Physical Characteristics by Sex and Age for Custody Assistants From a Law Enforcement Agency

Abstract

Custody assistants (CAs) are a position within a law enforcement agency who are responsible for assisting officers with maintaining security in correctional facilities. Unlike other positions, CAs may not be required to complete physical testing prior to being hired. This lack of testing could influence the characteristics of CAs who attend academy training. Therefore, retrospective analysis of performance test data for 108 officers (69 males, 39 females) was conducted. The tests included: grip strength for both hands; number of push-ups and sit-ups in 60 seconds; 201 m (220 yard) and 2.4 km runs; and maximal aerobic capacity (V˙O2max) estimated from the 2.4 km run. Data were stratified by sex and age (≤24 years, 25-29 years, 30-34 years, ≥35 years). Independent samples t-tests (p < 0.05) calculated differences between males and females. To compare age groups, a one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc was utilized (p < 0.05). Males scored significantly higher than females in hand grip, push-ups, and sit-ups, were faster over the 201 m and 2.4 km runs, and had a higher V˙O2max (p ≤ 0.001-0.024). There were no significant differences in performance tests across the age groups for either males or females. To better tolerate the rigors of physical training, female CAs should attempt to improve their fitness prior to academy as they often need to complete the same tasks as the males. Age did not appear to influence the physical characteristics of CAs, although all CAs should attempt to develop the fitness qualities needed for their occupation.

Waist Circumference and Waist-to-Hip Ratio in Law Enforcement Agency Recruits: Relationship to Performance in Physical Fitness Tests

“…Law enforcement is generally seen as a spasmodic profession where sedentary work can be dispersed with a physically demanding occupational tasks (e.g. civilian rescue, suspect pursuit and restraint), and places great physiological stress on those in this occupation (11,25,28,44). As a result, it is important for LEOs to maintain an appropriate level of physical fitness (33,44).…”

“…A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), with sex as a covariate, was used to compare the different WC and WHR groups for males and females. Sex was controlled for in both the correlation and MANOVA as females tend to carry more body fat than males (14), and have lesser performance in typical LEA fitness tests (2,12,28).…”

“…Grip strength for each hand was measured by a hand grip dynamometer (Takei Scientific Instruments, Japan) with procedures adapted from law enforcement research (6,12,18,28).…”

“…Abdominal muscular endurance was assessed via the sit-up test, where the recruits completed as many repetitions as possible in 60 s. As for the push-up test, the sit-up test was conducted according to procedures established in law enforcement research (1,5,7,11,12,27,28,33).…”

Relationship Between the 20-m Multistage Fitness Test and 2.4-km Run in Law Enforcement Recruits

“…This was primarily due to the fact that LEAs do not use V O2max 5 as part of hiring standards; rather, agencies either use the 2.4-km run time (7,8,10,12,(25)(26)(27)32,38,42) or number of MSFT shuttles completed (4,11,12,30,33,34,37) as the indicator for aerobic fitness. Similar to previous research on law enforcement recruits and incumbents (3,7,12,24,27), it was hypothesized that males would perform significantly better in both the 2.4-km run and 20MSFT compared to females. It was further hypothesized that in line with the results from Wilkinson et al (43), there would be a significant relationship between the two tests, and that predictive equations could be generated via linear regression.…”