More than a third of Philadelphia's newest police officers wouldn't have graduated without a recent change to the police academy's entry standards. The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) was the first agency in the state to allow recruits to enter the academy with lower scores on the required agility test. This allowed individuals to qualify with a longer 1.5-mile run time, fewer push-ups, and fewer sit-ups compared to previous requirements. The program has proven successful, with all 20 recruits who entered under the relaxed standards graduating.
More than a third of Friday’s 63 graduating Philadelphia Police officers wouldn’t be on the stage if it weren’t for a revamp of the police academy entry standards.
“We've improved our processes, we've made some changes on a lot of things,” Captain John Walker, head of recruitment and background investigations, said.The department has 1,000 fewer officers than it is budgeted to have-- and continuously fighting the tide of officers who are retiring or going to other departments.
“Not so much skeptical as I was it's going to be more challenging than obviously the other, when it was 30% standard coming in. So there's some time to make up,” he said in an interview this week. “Pushing us and making sure that we're striving beyond" the graduating state standard, he said. “I appreciate them for that.”“Staffing across the country is a huge issue, primarily in large departments like Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the D.C.-based think tank Police Executive Research Forum, said.
PHILADELPHIA POLICE PHYSICAL FITNESS STANDARDS POLICE RECRUITS POLICE ACADEMY STAFFING SHORTAGES
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