British Transport Police Axes Compulsory Fitness Test – Because ‘Bleep Test’ Is Unfair on Women
The British Transport Police are facing criticism for axing mandatory fitness tests, claiming they’re not fair to women. The Mail has more.
British Transport Police said female officers were suffering “indirect discrimination” from doing a so-called bleep test – in which they have to run up and down a 15-metre track for three minutes 35 seconds – because they were far more likely to fail than men.
Now only new recruits and specialists, including dog handlers and armed officers, are required to pass a fitness test.
BTP, whose 3,000 officers patrol railway stations across Britain, said the move had meant 50 people who had failed the test had been allowed back on the front line.
But last night critics said that officers had to be in shape.
One serving officer told the Mail on Sunday: “Members of the public call the police expecting officers capable of doing the job of protecting them.
“It’s embarrassing to see colleagues who can barely do up their stab vest, and knowing they might not even be able to manage a two-minute jog is not just concerning but dangerous.” …
BTP has become the first force to drop the test for all officers.
It had said in a 2021 report on the gender pay gap that it had concerns about the impact the test has “on women, particularly those going through menopause”.
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I’m not sure it will make much difference as the cops are never around when you need them anyway.
Clown world.
I suppose you don’t need to be too fit to dance the macorena or arrest someone for silently praying outside an abortion clinic?
Maybe they should replace it with a “taking the knee” test
At least half the population is happy on their knees anyway, apparently.
“Taking the p*ss test” more likely
Well, that’s about all they do these days.
Except when you say something nastynon social media. Then they send their best thespian female officers, if you get my drift
An armed maniac stabs your colleague and your too f#×king unfit to run after him? Great, that’s just great, what a laughing stock!
But – but – land whales can’t be denied a job in the Police, can they? (there are loads of them in the NHS).
“Land whales” greif I nearly wet myself!🤣🤣🤣
One down tick from a land whale?
I don’t understand though, why just the *transport* police? Don’t all police that are out ‘on the beat’ have to get fitness tested? Also, if this is just a cardio requirement then what does gender have to do with it? Something else that seems odd; if you know you’re going to have to take a test, especially this specific fitness one, wouldn’t you practice and practice beforehand to make sure you can do it on the day rather than end up failing when it matters? I think if anyone’s not passing this fitness test then it’s a clear case of ”If you’re failing to prepare you’re preparing to fail”. It certainly shouldn’t be scrapped due to such pitiful reasons as stated above. As if we need any more reasons to lose confidence in the police force’s ability to do their job effectively.
Police in England and I think Wales are divided into constabularies, generally one per county, with separate leadership and I think to an extent the ability to determine their own entry requirements – I remember the City of London police used to have to be quite tall. The BTP is a separate constabulary that “looks after” our public transport network.
The bleep test is muscular endurance as well as cardio – men would on average do better at it, but I don’t think it is especially hard so anyone of normal physical abilities could train for it and pass it. Here is the West Midlands version – test starts just over 4 minutes in: https://youtu.be/nNsVzKt5lPQ I am approaching 60 and not an elite athlete and I could do this with ease, pretty sure Mrs ToF could too.
This is not just to allow more women to join, but also “ethnic minorities” from the Third World, who have an aversion to physical exertion.
Yeah, Africans are notoriously amongst the worst runners at the Olympics.
I rather think Heretic wasn’t talking about Africans…
I was talking about the vast majority of all Third World ethnic groups in the West.
Yeah, I forgot that every Ethnic African is an Olympic runner, including the “land whales” mentioned by Jonathan M.
Classic example of why womyn screw up societies when you let them into manly professions and jobs.
Well the women in my life would ace that test in their sleep and would certainly not want special treatment. The decision may well have been made by a man. It seems like a failure of management too – surely they should be telling people to make sure they stay in shape?
Probably, a Feminist, identifying as a male.
Men may claim to be “feminists” but I suspect a lot of the time it’s just a convenient way to signal their self-perceived superiority rather than out of any feeling for the sisterhood. I mentioned this article to a few women I know and they all thought the whole thing was bullshit and found the BTP’s actions patronising in the extreme.
It can’t be beyond the wit of even the BTP (a shambolic ‘organisation’ – I speak from direct experience) to adjust the required pass mark for women, if they think women are discriminated against.
The really bizarre thing about this is that this test was only used to determine if police offices were fit for frontline duty instead of back office work.
WHAT THE BLEEPING BLEEP!
That’s the way, we wouldn’t want our police to be fit and strong, it would send out entirely the wrong message!
“British Transport Police said female officers were suffering “indirect discrimination” from doing a so-called bleep test – in which they have to run up and down a 15-metre track for three minutes 35 seconds – because they were far more likely to fail than men.”
Islamist men of fighting age take note.