Some Chicago area suburban police departments will participate in a program aimed at teaching officers how to become fitness trainers in their own agencies. The initiative was launched by the Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency (IRMA), a group that manages liability claims for a number of jurisdictions. It hopes to establish fitness testing standards for its member agencies over the next three years.

Under IRMA's proposed exam, a uniform standard would measure strength, cardiovascular endurance, motor ability and the ability to handle short bursts of exertion.

A great deal of an officer's work day is spent using relatively low levels of physical activity. However, that can change in an instant requiring the officer to engage in extremely strenuous bursts of physical requirements such as running after a suspect, jumping over fences, climbing through windows, or arresting a resistant offender.

Fitness Intervention Technologies, a Dallas-based firm that develops fitness programs for police agencies and who helped IRMA develop a final report, has quoted studies showing that the law enforcement community suffers from higher levels of obesity, heart disease and high cholesterol than the general population.

Due to the frequent sedentary nature of the job, I struggled with weight related problems during my career. Although the concept of establishing physical standards sounds like a good thing, difficult questions for police managers and municipal leaders could arise, for example:

* Should officers be paid for physical training in work related areas?

* How will an agency handle a situation where officer does not meet the physical standards?

* If departments enforce physical standards how will that impact pension funds?

* To what extent will police unions become involved in programs such as this?

Among the questions one might ask in support of setting physical standards is should we expect our officers to depend on obese, lumbering out-of-breath partners to back them up?

On a personal note, before implementing a set of physical standards on rank and file officers, whether it be IRMA's or any other, it may be wiser to put porked-up, puffy supervisors on a program especially those who have a history of abusing sick days.

Seventy-six towns in the Chicago land area are members of IRMA, here are a few: Buffalo Grove, Glencoe, Highland Park, Kenilworth, Lake Bluff, Lake Zurich, Morton Grove, Northfield, Palatine, Prospect Hts. and Rolling Meadows.