Cops get tough on she-crims

The Ranui ice-cream hold-up in May 2010. Photo / Supplied

Police are launching a recruitment drive for female officers, as they try to combat a 36 per cent increase in offending by women.

The nationwide campaign will target young women through social networking sites and advertisements.

Nearly 22,000 sentences were handed out to women in 2009 - up by more than a third since 2002. Over the same period, sentences given to males increased by 24 per cent.

Last May, five teenage girls brandishing guns held up a dairy for ice creams in Ranui, West Auckland. The previous month, four women including IHC fraudster Lynn Fiebig, admitted stealing a combined total of $3.3 million from their employers.

Police recruitment marketing manager James Whitaker said: "We need new female officers to tackle all crime, not just crime committed by women."

He added: "We want to reflect the communities we serve and to be able to effectively work with them.

"It is an overall commitment to more closely reflect New Zealand communities."

Female officers make up only 17 per cent of the police force, but police want one in three new recruits to be women.

Whitaker said the police force had introduced a support network to assist female recruits.

He said: "We also have a range of initiatives in place in order to support people who are interested in policing but may need some assistance throughout our recruitment process, such as female-only running and fitness groups."

Criminologists say female officers are better at resolving violent situations peacefully.

AUT criminologist John Buttle said increasing female crime rates could be the result of more violent female characters in movies and television.

"Popular culture now has more films, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Resident Evil, where lead female characters are doing violent things."

Buttle added that the police force should be aiming for half of serving officers to be women.

"They are just as effective at arresting people, albeit with slightly different techniques than males. Female officers are also needed to deal with sensitive cases such as rape."

Research has found that women are dealt with more leniently in courts than men.

Brisbane criminologist Samantha Jeffries analysed criminal cases in Christchurch during the 1990s and found that women were less likely to be convicted or sentenced to imprisonment.

Police officers enjoy one of the best starting salaries in the country - $57,260 after their 19-week training course.