PNP wants lean, mean ‘karate cops’

Policemen should know how to subdue criminals even without firing a gun.

With this vision of a more combat-savvy force, the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday ordered its personnel to undergo basic martial arts training as part of their physical fitness regimen.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima said the Combat Sports Training would be an integral part of the “Pulis Hataw Na” initiative, an integrated health and physical fitness program which the 150,000-strong force revived on Jan. 11.

“(It) aims to develop and maintain the physical fitness and well-being of every member, and complement the sports activities in the PNP,” Purisima said in a statement.

Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, PNP public information office chief, said instructors will be hired to train policemen in karate, taekwondo, boxing and arnis.

“This is to encourage our personnel to get into different combat sports and use their physical skills to defend themselves and other people against lawless elements,” Sindac said.

He said each police officer would have to regularly undergo a physical fitness test (PFT). Those aged 39 years old and below are required to complete the PFT “at least once a year, preferably on the first week of their birth month,” he added.

Sindac said the PNP Health Service will supervise the annual physical examination of uniformed personnel aged 40 years old and above.

“They are all expected to obtain a passing raw score equivalent to a grade of 70 percent in each event required in their age category,” he said.

Sindac said policemen would be evaluated in terms of stamina, strength, speed and agility, by making them do push-ups, sit-ups, a 300-meter run and a 2,500-meter run.

“Elite forces” such as the Special Action Force, Maritime Group and Aviation Security Group have separate PFT standards corresponding to their special skills and functions, he noted. Marlon Ramos