I’m guessing that American police officers don’t have to pass yearly fitness tests. Is the high number of police shootings due, at least in part, to the police being too fat to do anything other than whip out a gun and shoot?
Our neighborhood police is a very nice fellow. Smiley, polite, always cheerful. But he’s lucky to work in such a quiet, sleepy neighborhood. The man can’t walk up a tiny little hill I have next to my house without panting, stopping, and getting very red in the face. I don’t even want to imagine him facing the need to pursue or subdue a criminal.
Clarissa's Blog 
Is the high number of police shootings due, at least in part, to the police being too fat to do anything other than whip out a gun and shoot?
I think Mike probably has a few links saved up on the subject.
Also, if the unfitness of police officers is a fact, it’s just another example of how the L&O franchises are just one big fantasy of preternaturally competent, empathetic and beautiful people. 🙂
Couple that with a lawsuit where a police department refused to accept an applicant because he scored too high on an intelligence test and you can begin to see at least some of the problems endemic to law enforcement.
LikeLike
There’s a standing joke, very insulting to cops, about cops and donuts.
LikeLike
Also, municipalities have turned police officers into <a href=”http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/police-shootings-traffic-stops-excessive-fines’>revenue generators.
LikeLike
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/police-shootings-traffic-stops-excessive-finesPolice officers are often responsible for generating municipal revenues with citations
LikeLike
If it were a matter of physical fitness, we wouldn’t see such a disparity in the numbers of white and black people shot by the police. If you’re not fit, you’re not fit to chase after white and black people equally.
Somehow they seem to restrain themselves when interacting with white citizens, though.
I suspect it’s a problem of mental fitness.
See this nice police officer trying to calm down this upstanding citizen drawing his gun. Guess how many bullets would this guy had eaten if he were black?
LikeLike
I said “in part.”
LikeLike
Police officers are the fattest profession
LikeLike
WOW. This is beyond bizarre. Does anybody know why?
LikeLike
On fat police ” This is beyond bizarre. Does anybody know why?”
Maybe it’s the first step in creating a police force that looks like America?
LikeLike
My speculation is that it’s due to police being about average American obesity/overweight levels but also working out a lot — so their BMI as tested is higher because they are both fat and muscular.
(Nearly all cops in the US lift weights, especially the younger wannabe thug-in-uniform ones.)
LikeLike