Union Springs PD Adds New Requirements to Officer Training
The Union Springs Police Department has added requirements to its officer recruitment system in efforts to attract more qualified officers.
An applicant must now pass a physical agility test, which includes 22 pushups, 25 sit-ups, and a 1.5 mile run in 15 minutes, 28 seconds.
“We’ve come up with the idea that they have to prove to us that they can run, they can do pushups and situps as well as meet the other state requirements that APOS requires them to do before being accepted into the academy,” Union Springs police captain Sharon Dean says.
The requirements are not limited to physical training. Psychological tests are also administered.
“They also must be able to pass what we call the base test,” Dean explained. “It’s a basic skills test. The state is now requiring them to dot that.”
Since adding the three requirements, two police trainees have qualified to attend the police academy in Selma.
Dean says shes hoping to add more police officers to her department.
“We definitely have a shortage. There is a very great need for police officers here.”
In the past, the department has wasted funds on salaries, insurance, and other benefits, only for the trainees to fail the academy.
Dean is hoping a weight will be lifted off the departments shoulders now that new requirements have been added.
“It’s a lot less stress to know who you’re sending and having that confidence that they’re gonna make it when they get there versus us sitting here worried about ‘oh let me just wait and see.’ We don’t have to do that anymore.”
Dean says no female has passed the academy since 1994.
She is currently the only female officer at the Union Springs Police Department and has offered to help prepare those interested in joining the police force.
