The physical competence test of the Dutch National Police:The effects of wearing a police uniform on test performance

In this study, we investigated the effects of wearing a police uniform and gear on officers’ performance during the Physical Competence Test (PCT) of the Dutch National Police. In a counterbalanced within-subjects design, twenty-seven police officers performed the PCT twice, once wearing sportswear and once wearing a police uniform. The results showed clear indications that wearing a police uniform influenced the performance on the PCT. Participants were on average 14 seconds slower in a police uniform than in sportswear. Furthermore, performing the test in uniform was accompanied by higher RP... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Koedijk, Matthijs
Stuurman, Hessel F.
Renden, Peter G.
Hutter, R. I.
Strating, Marian
Oudejans, Raôul R.D.
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Reihe/Periodikum: Koedijk , M , Stuurman , H F , Renden , P G , Hutter , R I , Strating , M & Oudejans , R R D 2020 , ' The physical competence test of the Dutch National Police : The effects of wearing a police uniform on test performance ' , Police Practice and Research , vol. 21 , no. 3 , pp. 264-278 . https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2019.1658583
Schlagwörter: job-specificity / physical fitness / Police uniform / representative testing / test performance / /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/peace_justice_and_strong_institutions / name=SDG 16 - Peace / Justice and Strong Institutions
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27074509
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
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Link(s) : https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/2910e745-b27a-44b9-8da0-d66510b59aaf

In this study, we investigated the effects of wearing a police uniform and gear on officers’ performance during the Physical Competence Test (PCT) of the Dutch National Police. In a counterbalanced within-subjects design, twenty-seven police officers performed the PCT twice, once wearing sportswear and once wearing a police uniform. The results showed clear indications that wearing a police uniform influenced the performance on the PCT. Participants were on average 14 seconds slower in a police uniform than in sportswear. Furthermore, performing the test in uniform was accompanied by higher RPE-scores and total physiological load. It seems that wearing a police uniform during the test diminishes the discrepancy between physical fitness needed to pass the simulated police tasks in the PCT and the job-specific physical fitness that is required during daily police work. This suggests that wearing a police uniform during the test will increase the representativeness of the testing environment for the work field.