With two of the region's police forces preparing to take on new recruits, the standard of fitness required of newcomers to the police service has become a matter of scrutiny. Andy Walker weighs up both sides of the argument

"SO easy it’s untrue” – that’s the view of a former long-serving physical training instructor with a North-East police when asked for his view on the fitness tests given to police officers.

In years gone by, would-be police officers were given stringent fitness tests that included mile-and-a-half runs, sit-ups, burpees and swimming – if you passed that, you were in.

These days, fitness tests are given to new recruits, as well as operational officers on an annual basis.

But they have undeniably been watered-down over the years, to the extent that the national standard of fitness test for police officers consists of achieving level 5.4 on the bleep test – a standard that could charitably be described as moderate – and a test of strength.

The former physical training instructor, who asked not to be named after spending more than 20 years overseeing the fitness levels of police officers, said: “The tests have just reduced and reduced until where we are now, where they are virtually non-existent.

“These people are at the start of a potential 30-year career and if someone is finding it hard at that stage, right at the beginning, you have got to ask yourself where they are going to be five or ten years from now.

“If they are struggling now, how long until they are off on the sick or injured? Are their colleagues going to have to wait for them in a riot situation?”

He was keen to emphasise that fitness represents just one aspect of a person’s ability to carry out police work – conflict handling, communications skills and calmness under pressure are just as important.

He added: “You get a lot of very good cops who are not very fit. That might sound contradictory, but it does happen – a lot of cops do the job exceptionally well, but clearly are not very physically with it.

“At one time, people had to train in preparation for the tests - they had to do runs, strength work, make sure they could swim properly.

“It just beggars belief that some people entering the police force are having a problem completing three-and-a-half minutes at level 5.4 of a 15-metre bleep test. You could probably walk quickly for half that time before you had to start running.

“It could be argued that you do not need to be that fit to be a police officer these days, because most of the job involves desk work or driving round in a car, with just short bursts of exercise.

“What would concern me would be if there was a repeat of the widespread rioting we saw a few years ago, where police officers were expected to be on their feet running for hours.

“That riot situation could be repeated again tomorrow and if things go wrong they need people who are physically fit.”

Sergeant Grant McTaggart works at Durham Police’s fitness centre at Meadowfield, did not dispute that tests had become easier over the years.

But he points out that the majority of operational police officers have high levels of personal fitness, which exceed the levels required by the test.

Sgt McTaggart, who has been a police officer for 18 years and in his current role for the past two, said: “When I first joined, the fitness tests were a lot more stringent than they are now.

“But I would not say that is affecting the quality of students.”

While defending the basic fitness test given to recruits, Sgt McTaggart pointed out that serving officers with key strategic roles – firearms officers and dog handlers, for example – are given tougher on-the-job fitness tests.

He added: “We generally don’t have a problem with the fitness levels - there are some people who struggle, but the level we are asking for means you do not have to be super-fit.

“The fitness tests are working very, very well in my opinion. We are not looking for super-athletes, that is not what the police is about.

“We want people with an acceptable level of fitness to do the job and that’s what we’re finding we are getting.”

The retired physical training instructor is not convinced, adding: “The concern for me is how many people we are recruiting who are going to need action plans to improve their fitness in the relatively near future because they are struggling.”

Having seen the fitness requirements gradually decline over the years, does he think the tests could eventually be scrapped altogether? He replied: “I would imagine so.”

Asked whether his qualms over fitness tests meant he feared for overall public safety, he replied: “I could not say that, no. That would be wrong. The job gets done.”