ATLANTA — Are members of Georgia’s local law enforcement agencies physically fit to serve?

Our partners at Channel 2 Action News started digging into the issue and found that many law enforcement agencies in the state no longer hold annual physical agility tests.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Sophia Choi started asking why, and how that could impact your safety. She caught up with Coweta County Sheriff’s deputy recruit Skyler Hildebrand as he practiced for the test required by the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council – or POST – which is the governing body for all Georgia law enforcement officers.

Hildebrand had two minutes and six seconds to make it through an obstacle course that is part of POST’s agility test, which is the first test for all recruits.

It’s so important that POST says if you don’t pass it, you don’t get into the academy.

“They’re the tasks that are consistent with what an officer may have to perform,” Chris Harvey with POST said about the agility test.

But Channel 2 Action News has found that once a recruit becomes an officer many are never tested again.

We contacted more than a dozen metro area police departments and sheriff’s offices, including large jurisdictions like Atlanta, Gwinnett, and DeKalb.

None of the departments we contacted, except for Coweta County, said they hold mandatory, yearly agility tests.

WSB-TV’s Sophia Choi contributed to this story

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