Impact of a Season of Bike Patrol on Police Officers’ Level of Fitness: A Pilot Study

Frédérique Lehouillier, Marc-Olivier Dugas and Martin Lavallière
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Frédérique Lehouillier: Program of Kinesiology, Department of Health Sciences, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Saguenay, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
Marc-Olivier Dugas: Program of Kinesiology, Department of Health Sciences, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Saguenay, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
Martin Lavallière: Program of Kinesiology, Department of Health Sciences, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Saguenay, QC G7H 2B1, Canada

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-11

Abstract: Bike patrollers must have a good level of fitness to perform their patrolling duties adequately and effectively by bike and accomplish specific work tasks, which may require the use of various physical capacities. However, there is little information on the real workload associated with bike patrol and its impact on health. The purpose of this study was to assess the general physical fitness of police officers before and after a season of bike patrolling and then quantify its effects on each patroller’s health. All six male police officers (29.5 ± 4.3 years old) performed two complete physical fitness evaluations (PRE- and POST-season), which included anthropometric measurements (weight, waist circumference, and body mass index), a push-up test, a sit-up test, a grip strength test, a vertical jump test, a sit-and-reach test, and an aerobic capacity test on a bicycle ergometer. Paired t -tests were used to evaluate the differences in test performance between the PRE- and POST-season. Grip strength, estimated VO 2 max, and power deployed on the bike all showed significant improvement after the season ( p -value 0.0133; 0.007; and 0.003, respectively). No significant differences were found among the evaluation’s other components ( p > 0.05). Results show the workload associated with a bike patrol season caused a considerable improvement in grip strength, VO 2 max, and power deployed on the bike, and might be beneficial for their overall health as a work-integrated avenue to keep the officers fit for duty. Further research on the subject is suggested.

Keywords: bike patrol; work demand; cardiovascular test; fitness; fit for duty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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