Public safety departments struggle to make more room for women

In a corner of the West St. Paul Police Department women’s bathroom, Shannon Mitchell and four other female officers dress and shove their belongings into their lockers.

Now, with another woman joining the department and barely any elbow room as it is, Chief Bud Shaver again will have to rearrange the makeshift locker room to accommodate his changing workforce. “The female locker room wasn’t meant to be a locker room at all,” Shaver said. “I put like five lockers in there, so it isn’t much bigger than your master bathroom at home.”

http://www.startribune.com/public-safety-departments-struggle-to-make-more-room-for-women/373307521/