Why I won't be a BART cop (At least not for now)

I have entertained the idea, off and on over the past few years, of making a career in Law Enforcement. I've actually sent out a few applications and received invitations to test for various law enforcement positions but always chickened out at the last minute. When I received an invitation to test for the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, however, I decided to take the test. I DO have an interest in Law Enforcement and I also have a great deal of appreciation for Public Transit, something that came from riding the train to school for two years in NYC. So I decided to take the written exam being offered back in January by BART. I took it, and passed. I expected the process to go very slowly, because just about every public agency in the State of California is hard up for cash right now because of Proposition 13. But a few days after I took the entrance exam, there was a letter for me in the mail, inviting me to take the Physical Fitness examination.

I took the Physical Fitness Exam today, and failed miserably. In fact, I did so poorly that I didn't even complete the first fitness test.

The test was held in the parking lot outside the Bayfair BART station, which is several stops south of Oakland on the Fremont line. The test consisted of four separate "Stations." One was a running obstacle course, one was a flat run, one was a dummy drag, and one was a wall, about 8 ft high that we had to vault, twice. We were split up into group of three and each group was to rotate between the dummy drag, the obstacle course, and the wall vault. Then all groups would congregate together and do the run.

The groups were not rigid, we sort of organized ourselves. I decided to try the vault first. We formed a line along one side of the parking lot where the test was held. The vault consisted of a panelled wooden wall, smooth on one side, with a chain link fence up against the other. We had to run at the smooth side, jump over the fence, and then run out about ten feet, turn around and run back and jump over from the chain link side.

When it was my turn, I ran at the fence, got up to it, and thought "How do I do this?" I burned a good 20 seconds on that question. The fence was taller than I was and it was smooth. I couldn't just pull myself up, I needed something to boost myself with (those Olympic gymnasts get a spring board - what did they do to get a spring board?) Not only was I wasting time figuring out how to get over the stupid fence, I was also wasting energy. I was out of breath. I finally used the support post to give myself a leg up and got over the fence, running to the cone on the other side and waiting for the training officer to give me the green light to attempt the chain link side of the fence.

The signal came and I broke out to try the other side of the fence. I thought this would be easier, I could at least dig my toes into the chain link side of the fence. But I had trouble getting over and the training officer told me to quit. "It's not happening," he told me. He was right. Because I had failed part of the test, I failed the whole thing. I didn't even bother with the other three stations. I would have liked to, just to greet a taste of what they were like, but I would have been wasting other people's time.

I know when I am beat, and I know when to simply fall on my sword. I gave it a shot, and I have no regrets. Maybe I'll try again in a few months. I hope to be in better shape by then. My exercise routine has been a little off the past six or seven weeks and it hurt me. Well, I am getting up early tomorrow to run.