Police Scotland rejected 196 potential recruits because they were not fit enough — four times more than the previous year.
Almost 15 per cent of all applicants failed fitness tests between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. Just 56 applicants were rejected the year before because of poor fitness.
There are no mandatory fitness tests on serving police officers in Scotland, unlike England, where they became compulsory in September 2014. Tam Fry, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said the figures were a symptom of Scotland’s obesity problem.
He said: “With some two thirds of the country overweight it should come as little surprise that would-be policemen fail their fitness test. The lack of meaningful obesity policies in Scotland since 1992 has led to this predicament.
“But prepare for worse to come if Covid lockdown measures persist. In the two years of the pandemic in England, child obesity rates have risen by 4 per cent. If Holyrood fails to tackle the problem, a further rise is inevitable.”
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The figures, released under freedom of information legislation, show that 1,237 applicants passed the fitness test in the past year. The test involves a so-called bleep test shuttle run, in which would-be recruits are against the clock.
Applicants repeatedly run between two markers 15 metres apart and must reach each marker at the sound of the beep. The running test is usually held in a gym but last year it was a timed run of a mile and a half outdoors. Candidates also have to meet language, numbers and information-handling standards in an education test, pass an interview, go through a vetting process and pass a criminal record check.
They must pass medical, financial status and business interest checks, be tested for substance misuse, then pass two years of probation.
Superintendent Simon Wright, head of recruitment, said people who fail the fitness test get “appropriate support and are invited to re-submit their application after a specified period of time”.