BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.1.7//EN TZID:America/Anchorage X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Anchorage BEGIN:VEVENT UID:298@alaskaworldaffairs.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Anchorage:20190924T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/Anchorage:20190924T190000 DTSTAMP:20231231T022313Z URL:https://alaskaworldaffairs.org/archived-events/women-leading-security/ SUMMARY:Women Leading Security: Highlighting the Role of Women in Security and Justice Around the World DESCRIPTION:\nDespite the fact that women comprise half the world’s popul ation\, women are underrepresented in police forces and judiciaries in eve ry region of the world. Worldwide\, women account for an average of only 9 percent of police and 27 percent of judges. In the United States\, local police agencies average about 12 percent women\, and state courts average about 33 percent. Why does this under-representation matter?  The short a nswer is that increasing participation of women as criminal justice practi tioners increases the effectiveness of the overall system.  Multiple stud ies have confirmed this striking finding.\nThe State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) helps keep A mericans safe by minimizing the impact of international crime and illegal drugs on our nation. Functioning criminal justice systems overseas are key ingredients to accomplishing this mission – effective justice systems a re essential to countering crimes that have the potential to spill beyond borders and impact the United States. With this in mind\, INL works to inc rease the effectiveness of police\, courts\, and corrections institutions in countries across the globe.\nJoin AKWorld and Department of State Heath er Merritt\, as she will be be interviewing female officers from Ghana\, U kraine\, North Macedonia and Trinidad and Tobago. (additional officers and regions still pending)\n\n\nMODERATOR: Heather Merritt was officially app ointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in October 2018 after having s erved in an acting capacity since November 2017. In this role\, she overse es INL’s Africa and Middle East programs office and Office of Criminal J ustice Assistance and Partnerships. She previously served as the Director for INL’s Office of Africa and Middle East Programs\, which implements f oreign assistance programs in more than thirty Africa and Middle East part ner nations\, helping them to sustainably develop their criminal justice a nd civilian security sector institutions.\n\nPrior to joining INL\, Ms. Me rritt earned a Master’s of Science degree in National Resource Strategy at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Stra tegy at National Defense University in Washington. Ms. Merritt was the Dep uty Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Luanda\, Angola from 2012-2015 and served for one year of that assignment as the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim. She also served as the Political/Economic Section Chief at the U .S. Embassy in Gaborone\, Botswana and the Deputy Political Chief at the U .S. Embassy in Abuja\, Nigeria. She had previous diplomatic postings in Zi mbabwe and Mexico and worked in Washington on the Colombia Desk in the Bur eau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. She joined the Department of State in 1 998.\n\n\n\nProgram Details\n\n Check-in will begin at 5:30pm with seatin g available on a first-come first-serve basis. The program will begin at n oon.\n Those with online reservations do not need to present ticket confi rmation at the door\, we will have all confirmed attendees on a list at ch eck-in.\n Food and drink is available for individual purchase directly fr om 49th State Brewing Company. If you wish to order food\, please come a f ew minutes early to ensure your meal arrives during the program.\n Online registration closes at 6:00 pm on September 23. Tickets will be available for purchase at the door the next day\, unless the program is sold out. C ontact rsvp@alaskaworldaffairs.org with any questions.\n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://alaskaworldaffairs.org/wp-content/upload s/2019/09/Women-Leading-Security.png CATEGORIES:Events LOCATION:49th State Brewing Company\, 717 W 3rd Ave\, Anchorage\, AK\, 9950 1\, United States GEO:61.21968289999999;-149.8958227 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=717 W 3rd Ave\, Anchorage\, AK\, 99501\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=49th State Brewing Company:geo:61.21968289999999,-149.8958227 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Anchorage X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Anchorage BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20190310T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0900 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:AKDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR