Policing by the Numbers in Rock Island: A Look at Gender

Last week, I posted data on police hiring and race. Interested readers wanted to see the same data reflecting gender. Over the past three years, women have represented a minority of applicants but a growing share of hires. The data suggest that while relatively few women apply to become officers in Rock Island, those who do apply advance through the hiring process at higher rates than their male counterparts.

The Applicant Pool

Between February 2023 and February 2026, 187 individuals applied to become Rock Island police officers. The breakdown — shown in the chart below — reflects who applies to the force.

Gender	# of New Applicants	% of New Applicants
Male	150	80.21%
Female	37	19.79%
Total	187	100%

Women make up roughly 20% of all applicants.

Hiring Outcomes by Gender

During the same reporting period, 23 out of the original 187 applicants were hired as officers.

Gender	# of New Hires	% of New Hires
Male	16	69.57%
Female	7	30.43%
Total	23	100%

Women are hired at a rate of 30%, outpacing their application figures, showing the department is not biased against women.

Outcomes by Stages

According to Chief McCloud, the process moves in this order:

1. Application

2. Agility Test

3. Written Test

4. Background Check

5. Commission Interview

6. Psychological Testing

   
   

I examined each stage.

Who Makes It Through the Pipeline?

The graph below shows the full pipeline progression by race — from application to hire.

Gender	Applied	Agility	Written	Background	Commission	Psychology	Hired	% Through
Male	150	59	41	35	22	19	16	10.7%
Female	37	15	13	12	8	7	7	18.9%
Total:	187	74	54	47	30	26	23	12.30%

Notably, women have the highest percentage making it through the process of any group with ~19% or one in five female applicants making it to the finish as compared to more like one in ten men making it to the finish. Female applicants were nearly twice as likely to complete the hiring pipeline successfully.This data suggests that women who apply are given opportunity for hire on the Rock Island Police Department.

Stage-by-Stage Findings

The charts below show the outcomes for each stage of the hiring process and note how many people dropped out prior to each stage.

Agility Testing
Gender	Tested	Passed	% passed
Male	59	41	69.49%
Female	15	13	86.67%
Total	74	54
Written Testing
Gender	Tested	Passed	% passed
Male	41	35	85.37%
Female	13	12	92.31%
Total	54	47
Background Check
Gender	Tested	Passed	% Passed
Male	35	26	74.29%
Female	12	10	83.33%
Total	47	36
Commission Interview
Gender	Tested	Passed	% Passed
Male	22	19	86.36%
Female	8	7	87.50%
Total	30	26
Psychological Testing
Gender	Tested	Passed	% Passed
Male	19	17	89.47%
Female	7	7	100.00%
Total	26	24

Contrary to common assumptions about physical testing, female applicants passed the agility test at higher rates than male applicants and this measure is where the greatest difference between groups was noted. In this sample, women scored higher on every measure.

Conclusion

The data from the past three years show that not only is the Rock Island Police Department diversifying by race, but also gender. Because the number of female applicants is relatively small, percentages can change significantly from year to year.