Joining Forces: Police recruit physical capability at entry is impacted by previous injury-related disability

Introduction: To be admitted to the Police academy, aspiring officers must meet minimum fitness standards. However, it is possible that some recruits may not fully disclose previous injuries, which could affect their fitness levels upon entry. If recruits are not adequately prepared for the physical demands of the training program, this could increase their risk of injury due to the higher training loads. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: 1) report the prevalence of previous injury and persistent disability in Police recruits at baseline (collected by an agency external to the Police), and 2) explore relationships between injury history and persistent disability with cardiorespiratory fitness and work-specific physical performance. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional cohort study, inviting all recruits commencing between January to October 2022 to participate. Via survey, we collected information on demographics, injury history in the past 12-months per body region, and persistent disability using a region-specific disability scale (e.g., people with neck injury completed a neck disability index). Persistent disability was converted to a 0-100 composite score (%). Cardiorespiratory fitness (beep-test) and work-specific physical performance (physical performance evaluation, PPE) were provided by the Police and data were linked. Relationships between variables were explored using generalised linear models, adjusting for demographic variables, significant set at p<0.05. Results: 121 recruits participated in this study (response rate=58%) with median (range) age of 27 (19-52) years. Seventy-one percent were men (reflecting industry split). Median (range) beep-test level=8.5 (5-12) and PPE completion time= 131 (98-331) seconds. Sixty recruits (49.5%) reported ≥ one injury region in the past 12-months. The median (range) level of disability= 4% (0-40%). Persistent disability was related to time to complete the PPE (β=12.34, 95%CI=5.95-18.74, p<0.001). Though we detected no relationship between number of previous injuries and time to complete the PPE (β=2.70, 95%CI=-1.35-6.74, p=0.192). No relationship was observed between cardiovascular fitness and previous injuries (p=0.177) or persistent disability (p=0.187). Discussion: The majority of previous research has focussed on injury prevention once recruits commence training, with most recruit injuries occurring within the first two months of commencement at the academy. However, this research demonstrated a substantial portion of Police recruits commence academy training with persistent disability related to a previous injury. Furthermore, we demonstrated this persistent disability is related to capacity to complete police-specific physical function, being that, with every 1% increase in persistent disability, there is an increase in time to complete the PPE by 12 seconds. Impact/Application to the field: Injury reduction strategies for Police recruits need to consider that under-reporting of injuries-related disability at training commencement may impact injury risk. Strategies to encourage truthful reporting of persistent disability, to ensure that recruits receive appropriate support and training to prevent injury, might reduce the injury burden. Strategies to reduce persistent disability in recruits may also have an influence on improving police-specific functional capacity and better prepare recruits for the physical demands of police work. Finally, using this data may further assist to inform appropriate physical entry standards. Declaration: Ms Sutton currently receives support from the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs program. Dr Murphy, A/Prof Chivers and A/Prof Hart have all received industry funding for previous research by the WA Police Force. However, the WA Police Force had no involvement in analysis of interpretation of the results.