Posted: 7/4/2009 9:24:57 AM EDT
| I'm graduating college in a couple months with a criminology degree, I have the oppurtunity to go to law school, but I really would much rather work as a patrol officer. Question is whether someone with birth deformities could get hired for non desk job duty. I have limited function of my lungs, and while I'm not on oxygen and I live a normal life, I'm not able to run 2-5 miles without stopping or run up and down flights of stairs for hours. Its basically like having mild asthma that does not need treatment. Anyone else out there have asthma or related problems and been able to find a job as a LEO? |
| I would think that it would depend on the department. As long as you can pass the physical fitness standards, and your breathing does not become a problem under stress I don't see where it would be an issue. We didn't run more than six miles at a time at the academy that I went to. I have seen and heard of officers with one leg; their agency let them work on patrol as long as they could pass the physical fitness standards. If that's what want to do apply start applying at the agency that you want to work for, and get past the entry physical. Good luck, I hope you do well. |
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There shouldn't be a problem as long as you can manage to pass and get certified under your state's P.O.S.T Commission requirements. I have asthma too, but I haven't took medicine for it in 5+ years. Our dept doesn't go on foot pursuit for individuals unless a K9 is on duty mainly cause we are a county and only have 4-5 Patrol Deputies on duty at a time. Our county has 75,000 people & is 337 square miles so yeah we don't have enough Patrol Deputies on duty at any one time. If we chased people on foot our closest backup is about 5-7 minutes away normally so we don't initiate foot pursuits. If you work for an agency like this then you shouldn't have a problem with your asthma like symptoms.
Believe it or not most of the people that run on foot the officer knows who he is. I hardly hear "I have 2 unknown suspects ran into the woods on me.". I normally hear on the radio "Cody Smith ran into the woods or Johnny Hall ran into the woods.". Most of the idiots that run we have dealt with before and we know them...lol. We just pick them up at a later time. Now in the cities there's a lot more Patrol Officers on duty so you can chase people more on foot...you got more and quicker back up than county Deputies have. |
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Quoted:
There shouldn't be a problem as long as you can manage to pass and get certified under your state's P.O.S.T Commission requirements. I have asthma too, but I haven't took medicine for it in 5+ years. Our dept doesn't go on foot pursuit for individuals unless a K9 is on duty mainly cause we are a county and only have 4-5 Patrol Deputies on duty at a time. Our county has 75,000 people & is 337 square miles so yeah we don't have enough Patrol Deputies on duty at any one time. If we chased people on foot our closest backup is about 5-7 minutes away normally so we don't initiate foot pursuits. If you work for an agency like this then you shouldn't have a problem with your asthma like symptoms. Believe it or not most of the people that run on foot the officer knows who he is. I hardly hear "I have 2 unknown suspects ran into the woods on me.". I normally hear on the radio "Cody Smith ran into the woods or Johnny Hall ran into the woods.". Most of the idiots that run we have dealt with before and we know them...lol. We just pick them up at a later time. Now in the cities there's a lot more Patrol Officers on duty so you can chase people more on foot...you got more and quicker back up than county Deputies have.  BTDT
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As someone who thought he'd never get hired (got PMR'd from the Army as a result of being blind as a bat) I got hired because I was able to meet the criteria (vision correctable to 20/20). As long as the hiring department doesn't require you to run 2+ miles or up and down stairs all day  you should be GTG as long as you meet the standards.In IL, we use the POWER (Police Officer Wellness Evaluation Report) test, which includes the following tests: 1. Sit and reach 2. 1 minute sit up 3. 1 rep max bench press (percentage of body weight) 4. 1.5 mile run. Breakdown by age (men) Age Group: 20-29 / 30-39 / 40-49 / 50-59 Sit/Reach: 16.0 / 15.0 / 13.8 / 12.8 Sit-ups (min): 37 / 34 / 28 / 23 Bench Press: .98 / .87 / .79 / .70 1.5 Mile Run: 13.46 / 14.31 / 15.24 / 16.21 http://www.ptb.state.il.us/pdf/POWER.pdf |