition to featuring a woman in the recruitment video, which Yuma said has already generated positive
feedback and results, Yuma said she goes to speak at job fairs and colleges.
“I am a huge talker,” Yuma said. “I love to talk to people and I love to interact with people, and this job gives you more than enough opportunities.”
Yuma said visibility is a key factor in recruiting more women, especially when it comes to women like her who don’t have family ties to law enforcement.
“You traditionally just don’t ever see a whole lot of women in law enforcement,” said Yuma, who started as a security guard at CU before joining the police department in 2017.
Jokerst said it isn’t just about getting more female recruits, but also giving them the same opportunities for advancement within the department as their male counterparts.
“It has to do with building an inclusive culture within your police department,” Jokerst said. “I think it’s first about getting women in the door, then to make sure they occupy spaces throughout the organization; patrol, investigations, firearms, training components. It’s about diversifying women throughout the organization.”
said studies show having more women in police departments increases trust in police from diverse communities who may see women as more compassionate and results in fewer instances of excessive use of force and better outcomes for victims, especially in cases of sexual assault.
“Women just naturally have the ability to make connections with people and empathize with people in a different way that men can, especially when it comes to domestic violence victims or sexual assault victims,” Yuma said. “Especially with our victims that we unfortunately have especially here on a college campus, we can make that connection in a different way than men can.”
As the second female police chief in the department’s history and a woman in a leadership position in a male-dominated field, Jokerst said she knows the hurdles female officers can face and said it would take a cooperative effort to create an environment more supportive of women to help those who follow in her footsteps.
“I’m the mom of two daughters, it’s important to me,” Jokerst said. “I was blessed to have mentors who capitalized off my strengths. They put me in positions where I could excel and have voice within the department.”