Excerpt from the Book, Answering the Call: Proper Physical Training for Police and Military in the in the 21st Century
Pages 57-58
The patrol cop job/physical/mental requirements is so unique. I spoke to a good friend of mine who is still on the job. He told me a while back he had two of his guys get into about a 200m foot pursuit to catch and arrest somebody in 25 degree weather. I don’t know what that is in Celsius off the top of my head but it's cold. In the end one guy twisted an ankle and the other swallowed a loose tooth.
Really think about that. You’re sitting in your heated car (probably for too long), maybe you’re on nights, you have been wearing around 20-30lbs of gear for hours, and in some cases depending on where you work the majority of that weight is around your waist. Then...BOOM…you are running as fast as you can outside in freezing temperatures to try and catch somebody in the dark. The person you are chasing might be armed, might fight you, might even try and kill you, just to get away. You got 1000 things running through your head. What is he wanted for? Is he reaching into his waistband? What did he just throw? Am I going to get sued for this? Will my bosses back me? Is somebody filming me besides my body cam? I hope it's a good angle when this goes viral...For of those of you who are still doing this profession...we all know I am only barely scratching the surface.
How do you train for that? I have some ideas and principles that seem to hold true with other respected trainers and professionals in these fields but truthfully I think this really varies for the individual. Some cops have physical qualities they take seriously outside of work which is fine, and some even compliment the job well. However, if you go too far one direction as a powerlifter/bodybuilder (please don’t hate me powerlifters/bodybuilders I am just using you as an example there are certainly others) I would argue you are hindering your performance as a cop. It won’t help you protect the public, your coworkers, or yourself. Anything you do that does not help you return to your family after your shift is a disservice to them.
Not to mention, there is also a responsibility to the suspects. Don’t get me wrong, there is a personal responsibility for the individual that makes the choice to fight or resist a police officer. There are obvious ramifications that come from forcing a human being to make split second decisions in rapidly evolving situations. The choice to not listen to a police officer or even worse become combative could get someone physically injured or even killed. Despite the fact that in the end the person may have just gotten a minor citation and been on their way. A concept that for whatever reason seems to escape many these days. Nevertheless, you have a duty as a police officer to use reasonable force to bring suspects into custody.
I absolutely believe lack of physical fitness/training leads officers to be more heavy handed on arrests because they don’t have a choice. This leads to a lot of the discourse we see today. This doesn’t necessarily make the officer unjustified in their use of force (even though cops can make the wrong choices obviously), but if you are totally exhausted when you didn’t need to be, what could have been just a scuffle turns into a fight for your life.
