The interviewed gathered information on views on various social and political issues, including police officer effectiveness by gender. Results revealed that participants who had attended college were more likely than those with less education to support the equal effectiveness of males and females. Participants with a high school diploma or less were more likely to content that male police officers were more effective than females. Findings also suggested that the public may be more readily accepting of females as police officers when questioned in a nonspecific context. However, when focusing on specific situations to which police officers respond, some revert to stereotypical expectations of male and female characteristics. Findings indicated that the challenge for police agencies is to devise strategies for changing the perceptions of those who have difficulty accepting females as fully functioning patrol officers. One strategy for changing inappropriate attitudes is to place more females in community policing situations with increased contact with the public. In such settings, female police can dispel the stereotypes associated with the female gender role and demonstrate to the public that police effectiveness is not determined by gender. Tables and 28 references (Author abstract modified)