By Police1 Staff
SEDGWICK COUNTY, Kan. — The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office is implementing a new fitness test for applicants that takes age and gender into consideration.
According to KSN, the new tests are scientifically proven to assess the applicant’s overall physical fitness. The old fitness test required applicants to complete an obstacle course, a 1.5 mile run and pull a weighted dummy.
“Our past tests for either deputy sheriff or the detention involved some obstacle courses where we had no real scientific basis as to what we were measuring,” Sgt. David Hein said.
The applicant’s score is based on the specific person’s results, age and gender. Applicants must score a 20 percent or above to pass and become eligible for the police academy.
The test is broken up into the number of push-ups completed in a minute, the number of sit-ups completed in a minute, a timed agility test and a test to measure the applicant’s cardiovascular endurance. The test is more inclusive of what an officer would do on the streets if they “change directions and maybe continue running,” Hein told the station.
“A female has to work harder than a male in some capacity. Their heart’s not as big, their lungs aren’t as big and so we are able to adjust for that in the calculations,” Lt. Brad Hoch said.
Hoch said the department will use the results to design specific exercises to help applicants increase their fitness levels and strength.
“I just think it will give you a good measurement on the people at the fitness level that we need to be able to train them and do the job properly,” Hoch said.