Police told dog handler tests are too hard for women

Forces must change recruitment policy after female Pc wins £15,000 damages in landmark case

POLICE forces must change the way they recruit dog handlers after a female officer won a landmark sex-discrimination case.

Pc Kim-louise Carter was awarded £15,000 after an employment tribunal ruled it was unfair she had been ruled out of becoming a dog handler because she had failed a fitness test.

Miss Carter had been required to pass a 10-mile run, carrying a dog over a course and then running with it a further 100 yards. The tribunal was told how three forces – Gloucester, Avon & Somerset and Wiltshire – all used the same examination which resulted in many more men being recruited as dog handlers than women.

Judge Street, who presided over the hearing, said the three forces must review their shared course, a ruling that could affect other forces.

Miss Carter, 31, said she became exhausted and unable to walk while trying to complete the uphill dog carrying test known as “The Long Walk” in wet and muddy conditions. The dog she was carrying, called Hulk and weighing 35kg, was considerably heavier than a previous dog she had handled.

She said: “One stage of the test included a tough 10-mile run and my legs felt like jelly ... I became exhausted and my legs would not work.” She said she had “dug deep, real deep” to keep up with men, adding: “I could lift the dog but had nothing left to carry him. I just couldn’t get any momentum.”

She was withdrawn from the twoand-half hour fitness exam, ending her ambition to become a dog handler with the Gloucestershire force, where she remains a serving officer.

Lawyers for the forces insisted that a key requirement for the job of a dog handler was being physically fit because they often track criminals over long periods of time, often over demanding terrains.

The tribunal was told that women were under represented as dog handlers in all three forces. Of 48 dog handlers in the Gloucestershire force, only four were women. Avon & Somerset had three women out of 24 handlers, while Wiltshire had four women among 12.

A written ruling was published this week after a hearing last year said the test of pace and stamina was more demanding for women than men. Meanwhile, the fitness test, which had the same pass mark for men and women, had proven more difficult for women to pass compared with men, a factor suggesting it was discriminating against women.

The judge agreed women were at a particular disadvantage compared with men and awarded Miss Carter a total of £14,930 for indirect sex discrimination.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Police said the forces were reviewing the recommendations.