In the midst of a historic wave of retirements that has left the NYPD brass eager for warm bodies to fill the ranks, the New York Police Department substantially lowered the fitness criteria for becoming a city cop.
According to official recruiting videos uploaded online, the department replaced a fake 6-foot wall inside the Police Academy gym with an easier-to-climb chain-link fence.
The action was taken after a cellphone was used to videotape several out-of-shape, wannabe cops embarrassingly attempting — and failing — to climb up and over the wall last year.
One candidate hangs his head in humiliation after two unsuccessful attempts, according to a copy of the compilation video acquired by The Post.
Before starting their six months of training at the school in Flushing, Queens, prospective cops must pass a physical assessment known as the “Job Standard Test,” which consists of six tasks.
According to the NYPD recruiting films on YouTube, the 3-minute, 28-second time limit that was in effect in 2019 was increased by nearly a full minute — to 4:28 — in order to increase the passing rate.
One dissatisfied officer claimed that passing the fitness test, which involves continuously sprinting up and down a six-step staircase and using a weight equipment to simulate fending off a suspect, is “actually not hard.”
The seasoned officer added, “If you can’t pass the fundamental tests for being a police officer, you shouldn’t be one.”
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In comparison to 2019, when there were 36,900 officers on the force, the current roster of 34,687 policemen represents a decrease.
The NYPD appears to have eliminated a requirement that required candidates to run 1.5 miles in 14:21 or less in order to pass the academy in addition to lowering the Job Standard Test.
This disclaimer is included on one official website that displays the JST video for 2019 but not on another that features the video from the previous year.
Although the 1.5-mile run hasn’t been formally abandoned, top officials are reportedly considering doing away with it. One source claimed that this is because “so many people are retiring in droves and they have to fill these positions.”
The Post revealed over the weekend that more than 2,100 police officers have retired or departed the NYPD this year, breaking the previous record of 1,535 officers leaving the department in the first half of 2020 amid the deadly COVID-19 outbreak.
The NYPD was reportedly aiming to hire 1,009 new officers, but the academy class that graduated on Friday only had 561 new officers, or slightly more than half of that number.
