Physical Fitness Leadership In Law Enforcement

• NCJ Number: 111334
• Journal: Police Chief Volume: 55 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1988) Pages: 28,30-32,34,37
• Author(s): T R Collingwood
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. For microfiche, see NCJ-111332.

Annotation

This article describes the major roles and skills that a physical fitness coordinator within a law enforcement agency can provide.

Abstract

The fitness leadership roles can be broken down into three areas: (1) behavior change agent, facilitating behavioral change: (2) program manager, providing program management and implementation functions; and (3) model, providing a visible example of a healthy, active lifestyle. Leadership skill functions are those functions the police fitness coordinator performs that require learned skills. The six basic fitness programming skills are assessment, exercise counseling, exercise prescription, motivation, education, and supervision/ feedback. Group activity skills pertain to functions necessary to deliver group activity programs and include basic and specialized group activity skills. Program management skills are those supervision components necessary to organize and direct a program, such as programming, and staffing. The three major elements in the preparation of a law enforcement fitness coordinator are selection, training, and certification.