It's Not the Size That Matters: Physical Skills among Tall and Short Police Students
| Published date | 01 December 2012 |
| Date | 01 December 2012 |
| Author | Pål Lagestad |
| DOI | 10.1350/ijps.2012.14.4.290 |
| Subject Matter | Paper |
It’s not the size that matters: physical
skills among tall and short police students
Pål Lagestad
Nord Trøndelag University College, Norway. Email: Pal.lagestad@phs.no
Submitted 21 December 2012; accepted 21 July 2012
Keywords: short, tall, police students, physical skills, police culture
Pål Lagestad
worked at the Norwegian Police
University College for several years, and is now
working as an assistant professor at Nord
Trøndelag University College, Norway, where he
is lecturing in sport and physical education. He
has achieved his PhD at the Norwegian School
of Sport Sciences.
A
BSTRACT
A literature review suggests that height has
always been a part of the assessment of suitability
in police culture, and this may be linked to myths
about a tall person’s better physical skills and
suitability for police work. In contrast to the
above-mentioned assumptions, this study shows
that short police students of both sexes generally
perform better in physical tests than tall police
students. Despite this, short women assess their
physical skills as poorer than do tall women. This
discrepancy is discussed, and several factors seem
to explain this phenomenon. Police culture seems
to link being tall with physical ability. The value
placed on height can be explained by the fact that
tall men represent and symbolise the police best.
A contributing explanation to the discrepancy
could be that height creates a natural physical
authority among tall police officers, which short
female officers are missing. Another explanation
of the discrepancy may be that height and long
arms can be beneficial in situations in which the
police have to use physical force. However, it is
argued that the police rarely use physical force,
and that several other factors seem to reduce the
importance of height in this area.
INTRODUCTION
Before 2003, the admissions committee at
the Police University College in Norway
set minimum height requirements for entry
(Brandi et al., 2004). Men had to be at least
175 cm tall, and a minimum height of 165
cm was the requirement for women,
although it seemed to be the practice that
applicants with a Sami background were
exempt from these height requirements.
This is in contrast to the USA, where
height standards as a screening device for
police officer candidates were removed in
the late 1970s (Birzer & Craig, 1996). In
2003, the height criterion was removed
from the Norwegian admissions regulations,
and the Police College no longer requires a
minimum height for entry. Today, nearly 40
per cent of police students are female. The
proportion of female police officers will
probably increase from 22 per cent today
(police directorate data from SAP, updated
28 February 2010) to nearly 40 per cent.
Women are shorter than men. One study
showed that, on average, female police
students were 12 cm shorter than male
police students (Lagestad, 2011). In the
future, height will vary more among police
officers, and the Norwegian public will
meet policewomen as short as 157 cm and
International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 14 Number 4
Page 322
International Journal of Police
Science and Management,
Vol. 14 No. 4, 2012, pp. 322–333.
DOI: 10.1350/ijps.2012.14.4.290
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