New BrunswickDerek Doyon wants to be a police officer, and the New Brunswick RCMP have given him a chance to find out if he’s fit for the job. Participants perform exercises that require the strength and stamina of an RCMP officerRhythm Rathi · CBC News · Posted: Aug 23, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoDoyon said he comes from a military family and wants to become an RCMP officer. (Rhythm Rathi/CBC)Derek Doyon wants to be a police officer, and the New Brunswick RCMP gave him a chance to find out if he’s fit for the job. His family drove the 18-year-old from Oromocto, southeast of Fredericton, to a YMCA in Moncton, where he took part in a police fitness assessment.The workshop, part of recruitment events conducted by the RCMP, was to help members of the public test their fitness levels against RCMP standards. Doyon, a recent high school graduate, said the inspiration to join the force comes from his military family. Derek Doyon cleared every fitness test at the workshop. (Rhythm Rathi/CBC)”I figure that [the] RCMP would keep me in shape,” he said. “It’s the job that I want to do later.”Doyon was among six participants who had to complete a 500-metre run in just over two minutes, lift and drop two 20-kilogram sand bags 15 times, and throw a 4.5-kilogram medicine ball at a minimum distance of about three metres while keeping their backs and shoulders flat against the wall.Participants also had to walk three laps on a 50-metre track holding sand bags in both hands, each weighing about 20 kilograms. Every round was separated by a quick sprint.WATCH | ‘Lots of heavy breathing, lots of sweating’: Do you have what it takes? RCMP wannabes test their mettle Six New Brunswickers participated in a workshop conducted by the RCMP to see whether their physical fitness levels measured up to police standards.”I passed every section of the test,” Doyon said. “I work for a moving company … I have been lifting heavy stuff, like, for a little bit now, so that helped prepare me for this.”He’ll keep working on his physical fitness to make sure he qualifies for the actual test when the time comes, he said.Six aspiring candidates participated in the RCMP’s fitness assessment workshop at a YMCA in Moncton. (Rhythm Rathi/CBC)These fitness workshops are condensed versions of the real test that officers have to take during the recruitment process, the RCMP said.Doyon was one of the youngest participants, but that didn’t make him nervous.”There’s always people that are stronger or weaker than you are, so you just adapt,” he said.Shane Springer said he is looking for a career change and an RCMP job seems more fulfilling to him. (Rhythm Rathi/CBC)Participant Shane Springer of Riverview, who now works in retail, is looking for a career change, and lately he’s been thinking about the RCMP.”I love the career that I’m in right now, but I always felt like I want something more … fulfilling to help the community,” Springer said.”I have two young boys that I [want to] raise in a safe community, and that’s probably one of the main things for it.”After passing the test, Springer said he was happy with his performance, but plans to work more on his cardio and conditioning.Shane Springer said he will focus on improving his cardio, despite passing the fitness test. (Rhythm Rathi/CBC)He’s currently in the early stages of applying for the job, he said. “There’s lots more steps involved … but I am confident that I can get through it.”New Brunswick RCMP Const. Martine Losier-Roy was one of the officers conducting the fitness assessment.She said each test simulates a real-life situation that police officers have to deal with as part of their job.”We want people to recognize where they’re at and what they could work on potentially when they go to the academy, or before they go to the academy,” she said.These real-life situations include a foot chase, a grappling situation, lifting heavy equipment during a seizure and evacuating injured people on a stretcher, she said.Const. Martine Losier-Roy said these workshops offer a condensed version of the actual fitness test that candidates undergo during their recruitment process. (Rhythm Rathi/CBC)”Fitness as a police officer has to be part of your routine, it has to be something that you keep doing throughout your career,” Losier-Roy said.Serving officers have to clear this workshop version of the actual fitness test, along with a health assessment multiple times throughout their career.She said the fitness assessment workshops are conducted multiple times a year for the public in different communities across New Brunswick.”We have had a few success stories throughout the past year,” she said.ABOUT THE AUTHORRhythm Rathi is a reporter with CBC New Brunswick in Moncton. He was born and raised in India, and attended journalism school in Ontario. Send your story tips to rhythm.rathi@cbc.ca
So you want to be a cop? Civilians take the RCMP fitness test
