Trooper Down! (16 page)

“The vest makes me look thirty pounds heavier (she is five feet seven, 140 pounds) and from a distance it's sometimes hard for people to tell that I'm a woman. Men will get out of their cars and say, ‘What's the problem, sir?' I don't even correct them anymore. When I do, it comes as a shock to them that I'm not what they thought.”

As a rule, she finds women drivers more difficult to deal with than men. Other female troopers have said the same.

“I've had women drivers crying their eyes out because they think they're going to get a ticket. Then when I walk up to the car and they realize I'm a female officer, the faucet turns off just like that [she snaps her fingers]. I've found that most women don't like to be told what to do by other women. When Bob [Leah's training officer] stops them, it's ‘Yes, sir,' and they go pay the ticket. I can stop that same female and she'll argue with me about it.”

Another female trooper tells of an incident where she stopped— and surprised—a young woman who was speeding.

“As I pulled up behind her in the patrol car, I saw her primping in her rearview mirror—putting on lipstick, combing her hair. I'm sure she was hoping to flirt her way out of this one. You should have seen the expression on her face when she turned around and found a lady trooper. Her whole attitude went from sweet to sour in about ten seconds.”

According to women officers, more than half the complaints they receive on the job come from other females.

“I think I've already proven to law enforcement people I work with that I can do the job,” said Leah, “but it takes longer for people in the community to accept you. I still run into individuals who say, ‘So
you're 
the one I've heard about.'”

Not only her sex, but her size has worked against her.

“I stopped a man one time who was absolutely one of the hugest
people I've ever seen and he was pissed when he got out of his truck. He came stalking back to me just glaring. The only thing I could do was stare him in the eyes to make him think he didn't bother me. That kind of situation puts me on the defensive and I don't like it.”

Those who argue that women are too small to handle the job physically fail to remember that since height requirements no longer apply in the highway patrol, there are dozens of men troopers who fall into the same short stature category as women. In addition, women must pass rigid physical requirements to get into patrol school and learn the same defensive tactics as men. If that fails, they can resort to “the great equalizer”—their .357 Magnums.

Nevertheless, there are some situations on the road, says Leah, that no trooper—male or female, large or small—should tackle alone.

“When you pull up behind someone and several people get out, you'd better get back in your patrol car and call for help. Because whether you're a man or a woman, you can't handle four potentially dangerous individuals.”

What bothers her more than fear on the job is the way women troopers are perceived socially, especially by men.

“When we wear the bulletproof vest, it hides our shape, so people don't always realize we have one. I've had guys walk up to me in the health spa and say, ‘Hey, you're thirty pounds lighter than I thought!' But they still won't ask me out because they are intimidated by what I do. And the fact that I make more money than a lot of them is a problem too. The ‘big' salary in this county is $13,000. I make more than that and they know it. They also know I live by myself, take care of myself. I'm independent. Some men are still threatened by that.”

She sees herself getting married, having a family, and staying on the patrol in the future, but only if she finds someone “who can deal with it.” So far, that hasn't happened to the handful of North Carolina female troopers currently on the patrol. All are single or divorced.

Despite the drawbacks, there is a force that attracts and binds women like Weirick, Cloer, Poole, and Parton to the highway patrol.

“All of our reasons for joining are about the same,” said Leah. “We're interested in law enforcement. It provides something different every day. We don't have to sit behind a desk. We are our own
bosses. We can go anywhere on patrol at any time. And the work is a challenge—just as getting into the patrol is a challenge.”

She says the first thing a woman who is interested in becoming a trooper should do is talk at length with other female officers.

“I talked with Dee before I joined but I still didn't realize what it was like. You must be physically fit. But you also have to be psychologically prepared. One officer asked me how I put up with getting screamed at during cadet school. I grew up with it—my dad was a screamer—so I was used to it. But if you're not accustomed to being cussed at or told that you're useless, etc. [all basic training tactics at cadet school], you don't need to be there. Because you won't make it.”

“I know what's it going to be like,” said a female cadet, fresh out of patrol school. “I'll be the only female stationed in my area, so I'll be in the limelight. Some of the people I'll be working with have never even seen a trooper before. So I'm gonna be watched. I'll do the best job I can, but I'm nervous about it.”

“Right now,” said another female trooper, “it's still a man's world on the highway patrol. You're the lowest there is. As a result, you must have more confidence in yourself than you've ever had before. And you have to grin and bear it—no matter what.”

While a growing number of male troopers are beginning to realize that women patrol officers will add to—not detract from—the overall strength of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, there are still plenty of hard-core antifeminists in the organization who are unhappy with the new direction the patrol is taking.

“There's a place in law enforcement for women, but I don't think it's on the road,” said one fifteen-year veteran. “I haven't accepted the fact that we must have female officers. There are too many dangers they simply can't handle—-physically, mentally, or emotionally. If I call for help, I want someone who can deliver when they get there, because I don't call for help unless it's a bad situation. When it happens, I don't want someone with me I have to wonder about—can they handle it or can't they?”

“The thing that concerns me about women officers,” said another male trooper, “is their safety. Because of a woman's physical makeup, a group of men are more apt to resist arrest and give them trouble. I also worry about a female trooper getting raped on the road and
having it reported in the newspapers. That wouldn't look too good for the patrol.”

Interestingly enough, both men admit they've never worked with a female trooper and have heard nothing but praise for the three women officers who patrol in their district.

“If we're going to put women on the patrol, let's help them do well,” said a retired highway patrol captain. “I think it's bad management, for example, to send them to isolated rural places where they are not easily accepted and have no backup help. There are numerous other areas where they could do a good job and be happy. I'm not saying it's deliberately done by the entire patrol but it's likely there are one or two people in management who've said, ‘Let's throw them out there and they'll quit.'”

Whether the patrol likes it or not, however, female troopers are here to stay. In 1972, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in employment on the basis of race, sex, color, or creed. Congress then extended the law to include state and local agencies. Police forces around the country—many with deeply embedded attitudes about male superiority—could barely contain their distaste for the new ruling. Yet, as upholders of the law, they were forced to comply.

In 1979, a recruiter position was established in the North Carolina Highway Patrol to enlist females and minorities. Currently, there is one member in each of the patrol's eight troop districts whose specific role is to seek out qualified applicants.

Leah has already been informed that, along with her regular duties as a trooper, she'll be required to spend two days a week traveling throughout her district for recruiting purposes. She says she will do her best to explain the job, its risks, its hazards, and its rewards, as realistically as possible.

“What people need to realize most is that, as women troopers, we're just doing our job,” she said. “We're not trying to prove anything or be something we're not.”

A little more tolerance and understanding from the general public would go a long way in helping all women law enforcement officers gain the respect they deserve, adds Trooper Dee Parton:

I stopped a lady on the interstate one morning for speeding. “What'd you stop me for?” she snapped.

“I clocked you at seventy-two miles per hour in a fifty-five-mile-per-hour zone.”

“Well, that's really something. Here I am on my way to an Equal Rights Amendment rally and I get pulled over by a lady trooper! Can't you give me a break?”

“No, ma'am.”

“You mean, I'm trying to stand up for your rights and you're still going to write me a ticket?”

“Yes, ma'am,” I said. “Because, just like you, I've got a job to do.”

“There's an international signal for meeting a woman on the road. She taps her brakes twice and if the trooper has been on patrol more than a year or two, he knows to return the same signal. Then he stops and waits for her to come back.” —
A veteran trooper

Aside from women officers, there's another, entirely different type of female who's part of the highway patrol. Troopers call them “badgers,” an unkind term used for women who are so drawn to men in uniform they'll use any ploy to gain an officer's attention.

Not that highway patrolmen are unwitting victims who go kicking and screaming into the arms of predatory females. Quite the contrary. In fact, troopers have long harbored a reputation as womanizers. Old-timers tell of “breaking in” patrol cars by engaging in sex in the back seat, keeping tallies on the number of women they encounter on the road, and illicit meetings both on and off duty between troopers and willing females. A few women have their own stories to tell about getting stopped and propositioned by a highway patrolman.

However, today's trooper believes the image of the highway patrol officer as an indiscriminate ladies' man and the availability of “badgers” are vastly overplayed. More than a few patrolmen say that many of the tales involving sexual shenanigans on patrol are exaggerated versions of somebody's wishful thinking

The truth is probably somewhere in between. Realistically, troopers are no more likely to be involved in back-street affairs than bankers, lawyers, or anyone else who works daily with the public. In all fairness, many highway patrolmen are conservative, family-oriented individuals who flatly refuse to engage in any type of misconduct on the job and resent it when troopers as a whole are categorized as “skirt-chasers.”

Yet there's no denying that a combination of low supervision on the job, law enforcement's macho reputation, and the clean-cut appearance of a well-groomed trooper in uniform help attract the opposite sex.

There's also no denying that certain women, in certain situations, can spell big trouble for a highway patrolman.

The warnings begin in cadet school.

“We're told that if the skirt rises higher, you can look,” explained one rookie, “but you better keep writing that ticket.”

“They pump it into your head that every woman you stop is going to make a pass at you,” said a trooper with two years on the patrol. “I'm still waiting for that to happen.”

When it does, the propositions are seldom explicit. But it doesn't take a genius to read between the lines.

One trooper remembers his sense of discomfort when faced with such a situation:

I stopped a girl for speeding on her way back from the beach. It was a summer day and she was wearing a bikini. I asked for her driver's license and registration.

“You're not gonna give me a ticket, are you?” she said.

“Yes ma'am, I am,”

Then she told me she worked for a group of attorneys and asked if I had ever heard of them.

“No, I can't say that I have.”

I instructed her to sit there for about five minutes while I returned to my patrol car to write up the citation. When I went back to hand her the ticket she had taken off her bikini top.

“Would this make a difference?” she said.

“No, not right now, ma'am. Would you please sign this citation?”

She did, but she left in a huff. At that point, she was probably embarrassed. I know I was.

Troopers who yield to advances on the job—or who instigate them—run the risk of automatic dismissal if knowledge of the incident makes its way to highway patrol headquarters. Rules regarding an officer's conduct are clearly defined and strictly enforced.

An incident too serious be handled on a local level, such as an officer making sexual advances to a female he has arrested, is turned over to Internal Affairs and a full investigation conducted. The officer
in question is notified and offered a chance to give his side of the story. If the evidence warrants disciplinary action, the trooper is either fired, suspended till further notice, or—in some cases—hastily transferred to another county or district.

Another factor that makes fooling around especially risky for highway patrolmen is the lack of privacy inherent in their jobs. Within the community in which he lives, there's no such thing as an anonymous trooper.

“If John Q. Public gets caught having an affair with his secretary, a few of his co-workers may know it,” said one officer. “But if a trooper gets caught, it makes front page news.”

By its very nature, however, law enforcement attracts people who thrive on risk and excitement. And people are fallible, especially where sex is concerned. As a result, when opportunity meets with temptation on the highway patrol, troopers are just as human as the rest of us: