Philadelphia

Police academy standards have changed in Philadelphia. Here's why

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More than a third of Friday’s 63 graduating Philadelphia Police officers wouldn’t be on the stage if it weren’t for a revamp of the police academy entry standards.

PPD academy classes 406 and 407 were the first to be allowed to enter the police academy at a lower standard from the state’s required agility test. Philly is the only agency to have new metrics for entry into the academy.

Recruits can get in with a 1.5 mile run time that is 2 minutes longer than previously allowed, fewer push-ups and sit-ups.

But those recruits must meet the state required agility standard in order to graduate.

For example, a woman between the ages of 18 and 29 would be able to get into the academy with a minimum 17:49 run time for the 1.5 mile run. But she would have to be able to run that same distance in 15 minutes and 46 seconds to graduate.

“We've improved our processes, we've made some changes on a lot of things,” Captain John Walker, head of recruitment and background investigations, said.

The idea is to cast a wider net of potential officers.

The department has 1,000 fewer officers than it is budgeted to have-- and continuously fighting the tide of officers who are retiring or going to other departments.

“Where we can include more people that want to take this career is a big win for the department,” Captain Steven Clark, commanding officer for the department’s recruitment training unit, said.

We met Clark last year when the very first recruits who came in under the state standard started at the Academy. He wasn’t sure then if this experiment would all work out.

“Not so much skeptical as I was it's going to be more challenging than obviously the other, when it was 30% standard coming in. So there's some time to make up,” he said in an interview this week.

Of the initial five who came in under the state standard, four of them graduated today having met or surpassed the state standard.

Class 407, which started in May, had half of its recruits come at the new, lower entry standard. 

“Twenty came in under the standard and every one of them is graduating,” Clark said. “Part of that is it comes down to the individual person.”

He said recruits were often in the gym working out and training after hours.

Officer Kadeem Hankey was in that May class-- and graduated on Friday, Jan. 31.

He says he came into the academy at the graduating standard. But he saw the hard work put in by his other colleagues who didn’t.

“They definitely had vast improvements from when they started,” he said..

He added that the trainers at the academy worked with all the fitness levels among the recruits.

“Pushing us and making sure that we're striving beyond" the graduating state standard, he said. “I appreciate them for that.”

It’s not just Philly making these changes.

“Staffing across the country is a huge issue, primarily in large departments like Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the D.C.-based think tank Police Executive Research Forum, said.

Wexler said staffing concerns have forced departments to look at what is considered a good police officer.

“I think departments are looking for character, work history, integrity, decision-making. They're going to use those skills far more than they are catching someone in a certain amount of time,” he said.

According to Wexler, some departments have even gotten rid of the physical test to enter a police academy.

“The real question is, is the physical fitness standard as has been established, has that been proven to make someone a good police officer?,” he asked.

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