Fat policemen

[SirBragalot]

AIBU to think that anyone who joins the police force should be fighting fit?
Last weekend I was walking home from shopping when a skinny guy whizzed past me at lightning speed. He was obviously running from someone. I turned around and saw two policemen chasing after him. Both of them were overweight. They were struggling to keep up and were out of breath. So I thought, good luck with catching skinny! It was not the first time I saw policemen carrying extra weight. What is going on? How are they supposed to catch up with members of the criminal underworld who are usually skinny, fit and run like cheetahs?

[Jupiters]

There is an annual fitness test.
Also criminals have an inherent advantage here... They aren't wearing a stone's worth of body armour, baton/pava/taser on top of that or boots which aren't made for running.
You can be as fit as you like but once you put all that on your at a serious disadvantage.

[lesbihonest]

Well, I suppose at least your username suits you ...

And yes YABU . Don’t suppose you yourself work in such an incredibly stressful role or perhaps you might have an ounce of empathy .

[Toilenstripes]

Reminds me of the line from ‘Men in Black’

Policeman: if you were Half the man I am...

Will Smith: ?? I AM half the man you are

[Sparklingbrook]

Are we really doing this?

[PlanDeRaccordement]

Try catching a skinny guy high on cocaine.

[AllTheCakes]

Foot chases are few and far between. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

[safariboot]

Foot chases are a tiny part of policing. There is rightfully a minimum fitness standard, but it would be foolish to sack officers just because they're not super fast at running.

[BellsaRinging]

There aren't annual fitness tests actually, at least not for our force. There is a fitness test as part of recruitment.

[Fromage]

This thread can only go well.

[catlady3]

Seems you're conflating skinny with fit and fat with unfit. That's your mistake.

[MouthBreathingRage]

Mmhmm.

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

[Klouise777]

Seriously. Where do I start. Yabvu. Like someone in a stressful working long and exhausting shifts and throughout a pandemic has enough going on without being fat shamed.
Also your fitness is absolutely not determined by your 'weight' leave the poor guys alone

[Sparklingbrook]

Do you live on the Jasmine Allen estate OP?

[Sonichu]

This is a change from the usual weekly fat thread, I'll give you that.

[BumpBundle]

I don't think you realise quite how little speed would help in the overall job of being a Police Officer.
Police Officers have a lot of qualifications and training and requirements. They have a unique and honed skillset. To remove potential officers from the pool or fire officers for being overweight would be absurd.
I'm a lawyer and I need to run on a daily basis to get documents into court on time or to make sure clients receive paperwork when they need to - imagine if someone said that lawyers shouldn't be overweight. My OH is a teacher - he'd need to be in a position to prevent a student harming themselves or others but there's no requirement for teachers to be able to tackle safely.
Police Officers don't run after robbers all day like a children's fancy dress party - and if they did then they'd probably be skinnier...

[Sparklfairy]

Some police officers smoke too, did you know?? I've heard that can make running a right pain

[Deadringer]

Any other fat people you would like to slag off while you are here op? Don't ever read 'Holding' by Graham Norton, its a book about a fat policeman.

[ChandlerIsTheBestFriend]

If foot chases made up a significant part of police work then the police officers would be fit as a consequence, wouldn’t they? So the fact those two officers weren’t obviously fit suggests running isn’t a big part of their job so no real reason for them to be specially equipped to do it.

[PlanDeRaccordement]

Fighting fit can also be abused to mean no delicate tiny women on police force because of big bouncer blokes who are criminals.

[Cynara]

Oh shut up. What do you do, OP? Do you work night shifts? Christmas Day? Do you miss your children's birthdays because you can't get a shift swap? Do you get verbally and physically abused every day at work? Anyone spat at you lately? I'm not a police officer but I do work for another emergency service and see their dedication and bravery on a regular basis. Individual police officers are incredible and have nowhere near the pay, respect or recognition they deserve.

[Coldilox]

Wow. Lots of police bashing threads recently, although this is a new one on me

[iklboo]

Goady, goady, goady

Fat people are a burden - know all of them do you?

Bite me. Nah. I might get fat.