This sort of thing really irritates me:
CNN.com – Surgeon general to cops: Put down the donuts – Feb. 28, 2003
First of all, I trained K9 dogs for 10 years and worked with a lot of police officers.
You have to handle the donut thing carefully. It’s a horrible stereotype that few police officers live. By the way, many officers feel that “cop” is a derogatory.
But my biggest objection to this sort of speech, and to this sort of attitude, is that the person giving the speech doesn’t understand weight loss, weight gain, and the issues surrounding them.
There is much more to weight gain than calories vs weight burn. In my research on sleep apnea, and my own experience, the amount of sleep has a lot with how much weight you are gaining.
The fellows I worked with often worked 12 hour shifts — and even the guys who worked 8 hour shifts hardly ever end their work day after 8 hours. The stress and adrenlin rushes they are under also contributes to their ability to relax and sleep.
Yes, physical standards need to be in place, but at the same time, each department needs to examine their shift schedules and make sure their officers can get enough sleep and rest.
I know of one local department that forces officers to rotate shift every so often, which is REALLY hard on the body. Yes, rotating shifts might be fairer, but going through and asking people which they prefer might be a more expedient way to handle the problem. Give officers their preferred shift based on senority, and give people the chance to trade shifts when their life changes, is a much better answer.