DPS officers sue to block limits on waistline size

[TexasTowelie]

A lawsuit filed in Travis County seeks to overturn a new Texas Department of Public Safety policy that requires waistlines to be under 40 inches for male officers and under 35 inches for women.

Had the waistline standards been in place during physical fitness testing last year, about 22% of commissioned officers would have failed, said the lawsuit, which argued that the “command presence policy” on waist circumference was arbitrary, misguided and established in violation of state law.

“DPS created the command presence policy from whole cloth, and it has no relation to a commissioned officer’s ability to perform his or her job functions,” said the lawsuit, filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit by the Department of Public Safety Officers Association goes further, asking a state judge to overturn fitness standards that have been updated in recent years — such as a timed 1½-mile run and a minimum number of sit-ups and push-ups within two minutes — that the petition argues also were adopted contrary to state law.

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20191003/dps-officers-sue-to-block-limits-on-waistline-size

[empedocles]

1. 'Generous standards' - suspect they might be hard on good old boys

[TreasonousBastard]

2. I'm sure the donut shops were behind this...

but I don't understand why because what cop pays for his donuts?

But, the truth is that if I had to be chased by a cop, I'd rather it be by a fat one.

[Collimator]

3. Fitness standards are not unreasonable.

Tying a fitness standard to a waistline measurement is unrealistic.

People carry their weight in different ways. Someone who is naturally very slim might get winded chasing a perp even a short distance. Another person with a sturdy build might be able to run for a longer time easily.

[walkingman]

4. Is this just proof that the DPS are "Pigs"?? Funny, I haven't heard that in years.