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Physical Job Demands in Police Officer Selection and Training: Normative Data and Predictive Validity—A Research Note

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Abstract

For police officers, a high level of physical fitness is a prerequisite to meet both the training demands during education and the job demands of police service successfully. Before police officers enter the service, they have to pass a selection procedure and to complete a course of study or training. The present study has two aims. First, we describe the physical fitness of police applicants based on basic physical abilities in the context of the personnel selection procedure (research question 1, normative data). Second, we investigate the relationship of police applicants’ physical fitness based on basic physical abilities in the context of personnel selection and subsequent levels of physical performance on a complex physical task in police training (research question 2, predictive validity). Based on two samples of N = 2082 police applicants and N = 424 police trainees in education, two main findings emerge. First, we provide normative data on the physical ability levels of police officer applicants derived from personnel selection procedure. Second, we report empirical evidence on the relationship between basic physical ability levels in the selection procedure and subsequent physical performance levels in a complex physical task during police training. Based on our data, performance-based thresholds for personnel selection procedures can be defined to minimize the risks of injury or failure associated with personnel selection and police training. Finally, evidence-based recommendations for police training, implications for further research, and limitations are discussed.

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Data Availability

Since data come from the personnel selection process, the data set will not be available.

Notes

  1. The present data set used comes from the personnel selection procedure of police officer candidates of the German state police of Rhineland-Palatinate. When applying for a police job, candidates agree that their data may be used for the purpose of evaluating and validating personnel selection procedures.

  2. Note, criteria represented the first attempt at testing. The mean values (standard deviations) of males in Study 2 are as follows (N = 268-279): box boomerang test M = 15,5 s (SD = 1,4); pull-up slope M = 61,3 s (SD = 14,8); shuttle run (4 x 20 m) M = 16,1 s (SD = 0,8); Cooper test M = 2640 m (SD = 175); 3000 m run M = 12:55 min (SD = 0:51); 100 m run M = 13,2 s (SD = 0,7); obstacle parkour M = 3:35 min (SD = 0:27); the mean values and standard deviations of females in Study 2 are as follows (N = 124-145): box boomerang test M = 17,4 s (SD = 1,7); pull-up slope M = 40,9 s (SD = 14,9); shuttle run (4 x 20 m) M = 18,1 s (SD = 0,9); Cooper test M = 2200 m (SD = 130); 3000 m run M = 16:00 min (SD = 1:15); 100 m run M = 15:7 s (SD = 1,0); obstacle parkour M = 4:31 min (SD = 0:39).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank those responsible at the Rhineland-Palatinate State Police University and the Rhineland-Palatinate State Police for their support in conducting out this study.

Funding

This study was not funded.

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  1. Markus M. Thielgen and Stefan Schade shared first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration North Rhine-Westphalia, Aachen, Germany

    Markus M. Thielgen

  2. Brandenburg State Police University, Oranienburg, Germany

    Stefan Schade

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  1. Markus M. Thielgen
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Correspondence to Markus M. Thielgen.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

The data set of Study 1 comes from the personnel selection of police officer candidates of the German state police of Rhineland-Palatinate. When applying for a police job, candidates agree that their data may be used for the purpose of evaluating and validating personnel selection practices. The data set of Study 2 comes from the personnel selection of police officer candidates of the German state police of Rhineland-Palatinate. When candidates apply for police service, they agree that their data may be used for purposes of evaluation and validation (including predictive validity) of personnel selection practices.

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Thielgen, M.M., Schade, S. Physical Job Demands in Police Officer Selection and Training: Normative Data and Predictive Validity—A Research Note. J Police Crim Psych (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-024-09644-3

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