PEARL, Miss.- If you’ve heard that Mississippi is ranked dead-last out of all 50 states when it comes to obesity, you wouldn’t know it by looking at it’s law enforcement. A group of eight of them has been getting after it at the Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in Pearl for the past few months.
They’re getting ready for Lawfit. It’s a physical competition between law enforcement from all fifty states. Mississippi’s team has won it the past seven years running, eight total. That’s only out of thirteen years of existence of the competition. They’ve been under the direction of Captain Thomas Tuggle, who was on the team himself until 2010.
“You’re talking about the top one percent of law enforcement officers that are physically fit,” Tuggle said. “I’m proud to say that this state has the most fit law enforcement officers in the country.”
Here’s the full interview with Captain Tuggle:
Ryan Buckley has been on the team for three years, and has won the individual overall championship twice. He says the team is a year-long commitment, even if there’s only one competition a year.
“We dedicate about three months out of the year just for doing this” Buckley said. “On the off time, myself, along with the rest of the team, we still continue to work. We just don’t work as hard, but we still continue to work.”
Listen to the full interview with Buckley:
The competition will take place on July 15th in Olive Branch. Captain Tuggle said that the competition moved from Virginia to Mississippi, and that southern hospitality paid off.
Want to see the men in action? Here’s your chance:
