There’s a push to get more women on the Tacoma police force.
Tacoma Police Department has signed onto a national initiative to get more women on the force, called “30 by 30.” That’s 30% of its sworn officers being women by 2030.
It likely comes as no surprise that just 48 of Tacoma’s sworn police officers are women. And even in racially-diverse Tacoma, the overwhelming majority are like Kate Tegler — they are white.
The woman working to change that is recruiting Officer Taylor Reeves, a 12-year-police veteran in her sixth year with Tacoma police.
Even though her grandfather was a police officer, Reeves didn’t consider police work until she took a criminal justice course in college.
“At the time, I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said Reeves. “But I took the class and it was taught by a police officer. And then he welcomed people to come on a ride-along if they’re interested. I did. And when I did the ride-along, I was hooked. I loved it.”
What did she love? “Oh, just the adrenaline of it,” she said. “But, like you said, you could be doing nothing for a little bit, and all of a sudden you’re making a traffic stop. And it was a fun experience.”
But she is a definite minority here. Tacoma has 321 sworn police officers — 48 of them are women, comprising just 14%. And only eight Tacoma police officers are women of color.
Reeves was asked if she has been called names because she is a police officer.
“Oh yeah, of course,” she said.