Police are easing age and fitness rules

[obie7661]

Police departments around the country are relaxing age and fitness standards, forgiving minor criminal convictions and easing other requirements to relieve shortages in their ranks and find officers who are wiser, more worldly and cooler-headed in a crisis....

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RELAXING_POLICE_STANDARDS?SITE=FLROC&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-08-17-21-49

[longtimefirsttime]

This is being done in some large cities. Because of the workload and stresses involved with urban departments, it's often hard to keep people. They need the bodies.

To the best of my knowledge, departments in our area still utilize several mental and physical criteria as a precondition to exployment.