Out of curiosity, how often/many physical altercations and/or foot chases are you guys involved in on a regular basis? I'm asking because I've seen few officers where I live who are overweight and do not appear to have done any PT since graduating the academy. Not trying to start a police bashing thread, in fact I really respect you guys risking your lives on a daily basis  to protect the very asshats that don't respect you. I was just trying to get a better understanding of why someone who has the potential to have to go hands on with someone or possibly chase them would let themselves get so out of shape.

A few foot chases, lots of scuffling, especially whilst trying to cuff a person. Just two outright knockdown, drag out, fights.

I am 6'3", 235lbs, I lift 5 days a week, run 5 days a week (at least 3 miles a day) and eat right. I've found my officer presence skills keep me out of trouble along with a smattering of verbal judo. Most folks don't go on the fight when I bring my friends to the party.

Foot chases? 1 this year.

Scuffle? 0.

Fights?  0.

We have some big guys in our PD.

I am very much over 6', and tend to scare the fuck out of anybody I run into.

I used to work security in a hospital, and got into more scuffles there. Fortunately for me, the patients tended to go after the shorter staff.

When I was on the street, it was nothing to get into a foot chase or a good rumble at least every few days.

Thanks guys. The officer I saw that prompted me to wonder looked to be about 5'8" 300lbs. He looked like Newman from Seinfeld. Not at all intimidating. It just made me think that it would be in an officer's best interest and make their job easier if they stayed in shape. Stay safe fellas.

Generally speaking, guys who are pushing 300lbs don't chase anyone but if a guy that size gets their hands on someone they can do alright.  Looking at you avatar though, I have to ask if you have ever heard of a saying concerning a pot and a kettle?

Well, he was talking about people whose job has a higher rate of chasing and fighting, not necessarily a regular civilian.

Haha. Yeah, that isn't a very good picture in my avatar. I'm 6'1" 220lbs. Built pretty solid, I may be a little overweight, but I run 3+ miles 3 days a week, lift 3 days a week, and ride my mountain bike at least 2 days a week. So, I think I'm ok.




Edit for grammer/clarity

When I was younger, it was hands on 2 - 3 times a week and usually a foot pursuit a couple times a month, sometimes more.  As I got older, both tapered off considerably.  I learned how to get things done without causing more work for me..
 

Well said.  Our PD will be implementing a physical fitness program soon.  Too much multi-tasking because of personnel shortages causes many to let their health go.  Have you ever seen a PR-24 or ASP boomerang ...

That depends on where you live and who you have to deal with.

I work in the country for the most part. Not many people run in the country; where are they gonna run to? If they do, I have a car. Why run if you can ride If a country boy is gonna run off into the back 40 of  his AO where you can't drive, good luck finding him unless you know the area as well as he does. Get a warrant and pick him up later.

Half of fights are caused by a couple of things. Ego, booze, testesterone, you call it what you will.

Then you have your regulars. people you deal with throughout your whole career. Mistreat them, they'll remember and resent it the rest of your career  and make every interaction you have that much harder. Treat them right and they remember that and life is much easier every single time you interact with each other. I've seen people fight just because the officer they're dealing with had a negative interaction with them years before, and they've never gotten over it in their minds..

Figure out how to deal with those issues, deflate the problem, and you find yourself having to fight a whole lot less. My shift calls me Dr Phil because I like to talk longer than they do. They're also half my age and most have only been working 3-4 years, since we've had a huge generational shift in our employees as people retired or were driven out by our last CLEO over the past decade

For the remainder of the people we deal with who wont play nice, if asking doesn't work you transition to telling and making. Their choice which way its going to happen. Its a whole lot easier to use the modern tools like tasers that we have now than to go hands on with someone. much smaller chance of anyone getting hurt. I know I don't heal up as fast as I used to. I didn't heal up 100% after the last EDP I had to drag back from killing herself. I'm much more mindful of my aches and pains these days than I was earlier in my career.

this for my dept too.

In 18 years I can not count the number of knock down, drag out street fights that I have been in at work, not wrestling around but throwing punches etc. We have had tasers for about 6 years now and they have actually decreased the number/length  of brawls that we get in.

I have fought over knives, guns, bottles, bats etc and had 3 legit gun grap attempts in that time.

I'm 6'00 and 210 and while I do not work out the way I used to I am still fit enough to chase guys etc.

J-

Apathy.
Plus cops who look like that are usually do-nothings who never get involved. With our department no one cared because you usually had at least four 2 man cars rolling up to any hot call and any additional backup would respond in under a minute.

Agreed. Where I work, it is easier to avoid action than it is to find it. The lazy ones won't have any self initiated activity and will roll just a little slower to hot calls.

Four cars/ eight guys to a call. Just how hot a call would get this level of a response? Bank robbery? Shooting? Old woman slipped off her walker and fell to the pavement? I'm curious now.

Man with a gun, shots fired, robbery in progress, burglary in progress, assault in progress, etc.
In our square mile precinct we'd have well over 50 guys on the street sometimes between patrol, footposts, and special units.
Eight guys to a regular call is nothing, you should see how many respond to a "officer needs assistance" call.

For one thing it helps when they figure out they're arrested after they're cuffed and in the car.

Guy with a gun, shots fired, anything "in progress" would probably get a better response from available guys
If it was near a university or college you might find the university cops showing up to back you up.
if it was near a village, the sole village guy on would probably be there.

Otherwise you'll get two one man cars going to the call, plus maybe a supervisor. If its a busy night one of the two cars WILL be the supervisor.
The only way you'd get EIGHT guys would be an officer needs help call, and if it happens on the wrong side of the count you'd be pulling every car from every available agency for that half the county to get that many guys......

One of the few I put out over the radio had at least 80 cops respond in under 4 minutes from my precinct and 2 neighboring ones.

Yeah, urban and rural guys have to adapt tactics to different resource availability.

There are only two places you'll see 80 cops in one place here at the same time. Funerals and the golf course.

I'm 6'3 and pushing 260 lbs, though I'm trying to get that back down where I'm supposed to be.



This year, I've had a couple of foot pursuits and only one scuffle, and that guy was not only crazy as a sprayed roach, but bigger than me to boot. We called a short timeout to rest and family members got him calmed down for me, since I was planning to choke him out.



I have more limited resources than some of our other members. When I call for help, I will have no more than 3 people to assist me at night. That's one or two other officers and one deputy. During the daytime, add one more to that number.

In three years, I've had one foot chase and one fight.  I caught the guy running from me, but even if I didn't grab him, he was running toward six other cops that were heading him off.  The whole thing was less than 200 yards.  The fights was a a good one but it was like 4 of us piled up on top of this guy within seconds.  Other people have gotten squirmy, and started resisting, but I've been lucky in that they will either listen to verbal commands or once I start twisting them up, they don't put up a real fight.

two foot chases and one fight (thought not a real good one) in the last week.

You guys hiring?? I getting sick of this shit after 18 years! lol

J-

Depends on how proactive I want to be. What I do now, I don't take calls, so I can get into whatever I choose. I like working dope. So foot chases and scuffling just come natural.

And there is the difference between city v 'burb cops.

1 foot chase, 0 fights here.

No, we're not, unfortunately.

It's weird, because one of my buddies has gotten in about 8-10 resistances resulting in UOF in that same time.  I just swapped my OC can, because it expired without me ever using it once. I honestlly don't know if I should feel lucky or not.