NYPD Lowers Fitness Standards So That They Can Hire More Women

 

The New York City Police Department is lowering fitness standards to recruit more women.

NYPD staff is resigning at the fastest pace since 9/11 as cops have become cartoon villains in the eyes of the liberal media — despite the rising crime and seemingly constant violence.

To help more women qualify for the job, the department is getting rid of the requirement that officers need to be able to run 1½ miles in 14 minutes and 21 seconds. Women currently make up approximately one fifth of the force.

Not everyone is convinced that this is a worthwhile endeavor, and the move sparked a battle between Chief Juanita Holmes and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell. The squabble got so bad, according to a report from the New York Post, that Mayor Eric Adams had to step in to help end it.

“Without the timed run, the only physical fitness criterion for NYPD hopefuls is the Job Standard Test, a multi-step course that needs to be completed in 4 minutes and 28 seconds,” the Post reports. “But Holmes insisted that the timed run — which needed to be completed by men and women in 14 minutes and 21 seconds — isn’t necessary to be a cop.”

“No cop on patrol runs a mile and a half,” she said, according to the report. “No one’s chasing anyone a mile and a half. Not to mention every day in the gym you’re doing a mile and a half [as part of training].”

Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who is also a former NYPD cop and Brooklyn and Queens prosecutor, told the Post that he blames the changes on the “Defund the police” movement.

“They’re the ones that did this, and they’re the ones who are going to have to live with the consequences of a department where the utterly unfit are all that’s left in the pool,” O’Donnell said.

The test was already made easier in July when the department removed a requirement that recruits must jump a six-foot barrier wall. The challenge was replaced with a chain link fence that is simpler to climb.

“Mounting and jumping over a solid 6-foot wall, that is much harder for women just due to not as much upper body strength as men,” Jillian Snider, a former NYPD officer and current professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told Fox News. “But guess what? Women did it, and that would have been the only component of that test that was a little more troublesome for women.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ spokesman, Fabien Levy, told Fox News that “public safety is this administration’s top priority, and because of the NYPD’s dedicated workforce and precision policing practices, crime continues to decline with shootings, hate crimes and major crimes all being down last month.”

“And we have done all that despite a labor shortage that has affected almost every sector nationwide, including government and law enforcement, more specifically,” Levy said. “New Yorkers can rest assured that, under Commissioner Sewell’s leadership, the NYPD remains fully prepared to keep New Yorkers safe and respond to all emergencies. The department continues to aggressively recruit the finest officers in the world to serve the greatest city in the world.”