Political commentator Megyn Kelly called out law enforcement’s major issue with “overweight” officers Thursday, asking them to “get in shape.”
Kelly reacted to viral video of the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) dance team performing for a local news outlet. After Kelly showed the video to her panel, the political commentator began to state how some of the women appeared “very out of shape,” before stating that the physical fitness issue among officers across the United States has become a “problem.” (RELATED: San Francisco Somehow Finds A Way To Make Catching Criminals Even Harder)
“I’m all for like, you know, exercise and burning off stress, but some of these women look very out of shape. And I’m just saying … it plays right into a pre-existing problem with the police force, not just in New York City, but in many cities across America post-George Floyd. We cannot get basically fit people to want to join policing,” Kelly stated.
“And I will tell you, it just so happens I just had — I’m not gonna say who it was, but it was an NYPD officer pull me aside before this video, to say that this is a massive problem they’re experiencing with overweight and in some cases, obese cops. In particular women, but it can go both ways, who can’t even chase after the criminals they’re trying to arrest. We have lowered the standards so much that we’re actually missing arrests and bad guys and I actually looked into it. And sure enough, it’s true. First of all, in 2022, amid a wave of retirements — that’s the left’s fault — in NYPD, they replaced a faux six foot wall inside the police academy gym with a chain link fence. Hell, even I could climb that.”
Kelly continued to show her panel a video from NYPD’s training footage that appeared to show a woman attempting to climb over a chain-link fence, however, in her first attempt she doesn’t make it over the barrier. The political commentator called out the NYPD’s elimination of their previous 1.5 mile requirement for new recruits in hopes that “more women would make the cut,” stating that any officer, male or female, should “get in shape.”
“And secondly, then they scrapped the timed 1.5 mile run for new recruits that you used to have to do, saying they hoped more women would make the cut and sure enough they did. And their explanation was, ‘no cop on patrol ever has to run a mile and a half, no one’s chasing anyone a mile and a half.’ So my problem is like alright dance all you want, but like get in shape would you? You shouldn’t have been admitted to the police department if you can’t fit into the standard uniform and perform basic fitness tests, male or female. This is a problem and it’s not politically incorrect to talk about it. So there,” Kelly stated.
The NYPD received backlash in March 2023 after they had revealed that they would be lowering their fitness standards for new officers as it suffered from massively low recruitment, according to Fox News. Their 1.5 mile run in 14 minutes and 21 seconds was cut to a relay held on a multistep physical course test with a time cut off of roughly 4.5 minutes, the outlet reported. Additionally, their 6-foot-wall requirement was changed in 2022 and replaced with a chain-link fence that would be easier to climb.
Along with the NYPD, the Pennsylvania House passed a bill in November to lower police academy fitness standards, which sought to give new recruits more time to get in shape, according to ABC27.