I Guess Fat Cops Are Sensitive Too…

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I really admire people who serve in the field of law enforcement. Let’s face it, you never know when a routine call could turn into a life threatening situation. Like teachers, we probably don’t pay cops enough, but that is a different topic than what I want to cover today. What I want to talk about here is the fact that I think that anyone who does want to serve in law enforcement, especially uniformed personnel, should be required to keep themselves in decent physical shape as a requirement for keeping their job.

To me this is really a no-brainer. If a cop is so out of shape that he/she gets winded running up a flight of stairs, or could easily be outrun or outmuscled by a criminal, that person really can’t perform all of the duties of his/her job, right? Apparently, former Winter Haven Police Chief Paul Goward agrees with me. In early October he sent a memo to his 80 member force titled “Are you a jelly belly?” He never singled anyone out, never called anyone fat, and basically provided a list of 10 reasons police officers should be in good physical shape.

“Take a good look at yourself,” he wrote. “If you are unfit, do yourself and everyone else a favor. See a professional about a proper diet and a fitness training program, quit smoking, limit alcohol intake and start thinking self-pride, confidence and respectability. And stop making excuses for delaying what you know you should have been doing years ago. We didn’t hire you unfit and we don’t want you working unfit. Don’t mean to offend, this is just straight talk. I owe it to you.”

Well, notice I said former Police Chief Paul Goward. It seems that some on the Winter Haven police force took exception to the straight talk and being told that fat is not in, and the Chief was actually forced out of his job. Yes, because he had the guts (no pun intended) to point out the obvious, due to an environment where political correctness has obviously gone overboard, he lost his job. Makes a lot of sense, huh? Maybe he could have used a bit more tact, given the apparently sensitive makeup of his force, but the Chief was actually trying to help these people.

Of course, there are always two sides to a story and there was talk that morale was already low under Goward’s leadership. Maybe the “Jelly Belly” memo was simply the icing on the cake (ok, pun actually intended this time). Who knows? Winter Haven cops have been instructed by higher ups not to talk about the issue, and the one known letter of complaint about the “Jelly Belly” memo was anonymous.

Well, I guess the good news is that if you aspire to a career in law enforcement, are overweight, very sensitive, have little concern of how your appearance reflects on the badge you wear, and prefer to remain anonymous, there are apparently good jobs waiting on the Winter Haven, FL police force.

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3. The Economics of Obesity: Why Are Poor People Fat?
4. I Was a Big, Fat, Unhealthy Mess