EC Nutrition

Introduction: Policing in both Ireland and the UK is currently evolving. Following reviews, changes have been made in the police forces in their respective jurisdictions. The purpose of this review is to assess the relevance of the pre-entry fitness test employed by police forces in Ireland and the UK.

Methods: A search of online databases was performed to identify research papers that commented on police fitness, or various aspects of the physical fitness tests that are currently carried out by the police forces in the Irish and UK jurisdictions. The physical fitness tests themselves were examined and it was determined whether they were relevant for the selection of candidates on two criteria, i) are the tests occupationally relevant and ii) are they non- discriminatory.

Results: The fitness tests of both the Irish and UK police are relevant to candidate selection. Although other aspects of a candidate’s physical fitness could be assessed in the English, Scottish and Welsh police forces, the standard 15m Multistage Fitness Test (MSFT) assess the candidates cardiorespiratory fitness. The test utilised by the Police Service of Northern Ireland is occupational valid and serves to assess more physical attributes of the candidate. The tests of A Garda Síochána are the most comprehensive of the tests examined. They assess a varied range of physical attributes of candidates. All of the tests examined were deemed to be non- discrimi- natory.

Conclusion: Physical fitness assessments of police forces should be reviewed on a continual basis to ensure that they are relevant to modern policing. The English, Scottish and Welsh police could review their physical tests with the scope of re-introducing an assess- ment of muscular endurance

keywords: Physical Fitness Tests; Multistage Fitness Test (MSFT); Irish; UK Police

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