Rep. Dan Williams, D-Thorndale, is pictured during his swearing-in during a ceremony in Harrisburg in January. Williams is proposing lesser physical fitness requirements for prospective police officers in Pennsylvania.

Those interested in police work may not have to hit the gym quite as hard under legislation likely to be introduced during this legislative session.

State Rep. Dan Williams, D-Thorndale, recently circulated a co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation that would decrease the fitness requirements to be accepted into the state police academy. Williams proposes no change for those who will graduate from the academy.

Williams said police academy applicants are required to score no lower than the 30th percentile in evaluations that include long- and short-distance runs, bench presses and sit-ups. Williams proposes reducing the requirements so that an applicant only has to score in at least the 15th percentile for these evaluations. Applicants would still be required to score no lower than the 30th percentile in order to be employed as a police officer.

Williams cited a 2021 national survey conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum that showed a 45% increase in retirements and an 18% increase in resignations over the previous year. The Thornburg Democrat also said the state Attorney General’s Office has said Pennsylvania has around 1,300 open policing positions across the state.

“The unprecedented vacancies that Pennsylvania is currently experiencing place a greater burden on our remaining officers with heavier caseloads, burnout, and increased stress,” Williams said in his legislative memorandum. “This makes it harder to find justice for victims, keep our residents safe, and build bonds between officers and the communities they serve.”

Pennsylvania isn’t the only state to consider taking action. Bipartisan legislation to abolish reoccurring physical fitness requirements for police officers in New Hampshire has been introduced in the New Hampshire Legislature — though New Hampshire’s officers would have to pass physical fitness requirements to get into the police academy and to graduate from the police academy.

According to a recent article in The Keene Sentinel, the current standard for a male officer aged 18 to 29 is 27 push-ups in a minute, 37 sit-ups in a minute, and a 1.5-mile run time of 12 minutes, 53 seconds. The standards are lowered proportionately for females, and as officers age every 10 years.

“The police chief from Hinsdale brought this to my attention because it’s difficult for them to get and retain police officers,” New Hampshire state Rep. Michael Abbott told the Sentinel. “In the situation we have here in Hinsdale, we border with Vermont and Massachusetts, where they don’t have any such requirement.”

And, last year the New York City Police Department made its fitness tests easier in the wake of a raft of retirements. NYPD leadership was considering eliminating a timed 1.5-mile run, had changed its wall-scaling test to be easier to pass and extended the time to complete an obstacle course to make it easier to pass, according to a July New York Post report.