We have all seen the stereotypical fat cop. Whenever it is on pictures or on media, we have all seen our beloved dough-nut loving person. However, this gets less comical as the obesity rate is high in America. Lets look at the facts. A high percent of cops in a given ratio is "fat". How is it possible for multi-million police departments, such as the NYPD, to have very obese men and women on the streets? Should they have a test every month to test if they are fit for the job? And no, not all cops are like Miguel Pimentel,. And of course, for cops who get offended; it is not considered fat-shaming. If such test is given, it is to 

 

1. Protect cops from being the worst factor in any given situation

2. Protect the department from law-suits, medical bills, etc

3. Helps to promote everyday live to be more healthy and strong

4. There would be less on-work injuries pertaining to their natural health. I.e: Common back-pain 

Once you're out of the academy, in most departments there is no "weight control". As long as an officer is proven able to perform his or her duties, it's not a problem. The LA Co. Sheriff has a bi-monthly or something of the sort physical program. If you don't pass, you're not fit, if you do, you're fine.

Based on what I've been told by law enforcement officials in the past, it really depends on the particular department in relevance to the physical standards. Something I've noticed is that a lot of the bigger departments have more "chubby chunks" when compared to the smaller county or sheriffs departments. I had yet to see an out of shape officer in my local department and I've lived here my entire life. But when I drive over to Baltimore City, I see them all over the place. Then again, Baltimore City is very short on Police officers right now so they've probably lowered or removed their physical standards. 

 

Just simply heading over to the gloriously dominant Bing search engine and bringing up the physical requirements for Baltimore City Police Department shows how low the standards can be. Based on what the website says, the requirements are as follows for male 18 - 25:

•26 push-ups

•35 sit-ups

•13:15 1.5 mile run time

 

These are ridiculously low standards. My high school gym requirements were higher than that. I'd say the weight issue really depends on the circumstances per each individual department. If it's a department like Baltimore City Police, which is short by about 400 officers by next year, then the standards will probably be low so that they're able to hire more people. If it's a local county or sheriff, the standards will probably be higher since they don't really need to fill as many slots. Just my own conclusion based on logical thinking though. Nothing I've said can be accurately backed by any evidence. Just a speculation. 

 

Edited December 18, 20169 yr by TheDivineHustle

Where are your statistics to back up this claim? 

http://inpublicsafety.com/2015/01/tackling-the-obesity-epidemic-in-law-enforcement/

 

http://time.com/3637967/police-officers-fattest-profession-study/

 

http://www.medicaldaily.com/80-police-officers-are-overweight-why-theyre-more-likely-die-heart-disease-fighting-crime-298336

One of those links is BS, the medical daily one. Lets see here, there are approximately 900,000 cops here in the US, according to the articles, more than 700,000 of those officers are "overweight". Yeah, I just don't believe that, there is a difference between being obese and being a little chubby. 

When I say fat, I mean obesity. I know they are not interchangeable but I did so with caution as  wanted to provide a scope, image, in to the problem. Also, I do believe that some facts are indeed false but given in a certain ratio in a large department(Lapd, Cpd, Nypd, etc) it may be true. While I do believe that this is(totaly) not true to a department, such that of Gaines Police(one man department), I do believe that a high number may exist in larger departments.