Great news: In the future, people shorter than 1.63 meters will also be able to apply to the police force in North Rhine-Westphalia. A great thing!
As a boy in the street, it is easy to feel, to use a big word, discrimination against. Anyone who is physically shorter than the average German man, ie under 1.80 meters, is quickly ridiculed from above. You can only counter this arrogance with platform shoes and humor, the biggest weapon of the little ones. It is no coincidence that some of the greatest comedians in history are on the small side: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Mel Brooks, all 5’6″. Louis de Funès (1.64 meters) played a small village policeman in the film ” St. Tropez cops” who mess with the big, beautiful and rich.
With the police in North Rhine-Westphalia, on the other hand, little people had no bad luck, they had none at all. Only men and women with a height of at least 1.63 meters were allowed to apply. Why actually? Small children are better at hiding when chasing criminals than big, fat people. A Fiat 500 is enough for you as a patrol car. Much less fabric is needed for uniforms.
Now the NRW police has reversed the controversial regulation. In the future, applicants under 1.63 will also be able to start training if they pass the aptitude test and take an additional sports test. This was announced by the Ministry of Interior in a report to the state parliament. One reason is that the NRW state police is too small – not physically, but in terms of numbers. In order to increase the units by 3000 people per year, you also need smaller applicants. So all in all a great deal!
Read previous episodes of the column Here. You can find more good news Here.