Police in New York City tend to be disproportionately male, according to a new study by the Police Benevolent Association of America.
The study found that in the years since NYPD Commissioner William Bratton made his controversial comments about female cops in 2012, there has been a decline in female officers in the department.
It also found that male officers who were assigned to jobs with lower numbers of female officers were more likely to have the same number of facial deformities as male officers assigned to similar jobs.
The researchers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said they did not have data for the changes in officers assigned female to female jobs, or the differences in facial deformity rates between the sexes.
“The gender disparities we observed were not a result of discrimination on the part of female employees or officers, but instead reflected their differential treatment under the NYC Police Department’s (NYPD) policies and procedures,” the study said.
“Our study found no evidence that officers assigned females to work in lower-performing positions were discriminated against.
In fact, the opposite was the case,” said Chris Ebersole, president of the Police Executive Research Forum, which is part of the union that represents New York police officers.
Ebersole added that the research was not meant to cast any doubt about the findings of the researchers, but said that the data they analyzed showed that female officers who had been assigned to female positions in the NYPD are at greater risk of facial disfigurement.
“These data clearly show that when a woman is assigned to a male position, she is at increased risk of developing facial deformations,” Ebersoles said.
He noted that while the research found no difference in the prevalence of facial defects between male and female officers, there were some differences.
The study found there was a significant difference between female and male officers in terms of the proportion of female personnel assigned to non-high-risk jobs, which included jobs in the non-emergency response and intelligence sectors.
The researchers also found evidence that male police officers assigned a non-white gender identity were at greater threat of facial hair loss, as were female officers assigned more sensitive jobs.
Eberspoles said that while he did not agree with the findings, he was happy with the results.
“We know that the NYPD is not the only city in the country where women are underrepresented, but there are plenty of other cities that are doing much better,” he said.
