NYPD Reportedly Makes Fitness Tests for Aspiring Cops ‘Easier’ Amid ‘Stampede’ of Retirements

The NYPD’s rank-and-file has seen a record exodus of late, with 523 cops reportedly leaving in June. The force voiced concerns over what it dubbed a “stampede,” warning it was “losing cops in the prime of their careers.”

The NYPD has made the fitness requirements to become a New York City police officer – which includes repeatedly running up and down a six-step staircase and using a weight machine to mimic tackling a suspect – easier, The Post reported.

After a record number of retirements from the force of late, the department replaced the “Barrier Surmount”- a 6-foot “wall” inside the Police Academy gym with a chain-link fence, according to official recruiting videos posted online.

The “Barrier Surmount” is one of six tasks incorporated in the “Job Standard Test” for would-be cops. They are required to pass it before beginning six months of training at the Police Academy.

NYPD Job Standards Test https://t.co/wa0rAgYKhz via @YouTube

— Mark Pine (@markpinelife) July 6, 2022

Last year, there was also such an “easing” of the test, as the 3-minute, 28-second time limit to carry out the tasks was extended by nearly a full minute, according to NYPD recruiting videos posted on YouTube.

The police department also appears to have ditched a rule that required recruits to run 1.5 miles in 14:21 or less to graduate from the academy. However, sources were cited as saying that officials were only mulling scrapping the 1.5-mile run.

I'm honestly surprised to learn there are ANY fitness requirements, just based on the NYPD I see every day. And they're now making it EASIER?

Let me guess, the new test is just a donut-eating contest.https://t.co/cHv2nwHi8D

— Armchair Commie (@hats_n_politics) July 6, 2022

The currently reported relaxing of the requirements is believed to have come after footage taken on a cellphone last year appeared to show wannabe cops chortling as they dismally failed to scale the faux wall in the test.

A copy of the compilation video was shown by The Post.

NYPD’s Record ‘Exodus’

This comes as more than 2,100 cops have retired or quit the NYPD this year, according to pension fund statistics cited by the outlet. To date, 2,119 cops have left the job in 2022, with 1,472 retiring and 647 resigning. These figures represent a 38% spike over the previous number of 1,535 for the first six months of 2020.

Furthermore, the academy class that graduated on Friday comprised 561 new cops - slightly more than half the 1,009 that the NYPD had ostensibly hoped to recruit.

“The exodus has become a stampede. We’re not only losing experienced veterans. We’re also losing cops in the prime of their careers who are taking their talents elsewhere,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said.

“So many people are retiring in droves and they have to fill these positions,” another source was cited as saying.

The reported easing of the fitness test prompted some cops to weigh in, saying “it’s really not hard” to pass the fitness test.

“If you can’t pass the basic requirements for being a police officer, you shouldn’t be one,” a veteran cop reportedly said in disgust

In a statement on Tuesday, an NYPD spokesperson was cited as saying:

“Our physical fitness requirements in the Police Academy have been reviewed and approved by [the] New York State Division of Criminal Justice Service and the NYPD will continue to abide by any guidelines issued by the state.”