No need to be tall for wannabe cops

Graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) for ‘Masidlak’ Class of 2017 march to formation to start the 38th PNPA Commencement Exercises at Camp General Mariano N. Castañeda in Silang, Cavite on March 24, 2017. ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./Presidential Photo

Short people no longer need to despair if they want to serve the country through law enforcement, after officials announced the removal of height requirement for members of the Philippine National Police.

National Police Commission (Napolcom) vice chair and executive officer Rogelio Casurao said the agency had decided to do away with the requirement to coincide with the launch of the commission’s online examination application scheduling system (Oleass).

Thus, Casurao said, interested Filipino college graduates need only to be no more than 30 years old to qualify and they can apply to take the entrance examination on April 22.

Previously, the PNP required female applicants to be at least 5’2” and male applicants 5’4”.

But in 2016, the Napolcom’s regional office in Central Luzon discovered several PNP applicants possessed fake height waivers to get into the police force.

The waivers were actually meant for members of indigenous communities, but their ethnicity had to be certified by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

The general waiver of the height requirement was made part of the launched of the Oleass which will be available on the Napolcom’s websites: www.napolcom.gov.ph and www.napolcom-oleass.com for applicants to the PNP entrance and promotional examinations.

“To expedite the processing of exam applications, the Napolcom shall start implementing the enhanced Oleass which now has features for online filling up, submission and printing out of an electronic exam application form,” he pointed out.

Oleass will be available to applicants starting noon of Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 for the PNP entrance examination; Feb. 5 to 9 for the police officer promotional test; and Feb. 12 to 16 for senior police officer, inspector and superintendent.

Casurao stressed that the acceptance of applications will be on a “first come, first served” basis but can be stopped ahead of the deadline.

Applicants with confirmed schedules shall be sent an auto-generated e-mail informing them to access the online link and enter all the required information in the application form.

Only applicants with printed confirmation letters and filled-out electronic exam application forms shall be entertained at the Napolcom regional offices on their scheduled appointments.

The period of filing of application is from Feb. 19 to March 19.

The Oleass allows entrance exam applicants to choose the examination center where they want to take the test regardless of their place of residence.

For the promotion exams, the examination center is automatically assigned by the computer system based on the applicant’s home address and on the unit or assignment address they provided.

“These innovations in the administration of the Napolcom examinations is intended to streamline existing procedures geared towards fostering a more client-friendly frontline service delivery environment,” Casurao explained.