A dozen new Wichita police recruits are women. That’s a record for the department
For Vanessa Campos, the draw to police work was something of a surprise. Last May, the 24-year-old graduated from Wichita State University with a master’s degree in sport management.
She says she was happy working for Stryker Sports Complex, her dream job. “But I wasn’t content.”
So she submitted an application to the Wichita Police Department.
“I felt like I could do more, give more. I felt like I was wasn’t fulfilling my full potential,” she said.
This week Campos joins other aspiring officers in the department’s newest recruit class for six months of academy training that will ready them to patrol Wichita’s streets. At 34 recruits, the class is the department’s largest since 2006.
But there’s something else special about the group: A dozen of them are women.
That’s the most female recruits ever in a single Wichita Police Department academy class.
“To be able to have 12 here in 2020 is an awesome thing .... to brag about,” said Jeremy Vogel, the department’s recruiting and pre-employment sergeant.
“Today is a big day.”
He spoke about the class at the new Law Enforcement Training Center at WSU on Tuesday morning as both male and female recruits convened in an upstairs classroom for their first day of learning.
Vogel said usually there are about four women in a typical WPD recruit class.
In 2011, Wichita police set a local record with eight female recruits.
One of last year’s classes tied that record, giving Vogel hope that new tactics to encourage women to apply to the force were paying off.
In recent years under the leadership of Chief Gordon Ramsay, the department has placed a heavier focus on recruiting women “to help diversify the department … to be able to better reflect the citizens that we’re serving,” Vogel said. Historically, law enforcement has been a male-dominated career field.
“With the community, they want to see a department that is a reflection of them.”
One of those tactics Vogel says is increasing the number of female recruits is a new “Women of WPD” website that showcases the work of female officers. The site includes photos of deputy chiefs Wanda Parker and Anna Hatter, two of the department’s top brass.
“We’ve set the bar high” Vogel said, adding that he hopes future academy classes will have as many — or more — female recruits as this one. Police anticipate training around 100 new patrol officers in three academy classes this year.
“Will it happen again in 2020? That would be great,” he said. “ ... I would like to think in the near future I can break that goal, and we can have another new record.”
Once they graduate, the female recruits will add to the 101 women already working as commissioned officers for the WPD.
Currently, women make up almost 15% of the department’s 688-member commissioned force, agency spokesman Officer Charley Davidson said — slightly more than the 12-13% law enforcement agencies average nationwide.
“It’s the most in WPD history,” Davidson said.
Vogel said that in his experience, female officers are an asset to a law enforcement department. They tend to have fewer use-of-force issues and get fewer complaints from the public.
They also add a level of empathy and approachability that might otherwise be missing during police response and can connect with citizens who are uneasy interacting with male officers, he said.
“It’s awesome hearing that we are the class that has the most women police recruits,” Campos said.
“I just believe it’s our time to shine.”
Women in the WPD’s record-breaking recruit class are:
- Alexandria Arthur
- Diana Bowman-Truong
- Vanessa Campos
- Frances Dennis
- Alexa Dunford
- Logan Fira
- Veronica Hill
- Megan Mellard
- Ann Mora
- Lindsey Shaults
- Shonda Taylor
- Jennifer Zinkhon
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 5:09 PM.
