The NYPD Eases Fitness Requirements for New Recruits
2,119 NYPD officers have either resigned or retired this year, leaving the NYPD with a staffing shortage. Will easing up fitness requirements bring on new recruits?
The NYPD is changing the fitness requirements for the Police Officer Candidate Job Standard Test, which future police officers must pass in order to begin a six-month training period, The New York Post has reported.
The Standard Test is a timed event consisting of six stations that must be completed without stopping in four minutes and twenty-eight seconds. The time limit in 2019 was three minutes and twenty-eight seconds, but it was quietly increased by one minute last year.
One new change involves the scaling of a six-foot barrier from a “kneeling, weapon-ready position” where the candidate is expected to sprint 50 feet to surmount a wall. The wall has been transformed into a chain-link fence, making it easier to climb, and participants now have an additional minute to scale it.
Aside from the Barrier Surmount, recruits must also complete the following:
Stair Climb: The candidate proceeds from the Barrier Surmount to a six-stair climb system, and completes three over-and-back traverses.
Physical Restraint Simulation: The candidate proceeds from the Stair Climb to a tactics-and-training device that measures an applicant’s ability to resist or control force in a physical restraint situation.
Pursuit Run: The candidate proceeds from the Physical Restraint Simulation to a 600-foot run around a pattern of cones.
Victim Rescue: The candidate proceeds from the Pursuit Run to a simulated victim rescue involving a 35-foot drag of a 176 pound mannequin.
The NYPD is also thought to be dropping a requirement that recruits run 1.5 miles in 14:21 or less to graduate from the police academy. According to the Post, the 1.5 mile run has not yet been officially eliminated, but it is being considered.
The relaxed test requirements are thought to be in response to the recent retirements of many NYPD officers, with 2,119 NYPD officers either resigning or retiring this year. “The exodus has become a stampede. We’re not only losing experienced veterans. We’re also losing cops in the prime of their careers who are taking their talents elsewhere,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch told the Post.
An NYPD spokesperson addressed the recent modifications in a statement. “Our physical fitness requirements in the Police Academy have been reviewed and approved by [the] New York State Division of Criminal Justice Service and the NYPD will continue to abide by any guidelines issued by the state,” the spokesperson explained.
