Recently, the poor response of the police has been on the cutting board.
There was social outrage.
The controversy has even spread to 'Theory of Dance of the Policewoman'.
It was also pointed out that the standard of physical strength was low when selecting female police officers.
Media reports comparing it to foreign countries continue to appear.
In the case of foreign police physical fitness tests, some say that the standards for men and women are different, while others say they are the same.
Mainly, the case of the United States is often mentioned.
Netizens are also arguing by borrowing cases that fit their claims.
In a situation where the information is complicated and entangled, the fact of SBS fact check has been checked by the team.
We fact-checked the physical fitness standards by visiting each country's police recruitment websites one by one.
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What is the minimum physical fitness standard for foreign police officers?
First, let's start with the selection criteria for the Korean police.
<Enforcement Rules of Police Officer Appointment Ordinance> Attached Table 5-2 specifies the physical fitness standards.
Each item is awarded from 1 to 10 points. The enforcement rules also stipulate the 'failure standard', which is defined as a case in which one or more points are scored in more than one event, or less than 40% of the total score is scored.
This time, I checked the police recruitment website in the United States. U.S. police have different fitness standards for each institution and region.
First, we checked the most well-known US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Federal Law Enforcement (FBI), and by region, New York, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles (LA) police.
It was organized around the 'minimum standard' of physical fitness.
The FBI, the Federal Police, and the Los Angeles Police Department apply different fitness standards for men and women.
The FBI, like us, has different fitness standards for men and women in the 300m run, the 1.5 mile run, sit-ups, pull-ups, and push-ups.
For example, in the case of push-ups, if the number of push-ups is 29 or less for men and 13 or less for women without a time limit, the minimum criterion is not met.
On the other hand, New York, Washington, and San Francisco have the same physical fitness standards for men and women.
In particular, the New York or Washington police are course rotation, not sport.
Both men and women must complete the task within a certain amount of time on the same basis.
The New York Police Department must complete six events, including stair climbing, running, and mannequin dragging, within 4 minutes and 28 seconds, while the Washington Police Department must complete seven events, including stair climbing, jumping fences and identifying suspects, within 1 minute and 28 seconds.
Washington Police also has a shooting test, which states that you must hit at least one shot.
'Drawing a mannequin' video from the New York Police Physical Fitness Test. New York Police YouTube.
We also looked at other countries.
The case of the UK also differs from region to region, where police in England and Wales do not have separate standards for men and women, but police in Scotland have different standards according to age and gender.
The French police had to complete a course consisting of 10 sports, which was scored out of 20, which was different for men and women.
Australia was different by sport.
For push-ups, gender differences are applied differently, but for long runs and swimming, the same standards are applied for men and women.
The fitness criteria table in the French Police Recruitment Brochure. The standards for male (Homme) and female (Femme) are applied differently.
Controversy over 'male and female fitness standards' in the US
After all, it is difficult to easily generalize that the police's physical fitness standards are different for men and women from overseas cases, or the same. Even within the same country, it was different by region, and there were cases where it was subdivided not only by gender but also by age. The U.S. federal police applies different standards, not only by gender, but also by five-year increments.
However, even in the United States, there has been a controversy over the fact that the difference in physical fitness standards between men and women is unreasonable. I went to trial.
In 2012, a man in his 40s who was a Chicago agent for the US FBI was eliminated from the special agent selection by performing 29 push-ups in the process of measuring push-ups. If you look at the <Foreign Police Minimum Physical Fitness Standard> table above, the minimum push-up standard for men is 30, whereas for women it is 13. The man filed a lawsuit saying, "Women pass 14 push-ups, but men fail 29 times. This different physical fitness standard violates Title 7 of the American Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment."
A US federal court ruled in favor of the man in 2014, saying that "the FBI has failed to prove that the fitness test is an adequate measure of job performance."
However, the 2016 Court of Appeals decided otherwise. I didn't see any problem with applying different fitness standards for men and women. In fact, the team confirmed the verdict at the time.
Because the FBI seeks to assess fitness by placing the burden on both men and women equally, the FBI's fitness standards are consistent with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (which prohibits discrimination in employment).
Because the FBI purports to assess physical fitness by imposing the same burden on both men and women, this rule applies to Bauer's Title VII claims.
- United States Court of Appeals, Appellee, v.
LORETTA E. No.
Judgment 14-2323
It is interpreted that it cannot be regarded as discriminatory because it places an 'equal burden' on both men and women even if the standards of physical fitness are different.
As it is a federal court decision, not a state court, it can be said that there is no problem 'generally' to apply different fitness standards in the process of hiring and operating police in American society.
However, even if the local police require men and women to have equal physical strength, it is not a judgment that it is a violation of the law, so the same standards for men and women are still applied in some areas.
The goal of the American police is to increase physical fitness.
However, the fact is, the team was able to identify an important difference between us and the United States through this interview.
The physical fitness standards of the US police, whether male or female, are not intended to 'drop out' or 'exclude' police officers who do not meet these requirements, but rather to continuously 'improve' their physical strength. Most of the above <Foreign Police Minimum Physical Fitness Standards> table is based on 'recruitment', but at the same time, it's also based on 'maintenance' of physical strength. The man who filed a lawsuit with the FBI was not fired from his job because he failed to do 30 push-ups, but rather went to trial because he was not selected as a special agent who strictly adheres to the minimum physical fitness standards.
Except under special circumstances, there have been quite a few instances in which employment or job transfers were possible even without passing the 'minimum standards'. In fact, this is the reason why the team wrote the 'minimum standard' rather than the 'failure standard' in the table above. It was designed so that healthy adult men and women could easily pass the physical fitness test, and in most cases, it was induced to raise the fitness level with continuous effort.
For example, the FBI's Recruitment Guide explains that if you do not meet the minimum criteria, you will be given an unlimited re-examination opportunity for one year.
Don't be discouraged if you don't meet the minimum standards and need more training. Many of you have successfully completed the Physical Ftiness Test (PFT) with time and effort, starting where you are.
Don't be discouraged if you can't meet the minimum standards just yet and need more training.
Many people have started from where you are and successfully completed the PFT with time and effort.
- FBI Recruitment Homepage
Of course, the fitness test is very strict.
I also looked at the FBI fitness testing guidelines, and in the case of push-ups, the arm and leg positions and heights for the raised and lowered positions are detailed.
FBI fitness test training video. In the push-up down position, it is introduced that the arm position should be parallel to the floor.
The alternative to increasing the police response ability may be more important than the selection criteria itself, but how they are operated after selection. This is especially true if the current controversy is in the process of finding a progressive alternative to increase the police response.
The police said they are preparing to revise the relevant laws to evaluate physical fitness based on the same physical fitness standard for men and women. Like the New York Police Department, it is said that it will be applied to the police officer recruitment in 2026 by changing it to a course rotation method. However, even now, in a situation where it is said that the police physical fitness test is operated in a sloppy fashion, changing the outer skin alone will not guarantee the police's ability to respond.
It seems that the first thing to think about is how to improve the physical strength of the police and, furthermore, how to increase the on-site response ability through this, and a system suitable for this.
If you type SBS facts on the Internet, you can request a fact check verification. If you request it, we will fact-check it to the best of our ability.
<Reference>
Police Officer Appointment Ordinance Enforcement Rules
FBI Recruitment Guide https://www.fbijobs.gov/sites/default/files/how-to-apply.pdf
Federal Law Enforcement Recruitment https://www.fletc.gov/peb-scores-age-and-gender
New York Police Recruitment https://www1.nyc.gov
Washington Police Recruitment https://mpdc.dc.gov
San Francisco Police Recruitment
https://www1.nyc.gov
/www.sanfranciscopolice.org
Los Angeles Police Recruitment https://www.joinlapd.com
UK Police Recruitment https://www.college.police.uk
Australian Police Recruitment https://jobs.afp.gov.au
French Police Recruitment Brochure https://www.devenirpolicier.fr/sites/default/files/2020-05/2020_epreuves_sportives_v2_1.pdf
United States Court of Appeals, Appellee, v. LORETTA E. No. Judgment 14-2323
FBI Fitness Measurement Guide Video https://www.fbijobs.gov/career-paths/special-agents/physical-requirements
New York Police Physical Fitness Guide video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5QlJpz5skI
(Interns: Kwon Min-sun, Song Hae-yeon)