WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Gender Diversity Grows at BPD
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Burlington, Vermont - May 22, 2009
Burlington prides itself on being a diverse city and now its police force is starting to catch up on the demographic spread. The Queen City has one of the most gender-diverse police departments in the entire country.
When Officer Jesse Stewart gets in her cruiser each evening and heads out to patrol downtown Burlington she does not think of herself as anything different from her dozens of male counterparts.
"You'd think that some people would act differently - the people that we deal with would act differently - but they really don't," she says.
In Burlington, being a female officer is certainly not an anomaly. Stewart is one of 17 women in a department of 94 officers. She says there is no disadvantage to being female and the only real advantage is sometimes being able to bring in a varying point of view.
"Especially with such a diverse department as Burlington they can send both a female and a male police officer to calls," says Officer Stewart. "If you have a domestic situation you can separate the people you're dealing with and a female might feel more comfortable talking to me than they would a male officer."
The department recently added four new women to the force, bringing the total percentage of female officers in Burlington up to 18%. That is well above the national average of 13 percent. The newest group graduated from the Vermont Police Academy on Friday, after sixteen weeks of intense training.
For Officer Kristin Olofson it means she is now in the career she has dreamed of doing her entire life.
"People are often surprised that I said I wanted to be a police officer, you know I'm not very big, I'm not very tough around the edges, but trying to prove people wrong I guess you could say and prove to myself that I can do this despite if I'm male or female," says Officer Olofson.
During training the officers learned that out in the field everyone has their back and everyone has different life experiences to offer.
"It's great to be female, it's great to bring something different to the table but at the same time I don't see a difference I want to work with all my fellow officers and I feel great to be a part of that family now," says graduate and new Burlington Police Officer, Bailey Emilio.
It is a family that welcomes its newest members with open arms.
Bianca Slota - WCAX News
