Could more female police lead to safer communities?

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Vera Bumpers, the first female chief and first African-American chief of Houston's Metro Police Department, remembers one of the first calls she went on shortly after joining the force right out of college.

An irate passenger on a bus was threatening people. Bumpers, who has been in law enforcement for close to 40 years, was the first one to respond. When she arrived on the scene, she approached the door and saw people exiting the bus.

"From where I could see, he looked like he was about 7 feet tall. Of course, I'm 5-foot-2," she said. The bus driver took notice of that size disparity and told Bumpers, "You are going to get your arse whooped."
Bumpers proceeded to enter the bus while the man continued cursing her and acting like he was on something, she said. "I just started to talk to him and I said, 'You appear to be upset about something. I think we can work through this.' As I talked, he started to calm down and in my mind, I'm thinking, 'Where is backup? Where is backup?' "

The man, who didn't have a weapon in his hands, eventually walked off the bus with her. By the time her backup finally arrived, she had him in handcuffs.

"And the guys are like, 'Wow, how did you (do it?)' " she said. "I think that is one of the times where I saw the importance of how you respond verbally to a situation without using any of the tools on your belt, especially when the person doesn't have any weapon in their hand. ... When it's those situations that you have to use your verbal skills to de-escalate a situation. ... I think women are excellent at that."

At a time of tension between law enforcement and civilians across the country, especially after a wave of police-involved shootings of African-American men, could more women in blue help keep the peace? Could more women on the force lead to safer communities?

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