SFPD, and their support staff, are tested semi annually for a physical fitness requirement. The physical training (PT) test consists of a vertical jump, situps, pushups and a 1.5 mile run. So these facilities are used for preparation and actual testing.
These are the people you want to chase down the rioters or criminals that broke into your house or threatened you or your family and are trying to escape on foot. If the people chasing are unable to catch them because of a lack of fitness, where does that leave you? As usual, reading it in the paper, not everything is as it seems.
The military is in the same situation only with a more stringent test annually. And like the police training centers, they have rules for the situation also.
rwood
No major objections to those officers who need to stay in shape or test for fitness, but that does not include the rest, for which a few months of walking around the block would do the trick:
...”police officers, judges, lawyers, bailiffs, and paralegals”