Fat Cops!

[M-11]

I am not rationalizing anything. I have always been on the larger size. I graduated the academy @ 260 lbs. Lucky for me I am 6'4 and played football until I graduated from college. I am sure there are plenty of people who think I am fat. I am sure there are plenty others that think I am a massive individual. I don't really care either way. I do my job to the best of my abilities everyday.
In as far as the pull up test, I would rather you had to go toe to toe with somebody for 5 minutes every year to include ground fighting and grappling to show that you can hold your own until the cavalry arrives. You may be able to do 100 pull ups, if you can't fight your way out of a wet paper bag it means nothing.

If you are an extremely large person, you are not fat. I'm pretty sure this thread is about the "Chief Wiggam" types not the "Hoss Cartwright" types.

I agree on your yearly beating proposal. My pullup suggestion was in response to the poster right before me who mentioned how difficult it was to administratively determine if fitness was being maintained.

I am not a naturally skinny guy, I am 6'1" and I weigh 210. My BMI says I am at 28 % which is overweight. I run hard every other day and my standard of fitness is to be able to do 10 pullups and bench my bodyweight at least 10 times. Keeping in shape is difficult, and I realise it's easy to let slide, but I really doubt anyone can honestly tell me that being 30-40 pounds overweight (which is the kind of people we are talking about here) is OK.

M-11

[GrayPatriot]

i would rather that officer with 10 years on kept himself in shape so when the younger guys get into some heavy stuff and are chasing somebody or in extremely intense situations, they can be there to provide their wisdom and experience to that rookie instead of shouting instructions from 15 blocks behind them. i think there are plenty of older officers who keep themselves in good shape. i work with an officer thats somewhere around 40 and in better shape then i have ever been, and it would probably take me 10 years of busting my A to catch up to him.



+1,000 I couldn't have said this any better myself.

+1001. People make terrible excuses for not working out. I have kids, my wife works full-time, and on my long week I work 60hrs which with travel and OT is closer to 70hrs and I still manage to work out 4 times on my long week and 6 on my short. There is no excuse for not working out and staying in shape!

im at 220lbs and i love it. gives me extra weight in fights. plus i got my bench up at 320lbs. i can still run my mile and a half at 12 mins. i wish i had a quicker metabolism but, i like myself :-P

220Ilbs! Are you 5' or 6' 6", makes a big difference!!!

[DH30]

I keep in shape for myself. I'm no fast runner, but I jog 3 miles a day, two or three times a week. I lift weights two or three days as well. I do it to look well, and also becuase there are times that my safety depends on me being in good shape.

[BlackSun23]

I didn't take the time to read threw all of the posts on this thread so I hope I'm not stepping on anyones toes. Only thing I want to contribute to this is that I just recently took a PAT for the city and there was this guy in the same class that must have been about 5'10" 210lbs of all muscle and in presumably good shape. When it came to the part of the exam when he had to jump a stationary fence, he couldn't do it. I was astonished at how long it took this guy to get over a freaking 6' fence because of how built he was. And I have worked with guys that are 6'5 350lbs that can outrun a antelope.

[FireCop86]

Hey guys this thread was started because I did not understand why departments didn't have physical standards after you got hired. Apparently some people took offensive to that (I don't know why). I did not want this thread to turn into a p------ match. Let's just let it die and move on... Thank you L-1 for your response it answered my question and beyond

[irishlad2nv]

Edited to clear up confusion...

Why is it that departments are so strict on weight into proportion to height and passing a PAT but do not keep up with it once you get hired? From some of the LEO's I have seen on TV (and I could be completely wrong) are so fat I can not understand how they can perform their job effectively. I know this could be a huge officer safety issue if your back up can not even get out of the car with out huffing and puffing.

You changed your original post after attacking a certain type of LEO on this forum. That is how things got stirred up! Why did coem of take offense you ask? Again you are pre-judging every LEO out there by making bold statements about "fat" cops and their abilities or non-abilities to perfrom their job correctly. And coming from one with no experience, well you definately ignited a flame in some of us.

Some opinions are meant to be kept to yourself. If and when you get hired, you may end up thinking how stupid and immature this was or maybe you will be one of those "fat" cops you speak of and not be able to run,walk....perform your job...until then, chill out.

[FireCop86]

You changed your original post after attacking a certain type of LEO on this forum. That is how things got stirred up! Why did coem of take offense you ask? Again you are pre-judging every LEO out there by making bold statements about "fat" cops and their abilities or non-abilities to perfrom their job correctly. And coming from one with no experience, well you definately ignited a flame in some of us.

Some opinions are meant to be kept to yourself. If and when you get hired, you may end up thinking how stupid and immature this was or maybe you will be one of those "fat" cops you speak of and not be able to run,walk....perform your job...until then, chill out.

Fair enough, now let's end it. I made a mistake passing judgement. I am sure I am not the first and not the last.

[(S)Sgt Elmer]

One of these threads seems to get started every few months.

3 lashes with a wet noodle to the next guy who starts one.

[nogginbuster24]

we all lose ourselves eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if I got a little overweight in my later years.

[BC1260]

I was at this medical building 4 weeks ago and saw this black female cop who must have weighed 400lbs at the very least. I'm not kidding.

No she wasn't a security guard, she had a gun on her side (which was just barely sticking out of these rolls of fat) and I recognized her badge as the local sheriff's office.

I was just like WTF and so was my dad who was with me.


I mean seriously, this very department requires you to do 40 pushups and 50 situps in 1 minute or you can't even get a job there, yet they have this porker running around (i use "running" loosely) representing the department, LOL.


I could tell by looking at her she had to be in her early twenties which means she is a new hiree, so she either gained all the weight extremely quickly or she was fat to begin with and there's no way she would have passed the physical agility test.
I don't want to say much, but I can speculate as to why she was hired, considering this department needs certain people for certain areas of the city.

You are making an awful lot of assumptions without any facts. You assume that she didn't pass the test and that she is an leo. Your biggest assumption is that she was an affirmative action hire.

[texaschickeee]

Wow pretty amazing assumption being you don't know me "personally" Please enlighten me on how you can tell this by what I have posted. Seriously I want how you came to this conclusion.

FROM YOU

Yes I am too fat and out of shape to pass the PAT, hence why I said I have been working my arse off to get there.

Nice to see you "edited" the oringianl post when it got pointed out that you are the one coming off upset set and mad.
the tone, the firing back tone and everything tells me that your upset (your words) that your not there and this is the reason.

[VA Dutch]

No time to read through all the posts, so I'll throw in a comment here.

Sure, it looks "unprofessional" when someone is grossly overweight - regardless of profession. Is it an absolute that a guy with some extra pounds must be a bad cop? Of course not!

When the shiat hits the fan, would you rather have a rookie stringbean backing you up or a hardened beat cop named O'Toole who is 280 pounds?

I agree with departments having fitness standards (my old agency did), so long as they apply to everyone - including the chief or sheriff himself. There should also be wellness programs or discounted fitness center memberships available for all personnel to utilize.

Anyway, the important thing is for everyone to be the best that they can, and be encouraged through positive measures to better themselves. If a program is implemented suddenly, perhaps it could be "grandfathered" in a way that applies to new hires, but a guy close to retirement won't be forced out of a job. (Some agencies do this with tobacco use policies. New hires can't smoke, but those employed before the cutoff date may continue to do so.)

Okay, that's my two cents. Everyone enjoy this beautiful day!!

[ChiTownDet]

One of these threads seems to get started every few months.

3 lashes with a wet noodle to the next guy who starts one.

That's why I've reposted this...(Plus I'm too busy munching a sub sandwich and too lazy to type the same all over again).

Repost..

And when you're in your 40's-50's and time starts catching up with that body, what then? How many hours a day are you suggesting we be given for "gym time" while on the clock? If I'm 50 yo and not up to whatever physical (or visual) standard you think I should be, can you get me an 80%, 20 and out pension? Work on that , get it passed, then get back to me. Like Severe said, foot chasin' ain't like TV. Think a 40 yo P/O should be as fast and agile as the 17 yo Englewood dope dealer? Far better to know your area, when chasing someone, than blindly jumping fences and running through back yards. Nothing like fast-forewarding to the bad guys ending point to be there waiting for him. Your best pal is Motorola. See guys chasing all the time, then when the zone is asking for their location-dead silence. First time you run into a yard and get a pit bull attached to your arm, give me a call. We're not Superman, just guys from the neighborhood (although more and more seem have to been never in the city until they get on the job). BTW, what about the different times, exercise reps that females have to do? Their bad guys run slower, arent as strong as the ones I go after? BTW, I'll be all for yearly phys. agility tests when everyone is retested on the Gen. Orders, Criminal Law, Local Geography, Use of the radio...with the same penalty as some here call for when flunking; termination...

[Presence]

yes, we've seen this thread before, and some people get really heated about the topic.

part of the problem here, I think, is that everyone's classification of being a little overweight vs being OBESE is different. I don't understand how some of you can't see how a severely obese officer could have difficulty performing his duty. while having a partner with experience is extremely important, and a valued asset for someone to have, I think I might have concerns with relying on someone to run and back me up in a pinch if they can't wedge their stomachs out from underneath the steering wheel and extract themselves from their patrol vehicle without some difficulty. THIS description is the officer *I* personally think of when I think of extremely overweight officers. Having a little pudge or a beer belly does not count as "obese" to me. Neither does wearing a few extra pounds. The key is in your definition of "Fat".

I'm not talking about officers who have packed on a few pounds over the years, lord knows the older you get the harder it is to keep it off... BUT, in my opinion an officer should be in at least a REASONABLE shape to be able to run if his/her life, or another officer's life depended on it, pull their body weight up if their life depended on it, and to physically defend themselves if their life depended on it.

As some of you have mentioned knowing people who defy the logic here (that an extremely overweight person is slower and less agile than a reasonably fit person) I'm not going to assert otherwise. I simply have to confront the fact that when I weigh more, I am slower, I'm not as agile, and my heart works harder to perform the same actions as someone who weighs less than me.


I don't know that enforcing a minimum fitness requirement is possible... As ChiTownDet mentioned, people age, get injuries, etc. Females sometimes have have lesser physical requirements than men. I don't understand the rationale behind that. Females should be held to the same physical standards as the men, because people on the street aren't going to be more gentle with a female officer just because she's a woman. So it would go with extremely overweight officers also, I would imagine.

[PaperWriter]

It seems like it's only obvious that officers should be mandated to stay in some type of reasonable shape, unfortunately "brain power" and physical ability do not always correlate. We have some guys, heavier older guys, that are the best investigators in the world (exaggeration, yes, but I really look up to them). The way they know how to follow-up on crime reports, the way they interview suspects and get full confessions, their observation skils.....it would be a great disservice to the department to loose them because of their guts.