A new law passed in France now paves the way for short…err…vertically challenged…people to join police forces. The new law, removing the 5ft. 3in. minimum height requirement, was signed by the 5ft. 4in. French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The legislation came after a shocking discovery last month by government officials that all the taller candidates in the country have been taken.

“The Police Nationale have already accepted all the people they could find above that height,” said the diminutive Gallic leader at a press conference in Paris. “It seems we have exhausted our supply of taller men and women in France. We now have to lower the bar - literally - so that we can acquire more recruits.”

The French, not widely recognized for their towering stature (think Napoleon), realized that they would either be forced to drop the minimum height, or face a shortfall (sorry) in law enforcement recruiting numbers. An alternative proposal to bring in recruits from Sweden was rejected by French officials as “not nationalistically sound.”

“Our police officers will still stand head and shoulders above the rest, if only in theory,” added Sarkozy. “Besides, it’s nice to see some guys around here who are shorter than me!”