Female cops are “insulted” by the NYPD’s efforts to boost gender equity — by lowering standards during rookie tryouts, including scrapping the timed 1.5-mile run.
The controversial shift — which former training Chief Juanita Holmes said would help more women applicants make the grade — sparked fireworks between Holmes and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who sources said wanted to keep the run.
Holmes was abruptly shifted to lead the city Probation Department on March 9.
The run “will no longer be part of the final evaluation of officers” an NYPD spokesperson confirmed on Friday.
“I’m offended,” huffed one female cop on patrol Friday. “We were in the academy when it was on the fence whether or not [the run] was going to be canceled and we had to pass it to get through the academy. … If those females don’t want to put in that effort to pass the mile and a half run, I don’t think they should be cops.”
Added another female cop on patrol in Manhattan: “If I did [the run], everyone should do it.”
Cathy Johansen, who heads the New York Women in Law Enforcement, said the move “is an insult” and “will result in lackluster candidates” and “sub-standard officers.”
She said her organization “strongly supports” the 30×30 initiative which aims to increase the representation of women in law enforcement to 30% by 2030 “but lowering standards is not the answer.”
The department last year replaced a faux 6-foot wall inside the Police Academy gym with a chain-link fence that’s easier to climb, according to official recruiting videos posted online.
The “Barrier Surmount” is one of six tasks that comprise a physical exam known as the “Job Standard Test” that would-be cops have to pass before beginning six months of training at the academy in Flushing, Queens.
And to boost the passing rate for the 1.5-mile run, the 3-minute, 28-second time limit that was in place in 2019 was extended by nearly a full minute — to 4:28 — in 2021, according to the NYPD recruiting videos.
“I’m more mad that they’re eliminating the run requirements and blaming it on the need to recruit more women,” said Professor Jillian Snider from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a 13-year veteran of the NYPD who retired in 2019.
Without the timed run, the only physical fitness criterion for NYPD hopefuls is the Job Standard Test, the multi-step obstacle course that now needs to be completed in 4 minutes and 28 seconds.
The internal squabble boiled over just months after The Post reported in July that the NYPD dramatically relaxed the police fitness test amid a record wave of retirements.
