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Have you been considering lowering physical fitness standards at your agency? From less pushups to shortening those long runs, it’s easy to let your mind start wondering ‘what if’ when you’re facing a slew of police officer vacancies and the pressure keeps mounting...a lot of agencies are starting to scale back on both minimum standards and events, but I guarantee you, they didn’t think about these, or they would have never done it...keep reading! 👀
Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO and this week, let’s talk about standards and in particular, physical fitness standards. I was recently interviewed for a news article about this very thing as agencies across the country are scaling back their tests and, in some cases, dropping what I would consider ‘anything difficult’ in an effort to get more candidates through the physical test and into their background and hiring process. 👎
Look, I’m not even gonna beat around the bush about it...this is a terrible idea and if you’re agency has done it, you should stop immediately. ✋
Having high standards are what keeps our profession strong, our fellow officers safe, and our communities believing in us! 🚀
Here’s three reasons why you should never give up on that by lowering your physical fitness standards. 👇
1. Both you and your applicants will be set up for success.
Think back to your police academy days...if you didn’t have one, ask somebody... 💭
Nearly every morning, and especially through the early weeks of training, there were two things for certain... ✔️✔️
One you were going to run every day... 🏃♂️🏃♀️
And two...you had no idea how far you were going to run every day! 🤷♂️🤷
This is why the mile and a half, timed run, is so important to your testing. When watching it, it doesn’t take long to figure out who’s been taking their training seriously in preparation for the academy and who hasn’t. 🤩😳
This is incredible insight for your agency and is like having a crystal ball. It can quite literally be the difference between hiring people who are going to make it through, and those who are going to wash out physically in the academy saving you a ton of time and onboarding money. 🔮
Also, by eliminating the long run, in favor of a POPAT, shuttle run or something similar, you’re really not doing your applicants any favors. Sure, they can easily complete it and feel good that they passed, but you’re not setting them up for success later. 🥺
Again, they’re going to be running long distances every day and the rigors of that, as you know, can be very stressful and demanding. By giving them false hope that they’re ‘in shape’ enough by passing easy police testing you’re killing any chances they would have had of digging down deep as we’ll discuss in reason number three, in favor of a defeated ‘I just can’t do this’ attitude. 😖
2. Health and Wellness
Wellness is such a huge topic at every agency these days, as it should be, and it’s no secret that shift work and the stressful nature of the job itself doesn’t do our bodies any favors later in life. When you maintain high physical fitness testing standards you are signaling, from the very get go, that being in shape (not to be confused with weight) is important to this profession and your agency. 💪
Obviously, you can’t control what happens long after the academy, and we all have our choices to make in that area, but by allowing someone to skirt by physically now, you’re putting them even further behind the eight ball later when they’re working graves and the only thing open is food that is going to make things worse. For many, it’s a cycle that can be impossible to recover from, and one that I still struggle with from time to time. 🍔🍟😧
If you can help make applicants focus on health and wellness from the very beginning of your testing process, you’re going to have a lot better chance of them carrying through with it later on. Plus, healthy employees on the streets means less injuries, less sick time, and a better overall ability to complete the duties of a police officer when things go south. 👮♂️👮♀️
3. Intestinal Fortitude
This goes right along with what I was just talking about, and, for me, this is the biggest reason to make sure you’re not skimping on your physical fitness testing standards. 🥇
You know I like to keep things positive but I’m also not afraid to give you a love shove when need be and tell you exactly what I’m thinking...this is one of those times... 😎
Here’s a simple question to ponder that is going to clear this topic right up for you... 🤔
If you were in a fight for your life, and everything was on the line...who do you want coming to back you up...the person that fought hard to overcome obstacles and has proven they will do whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals...or the person who skated by, struggling without improvement the entire way? I know which one I’m choosing and it’s not even close. 🎯
Our profession, by its very nature, and this isn’t very popular in the news media these days, needs fighters...unequivocally. We need people who are going to thrust themselves into action and run into a school where shots have just been fired. Someone who is going to put themselves in situations, they don’t want to be in, but they know they have to be because there’s no one else coming. 💯
If I can’t even get you to run a mile and a half at a moderate pace, do a certain number of pushups, or climb over a wall...how can I count on you to be that person? 🤯
Never compromise your standards to increase hiring. Ever. 🙅♂️
So, what’s the solution? 🧩
Better recruiting! 🙌
Need some help with that? My Road to Better Recruiting course is in production now and is packed with everything you need to get your recruiting headed in the right direction. Check it out and join the waitlist at forcopstraining.com/rtbr.
Have a friend at another agency who’s considering or actually reduced their physical fitness testing standards? Give this video a like or share it with them so they can learn too. It’s going to take all of us, working together, to change the future of police recruiting. Our profession will thank you later. 🤝
Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. ⛑
Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃
Tom
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👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.
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