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Serving the community as a law enforcement profession doesn’t just mean walking a beat. The job requires one to be attentive, compassionate mentally and physically. EarHustle411 read an article published by the Chicago SunTimes about this very subject. Furthermore why do Chicago Police Officers need a monetary incentive to take the physical fitness test. Do they not think their employees need to be in a physically fit & healthy shape to chase criminals?? Hmmmpf…guess not!!

Read more below:

 

To encourage cops to keep fit, the city of Chicago has spent nearly $10.8 million over the past 12 years rewarding police officers who passed a yearly fitness test.

Most cops, though, don’t bother to take the voluntary test, according to city records.

Rather than provide an incentive for Chicago’s finest to get and stay in fighting shape, the program appears to be rewarding officers who already are physically fit, while doing little to encourage overweight officers to get in shape.

Only one in four sworn members of the Chicago Police Department even takes the test, which includes a 1.5-mile run, a bench press, sit-ups and a sit-and-reach test. Standards for passing are based on age and gender.

The reward for passing? A $350 bonus.
“I don’t know if $350 before taxes is going to motivate somebody to push themselves away from the table and walk in to the gym,” says Dean Angelo, a detective on disability leave who serves as president of the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents most rank-and-file Chicago cops. “Maybe we should get this $350 raised to $1,350.”

Last year, 3,040 of the department’s approximately 12,500 sworn officers took the test. Bonuses for those who passed cost taxpayers $1,050,350.

The vast majority who took the test passed. Only 39 failed.

 

Source: Chicago Sun-Times