The patrol capabilities of female officers were appraised during the 1970's in eight different police settings, ranging from urban police departments to county police and highway patrols. Overall, the evaluations indicated that women performed the patrol function as ably as men, although differences were noted in arrest rates, policing style, shooting ability, sick time, discipline, and agility. The increased use of women in policing is directly attributable to legislation and subsequent litigation, particularly litigation concerning physical agility testing. A 1979 survey conducted by the Police Foundation showed that 78 percent of the 387 municipal police agencies contacted and 91 percent of the 47 State police agencies used a physical agility test for hiring both men and women. These tests emphasize upper body strength and generally eliminate a highly disproportionate number of female applicants. While Title VII and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules mandate that fitness tests must be strictly job-related, many police agility tests appraise abilities such as standing broad jumps, situps, and swimming, that officers are not required to perform on the job. Moreover, physical agility scores do not positively correlate with later training and job performance scores. The paper describes discriminatory agility tests used by the Houston Police Department, a nondiscriminatory testing process implemented by the Miami police, and the New Jersey State Police's successful efforts to improve female recruits' physical capabilities through training. The article contains 5 footnotes and 22 references.