Britain’s most senior police chief, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, has warned unfit and overweight police officers that they have no place within the forces.
Hogan-Howe issued the stark warning to unfit and overweight police officers, as well as those considering a career in the police, as he believes it is a police officer’s duty to remain fit and active, especially if they are working on the beat. Mandatory annual police fitness tests came into force last year following Tom Winsor’s policing review.
But Sir Bernard believes that the current fitness test being implemented is too lenient, saying “It’s taken too long to get the annual test, but it will start to have an increasing impact…For me, the standard is too low: I think it should be higher. It’s relatively easy to pass.”
“I think you’ve got a duty to your colleagues. If they shout for help, they want fit people to come. They don’t want somebody waddling down the road who’s never going to arrive, and when they get there they’re out of breath.”