Going back to my time growing up I always thought coppers had to be a certain height to get into the police force (lower for females) and really physically fit, it seems standards have dropped off a lot nowdays
They struggle to recruit and have struggled for a long time so have to reduce the criteria otherwise the pool of applicants is far too small.
It used to be that the police attracted people who were reasonably bright / competent and physically fit, the sort of people who left school and didn't quite make or want to go to University (back in the days when around the 10% of brightest kids went and before you could get a degree in the history of traffic cones or whatever shit they dream up that doesn't actually lead to a decent job
)
Most of these were from a working class type background and with incremental pay rises for years served and a couple of promotions they could earn a decent wage and pension with early retirement
My understanding is that these days they are looking for Uni graduates who unfortunately don't want to get their hands dirty, and let's face it you are often dealing with the scummiest of the scum of our great British society
Who would want to be a copper these days
As soon as you make a mistake you are in the shit and there's normally a crowd surrounding you filming it and then selectively editing or posting clips on social media
The recent clip of an officer discussing with a Jewish guy at a Palestinian march why he couldn't cross the road is a prime example, TBH the copper was far too tolerant and probably should have had him carted off long before he made his comment which was instantly picked up on and apparently became the only issue
Shoot or tazer someone then get disciplined as the info about them carrying a gun turns out to be wrong or they've just ditched it, alternatively don't shoot or tazer them and get shot yourself