# How do some active duty police officers get away with being very fat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-active-duty-police-officers-get-away-with-being-very-fat/361192 "2006-06-18T20:04:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sofaspud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sofaspud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofaspud)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-active-duty-police-officers-get-away-with-being-very-fat/361192/21 "2006-06-20T00:11:58Z")
Gotta agree with **OtakuLoki** , here. I currently weigh in over 300lb; I’m not what you could ever consider anything but obese. I stand 6’2", so it’s not as apparent as it would be if I were shorter, but still. Yet I have run down a teenager. Little wanker swiped my wife’s purse and ran. I chased him, caught him after a block-and-a-half (ironically, right outside my front gate - we started at the supermarket), and sat on the little punk until the cops arrived. He wasn’t very happy. ## –sofaspud ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-active-duty-police-officers-get-away-with-being-very-fat/361192/22 "2006-06-20T00:24:25Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > Ah, but in **gabriela’s** hypothetical, the guilt was known, and all that was needed was a confession: > > Besides, I was in the mood to do some torturin’.😉 I think you missed your true calling, vetbridge! To quote Orin: "She said, “My boy, I think someday You’ll find a way To make your natural tendencies pay You’ll be a dentist You have a talent for causin’ things pain Son, be a dentist People will pay you to be inhumane Your temperament’s wrong for the priesthood And teaching would suit you still less Son, be a dentist You’ll be a success” ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-active-duty-police-officers-get-away-with-being-very-fat/361192/23 "2006-06-20T00:53:39Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > **Astro** , you do realize that you’re making an unwarranted assumption, here? Simply because someone is obese doesn’t mean that they’re out of shape, and unable to perform to physical standards. This is true. I’m about 20 pounds over and I pass the physical mandates every year during in-service training. Sure, I should drop that extra weight, and sometimes I do, but it always creeps right back up. But consider this: I know dozens of officers who are at or below the recommended weight for their height. But I can outrun them. Why? Because they smoke 2 packs a day, that’s why. So what’s worse? There ARE some departments, however, that do enforce the height/weight requirements even after hiring. I have a very good friend who worked as a patrolman for a department for 8 years and was canned because he could/would not get his weight back down to appropriate levels. He was at least 80 pounds over though. Funny thing; he passed all the tests for another department and has worked there for over 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-active-duty-police-officers-get-away-with-being-very-fat/361192/24 "2006-06-21T01:54:44Z")
> [@gabriela](#): > > Some of the fatter ones are reallly good at their jobs. > No way would I want that expertise deleted from the department. Running after criminals isn’t by any means the only thing cops do. > > How would **you** get a serial burglar to confess? Use only legal methods. > OK, now answer the same question (still only legally) for a guy who raped a four-year-old. > Thinking of one cop I know who told me the answers to both. Serial burglar: Flattery, with a heaping dollop of “just too dumb to believe” cop. “I can’t believe how you got in and out of there with the stuff! How did you ever do it? We would never have figured it out! No! Really? Up the back window? But then how did you ever find the stuff and get it packaged up?” Pedophile: (deep breath, best cop face, straight lie) “I understand, man. You’re not getting any at home, your old lady’s cruel to you, it’s an unfair world. And, for a four-year-old, she was really hot.” Hey. Whatever works. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-active-duty-police-officers-get-away-with-being-very-fat/361192/25 "2006-06-21T03:07:14Z")
I always thought in a sheriff’s department they transferred officer Duncan Doanuts to guard duty at the jail… ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-active-duty-police-officers-get-away-with-being-very-fat/361192/26 "2006-06-21T12:45:52Z")
> [@gabriela](#): > > Hey. Whatever works. OK, I can see how a cop could use psychology to get a confession. Does that _have_ to rule out concurrent torture, though? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-active-duty-police-officers-get-away-with-being-very-fat/361192.md?page=1)