‘My four-year-old could pass’: Police fitness test mocked

A US police force has been accused of lowering its fitness standards in a bid to recruit more women.

A US police force has been accused of lowering its fitness standards in a bid to recruit more women, after footage of its revised “agility test” went viral online.

Tennessee’s Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) in 2021 signed up to the 30X30 Initiative, which sets a goal of US police departments increasing their representation of women to 30 per cent by 2030.

A report last week by local news station WSMV 4 outlined steps the department had taken to achieve that target, after the number of female officers rose from 11 per cent last year to 13 per cent as of February this year.

“I think we’re definitely growing so if we can just keep that momentum going I think it is definitely attainable,” MNPD’s first female director of training, Commander Tiffany Gibson, told the outlet.

“We still have some time, and we’re just going to keep working really hard to keep making sure that we get there, at least very close to it.”

Ms Gibson said one of the biggest changes the department had made to attract recruits, especially women, was replacing physical “ability tests” with “agility tests”, designed to mirror tasks in the field.

MNPD has also added lactation rooms for nursing mothers and more flexible schedules in bid to attract more recruits. That’s in addition to already existing paid maternity and sick leave.

MNPD has replaced ‘ability tests’ with ‘agility tests’. Picture: X

“We’re trying to get going, possibly help sponsor our own childcare facility, I think that would be really helpful for females,” Ms Gibson added.

MNPD trainee Kaitlyn Dalena told the broadcaster, “It’s a male-dominated profession. So women are scared to take that step maybe thinking that they’re not able to do it, but you can do it if you have that right mindset.”

But footage of the MNPD’s new physical test was slammed by Daily Wire host Matt Walsh.

Departmental video showed a woman demonstrating various elements of the test, including the “chain link fence climb”, “solid wall climb”, “99 yard agility run” and “rescue simulation”.

“It looks like an obstacle course set up for third graders at recess,” the conservative commentator wrote on X.

“My four-year-old daughter could pass this test. As a resident of Nashville I can only hope that the only people committing crimes in this city are 600 pounds and have no legs. But even then they could probably roll away fast enough to escape.”

He added, “Do you think this woman would be able to run down and incapacitate any male suspect who is in even vaguely good physical shape?”

Tesla and X owner Elon Musk also weighed in. “Physical fitness tests have been lowered for the military too,” he wrote.

The goal is to have 30 per cent female officers by 2030. Picture: X

Speaking on his podcast, Walsh said the old “ability test” required police recruits to complete sit-ups, a 300-metre sprint and a 1.5-mile run.

“Even those standards were not all that demanding,” he said.

“If anything, in a sane world we would be talking about raising those standards. But instead we’re going in the opposite direction.”

Walsh said while some people might hear “chain link fence climb” and “solid wall climb” and think it sounded “somewhat challenging”, “what they don’t tell you is the wall and the fence are like three-and-a-half-feet high”.

“You don’t have to climb them so much as sort of skip over them,” he said.

“It’s effectively a test to make sure you’re not in a wheelchair. It’s like a parody of a physical fitness test.”

Walsh argued that “30 per cent by 2030” were “two completely arbitrary numbers that no one ever attempts to explain or justify”, even though more than 200 US law enforcement agencies had signed the pledge.

“Supposedly according to the 30X30 Initiative, women are better cops because they ‘use less force and less excessive force, and they’re named in fewer complaints and lawsuits and they’re perceived by communities as being more honest and compassionate’,” he said.

But Walsh claimed “female officers almost without exception are much less capable of doing their jobs effectively”, before playing several video clips of officers struggling to physically detain suspects.

MNPD trainee Kaitlyn Dalena. Picture: WSMV 4

“The point of this is not to demonise women, of course, the point is it’s always been a bad idea to deliberately and artificially feminise any institution — with policing it’s particularly suicidal,” he said.

He suggested that “if anything, a sane society would be having a conversation about how to decrease the number of women cops, which is to say we’d be having a conversation about how to get more physically fit men involved in policing”.

“We wouldn’t be lowering standards and then throwing women into dangerous situations they’re not prepared for,” he said.

“That’s what a society does if it despises women.”

Physical fitness tests have been lowered for the military too

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2024

Not everyone agreed with Walsh’s comments.

“While I was a cop I never did 1.5-mile runs in pursuits, pull-ups, or stop to do push-ups,” one X user wrote.

“I did agility movements like they are doing here. Scaling fences, finding cover, engaging in foot pursuits, etc. I am actually for these modifications being done to become a more practical testing process of who can do these things. Some people can run five miles, but they can’t drag a body if they need to.”

Another agreed, “Exactly. Most police agility/power tests are useless and outdated. I’ve been on the job for over 20 years, and I don’t know ANYONE who’s chasing someone for a mile-and-a-half on foot.”

A third woman said, “At least she’s there and going to do the job. Police forces all over the US are hurting for bodies, so where are all the men who could do it better?”

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Originally published as ‘My four-year-old could pass’: Police fitness test mocked