"TERRACE — Women are
beginning to swell the ranks of
. the Royal Canadian Mounted -

i nog Ot eer sm mete wm TE

el Nie i rs

Police, a force that has concen:

trated in recent years on in-

cluding ‘more women: and
minorities. .
. "Terrace’s ‘RCMP ‘detach-
méint, with: a higher. than
average percentage of females
(17 .per- cent), ‘has women on
each shift, °°.

Public. response to female of-

ficers is mostly~positive, says

former community relations of-
ficer Jane Andrew who was
recently. transferred t
Parksville. >)

“You -meet up with a few
people who. “You. know. you're:

“One. ‘woman saw me as a
woman: telling her. what to do
rather than a police officer,
And of course you get the com-
ments"

Such conflicts and comments
are only a small part of the job.
Andrew feels there is a need for
women in the- RCMP, ;

She became interested in the -
RCMP while studying criminal:
psychology: and fine arts at:
Guelph ‘University in Ontario. -
While there Andrew worked as
a volunteer at a correctional
centre, -

She's ‘also taken an ability to
draw cand turned that into an
asset as.a composite artist with
the RCMP..

people,’”. 4
“*There’s a lot of opportunity in

this kind of job — there's not .

just general duty. You deal with
the community and you see the
good: side, whereas in general:
duty you see a lot of. the bad
side.”

That .bad side includes cases
of spousal abuse and sexual

_ assault, areas where Terrace’s

Inspector Lawrence Yeske feels

es fa Standard, Wott, August 14, 1991 ~ Page AS -;

Maintaining accuracy at the force's Thornhill rifle range is RCMP Constable Jamie Fage.

women officers are invaluable,
as .the victims are’ -usvally
female, and feel more comfor-
table with a woman offices, than
with aman,’

the Vancouver. RCMP says that
whether.or not’a. woman feels

“T like*to. go out and ‘meet. More secure’. with a: male or

Andrew said. :

femal officer, the fact” ‘that a
chibice exists is good. .*

(Female victims). may feel °

more inclined in same cases to
talk'to a female rather-than a
matle,. but it's certainly. Not an
area where women have.

monopoly,” she said, “I think

it’s nice that they have the opor-
tunity to talk toa female if ‘they
want.” ot

While the ROMP's policy is

and. female ¢ officers,
Corporal Patti ‘Lawrence: ‘of.

“not to differentiate between

men and women on the force,
members do say that there are
some differences between mnale

stable Erla- Kim McColl,

recruiting officer with the Van- ;
couver RCMP,

Terface’s Constable Andrew:

. Says physical. confrontation ‘is

However it does not really matter how squeaky.
clean the pulp mill may be. The fact still remains -
that we are running out of trees fast already.

Apart form the obvious
physical differences, or perhaps

‘ because of them, female of-

ficers tend to-put verbal media-
tion over physical mediation.
“Tt may take you a little
longer to talk (someone) into
the car sometimes, but it saves
your teeth, and the end result
will be the same,’’ said Con-

also a matter of judgement.

“Of course we're not as
strong as male members,’ she.
said. ““You have to know where’
to draw the line. I'm not going
to step (into a situation) when
there’s already three male
members there.’’

Verbal skills are at least as
important to an officer’ as

Women good with assault victims

Lawrence Yeske

More women to be recruited

TERRACE — The Terrace
RCMP ‘detachment, with a 17
per cent female membership (or
seven out of 42 officers), has
more. than the national average
of women stationed here, |

’ Women. first entered the
RCMP In 1974, They now total
more than 1,000 officers, some
seven per cent of the force, and
efforts are being made ta in-
crease the figure lo 20 per cent
by the year 2013.

Although the RCMP does not
fall under the 1986 federal
Employment Equity "Act that
states all Canadians should have

_ ‘equial access to government ser- -
_....vices and employment, the force
' decided in: 1983 to. concentrate
oon: hiring” people - ‘from. four |
“groups of ‘society it had

femected untilthen, 2° 0.
SQne. of these. groups was”

women . ==’ the others. were

TERRACE — RCMP; officers who “ate women,” tye MPM, with women, on 1 each’ shift of genéfal di.” me

wa dai We

are treated the same a.officers who are men,ac- . ty.

cording to the force’s policy.

They receive the same six-month training in
Regina, Saskatchewan, and perform the same

duties on the job.

Agreeing with - the fp policy, Terrace RCMP
detachment commander, Inspector Lawrence
Yeske says he doesn’t differentiate between male
and female officers, although he says that some
men are naturally stronger than women.

He said there are arcas where women officers

might have special advantages.

“I think one of their main advantages i is par-.
ticularly with spousal assault because the’ victim

is, usually female,”’ he'said.

. Some victims prefer to speak to a wortian of-
-ficer rather than a male officer, Yeske added.

‘ The Terrace RCMP receives between one and
five spousal abuse calls each weekend. . -

Seven of, the 42 Terrace RCMP members are

native people, disabled | persons
and visible minorities. = =
When Constable Jane An-

drew, former crime prevention

and community ‘policing “co-
ordinator with’ the Terrace

cial average.

corrected,”

ay intl t

. The umber ¢ of female office icers at the Terrace
detachment is higher than the national average | of
. about seven per cent and higher than the provin-

And Yeske says female representation i is im-
proving everywhere.

“(Now we even have female members on the
musical ride,’’ he added. “That? 8 finally been”

Women have been part of ‘the RCMP since

sioner Norman BD. Inkster said
the preferred categories ap-
‘proach created difficulties for
the force in hiring officers to
suit regional needs and in ensur-
ing that the membership was a

“You meet up with.a few people who you know
‘you're. going to have trouble with, whether you're
male or female. Oné woman saw me as a woman
telling her what to do rather than a police officer.
And. of course you. get the comments.”

detatchment, went. through

training’ in 1986, she hai! only <ed.

one female instructor, e!
“They: wanted: five,” she

-said, ‘Sand they were just hiring

women. Me

: ~ However, in 1988. the: force

abandoned the ‘practice of :
recruiting “to mest: “apecific
. barat

“At the time, RCMP Commis:

reflection of the public it serv-

“There is no: doubt that a
psychological:. distance exists
between-the police in Canada
.and the groups from which we
wish to recruit,”’. Inkster said.
-Now,. the RCMP has a. na-
tional recruiting team that in-

_ -¢ludes minorities and women in

order to.garner more female

1974, and while Yeske and other members of the .
force see no difference between male and female
officers, occasionally the public still makes’ that
differentiation.

“Sometimes,” Yeske said, ‘you get somebody
that thinks, oh, this isa woman talking, I don’t |
have to listen to her, and then n they find that she's YY
‘quite capable.*’

and minority recruits.

Women also enter the train- |

ing program as quickly as possi-
ble, according to Vancouver
recruiting. officer Constable
Erla-Kim McColl, |

‘"We process them faster, "
she said. “‘If we get a troop go-

ready. then obviously we take
the women first.’’ .

But she points out that men
need not fear they are overlook-
ed, :

In' 1989-90, British Columbia
(the ‘largest RCMP division in
the fountry) sent 160 recruits to
training in Regina. Thirty-four
of them were women, nineteen
of them visible minorities, and
the remaining 107 were men, —

While women have served in ’
the RCMP for 17 years now,
Constable McCall knows of no |

physical ability, members say.
McColl said she looks for

' several’ factors. in possible

recruits, including maturity.
“If TE had-to pick the one

thing I would: probably say
maturity (is most important} — -

_ the ability to work independent-
‘ly; to solve disputes,”” she said,-

“People look. ‘to us for
guidance,”'

‘Rotating shift schedules — -

‘including 4 p.m. to 4a.m. and 7
p.m. to 7 a.m. stints — can
‘make family lifea bit challeng-
ing. But Constable Kim Hall of
the local detachment, who has
been in the force for one year
has few problems.

I think it depends an the age
of the kids,’’ she said. “I’ve had

it very well because they’re 16

and 14. You do miss out on a
few things, but they unders-
tand.” -

Vancouver RCMP’s Cor-
poral Patti Lawrence, an officer
for 17 years with children who
are § and 8, doesn’t suffer from
difficulties: despite their young
age. -
“I didn't have any problem
with it,”’ she said, ‘‘There’s ade-
quete babysitting and you go
from there. 1 don’t think it
- would be any different than it is
for nurses.’*

Mothers are given 6 months
maternity leave, and Lawrence
said she went back to work after
having both her children.

Hall and others point out that
shiftwork affects men’s lives the
same as it affects women's.

CONSTABLE JAMIE FAGE of the Terrace detatchment has been a
member of the RCMP for four years. She replaces Constable Jane
ing into training and we have Andrew as community retations officer, after spending what she
five women ready and five men says was an interesting year on highway patrol, a duty that often
took her and her car as far as Stewart. Her interest in people was
one of the reasons she joined the force.

females in positions higher than
corporal, the position above
constable, which is the starting
rank.

She says this is because all
members of the force start ‘out
as constables, and a certain
“amount of service is required
for advancement,

* At the -moment, with an in:

crease in RCMP membership.

‘spectors: now,
_be,”” she adds.

over the last several years, the
time needed for a promotion
has lengthened, she said.

““You only have to have (serv-
ed) seven years to become a cor-

poral, bul right now the average
; is 14.” :

There may be no female in-
“but there’ will

Park
hosts

: Furlong Bay. campsite. ” --

“ Gofdon' and~ Paula” we
“Frew are park hosts, - a
They are “at the, -

_ They have been there “
“alll summer. og
oho. The-Frews: help. peo ‘
: Heo out.

| How to vote

There will be an elec-
tion soon.)

Will you vote? You
‘must be on the list. -
‘The list ‘is at the

government office. It is _
on Eby St. _

You must be 19 years. .
old. You must be a
Canadian citizen.

not.

THE. POLICE: have two new cars. One is used |
onthe highway.:The other is used in town. -
Older poles ea were 2 big. The n new ones 8 are.

ey Ee ee