Hundreds of female police officers gather in Calgary at international conference

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Ford says she believes there is definitely forward motion when it comes to gender equality in law enforcement.

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She says she hopes that everyone who attends will take away something valuable.

“I hope they take mentorship. I hope they take some leadership. I hope that they impact change within their organizations,” Ford said.

Police Chief Roger Chaffin said the ratio of men to women in the Calgary Police Service is 80-20, but that is slowly changing.

“We’ve seen in the last four or five years in our recruit hiring … that it’s rare to see a class that isn’t somewhere between 40 and 50 per cent … female officers, which is good, but that’s only a first start.”

Chaffin said real change will come when those new recruits stay with the force and their careers evolve over time.

“We need some female leadership in our senior ranks,” he said. “That will take some time yet.”

In 2017, Jen Magnus cited sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace when she publicly resigned as a constable with the Calgary force.

Chaffin said on Sunday that those situations are impossible to ignore.

“I don’t think there is any model of policing that can be successful if they are not willing to listen to difficult conversations, they’re not willing to recognize that there has been harm created in the past and there are people who have been marginalized or hurt or made to feel unsafe in policing,” the chief said.

Brenda Lucki, a 31-year veteran of the Mounties, earlier this year became the first woman to be named as full-time commissioner of Canada’s national police force.

The RCMP has faced ongoing complaints about sexual harassment and discrimination against female officers.

Two class-action lawsuits that alleged a long history of harassment, intimidation and discrimination perpetrated by male Mounties against female colleagues were settled in 2016 and women continue to come forward.

(CTV Calgary, The Canadian Press)

The Canadian Press