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Diet coach hired to arrest police officer obesity
Damian Dovarganes / AP Los Angeles Police Department recruit Anthony Knittel runs near the Los Angeles Police Academy in the Elysian Park section of the city.
STORY TOOLS 
More from Crime and CourtsLOS ANGELES — Rana Parker tells pudgy police that they have the right to remain chubby, but it can and will be used against them on the streets of Los Angeles.
The dietitian lays down the law for recruits, veterans and top brass, letting them know that eating right can help them do a better job and could even save their lives.
"I joke with them that I'm not the food police, that I'm just here to give them information, education and hopefully give them motivation to help themselves," she said.
While overweight officers aren't unique to Los Angeles, the police department believes that it's the first to hire a full-time diet coach. Parker joined in July, leaving behind decidedly less macho clients at Head Start, the federal aid program for children.
Faced with a need for more officers in recent years, the LAPD briefly relaxed body fat limits from 22 percent for men and 30 percent for women, drawing recruits who mirrored a plumper American public.
By targeting recruits, Parker is trying to instill good eating habits before the rigors of the field make it difficult to find time for balanced meals. She has provided one-on-one counseling to about 90 recruits, taught a nutrition course to about 500 others, and made presentations to more than 400 officers.
Although Parker's met some resistance to her measures, she's also found followers.
Recruit Ashley Goodroe, 23, has dropped four dress sizes since they started working together in September. Goodroe said the lessons she's learned include regularly eating breakfast and giving up sugary fruit punch. The hardest part was cutting back on the fat-laden weekly meal that takes her home to Georgia: fried pork chops, collard greens and corn bread.
"I feel skinny," Goodroe said with a laugh. "I actually had to get my uniforms fitted again."
Doughnuts may be the punch line for many cop jokes, but they're not the problem, Parker said. Long hours and the on-the-go nature of police work make it hard to find time to eat well and stay in shape, she said.
"They may be sitting in their car and all of a sudden they need to go for a sprint, which might end in a fight as well," Parker said. "They need to be in good shape so their body can handle that kind of stress."
But officers who don't plan their meals are reduced to nutritional bottom-feeding: drive-through burgers, microwave burritos and greasy pizza slices.
Parker believes officers can better take a bite out of crime if they aren't hungry on their shifts. She encourages stashing energy bars, fruit and peanut butter sandwiches in cars and desks, to stave off hunger when getting a full meal is hard.
Fit officers are more confident, project strength and give the department a good image, she added. A suspect may think twice about trying to outrun a physically fit officer.
Kevin Sommers, national chairman of safety and technology for the Fraternal Order of Police, applauded the LAPD for recognizing diet as an important issue: "For the longest time in law enforcement, we trained our people in policing, but we didn't teach our people about how to maintain their mental and physical well-being."
Recruit Francisco Rubio Jr., 30, said diabetes and high cholesterol run in his family. But it was the recent death of a friend, 40, an officer who had a heart attack on the job, that really drove home the need to get fit.
With Parker's guidance and a regimen that replaces sweets with fresh oranges and strawberries, Rubio has dropped from 195 to 175 pounds. "What catches our eyes unless we discipline ourselves is pizza, hamburgers — all the food that's out there that's easy-access. Now I tend to look at it as a heart attack waiting to happen."
Posted by newshound on May 7, 2008 at 6:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yogu is an excellent supplement to altering the nutritional content of food for the overall health and well being of the body and spirit.
Posted by Pogmothoin on May 7, 2008 at 7:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They could start by teaching cops how to dodge cars instead of firing at the teen driver.
Posted by AngryYouth on May 7, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How about teaching kids (being tried as and adult which is awesome) from stealing cars, first off. And when stopped by police to give up instead of trying to kill them. The kid got what he deserved !!!!
Posted by vcsexplorer11 on May 7, 2008 at 9:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Doooh! No more free donuts!!!
Posted by cambodia_pig on May 7, 2008 at 9:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
maybe they will just switch to "low fat" doughnuts.
I don't see them giving up doughnuts all togeher, that's just too much to ask of a police officer.
Posted by Brucevacumesrooster on May 7, 2008 at 9:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Pogmothoin...maybe you can teach teens to not steal (and run over people) instead of complaining about cops doing their job! Or are you mentally able to do that?
Posted by CloudyDaze on May 7, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Driven to write smart @$$ remark...must resist...too easy....cops and donuts...must be strong...
Posted by Pogmothoin on May 7, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bruce - My mind it currently busy trying to figure out why anyone would want to vacuum a rooster, but I'm pretty sure it's well nigh impossible to teach a teenager anything. On the other hand it should be relatively easy to teach a police officer to move out of the way of a moving vehicle and it's good exercise too.
Posted by TheVeracious1 on May 7, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I hear that OX officers get their exercise at a substation in Oxnard.
Posted by TheVeracious1 on May 7, 2008 at 10:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Pogmothoin -
"Brucevacumesrooster"? I dunno but some roosters fight and vacumes are suck ups.
Posted by Pogmothoin on May 7, 2008 at 11:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
TheVeracious1 - "I hear that OX officers get their exercise at a substation in Oxnard."
ROTFLOL - Good one.
Posted by write_lisa on May 7, 2008 at 11:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Normally I would ignore this idiotic nonsense, but I am compelled to wonder when our police force received psychic powers? Unlike you [Pogmothion], cops don't have the luxury of reading a news story and having all the "facts" laid out in front of them in a tidy narrative format. How was he supposed to know that the person attempting to ram him with a stolen car was a teenager and not some murderous adult who had already killed his [ex-wife? Parents? Girlfriend?] and was now hellbent on killing [her parents? her lover? a classmate? we've heard this story a hundred times before - you fill-in the blanks] and wasn't going to let anyone stop him? You have what I like to refer to as "Law&Order Syndrome". In other words, you watch too much TV and expect happy endings in 40 minutes.
Posted by Adam_Monroe on May 7, 2008 at 12:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There is a story today on how to bake your own donuts hahaha
Posted by 2smokingbarrels on May 7, 2008 at 2:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Donuts and happy endings! They go hand in hand if you know what I mean
Posted by Pogmothoin on May 7, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
write_lisa - How are we to know that the person behind the wheel wasn't a child/adult having a some kind of seizure, or a young newleywed having a epileptic fit????
The cop is suppose to be the professional. He should be able to tell the difference.
Posted by TheVeracious1 on May 7, 2008 at 4:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Poll(o) of the Day
Should the Oxnard substation/athletic club be renamed:
The Polo Lounge
or
The Polo Club
Posted by write_lisa on May 8, 2008 at 12:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In reply to Pogmothoin, the one piece of information the police officer did have was that the vehicle was stolen. That would make it less likely to be an innocent medical emergency and more likely a hostile act.
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