Strength Requirements of Law Enforcement Officers: A Critical Review

Purpose:
The physical and diverse nature of daily tasks associated with law enforcement requires adequate muscular strength for optimal performance and injury prevention. A small body of research exists in which strength has been reported in law enforcement officer (LEO) populations. However, a critical review of this research has yet to be conducted. Therefore, the aim of this critical narrative review was to identify, critically appraise and synthesise the essential findings of current literature pertaining to the strength requirements of LEOs.

Methods: A comprehensive search of three databases utilising key search terms was conducted. Subsequently, inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to yield all applicable studies. Two reviewers individually evaluated the final ten studies using a modified Downs & Black appraisal tool. Cohen’s kappa coefficient (ĸ) was used to evaluate interrater agreement and a final critical appraisal score was allocated to each study. Finally, significant findings were tabulated.

Results: The mean modified Downs & Black score achieved was 18 ± 2.8, with substantial interrater agreement (ĸ = 0.654). Most commonly reported measures of strength were 1RM Bench Press (8/10 studies) and Grip Strength (5/10 studies).

Discussion: Peer reviewed research in this field is limited and generally of poor to fair methodological quality. A narrow scope of strength-related outcome measures has been reported upon in the available literature. Therefore, conclusions drawn from these findings should be interpreted with caution.