FLETC Seeks Counsel on Barriers Women Face in Leadership, Recruiting

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) issued a request for information this week to determine what barriers women face in becoming instructors.

Specifically, the request seeks to identify what organizations and firms can conduct the barrier analysis, which would include: (1) qualitative and quantitative analyses of workforce data and applicants; (2) evaluation of representation discrepancies and reasons for lower retention and employment rates for women; (3) recommendations to overcome the identified barriers.

As an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FLETC's mission is to train federal law enforcement officers from over 100 agencies, as well as state and local agencies. Women accounted for 27 percent of overall agency employees as of February 2022. Women are also underrepresented in the candidate pool for instructors. According to the request, FLETC received thousands of instructor applications in 2021, but a sample of nearly 200,000 submissions revealed that only 9 percent of the applicants identified as women, whereas 91 percent identified as men.

According to the notice, the barrier analysis is essential to FLETC meeting the 30x23 Women in Law Enforcement initiative at DHS, which aims to ensure 30 percent of law enforcement officers are women by 2023. Furthermore, FLETC must also comply with President Biden's executive order (E.O. 14035) on increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the federal workforce, as well as the newly issued U.S. Women Peace and Security (WPS) Congressional Report.

Among the highlights in the WPS report was an overview of efforts undertaken by the four federal agencies involved in the gender equity strategy: DHS, Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

In response to the report, the White House acknowledged the “significant accomplishments” of FLETC in training women, but there was no mention of those doing the training. The same cannot be said for DOD, State, and USAID, where women were noted as leaders with “meaningful participation” coinciding with initiatives to develop women into decision-making roles. Likewise, the report listed leadership engagement and training as components DHS should integrate into internal structures at the department and agency levels.

You can provide input on the prospective barrier analysis of the GS-1801-12/13 Law Enforcement Specialist (Instructor) job series through August 1, 2022.