Female-friendly fitness test for new police recruits to be trialled

POLICE have scrapped the “discriminatory’’ physical fitness entry test for recruits and are trialling a new testing model that will ensure it is easier for women to join SAPOL.

Latest round of police graduates

• Police jobs may be replaced by civilians
• SA Police to recruit equal number of male and female officers

POLICE have scrapped the “discriminatory’’ physical fitness entry test for recruits and are trialling a new testing model that will ensure it is easier for women to join SAPOL.

Senior police say the new functional fitness model has not been introduced as a direct result of the recent decision to recruit equal numbers of men and women, but it will “complement’’ it.

Assistant Commissioner (Human Resources) Bryan Fahy yesterday said the new model was directly aligned to the functions of a patrol officer and he was confident it would not result in any lowering of standards of police recruits and subsequent graduates from the police academy.

The new model is more akin to a real-life police incident scenario than a rigid, timed fitness test — although it contains elements of the old physical test.

“It is important for us to say that our standards have not been relaxed,’’ Mr Fahy said.

“We actually argue we are considering strengthening them and aligning them directly to the functional role that police officers are meant to play.

“It is not being driven by the 50/50 recruiting. We started researching and reviewing a health and wellbeing improved program and model, including physical fitness, back in October last year.

“While it is not driving it, it is certainly linked into it by chance. It complements it, but it was not a driving force behind it at all.’’

In December, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens announced a plan for 50-50 recruitment in order to improve the force’s gender balance. Males comprise more than 70 per cent — 3492 of the 4817 officers.

The first course of 20 recruits under the new 50-50 regime started at Fort Largs a fortnight ago. The Advertiser understands that of the 10 female recruits, eight failed the old physical test but were still included because of their results in other areas.

Mr Fahy could not confirm the figure, but said a number of females had not passed elements of the test, although all males successfully completed it.

“But holistically, they passed. There is not one person on this course or previous courses who has got through because of a lowering of standards or because they did not have a medical certificate to prove they were fit,’’ he said.

Mr Fahy conceded there was a current shortage of female recruits and that traditionally, there were more male applicants than females. Marketing campaigns and other strategies would be used in future to attract more women to a career in policing.

“All the females I have spoken to simply say ‘all we want is a level playing field, we want to be selected on merit and we want a level playing field’.’’ He said.

“So we will give them a level playing field and then they will be selected ... there is enough evidence before us to say that women failed the old physical fitness regime at a greater rate than men ever did, but men also failed.’’

He said the old fitness test had discriminated against women. This had been highlighted not just by SAPOL’s research, but a recent Victorian Human Rights Commission review into issues around Victorian Police that identified the physical testing regime as being “inherently discriminatory against women’’ because they are physiologically different.