Height and Weight requirements for cops

There used to be requirements -- five eight was a common height requirement.

These days there are no height or weight requirements I'm aware of, except that height and weight must be proportionate.

Anti discrimination laws eliminated the use of height and weight requirements. Most departments have strength, stamina, and agility requirements. There are minimum requirements to get hired and higher standards to get through the academy.
A 300 pounder would have to run the same distance in the same maximum time as a 150 pounder. A 105 pound woman would have to do the same minimum number of pushups as a 160 pound man. Many people are weeded out through this process.

Actually, there are still (at least in Michigan) different standards for men and woman in testing for law enforcement...at least to get certified. Standards for hiring vary by department...but normally, if you can get certified by the state, you can get hired. Not very many departments do phyical testing before hiring since your cerification is only good for one year anyway. Of course, they do have physicals before a final hiring decision but that's a total different thing.

Yeah, some places still use it, but a lot of have done away with it. The Pennsylvania State Police states on their website that there are no height/weight requirements; if you can pass the physical agility test, you are deemed qualified.

ETA: Not all places require men and women to meet the same physical agility minimums, btw. That seems stupid because OTJ, men and women will have to deal with the same things, but it's true.

RJK said:

Anti discrimination laws eliminated the use of height and weight requirements. Most departments have strength, stamina, and agility requirements. There are minimum requirements to get hired and higher standards to get through the academy.
A 300 pounder would have to run the same distance in the same maximum time as a 150 pounder. A 105 pound woman would have to do the same minimum number of pushups as a 160 pound man. Many people are weeded out through this process.

Click to expand...

A few decades ago, while working as a plaster room attendant in a busy hospital in a very conservative midwest city, a cop brought in a patient. The cop had to weigh a minimum of 300 pounds (probably 100 of that was fat) and was no taller than 5'8". In addition to that he had to have at least 10-15 pounds of stuff on his belt. (357 magnum, extra ammo, handcuffs, mace (before the days of pepper spray), a big jangly bunch of keys, walkie talkie)

I didn't want to ask if he actually could run the 100 yard dash (again, before meters), but I just had to ask, "When you run your annual physical fitness test, do you have to do it in uniform and wearing all that stuff on your belt?"

"I don't run," he announced in a deadpan voice.

Confused, I asked, "Do you mean you don't have a physical fitness test? I thought all police and firemen had that."

"I don't run," he repeated.

More confused, I asked, "What if there's a criminal running away from you?"

The cop replied calmly, "If he did something that I can shoot him for, then I shoot him. If not, then he gets away."

> The cop had to weigh a minimum of 300 pounds (probably 100 of that was fat)
> and was no taller than 5'8".

Yeah, and I bet he had a college degree too. That means he was alone in his patrol car. In a two-man patrol car, you could have had a pair of high school graduated, 150 pounds, dwarfs... |8-}

-cb

It is only a recent requirement and not many departments have it, that officers must pass an annual strength and agility test. There are just too many obstacles and "What ifs" when you go down that road. Most departments require that you pass the test to get hired and maintain while you are on probation. After that, it's just about impossible to enforce it.
The big question is, what would you do with the officer who couldn't pass the test? Nine times out of ten you'd be discriminating against the officer because of age, on the job injuries, pregnancy, or a number of other things a good lawyer could come up with. You'd end up putting 80% of your department on disability. The taxpayers would love that.