Since my name came up...
My first handgun (not actually belonging to my husband) was a Springfield XD-40. I now carry a Kimber Ultra Carry II in .45acp. Interestingly enough, I drill out the X ring with it. HOWEVER...I don't shoot nearly as well with my husband's Springfield GI 1911. Why? The grip. The Kimber has a smaller grip, is lighter weight, although not "light" by any means, and it fits my hands. My hands, while larger than many women's, are NOT large enough to really get a good grip on that Springfield. Perhaps if the officers, male or female, are given an option of several guns from which to choose and qualify, they might see an improvement.
As for fine motor skills, golly, I guess I'd better quit painting all those icons with all that teeny tiny detail on them because I don't have the fine motor skills to do that....
Part of this thread is informative and helpful, and to those who have posted informative and helpful things, thanks; I love learning from the other shooters on this board. It really galls me, though, to read stuff like:
personally, if I call the cops I want some ball busting cop that looks like he should be named bubba or tiny, or even some woman who looks like she could be a linebacker on a womans football team coming to my aid...not some 5'1" girl that cant handle a 45 but got passed through because she was a female. But then again, I carry a gun so I dont have to rely on anyone else, but thats another issue entirely.
or
It's not that they can't "handle" X, Y, Z caliber it's that they lack fine motor control.
Caliber is irrelevant to gender. I have arthritis and am 52 years old and I shoot a Super Redhawk in .44mag in deer season, hunting the brush of east Texas woods. I shoot our .357 magnum at the range just for the fun of it. When I'm not carrying my Kimber, I carry a lightweight m37 with hot +P loads that I personally think are fun to shoot and that my HUSBAND doesn't like. Gender doesn't matter. Training and practice are what matter. I do agree that any police academy student should have to meet the basic physical requirements of the job, regardless of who they are...but the idea that a woman has to "look like a linebacker" to do them is repugnant. The whole male vs. female sub-thread here is repugnant.
Springmom, who is not a linebacker and does not play one on tv
but who really does quite well with the big bore handguns, thank you very much