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of women in the Department from the Lodge 7 Magazine Bucks gal- lery and know this:
“I think the common denominator here is just strong women,” Bucks describes. “You have to be physically strong. That’s one thing that can be worked at, right? At a gymnasium or it’s an athletic thing. But I’m talking mentally strong.”
From his perspective, Bucks has seen many female officers show their strength on the street. Physically, of course.
But that stigma that women don’t belong on this job, well, he has seen that dissipate. And that seems to be something he has tried to show with the touches of his oil portraits.
“When I first came on the job 20 years ago, we still had a lot of older officers from the Vietnam era, and a lot of those guys would gripe about females on the job. You know, ‘It’s a fraternity. It’s not for women. It’s a man’s job,’” he recalls. “But I don’t hear that anymore. Now, there are a lot of guys who are like, ‘No, I think it’s a good thing we’ve had women come on the job. There are women criminals, too, and there are things that men can’t do, like searching for that.’”
As part of the rise in the power of women on the job, Bucks notes how the Department used to cast them in assignments like female lockup or reduce them to working the desk. He has been able to
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Weller also knows some of the attributes that distinguish female officers on the job. When she was on patrol, she experienced many calls when female victims preferred to speak to a female officer or a female detective.
And she recalled first coming on as a detective three years ago and being called into the field to investigate a sex crime. The victim wanted to speak to a female detective rather than a male one.
“I think we’re just wired to be more nurturing, and I think that’s helped somewhat on the job,” Weller reflected. “I think we have that innate nurturing. We’re born that way.”
Moving from patrol to detective has enabled Weller to pursue one of her passions, of being an advocate for victims.
“One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about becoming a detective is just being able to help victims more,” she explained. “Before, when I was a tactical officer, I was dealing more with the offender than with the victim, and now I deal with the victim and it’s much more rewarding.”
During her time as a Chicago Police Officer, Weller has worked with numerous women whom she highly respects. As she works be- side them, she witnesses their empathy and realizes there is some- thing to learn from each of them.
“I think every police officer has their strengths,” Weller ex- plained. “I’ve had some fantastic co-workers throughout my career that were women, whether they were supervisors or just co-work- ers. I’ve always respected the women that I’ve worked with, and I’ve learned from all of them.”
Weller strives to build up the women around her because she has learned that is what helps them succeed together.
“Do your job the best you can and have a lot of respect for oth- er women, which also helps build them up. Respect yourself and just keep your chin up,” Weller commented. “I don’t know how to describe it, but if you do your job well, you can be proud. You can move forward, and you can succeed.”
Weller has always strived to do her job well and to present a good work ethic to those around her. And as a female in law enforce- ment, she continues to find ways to leave behind a path for women entering the force to proudly follow.
“The self-respect or the self-confidence of doing your job the best way you can, I just feel good about that,” Weller added. “And that leaves a good legacy for women.”
portray many women who have not only been an asset in respond- ing to a domestic or advancing community relations, but have also had an impact on investigations.
“I think that a woman’s intuition is different than a man’s intu- ition, and they are able to explore or investigate on a different ave- nue,” Bucks adds. “And I can’t explain it because I am not a woman, but they sometimes are on a different path than a man would think. So they can shed a different light on the investigation.”
If you have never had the opportunity to experience this on the street, well, Bucks has an analogy that might resonate with many men on the job.
“You ever have a situation with your wife or girlfriend where she might shed light on a subject or bring out a truth or fact and you have an ‘Aha’ moment?” Bucks describes. “And you’re like, ‘Oh,’ and then you feel like, ‘She’s got that figured out. I had no idea. That went right over my head.’ Well, it’s like that.”
As an aside, Bucks shared that he was able to complete this draw- ing of Wendy in one sitting. He has never really done that before. Now, that probably has a lot to do with it being his wife. But was there also some motivation perhaps to offer tribute to his wife as a representation of the great women of the Department?
As he confirms, “I thought it was cool to do it exactly for that rea- son.”