COP STANDS TALL AGAINST GANGS : SERGEANT'S STATURE IN LAPD HAS RISEN DESPITE OBSTACLES.

Byline: Stacy Finz Daily News Staff Writer

When she's aiming her 9 mm pistol at a suspect, Los Angeles police Sgt. Jeri Weinstein certainly looks intimidating.

And that's no easy feat for someone who is only 5 feet, 100 pounds.

Other officers in the West San Fernando Valley's anti-gang unit tower over Weinstein, the smallest supervisor in the Los Angeles Police Department. And the gang members she busts look like they could break the bantam-sized cop in half.

But by all accounts, Weinstein is big on attitude and ability, at a time when women make up just 17 percent of the force and only now are making inroads.

``I'm sure that there are people who don't think women should be on this job,'' the 42-year-old Weinstein said one recent evening as she patrolled Sherman Way in Canoga Park. ``But I can't really worry about what they think. I've got too many things to worry about out here.''

At the moment, she was focusing on helping several patrol officers who were chasing two check forgery suspects. Weinstein mumbled an expletive under her breath and then took a corner at 45 mph. She didn't want pursuit to turn into a high-speed chase.

But it was not to be so. The officers cornered the Lexus, and Weinstein jumped out of her car and quickly drew her gun, joining six other officers - five of them men and most a foot taller than the sergeant.

Surrounded, the two suspects quickly surrendered and were handcuffed by one of the male officers.

``Thanks, Sarge,'' one officer yelled as Weinstein got back into her car.

It was just another night on the job for Weinstein, whose graduation from the Los Angeles Police Academy 14 years ago helped signal the integration of women into the city's police force.

``I had always been interested in the law,'' she said. ``But when I was growing up, officers were always 6 feet tall.''

A big step

Before becoming a sworn officer, Weinstein worked closely with the police: She earned a master's degree in psychology and counseled rape victims and juveniles for the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Finally, when the LAPD lowered the height requirement from 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet as part of a consent decree to promote the hiring of more women, she enrolled in the academy.

Just last month, the Los Angeles City Council took another historic step in opening the force to women: It did away entirely with the height requirement.

At the City Council's behest, the LAPD is on a campaign to raise the percentage of women officers from 17 percent to 43 percent. There are more than 9,000 officers on the department.

``Women bring a different style to policing,'' said Carol Sobel, a senior attorney in the American Civil Liberties Union, which has challenged the LAPD's treatment of female officers. ``They are less confrontational and they have fewer excessive force complaints.''

Not everyone in the department is as accepting.

On the streets and in the police stations, the backlash from the decision to drop the height requirement is likely to sting as much as it did in 1980 when the first height and weight rules were changed.

``A lot of people believed they lowered the standards,'' Weinstein said. ``But it was still pretty tough to get in.''

At the Academy

For six months in the police academy, Weinstein took the same tests that men faced and that some failed. She scrambled over 6-foot walls and dragged weights up to 150 pounds.

``They screamed and yelled at me every day,'' she said. ``I think they did it because they thought I couldn't do this job. It was total hell.''

Since then, Weinstein said she has made a fairly smooth transition into what has traditionally been a man's world.

Not all women on the force are as fortunate.

Female officers on the force still are ostracized, victimized and harassed, according to a class-action lawsuit filed against the LAPD on behalf of 92 female and eight male officers.

The suit is pending.

``Women just weren't moving ahead in any significant degree,'' said Sobel, who along with two other law firms is representing the plaintiffs in the suit. ``It's still a hostile environment.''

Last year, the department received 22 complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination. The year before, there were 33 formal complaints.

But Weinstein disagrees: ``In the last five years, there have been more opportunities than ever for women.''

On the street

On most nights, Weinstein supervises anti-gang activities - a job that brings her face to face with the toughest young men in the West Valley.

``She may be small physically, but she's not a small person,'' said Weinstein's supervisor, Capt. Val Paniccia. ``She's a natural-born leader and not afraid to stand up for what's right.''

Because of her size, Weinstein has learned to do her job differently than her larger colleagues.

``I know my limitations,'' she said, explaining that if she feels a situation is going to escalate she'll handcuff a suspect before her male counterparts would.

And with her clipped Chicago accent and her sarcastic sense of humor, Weinstein comes across as confident.

With no gang action that evening, her next call that night required not just an officer, but a female officer.

A special role for women

Two male patrol officers had just arrested a woman on a felony warrant, but they couldn't frisk her because of regulations regarding how female suspects are handled. The woman yelled obscenities at the male officers. She babbled to Weinstein that the officers shouldn't have handcuffed her.

``Didn't do me right'' she asserted.

``Yeah,'' Weinstein answered. ``They treat me like that too.''

The woman's demeanor softened.

``Thanks, Sarge,'' the officers said as Weinstein got back behind the wheel.

Although Weinstein was only joking with the woman on being treated poorly by male officers, she's quick to speak out against wrongdoing in the force.

``I'm very honest,'' she said. ``I say what I think even if it's things I don't agree with in the department.''

But neither her mouth nor her size have held her back.

Sobel maintains that with the exception of Weinstein, few women are selected to serve on the prestigious anti-gang Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums program.

But Detective Deborah Gonzales, the women's liaison to the chief of police, said that's no longer the case.

``We have quite a few women in those units,'' she said. ``It's just that there are only 1,600 women on the force. So compared with our number of men, it doesn't look like a lot.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) LAPD Sgt. Jeri Weinstein of the anti-gang CRASH unit takes a call while cruising in her unit. A supervisor, she rides with no partner.

(2) Sgt. Jeri Weinstein surveys the scene where two forgery suspects were arrested in Canoga Park.

(3) Sgt. Jeri Weinstein radios in after interviewing a bank teller after a suspect tried to cash a forged check.

David Sprague/Daily News