‘UnPHILtered’: IU Police commits to hiring more women as officers

(WISH) — The Indiana University Police Department is making the 30×30 Pledge, committing itself to increasing the number of women as officers at each of its agencies statewide.

The 30×30 Pledge is a national organization with the goal to increase the number of women officers in participating departments to 30% by 2030.

IUPD Bloomington Chief Jill Lees joined News 8’s Phil Sanchez on Thursday night’s “UnPHILtered” to explain her department’s commitment to hiring more women as officers.

“We’ve always had a great track record at IUPD in our cadet program to attract women students that are looking to study law enforcement and be part of our cadet program,” Lees said. “So, we always have a good foundation of women that want to be cadets. We’re looking again at those policies supporting a good environment for female officers to be able to hire our cadets or part time officers to full time status and have that structure to retain them.”

Currently, 20% of officers in IUPD are women, which is higher than the national average of 13%, according to the National Institute of Justice.