Police action cannot by itself stem the tide of violence against women. It can, however, stop perpetrating and reproducing it. To do so would require breaking its links with other aspects of social life that maintain and perpetuate women's subordination. Some women have participated in developing training programs for policing battering situations. However, police practice in multi-racial and multi-ethnic contexts may limit women's use of the police in times of crisis. Changing police practice is not just a problem of training. The context of police practice -- the internal organizational structure that provides the day-to-day rewards, assessments, and criticisms of police practice -- remains essentially intact. So does its masculinist stance. Change within the internal structure of policing means actively confronting the stranglehold of the frustrations of the rank-and-file police. 8 notes