Running head: REFLECTION PAPER 1

Policing Reflection Paper

Carolina Gutierrez

100580082

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

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Reflection Paper

Policing is a common profession seen all over the world, in which those who in the roles

of police officers are seen as a superior group who have power and force over civilians

(Mostaghim, 2017). The book, No One to Tell, by Janet Merlo, expresses what Janet went

through as a female police officer working for the RCMP (Merlo, 2013). Janet writes about her

20 years working as a uniformed officer for the RCMP and the issues she dealt with regarding,

sexual harassment, discrimination due to solely being a female, and disregard of her and other

female officers by higher-ranking male officers (Merlo, 2013). What occurred to Janet and other

female officers can be seen as blatant gender discrimination and overt sexual harassment, and a

lack of honesty and foremost care on the part of the RCMP. Overall, it was hurtful reading this

book as a female myself, who wishes to pursue a career not in policing but as a CBSA officer in

the future; however, it allowed me to read and reflect on the reality of what occurs to female

constables such as Janet. It was evident that as hard as Janet would try to speak to someone about

the ongoing issues in the force, there was no one whom truly cared or did anything in order to

properly address the issues for several years. The following reflection paper will discuss in detail

aspects of the book, No One to Tell, along with a personal reflection, and connections to two

news articles. Furthermore, the content from this book will be applied in larger, theoretical

context learned from lectures taught by Dr. Mostaghim to be applied to actual, practical life

scenarios.

In the book No One to Tell, Janet writes about her experiences working for the RCMP.

Her love for policing is evident as she manages to conform to her role as a constable for 20 years

and allows her mental health and personal life to suffer due to her issues with male authorities in

the RCMP, as she could not speak against those who were higher than her in ranking. Janet, first
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talked about a situation that occurred, illustrating pure sexual harassment by committed by a

male Sergeant when she was collecting lottery pool money and he seemingly stared at her breast

while giving her the money and used unnecessary, inappropriate comments. In order for Janet to

be able to ask him for something in the future, she had to hold back on any of her thoughts

towards him. As soon as I read this, it shocked me and showed me the reality of how many

females in these positions are seen as and treated by those who are supposed to arrest or stop

those who commit those types of actions. Male police officers have a subculture of being strong,

and masculine, while the females are usually seen as the opposite of that and makeup much less

of the police force (Mostaghim, 2017). In May 2016, Statistics Canada reported that women only

account for 21% of all sworn officers, which has increased since 1986 when they only accounted

for less than 1% (Greenland & Alam, 2017). These statistics associate with how Janet explained

her experiences to be and how she felt alone at many times and felt as if she has no one to

confide in as she would fear possibly losing out on the career in which she had a passion for.

Janet had to keep quiet and not speak up to defend herself to a fellow male officer or those

ranking above her. In her book, she discusses how one morning she arrived at her mail slot to a

list of " Training Courses Now Available for Women", which included titles such as " Getting

What You Want Without Nagging” (Merlo, 2013, p.91). Women in the RCMP were being

demoralized and seen as weak compared to the male officers. As well, there was a certain

sergeant in Nanaimo, whom always seemed to use sexually degrading comments to his female

co-workers. When Janet, was working, this sergeant held up a dildo that was evidence from an

investigation and stated that Janet had used it and wore it out, in front of others in the detachment

office (Merlo, 2013, p.91), and all Janet could do was ignore it and pretend that she was focused

on her paperwork. This shows how sergeants who have authority, and are supposed to maintain
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law and order and treat all with the respect they deserve; don’t even do so for their fellow

colleagues.

Although women have had longer history in policing than many think, starting as early as

1792, women played more of an administrative role and were supposed to follow rules said by

the males ranking above them (Mostaghim, 2017), with female officers working in the RCMP

starting in the mid 1970's (Mostaghim, 2017). Policing has always been a male-dominated force,

which leads to the few women who represent the police being treated differently and judged by

their gender instead of their abilities. It has however been seen that women tend to do better at

school than men, (Mostaghim, 2017), which leads to them have more theory and knowledge

which can be useful for dealing with everyday people and conflict. Typically women enter into

the policing profession for same reasons men do, which is for an action in the force and to be

involved in all police duties as men are. Another issue as Janet also discussed in her book, is

promotions, which causes a problem since there are a few women in police. Women are

excluded from many aspects of police such as many roles in the RCMP, which include tactical

teams as an example (Mostaghim, 2017). There are rules that are not written down that somehow

female officers have to follow. When applying for promotions, they are usually encouraged not

to apply for certain ones that males would apparently do better in (Mostaghim, 2017). Other

issues also include female officers having a lack of a female model figure to follow and usually

comply with the unwritten rule that most female police officers are partnered with male, which

means they always want a man with them showing distrust in women (Mostaghim, 2017). When

Janet was attempting to get a promotion, she was always told that she was not ambitious enough,

despite how hard she worked (Merlo, 2013, p.133). The only time Janet felt as if those in higher

authority cared on her was when they needed female officers in the RCMP to rank up due to
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being scrutinized by other organizations (Merlo, 2013, p.133). It came to a point where she didn't

even want to be promoted due to her maltreatment and the vulgar way in which she watched

those around her act and her own personal health and family life (Merlo, 2013, p.134).

Many females in many professions eventually have to take a maternity leave to create a

family. Janet wanted children for as long as she could remember, and her husband Wayne did as

well. When Janet finally got pregnant, she had many medical complications and when she

returned to work a member was hoping that she had lost the baby in an abortion (Merlo, 2013,

p.53). While Janet was pregnant, she could not work as hard and this led her to feel guilty for

putting her personal life ahead of her career. When Janet told her operational officer she was

pregnant he told her that she needed to pick either her career in the RCMP or having kids, as well

as telling her to keep her legs shut (Merlo, 2013, p.55). Janet was a healthy, women, expecting

her first child and was demoralized for being a woman and having children (Merlo, 2013, p.57).

Similar to the story told by Janet, occurred in Illinois to officer Panattoni, a female officer, who

got pregnant and was told that she was getting an unpaid leave if her pregnancy did not allow her

to work properly as a police officer (Peck, 2017). Officer Panattoni felt betrayed, and as if she

had to chose between having children and being a police officer (Peck, 2017). It is stated by law

that an employer should assist a pregnant work and must accommodate them as they would for

any other type of workers (Peck, 2017). This shows that many female officers in North America

face what Janet went through which, includes hostility and overt discrimination for wanting to

build a family (Peck, 2017). Similar to Janet and her entire expression in her book, Panattoni,

was very scared to speak up and lose her job and doesn’t understand why aspects with women in

policing are made so difficult for them (Peck, 2017).

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An article posted by CBC news in 2016, illustrates directly as to why females are often

discriminated against in a male-dominated police culture (Butler, 2016). This article explains

how gender discrimination in policing is still “ alive and well” (Butler, 2016). Lesley Bikos, a

former officer conducted a study based on 15 female police officers in Ontario found that they all

feel devalued, not given the same opportunities as male counterparts, are isolated in male

subcultures and all experiences or witness harassment against other female officers (Butler,

2016). In 2011, Janet witnessed a former colleague of her on CBC TV explain all, the hardships

she went through on the job. Many other female officers saw this along with Janet and all came

forth to CBC (Merlo, 2013, p.203). The news article written by Peck, and Janet Merlo's story

both show that the harassment and differential treatment of female officers in the RCMP, was not

just a few cases but an epidemic (Merlo, 2013, p.204). As Janet stated in her book, she lost her

marriage, pension, health and much more due to the RCMP failing (Merlo, 2013, p.213). Yet,

after all, that has occurred to Janet due to her career she still insists that the RCMP gave her life

fulfillment when she got to do the duties she was supposed to do as an officer (Merlo, 2013,

p.212).

In conclusion, No One to Tell was a very interesting yet sad book to read. As aforesaid, I

am a female myself, who wishes to someday be able to work as an officer of some kind in a

certain force for Canada, and I hope by that time things will start to change even more for the

better. Janet Merlo displays someone who is brave and dedicated a chunk of her life to the

RCMP, even after they failed her numerous times which will have an impact on the rest of her

life. However, as said by Janet Merlo herself: “ I had done the best I could through the years. For

a change then, the tears that gathered were not from grief or shame but from relief (Merlo, 2013,

p.217). This book was a joy to read and make me reflect on a lot of aspects of my life!
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References

Butler, C. (2016, September 1). Male police culture puts women at a disadvantage, study

suggests. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/police-

women-discrimination-study-1.3744407

Greenland, J., & Alam, S. (2017, January 10). Police resources in Canada, 2016. Retrieved from

https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2017001/article/14777-eng.htm

Merlo, J. (2013). No one to tell: Breaking my silence on life in the RCMP. Newfoundland and

Labrador: Breakwater.

Mostaghim, A. (2017, October 4). Police in uniform [PowerPoint].

Peck, E. (2017, October 7). Why Female Police Officers Are Increasingly Speaking Up About

Pregnancy Discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/women-

police-officers-pregnant_us_59d7d66ee4b072637c43f0d1