Go, Fatso!

Oh dear, our larger police officers are going to be persecuted. A new review has advised that all police officers (would this apply to Northern Ireland police officers?) should be required to take an annual fitness test; failure resulting in a pay cut.

Those who fail the test three times should be subject to disciplinary procedures and a pay cut.

Chief constables should be able to make any officer redundant as part of budget cuts, ending the prospect of a job for life, the report said.

"... the public will be surprised that after passing a fitness test at the point of entry, except in special units like firearms, physical fitness is not tested again in a 30, 35-year career."

An initial annual test requiring officers to reach level 5:4 on the bleep test should be brought in by September next year, he said.

This is equivalent to an average speed of 8.8kph (5.5mph) for three minutes 35 seconds, he said.

But this should get tougher by September 2018, along similar lines to the test currently used in Northern Ireland.

This includes climbing over walls and pulling bodies and was designed to reflect situations which "police officers do and can become involved in".

Suffice it to say that Timothy Belmont concurs with the findings.