The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has reduced standards to laughable levels as part of an effort to increase the number of female officers.
In an ideal world, police officers would be required to meet a high standard of fitness so that they are able to correctly execute their duties — especially in light of the fact that Americans’ lives often depend on these officers. However, thanks to the push for diversity over effectiveness that has crept into society, standards have continued to be lowered to achieve quotas.
An initiative to make the MNPD 30% female led to the department dropping the ability test for police recruits and replacing it with a much easier agility test, according to local news outlet WSMV. This change has allowed more recruits to pass, especially women.
The original ability test was known as the “Cooper Standards Test,” which “measured pushups, sit ups, a 300-meter sprint and a 1.5-mile run,” according to a report from the MNPD.
During an 18-month period between 2019 and 2021, the MNPD had a total of 1,138 recruits attempting to join the department — but 72 of them, roughly 6% of recruits, failed the Cooper Standards Test.
Police Chief John Drake signed the so-called “30×30 initiative” in 2021, pledging to make women 30% of the MNPD by 2030. This initiative involved putting an end to the Cooper Standards Test and replacing it with the Physical Agility Test, which “consists of a 99-yard agility run, a rescue simulation (dummy drag), chain link fence climb, solid wall climb and a 500 yard run,” according to the MNPD.
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh shared a clip of recruits taking this shockingly easy test in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The Nashville Police Department lowered its fitness requirements to recruit more women. This is what the physical fitness test looks like now. It looks like an obstacle course set up for third graders at recess. My four year old daughter could pass this test,” he wrote.
The Nashville Police Department lowered its fitness requirements to recruit more women. This is what the physical fitness test looks like now. It looks like an obstacle course set up for third graders at recess. My four year old daughter could pass this test. pic.twitter.com/TQNlFXUrMZ
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 18, 2024
“As a resident of Nashville I can only hope that the only people committing crimes in this city are 600 pounds and have no legs. But even then they could probably roll away fast enough to escape,” Walsh wrote in a follow-up post.
As a resident of Nashville I can only hope that the only people committing crimes in this city are 600 pounds and have no legs. But even then they could probably roll away fast enough to escape.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 18, 2024
Since implementing the change roughly 18 months ago, only 22 out of 843 MNPD recruits have failed the Physical Agility Test, which was a fail rate of just 2%. There were 15 women and seven men that failed the test.
Commander Tiffany Gibson, the MNPD’s first female director of training with the department’s Training Academy, celebrated the fact that women now make up 13% of the department, compared to 11% in 2023.
“We’re definitely growing, so if we can just keep that momentum going,” Gibson told WSMV. “I believe that it is definitely attainable. We still have some time, and we’re just going to keep working really hard to keep making sure that we get there, at least very close to it.”
The issue of lower standards for female police officers has been a concern for some time now, especially after a video emerged late last year showing four female officers attempting to arrest one male shoplifter — who easily overpowered the women and escaped.
4 overweight female cops try to arrest a male shoplifter for over 2 minutes.
He ends up escaping.
Diversity quotas are our strength!
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 24, 2023
The news led to many commentators calling out “woke” quotas in hiring.
