At that point it is usually because people are intoxicated. She said that while police work is still considered by many to be a man s world, she thinks that perception is slowly dissipating. With her training and skills, Kluender doesn t put any stock in the theory that a man should be doing her job, regardless of the situation. Kluender knows well what it is like to be a minority in her profession, not just from her work on the riverboat. The application process is a long and challenging one that includes physical and mental tests, extensive background checks and stacks of paperwork.
Many people don t make it.
One failed step and a candidate is out of the running. Kaia Frank pulls her Sioux City police car up behind an occupied car in a dark, abandoned parking lot. Swirling red lights from the siren on top of her car cause a flickering reflection off both cars, creating an eerie scene. She picks up the hand-held speaker to her radio, calls the license plate into the police station and steps out of her car, one hand gripping an oversized flashlight, the other hand resting on her black Smith and Wesson .40 caliber gun. She approaches the car, bends down to the window, talks for a few minutes and, apparently satisfied, walks backward, not taking her eyes off the parked car yet still making it to her own.