Lower entry standards for police academy recruits in Philadelphia will eventually trickle down to local municipal departments across the state when the full effects of a new law shake out in the months ahead.

That’s because Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the measure in mid-December after it was approved in the House and Senate.

The plan, House Bill 863, proposed by state Rep. Dan Williams, a Chester County Democrat, reduces physical fitness standards for municipal police academy recruits for “cities of the first class.” At the moment, first-class cities in Pennsylvania have a population of 1 million or more, making Philly the only place on that list.

The new law requires police academy grads to score at least at the 30th percentile of the fitness standards. They deal with performance in long and short distance runs, sit ups and push ups and the limits are adjusted for age and gender.

At the same time, the law reduces the requirements so that an academy applicant has to score in at least the 15th percentile to enter but needs the 30th percentile to graduate and get work as a police officer.

In addition, the law requires a recruit candidate to pass reading comprehension tests proposed by a Joint State Government Commission that haven’t yet been established.

That commission is tasked with notifying lawmakers about the effects of the new rules on recruitment, education and training within a year. Some expect that report by mid-summer. Its outcome, some hope, would codify the new rules across the state.

Just in the way of history here, policing has been a struggling profession. Retirement, resignations, the COVID pandemic, politics, economics and social and racial pressures brought by national incidents like the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have rocked law enforcement across the country.

In addition, there’s a movement afoot to increase the number of mental health workers to respond to calls where police once did.

In Philadelphia, the police department is hemorrhaging personnel. Numbers of those leaving are substantially higher than graduating recruits.

Seeing all this, potential police recruits simply just don’t want to get involved.

Opponents of the new law contend that Pennsylvanians expect law enforcement officers to be the best of the best and that the higher standards create better cadets who have a better chance to succeed in the profession.

A Berks County legislator, state Rep. Barry Jozwiak, pointed out that fitness standards were already lowered from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile.

To be sure, there have been some attempts at increasing the numbers. Dropping residency requirements and subsidizing tuition in return for guaranteed employment are some of the methods being attempted.

In the state police, Shapiro dropped college credits as a requirement for employment, a move that increased some interest in the academy.

But will reducing the reading comprehension of a candidate who’s been pushed through a poorly funded school system where meeting testing numbers takes precedence over actual learning add more cops?

In a more practical scenario, who’ll foot the bill for a candidate recruit who doesn’t meet the improvement in their fitness from the time they entered an academy until they’ve learned at graduation they fell short? Are there incentives for those who show up in shape?

And will lowering the number of sit-ups and push-ups and allowing more time to run 300 meters and 1.5 miles solve the problem for local municipalities?

I didn’t go to school to become a wizard at math, but if I’m doing this correctly, according to the 30th percentile standards in place before the governor signed the bill, a man between 18 and 29 years old would have to do 35 sit ups in a minute to enter the Act 120 training.

The new law lowers that to the 15th percentile - 17 sit ups - to enter. That new recruit would have to double his performance - get back to 35 sit ups - in the 26 weeks it takes to complete the training.

That’s a tough assignment for someone who’s also completing 919 course hours of study and who wasn’t in decent physical condition to begin with.

I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it’s certainly a complicating factor.

All this considered, the proposal to lower fitness standards may work to shore up the police recruit numbers in the state’s largest city for a while, but in the long run, resignations and retirements will continue to take their toll on a department already in trouble. As for the rest of the state, who knows?

Lower standards often lead to less than desirable outcomes.

When it comes to fighting crime, that’s not a good thing.

ED SOCHA/TNEDITOR@TNONLINE.COM

Ed Socha is a retired newspaper editor with more than 40 years experience in community journalism. Reach him at tneditor@tnonline.com.

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.