Dalrock on the presence of female officers in riot gear

Dalrock, Affirmative action brigade meets a real life riot (cross-posted at his blog)

And a question on the conduct of a particular unit: Riot control tactics or too afraid to line up as ordered?

Would I want a woman backing me up, knowing that she is not physically as strong as the male police officers? Is there more possibility of abuse by others, because of white-knighting on the part of her colleagues? Or because more is required to subdue someone when female officers are involved, and they are less effective because of space limitations? Is it also more difficult to coordinate how much force is to be applied, even though it seems like if there are more people involved, less force is necessary on the part of each?

There are those who stick to the "meritocratic" argument -- as long as someone fulfills the requirements or can do they job, he or she should be allowed to do it. Or, conversely, height and weight are considerations should also disqualify some men. How about this as a reasonable standard --a woman be able to cope physically with a male opponent of the same height? (But then we have the problem of increased escalation, because physical means are not enough.)