The Phoenix Police Department has made total employee wellbeing a priority. The Department has implemented new programs with incentives to encourage employees to be healthy. The Department partnered with Heart Fit for Duty to teach heart disease risks, prevent common injuries, injury prevention, nutrition, exercise principles, and exercise programming during AOT from 2015 through 2018 (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020). The Department also created a Physical Fitness Coordinator position, whose job duties include creating physical fitness programs for recruits at the academy and department employees. The coordinator also assists employees with nutritional and weight loss information (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020). The City of Phoenix’ Fit4Phoenix program is available to police employees and assists by providing a walking program, health coaching, catalog classes, a membership with weight watchers, fresh express, discounts at YMCA’s, mobile onsite mammography and prostate cancer screenings, and free blood pressure monitors (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020).
In 2016, the Phoenix Police Department permitted sworn officers to work out with certain restrictions during their lunch breaks, recognizing the importance of physical health in relation to its employees improved mental health. Nearly half of the Department’s sworn employees are participating in the program (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020). The Department has workout facilities at 18 of their work locations, and the Phoenix Police Athletic Club has recently upgraded most of the equipment. The Department started the Physical Fitness Assessment Incentive Program in 2016, which rewards employees who pass the standardized FitForce test at Level I with one day’s leave for special recognition. In the first year of the program, 21 officers passed the FitForce test, and in 2019 the number increased to 87 officers (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020). The Fitness Coordinator also hosts an annual Murph event, a Phoenix Police Officer Down Memorial Workout, and other physical fitness competitions to promote increased physical activity (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020).
The Phoenix Police InBody Challenge began in 2018, and 450 employees voluntarily participated in the challenge, which measured body fat against lean body mass (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020). In 2020, the InBody Challenge was changed from six-weeks to eight-weeks. The Department’s Fitness Coordinator modified the workout to bodyweight or only requiring a set of dumbbells, and he sent out an email every week to include nutritional help (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020). In 2020, 120 officers voluntarily signed up to be a part of the InBody Challenge. During both years of the InBody Challenge, participants who followed the program saw significant improvements in their body composition, losing fat and increasing muscle mass. Two males and two females who showed the most improvement were declared winners of the challenge and were rewarded with one days leave for special recognition (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020).
The Phoenix Police Department recently moved to a more consistent basis of physical conditioning for recruits at the academy, and the changes are already showing positive results. Recruits alternate between doing physical conditioning two times one week and three times the next week (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020). In another effort to promote employee wellness, the Department has a physical fitness section on its intranet site PolicePoint. Employees can get information on FitForce preparation, Fit4Phoenix, HIIT workouts, nutrition, the InBody Challenge, and the Phoenix Police Athletic Club (A. Timm, personal communication, November 8, 2020).