Police officers are fit – and should be praised for being so

THE vast majority of police officers should be congratulated for passing the police fitness test – rather than the media focusing on a small minority who failed.

So says Neil Bowles, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, who questioned how the media can spin a 95 -98% success rate into a failure. “I say well done to the vast majority of our members that have passed this test on an annual basis,” said Neil.

South Yorkshire Police officers have a 95% pass rate in the Job Related Fitness test it has been revealed.

Between September 2014 and August 2015, 1,902 police officers took the test with 1,806 passing.

The fitness test is a 15 metre shuttle run which is based on scientific research, to match the aerobic demands of officer safety training.

The national pass rate was 98%.

“If there is such a high pass rate, is it worth the cost of implementing it?” added Neil.

He continued: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics. The data used by the College of Policing in publicising these numbers is so flawed you can drive not just a bus, but probably a supertanker through them with ease.

“In the notes to the figures it says “The majority of these results are for the period September 2014 to August 2015. *Results from Forces unable to provide data for the entire period” So we are not comparing apples with pears.

“North Yorkshire Police appears to have tested all their officers at least twice during the year, whilst Cheshire and City of London Police have tested less than a tenth of their Officers.

“I have spoken to our head of Personal Safety Training, who administers these tests. He tells me that up to now there has been no uniform method of reporting these results centrally.

“For instance if an officer does not take the test is that a failure? In our force it is, in others obviously not. If an officer subsequently passes the test, having failed once, is the failure recorded?

“He gave me the latest figures for the last 12 month period, we have an overall pass rate of 98.6% using the same rules as previously. So this shows that support is there for those who have difficulty the first time.”

Neil concluded: “I personally think that yes all Officers should maintain their fitness to perform their role, but these tests are a waste of money and are certainly not ‘job-related’, but that’s another story.”