Fieldwork involved one division of the Sussex Police Department; nine interviews were conducted with female police constables, and 13 interviews were conducted with male police officers. The most frequent reason women gave for joining the police department was a long-held desire to be a police officer. With respect to career structure and training, three women felt they had been unduly pressured to undergo public order training. Female police constables assigned to the Special Enquiry Unit which focused on child abuse expressed a deep commitment to the work, although they felt there was no reason why the unit should be seen as predominantly a female posting. Two major difficulties for female police constables were identified as sexism and having a family. When asked specifically about equal opportunity policies, most women were either not aware of such policies or were not aware of the content of such policies. Men joined the police department for many of the same reasons as women. Male police officers stressed the gender-neutral nature of training, noted the inhibiting effect of the presence of women on male conversations in police stations, expressed disapproval of sexual harassment, and felt women did not suffer any disadvantage in applying for entry or promotion into specialized units. 32 references