MANAGUA – Nicaragua, of all the countries in the Western Hemisphere, has the highest percentage of female police officers, 27%, with plans to bring that percentage up to 50 in the coming years, said police chief Aminta Granera.
“Nicaragua has the police force with the most number of women in all of the Americas and probably the world,” Granera told a group of visiting high school students this week.
Granera said that the idea is to get the number up to 50% women in the coming years, in accordance with the Sandinista government’s plans to have equal representation in government and state institutions.
In this sense, the police chief said, the National Police will start a special recruiting effort for women next year. Recruits are required to have a high school degree, be 18 or older, and have a professional attitude.
The National Police force is made up of 12,000 officers.
