Overweight

[bgofast72]

Could people tell me why it is required that when you apply for a law enforcement position, you have to be height/weight proportionate? I have seen all kinds of law enforcement officers obese, which is a lot overweight from what I hear anyway. Why is this required if you can become overweight after the fact of being hired? I don't think it is fair and would like to find out if anyone agrees or disagrees with me on it. Thanks and I am not trying to be upset or mean about asking this.

-Brad

[webjeep]

Personally I think that a semi-annual or annual physical fitness standard should be required for LE. I say this for several reasons...

1) Presence is the first level of force, if you look like a bag of *** people will not take you seriously.

2) Officer safety, if you are in danger of having a heart attack by standing up and walking a brisk pace for 30 feet then you are a liability to yourself and other officers.

3) The fattest SOB on the force will always be the one who is standing in the middle of the crime scene when the news shows up and all others will be judged by his appearance.

This is a physical job. You spend the majority of your time sitting on your butt, but you need to be able to go from there to full throttle in a heartbeat and not risk having a coronary in the process. This is also a high visibility job and image is important no matter what we would like to think. A sharp appearance brings with it a certain level of respect, people are shallow, what can I say.

You don't have to be beefcake, but being in shape, carrying yourself properly, and displaying the appearance that you give a damn about yourself and your job goes a long way. Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but it may jsut be the marine in me.

-web

[MAD_MAX333]

...............

[Okikumasan]

I agree that phyical fitness should be a part of law enforcement, but I disagree with the block headed idea that every police officer should be 5'8" and 160 lbs. and run like a gazelle. I am 6'2" and weigh 300 lbs. and have a BP of 110/70. I am a 2nd degree black belt and was recently gang tackled by three scrotebags, and I walked away with the arrests. I bench press 400 lbs and can do the required situps. I, however, have degenerative arthiritis in my low back and have not been able to run the 1 and 1/2 mile run in 13:36 to get into the full time academy. I have been involved in foot pursuits and am known for always getting the bad guy (for the last 12 years). I don't mean to sound disgruntled but if the PD is happy with my service, why should the academy be able to tell them I can't work for them because I am "not qualified". The whole Cooper thing needs to be re-evaluated. I know my Chief was very upset because the last time I went to try the run, he saw a guy there that he had washed out of the hiring process because he admitted that he was currently using and supplying steroids to people. There he was getting hired by another agency because he could pass the physical, what is up with that?
Just my rant, thanks for reading it. BTW, anyone ever heard of a waiver for the run for a disability.
Harry

[bgofast72]

Personally I think that a semi-annual or annual physical fitness standard should be required for LE. I say this for several reasons...

1) Presence is the first level of force, if you look like a bag of *** people will not take you seriously.

2) Officer safety, if you are in danger of having a heart attack by standing up and walking a brisk pace for 30 feet then you are a liability to yourself and other officers.

3) The fattest SOB on the force will always be the one who is standing in the middle of the crime scene when the news shows up and all others will be judged by his appearance.

This is a physical job. You spend the majority of your time sitting on your butt, but you need to be able to go from there to full throttle in a heartbeat and not risk having a coronary in the process. This is also a high visibility job and image is important no matter what we would like to think. A sharp appearance brings with it a certain level of respect, people are shallow, what can I say.

You don't have to be beefcake, but being in shape, carrying yourself properly, and displaying the appearance that you give a damn about yourself and your job goes a long way. Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but it may jsut be the marine in me.

-web

webjeep, I agree with you 100% and take no disrespect by anything you said at all. Nicely put!

[RobSlig]

There is strength in variety.

[cst.sb]

There is strength in variety.

Ok.. pet peeve of mine. I get annoyed with wanna-be's, can't get ins, and applicants, looking at current police officers and making judgment calls. To me it's shows a huge lack of maturity.

Some of the "fat guys", have spent years working night shifts, they've been in car accidents, and they've blown disks in their backs while arresting people. This job can be hard on the body.

In a perfect world all of us police officers would be in shape, but the world is far from perfect.

[MAD_MAX333]

i understand what you are saying but people who are out of shape and on the road are a danger to themselves and possibly the public ( failer to protect the public) if they do have alot of exprience then get desk jopbs or super jobs and put ur exprience to a better use and leave the physical part of the job to the new guys no???

[Centurion44]

Could people tell me why it is required that when you apply for a law enforcement position, you have to be height/weight proportionate?

I agree. I think law enforcement agencies should be required to have annual PT tests like the military.

Ok.. pet peeve of mine. I get annoyed with wanna-be's, can't get ins, and applicants, looking at current police officers and making judgment calls. To me it's shows a huge lack of maturity.

And making excuses show lack of a sense of responsibility.

Some of the "fat guys", have spent years working night shifts, they've been in car accidents, and they've blown disks in their backs while arresting people. This job can be hard on the body.

Don't put fat guys in quotation marks. There's no accusations going on. We're talking about fat officers. People in the military have had to do worse things to their bodies and they are still held by a annual PT test. If you take care of your body in the first place your far less liable to get blown disks, bad hips, or even lower the extent of injuries because your body is more conditioned.

In a perfect world all of us police officers would be in shape, but the world is far from perfect.

Great mentality. I'm in less than ideal shape, I'm not going to lie. I could stand to run a couple more miles a week and maybe do a few more push ups. But I do feel that if things broke bad I'm in shape enough to protect me and mine and that of my fellow officer. And I'm sure as hell am not going make a crappy excuse like "Eh, the world's not perfect." That's great. I hope I'm not in the fight for my life and end up getting killed because some fat *** with that mentality ran out of breath before he got on scene.

[Creeker]

i understand what you are saying but people who are out of shape and on the road are a danger to themselves and possibly the public ( failer to protect the public) if they do have alot of exprience then get desk jopbs or super jobs and put ur exprience to a better use and leave the physical part of the job to the new guys no???

I am guessing that you don't see experience in a patrol officer as a good thing.

[Creeker]

I agree. I think law enforcement agencies should be required to have annual PT tests like the military.

And then what? Make experienced guys who got hurt on the job and can't run as fast or climb those fences with a single leap just a number and kick them to the curb like a used up ticket book, right?

This seems to be where the thread and the sentiment is going.

BTW, none of YOU are Superman, either.

[webjeep]

I don't think that cops should be superhuman, I don't think that they should all have to run like deer, I don't think that they should all have to be able to bench press a VW.

I do think that cops should not look like they are 9 months pregnant (unless they are), I do think that they should be able to perform some sort of cardio vascular exertion for a reasonable amount of time (five minutes of fighting with a scumbag is like running a half marathon on the body) without having to go to the ER after, I do think that cops should be able to pull their body weight and gear up to an elevated position, I do think that cops should be able to climb over a six foot fence (solid and chain link).

I think that these are reasonable expectations. If someone is injured in the line of duty they should be placed in a limited duty status until they are up to par. If you cannot shoot you shouldn't be on the street carrying a gun, so if you can't walk a block without having a heart attack you shouldn't be on the street either. This is a job where you need to be 100% in your game when you come to work, otherwise you or your partners may not go home.

But those of us on the job all know that I am talking about an ideal world that will not happen in most agencies.

my $.02

-web

[Creeker]

... I don't think that they should all have to be able to bench press a VW.

Thats a good thing, because the cops that CAN do that will be listed on the "perfect charts" as being clinically moderately obese.

[cst.sb]

Centurion44,

You didn't like the fact I had "fat guys" in quotations because their were "no accusations" going on. And then you go on to make is personal by questioning my sense of responsbility and my mentality. Nice.

I expected better from you. I consider you are one of the brightest people that post here.

Ok, you brought up the military. Absolutely a more phyically challenge job, especially in the US where you most definately going to be deployed to Iraq. Also, how many how many guys will spend 25+ years in the infantry? At least here in Canada, the infantry is a young man's game.

My issue is with wanna be's that drive by a cop and say, "Well jez, look at that guy. He's out of shape. Why should I have to do all this training to get hired." Because they are also the same guys that beak off at incidents about the police not doing there jobs, because they, who have no experience or training, would have done a better job.

And personally I rather have a 300lb guy with me day of the week, than some 150lb string bean marathon runner.

I'm also sorry you didn't like my world is not a perfect place comment, but if we made the world perfect and ideal for physically arrests, then all we'd have is 6'4 220lbs 5% body fat 25-30 year old male police officers.

Where do you draw the line on age, gender, height and weight? I would almost guarantee that fatest male cop you know will be able to drop the strongest tuffest female cop you know. But does that make him a better cop? I don't think so.

In training we did a two person cuffing drill, I was the bad guy, and the two tuffest females in the troop, one the same weight as me and an inch taller, were the police officers. With in thirty seconds of whistle I had them both pinned (at the same time the video of it is actually quite funny) and I had taken one of their guns away and shot them both. Does this mean we shouldn't hire women?

The other thing is are all going to get older in this job and our bodies will change and so will the way we'll do this job. Experience is a huge asset and it's BS when someone civi drives by and makes a judgement call based off of someone's apearance.

Do I think cops out of shape cops should get in a gym and do some running? Absolutely, so they can have a life left when this is all finished.

[kcolg]

About the military. The US Military (each branch with their own standards) is physical. However, they are able/forced to do that neary everyday they are in the military. MOST military live a pretty healthy life: they eat well and they sleep like the human body is used to. They are instructed in how to run their lives for the betterment of their life. Most police are not. While I'd love it if every cop in the nation were like the movie 'Soldier': they aren't, they actually have to sit on their arse for most of their shift. Military get's a hell of a better jump on 'fitness' than police do.