Editorial: Preventing Recruit Deaths

Earlier this year, the Associated Press published a disturbing report saying that 29 police recruits have died in training since 2015. I have no reason to doubt the veracity of this report. POLICE has covered some of these incidents on PoliceMag.com. And the AP says it compiled its data from official law enforcement death reports, workplace safety records, and news reports.

The AP says recruit deaths during academy training tend to be caused by three main factors: old fashioned attitudes about hydration and heat injury, the fact that some recruits are now much older than they were in the past, and sickle cell trait.

So, let’s address each of these concerns.

If you are restricting water during training, you are gambling with the lives of your recruits and in-service officers. I know, you think it makes them tougher. And it might. But the risk is huge and not worth it.

There was a time when coaches and athletic trainers believed that the best way to toughen up football players, soldiers, and cops was to work them hard in oppressive heat and deny water. Back in 1954, legendary football coach Bear Bryant came very close to killing some of his players with that attitude. For 10 days, his players practiced four hours straight in 100-plus heat without water. A lot of them reached their breaking point and quit the team. One nearly died.

Today, football coaches don’t do such reckless things, and you shouldn’t either.

The AP report tells the story of a recruit who asked for water during an exercise, and the instructor denied it, saying, “You can’t get water in a fight.” That’s true. But a law enforcement trainer must always weigh the benefits of the intensity of training against the potential for injury during that training. Injuring recruits does not benefit the recruit or the agency.

The medical impact of intense training can be even more severe for older recruits. And it’s no secret that the days of all your recruits being in their early 20s are long gone. Officer shortages remain a very real problem at most agencies, and it’s hard to find enough traditionally aged recruits to make up for retirements and resignations. So, more agencies are hiring second career recruits in their 30s, 40s, and even 50s.

Does that mean that training methods need to change? Perhaps. Does that mean that training standards need to be revised? Maybe. I know that’s blasphemy. But I think it would be a very good idea for law enforcement trainers to put their heads together and come up with better methods for training older recruits.

The final factor identified in the AP report is something that some of you have probably never heard of. It’s called sickle cell trait.

Like the name implies sickle cell trait is a genetic trait. And most people who have it are unaware that they have it. A person with sickle cell trait does not have sickle cell disease. They may appear very fit. They are, however, because of this trait more prone to life-endangering emergencies from intense exertion and/or dehydration than people who do not have it.

As with sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait is most often found in people with African ancestry. That’s probably why the majority of law enforcement recruits who have died in training over the last decade have been black.

Law enforcement agencies are behind the curve on testing for sickle cell trait and managing its effects. The AP says the U.S. military tests recruits and the NCAA tests college athletes for the trait. The test reportedly costs $75 and it could save lives. So, I would recommend that agencies and academies start testing.

Preventing recruit deaths should be a very high priority for the law enforcement profession. Trainers need to throw out outdated ideas about things like restricting water or forcing recruits to exert themselves beyond their breaking points. They also need to learn how to recognize the difference between medical emergency and fatigue.

Back in 2010, law enforcement trainers created a program called Below 100 with the goal of reducing police line-of-duty deaths to less than 100 per year. The law enforcement profession needs a similar program for recruit training with the stated goal of zero training deaths.

I know that zero is probably an impossible goal to achieve. But you must strive for it. Even the Below 100 goal was ambitious and has never been achieved, but that does not make it any less noble.

Preventing training deaths, preventing training injuries while providing high-quality training for future officers should be the mission of all law enforcement academies and trainers. That’s the least that’s owed to the men and women who are still willing to sign up to serve their communities in a dangerous, difficult, and often thankless profession.