Donna Milgram is Executive Director of the Women in Policing Institute,* a national organization based in Alameda, California dedicated to assisting law enforcement agencies in recruiting, integrating and retaining women police officers. The Women in Policing Institute has hosted 11 national workshops conducted by Ms. Milgram on "Recruiting Women to Policing: Strategies That Work" for police departments throughout the country.
As the director of the New Workplace for Women Project, Ms. Milgram assisted the Albuquerque and Tucson Police Departments in increasing the number of female recruits from 10% to one-third of the Academy and has assisted other Police Departments in achieving similar results in recruitment and retention of women and a "zero tolerance" climate for harassment. Ms. Milgram co-authored an article with Chief Joseph Polisar (now of Garden Grove, California, previously of Albuquerque, New Mexico) detailing the successful strategies used in the Albuquerque Police Department. The article, "Recruiting, Integrating and Retaining Women Police Officers: Strategies That Work," appeared in the October 1998 issue of The Police Chief. In April 2002, Ms. Milgram wrote a follow up article for The Police Chief, entitled "Recruiting Women to Policing: Practical Strategies That Work."
Ms. Milgram also authored the Law Enforcement Environmental Assessment Tools (LEEAT) under a National Institute of Justice grant for which the Durham and Albuquerque Police Departments were field-test sites. The LEEAT enables law enforcement agencies to conduct a self-assessment and develop a strategic plan for recruiting women, preventing sexual harassment and ensuring fair promotion. Other publications authored by Ms. Milgram include: "Preventing Sexual Harassment: Integration of Women into Male-Dominated Occupations - An Annotated Bibliography" and "Police Equipment & Uniforms Sized to Fit Women." Ms. Milgram was the Principal Investigator for the National Institute of Justice grant, Women in Policing: Assessing the Work Environment.
In 1992, Ms. Milgram testified before Congress as an expert witness on sexual harassment of women in nontraditional occupations. A nationally recognized expert on employment issues, she has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Law and Order: The Magazine for Police Management, Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine and the EEO Review and has appeared on CNN, Fox Morning News and C-Span.
Ms. Milgram has presented five workshops on recruitment and retention of female officers at the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference. She also has delivered trainings for the FBI Academy's Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar on topics of sexual harassment prevention for police chiefs and recruitment of women officers. Ms. Milgram provided the keynote address on "Recruiting and Retaining Women in Policing" at a National Hiring Summit for State Police Departments and has done workshops on this topic for the San Mateo County Police Chief's Association, the Southwestern Law Enforcement Institute, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives and the National Center for Women in Policing. She has also made Law Enforcement Television Network appearances on Recruiting Women to Policing and Integration of Women Officers.
Ms. Milgram is a former member of the California Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) Recruitment Committee, and is an associate member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Association of Women in Law Enforcement Executives, and the International Association of Women in Police.
Outside the law enforcement arena, Ms. Milgram works to develop strategies within the educational system to recruit and retain women and girls to technology careers and education. She served as Principal Investigator for three National Science Foundation projects, including the CalWomenTech Project and the WomenTech Project, which developed recruitment and retention strategies for women in technology at the community college level. She is an active member of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce and formerly served as chair of the Board Development Committee of Girls, Inc. of the Island City.
------------------- * The Women in Policing Institute is a division of the National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science.
