You’re correct, but unfortunately the mindset of the people at the top aren’t in the same place as ours. This stuff seems like common sense to us, but it’s foreign to them. Anytime someone brings up a new idea the first two questions are: How much will it cost? How will it affect staffing?
Case and point: Last week I e-mailed my Lieutenant about sending up a proposal for the department wide cardiovascular risk assessment. His first and only response was “How will it affect my schedule?”
He meant staffing. Will it take bodies off the street?
In regards to testing and programming. I would like to use lab results for the usual bloodwork, but we’re not required to have that done. We have a “Wellness Rewards Program” through the city. It’s not specific to police. I’ve done that every year that I’ve been here because I think it’s smart to have an idea about your health other than your outward appearance. I talk to a lot of officers and they don’t even know the program exists. I think I could contact the wellness coordinator and organize an on-site screening but it’s always a touchy subject when you’re talking about sharing people’s health information. Obviously, a simple waiver would be sufficient to release that information to me but the big-decision-makers use about anything they can to shut down a new idea.
Programming would be pretty basic and probably focus on weight loss since most of my co-workers are fat. I’m not sure if I’d have them do CrossFit style workouts or simple circuits combined with steady state cardio. Making them sweat and burn calories is the easy part. Getting them to eat better is the real battle.
I think the best angle is to focus on improved health. Performance won’t catch their attention. It should, but I don’t think it will. The obvious arguments are that fit officers will be more healthy, miss less work, use less force, etc. But the better argument is that an on duty heart attack can cost the department $450-$700K per incident. That’s a lot of money. Sadly, it seems that bad things have to happen before it catches anyone’s attention. Once something bad happens then there’s a knee jerk reaction to fix it—even if it doesn’t need to be fixed.
The incentive should be improved health! But we all know that won’t do the trick. If people simply get an annual physical with blood work and go to the dentist or eye doctor then they can get a reimbursement. If any of their lab work is out of “normal” then they have to go online and complete a “journey”. You have to log on and commit to a bunch of stupid stuff that can improve your health like eating for five minutes and then taking a five minute break (it allows the food to get to your stomach and signal you to stop eating before you overeat). There is little stuff like stretching once an hour; taking the stairs. You get the idea. But the kicker is that you don’t actually have to do anything; you simply “commit” to it and come back a week later and say you did it. You don’t have to fix your lab results.
I think I could probably find some community support and get some donations to fuel people. T-shirts, workout gear, supplements, or just plain old gift cards should do the trick. I’d like to give every participant something, but I’m not sure how I would reward top performers. I don’t like things like weight loss or fastest/strongest time. Even measuring improvement can be tough. The fattest, most out of shape person has the most room for improvement. Compare that to someone like me who maybe just needs to improve their conditioning and the “improvements” won’t be the same. Going from a 12 minute mile to a 10 minute mile is probably easier than going from a 9 minute mile to a 7 minute mile. Both improved by 2 minutes but that’s not the same accomplishment (in my mind).
I just had a thought (that I’ll probably forget). Maybe I could set individual goals and base it all off of that. Did they reach their goal or not?
And for things like “most improved” or “top performer” I could let the group vote.
As you can see, I have a lot of ideas. I just need support. At this point I’ve accepted the fact that none of this will happen as part of my job. I’m going to have to volunteer my time. I’m willing to do that to a certain extent. I just want/need the support of the department to use our e-mail system and contact the community on behalf of the department.
My very first “Officer’s Report” (official department correspondence) was proposing that I be a personal trainer for the department. I listed my credentials and offered it free of cost. I just wanted to be able to meet with people on duty to consult with them about their goals. That eventually turned into my proposal for the weekly group training classes. I also prepared a couple presentations for command staff and offered ideas for in-service training classes.
I think I’ve come full circle and I’d be happy just to do it on my own and play “free coach to the officers”. But you get what you pay for—it’ll be more of a hands off approach. I’ll coach and monitor but I can’t be training everyone one-on-one every workout.
