John Peterson
Not only is being a police officer mentally challenging, you also need a fair amount of physical ability too. There is no shying away from the gym tests when endeavouring to become a police officer in the UK. You need to pass the fitness tests to stand a chance of getting in, even if some officers’ fitness may have slipped a little since they joined. Nonetheless, you must pass the police fitness requirements test before being considered as an officer.
There are two main components of the fitness test: strength and stamina. The strength test is a series of five pushed and five pulls on a machine that measures how hard you are able to push and pull. The requirements for this are not very difficult and a active and healthy person should have no real problems here.
The second part of the police fitness requirements is stamina. For this there is something called the bleep test. In essence you have to run 15 meters and back again in between bleeps. If you keep within the bleeps then you stay in and you fail when you are too slow. The bleeps get progressively faster and faster until you cannot run any more. The pass level for this test is not particularly high and anyone who gets some kind of exercise in their lives shouldn’t find this test too difficult either.
There are many aspects of a policeman’s job that require a great deal of physical ability. They need strength to restrain a person they may be dealing with and stamina to keep up with even the most determined and long lasting of criminals.
The police fitness requirements are necessary if you are to be considered as a potential officer. You are allowed a maximum of three attempts to pass the tests after which you will fail your application. Anyone with a good level of fitness should be able to pass these tests quite easily and there really should be no problem for a young and fit adult.
If there are any causes for concern then you can easily practice in the gym and ask a member of staff to test your push and pull strength. You can also approach a police officer if you need any further advice on how to pass the fitness tests and gain an insight into how it will be.
The police fitness requirements are a necessary part of the selection process and officers of both genders are required to pass the physical demands placed upon them. They all need the strength to restrain a criminal and also the stamina to be able to catch them up.
