Some officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety may have to slim down if they wish to keep their jobs with the agency.
Beginning this month, the Texas Department of Public Safety will begin recording the height, weight and "waist [belly] measurement" of its 4,297 commissioned officers during their routine physical readiness tests to determine if they are obese.
The test "shamed and ostracized" the 12 plaintiffs - many of them decorated officers with decades of service - while providing "meaningless" results, ruled U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch.
Hoping to attract more potential recruits, some Kansas law enforcement agencies are studying the possibility of easing fitness requirements for applicants.
Cedar Park (TX) Police Chief Sean Mannix is implementing what he calls the most comprehensive wellness program in the country. He is aiming to improve everything from an officer's mental health to how they manage their finances and he says all of this will make officers better to serve the public.
Fitness standards should not be lowered to accommodate anyone, male or female. The job is the job, and the physical requirements are the same for men and women officers.
An officer's physical fitness is a concern not just because the officers are overweight and might develop a debilitating health condition in their later years. It's an officer survival issue. It could put an officer at a serious disadvantage when he or she faces a more physically fit bad guy who has the mindset to win.