An Investigation into Sexual Harassment within Police Departments

This report investigates the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment within police departments, focusing on both male and female officers. It examines the various forms of harassment, including unwanted sexual attention, gender harassment, and sexual coercion, and explores how these experiences relate to officers' mental and physical health. The report analyzes findings from various studies and surveys, highlighting the challenges faced by victims and the potential for long-term negative consequences such as stress, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. It also considers the role of gender discrimination and workplace environment in contributing to the problem, and the need for awareness and reporting mechanisms to address sexual misconduct and create a safer workplace for all law enforcement personnel. The research draws on secondary data from survey interviews to understand the experiences of female police officers in particular, examining issues of discrimination, disrespect, and the impact on their careers.

Running Head : SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of Student
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Abstract
The sexual misconduct by the police has been often considered as one of the secret crimes that
routinely goes and reported and unrecognised. The aim of this study has been to investigate and
highlight whether sexual harassment is connected to mental and physical health of both women
and men police officers and how prevalent is harassment of sexuality present in policing. This
research paper aims to highlight whether women officers has been of unbothered more by sexual
harassment as compared to men.in the light of review of literature the assignment targets to
explain whether victims who has reported of being bothered and sexually harassed experienced
more challenges compared to the victims who did not feel bothered.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Basic Analysis.................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Sexual harassment of intense to occur in many of the organisation. Due to the
organisational differences, methodological alteration and the prevalence rates that difference
across the studies, it has been stated that more than 44 % of women and 20% of men have been
confronted with sexual harassment in the last two years (Carter Collins, 2004). Sexual
harassment can be illustrated as an improper rate of behaviour which includes sexual dimension.
This further more explains sex related nature within the workplace that is appraised by the
recipients as offensive. According to the research De Haas, Timmerman and Höing (2009) there
lies three of the major forms of sexual harassment that can be distinguished as unwanted sexual
attention, gender harassment and sexual coercion. Sexual harassment has long been used as a
predictor related to stress among police officers. It has been found that female police officers
have reported of experiencing more rate of sexual harassment and more rate of stress as
compared to the male police officers.
In the current time, harassment among the police officers and the law enforcement
personnel have found that on duty officers tend to experience more incidents of harassments just
like any other local people. Evidences and allegations are mostly coming from internal sources
that is from other police officers for military personals. The management has remained in major
pressure for increasing the safety of both female and male officers of police department for
restricting any sort of misconduct and sexual harassments among the workplace (Sexual
harassment of police staff revealed, 2019). Thus, one of the key aspects is towards the abolition
of the harassment and making the officers aware regarding the highest ones so that they can
report without any hesitation.

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The present study has used secondary data from survey interviews for gathering
information regarding female police officers experience over sexual harassment. Towards
examination of the harassment among both male and female officers it is important to define
harassment. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the term harassment
can be explained as an unwelcomed sexual conduct on the basis of colour, race, sexuality, age
and genetic information’s (Marsh, 2019). Sexual discrimination or sexual harassment includes
verbal or physical harassment in the form of sexual nature. The current study aims to examine
both experience and the consent of male and female police officers towards sexual harassment at
the workplace.
Basic Analysis
Harassment of sexual discrimination include sexual abuse or unwelcomed advances of
sexual desires, request for incest and some of the other physical or verbal harassment in the form
of sexual nature. According to the research by Agolla, (2009) the author of the study designed a
survey regarding the study for measuring the gender issues within the police department. It was
found that more than 42% of female police officers reported of experiencing unwanted sexual
attention while 13% of male experience sexual coercion. The authors of the study found that
several of the challenges that were faced by the women officers in the department where not
exactly sexual in nature but had more to do with hostility towards women.
Dantzker and Kubin, (1998) targeted to identify and analyse the gender related workplace
challenges among the US police force. In their research study, the authors explained the
methodology used in their research in the form of questionnaire that collected demographic data
and information regarding female police officers that was signed at work. In response to the
questionnaire from the department of police, more than 30% of female police officers agrees

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over the fact that sexual harassment is common in the workplace (Kraska and Kappeler, 1995).
The sampling technique that has been used for this particular research study is both probability
and nonprobability technique of sampling. Besides these simple random sampling has been
utilised for this particular study of obtaining better understanding of the research topic. The
authors in this study highlighted some of the factors regarding the measurements of sexual
harassment that includes gender related work challenges, promotion, unit field assignment and
workplace environment.
Maguen et al., (2019) explained study conducted and in depth analysis with female police
officers for learning regarding their experience in the workplace that includes their experiences
and their resistance they faced. The study furthermore highlighted the mechanism used and the
themes regarding the success stories of the harassed police officers. The researcher included
more than 24 female officers from 11 police department for interviewing for the study (Brodeur,
2018). The participants for the study where collected with the use of snowball sampling and the
researcher took notes and recorded the interviews with the permission form the participants. The
author of the study found that all the women that were interviewed reported instances of
discrimination, sexual harassment and disrespect throughout their early phases in the career
which eventually slow down while they got tenured.
In the study by Violanti et al., (2016) ,the authors examined the thorough experiences of
harassment behaviour among the police officers with the use of random sampling. The authors in
the study found out that many of the female officers were employed at the police department
while they face sexual harassment at their initial stage of recruitment. More than 2000 surveys
were made through the entire course of police departments where only 26% of the response
returned. This highlighted the fact that many of the police officers were not ready to share their

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story of harassment or comfortable to state the sexual harassment incident (de Haas, Timmerman
& Höing, 2009). The study also explained some of the most common behaviour of harassment
that has been experienced by both male and female officers. This includes putting an individual
down, making them insulted and called homosexual, taking part in dirty jokes, trying to have
sexual connection with the respondents irrespective of the objections and targeting sexually
aggressive moves towards the victims. The research studies collected data regarding sexual
preferences, race, education, teniority and analysed the characteristics and experiences related to
harassment. In the research study, Andersen and Papazoglou,(2015) suggested regarding some of
the future researches for comparing experiences related to harassment of the homosexual officers
as compared to the heterosexual officers.
The Sexual Experience Questionnaire (SEQ) was one of the controversial tool that was used for
measuring the experience of females at the workplace in United States. According to the
researches more than 90% has experienced one or more of the sexual behaviours as per the SEQ,
but only 52.4 % actually feel that they had been one of the victims of sexual harassment at
workplace (Stewart-Winter, 2015). Within the category of gender related harassments, more than
87% of women reported of hearing offensive and sexual jokes related to them. Research for the
most states that approximately 53.7 percent of male police officers reported that other individuals
have been jealous of them due to their success and furthermore treated them differently
(Sherman et al., 2015). According to the statistical data, 36.8 percent of females officer reported
of experiencing unwanted sexual attention and unwanted and unwelcomed touch of their co-
workers who attempted to establish some sort of sexual relationship with them. Research studies
also gathered qualitative descriptions of the behaviours regarding women police officers who
were asked if they could do their job or not.

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Kutsa et al.,(2016) conducted studies and researches regarding impact, incidence and the
perception of sexual harassment among police officers. Within his research study the author
gathered information regarding the experiences that have occurred throughout the last few years
and segregated the data as per the rank of the personnel. The data suggested and reported that
those having higher ranks reported to the survey with the positive note while those having lower
ranks were not comfortable to participate in the survey and complete the questionnaire.
Some of the relevant studies over the sex-related misconduct in the police department focus
primarily over the commissions of nonviolence consensual sex. Researches suggested that the
police officers who found that consensual sex was quite common describe the various forms of
the misconduct the head face throughout the entire teniority (Oehme, Stern & Mennicke, 2015).
The author of the study stated that most segregated females who reported regarding their sexual
harassment often face more violations at their place after revealing their incidence. Both male
and female officers have the tendency to be termed as lonely and mentally disturbed by other
police officers if they try to protest and call off regarding the harassment they have been facing
in the workplace.
Krüsi et al., (2014) examine the scenario if gender discrimination impacted stress over
the police officers. The research study by the author used information that have been collected
from the police department in Maryland. The total number of response rate was around 68%
from 1104 offices. The authors of the research study relied both on the collection of secondary
and primary data sources. The primary data has been collected by the questionnaires regarding
the services within the police departments and also from the one to one interview sessions with
police officers. The secondary data has been gathered from the printed online resources and the
peer reviewed journals from the online platform.

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In the context of the relationship of sexual harassment with health, Prenzler and Sinclair,
(2013) in the research study found that sexual harassment is one of the potential hazard in many
of the areas at the victims life. This research study by the author used exploratory research
design since it is important to gain a detailed idea regarding existing concepts and the concept of
sexual harassment among police officers at a very initial stage. The research study focused on
physical and mental health issues. Most of the victims of sexual harassment both male and
female reported of mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, anger, irritability and
uncontrolled weeping. According to the report some of the possible physical health
consequences wear fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders and sudden weight loss (Stinson Sr et al.,
2015). The link between mental and physical health together with sexual harassment was
identified in the Meta analysis of the research. The negative consequences of the experiences of
sexual harassment has been reported to be enduring over the time. These includes lifetime great
towards post traumatic stress disorders specifically higher on female officers of sexual
harassment as compared to the male offices. In the research study, Lunze et al., (2016)
furthermore highlighted the clear connection of negativity amount sexual harassment towards
mental and physical health. The aim of the research by the author what's to find whether they lies
equally strong relation among women and men. Within the sample of the federal employees of
the police department, the research found no such differences among men and women regarding
this emotional and psychological well being. According to the reports gathered from the police
department of United States, the sample result stated that mental and physical health of both
women and men were equally impacted by the harassing experiences. In the context of the
sample of university personal, the sexual harassment was found the be connected to injury,
serious right of illness or assault specific among male police employees. Furthermore the overall

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risk towards harassment in the workplace and the related illness and injuries was also higher
among men due to their job duties (Merkin and Shah, 2014). On the other hand the woman
police officers might perceive sexual harassment as one of the major occupational hazard that
has been accepted and cannot be avoided. According to the research women tends to simply live
with it whereas sexual harassment is unexpected for men that might result in negative
consequences for the men (Stotzer, 2014). From the theoretical perspective, three different
effects of gender is possible in the context of sexual harassment form towards the genders. The
research furthermore highlighted how the public sector organisation suffered decrease in the
budget and corresponding loss of employees in the past year. The challenges at the effects of
sexual harassment is wide. The authors of the research study projected adverse outcome
including psychological distress, decrease job satisfaction, decreased productivity and intentions
were leaving organisation which all the effects of sexual harassment and are related to general
incivility contributing to diminishing wellness amount employees.
Mallory, Hasenbush and Sears, (2015) in his study aimed to uncover and essential factor
regarding the effect of the sexual harassment over the job satisfaction and the psychological well
being of the police officers.in his study the research examined the perception of equal
opportunity and sexual harassment by the measurement of some of the factors. These are
professional development, income and staying until the retirement. The author of the study try to
focus over the healthcare outcomes and the mental stress faced by the victims of sexual
harassment. For carrying out the analysis from the qualitative data and the quantitative data, the
collected data of the research study has been transformed to the percentage as and numeric for
gaining a comparison and comprehensive data wearing the collected set of information. The data
has then been converted to graph from charge for presenting a pictorial and graphical

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presentation. Evaluation of the qualitative data, further approach of thematic analysis has been
undertaken. The data gathered from the survey and the interview for the research study by the
authors has considered various themes that are connected to the research topic. The research
study further more highlighted the effect of the psychological pressure of the victims over their
productivity at the workplace. The author of the study discussed that the responses of women for
sexual harassment has been a hindrance towards retention of the female officers which is twice
as high as in the case of male police officers.
While the majority of the above summarised studies by the various authors listed the
experience and the rate of police officers facing sexual harassment, the review of literature failed
to highlight the recommended measures for the intervention that is required for preventing the
practice of sexual harassment at the workplace.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded from the above statements and the discussions that sexual harassment is
negative connected to the physical and mental health for both women and men police officers.
The aim of this study has been to investigate and highlight whether sexual harassment is
connected to mental and physical health of both women and men police officers and how
prevalent is harassment of sexuality present in policing. According to the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, the term harassment can be explained as an unwelcomed sexual
conduct on the basis of colour, race, sexuality, age and genetic information’s. The negative
consequences of the experiences of sexual harassment has been reported to be enduring over the
time. These includes lifetime great towards post traumatic stress disorders specifically higher on
female officers of sexual harassment as compared to the male offices. Some of the research
studies highlighted that the overall risk towards harassment in the workplace and the related

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illness and injuries was also higher among men due to their job duties. Though the reports state
more number of women police officers being the victims of the sexual harassment’s at the
employment, the rate of harassments depends of tenacity and their ranks at the employment
place. Most of the victims of sexual harassment both male and female reported of mental health
challenges like depression, anxiety, anger, irritability and uncontrolled weeping. According to
the researches, some of the possible physical health consequences wear fatigue, gastrointestinal
disorders and sudden weight loss. These sexual harassments are directly linked to the wellbeing
of the individual police officers and affect their works and their productivity in the employment
place. To summarize, the research paper explains the possible moderation and its impacts over
the gender over the relation among the health and sexual harassments. It has been found that
women police officers feels more bothered by the sexual harassments as compared to the men at
the employment place, though the rate of complaints from women police officers are
comparatively low. The reports suggested that the harassment in related to the physical and the
mental health of both men and women police officers. The above study furthermore summarizes
how the measures for the sexual harassments was originally been designed for the measurement
of women. The study revealed that this female centred instrument was also in use for the
establishment of the connection and the relation among men in the context of sexual harassment
and mental health. The entire study portrayed sexual harassment as a heinous crime or practise
affecting the mental stability and the productivity of the police officers.