—Documentary Follows Female Officers in Minneapolis Police Department and Their Fight for Gender Equity and Police Reform in a City Demanding Accountability—
With the national conversation around police reform still resonating loudly across the country, “Women In Blue” shines a spotlight on the police women within the Minneapolis Police Department working to reform it from the inside.
Filmed from 2017 to 2020, the documentary focuses on MPD’s first female police chief, Janeé Harteau, and three of the women in her department as they each try to redefine what it means to protect and serve.
Directed by Deirdre Fishel, “Women In Blue” will make its broadcast premiere on INDEPENDENT LENS on Feb. 8, 2021.
After a conversation with a female police officer friend in 2014, Fishel was spurred to investigate whether women tend to approach policing differently than men, and how such differences might impact public safety.
“Women In Blue” follows Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau — MPD’s first female and openly gay police chief — and her uphill battle to reform her department, which, long before an MPD officer kills George Floyd in May of 2020, grapples with a troubled history of police misconduct and racism.
Her efforts involve fighting the union to rid the force of corrupt police officers, re-training the rest, diversifying the ranks, and, crucially: recruiting more women and promoting them into leadership at every level.
The film also follows three of these women from different ranks, each committed to reimagining their profession:
- Commander Melissa Chiodo, who is tapped by Harteau to serve as the head of Special Crimes, handling domestic violence and sexual offenses
- Sergeant Alice White, one of the few Black female officers within the MPD, who leads procedural justice training
- Rookie Officer Erin Grabosky, who joins the force at 22 and is quickly confronted with the reality of community distrust in the police
After a high-profile, officer-involved shooting of an unarmed woman, Chief Harteau is forced into making a heartbreaking decision that threatens the gains of women represented on the force under her leadership.
Filmmaker Quotes:
“When I first discovered the statistics showing that female police officers are better at de-escalating conflict and use excessive force in substantially lower numbers than male officers, I felt compelled to investigate the question: ‘Could women help both change the culture of policing and create reform?’” said Fishel. “In 2020 it was made evident yet again that the questions I tried to raise with this film go well beyond just the city of Minneapolis, and I’m hopeful that this broadcast on INDEPENDENT LENS will help to continue the sorely needed conversation and push for change that we’ve witnessed taking place on a national level in the past year when it comes to policing in this country.”
“The intersection between gender, race and violence in American policing is a topic INDEPENDENT LENS has explored many times, and I was especially interested in looking at it in Minneapolis, where I'd lived for 10 years,” said Executive Producer Lois Vossen. “Although studies confirm that women officers are less authoritarian, rely less on physical force, possess more effective communication skills, and are better at defusing potentially violent confrontations before they turn deadly, Deirdre’s documentary shows how rarely women are allowed to lead in law enforcement. ‘Women In Blue’ asks us to consider how female officers can help transform police departments to put service, care and communication first.”
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Credits:
Director/ Producer: Deirdre Fishel. Producers: Beth Levison and Aideen Kane. Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer, Gini Reticker, Lois Vossen. Editors: Sunita Prasad and Christopher White. Presented by ITVS.
