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Three cops hurt doing fitness test

Crash test: Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan watches an officer take the test. Picture: Simon Santi/The West Australian

Three police officers have been injured doing a compulsory fitness test, one needing a knee reconstruction, the police union claims.

The untimed obstacle course is designed to ensure operational officers are capable of frontline duties and includes a 200m "foot chase" where they must climb a 1.5m fence, jump knee-high hurdles, clear a 1.5m ditch and run up stairs.

They have to "take down" a 40kg weight to replicate subduing an offender, handcuff a dummy and carry a 35kg load.

Union president George Tilbury raised concerns the test, introduced in January, was exposing officers to unnecessary risks after learning two officers needed knee surgery and another fell and fractured a wrist.

It is believed those officers still finished the course.

Mr Tilbury voiced his concerns after WA Police released initial results from the deployment readiness tests, which showed another four of the 1300 WA police officers who had been put through the course were unable to finish on their first attempt.

Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said the success rate was better than some jurisdictions doing the same course despite WA Police running the tests at outdoor venues in all weather conditions - rather than gyms - and officers being tested in operational footwear rather than running shoes.

WA Police said fewer than 10 of the 1300 officers had reported soreness or injury afterwards but it had not affected their ability to do the tests, which were supervised by qualified trainers.

Officers are given two chances within three months to finish the obstacle course before they "fail" and temporarily lose their operational status.

Three of the officers who did not finish the course on their first attempt have since passed and the fourth is yet to take the test a second time.