Recruits take physical tests
<p>Dustin Curry completes the PT Test of the application for the position of Plains Patrol Officer last Saturday.</p>
PLAINS - Saturday morning, as a cool wind blew over the Plains High School track, four applicants for the position of Plains Patrol Officer participated in a required PT test.
The requirements for the PT test consisted of a full minute of push ups, based on the applicants age, following the Cooper Standardized test. For the ages between 18 to 29 the standard number of push ups should be 33.
Once the applicants completed their push ups, they had to complete a required number of sit ups in a minute. The minimum number of sit ups an applicant should have completed for ages 18 to 29 was 40. If an applicants was between the age of 30-39 they should have completed at least 36 sit ups.
The last test was a mile and a half run. The max time an applicant between the ages of 18 to 29 must run was 11 minutes, 58 seconds. The PT scores are weighed against written test scores and interviews the applicants must meet before being hired.
“I like the community and I like to be a police officer for Plains,” said applicant Logan Harwood, who is 20 years old. Harwood is from Whitefish, but loves Plains and how close knit it is. “I’m still in school. If I was able to get this I would just finish my degree online. I’m pretty close to finishing it already,” he said. Harwood is working on his Associate Degree in Criminal Justice.
Judging the applicants were the Plains Officers and Mayor Greg Eitelberg.
Mayor Eitleberg explained, “Originally we had 15 applicants to start with, I took what I thought was the best five applicants to test and out of the five best applicants four have shown up.”
After the applicants went through their PT test, they went to City Hall to complete a three hour written test. Mayor Eitelberg then described the next process the hopeful applicants would go through. “...They will go over to the Police Commissioner and be interviewed there, they will then come back with a piece of paper saying they are certified, I will do an in-depth interview with all of them and then I will make the final decision on who gets hired.”
The city council will then vote on whethet or not to hire the applicant.
“Just out of School,” while some of the other applicants had more life experience, which he believes is good for a police officer.” Said Mayor Eitelberg. He then said despite their age, “Everything will be taken into consideration.”