Dear Editor,

On Thursday, April 22, I accompanied a female friend of mine to the Island Special Constabulary Force headquarters to sit an entrance examination. The ISCF has strict entrance requirements: individuals are required to have several passes in the CSEC examinations and are required to satisfy the height and weight requirements in order to sit the entrance examination.

While waiting, I had the opportunity of speaking to several people who were eliminated for various reasons. One female applicant, who has a teaching diploma in physical education from the GC Foster College in St Catherine, was eliminated because she was one inch short of the height requirement. A male applicant, who has diplomas in electrical engineering and in computer science along with several other up-to-date information technology certifications, including the A+ computer certification, was eliminated because his weight was at 220 pounds. Several female applicants were eliminated because they listed their CXC passes as “pending”.

Of the approximately 20 individuals who entered the examination room, only one applicant was able to advance to the second round because the others were not successful at the first phase which involves Spelling and Grammar. The other two phases are Mathematics and English. I do know that there are strict requirements to the entrance examination, and several people are considering the security force as a career of choice, but should the height matter, or should it become a factor when some individuals are highly skilled or qualified people?

I believe that the police force which is seeking highly skilled and qualified people with a variety of skills and training should consider lowering the height requirement in an effort to attract qualified individuals. Applicants with physical education and teaching diplomas along with information technology certification should be given the opportunity to join the ISCF.

Charles Brown

charliebrown1004@hotmail.com