THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504250139
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
For Norfolk police officer Polly Carter, a recent trip to Russia meant more than a tour of a centuries-old, mysterious city.
By attending a conference of women in law enforcement in Russia, Carter was able to gain a load of knowledge on worldwide police techniques while spreading a little bit of her Norfolk skills.
The conference was sponsored by the International Association of Women in Law Enforcement, of which Carter has been a member for nearly 20 years. For 11 days, Carter and her daughter, Charlotte Davis, 25, toured St. Petersburg and surrounding areas.
``It was so overwhelming to have all these ladies come,'' Carter said. ``They have the same problems we have.''
The association was formed about 1930 as a training academy for the few existing professional women officers, she said.
The group, which Carter said has members from dozens of countries, was designed to foster education and the exchange of ideas and techniques between women from different departments around the world.
Carter has been with Norfolk's force since 1974 and joined the law association two years after that. The first conference was held in St. Paul, Minn., but since then, she has traveled to New Zealand, France, England and Germany.
This year the conference was held at the St. Petersburg Law Institute. At first, Carter said, the trip seemed to be out of her financial grasp. The association paid for members' classes and meals, but Carter had to come up with the rest - almost $1,800.
``I said I'll borrow the money if I have to . . . to be there with all the changes going on,'' she said.
Davis, a sixth-grade math and science teacher at Blair Middle School, then decided to come along.
Cold weather. Old buildings. Police - and liquor stands - on every corner. Those were some of their first impressions when they began their journey through the city. Because of past hostilities between the United States and the former Soviet Union, many myths and questions persist.
Davis wasn't sure what to expect, but when Russians asked about Michael Jordan's return to basketball and the O.J. Simpson trial, she was pleasantly surprised.
``It's no different at all there,'' she said. ``But they don't smile.''
During the conference, Carter attended a series of police classes while her daughter studied Russia's education system.
One of Carter's sessions focused on personal safety. Women police in some countries are instructed in wrestling, boxing and gymnastics, she said, while others are forced to wear skirts and heels while enforcing the law.
``Assaults on police officers are going down because of the female touch,'' she said.
But at the same time the group didn't want their gender to set them too far apart from men officers. Many women officers are relegated to inferior positions on the 30,000-member St. Petersburg force, she said.
``Slowly, they're incorporating women on the streets,'' she said. ``They're not advanced enough to say women can do what men can do.''
To bring a touch of Norfolk to the conference, Carter armed herself with information on PACE - Norfolk's community policing program. Russian police procedures, she discovered, aren't very different from community policing.
``They have beats where every officer know everyone on that beat,'' she said. ``They're a part of the church, school. . . . They have the PACE program in place. They use it, but they're so new at it.''
She said some of Russia's techniques could help U.S. officers.
``I'd love to be able to have the number of police to do what they do,'' she said. ``There's a police officer on every corner.''
By continuing to have conferences like the one in Russia, she said, women officers across the world will be more empowered and unified.
``The exchange of police information and the level of professionalism will continue to increase and realize the worth of females on the street,'' she said. ``But, of course, I'm prejudiced.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by BETH BERGMAN
Polly Carter, wearing a Russian police cap, and her daughter
Charlotte Davis, left, have returned from a law enforcement
conference in Russia.
SEMINAR
Polly Carter's local affiliate, The Mid-Atlantic Association of
Women in Law Enforcement, will be holding a ``Stress & Survival''
seminar May 1-4 at the Holiday Inn Greenbrier. The conference will
cover training topics such as stress in the workplace, youth
violence and policing in the '90s. For more information, call
547-6251.
by CNB