Bill to remove fitness tests for police officers heads to House

CONCORD — Certified police officers statewide would no longer have to meet physical fitness requirements if a proposed bipartisan bill advances through the Statehouse and makes its way to the governor's desk.

HB 113, sponsored by Rep. Michael Abbott (D-Hinsdale) and co-sponsored by Rep. Douglas Trottier (R-Belmont), reads as follows: "This bill repeals the police standards and training council physical fitness requirements for certified law enforcement officers and the penalty for not meeting such requirements."

“What we’re looking to do is, we’re the only state [in New England] that requires a physical fitness test that they have to take every three years,” Abbott said. “With the present situation in terms of getting and retaining police officers, that’s not very bright.”

The physical fitness requirements are currently mandated at a state level, and include standards for push-ups in one minute, sit-ups in one minute, and a mile-and-a-half run. If this legislation passes, that doesn’t mean all physical requirements are out the window for law enforcement officers in New Hampshire.

“You’re still going to have to meet the requirement to get into the police academy and graduate from the police academy,” explained Trottier, a former police officer and recently appointed sergeant in the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office.

The current standards for a male officer aged 18 to 29 is 27 push-ups in a minute, 37 sit-ups in a minute, and a 1.5-mile run time of 12 minutes, 53 seconds. The standards are lowered proportionately for females, and as officers age every 10 years.

For Trottier and Abbott, forcing officers to meet these standards every three years is an unnecessary barrier to recruiting and retaining officers, a task many small towns throughout the state struggle with.

“The police chief from Hinsdale brought this to my attention because it's difficult for them to get and retain police officers,” Abbott said. “In the situation we have here in Hinsdale, we border with Vermont and Massachusetts, where they don't have any such requirement.”

Hinsdale Police Chief Charles Rataj is no stranger to fitness testing due to his 23 years of military service, where he had to pass annual tests.

“Honestly, in my mind, would I love to have a bunch of big, gigantic boys and girls who are ripped and run six- or seven-minute miles? That would be amazing, but it’s not realistic,” Rataj said. “The reality is, we can’t find police officers as it is, and we have good police officers who are good at their jobs but they can’t meet these requirements.”

Rataj added that because the tests only come every three years, cops who aren’t interested in physical fitness will only train temporarily just to pass, then cease training. 

“The reality is either the cops are going to stay in shape or they’re not,” he said.

There is no state-mandated retesting requirement for Vermont police officers, but individual municipalities have their own standards. For example, the Brattleboro Police Department, which sits in Vermont just across the river and north from Hinsdale, requires officers to meet physical training requirements every year. 

While there are no state requirements in Vermont, “most agencies have requirements," said Ken Hawkins, the director of training for the Vermont Police Academy. "Many agencies will offer a PT bonus or some numerical amount of cash so their members can buy a gym membership to help their members stay in shape. They’re expected to do that in their off time, so agencies try to help.”

“If you have a large, well-staffed, well-funded agency, they can afford to do that,” Rataj said. “But for the smaller agencies, even then some of the large agencies that are really busy, they can’t afford that, so you’re creating a two-tier thing, and that’s not conducive to keeping cops on the street.”

Hawkins cited other benefits to having healthy officers, like lower insurance costs, a point Trottier refuted due to a lack of data collection. 

“When they sold this requirement, it was to improve officers' physical health so there would be less medical issues, and also to decrease worker’s comp claims,” Trottier said. “The problem is they never kept any records to prove it has done anything.”

According to an article from Police Chief Magazine, a physically fit officer will have more capability to subdue suspects without the use of lethal force, citing a 1988 case, ​​Donald R. Parker, et al. v. District of Columbia. The case awarded Parker nearly half a million dollars after he was shot and paralyzed by a police officer who, according to court documents, was “not in adequate physical shape.”

The Police Chief Magazine article also cited a 2007 bulletin written by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that stated many offenders would size up officers when deciding whether to attack or surrender. 

“​​In circumstances where they feel that an officer has the edge, they respond as one such predator advised, 'I just sit back and wait, somebody gonna make a mistake. That’s when I win,'” the report read.

Abbott said he thinks “the public would be more at risk by not having a fully manned police department” than risk due to officers not maintaining physical fitness standards.

Rataj mentioned that many rural departments like his are working at only 40% to 60% capacity due to staffing issues, meaning more officers are covering more shifts, severely limiting time for workouts. 

“Do you want a police officer who is big and strong and can’t do his sit-ups fast enough, or no cop at all?” Rataj asked. “Really, it’s a luxury.” 

Trottier agreed that police officers should be physically fit, but that the exercises weren’t necessarily correlated to the job, and that the requirements are negatively affecting older officers.

“I do think officers need to be in physical shape," Trottier said. "I think it should be up to the agency's discretion.”

“I want something that's going to be realistic for the job. Right now the push-ups, sit-ups and mile-and-a-half run? Is that realistic?”

Trottier suggested alternatives such as a dummy drag to simulate dragging a victim from an accident, climbing over a 4-foot-high wall, or small motor skill tests like unbuckling and exiting a vehicle in a timely fashion as alternative training exercises.

“Another concern is we’re losing officers because of the PT requirement. We have officers in their last few years who might not be able to pass a mile-and-a-half run in their time limit,” Trottier said. “Does that make them a bad officer?”

Rataj referenced his department’s own school resource officer, who retired after 20 years as a Rhode Island cop, relocated to Hinsdale and finished a second career as chief of police.

“Because he enjoyed being a cop and being out in the community, he became our school resource officer,” Rataj said. “He had a 50-year career spanned over six decades, all of a sudden we have to say 'Sorry, we have to slap a PT test on you.'” 

Rataj added that his SRO managed to pass the PT test at 69 years of age, but the mile-and-a-half run was incredibly difficult on his knees. 

“Do we want to keep making the old guy go out and run out a mile and a half?” Rataj asked. “He could make the run, but for how much longer? I look at that and I say the PT test is not the be all, end all.”

“I put a bill up, mine was a little different" than Abbott’s, Trottier recalled. “Mine was doing away with a three-year requirement and leaving it up to individual agencies. I was told that Rep. Abbott had a bill similar to mine that they felt was something we could work together with. Hopefully we can do a bipartisan thing and get this passed.”

The current version of HB 113, however, does not offer replacement standards once the current set are removed, nor does it mandate that individual agencies create their own.

Rataj expressed confidence that if the state mandate was removed, individual departments would institute their own requirements based on their resources and needs.

“Most departments would come up with something, because there’s liability,” Rataj said. “Instead of mandating it, why not let each department come up with what they do? Talk to your selectboard or city council and just institute a change. I think a yearly health screening is probably better than a once-every-three-year PT test."