MUSKOGEE, Okla. — The Muskogee Police Department is incentivizing physical fitness for officers.
“We’re excited about it,” said Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee. “To give officers a reason to work out and stay in shape.”
The city of Muskogee and the Fraternal Order of Police negotiated 12 hours of fitness leave for officers this year. Officers will be able to get the time off by meeting fitness requirements for push-ups, sit-ups, and a one mile run.
“I try to get to the gym as often as I can, and I encourage the guys to stay in shape,” said Chief Teehee.
Chief Teehee said staying in shape is vital for his department and law enforcement agencies in general. He said the average life expectancy for law enforcement officers is 22 years less than the ordinary person, and many problems center around cardiac issues.
“Hypertension and cardiac issues, heart issues are one of the bigger issues that law enforcement have,” said Chief Teehee. “Being able to get in the gym is obviously something that is going to help.”
The Muskogee Police Department dealt with the loss of an officer first hand, after Captain Kevin Hammons died in December 2021. Captain Hammons was off-duty working out at the police gym when he suffered cardiac related issues that eventually led to his death. Officers told 2 News he was always working to keep himself in shape.
To honor Captain Hammons’ life and further incentivize officers, Chief Teehee unveiled the Chief’s Fitness Challenge.
“By doing that we’ll have the opportunity for the officers to double up the time so they’ll go from 12 to 24 hours if they match or beat my times and numbers in sit ups and push ups,” said Chief Teehee.
The testing will take place in June to qualify for the fitness leave and extra hours for the Chief’s Challenge.
“There’s too much pride on my part to not at least try to max out on all the times,” said Chief Teehee. “I will be doing my best.”
Chief Teehee said ultimately, he wants his officers to be able to enjoy retirement.
“We have a really nice retirement system set up for our officers, but it doesn’t do a lot of good if they don’t have an opportunity to enjoy that for an extended period of time once they’re retired,” said Chief Teehee. “Anything I can do to help get our officers in shape to be able to enjoy that down the road, I’ll do my part.”
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