Anna Bindler, University of Cologne

Women in Policing, Gender Norms and Police Decisions

Abstract

This paper studies gender gaps in Seattle police stop-and-frisk decisions. Female subjects are 14 percentage points less likely to be frisked. This gap closes by 46% with female officers. These cross-gender patterns are not driven by non-random officer assignment, but rather are consistent with preference-based discrimination in which male and female officers face differential female frisk costs. Among the multiple sources of costs considered, we demonstrate that the perception of inappropriateness likely plays an important role. Finally, we show that hiring female officers may impact outcomes both directly but also indirectly via male officer interactions with female colleagues and supervisors.

Contact person: Miriam Wüst