To advance the incorporation of female officers into all aspects of police work, a 1980 survey ascertained the status of women on the police forces of all West German States. A task force of the Interior Ministry undertook to study problems related to the issue and report its findings by 1981. Experience from abroad as well as in the German States now using female officers shows that women are well suited to police work; their lesser physical prowess is compensated for by other qualities conducive to defusing potentially explosive policing situations. The most difficult problem appears to be a greater turnover rate of women officers, which taxes personnel planning efforts, makes training more costly, and diminishes the force's overall experience level. In the immediate future, other German States should adopt models for training and deploying female officers, so that eventually uniform national policies can be worked out that uphold the basic tenets of equality as well as the efficacy of the police forces.