Police academy eases entry requirements

In an effort to attract more applicants, the Danish police has lowered the entry requirements to police academies.

The changes in the physical requirements include the 2,400-metre run. Half a minute has been added to the women’s qualifying time, now at 13 minutes 30 seconds, and the same for the men’s qualifying time – from 11.5 minutes to 12 minutes.

Ina Eliasen, HR manager at the National Danish Police, says that the police academy wants more applicants.

“We have decided to ease our entry requirements and then demand more of them while they are here with us,” she told Danish national broadcaster DR.

Four months have been added to the overall study period, so that it now takes 28 months to qualify as a police officer.

Claus Oxfeldt, the chairman of the Police Association, welcomes the new changes.

“There has been some criticism that newly qualified police officers haven’t been adequately trained to write reports, and that their investigative skills have been lacking. We hope these changes will help solve this problem.

Translated by prosa.fo