all police officers will be subjected to a physical fitness test.

The Russian government is clamping down on its police force and is threatening to sack those police officers who are too overweight to do their job properly. The information which comes from the interior minister Mr. Rashid Nurgaliyev means that all police officers will be subjected to a physical fitness test.

The police in Russia have a particularly bad image which is mainly due to the fact that they are said to be very corrupt and lazy when it comes to doing their job.  Because so many of them are also overweight the impression that many tourists visitors get of the Russian police is the only going to get worse unless they shape up.

Some news reports in Russia claim that 30 percent of the 40,000 policemen in Saint Petersburg have weight problems and therefore it looks like many of them will be out of a job unless they go on a diet and start to get exercise! 

Russia is not the only country which has a problem with an overweight police force, with Mexico also struggling to present a lean and mean law and order apparatus. The Russian police force should follow the example of their Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who regularly works out and prides himself on his macho image. Maybe it should be made compulsory for all Russian police officers to do judo like Putin as this would not only keeps them in shape but would also prove useful when tackling criminals.

It only seems fair that policeman and police women should be required to be slim and physically fit.  After all they are paid for by the taxes that you and I pay so why should they be allowed to do a bad job.  If a doctor or lawyer lost the ability to do their job properly they just would not be able to continue to work, so why should it be different for the police?