NCJ Number
88656
Date Published
1979
Length
76 pages
Annotation
Michigan law enforcement personnel, on the average, confront an incident requiring physical skills once every fifth workshift, or about 42 times per year per officer.
Abstract
About two-thirds of those incidents are of a critical nature, in that substantial public safety risks were involved if the officer had been unable to handle the situation satisfactorily. The physical skills required of law enforcement officers included both athletic and defensive skills. The athletic skills included lifting/carrying, dragging/pulling, pushing, climbing, running, jumping, and crawling. Concerning defensive skills, a police officer confronts situations in which the use of force is required better then seven times per year, on the average. Further, when the officer encounters resistance, the subject's mental or physical state, or the surrounding circumstances, typically make it unfeasible to reason with the subject. The report describes such resistance-type situations and compares the various types of traditional and specialized law enforcement jobs to ascertain similarities and differences in physical skill requirements. Additional data examine the various required physical abilities concerning their frequency, importance, and relationships with one another. The report is based on a survey of law enforcement personnel in 65 Michigan agencies. The questionnaire is appended. (Author summary modified)