# Who else thinks they could out run a cop on foot? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815 "2008-12-05T04:26:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/21 "2008-12-05T18:17:19Z")
I wonder how many police departments force their officers to be physically fit. On the west coast, it seems like they leave their patrol cars as little as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/22 "2008-12-05T19:24:31Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > On the west coast, it seems like they leave their patrol cars as little as possible. On the east coast they’re encouraged to engage in various forms of physical training - one of the more popular is the run to the donut shop. But I’ll note that I once knew a cop who ran 2:30 marathons. So YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/23 "2008-12-05T19:27:59Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Can you outrun a 9mm FMJ? Yeah, I was thinking the OP specified no guns, but as the saying goes, “I don’t have to be faster than the cop, I have to be faster than his bullets…” ---
**Author:** ![Cowboy8467](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Cowboy8467](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowboy8467)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/24 "2008-12-05T19:41:04Z")
I certainly could when I was a teenager, as I recall doing so twice in the span of a couple of months the summer after I graduated high school. There weren’t Keystone Kops either, but Montgomery County, MD’s finest on one occasion, and DC cops on the other. Not only that but they were in their cars and we were on foot, we just had the advantage of terrain. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/25 "2008-12-05T19:54:16Z")
I definitely think I could. I’m a good jumper. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/26 "2008-12-05T19:55:11Z")
I don’t know nuthin’ about nuthin’, but I don’t think there are too many situations where a cop would face the decision ‘shoot or chase’. If the assailant (me, I guess, in this scenario) is firing a weapon at the cops or another person, or in the process of using deadly force and the cop is justified in using deadly force on me, he’d shoot. If I’m unarmed and the cop has probable cause to arrest me or detain me and I run, shooting at me is using unreasonable force and I’ll direct my family from the grave to file a lawsuit against the force, which they’ll win. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/27 "2008-12-05T20:15:31Z")
I’d like to think so, but probably not. I get winded too easily. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/28 "2008-12-05T21:04:58Z")
I did once, about 41 years ago. Okay, so he wasn’t technically a cop, but an AP (Air Force MP), and I was a 14-year-old track star, with excellent knowledge of the terrain and the fastest way out of USAF territory (and hence out of his jurisdiction). ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/29 "2008-12-05T21:17:11Z")
I could, if the cop was in a wheelchair going uphill. I’m kind of a slow runner. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/30 "2008-12-05T21:17:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, I was thinking the OP specified no guns, but as the saying goes, “I don’t have to be faster than the cop, I have to be faster than his bullets…” Alternately, you can outrun Crown Vic, but you can’t outrun Motorola. Myself, I almost certainly couldn’t outrun a cop, but I’ll bet I could outwalk em. My walking speed is better than most jogs. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/31 "2008-12-05T21:22:55Z")
Most people probably couldn’t outrun cops. Despite the donut eating fat stereotype, the majority of us regular folk haven’t done the type of physical training required to pass the police academy since high school. Cops are probably more likely to be in shape than the general population. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/32 "2008-12-05T21:26:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Alternately, you can outrun Crown Vic, but you can’t outrun Motorola. Beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/33 "2008-12-05T21:27:04Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Most people probably couldn’t outrun cops. Despite the donut eating fat stereotype, the majority of us regular folk haven’t done the type of physical training required to pass the police academy since high school. Cops are probably more likely to be in shape than the general population. There are plenty of big and/or old cops around here that I’m pretty sure I could outrun. The younger, fitter ones maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/34 "2008-12-05T21:28:04Z")
You might outrun the cop. You can’t outrun the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815/35 "2008-12-05T21:28:46Z")
I could, as long as it wasn’t for more than a mile or so. I’m tall and play a lot of basketball, so I’m a good short distance sprinter. I once ran down a friend of mine like a lion chasing down a gazelle: a bunch of us were walking back to their Chicago apartment after (an unfortunately large) dinner and somehow some trash-talking got started about who could run faster. We were about 4-5 blocks from their place and I ended up giving him almost a full block head start (I had no idea if I could actually catch him, but I like trash talking). I got him well before the apartment door, then almost barfed. Long legs make a big difference when it comes to sprinting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-thinks-they-could-out-run-a-cop-on-foot/475815.md?page=1)