Females on SWAT

[TheDonna]

So this is a curiosity question for you, have you ever seen/known of females on SWAT teams? If so, how common is it? If not, what is the major reason you would think females would not be suited for SWAT?

[kels]

what is the major reason you would think females would not be suited for SWAT?

Geesh, everyone knows this, they are GIRLS.......

Ok, back to being serious, when all the swat shows were the hot shows on TV, I remember seeing lady swat officers. So they are out there. I would imagine the physical requirements are the hardest part of qualification.

[Reconciler]

Officer Chris Sanchez did okay

[Nole795]

I know of four off the top of my head. Two were on entry and the other two were hostage negotiators.

[retdetsgt]

Our hostage negotiators don't have to do any of the physical stuff the SWAT team does. They are detectives who are assigned as sort of an auxiliary and train separately.

We've had two women that I know of on ours. One quit and filed an IA complaint against the team for the hazing they do to new members. But they had to pass the same tough qualifications including bench pressing your own weight.

[Switchback]

I don't know of any females that are operational on a SWAT/SRT/ERT team. I know of negotiators, but they are not held to standards of operational personnel.

The reason for the lack of females is simple. Unlike the hiring standards, most teams' standards do not depend on a subjects age or sex. There is ONE standard to do the job and that is it. Usually, that assessment includes bench press, pull-ups, dummy drags and other demands on the upper body that may be too challenging for most females. Afterall, team members are less likely to drag their weight than that of a fully geared-up teammate.

[retdetsgt]

There is ONE standard to do the job and that is it. Usually, that assessment includes bench press, pull-ups, dummy drags and other demands on the upper body that may be too challenging for most females. Afterall, team members are less likely to drag their weight than that of a fully geared-up teammate.

I'm not convinced that the two we had weren't on juice. I can't see a normal woman passing our tests either. We don't have random drug tests, only if there is other suspicion. And going against a woman for that would be too unPC.

[TheDonna]

Okay, I kind of assumed that the upper body strength would be the main weakness. Haha my friend on SWAT let me hold his vest. I told him it was a good thing it was bullet proof because I wouldn't be able to move anyway! O.o

Thank you for the replies guys!

[Trip]

We've had two women that I know of on ours. One quit and filed an IA complaint against the team for the hazing they do to new members. But they had to pass the same tough qualifications including bench pressing your own weight.

Wow, RDS. I don't understand a woman wanting to join a SWAT team, or any kind of special ops for that matter, without having to meet the physical requirements. There are plenty of other roles women can play in either the military or as first responders that come close to the same level of excitement. I don't care whether it's a male or a female, what's so hard about understanding they need to meet physical requirements. It's also true of any job that requires physical strength in the military. Like did you know that fighter pilots who pull a lot of G's require a certain amount of strength in their arms and hands that requires working out. I think women make fantastic pilots mentally, perhaps sometimes even better, but if they're not strong enough to handle Gs, it doesn't work. See why I don't have any friends, lol?

[retdetsgt]

See why I don't have any friends, lol?

I'm one......

[Trip]

I'm one......

I know, RDS....thank you, bud, LOL~

[MikeG]

I don't know of any females that are operational on a SWAT/SRT/ERT team. I know of negotiators, but they are not held to standards of operational personnel.

The reason for the lack of females is simple. Unlike the hiring standards, most teams' standards do not depend on a subjects age or sex. There is ONE standard to do the job and that is it. Usually, that assessment includes bench press, pull-ups, dummy drags and other demands on the upper body that may be too challenging for most females. Afterall, team members are less likely to drag their weight than that of a fully geared-up teammate.

Is that still true with the hiring standards? I thought most changed to a 50% department profile and made that the standard "one size fits everyone". I think that's what they do here. Basically they they look at everyone that is doing the job (age, sex independant) assess what they can do physically and say "this is the minimum level to be hired."

Personally I think that would be a much better standard for SWAT/SRT//ERT team. Have the team do bench press, 1.5 mile run, body drag time (avg body weight of team),etc etc, and set the 50% mark based on that. Reset the hiring benchmark every year based on 50% of team's ability and that's the average physical conditioning necessary to do the job. The team is small enough that it would be very difficult for a woman to meet the 50% mark. A highly motivated 10 man tactical team is going to have a much different fitness profile than a 1000 officer department. "One Job, One standard" can be applied to both but it's obvious that the jobs have much different standards.

I think that's similar to what Cooper advocates now. http://fitforce.org/documents/Micros..._CIAR.0307.pdf Probably would be good for team members to see where they are in the percentile after they have been doing the job for a few years, too.

I also wondered about pushup requirements. Just from a physics point of view it seems that shorter people have a mechanical advantage (shorter arms) and lighter people as well. So setting pushup requirements that are not gender specific is going to get you disproportionately small females. If your requirements for hiring is just a run, pushups and situps, guess who makes it to the next round?

[Switchback]

Oh, no! We are still all jacked-up!

You know a 25 year old woman needs only do 16 push-ups, 35 sit-ups and run 1.5 miles in 14:55, while a 25 year old man has to do 33, 40 and 12:18, respectively.

For contrast, a 55 year old male has to do 15 push-ups, 26 sit-ups and run 1.5 miles in 14:55 (almost the same standards as a young female)...



And, wait for it....















Wait....













A 55 year old female standards require 7 ppush-ups, 17 sit-ups and "run" 1.5 miles in 17:24.


You know, this all makes perfect sense. EVERYONE knows that a bandit will not run as fast or fight as hard for an older female.

[fatboyjim154]

You know a 25 year old woman needs only do 16 push-ups, 35 sit-ups and run 1.5 miles in 14:55, while a 25 year old man has to do 33, 40 and 12:18, respectively.

We trialled a fitness test about 9 years ago that was the complete opposite. It went on hieght weight and arm reach. To get back to full duties after a motorcycle crash I, at 6'1" had to do 8 pushups in time with a bleep in a minute. The woman next to me at 5'5" weighing less than 130 had to do 25. They had to restart the test 3 times because we were laughing so much.

[Lawson]

The Officer listed in my signature was a SRT Operator. I think she was about 5'9 and 100lbs soaking wet. But she was no joke of an operator. She could keep up with the biggest and best of our dept's SRT.