General Chat

harry,i dont believe this...we must be psychic...you know wot ime talking about lol. bryan.

Spoke to a (scruffy) PC in town this afternoon. He says there is no longer any restrictions on height, tall or short. sounds daft to me. happy days

Bryan , As the message is slipping down, thought i,d give you a little anecdote from about 1960. We had a charming young lady who wanted to join our borough police. We measured her, 5ft 3 and 3 quarters. she was rejected as just too short, and burst into tears. Came back the next two years with the same result. On the fourth, I ruffled her hair upwards and brougth the board down gently to her hair. 5ft 4 exactly. She served five years before leaving to get married etc. No-one would attempt to do that kind of thing in this day and age. happy days

Heights got nothing to do with it. I know a policeman who is shorter than me, (I'm 5'6') Apart from him being a black belt in Judo, policeman are given excellant training in combat. So I would personally feel very safe with a 5ft policeman. Jo.

They can wear glasses but not contact lenses and the height restriction doesnt matter anymore Linda

Hi Em Never mind old girl. Move over and make room on the couch! Now it all started when............ Aileen

Yes, Brian, you may well be getting old, but look what fantastic company you're in, with the rest of us on here! LoL CB >|< X

Slightly off message, but you may all be pleased to know that RAF fighter pilots do still have to have 20/20 (now 6/6) vision as my poor son found out two weeks ago! He is marginally shortsighted, so marginal that he will NEVER need glasses for it apparently, but still too much for the RAF and the other forces. Back on message, I think that where it may hinder someone's ability to do the job, perhaps height etc should be taken into consideration, but how do you determine it? Being small does not mean you have no strength and policemen and women are trained to deal with situations that most of us do not have to face. Daisy

It's not the height that worries me but the fact that they all look so young! I must be getting old!

Bryan, my husbands brother was a very small man and, he was a VERY strong man. Perhaps they are paying more attention to that nowadays? Dont forget they built an entire Scottish Regiment on a generation of small Glasgow boys. Deanna ;-0)

Brian, When I joined the police in 1955 our local height was 6ft 1 inch(Nottingham was higher). This was graduaslly reduced to 5ft 8 in when we amalgamated with Lancashire police. the height for ladies was 5ft 4 ins. A few weeks ago, I had a similar experience to you. this bobby was so titchy that I looked at his number to check he was real. He was and also was 5ft 4 ins. I tackled him a about it and he said, 'they take women at 5ft 4 so now they have got to to take men. Doesn,t fill you with confidence, but with radios and back up, it,s not as bad as it would have been when you were completely on your own. Happy days

Hi , I was a Pc for 2 yrs and I'm only 5'6'' tall and with the training and equipment you can bring a 6'6'' giant down without resorting to belting him/her with the baton or using pepper spray ( which came in after I left) just by using certain pressure points on the body. I enjoyed the fun and seriousness of the job and trying to keep our streets safe I only had to give the job up because I moved from England to scotland and I failed probably on age as I was on the age limit when I applied. My motto is if you want to do something then go for it. And regarding the Height etc all this was dropped because the Police Services were losing out on good officers because of their height etc and now the average population height has/is dropping to according to scientists.. Best wishes Tim

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 >|<

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

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

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

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

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

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

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