General Chat

walking back from the shops this evening,i walked past an incident,at a local garage,and i was amazed to see one of the policemen,was about 5ft 4ins tall,now he was not a special,as i looked at his epaulette,to check. does this fill you with confidence? bryan.

Bryan, just googled and apparently there are no longer height restrictions in place for the police. Daisy

Hey BRY!! Size isnt everything!! I'm 4ft 11 and a stretch and i could do that job!! Tenacity rules!! Karen

They are not allowed to discriminate against height or eyesight in the force anymore.

Bryan, Mum in law was robbed 2 weeks back, the female police officer was about 5'2', decked in the the gear round her waist, steel toe caps. Got another call on her radio, while with us, said she's be back, ran out of the door, over the garden and jumped the 3' wall no prob. Yes I do have confidence, wish I could do that! Kim x

So you could be 4ft 6 and as blind as a bat and still join? Isnt that taking being PC a bit too far? Margaret

You made me laugh Margaret, they even take on wheelchair dependent people!

seriously,if i was a police officer in london,i would not be happy,if my back up was so short...ok,they have batons,mustard gas...but if i was a villain,trapped by a tiny copper,i would really fancy my chances. bryan.

margaret, that was sooo funny,really tickled my humour lol bryan.

I suppose in a way you could say the same thing about small firemen. If you were in need of a' firemans lift' for instance.

I wondered what happened to all those little Oompah Lompah's who were made redundant when Willy Wonka closed his chocolate factory. Nice to see they retrained. Clears up another mystery as to why police dogs seem to be all Golden Labradors these days. Aileen xx

Years ago they had to have 20-20 vision. These days they can be shortsighted but must wear contact lensesand not glasses.

Bella God help them if they don't have Sat Nav in their patrol cars and have to use a map. Do they get issued with magnifying glasses? Aileen

My son in law isn't very tall probably 5'7'-5'9' tops - but he is a Tae kwan do black belt 2nd dan and first one in to break up a fight and often heads the First Response Squad My daughter at 5'4' was the only one brave enough to chuck out a violent drunk (not a guest) from the hotel bar after her reception (and while still in her wedding dress!) She also did what other larger officers had failed to do and persuaded an 'escaped' psychiatric patient into a squad car within minutes just by chatting. So it's not how big they are but how capable. Their training is rigorous and extensive. A lot of recruits are failed because they don't meet fitness, stamina and ability standards. I wouldn't have their job! LOL Magsxx

Im just laughing if there are no discrimination to height etc now that guy who played R2D2 in starwars could join,LOL! or even Jimmy Krankie! Dave

I think its brains not brawn that counts, whats the point of having a 7 foot policeman if he is a dumbo? I think they do a great job and members of the public should help all they can. June

June- how true! lol I think that people are being over concerned here - there might not be any bar to recruits because of their height but their height in itself can restrict their ability to pass the stringent fitness and ability tests required while at training college. If a 3' recruit can pass the bleep test (running and stamina), scale walls and bundle the PTI to the floor before handcuffing them - then why shouldn't they be allowed to join? Magsx

My big bro is a copper...one of the girlies he works with is tiny! she is so petite and looks so fragile, but i was talking to him one night, and they had been on a call to an incident in a pub, he said that he has never seen a female so small who is so strong... Before he was trained at Hendon (he is in the met) he was just a softy, like a real gentle giant...we used to get in fights and i used to deck him so bad, but they teach them self defence and what tecniques to use, trust me, it doesnt matter how small/big tall short whatever you are, when you do oine of those moves on someone you are going down!!!! believe me, he likes to practice them on me!!xx

I nearly joined up a while back. I am 5ft 7 and a half inches tall. My Grandad joined the Met in 1908. He was 5ft 9. Joy

This is something I've always wondered about, with several large soldiers and policemen in the family. Having reached the dizzy heights of just under 5ft 9in myself and walking past a tiny copper when I'm wearing my high heels, I often wonder whether I'd be more use in clobbering a villain. I pack a mean handbag when required, but I suppose policemen's training is more important than their size. After all, many other countries (especially in the Far East) have populations who are generally much smaller in stature than us Europeans, and their policemen seem to cope. CB >|<