'They just can't do it': Running has kept good recruits from joining the Fall River police

FALL RIVER — These days, men and women looking to join the ranks of the Fall River Police Department must become familiar with a crucial piece of equipment: sneakers.

At the Father Kelly Neighborhood Association meeting, held at Blessed Trinity Church on Plymouth Avenue on Monday, Fall River Police Chief Paul Gauvin noted that the FRPD has been short-staffed and highlighted their challenges when it comes to hiring new recruits.

“We’re about 20 to 25 officers down,” Gauvin said. He described a range of issues from a rate of hiring that hasn’t kept up with the rate of retirements, to significant initial expenses that recruits might not be able to easily afford.

Gauvin also noted that in recent years the department simply couldn’t find candidates who were in good enough shape.

“Every year we’d have a list of candidates, and we would generally lose about 50% of the candidates just on the physical fitness test,” Gauvin said. The department is making significant strides to improve this figure, but like with anyone getting in shape, the results have been taking hard work and consistent training.

What is this police physical fitness test?

There are actually two rounds of tests. Deputy Chief Barden Castro said the recruits have to pass the police officer Physical Ability Test, which simulates tactics officers will need on the job — there's an obstacle course, and simulated takedowns and arrests that have to be completed in a short amount of time. This test has not been the problem.

“It has been the Fall River Police experience that we see a less than 1% failure rate on the PAT, with most candidates having difficulty due to time management as opposed to being a fitness issue," Castro said.

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Since September 2019, the Massachusetts Police Training Committee has also been requiring a second physical fitness test, based on standards devised by the Cooper Institute, a nonprofit devoted to health and fitness science. It's a general fitness test, involving timed push-ups, sit-ups, a 300-meter sprint and a 1.5-mile run. The problem: that last part.

“Usually, the biggest hurdle is that mile and a half run,” Castro said. “We started bringing the recruits in and running them through a mock Cooper standards test just to see how they do, and then we found that they just couldn’t do it.”

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Could you pass this physical fitness test?

The standard is different for men and women, and for different age groups. A man age 20 to 29 has to run a mile and a half in 13 minutes and 16 seconds, or an 8:51 per mile pace. A woman in that age range would have to do the run in 15 minutes and 52 seconds, a 10:35 per mile pace.

“If you’re a runner, it’s not that high a standard,” Castro said — but not every recruit is a runner.

He said candidates aren't badly out of shape, but simply in average shape. But even some potential recruits who lift weights regularly may not have enough cardio fitness to meet the standard. Castro said in the past he’s seen some good recruits unable to run even one lap around a track.

“And it’s frustrating because we’ve interviewed some great candidates, decent resumes, and they show up, and they just can’t do it,” Castro said. “It comes down to, how bad do you want this job?”

How the FRPD is improving

Gauvin said with the last two classes of recruits, that 50% pass rate has improved to about 80% thanks to good old-fashioned consistent exercise. “So we’re in the good zone,” Gauvin said. “Things are looking up.”

Castro said Gauvin has grown an effort to have the department improve the conditioning of potential hires. Hiring coordinator Lt. Joseph Galvao and other officers have been taking with candidates to the track at Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School, Castro said, "several times a week in order to get them prepared for the test.”

He said officers on the force will sometimes use their own time to help candidates out, and tell potential hires: if you want to be an officer, get in your cardio.

“Forget the treadmill," Castro said. “It’s not the same as running out in the street. You’ve actually got to get out there and run.”

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River police improve recruits' running fitness in hiring struggle