Local law enforcement agencies look to bring on more women in uniform

When Helen Prosowski signed on with the Sandusky Police Department in 1985, staking her place in department rosters as the agency's first full-time female officer, the community she protected and served didn't always seem sure of what to make of her.She recalled one instance, early in her career, when she was the first officer to respond to a fight at a local bar. The bartender, a woman, she recalled, immediately asked her when the male officers would show up."I said, 'We'll talk about that later,'" Prosowski said. "'Where's the fight?'"Prosowski, who has since retired from the Sandusky Police Department and is now serving as police chief in Bay View, said she's seen the role of women in the local law enforcement scene change significantly since then. All but one Erie County agency now counts at least one full- or part-time female officer. In Perkins Township, Chief Ken Klamar said three of four recent hires are female. And two local police departments – Bay View and Berlin Heights – boast female chiefs.But in a field that remains male-dominated, both locally and nationwide, several local agency heads said they'd still like to see more women wearing their uniforms.Female law enforcement officers account for approximately 11.6 percent of the field nationally, according to totals compiled by the FBI. Sworn female officers in two of Erie County's largest agencies – Sandusky Police Department and Erie County Sheriff's Office – come in at 9 and 7 percent, respectively.Leveling that gender imbalance benefits departments in a variety of ways, according to local chiefs and to female officers. These ways cover both the practical – searches of female suspects, for example – and perception."You want a little bit of diversity because you're dealing with a diverse population," Berlin Heights police Chief Charity Schafer said. "I think that helps the police department reach out to their community."While patrolling the city, Sandusky police Sgt. Tracey Susana steps out of her cruiser to stop Joshua Duston, 3, for "speeding" down the sidewalk in his Little Tikes car on March 21, 2017. "Are you speeding?" Susana asked. "Yes," replied Joshua. She then gave him a "ticket," which stipulated he must continue having fun.Klamar, of Perkins Township, spoke similarly."Any time that you can diversify the workforce, and especially with these positions, I think it's valuable on a number of fronts," he said. "The females can offer something to our public, to the folks that we serve and the people that we deal with, that men cannot."On the jobSgt. Tracey Susana starts a typical shift at the Sandusky Police Department at 6 a.m.With a supervising role in the department's patrol division, she spends a significant part of her day behind the wheel of a cruiser. A Sandusky native who counts more than 20 years on the job, she figures she can make her way to essentially any address in the city without hesitation.Sandusky police Sgt. Tracey Susana keeps an eye on the streets of the city while working on March 21, 2017.Take a recent morning she spent on the road. She first navigated to Perkins Avenue, for example, where she scribbled down notes about a man's complaint that his buddy wouldn't stop banging on his door. Shortly afterward, she headed to Milan Road to check on an officer conducting a traffic stop there. And on Wayne Street, she stepped out of her cruiser to check out a building where a security alarm suggested a possible break-in.It was a pretty low-key morning – but not all of them are. She recalled that, as a brand-new officer in 1995, her first call took her to a homicide."I was, wow, green," she said. "I was shaking … thinking, 'What did I get myself into?'"These sorts of days aren't any different than those that a male colleague would handle at the department. Susana and Sandusky police Chief John Orzech echoed several others in the local law enforcement scene in emphasizing that gender does not play a factor in what sort of calls an officer does or does not handle.That means any officer, regardless of any personal characteristic like gender, is equipped and expected to handle any situation that might arise."It never crosses anybody's mind if a woman is going to a call or not," Orzech said.Sandusky police Sgt. Tracey Susana talks with a landlord after being called to a residence on March 21, 2017. Susana, like Prosowski, started with the department early enough to experience what she described as "old guard resistance" to the idea of a female officer. While she said she still feels the department, which now counts two female officer and two female sergeants, has room to grow, she's largely seen that perception of female officers change over the years.Tiffany Soboslay, a part-time officer in Milan and Kelleys Island police departments and recent part-time hire at the Erie County Sheriff's Office, is nearing the end of her first year in law enforcement. She said she hasn't seen gender affect her experience in law enforcement."We're in uniform. We're law enforcement officers," Soboslay said. "We just handle a situation the best way we can."'A woman's perspective'Schafer, of Berlin Heights, was a mother before she was a police officer. She waited until her children were in school before turning to the police academy, she said. Then her career at the Cedar Point Police Department and worked her way up the ranks in Berlin Heights.As she approaches her 12th year as chief there, and her 17th year as an officer, she said she recognizes that she, as a woman and as a mother, can connect with the community in a way that's different than her male colleagues. As an example, she points to the way she sees area children perceive her."I think I don't seem as intimidating as a male officer might," Schafer said. "From a child's perspective, I maybe don't look as scary as a tall, muscular guy. I maybe look more like mom."While several in the local law enforcement field emphasized that many characteristics – certainly more than just gender – affect the perspective an officer brings to the field, an ability to view a situation as a mother comes as one example unique to women. Susana, in Sandusky, said she, too, sees this when the sort of talk-to she gives a misbehaving child while on the job sounds not unlike the kind she used to give her now-adult daughter.Other female officers and agency heads generally credited female officers with an ability to communicate or to de-escalate situations particularly effectively.At the Vermilion Police Department, Lexie Bishop, a part-time officer who graduated a police academy in Lorain County in 2015, said she notices that she sometimes brings a softer touch to her interactions with community members than her male colleagues do. In some cases – maybe when responding to a suspected overdose, for example – she said she's noticed community members respond well to that sort of demeanor.Officer Stephanie Chapman, of the Perkins Township Police Department, is one of several to suggest that the variety of perspectives that women can bring to a police department benefit that agency overall."We come up with different ideas," Chapman said. "It's always good to have a female's opinion."A practical roleWhile several agency heads said it's somewhat rare for a community member to specifically request to speak with a female officer, it happens occasionally, often in cases of sexual assault or domestic violence. Klamar, in Perkins Township, said it's beneficial to have a female officer on staff to accommodate the victim in these situations.When the Klamar's department was investigating a fatal stabbing in late January, in another example, Chapman said she was assigned to spend much of the day with the female suspect. While it wasn't necessary that she be female to fill that role, she said, she felt she her position as a woman helped her speak and relate with the suspect more easily."If you have that resource on staff, that's the best way forward," Klamar said.When an agency does not have a female officer available – particularly, practically speaking, in situations that call for pat-down or search of a female suspect – several department heads said they can reach out to area agencies for assistance. Alexis Dauch, for example, said she's assisted several area law enforcement agencies in this task while on the road as a deputy with the Erie County Sheriff's Office.Dauch works as a school resource officer through the Erie County Sheriff's Office.In Kelleys Island, Chief Shawn Craig stood out among area agencies in saying that he tries to ensure that at least one of the department's three female offices is on duty on any given shift. In its county jail, the Erie County Sheriff's Office similarly ensures that female corrections officers are always on duty.Recruiting womenPerhaps one of the biggest obstacles to increasing the representation of female law enforcement officers is the pool that area chiefs look at in hiring: Several said they're applicants are heavily skewed male.That's in with what Ken Rankins, who runs the Sandusky Police Academy, and James Bond, who runs the EHOVE Police Academy, said they have long seen in their classes. Rankins said one of six current cadets is female. Bond said his most recent class graduated with seven men and one woman.In Huron, Chief Bob Lippert said the department hasn't counted a full-time female officer since at least 1996. (The agency's most recent part-time female officer left in 2011). Lippert said that his all-male roster reflects a dearth of female applicants."We're just not getting the numbers," he said.Klamar, of Perkins Township, and Orzech, of Sandusky, each said they have specifically made efforts to address low numbers of female and minority applicants while recruiting. This notably includes sending female or minority officers to career fairs, in the hopes that prospective applicants might be able to see themselves in the department.Susana, of Sandusky, is one of the officers who's spent time at these types of career fairs. She said she liked the idea as a recruiting mechanism. And, often, she said, the questions she gets there relate to being a woman in law enforcement."If females can see that females can succeed," she said, "they're more apt to go into it."Sgt. Tracey Susana laughs with her coworkers at the Sandusky Police Department on March 27, 2017.Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth is one of several who said he'd like to see more female applicants in the county."Certainly we would like to see our agency reflect the society that we police," he said. "We just don't seem to get the number of female applicants that maybe you'd want to see."Reach reporter Nicki Gorny at gorny@sanduskyregister.com and follow her on Twitter at @Nicki_Gorny.Sgt. Tracey Susana navigates the roads of Sandusky on March 21, 2017. With more than 20 years on the job, she figures she can make her way to essentially any address in the city without hesitation.Sandusky police Sgt. Tracey Susana stands next to her cruiser on March 21, 2017. Susana is a Sandusky native who counts more than 20 years on the job.Sgt. Tracey Susana takes down notes so she can file a report at the Sandusky Police Department on March 21, 2017.Sgt. Tracey Susana enters a parking ticket into the computer system at the Sandusky Police Department on March 21, 2017.