Breaking and Entering: Women Cops Talk about Life in the Ultimate Men's Club

If a policeman's lot is a difficult one, that of an American policewoman is infinitely harder. This is the message that Fletcher (What Cops Know) imparts in her well-organized compendium of the experiences of 106 female officers she interviewed nationwide. In sections on life at the academy, in the stationhouse, in the patrol car and at home, all the women, whether they joined the force in 1947 or 1991, have reached the same conclusion: every police department is a men's club, and women are not wanted. Still, if a policewoman proves herself to be a ``man'' by actions like engaging in a fight with a perpetrator, she can win a kind of grudging acceptance. Since all police officers supposedly live by the code ``You don't rat and you don't complain,'' woe betide the woman who violates that code. She will be ostracized and would probably be best advised to resign. The situation has improved in the last 20 years, but not by much, conclude the candid interviewees in this informative but depressing analysis. Author tour. (June)