By Tanya Meisenholder, Ph.D., Maureen “Mo” McGough and Ivonne Roman
The 30x30 Initiative is a voluntary, evidence-based effort to help law enforcement agencies recruit, retain and advance more qualified women officers by modernizing policies and practices.
Let’s start with a few things that need to be made clear:
- The 30x30 Initiative is not about lowering standards.
- It is not about quotas or preferential treatment.
- It is not about hiring, assigning, or promoting officers based on gender.
- And it is not about sidelining or removing men.
These misconceptions are inaccurate and counterproductive. They mischaracterize the initiative and distract from a larger issue many agencies are already confronting: how recruitment systems, career pathways and workplace conditions shape who enters the profession, who stays and who advances.
30x30 exists because women remain significantly underrepresented in law enforcement, particularly in leadership, and because the profession has not consistently met their basic needs. The current staffing crisis did not create these challenges. It exposed them.
What 30x30 actually is
30x30 provides law enforcement agencies with tools, peer learning and research-backed guidance to evaluate and strengthen recruitment, promotion and workplace practices. Participating agencies use this support to:
- Expand the pool of qualified applicants.
- Ensure hiring and promotion assessments measure job-relevant skills
- Identify policies or practices that contribute to avoidable attrition
- Improve health, safety and wellness practices that that support long-term readiness and retention
There are no mandates. And no one is telling chiefs who to hire. Participating agencies track and report progress that informs leadership decisions and shared learning across the 30x30 network. Agencies begin from different starting points, and there is no single model they are expected to follow.
Why 30x30 exists
For decades, women have entered policing at lower rates, experienced higher attrition at key points in the career pipeline, and reached leadership roles less often. This is not a question of capability or commitment. It reflects the fact that many policing systems and career pathways were developed for a workforce that looked different from today’s. Policing rightly emphasizes officer safety and wellness. The question is whether those priorities are consistently reflected in the policies, equipment and practices that shape daily work for everyone. Right now, many women report that core aspects of the policing workplace are not consistently designed to support them over the course of their careers. Those concerns include:
Operational and safety barriers
- Equipment that does not fit properly.
- Uniforms designed around a single body type.
- Pregnancy and lactation treated as inconveniences rather than routine workforce needs.
Career and organizational barriers
- Promotion systems that lack clear, job-relevant criteria for advancement.
- Workplace cultures where disrespect, bias and sexual harassment persist due to weak prevention and accountability.
- Informal networks and career pathways that limit access to mentorship, assignments and advancement opportunities.
A profession cannot retain people in organizations that were never designed to support them. When those conditions persist, attrition is not surprising. It is the outcome.
What the research shows
Decades of empirical research show that women officers perform effectively across core law enforcement functions [1] while also demonstrating measurable strengths in areas such as use-of-force outcomes, citizen complaints and victim-centered investigations. [2]
Research also shows that organizational practices, not individual capability, are the primary drivers of women’s underrepresentation in policing. Recruitment pipelines, hiring and promotion assessments, scheduling practices, equipment standards and informal workplace norms can disadvantage women in ways unrelated to job performance or officer safety. These dynamics also include unequal access to mentorship, sponsorship and professional networks that shape assignments, development and advancement.
30x30 applies this research by helping agencies examine whether their standards align with actual job requirements and by identifying unnecessary barriers that limit access to qualified candidates.
30x30 is ultimately about public safety
Public safety outcomes are shaped by who is hired, how officers are trained and supported, and whether agencies retain experienced personnel over time. When recruitment systems narrow the pool of qualified candidates, when capable officers leave mid-career, or when workplace conditions undermine organizational stability, the consequences show up in response capacity, investigative continuity and community trust.
Agencies that strengthen recruitment and workplace practices are better positioned to maintain staffing stability, preserve institutional knowledge and deliver consistent, reliable service to the public.
The question isn’t whether women belong
Some resistance to 30x30 reflects an outdated perception that women’s role in policing is still provisional. That perception no longer aligns with the reality of today’s workforce. Women’s place in policing is not an open question. More than 60,000 full-time sworn women currently serve in local police departments across the United States alone, not including sheriffs’ offices, state police, campus or federal agencies. [3]
Agencies are not being asked to imagine a different workforce.The question is whether they are willing to evolve to reflect the workforce they already have.
This is about public safety — and healthier workplaces for everyone
30x30 does not treat women’s underrepresentation as an isolated issue or as an isolated problem for women to solve. It treats it as an indicator of overall workplace health and organizational effectiveness. When the applicant pool is expanded, agencies gain access to more qualified candidates. When equipment fits properly, safety improves. When promotion systems are transparent and job-relevant, talent stays. When wellness is treated as readiness, performance follows.
Most of the policy and practice changes 30x30 encourages are not exclusive to women. They strengthen the workforce for the entire workforce, including parents, caregivers and those seeking sustainable careers rather than burnout.
This approach is not about preferential treatment. It is about ensuring that policing remains accessible to qualified individuals and structured to support long-term performance and well-being.
Every profession competing for talent has had to adapt its systems over time. Policing is no exception.
The bottom line
30x30 is neither radical nor political, and it is grounded in practical realities rather than theory. It draws on research and the lived experience of officers to help agencies strengthen their workforce and improve public safety by addressing challenges they can no longer afford to ignore.
Many agencies already recognize the value of this work. For others, the choice is whether to continue debating misconceptions or to lead with evidence and experience in shaping the future of the profession.
Learn more about 30x30
- http://www.30x30initiative.org/
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/30x30-initiative
- https://30x30initiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/30x30-Impact-Report-March-2025.pdf
References
1. Research on law enforcement recruitment, assessment validity, promotion systems, scheduling practices, and workplace culture indicates that organizational practices, rather than individual capability, are primary drivers of women’s underrepresentation
2. Studies summarized in this section include research on officer performance, use-of-force outcomes, citizen complaints, and victim-centered policing showing comparable or favorable outcomes for women officers.
3. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2022). Local Police Departments, Personnel, 2020. NCJ 305187.
About the authors
Tanya Meisenholder, Ph.D., is the Director of Police Research at NYU School of Law’s Policing Project and leads the 30×30 Initiative, a national effort focused on strengthening recruitment, retention, and leadership in policing. Before joining NYU, she served in senior leadership roles with the New York City Police Department. Her work bridges applied research and practice, helping agencies strengthen organizational health and culture.
Maureen “Mo” McGough is the co-founder of the 30x30 Initiative, senior advisor for collaborative reform at NYU Law’s Policing Project, and on the faculty of the Center for Excellence in Policing and Public Safety at the University of South Carolina School of Law. She spent much of her career as an attorney and senior policy advisor at the US Departments of Justice and State, where her work focused on countering violent extremism, advancing evidence-based policing, promoting sentinel event reviews, and combatting human and wildlife trafficking. She earned her JD from George Washington University School of Law.
Ivonne Roman is a nationally recognized policing leader with 25 years of law enforcement experience, including service as Newark’s Police Chief, and a cofounder of the 30×30 Initiative to advance representation and leadership of women in policing. A published thought leader and TED Talk fellow, she serves on numerous boards including the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing and focuses on police culture, policy and government accountability.
