Police Fitness tests: Concerns over costs and fairness

The fitness testing regime proposed under Winsor’s review of Police pay and conditions will prove disproportionately costly – and will hit older officers and women, it has been claimed.
Addressing the Police Federation’s Sergeants’ Central Conference Jayne Monkhouse – who advises the staff association on equality issues – suggested that annual testing with sanctions for failure could lay forces open to discrimination claims.
The test is set initially to take the form of a 15-minute shuttle run – but is proposed to be replaced by a more demanding regime based on that used by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Officers in the province are put through a battery of tests to ensure they are able to fulfil tasks such as climbing in and out of armoured vehicles and move casualties to safety.
While pay reviewer Tom Winsor had recommended that this scheme should be set up in England and Wales in 2018, plans to introduce it are currently on ice.
But speaking during a discussion on the future implications for the sergeant rank, Ms Monkhouse warned that older officers – and older women in particular – could find themselves at a disadvantage, and suffering financially as a result of annual fitness testing.
She highlighted that those failing the shuttle run, or who could not take the test, for any reason could be hit with a wage cut.
As well as being concerned about the costs of the regime outweighing the benefits, Ms Monkhouse was concerned that the measures would be used as a means of ejecting officers from the police service “before they become old and disabled”.
She argued that not all policing roles called for the same degree of physical fitness, pointing out that pay reviewer Tom Winsor had not stated why he felt annual testing was necessary,
Ms Monkhouse told conference delegates: “The tests will have a disproportionate effect on older people and women – and particularly older women officers.
“The Winsor recommendations are designed to make the (Police Service) act more like the Army – and sergeants will be at the forefront of ensuring this happens.”
However, during a subsequent debate Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said that officers needed to maintain physical fitness.
But Sir Hugh emphasised that chief constables also had a moral obligation to their personnel, particularly those who found themselves injured and on restricted duties.
College of Policing Chief Executive Alex Marshall, who introduced annual fitness tests for his officers while he was Hampshire Constabulary chief some years ago, highlighted that very few people had failed and that the move was ultimately welcomed.

But he said that the College had to examine the implementation of a national scheme.

 Article courtesy of www.policeoracle.com 

I would point out that my former Force of Devon & Cornwall has always placed a great deal of emphasis on personal fitness, albeit not by compulsion. The Force Training College employed a full time highly qualified physical education instructor from as far back as the early 1980's. We also had a full time force Medical Officer in our Occupational Health Department. Together they would formulate personal fitness plans for officers and civilian support staff for whom it was considered necessary.  

Those presenting themselves at promotion interview boards were expected to demonstrate a superior level of personal fitness. Continuation training courses also included opportunities for exercise in the College swimming pool,  sports hall and sports field. It appeared to have many benefits both for the individual and the Force. 

The compulsion element recommended by the Winsor Report could have a detrimental effect; as I believe the important motivation for officers to undertake a personal fitness training regime is best served when they themselves perceive it is in their own best interests to maintain a high level of physical fitness and healthy lifestyle choices, to best serve their career. Especially for the majority of officers serving operationally on the thin blue front line. 

 Incidentally, I still attend a gym on a regular basis as a septuagenarian and certainly appreciate its benefits only too well if I have cause for any reason to miss it for a week or two !