Police fitness tests made easier

Tests of strength will be easier

Fitness tests for police recruits are being made easier in an attempt to increase the number of women officers, the Home Office has announced.

About one out of every two women fail the tests compared with one out of every 20 men. As a result only 18% of officers are women.

The Home Office says it can recruit up to 5,000 more women every year by replacing the test with a more female-friendly version.

'Slalom'

Recruits' speed and agility will no longer be put to the test as this is where most of the women have been failing.

This will have a dramatic and positive effect on the numbers of women joining the police service

Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth

Tests of strength and endurance will be made easier and the speed and distances recruits have to run will be halved.

They will no longer have to run a "slalom" - in and out of cones - as this no longer reflects the skills "modern policing techniques and technologies" require, Home Office spokesman John Ruddock told BBC News Online.

Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth said the new test would require "no more than what is needed to do the job safely and effectively".

'Dramatic effect'

"This will have a dramatic and positive effect on the numbers of women joining the police service," he said.

"It is central to the police reform agenda that we get the right people in the right jobs in the right numbers.

It is important to get as broad a range of people as we can into the service so it reflects the diversity of the population

Association of Police Authorities executive director Melanie Leech

"We need a police service that draws on the talents and potential of all parts of society."

Police Federation of England and Wales chairman Jan Berry said: "We welcome the decision to amend the tests.

"We want to ensure many good potential officers, who would otherwise be lost to the service, stand a fairer chance of becoming police officers without falling at the first hurdle."

The Association of Police Authorities also welcomed the new test.

Executive director Melanie Leech told BBC News Online: "It is important to get as broad a range of people as we can into the service so it reflects the diversity of the population."