Twelve female Colorado police officers will not face discipline for failing their department’s physical fitness test, because they sued the city saying the test was discriminatory toward women.
A U.S. District court ruled the twelve officers who are all at least 40 years old must be reinstated until a final ruling, although they failed the physical fitness test, reported Colorado Springs outlet KRDO.
“I think the motivation in part is to get rid of these older women officers,” the women’s attorney, Ian Kalmanowitz, told KKTV News, another local outlet.
Local residents, however, are concerned their police force wouldn’t be able to pass a fitness test. Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey told CBS Denver he is disappointed, but will obey the judge’s decision.
“I very firmly stand behind physical fitness tests for our officers,” Carey said. “I think what I’m asking them to do is fair and my hope is a federal judge also agrees with this.”
The Colorado Springs Police Department implemented new standards for physical fitness in late 2014. Officers were required to do 52 push-ups in 2 minutes, 45 sit-ups in two minutes and two running tests.
If an officer failed the test, the department would take their uniforms and give them desk work. They then would have six months to get in shape, at which point they could be fired if they failed to pass the test again.
Twenty-five of the 628 officers who took the test failed, including the twelve women who sued Colorado Springs. “The punitive consequences of failing to pass the PAT test were unrelated to the announced purposes for administering the test and did not serve any important governmental objective,” the legal complaint read.
“These officers have dedicated their lives to the police department, to the citizens of this community, and they’ve had that taken away from them,” Kalmanowitz told KKTV News. “Not being allowed to wear a uniform, not being allowed to wear a badge, do their job.”
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