Media Release

30 June 2006

Common Sense Prevails In Police Testing

New Zealand First Law and Order spokesperson Ron Mark is pleased that Police have updated their physical standards for recruit applicants to better reflect gender, age and body type differences.

The changes result from discussions between Mr Mark and Police Minister Annette King in December in which Mr Mark sought a review of aspects of entry requirements for police recruits.

“New Zealand First drew the Minister’s attention to the potential loss of good police recruits as a result of the standard physical ability test being applied without regard to age," said Mr Mark.

“Previously the standards allowed for a small differentiation for gender, but there was none for age or body type resulting in many quality older applicants missing out by a small margin in some tests.

“Hopefully this will encourage those individuals who came close to passing the fitness standards in the past to reapply.

“These changes bring fairness to the Police testing process and brings the run tests in line with those of the New Zealand Army.

“I look forward to working with the Minister during the next phases of the fitness and health reviews,” concluded Mr Mark.

ENDS

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