Policewoman-Mother Helps Lead Female Recruitment Drive : LAPD: Campaign aims to meet the City Council’s goal that 43% of the officers hired annually be women.

For Leticia Dotson, it was no simple task balancing her life as a mother of three and her job as an undercover cop in North Hollywood, where she tried to break up narcotic rings and put drug pushers behind bars.

It wasn’t much easier running a household when her assignment in the Los Angeles Police Department later became a foot beat on the gritty, crime-plagued streets of East Los Angeles.

Nonetheless, the eight-year LAPD veteran has become a vocal advocate for a recruitment drive to put more women into blue uniforms, though she is the first to concede it’s not an easy choice.

“If that is what you really want, it takes work,” said Dotson, now a training officer.

The city’s recruitment drive begins Saturday at San Fernando High School in Pacoima for the first of several community expos. The objective is lofty: The City Council has set a goal that 43% of the officers hired each year be women.

But police and city officials say the time is ripe for women because the city has for the first time in years launched a major expansion of the department and has recently approved a $50-million pay raise package for its officers.

Beyond that, they say, the growing attention to the issue of domestic violence brought about by the O.J. Simpson case makes the need for more women on the force that much more important.

“There is never a better time than now for women in the LAPD,” Councilman Joel Wachs said at a news conference Wednesday to promote the expo. He was joined by Councilman Richard Alarcon, Dotson and other LAPD officers.

Currently, there are about 1,100 women on the force, representing about 15% of the department. Last year, only a quarter of the recruit applicants were women.

In hopes of increasing that number to 43%--the same percentage of women in the region’s total work force--the City Council voted in April to spend $250,000 on a recruitment campaign.

Police and city officials concede that it may be difficult to find enough qualified women to meet the goal. For example, under Mayor Richard Riordan’s plan to improve public safety, the city is expected to hire 780 officers next year. To meet the 43% goal, 335 of those new officers must be women.

“You can see it is a great difference between 15% and 43%,” Dotson said at the news conference.

Police and city officials acknowledged that they must also combat the image of the LAPD as a “good old boys” organization plagued by incidents of sexual harassment.

“I’m not going to say that sexual harassment doesn’t exist. It exists in every organization in the world as far as I know,” said Capt. Bob Gale of the LAPD’s Foothill Division. “But we cannot fix it unless we become aware of it . . . and we try to train people so we can prevent it.”

Dotson agreed. “If there are women out there who fear that they will be victimized by their peers, they need not fear this,” she said. “We are addressing these issues on a daily basis.”

Officer Amy Popma said women are particularly important to the department when it comes to investigating crimes against women. On several occasions, she said victims of rape or domestic violence have requested her or other female officers to take the crime report.

“They want to talk to a female because they feel more comfortable speaking to a female officer,” she said.

In addition, the Christopher Commission, which reviewed department practices after the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King, found that women officers are less prone to violence and often are able to de-escalate volatile situations.

But Dotson said the biggest hurdle to reaching the city’s goal may be that many women believe they cannot be an officer and have a fulfilling family life too.

“I’m proof that you can do that,” she said. “It took a little managing, but it is possible. It is possible for anyone.”

Saturday’s expo runs from 9 a.m. to noon at the high school at 11133 O’Melveny Ave. in Pacoima. Female officers from the Foothill Division will conduct an orientation program for potential recruits, and a written test for interested candidates will also be offered.