About TRU
The TRU is a network of multidisciplinary international experts who investigate ways to optimise the physical and cognitive capabilities, and safety of tactical personnel – whether military, law enforcement, firefighters, or first responder organisations. It is a part of Bond University’s Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, which received the highest possible ranking of ‘well above world standard’, and ‘at world standard’ for human movement and sports science, from the Australian Research Council (ARC) in its Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2015 results.
The overarching aim of the group is to improve the wellbeing and occupational performance of those who serve and ensure new research findings are shared across the different tactical populations.
Services
The TRU provides services to government, industry, academic and private institutions. These include research projects, consultancy reports and educational and training packages.
Since 2015, the TRU team has conducted research across multiple tactical agencies covering initial training through to specialist selection and rehabilitation.
Consultancy projects have included the development of evidence-based, tactically viable, reports to inform multiple agencies and the generation of injury management, assessments, and conditioning optimization frameworks.
Education and training services use the latest research evidence and practical experience to provide workshops, courses or longer programs to tactical personnel as well as their support staff, such as physiotherapists, physical training instructors, and strength and conditioning coaches.
Latest news
New article alert!
The Effects of Body Armour on the Power Development and Agility of Police Officers
Abstract
A study was conducted in which 11 police officers wore one of three different types of Individual Light Armour Vests (ILAV), or normal station wear, for an entire day while completing power and agility-based tasks including a vertical jump (VJ), agility test, 20m sprint and counter movement jump (CMJ). Despite all three ILAVs being significantly (p<.05) heavier than normal station wear, there were no significant differences between any of the ILAVs in VJ, time to complete the agility test, 20 m sprint time, peak force, velocity, power and jump distance in the CMJ. There was a significantly (p<.05) higher mean force produced in the CMJ while wearing all three ILAVs. The ILAV’s investigated do not appear to be heavy enough to significantly affect the power or agility of police officers. The utilization of ILAVs by police officers does not appear to hinder policing tasks that involve agility or power development.
Practitioner Summary
The addition of the extra load of military styled body armour is known to decrease performance and mobility. When compared to normal station wear, the wearing of three different ILAV types used in policing don’t appear to be heavy enough to affect the power or agility of police officers.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00140139.2019.1648878
Upcoming events
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