Effects of Occupational Load on the Acceleration, Change of Direction Speed, and Anaerobic Power of Police Officers

Abstract

Police officers engage in movements such as foot pursuits, sudden directional changes, or prolonged sprinting while wearing occupational loads (including body armor, baton, radio, handcuffs, and sidearm). This study investigated the effects of incrementally heavier loads carried by police students on their physical performance. Police students (n 5 63; male n 5 39 male and 24 female students) performed an acceleration over a 10-m distance (Acc 10m ), Illinois agility test (IAT), and 300-yard shuttle run test (ShR 300y ) without load, with a 5-kg load (handgun, spare empty magazine, baton, and handcuffs), and with a 10-kg load (loaded vest). The effects of different load conditions were investigated for both sexes using a repeated-measure analysis of variance and Cohen's effect size. Female students carried relatively heavier loads and were slower than male students in Acc 10m , IAT, and ShR 300y . Load significantly (p , 0.001) impaired the performance in Acc 10m , IAT, and ShR 300y in both sexes, but the effects were greater (p , 0.001) among female police students. A load as little as 5 kg was sufficient to reduce Acc 10m , IAT, and ShR 300y among police students. Increasing the load to 10 kg (i.e., wearing the body armor) did not significantly affect Acc 10m and IAT among male students, but it did affect Acc 10m and IAT among female students. Sprint endurance (i.e., ShR 300y ) was strongly affected by both loads regardless of sex. Strength and conditioning programs should focus on strength, power, and anaerobic endurance to improve performance while carrying occupational loads. Occasional training with loads similar to those at work may further ensure that officers are fit for purpose.

Biomotor Abilities for Law Enforcement Officer Readiness

“…Twelve studies examined male and female participants [15,19,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], whereas the remaining five included only male participants [16][17][18]20,21]. Table 4 displays the frequency of significant biomotor ability correlates to occupational tasks among these studies.…”

“…This characteristic is critical when chasing a suspect, taking cover when taking gunfire, or closing a distance quickly to neutralise a threat. Research indicates that the ability to accelerate is important, especially under the load carriage conditions imposed by tactical gear [10,19,30].…”

“…Regarding the frequency of evaluation, muscular strength was assessed in 9 articles [16][17][18][19]22,23,28,29,31], muscular endurance was measured in 17 articles [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], and muscular power was measured in 13 articles [15][16][17][18][22][23][24][25][27][28][29][30][31]. Other fitness measurements included aerobic capacity, assessed in 7 articles [16,[18][19][20]28,30,31] and anaerobic capacity in 4 articles [16,18,19,…”

“…Other fitness measurements included aerobic capacity, assessed in 7 articles [16,[18][19][20]28,30,31] and anaerobic capacity in 4 articles [16,18,19,30]. Agility was assessed in 9 [15,16,18,19,22,[28][29][30][31] articles, and the least commonly reported fitness measure was flexibility, which was assessed in 6 articles [15,16,19,22,29,31].…”

“…The application of the test battery also varied between studies, with most studies requiring completion of the occupational physical ability assessment on a separate day from fitness assessments. Ten of the studies completed occupational physical ability and fitness assessments on the same day [17,19,[21][22][23][24][25][26]29,31], whereas the remaining seven studies completed each testing battery on different days [15,16,18,20,27,28,30]. In addition, some physical ability assessments required multiple occupational tasks to be completed continuously, whereas others allowed for recovery between tasks.…”