Introduction - Physical Fitness Standards in Law Enforcement

Essay by gbsepter October 2006

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Introduction / Statement of the Problem:

The concept of physical fitness is of great importance to all people who want to lead a

high quality life, perform at an optimum level and lead a life free from illness. The

idea of leading a physically fit life is an absolute necessity when an occupation

requires the ability to respond physically. In the occupation of law enforcement physical

fitness is a proven component of a law enforcement officer's readiness and one of the

officer's prime street encounter survival tools. Likewise, a police officer's "stock in

trade" is his or her ability to respond to that situation physically.

The Hypothesis:

I would challenge my readers to find a pre-service police recruit training program that

did not allot time in it's schedule to train it's recruits physically. Why do we subject our

nations police recruits to physical training? The answer is simple, recognition of the

basic law enforcement facts stated above, there is an absolute need to possess the ability

to effectively respond physically if that particular situation called for it.

Why then once

we graduate our nation's police recruits do we not maintain physical fitness standards for

our nation's police? This researcher believes that the maintenance of physical

fitness standards for law enforcement personnel correlates positively with and are

predictive of satisfactory job performance and should be maintained throughout an

individuals career if their job requires a readiness to respond physically.

The Subproblems:

Collect data that indicate:

The sheer nature of police work can contribute to an overall lack of physical fitness.

Health related problems are the most common reasons for disability and early

retirement in the public safety profession.

Police officers require a better than average fitness level in order to perform the

emergency functions of the job and often times do...