Introduction Many have highlighted the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among police officers. Because a low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in young adulthood is associated with a higher risk of CVD incidence, the identification of police officers exhibiting low CRF upon entry in the profession could allow the implementation of targeted strategies for the primary prevention of CVD. Unfortunately, reference values for the CRF of Canadian police recruits are not yet available.

Objectives This research aimed to provide reference standards for the CRF of police recruits in Québec (Canada) and to evaluate the trend in the CRF of recruits over a 14-year period.

Methods This cross-sectional study was divided into two research phases. First, fifty-one police cadets performed both an indirect calorimetry assessment of their maximal oxygen consumption (&Vdot;O2max) and the Physical Abilities Test (PAT) used for the recruitment of police officers in the province of Québec. Using results from both tests, a model was developed to estimate &Vdot;O₂max based on PAT results. The CRF of police recruits who completed the PAT from 2004 to 2017 was then retrospectively assessed using the previously developed model.

Results Based on the analysis of 7234 PAT results, the average &Vdot;O₂max was 53.33 ± 2.90 ml·kg^-1·min^-1 for male recruits and 43.78 ± 2.89 ml·kg^-1·min^-1 for female recruits. Furthermore, bivariate correlation analyses suggested small but significant increases in the &Vdot;O₂max of both male (r_s = .105, p < .001) and female recruits (r_s = .125, p < .001) over the 14-year period studied.

Conclusion Our results suggest that the CRF of police recruits in Québec is considerably higher than their North American peers. Furthermore, although clear conclusions cannot be drawn from our temporal trend analyses, our data suggest that the CRF of police officers from this population did not decline over the last decades as previously suggested by others.