Saturday, June 21, 2025

Healthy cops: Mexico City police paid 1,000 pesos a month to exercise

Mexico City is paying police officers 1,000 pesos (about US $50) a month to exercise with the expectation that they will lose weight and become better equipped to perform their duties.

More than 1,000 officers have signed up for the Healthy Police program, which involves attending fitness classes and following a healthy eating plan.

At a recent fitness session on a sunny morning in the capital, instructor Javier Ramírez told the news agency AFP that the three-month old program “is a way to fight the obesity problem we have in Mexico, the sedentary lifestyle.”

“We want [police] to be in optimal condition so they can do their jobs effectively,” he added.

Taking a break from the session of push-ups, squats and crunches, 36-year-old policewoman Graciela Benitez told AFP that her health was poor and she got tired at work before starting the program.

Officers take off weight with jumping jacks.
Officers take off weight with jumping jacks.

“I used to feel sleepy after lunch. I was tired when I got to work. Now, I don’t get tired. My body feels the difference,” she said.

Benitez has shed 10 kilograms since joining the program, which also offers nutrition advice.

Mauricio Barrera, a 26-year-old officer who has lost 16 kilograms since starting the program, said the experience has been life-changing, adding that he now finds it easier to get through his 12-hour shifts.

“This was all completely new to me . . .The first month was tough, both mentally and physically,” he said. “But the program has helped me understand that obesity is an illness.”

Authorities in Mexico City hope that officers like Benitez and Barrera will serve as an example to other overweight and obese police in the capital’s 83,000-strong force.

A 2018 report by the national statistics agency, Inegi, said that just under 80% of police officers in Mexico are overweight or obese, while about three-quarters of the general population suffer from the same conditions.

A report published by the newspaper Reforma in June said that as many as 1,300 Federal Police officers failed to meet weight requirements to join the National Guard. Some of the portly police were instead assigned to positions with the National Immigration Institute.

Source: AFP (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A screwworm fly, possibly

Fight against screwworm ramps up with reopening of sterile fly plant in Chiapas

0
Sterile flies were key to Mexico's past success in exterminating screwworm. Now that the pest is back, the US is offering $21 million to reopen the production facility.
CJNG cartel leaders El Mencho and Ricardo Ruiz

US sanctions CJNG leaders, citing TikTok influencer’s murder

3
People in the United States are now blocked from any transaction involving property that the five sanctioned cartel leaders have an interest in.
A clandestine oil refinery in Veracruz

Security forces shut down clandestine oil refinery in Veracruz

1
Officials also seized 1.2 million liters of stolen fuel in Nuevo León, as the government steps up the fight against fuel trafficking.