Women police from across the globe converge in Anchorage

More than 600 police officers from 43 countries are in Anchorage this week for the 57th annual International Association of Women Police training conference.

Women Police of Alaska won the bid to host the conference in 2016 and have been preparing since.

The theme of this year's training is "Mentoring the Next Generation."

"Mentoring is everything. When you become a young officer, it's good to see the officers who have gone before you to see how they have managed through the ins and outs of the career and just how to do the job," said Michele Logan, a detective with the Anchorage Police Department who helped organize the event.

Women are the minority in law enforcement, and within APD females comprise 14 percent of the force.

The training conference is a chance for those women to connect with other women police officers.

"For me it's all about the nations across the world getting together and networking and learning and training together. For me that's just fantastic, I love it," said Sgt. Penny Hermann of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "The networking, the friendships and the special training that they have on mentoring the next generation, that type of thing for me is very important because we need to inspire the younger women to come and join the police forces."

This year is the third time that Anchorage has hosted the conference. Next year's event will take place in Indonesia.