Age restriction policies in policing and law enforcement are discriminatory age restriction policies that have been permitted because of the physical abilities necessary for effective policing and law enforcement. However, there are few empirical studies that validate the necessity of age restriction policies based upon variations of health performance of a large group of police or law enforcement officers over the course of their entire careers. This article is a cohort analysis of 3,012 police officers hired in 1985 and follows their careers for a 19-year period through the end of 2003. A logistic regression equation was constructed to determine if there are any variations in health performance between younger and older police officers as measured by disability pensions. Although there is some evidence that older police officers were more likely to receive heart disability pensions, age restriction policies should be agency-based and determined by a totality of circumstances such as the detriment to public safety, protection of individual rights, efficiency of the agency, and financial costs.
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