Special Weapons and Tactics Occupational-Specific Physical Assessments and Fitness Measures

Abstract

Specialist tactical response police are required to frequently perform physically demanding tasks at high-risk capability levels, emphasizing the need for optimal physical fitness in this population. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between select measures of physical fitness and performance on an occupational-specific physical assessment (OSPA). A retrospective analysis on 18 male specialist police candidates (age = 32.1 ± 5.04 yrs; height = 183.72 ± 5.79 cm; body mass = 89.44 ± 8.56 kg; body mass index (BMI) = 26.45 ± 1.58 kg/m2) was conducted. Data were comprised of anthropometric measures, assorted fitness measures and OSPA performance scores. A stepwise linear regression determined the influence of measured fitness parameters on OSPA performance. A regression featuring both the 1 RM military shoulder press and grip strength of the non-dominant hand was the most significant predictor of performance (adjusted r2 = 0.565, p = 0.001). A separate model, exclusively using the 1 RM military shoulder press additionally predicted OSPA performance (adjusted r2 = 0.240, p = 0.023). These results emphasize the importance of optimal upper-limb muscular strength and its impact on key occupational tasks in specialist police candidates.

Occupational Safety of Municipal Police Officers: Assessing the Vulnerability and Riskiness of Police Officers’ Work

“…Police officers are also exposed to physically demanding activities that endanger their health [ 51 , 52 ]. It is also important to pay attention to the psychological stress they encounter during their work.…”

Development of a Fitness Test Battery for Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Operators—A Pilot Study

“…The use of a sled drag event may be redundant due to the specific obstacle course this SWAT unit employs. Regardless, lifting something from the floor/knee height greater than 150 lbs was the most common task in surveyed SWAT operators and dragging a fully equipped casualty to safety was also common [6,10]. Keeping the sled drag as a SORT metric may be indicative of this ability and crucial for SWAT units that do not incorporate a sled drag, or "Man Down" event, in their fitness test.…”

“…While these fitness tests, often derivatives of Cooper's Test, may be adequate for training recruits and testing fitness maintenance in LEOs, a test that only focuses on cardiovascular endurance and local muscular endurance may be inadequate for specialist police [5]. Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officers are routinely engaged in activities not typically required of LEOs such as hostage negotiations, counter-terrorism operations and large scale illicit drug apprehensions, as well as executing high risk warrants [6][7][8]. Frequently, this requires SWAT officers to sprint, vault over obstacles, maintain tactical positions for extended periods and drag casualties to safety [6,9,10].…”

“…Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officers are routinely engaged in activities not typically required of LEOs such as hostage negotiations, counter-terrorism operations and large scale illicit drug apprehensions, as well as executing high risk warrants [6][7][8]. Frequently, this requires SWAT officers to sprint, vault over obstacles, maintain tactical positions for extended periods and drag casualties to safety [6,9,10]. These tasks are performed while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) and carrying all their additional gear.…”

How Fit Are Special Operations Police Officers? A Comparison With Elite Athletes From Olympic Disciplines

“…Nevertheless, it is still somewhat difficult both to classify the physical requirements for SOP operators and to give applicants concrete recommendations for daily training. This is because few studies exist which have outlined a comprehensive fitness profile of SOP units (Pryor et al, 2012 ; Strader et al, 2020 ). Other research has examined only aerobic performance, but not muscular strength, agility, or body composition (Sperlich et al, 2011 ; Maupin et al, 2018 ).…”