I believe that they are not allowed. Some of them just are.

Don’t live there, but I think something to do with Dunkin Donuts

Cops with guns don’t have to run… 🤷‍♂️

Neither protecting or serving are actual job requirements.

Cities in pretty much the entire country are running with an understaffed police force. They’ll take what they can get. I’m 100% pro Union, but another problem is that police unions help protect unfit (literally and figuratively) police from being forced to try harder by abusing protected status health claims. I’ve seen in both police and military, they are handed paperwork if they are not meeting fitness expectations, but nothing ever comes of it.

Never met anyone who was too fat to shoot minorities.

Cops don’t exist to protect you and they don’t have to be physically fit to serve their purpose: using the threat of violence and the prison industrial complex to protect the interests of capital.

Everyone’s so fucking obese here that most people don’t notice.

Non joke answer: A bunch of reasons. Many precincts are understaffed, so they need all the hands they can get. The police union is huge and makes it extremely difficult to fire even the most homer-simpsonian individuals. Many of the hugely obese cops are assigned to “light duty” meaning the most exertion they face is paperwork, manning the public information desk and or doing things like serving writs (in some cases you’re allowed to wear the uniformn even if you’re not a bonded officer, which is absurd). Additionally, fitness requirements are actually fairly rare across the whole spectrum of law enforcement - It’s surprisingly rare to see them for any positions besides uniformed patrol officer, even detectives or etc. aren’t always required to pass them - and even when you do, they’re usually pathetically easy to pass.

Police departments in general have severe problems, but I encounter police often in my work and can honestly say I’ve never encountered an officer for my city’s dept who’d qualify as morbidly obese

Reminds me of my favorite Simpson’s quote.

Marge (to Bart): “Your father wanted to be a police officer but they said he was too heavy.”

Homer: “No the army said I was too heavy, the police said I was too dumb.”

The point is to punish, not to protect. Fatasses can punish just fine.

They just need to be able to drive a car and pull the trigger on their gun

By being racist?

Beyond what others have said, different departments have different policies. They’re usually pretty similar to each other, but a lot don’t explicitly lay out fitness requirements.

I totally agree with your thought here, I’ve thought the same thing many times. I’ve see many very overweight cops stopping at gas stations and whatnot.

How can these guys chase down an assailant? Cops should be required to be fit. I’d say they need to prove weekly they can run a mile in like 8mins? Faster? Then, once per month they need to prove they can do a 5 mile, like 45-50 mins? Seems fair.

Kind of an over simplification. Yeah, cops should ideally be fit-ish but even an obese person with a gun or a tazer can protect people, maybe not as well but still, and that doesn’t take into account the fact that a lot of cops are not actually on the streets but rather in an office doing paperwork etc. The problems are:

• There are maybe not enough cops that are fit for actual fights?
• Cops are ridiculously undertrained and unfiltered, giving us all if these assholes that really just like power.

From what I’ve seen, they don’t even learn about the law and often break the law by illegal detainment, searches and confiscation. Cops who served for over 20 years but don’t know people their rights. They often get minimal training while having to serve alone where everyone carries a gun. That’s asking for problems. And now cops in the US are militarized with heavy combat gear, while the majority is white and racist. So obesity is the least of the problems with US police.

I mean, where are they? Most cops I’ve seen personally wouldn’t even qualify as regular obese, let alone morbidly.

Our law enforcement is a huge joke and the meh pay, high turnover rate, and low bar of entry attracts the type of people you wouldn’t want to be associated with to begin with.

But also, why are small framed 5’3 women allowed to be police?

Fact is, most cops can’t outrun or overpower a lot of criminals who chose to resist or flee. In actuality that’s a pretty tiny part of the job. The rest is tickets, reports, paperwork, arrests with no resistance, investigations, etc. you don’t have to be an athlete or even very physically fit to do any of that. Id rather deal with a fat cop that isn’t a dick more than a slim one who’s a dumbass.

Just as well as any other cop

to give an answer to a rhetorical question: because firing people based on weight is a can of worms being opened. while it’s still technically not illegal to fire someone because their weight makes them “unfit,” the ada can be invoked if said obesity is caused by a disorder (e.g., type 1 diabetes). this ignores the fact that it’s hard to prove that someone would be unfit just for their weight; it just opens up employers to lawsuits. a simpler way to think about it would be to ask yourself if the guy handing out speeding tickets is “unfit for duty” solely because he’s obese.

They are not required to serve and protect. US courts say so.

Heard from a local cop that it had something to do with the union. If the department wants to implement a standard the union would require something or other. Something about an incentive? I didn’t get the whole picture obviously. I know police need unions in case somebody sues them but does seem kind of dumb that it’s so difficult to enforce a physical standard.

i have been to the US several times. Have you ever tried to eat healthily?

I think once you pass the physical strength/endurance exam to become a cop, you don’t have to take any to remain one. I definitely think that should change, though. Make them pass once a year to retain their job.

Guns.

In my part of the world, cops are near on top of the food chain in any town and city, sometimes literally getting a free pass as long as they do something for a politician, a celebrity, or a business personality. So some of them, especially senior officers, do eventually get obese because not only they get to choose what duties they want to carry out, but also either they have three full square meals plus two snacks a day, or maybe a drinking party two to four times a month.

Of course they – the Philippine National Police – are a government agency, but also they’re a fraternity, the so-called “Brotherhood”: “you scratch my back as long as I scratch yours”.

to protect and serve is not their job.

Why are they also so clearly low iq, and hyper violent?
and why are they paid so well?

How is someone that gets out of breath eating a donut going to protect and serve anyone?

They don’t serve anyone

I’ve definitely seen fat police officers in other countries.

Many departments don’t require physical tests once hired.

Most of the work cops do is domestic disturbance calls and traffic stops. There’s no reason to be physically fit for either of those jobs. Also, most people see the day shift and in nicer neighborhoods; again there’s really no need for physicality. Getting on day shift and good area means you’ve been on the police a while and “earned it” (or you have some clout), so usually olderish cops.

The young jacked mfers usually are on the night shift and in rougher neighborhoods.

Additionally, a bullet resistant vest and all the gear will make you look bigger/fatter than you really are.

So it’s kind of a combo of all that.

Also, ACAB

Becauase people who are sensible and emotionally stable enough to be healthy probably aren’t stupid or malicious enough to be cops.

You also can’t be a cop at some stations if your IQ is tested too high.

They want obedient bullies, it’s a low bar.

Since you’re using terminology tied to BMI, it is important to note that it’s use for police officers doesn’t accurately reflect reality.

A lot of cops take their fitness regime seriously, including building a lot of muscle mass. If you have significant muscle mass, you are going to be considered obese or morbidly obese per BMI even though they are in great physical shape. This would be true for other fields like firefighters.

You misunderstand. Cops in the US have no legal obligation to protect OR serve anyone. Check out the NY subway guy that was attacked with a knife while cops watched from 10 feet away behind bulletproof glass. They literally hid in the conductor booth and watched this guy get stabbed in the fucking face repeatedly.

Not only did the guy survive, he actually overpowered and subdued the attacker. Guy brought a suit against the NYPD for failing to protect him when their motto at the time was literally “Protect and serve”. Long story short, the end result is that he got a real live judge to say out loud that police have no actual duty to protect you when it could endanger themselves. Coupled with your observation on the obesity of American cops, it could be argued that walking down the street to issue a ticket could be lethal for the cop in question and therefore they have no obligation to do it, they simply choose to do it out of spite.

Cops serve capital, not us.

NYPD is an army with offices around the world and pays as much as $600,000/year to individuals for pension.

They are not a police force; they are a Mafia.

Most small town.police forces are the same.

Their job is not to stop crime; it is to serve the wealthy and crush their opponents.

This is why every American should be armed at all times and ready to defend each other immediately.