BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Lehigh University Police Department made history recently with its first-ever shift staffed by all women.
On the night of June 30 into July 1, security guard Emilia Amaral, dispatcher Karen Romero, officer Tina Vu, dispatcher Christina Pulley and officer Jaime Hricko were part of the historic moment.
Chief Jason Schiffer said the stars aligned for a group leading the way as Lehigh strives to meet its 30x30 initiative goals to increase women in policing.
“It was stars aligning in an odd way. It was definitely not planned,” Schiffer said last week.
“It was something that I was hoping would happen one day, maybe sooner than later. But the way it unfolded was really a combination of some vacations and somebody else being out of work, and then someone needing to fill a shift.”
Officer Hricko stepped up, as did Officer Vu.
“That caused me to look in our scheduling system, and then I saw we had Amelia, one of our security guards, also working, and then both of our dispatchers on that night were women,” Schiffer said.
“It’s obviously a team effort, especially on our college campus, with our security guards and our police officers and our dispatchers. So it was organic that it just kind of happened that there's that many of them working, and there were no men on the schedule during that entire shift.
“I thought that was unique, and in light of our efforts in signing the 30x30 Pledge a few years ago.”
30 x 30
The 30×30 Pledge is a series of no- or low-cost actions policing agencies can take to improve the representation and experiences of women in sworn positions.
Those who sign it commit to increasing the representation of women in all ranks, and support a culture inclusive and supportive of women in all ranks and roles of law enforcement.
The ultimate goal is to increase the representation of women in police recruit classes to 30% by 2030.
“I read this article and it spelled out how currently, across the country, only 12% of police officers are represented by women and only 3% in management roles. So that's a pretty stark statistic,” Schiffer said.
He described a history and tradition of the profession being staffed by men as one of the larger barriers women face to entering law enforcement, but there’s more.
“I think when a lot of individuals and a lot of young people consider careers, if you don't see someone who looks like you, who represents who you are, if you don't see people like that in that job, it may be a job that you don't even think about,” Schiffer said.
He also recognized societal norms at play that work against women in policing and other jobs with a very rigid scheduling system.
“Any profession that has a 24-hour demand to it, minimum staffings and demands and everything like that, it’s difficult. You have challenges there, and not a lot of ability to be flexible,” Schiffer said.
"I think when a lot of individuals and a lot of young people consider careers, if you don't see someone who looks like you, who represents who you are, if you don't see people like that in that job, it may be a job that you don't even think about."Lehigh Police Chief Jason Schiffer
‘A better thing for everybody involved’
“We’re serving a community of over 7,500 students, and at least somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 people on our campus,” Schiffer said, describing Lehigh as its own small city.
“It’s a large tract of land. We have over 1,600 acres that we're responsible for. And I don't know what our exact percentages are, but it's every bit of 50% of the people on our campus who are women.
“The majority of our student population is between 18 and 22 years of age. And if we can provide a better sense of security, and a welcoming atmosphere to the young women that are on our campus by having women providing police and security services here, I think that's just a better thing for everybody involved.”
Schiffer, the former chief of the Bethlehem Police Department, has been praised by officers for being forward-thinking, open to new ideas and committed to changing the under-representation of women in the department.
He acknowledged research from the 30x30 Initiative which says a lack of women in the profession undermines public safety, with data showing female officers use less force and less excessive force and are perceived by communities as being more compassionate. This can result in better outcomes for crime victims, particularly in sexual assault cases.
“Well over half of our dispatchers are women. Half of our security guards are and I think we're in the neighborhood of about 20% of our department,” Schiffer said, acknowledging plenty of room to grow.
“I think we're, comparatively speaking, doing really well, but I don't think we're anywhere near where I would like to be.
"I would love to see or be a lot closer to 50-50. Like, why not have an equal distribution? But it is very difficult when applicants for police jobs are overwhelmingly male. I just attended the Allentown Police Academy graduation, and there were only three women in that graduating class.”
'My main goal is to become a mentor'
Officer Hricko, whose father and grandfather both served the Allentown Police Department, ended up the lone female graduate of her police academy class.
“On the last day, Bill Audelo, who works for Bethlehem, he was our president of the class. He got all the guys together, and we were on the range, and they circled around me and they pretty much just told me that they wouldn't have wanted a better female to be the one that was with them,” Hricko said.
“I’ll never forget that, but to me it wasn't like, ‘Oh, I'm the only woman here.’ I just didn’t even think about it.”
Even so, she’s proud to be part of the shift in law enforcement that sees the need for women and to change the mentality of how people view police officers.
“I've gone to Career Day at Ritter Elementary, and I get chills talking about this because I get emotional,” Hricko said.
“There were so many little girls there that wanted to be police officers because they wanted to be like me. It was so heartwarming and great to get that instilled in their mind, because I didn’t see female police officers when I was at that age either.”
As a community engagement officer at Lehigh, Hricko also has started the AVENUES program, which was designed to empower and guide high-school-age women toward pursuing careers in law enforcement.
During the week-long program, participants learn more about local agencies such as the Lehigh County Sheriff's Office, Pennsylvania State Police, Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, and Homeland Security through site visits, demonstrations and more.
“My main goal for the program is to become a mentor for the girls, to actually follow through with it and help guide them through it,” Hricko said.
“There were so many little girls there that wanted to be police officers because they wanted to be like me. It was so heartwarming and great to get that instilled in their mind, because I didn’t see female police officers when I was at that age either.”Officer Jaime Hricko
“I would also like to make an internship from the program as well, as a stem to the girls that attend the program who could then have an internship with us. Hopefully we can help guide them, even maybe hire them on here part time, whether it's security when they're younger and going through school or whatever.”
And while the law enforcement profession hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Hricko, she praises Schiffer for being a progressive leader who embraces new ideas and has created a culture where officers might be contributing in a different way but are all working toward a common goal.
“This program I don’t think would have ever happened if I was under a different supervisor,” Hricko said.
“What we are here to do is serve the community and be helpers to the community. I’m a community engagement officer, but really at the end of the day, all of us are.”
To that end, Schiffer said it’s natural for people in a university setting to try new things and to lead the way in educating the next generation.
“If one person comes through the program and sees that, ‘Oh, this is something that I'd like to do’ and goes and explores that, that's amazing," he said.
“Just to have that experience and be able to talk with women who are actually doing all these different jobs, I think is just a remarkable thing that Officer Hricko has set up, helping us to meet our goals as an educational institution.
“There's different types of employees who bring value to an employer or an organization or a community. There's certain people where you can give them a task and they'll do that task. They'll show up. If you tell them to do ABC, they do ABC.
“That's great. There's value in that. And then there's other people that you can share a vision with them, and they're going to come up with ideas and things that I would never think of, that they're going to help advance that vision and make that vision a reality. That’s what Jaime has done.”
