This virtual special issue on Gender and Policing presents a collection of eight recently published articles that examine various aspects of gender dynamics within policing. The special issue includes studies investigating this topic from several countries, thus offering a broad and authoritative scholarly examination of the intersections between gender, policing practices, mental health, organizational culture, and diversity initiatives. Through this lens, the selected compilation of published articles seeks to foster a deeper understanding of how gender influences and is influenced by the complex realities of police work.

The special issue begins with an exploration of the experiences of female police officers in handling sexual violence cases, as presented by Bozga, McDowall, and Brown. In the second article, Bikos investigates and documents how stigma towards mental illness in police culture disproportionately affects policewomen in Canada. Comparatively, Violanti and colleagues provide an analysis of how adverse childhood experiences impact police mental health, with a nuanced discussion on gender differences in resilience and mental health outcomes among police officers. In addition, Nowacki, Schafer, and Hibdon assess the implications of gender diversification in police agencies.

In the fifth article, Violanti and colleagues provide a rare longitudinal examination of the health and mortality rates of police officers, with insights into how gender and race influence these outcomes. In contrast, Hansen, Navarro, and Malvitz explore the gendered dimensions of information availability on law enforcement websites and emphasize the role of gender in shaping public perceptions and transparency in policing.

In the seventh article, Wilson and Grammich provide one of the more comprehensive and robust analyses of staffing composition in large U.S. police departments, benchmarking workforce diversity (including gender diversity) in policing and how it has evolved over time. In the last article, Angehrn, Jourdan-Ionescu, and Gamache evaluate resilience among police officers in general, and explore the role that risk and protective factors and gender play in demonstrating resilience among police officers. 

Overall, this set of articles hand selected for inclusion in this virtual special issue provide an up-to-date source for a host of topics and research questions surrounding gender and policing that should influence policy and practice, as well as inspire future research in this literature.                                                                                            

The articles listed below are free to access from the 8th of July to the 5th of August 2024.

Professors Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich and Wesley G. Jennings
Editors-in-Chief, Policing: An International Journal

Table of contents

1. Bozga, A., McDowall, A. and Brown, J. (2021), "“Little Red Sandals”: female police officers' lived experience of investigating sexual violence", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 32-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-02-2020-0029 

2. Bikos, L.J. (2021), "“It's all window dressing:” Canadian police officers' perceptions of mental health stigma in their workplace", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 63-76. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-07-2020-0126 

3. Violanti, J.M., Mnatsakanova, A., Gu, J.K., Service, S. and Andrew, M.E. (2021), "Adverse childhood experiences and police mental health", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 44 No. 6, pp. 1014-1030. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-06-2021-0085 

4. Nowacki, J., Schafer, J. and Hibdon, J. (2021), "Gender diversification in police agencies: is it a zero-sum game?", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 44 No. 6, pp. 1077-1092. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-02-2021-0033

5. Violanti, J.M., Gu, J.K., Charles, L.E., Fekedulegn, D. and Andrew, M.E. (2021), "Dying for the job: police mortality, 1950–2018", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 44 No. 6, pp. 1168-1187. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-06-2021-0087

6.  Hansen, M.A., Navarro, J.C. and Malvitz, S.A. (2022), "Assessing law enforcement websites: a comparative analysis exploring types, quantity and quality of information available", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 298-314. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-09-2021-0128 

7. Wilson, J.M. and Grammich, C.A. (2022), "Staffing composition in large, US police departments: benchmarking workforce diversity", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 45 No. 5, pp. 707-726. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-12-2021-0175 

8. Angehrn, A., Jourdan-Ionescu, C. and Gamache, D. (2023), "Resilience among police officers: the role of personality functioning and protective factors", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 46 No. 3, pp. 567-582. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-02-2023-0025