So, final thought on the matter. My department does not have ongoing PT tests after the academy. To the best of my knowledge, we never have. Yet somehow we get the job done. We are also an "old" department. We have historically hired people later in life rather than earlier, older rookies equates to older officers, and all that goes along with being...older. There is more to this job than fighting, and even with the constant conflation of some basic PT standard equating to a DT standard, and eliminating otherwise good officers for failure to perform a pulled-out-of-the-brass'-ass PT standard is short sighted at best. Yes, I know I could have a knock-down-drag-out tomorrow. I'm taking SouthNarc's ECQC this fall, and expect to get my ass handed to me repeatedly. I get it. I also know I've not been in a physical struggle since becoming a detective. I've been in a shooting, I've talked some guys down, but not once have I went hands on with someone. No detective in my office has in the 5 years I've been in that office. We are dealing exclusively with robbery and murder (or other shooting/stabbing/etc) suspects. It's ok to be a 60 year old woman in our office, because we don't rely on a 60 year old woman's fighting ability to keep her safe.
So, yes, you can make a PT test specific to patrol. Then people who can't pass get shuffled into admin or investigation slots they really aren't qualified for just to save their careers, bypassing those who actually deserved it.
We've got some fat asses and some people who can't jump a fence. There's always a trade off. However I'll take a few loads over the loss of experience, and both our brass and our FOP has felt the same. Especially today when getting qualified applicants to apply and stay is tough enough as it is. I'm all for hiring fighters and studs. But be reasonable, this job breaks us down over the years. Especially if you're in a violent and heavy call volume beat. If we could put old cop brains in young cop bodies, we'd have some super fucking cops. I could still pass the applicant PT test except probably the sprint, and I'm still on special services, so don't get the idea I'm just bitching to bitch or that I couldn't pass. I can today. 10 years from now...who knows? It's just fucking stupid to force someone who's apparently been doing the job to satisfaction for 24 years into the street because push-ups.