Citation

Lockie RG, Orr RM, Moreno MR, Dawes JJ, Dulla JM. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019; 16(7): e16071108.

Affiliation

Recruit Training Unit, Training Bureau, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles, CA 90022, USA. JMDulla@lasd.org.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph16071108

PMID

30925681

Abstract

This study determined the influence of years spent working in custody on fitness measured by a state-specific testing battery (Work Sample Test Battery; WSTB) in deputy sheriffs. Retrospective analysis was conducted on one patrol school class (51 males, 13 females) divided into three groups depending on time spent working in custody: DS24 (<24 months; n = 20); DS2547 (25⁻47 months; n = 23); and DS48+ (≥48 months; n = 21). These groups were compared to a recruit class (REC; 219 males, 34 females) in the WSTB, which comprised five tasks completed for time: 99-yard (90.53-m) obstacle course (99OC); 165-pound (75-kg) dummy drag; six-foot (1.83-m) chain link fence (CLF) and solid wall (SW) climb; and 500-yard (457.2-m) run (500R). A univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) (controlling for sex and age) with Bonferroni post hoc determined significant between-group differences. DS48+ were slower in the 99OC compared to the REC (p = 0.007) and performed the CLF and SW slower than all groups (p ≤ 0.012). DS24, DS2547, and DS48+ were all slower than REC in the 500R (p ≤ 0.002). Physical training should be implemented to maintain fitness and job-specific task performance in deputy sheriffs working custody, especially considering the sedentary nature of this work.

Language: en

Keywords

aerobic fitness; body drag; fence climb; foot pursuit; job-specific; law enforcement officer; obstacle course; police; tactical