Teaching Swimming to the Police Academy Trainees

Swimming is a mandatory skill for police officers in Rhode Island, requiring candidates to pass rigorous water competency tests (like swimming 200 yards continuously and treading water for 10 mins) for both State Police and Municipal Academies, with specific strokes (crawl/breaststroke, sidestroke/backstroke) and rescue skills (towing, object retrieval) needed, as failure to pass prevents appointment.