Anything Goes On

The stereotypes of police officers and firefighters are different - one is the dona-dunking, police trousers hook sat in the front seat of his car and the other is a abbed "out, sweaty, soot, kitten-rescuer who 're actually kind of happy to see your front door.

Since different (and pray, close imagined) as stereotypes are, it seems that real life police and fire officer recruits are creating a new representation of themselves that is neither funny or flattering.

At the heart of Mississippi, the state with the highest rate of obesity in the country, the Jackson Police Department has had a major problem in bringing new staff. According to city police chief deputy, over one third of its recruits failed the required physical exam.

Obesity, the deputy police chief said, is not the only reason that these men and women did not pass. They did not have the physical strength to complete the race 1-1/2 a mile, push-ups, obstacle course, and flexibility tests.

Lawton, Oklahoma picture paints a police chief is right, if not more gloomy assessment that 15% of applicants for its spring suspended the examination. Unfortunately, part of the admission test requires only a quarter mile race, as well as push-ups and crunches.

Other schools around the country are echoing the concern that a growing number of applicants are not fit and unable to meet the strength and the base resistance standards. When researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston University and Cambridge Health Alliance partnered last year to study the health of EMTs and firefighters, found that a startling 77% of the instructors were overweight or obese.