Austin's second female police chief expected to bring more women to the force
by Bettie Cross
AUSTIN, Texas — For the first time in 27 years, a woman has been picked to be Austin’s permanent female police chief. Lisa Davis is currently the Assistant Chief with the Cincinnati, Ohio Police Department. The choice to make Davis top cop in Austin is expected to bring more women to the police force. Women make up half of the United States population but only about 12% of police officers. In addition, only 3% of police leadership positions are held by women.
The last time the Austin Police Department had a permanent female police chief was the 1990’s. Elizabeth Watson became APD’s chief in 1992 and championed community policing at a C-SPAN conference.
“We have always emphasized technical training, skills training, and we have done in my view too little in terms of focusing on communication skills,” said Watson.
More than 20 years later, the woman who is expected to be voted in as Austin’s second female chief is also advocating for “compassion and collaboration” with the community.
“Do we train in that stress-oriented paramilitary style, or do we go more to adult learning-based training? To me, it’s a balance and we have to do both. We want to be what they call guardian-centric but warrior-based,” said Davis.
Some Austin leaders think hiring a woman to lead the police force will help rebuild community trust.
“I think some of that genuine compassion that comes along with being a woman is going to come through in ways that I think any police department, any department can benefit from,” said Chas Moore, Executive Director of the Austin Justice Coalition.
According to the Department of Justice, research shows women officers use less force while on duty and are named in fewer complaints and lawsuits. They also fire their service weapons less often than male officers.
“We do our very best to d-escalate using words, using our communication skills, and emphasizing the importance of that. And studies show that female officers, in particular, are very well versed at that. But whether it’s female or male everyone needs to have those skills,” said Michael Bullock, President of the Austin Police Association.
Bullock says with over 300 vacant officer positions, hiring Davis is likely to help recruitment efforts.
“Having a female at the helm is definitely a role model for a lot of people and hopefully draws more people to the profession as a whole,” said Bullock.