# Cops weight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 1999, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131 "1999-12-03T17:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/1 "1999-12-03T17:36:00Z")
How much can a US police officer weigh to keep his job? How is that height/weight ratio determined? Some of the local cops seem a bit, well, a bit plump. Hard to imagine they could run very fast. Those black suits keep them looking a bit thinner than they really are. But then they do the job. ---
**Author:** ![StrTrkr777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@StrTrkr777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrTrkr777)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/2 "1999-12-03T17:39:00Z")
I guess it depends on the job and I am not sure about weight requirements. If they had a desk job, no problem. It seems around here the ones assigned to traffic duty, may be a bit heavier. I would think is not not so much the weight, but the physical shape. If they can pass the physical fitness tests, then no problem, but I could be wrong. Jeffery ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_Next\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Girl\_Next\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_Next_Door)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/3 "1999-12-03T17:49:00Z")
Bad cop! No donut! * * * Leslie Irish Evans [http://leslie.scrappy.net](http://leslie.scrappy.net) ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/4 "1999-12-04T06:04:00Z")
I uickly scanned the Atlanta Police Department site. It mentioned nothing regarding height/weight restrictions. The only physical eliminator was a minimum 20/100 uncorrected vision and 20/20 corrected. A physical exam was mandatory upon acceptance of the position. * * * Well, shut my mouth. It’s also illegal to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/5 "1999-12-04T06:27:00Z")
I would imagine that police departments being a branch of government, they would not list height/weight requirements (which might give rise to claims of discrimination), but instead ask you to pass a physical aptitudes test. * * * La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit. H. de Livry ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/6 "1999-12-04T01:57:00Z")
Besides, cops don’t need to be in shape; they can just gun down fleeing suspects in the back. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![InutilisVisEst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d2c977/32.png) [@InutilisVisEst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InutilisVisEst)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 1999, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/7 "1999-12-05T04:09:00Z")
We’re not told if this guy considered the “shoot 'em in the back” option or not: “In an obviously sad case, an overweight member of City of Kissimmee Police Department was unable to satisfy a recently-implemented physical fitness test. Apparently out of desperation, he took a leave of absence and underwent stomach stapling surgery. Unfortunately, as a result of complications he suffered a pulmonary embolism and died. The Judge of Compensation Claims ordered workers’ compensation benefits on the basis that the death occurred in the course and scope of the employee’s employment because he had surgery in order to comply with the City’s fitness policy. In reversing, the appellate court found that death did not occur during the physical fitness test required by the City. The officer was not ordered to lose weight and he had complete autonomy over how to improve his physical fitness level. The officer’s supervisors’ knowledge or awareness of his efforts to meet the fitness standards or lose weight, and their approval of his leave for surgery, did not amount to an endorsement or control over the procedure he elected. City of Kissimmee v. Dickson, 22 Fla. L. Weekly D1405 (Fla. 1st DCA, June 4, 1997).” ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 1999, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/8 "1999-12-05T15:49:00Z")
I know there are written height-weight ratios but it seems no one knows where they are. Must be in a safe somewhere? Cops have to be able to do the job. If they are too fat to do the job, then they have to lose weight. Same with the Army, some army gal said. _unless_ they have a nice sargeant who looks the other way [like hers did]. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 1999, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/9 "1999-12-05T15:58:00Z")
Brief off-topic remark: Kissimmee FL is the nearest incorporated city to Disneyworld, **not** Orlando. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 1999, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cops-weight/5131/10 "1999-12-06T16:58:00Z")
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mounties) have a weight (which I’ll try and find and post) for members. If it is exceeded, your Commanding Officer can put you on the “obese list,” and order you to lose weight by taking a course (read: fat cop camp). My late father made the list once, back in the late 1970s. True Story: I was sent to Ottawa by Parks Canada a few years back for a national meeting of initerpretive types. I have an official RCMP sports bag that a friend bought for me at the RCMP training depot in Regina, Saskatchewan. I use it as my carryon bag when flying. On arrival at the Ottawa airport a uniformed RCMP member (who was a rather attractive young woman), approached me and said, “Ah! You’re here for the obesity course!” Talk about a blow to the ego.