PCPD unveils new agility course at Lakeside Park
Published 9:15 am Monday, March 7, 2016
- PCPD Officer Thomas Gray climbed one of the scaling walls in his demonstration of the agility course. The wall is supposed to train officers on clearing obstacles they may face in the field. Photo by Kristen Dale
The Pell City Police Department welcomed a new agility course on Friday, March 4. The course is located on the edge of the parking lot adjacent to the Lakeside Park sports complex.
The new course replaces one that was several years old. The course will be one of the methods used to screen applicants for a physical assessment and for current officers to maintain a set level of physical finesse.
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The course begins with an officer pushing a car in neutral, and then running through the course. The course starts with two walls, a solid metal wall with a slight ledge and a chain link wall. The officer can choose which wall they want to scale. After the walls, officers climb through a wall with a hole representing a window, use a balance beam, and finish by dragging a tire – which is simulating dragging a human body.
Officer Thomas Gray was at the unveiling and demonstrated the course, running through it himself, completing it in about of the 90 seconds allotted.
Sponsors teamed up to either provide funds for the new equipment or provide the labor it took to get the agility course open.
The course will now be available to train new applicants on and for the PCPD biannual physical assessments that take place, in part, on the agility course.
