Police face the sack for being fat

Police will be forced to pass annual fitness tests after an official report today revealed that two-thirds of officers are obese or overweight. Any officer who fails three times will face a pay cut of up to £2,922 a year and disciplinary action, including the sack. The dramatic proposal came in a Government-commissioned report on police pay and conditions. It reveals 44 per cent of officers in London are overweight and 19 per cent are obese. Another one per cent are officially classed as “morbidly obese” and only 35 per cent are of normal weight. The report, by the former rail regulator Tom Winsor, calls for sweeping changes to police pay, recruitment and employment conditions. Other key reforms include the recruitment of former Army and MI5 officers and other professionals as superintendents. The report also demands: New powers to make police compulsorily redundant and moves to raise the pension age for officers to 60. A graduate entry scheme for 80 of the “brightest and best” joining at inspector rank. Lower starting salaries for constables, but faster progression up the pay scale. Higher minimum educational standards of three A-levels for new entrants. The most dramatic proposal unveiled today by Mr Winsor is the introduction of an annual fitness test from September next year. At the moment, officers are tested on their fitness when they join, but not again. Mr Winsor said the public would find this “surprising” and warned that with spiralling numbers of officers on “restricted duties” due to poor health, reform is urgently needed. “The public has a right to expect fitness from all police officers who protect them,” he said. “We need officers to be physically fit, as we saw in the riots. It is necessary for the protection of the public and their colleagues. It’s a question of safety.” Figures in his report, using official “body mass index” calculations of weight, show that male Met officers are in the worst condition, with 52 per cent classed as overweight, 22 per cent obese and one per cent morbidly obese. By contrast, half of female Met officers are of normal weight, 32 per cent overweight, 16 per cent obese and two per cent morbidly obese. From next year, Mr Winsor wants all officers up to chief constable rank to be required to pass an annual fitness test, to include a run. He says those who fail three times should face pay cuts and disciplinary action. Any who still fail should face dismissal. He says the test should get tougher from 2018 to mirror that used in Northern Ireland — which includes scaling obstacles and pulling bodies. Mr Winsor, who unveiled an earlier package of reforms to overtime and salaries last year, said the overall effect of his proposals would be to save £166 million by 2014/15. He added: “Officers on the front line have nothing to fear in this review.” Other proposals include reducing overtime payments to royal and diplomatic protection officers — some on up to £100,000 a year despite being constables or sergeants. Police Federation chairman Paul McKeever said: “How much more are police officers expected to take? “They have had enough of the constant state of uncertainty and the deliberate, sustained attack on them by this government. “Despite a growing list of demands and the reality of the cuts, they are doing their best, but they know government cuts are jeopardising public safety and the quality of service they can provide. The service cannot take any more. Enough is enough.”